Flavours of the Month: July 2014...

July 2014 has been dominated by GTA V's electro sounds, hard boiled detectives, and crime busting coppers. Horror rockers, horror soundtracks, and horror flicks - plus plenty more.

Click "READ MORE" below for this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...

The Walking Dead Season 5 Comic-Con Trailer Analysis...

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Finally, the season five comic-con trailer for TWD is here and although shorter than previous trailers for previous seasons, there's still a lot of stuff we can learn from it – so let's dig into it!

Some Key Notes:

The quest for Washington – it looks like the rather shady Gareth of Team Terminus will be joining forces with Team Rick to help get Eugene to D.C. so they can save the world … maybe.

So much for that 'Sanctuary For All' crap.

Bob seems to successfully plead for their lives.

Is he really all bad, or does he just put on a mean face?

Are the residents of Terminus cannibals? A lot of indicators point that way (the likes of Rick, Bob, Daryl, and Glenn bound and gagged with their throats over a trough, the train cars full of people etc), but is the blurry sight of a man hacking at a body preparation for dinner or a crude form of surgery? We've not seen them eat any definitive human flesh yet, so who knows, maybe their diet isn't so outré after all?

Hacking away at a leg - fixing an injury, amputating, preparing a cutlet for roasting?

Unfamiliar faces - cannon fodder set to be slaughtered? For food? For intimidation? Both?
Is the guy nearest the camera Sam from episode 4x04 "Indifference"? - credit to Moon Knight for that one.

Daryl and Glenn in a sticky situation ... with amateur butchers?

Click “READ MORE” below to see what else the trailer had in store for us (trailer spoilers ahead)...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Ghosts, Pirates, and Boozers...

The Borderlands:
What's it about?
British 'found footage' style horror film about three representatives of the church going to a small village parish to investigate signs of apparent divine intervention. Is it just attention-grabbing trickery, or is there something truly otherworldly happening?
Who would I recognise in it?
Gordon Kennedy, Robin Hill, Aidan McArdle.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Found footage films are so played-out right now, and ghost stories have become rather over-saturated lately, however The Borderlands is one that's worthwhile seeing. Using mounted cameras in the two main locations, as well as head cams, the actors are freed of the shackles of hand-held documentary filmmaking that often feel woefully contrived in other films when the shit hits the fan. Furthermore, with characters that are actually believable with personalities worth paying attention to, and a genuinely chilling atmosphere, the horror works. Building up gradually over the course of the film, it's not interested in loud noises and jump scares - which is most pleasing - instead using suggestion and slight movements to get those hairs on the back of your neck standing to attention. Well worth checking out - in spite of a glut of spooky/ghosty/haunted housey and cheapo 'found footage' flicks out there, The Borderlands manages to find slivers of gold amidst the muck. Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for piracy thrills and boozed-up chums...

"The Racket" at the Portsmouth International Film Festival...

"The Racket" (on which I was Editor and Script Consultant) is appearing at the 2014 Portsmouth International Film Festival 2014 (9th to 11th July) and it has received two nominations!

Best War Film & Best Editing in a Documentary Short

View the full list of nominations here.

Find out more information about The Racket here.

The Frightened Woman (Piero Schivazappa, 1969) DVD Review

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“You have a very odd way of spending your weekends.” Piero Schivazappa's The Frightened Woman (aka Femina Ridens, or The Laughing Woman), is an artful examination of sexual politics and the war between the two sexes from a time when the sexual revolution was at its peak. With stunning visual arenas from famous names such as Niki De Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely, it combines cutting edge sixties fashion and design with dangerous games of submission and control.

Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots…

Baba Yaga (Corrado Farina, 1973) DVD Review

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“Our meeting was pre-ordained.” Corrado Farina's Baba Yaga (aka The Devil Witch / Kiss Me Kill Me), is based on the comic strip by Guido Crepax, and Slavic folklore. It is the tale of a free-spirited young photographer who falls under the curious spell of a strange woman who increasingly holds sway over her mind and her possessed camera.

Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots…

Venus In Furs (Massimo Dallamano, 1969) DVD Review

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“A pleasure that is so great it can be painful.” Massimo Dallamano's Venus In Furs (aka Devil in the Flesh), not to be confused with Jess Franco's Venus In Furs (also 1969, aka Paroxismus), is based on the 1870 novella of the same name by Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. It was released in the dying days of the swinging sixties – in Denmark and West Germany, at least – but it wasn't distributed in Dallamano's native Italy until 1973, at which point it was quickly confiscated and cut to ribbons, such was the perceived danger of it's carnal sights. The age of the Internet may have dulled some of the film's softer titillations, but even 45 years later its darker passages of voyeurism, submission, and sadomasochism can still inspire shock, even repulsion.

Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots…