The decade of the 1970s was a hotbed of experimental, ground-breaking and now classic horror films. The Exorcist was the first of the genre ever to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was sweeping the US like a plague, while Italian Dario Argento was creating giallo (Italian word for yellow, which was the colour of the pages of the Italian … [Read more...]
Review: Audition (1999)
Formally the domain of British giant Hammer and latterly Hollywood in the 1970s, Late 1990s and early 2000 Japan has produced some of the most memorable and disturbing films. Other than Ring and Dark Water, which have both since received English-language remakes, one film has yet to find an auteur willing to take on the job. Directed by controversial maestro Takashi Miike, … [Read more...]
Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Writing can sometimes be a thankless task. Some people will love what you write, others will hate it and the majority won't care. But those who like to write do so for a variety of reasons; to become famous, to be liked or simply to express themselves in a way that they find difficult in 'real life.' Whatever the reasons for writing, there are endless possibilities that lay … [Read more...]
The Sixth Sense (1999) review by That Film Guy
Horror films and the Oscars don't really go hand-in-hand, which may explain why, as of 2012, only four of the genre have ever been nominated in the Best Film category. One of those is M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense. Released in 1999, The Sixth Sense became an unexpected commercial smash hit recouping over $670m at the box office from its budget of $40m. It earnt an Oscar … [Read more...]
Bride of Frankenstein (1935) review by That Film Guy
Following on from the success of the original Frankenstein, this horror sequel Bride of Frankenstein is one of the most recognisable and parodied horror films of the Golden Era of Cinema. The 1930s is considered one of the great decades of horror films (along with the 1970s) and stars such as Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were household names for playing archetypal horror … [Read more...]
Looper (2012) review by That Film Guy
Director Rian Johnson began his career with the language-muddling high school film noir Brick, before moving on to the con-man film The Brothers Bloom, yet his third film, arguably his best, is a science fiction time-travel action film called Looper. Creating an original, but familiar location of near-future Earth, Johnson is able to place interesting characters with a complex … [Read more...]
You Only Live Twice (1967) review by That Film Guy
Originally slated to be the final appearance of Sean Connery in the lead role, You Only Live Twice was the fifth James Bond film in the franchise. Featuring one of the largest sets ever created for film, it was a commercial and critical success during its original release taking $111m at the box office from a budget of $10m. You Only Live Twice would be the first film in the … [Read more...]
Goldfinger (1964) review by That Film Guy
No James Bond film better epitomises the mass appeal of Britain's coolest spy than the third instalment in the franchise, Goldfinger. A huge critical and commercial juggernaut, Goldfinger would create the template from which most future films would draw their inspiration and it marked the characters transition from simple thriller to iconic blockbuster draw. Based on a novel by … [Read more...]
Day of the Dead (1985) review by That Film Guy
Completing the original trilogy of George A Romero's Dead Series is the 1985 film Day of the Dead. Originally he had planned for Day of the Dead to be a sweeping epic zombie film, described as "the Gone with the Wind of zombie films," unfortunately budget limitations forced him to reconsider and eventually scale back production and script. It was released to an excellent … [Read more...]
Peeping Tom (1960) review by That Film Guy
There were two films released in 1960 which courted controversy for their psychological thrills and a journey into the mind of a psychopathic murderer. One become a storming critical and commercial success, while the other was viciously torn apart by critics because of its content and sunk without a trace for almost a decade. Psycho made a household name of its director Alfred … [Read more...]