Author Archives: Ross Birks

Easily the grisliest William Castle film of the initial four I’m working through, this feels at once like his take on Hammer horror and the Dracula mythos. In each subsequent film you can feel Castle pushing the envelope that little … Continue reading →

This is where the Rambo persona and brand was fully set in stone. Or rather the block of stone that was First Blood was chiseled into the form of Stallone’s beefcake physique, had a bandana slapped on its head and promoted the … Continue reading →

At first glance this can’t help but feel like William Castle’s shameless riff on Psycho but it slowly distorts into something else entirely. Freakier, stranger, more lurid and more violent than Hitchcock would ever allow himself to go, Homicidal also isn’t afraid to directly … Continue reading →

While the interactive “Ghost Viewer” gimmick of 13 Ghosts is stronger than Tingler‘s “Percepto”, the film it animates is a lot less inspiring. Basically a bunch of bad people trying to get a payout with occasional appearances from the titular ghosts, rather blandly … Continue reading →

My first William Castle! Not the inept Hitchcock knockoff nor shoddy 50s creature feature I was expecting, but a totally unique crackpot horror invention all of its own. Featuring one of the most pleasurably convoluted plots I’ve ever encountered, The Tingler constantly … Continue reading →

Striking adolescent horror film which comes at a tired narrative from a curious new angle. It engages with plenty of upsetting ideas and the visual of an undead girl paired with an abused boy is the stuff of dark, twisted … Continue reading →

“I think I might have to kill her, man” Refn’s commitment to his own muse, his own metronome, his own fetishes and indulgences across this sprawling, neon-mirror LA canvas is, if nothing else, incredibly inspiring. Submerging myself into Too Old to … Continue reading →

It’s quite remarkable how much this sucks you in to the world of these people and their plight. A humanistic epic coloured by an eclectic array of faces, voices and interactions which all feel achingly genuine. The working class backdrop … Continue reading →