Do you know that Phantasm was retitled The Never Dead in Australia? There was already a racy comedy called Fantasm doing the rounds and so Village Roadshow renamed the film when they bought the distribution rights.
Shocking Cinema- Day 56- Raw (2016)
A vegetarian veterinary student arrives at college and is forced to eat raw meat as part of a hazing ritual. Soon after, she develops a taste for something far more extreme. Julia Ducournau’s film was sold as a bold, shocking debut that would leave you shaken. It left me empty. The cannibalism arrives on cue, …
Review- Rocky (50th Anniversary Screening) (1976)
I rewatched Rocky today as there was a 50th anniversary screening. It’s also a great refreshed before next week’s I Play Rocky is released here. It’s such a simple premise but one which clearly struck a chord with audiences. A small-time, part-time boxer who is struggling to survive day to day gets a shot at …
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Review- Primetime (2026)
The head of NBC (Jeff Zucker playing himself) invites host Chris Hansen and his producer to his office to tell them that he hates everything about their ‘child groomer sting’ TV series. But America loves it and it gets great ratings. And so it will be placed against Lost in a primetime slot. And Lost …
Shocking Cinema- Day 55- Titane (2021)
A young woman who has a metal plate in her head after a car accident develops a fixation with automobiles. After a series of violent incidents she goes on the run and assumes the identity of a missing teenage boy, moving in with the boy’s firefighter father. This is Crash meets The Fast and the …
Reading Tealeaves in Lake Tahoe- Why Supergirl (1984) is An Underrated Gem
One of the films I watched the most as a kid in the 80s was Supergirl. This obviously raised a few eyebrows at the time (ahem) but I was obsessed with this fantastic entry into the Superman franchise. It surprised me greatly to find out years later that the film was panned by some critics …
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Shocking Cinema- Day 54- In A Glass Cage (1986)
A former concentration-camp doctor is left paralysed after a failed attempt on his own life. When a nurse is sought to assist in his day-to-day care, a young man steps forward who was one of his victims years earlier. If you need a warning as to how shocking this film is, John Waters calls In …
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Shocking Cinema- Day 53- Man Behind The Sun (1988)
At the end of World War 2, the Japanese experiment on Chinese and Russian prisoners of war in Unit 731 to develop bacterial plagues. A historical film shot through the exploitation lens so graphic violence takes precedence over strict accuracy. It’s well shot, well acted and has great special effects. But with fare like this, …
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Shocking Cinema- Day 52- I Saw The Devil (2010)
A taxi driver stops for a stranded woman, not to help her but to murder her instead. Her fiancé just so happens to be a trained Secret Service agent who becomes obsessed with tracking down the man who carried out this atrocity. Violent, yes, but with a brilliant script, beautiful cinematography and great acting. There's …
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Shocking Cinema- Day 51- Ichi The Killer (2001)
Sadistic Yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his boss who has gone missing but during this crosses paths with Ichi, a literal psycho killer (to quote Talking Heads) who appears to be even more extreme. Ichi The Killer caused serious waves in its release here in the UK with the BBFC wanting substantial cuts before it …
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