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, …
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 …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 52- I Saw The Devil (2010)
In the Old West, a sheriff and his posse set out to rescue several townspeople from a cannibalistic tribe known as the troglodytes. It’s cowboys vs cannibals! Or The Searchers meets The Hills Have Eyes. I normally hate Westerns except when they involve gore, people eating each other and star none other than Kurt Russell. …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 48- Bone Tomahawk (2015)
A woman with ESP is kept heavily sedated and is held against her will in an isolated commune. I had heard that this film was like marmite- some loved it, some hated it. Things didn’t bode well for it as it was consistently compared to a film I hate- Solaris (the original). But I actually …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 44- Beyond The Black Rainbow (2010)
A beautiful woman prowls the streets of Glasgow at night in a van, picking up men and luring them to a deadly fate. But who (or what) is she? A film about a sexy but murderous alien set in Glasgow and starring Scarlett Johansson, you say?! Sign me up. This film really did get under …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 15- Under The Skin (2013)
Philip returns to his childhood home and his wicked uncle. Past traumas come to the surface here. I was surprised that I had never heard of this film made by Matthew Holness and starring Sean Harris as Philip. But, on beginning to watch it, I realised why. The BFI logo came up and I soon …
The blurb- ‘A brilliant yet tortured plastic surgeon creates a type of synthetic skin which is resistant to any damage. But his guinea pig is a mysterious woman who holds the key to his past and obsessions.’ For this movie, director Pedro Almodóvar said he wanted to create a ‘horror story without screams or frights’. …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 10- The Skin I Live In (2011)
An all-female group of scientists investigate a ‘shimmer’, a zone created when a meteor hits the earth which has a mutating effect on vegetation and animals within. This is an interesting plot which, unfortunately, feels like it’s been completely wasted. Unlikeable characters (all different but not one who I could empathise with), bad CGI which …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 9- Annihilation (2018)
A young woman has her life (and her new home) turned upside down by the arrival of a stranger. Well, the events in this film escalate quickly. I love that things can go from 0-60 in a breath. There’s also a gorgeous look to the film which looks like every individual frame has been hand …
I love rock bios, especially the ones about the artists who never received their dues and devoted their lives to their art. I had been intrigued by the pop star and musician Lawrence since the release of the recent book Street-Level Superstar- My Year With Lawrence by Will Hodgkinson. I had sneered at Lawrence’s previous …
