Film Reviews by HW

A terrifyingly original horror. Blackly funny but also genuinely scary, prioritising suspense over gore. When violence happens though, it’s shocking and brutal. If you don’t like films about people running at you, don’t watch this. This is a horror that also gives you a villain who’s truly disturbing but whose motives are weirdly understandable. The criss-crossing narratives in the style of ‘Pulp Fiction’ were also impressively done, although you do question why some of the characters’ subplots were necessary. Nevertheless, it’s good to see a horror coming out that’s genuinely stimulating, frightening and (dare I say it) devilishly fun. 

Timothy Olyphant is still captivating as the super-cool lawman facing off against more hordes of hillbillies; anything to avoid spending time with his ex-wife and newborn daughter down in Florida. Michael Rapaport is actually chilling as Dewy Crowe’s brutish Florida cousin muscling in on Kentucky’s crime scene. Walton Goggins has a very stressful time juggling the Dixie Mafia, a Mexican cartel and his wife Ava being in jail, who is also having an incredibly stressful time navigating the treacheries of a women’s prison. Another thoroughly enjoyable series that left me keen to see how it all ends in the next and final season. 

Possibly the third time I’ve seen this film, and I forget how much you learn about the geography, cultures and politics of 1950s South America as much as our young travelling heroes do on this incredible journey. The lustful adventurers have many comic experiences, as well as sobering ones when they are confronted with the harsh realities experienced by the have-nots and oppressed they encounter; including migrant workers, natives and lepers. The movie features visually stunning landscapes, as well as recreating an entire time period. Underpinning all this is the touching, volatile friendship of the two young travellers as they both find their places in the world. Even if you have no interest or knowledge of Che Guevara’s early life, this is a road trip movie to end all road trip movies. I still really want to read the journals the movie was based on. 

This is one of those films that gets a great human story out of a unique, remarkable event: the filming of the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1961. Before seeing this film, I had no idea of the monumental impact of the first worldwide documentary series, broadcasting Holocaust testimonials to an unsuspecting global audience. Recreations of the trial are blended almost seamlessly with chilling historical footage. As well as confronting you with horrors from one of humanity’s worst episodes, we get a tense, gripping and fast-paced film as the filmmakers struggle with a range of obstacles: from outside (fussy judges and death threats) and inside. Anthony Lapaglia gives a rather fascinating performance as blacklisted director Leo Hurvitz, a man depicted as obsessed with exposing the humanity behind fascism at the cost of entertainment; which brings him into clashes with his anxious employer, played well by Martin Freeman in one of his more serious roles. This well-crafted and original drama proves that you can never have enough stories and discussion about the Holocaust.  

I have been putting off seeing this film for years, possibly because I suspected that it would not be an easy watch. I was right. Straight from the opening, you are hit with the tragedy and brutality of war only slightly softened by the pleasant animation. I love that a studio that can make such cute, heartwarming classics as ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ can also wrench your heart out with this realistic portrayal of wartime childhood. What hits you most is the coldness directed towards the two children struggling to survive in WW2 Japan. I don’t know if this was an accurate representation of how the Japanese treated their vulnerable members of society at the time, but it reflects the selfishness brought on by harsh circumstances. The grief and horror is balanced with charming scenes where the siblings find some moments of fun and wonder, usually when surrounded by nature rather than destruction. Possibly the most remarkable, important work of animation I’ve seen, for its role in highlighting the terrible cost for civilians in war. 

The director should have stuck to making pure horror movies rather than increasingly bad action-horrors, because he’s good at the horror! The quality of this haunted-house-in-space took me by surprise. Like ‘Alien’ (which this movie was a massive tribute to), you’ve got a building dread atmosphere and the terror of the unknown. I suspected that when a state-of-the-art ship returned from another dimension after being lost for seven years, the outcome wasn’t going to be good. The last thing Laurence Fishburne’s crew surely wanted to do was get on Event Horizon, a hypothesis proven by the fact that events get more sinister and disastrous as the story unfolds.

 The cast were great, especially Sam Neill in the most unsettling role I’ve ever seen him in. He plays the designer of the dimension-crossing Event Horizon who starts off with good intentions but gradually grows more disturbingly protective of his baby ship. 

What I liked about this horror was the blending of advanced sci-fi ideas and technology with a good old-fashioned, Biblical concept of Hell; complete with flashes of outrageously horrific imagery. As well as similarities to ‘Alien’, there’s nods to ‘2001’ with the hi-tech ship that becomes more sentient and defensive. Obviously there is some dodgy space science, like how long characters can resist being sucked out into space as soon as a window is broken. 

Overall an impressively dark and thought-provoking sci-fi horror with a thrilling, straight-forward plot which pulled off its main objective: making you scared of going into space, messing with science and crossing dimensions. Who knows what’s out there? 

A surprising delight. Not only is this the most faithful adaptation of a Hellboy comic plot but it’s also the scariest Hellboy movie so far. Brian Taylor proved to Neil Marshall (director of the last Hellboy movie) that you don’t make Hellboy adult and edgy with a load of swearing and gore. This film genuinely packs a dread, creeping atmosphere and the effects are horribly impressive. The actor playing Hellboy is great too, playing him as gruff with a sardonic sense of humour. The rest of the cast also successfully bring Mignola’s characters to life. Anyone who likes Hellboy, horror and comic book movies should enjoy this impressive indie effort. 

Sometimes I need to stop listening to the internet. I had doubts about the new ‘Nosferatu’ film because of online negativity and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was uncertain about this one, as it was described as a weak rip-off of ‘Silence of the Lambs’. Yes, it is about a young FBI agent hunting down a really creepy serial killer in the 90s who’s good at sewing. However, I feel this setup is a trick to mess with the audience’s expectations. Because say what you like about this movie, it’s unpredictable. Enjoy it for the weirdness (helped by everything nearly being shot with a fish-eye lens) the exaggerations and the sinister atmosphere. Also it’s genuinely unsettling, even frightening. Partly because of the use of jarring editing and music but also Nicholas Cage’s absolutely unhinged performance, which disturbs you from the opening scene. You know an actor’s doing right in a horror when you want them to keep the hell away from you. 

So no, maybe it doesn’t always make sense. Yes, it’s weird. But maybe if you stop being critical, you’ll just enjoy it (even while you feel steadily more traumatised as you watch) and start to think there might be hope for the horror genre yet. 

Surely one of the most original films in years: a social drama about African-American culture and racial tensions in 1930s Mississippi, with songs and vampires! The first half of the film is cool enough, with gangster twins (both played brilliantly by Robert B. Jordan) setting up a backwoods club, while also delivering different perspectives from black characters on a world set against them. Then it turns out not only is the KKK after them, so are blues-loving vampires (who also start off white). I don’t know if the vampires are meant to be a metaphor for white culture sucking the blood out of black culture. But if you stop trying to over-analyse like I am, this is a superb thriller. When the vampires turn up, it’s genuinely scary - even when they’re playing sweet folk songs. The action that the film builds up to is gory and savage. I also appreciated the sheer amount of prosthetics that were used in this film, including revolutionary reflective lenses for the vampires. Jack O’Connell as the lead vampire is fascinating to watch, like a fanged cult leader. While being a better version of ‘From Dusk til Dawn’, the film is also a celebration of the power of music, black culture and life in general. All its odd elements blend seamlessly together into perhaps the best vampire/black-horror film ever made. 

As a fan of westerns, Australian films and 70s cinema, this ticked a lot of boxes for me. As expected, this is a slightly mad film but that's part of the appeal. This biopic of a historical outlaw feels in places like a demented, hazy drug trip (not that I would know), with exaggerated performances, violence and visuals. You’ve even got young Dennis Hopper in the title role doing an Irish accent (I don’t know if this was during his drug-binging period) and he’s hypnotic as the charming, intense outlaw. Despite being a great example of crazed 70s filmmaking (in the same vein as ‘Clockwork Orange’), this film actually felt more realistic compared to most outlaw films, which tend to glamorise or romanticise their subjects, like the dull ‘Ned Kelly’ film with Mick Jagger. Here, Morgan is both a Robin Hood and a slightly deranged buffoon who gets shot and shoots people ‘accidentally’ while somehow evading the police. You could argue however that the film is also a celebration of the outlaw lifestyle, presenting it as poetic in places. Anyway, if you like ‘Mad Max’ and spaghetti westerns, you might get a kick out of this bizarre and proudly Australian outlaw odyssey. While the film’s quality is inconsistent, the Aussie landscapes look stunning. 

Like a Neo-western version of ‘Lost Boys’, which bizarrely came out the same year. The same story of a young man being initiated into a vampire clan is here, except the vampires are road-tripping outlaws in a blacked-out camper van who are happy to engage in shootouts with the cops. The relationship between the young man and the vampires is interesting, as he swings from seeking their approval to despising them, resisting his own bloodlust while they wreak havoc on a bar in the most memorable scene. I guess the movie could be an extreme metaphor for adolescence, as the young man is torn between his family and hanging out with the cool bloodsucking kids so he can be close to his babe, who made him into a vampire in the first place. He still finds the ethereal, mysterious blond attractive even after she starts draining other men. The coolest thing about this movie is the cast, including three actors from ‘Aliens’! Bill Paxton shines as the most psychotic, leather-jacketed vampire taking maniacal glee in murder. I also wonder if the writer of the ‘Preacher’ comics got some visual inspiration from this movie for his Cassidy character, what with outlaw vampires in pick-ups trying not to burst into flame in the desert sun: by hiding under flimsy blankets. Overall a great example of ‘pulp’ 80s horror. For fans of the 80s, vampire-romance and the Wild West. Stephen King could have written this. 

One of those true-story films that’s actually incredible. If you watch the special features, you’ll see how the director auditioned several children from Aboriginal communities and found three girls who had never acted before but had amazing presence. The girls give somehow stoic but heartbreaking performances as the three ‘half-caste’ children walking thousands of miles to get back to their mother, after being kidnapped by the government. As well as delivering epic drama, this movie also exposes a shameful episode in Australian history, where Aboriginal children were stolen from their communities to be ‘culturally re-educated’. The film certainly made me want to read more on these events. Kenneth Branagh (the biggest name in the cast) does a great job playing the stiff, racist ‘protector’ of the Aborigial people, an epitome of white supremacy who genuinely believes he’s helping these children. As well as a history lesson, I was also impressed with the creative camera shots that swayed and flew over the startling landscapes, as if you too were suffering the heat and the emotional turmoil felt by the children. A beautiful, bold, powerful example of Australian cinema. 

Vincent Price has the time of his life as a Shakespearean supervillain: an actor returned from his humiliating Hamlet-quoting suicide, enacting excessively theatrical revenge killings on the circle of critics who snubbed him. What a fantastic concept for a horror. This movie is a surprisingly thrilling blend of gleeful gory goofiness and highbrow literary references. You even feel sorry for old Lionheart during his more passionate soliloquies. For such a silly B movie, there’s real flair with the camerawork and set designs too. And of course, this is a brilliant tribute to the famous words of the Bard and a reminder of how fun his work could be! 

There’s not a wasted minute in this tightly-paced, increasingly tense western-noir-mystery-thriller from the director of ‘Magnificent Seven’. As soon as the mysterious stranger Macreedy steps off the train in a tiny desert town, the locals greet him with suspicious hostility which only increases until you fear he’s never going to make it out alive. The fact that Macreedy’s asking about the disappearance of a local Japanese farmer means the film tackles issues of post-war racism, while delivering a masterclass of gripping tension. Combatting Spencer Tracy’s heroic performance is an incredible gallery of Wild West rogues - Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and Walter Brennan. If you like westerns and film noirs, this is a classic that still packs a punch. 

If somebody asked ‘what’s a classic adventure movie from the first half of the 20th century’, this is it. As expected, the goodies and baddies are very clear cut. You’ve got handsome Errol Flynn as the Robin Hood who can do no wrong. He somehow manages to pull off being a dashing and romantically charming action hero despite wearing that ridiculous green costume. Claude Rains and Basil Rathbone are classic smarmy evil villains.

What makes this swashbuckler stand out from the pack is its gloriously dazzling technicolour, which makes it feel like a 1950s film. There’s also very impressive sets and armies of extras, and Sherwood Forest is depicted here as an English Eden. The speeded-up sword fighting and stunts remain thrilling. What I didn’t expect was Robin being portrayed as a freedom fighter, leading the poor Saxons against their decadent, oppressive Norman overlords (although historically speaking, I’m not sure if Saxons and Normans were even relevant terms by Robin Hood’s supposed era. The costumes certainly don’t look 11th century). There’s also some references to rather gruesome violence of ear lopping and blinding that somehow got past the Hollywood code and Olivia de Havilland is quite a fiery and certainly not useless damsel. Personally, I liked how the movie paid close tribute to the original Robin stories with its slightly episodic narrative. 

Overall, if you don’t mind old-fashioned movies, this is still a thoroughly enjoyable romp, whose influence I now see on many movies that came after, like ‘Princess Bride’.