All posts by James Mudge »
The Tesseract (2003) Movie Review
“The Tesseract” sees Oxide Pang (“The Eye”) filming for the first time in the English language, and attempting to bring Alex Garland’s enigmatic second novel to the screen. The abject failure of the Hollywood...
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Shallow Ground (2004) Movie Review
Writer/director Sheldon Wilson’s “Shallow Ground” is an ambitious attempt at combining several aspects of the horror genre into one blood soaked package. Although “Shallow Ground” is at heart a variation on the venerable woodland...
Read More »Horror (2002) Movie Review
Horror films, especially those which deal with the supernatural or demonic, are by their very nature surreal, though they generally try to derive their chills by being convincingly set in the real world. Dante...
Read More »Saw 2 (2005) Movie Review
In many ways, “Saw 2″ is the archetypal sequel, attempting to top its predecessor simply by subscribing to the ‘more is more’ philosophy. Thus, instead of two men imprisoned in a room (as was...
Read More »The Last Horror Movie (2003) Movie Review
The exploration of evil and the dark side of human nature is one of the driving forces behind the horror genre, attempting to put a face on the wickedness and brutality which so often...
Read More »Frankenfish (2004) Movie Review
To a certain extent reviewing a film like “Frankenfish”, with its lurid box art and a title that only genre fans or those with a healthy sense of irony could love, is an exercise...
Read More »The Red Shoes (2005) Movie Review
Although ostensibly inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, “The Red Shoes” is clearly yet another entry in the recent wave of South Korean horror films based around cursed objects and long haired female...
Read More »The Wig (2005) Movie Review
Whether the South Korean horror “The Wig” is seen as yet another in an increasingly long series of films about malevolent inanimate objects, or as a bizarre offshoot of the never ending long haired...
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St. John’s Wort (2001) Movie Review
There have been a great many film adaptations of video games, the overwhelming majority of which have been cheap, unimaginative cash-ins on the product name. This is especially true in the horror genre, where...
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Wolf Creek (2005) Movie Review
With strong advance word from mainstream critics (including a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival) as well as the usual genre sources, Australia’s “Wolf Creek” is undoubtedly one of...
Read More »The Bow (2005) Movie Review
With “The Bow”, acclaimed South Korean director Kim Ki-duk continues to explore human nature and transcendence, moving further away from the bitterness and sadism which characterised his earlier work. Although at first the film...
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Tale of Cinema (2005) Movie Review
“Tale of Cinema”, nominated for the Golden Palm at the 2005 Cannes Festival, marks the sixth effort by Hong Sang-soo, a South Korean auteur whose films (including “The Future of Man is Woman” and...
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A West Lake Moment (2004) Movie Review
“AWest Lake Moment” is the latest film from Hong Kong director Yim Ho, best known for complex emotional dramas such as “The Kitchen” and “Homecoming”. Here, the director turns his hand to contemporary romance,...
Read More »The Hillside Strangler (2004) Movie Review
“The Hillside Strangler” is another in the recent series of grimy true crime films focusing on infamous serial killers, this one by the team of director Chuck Parello (responsible for the rather dull “Ed...
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The Return (2003) Movie Review
“The Return” marks the debut of Andrei Zvyaginstev, a Russian film maker who has already been compared by many to his legendary countryman, Andrei Tarkovsky (“Solaris”). It is easy to see why, as Zvyaginestv’s...
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16 Years of Alcohol (2003) Movie Review
Since Scotland’s film industry can be politely described as ‘non-existent’, the wide release of any local product should be cause for celebration, especially when it is as initially intriguing as long time critic turned...
Read More »Ted Bundy (2002) Movie Review
Films about true life serial killers, the modern day bogeymen who have become etched onto the public consciousness like slices of psychotic folklore, tend to walk a very fine line between genuine attempts to...
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The Descent (2005) Movie Review
“The Descent” is director Neil Marshall’s follow to his cult hit “Dog Soldiers” and sees him return once more to the genre in an attempt to maintain the current British revival. Whilst “Soldiers” was...
Read More »The Devil’s Rejects (2005) Movie Review
When I first heard of White Zombie frontman Rob Zombie’s directorial debut via “House of 1000 Corpses,” I didn’t pay it much heed, especially since the promo material made the film look like a...
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