6 February 2013

Watch Full Trailer For Japanese Drama Drive Petal Dance

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Friends will be friends they always say your true friends will stick with you until the end and when you hear stories that one friend may have died you want to know the truth. In Hiroshi Ishikawa's Petal Dance this is the case and before its April release in Japan a full trailer has been released.

Petal Dance (or Pedal Dance as its also called) stars Aoi Miyazaki, Sakura Ando as friends Jink and Motoko hear about a unusual but worrying rumour that their friend Miki (Kazue Fukiishi) she jumped into the ocean only to be rescued at the last minute. Now in a local hospital the girls head to Miki's hometown to find out the truth behind what happened  and on the way they find a third person (Shioli Kutsuna) who joins them.

Petal Dance will be released on 20th April 2013 in Japan.


A big thanks to Nipponcinema for trailer
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BFI to release Roman Polanski's Tess (1979) on DVD & Blu-ray This March

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On 18 March the BFI will release Tess, the triple Oscar-winning 1979 adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, directed by Roman Polanski (Chinatown, The Pianist). This beautiful-looking film, mastered from a stunning 4K ultra high resolution digital restoration, is presented in a Dual Format Edition, bringing it to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. Special features include three documentaries covering the adaptation, the technical challenges and the filming experience.

Nastassia Kinski (Cat People, Paris, Texas) gives a career-defining performance as the ill-fated peasant girl of noble origin, whose beauty is both her fortune and her undoing and has strong support from Peter Firth (Equus, The Hunt for Red October, Spooks) and Leigh Lawson (Being Julia, Casanova, Silent Witness).

Reportedly the most expensive film ever made in France at the time, both the long shoot and post-production work had their problems. Original cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth died suddenly during filming and was replaced by Ghislain Cloquet. The Wessex setting needed to be authentically recreated in France, right down to a replica Stonehenge. The film was the first in France to use Dolby Stereo and with an initial cut of over three hours, months more work was needed to reduce it by 20 minutes.

The film went on to win Oscars for Art Direction, Cinematography and Costume Design, the latter won by Anthony Powell, whose original designs are seen here in a short film, a BAFTA for Cinematography and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film.

Hardy’s enduring 1891 novel continues to sell strongly and last year booksellers reported a huge spike in sales after its appearance and significance in the 4 million-selling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey.



Special Features:
• New 4K digital restoration
• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Tess: From Novel to Screen (Laurent Bouzereau, 2004, 29 minutes, DVD only): Polanski on the adaptation of Hardy's classic novel with contributions from Hardy scholars and cast and crew
• Filming Tess (Laurent Bouzereau, 2004, 26 mins, DVD only): cast and crew discuss the technical challenges they faced
• Tess: The Experience (Laurent Bouzereau, 2004, 20 mins, DVD only): those who worked on Tess discuss their experiences
• Costume Designs (2013, 2 mins): Anthony Powell's award-winning designs
• Original theatrical trailer
• Illustrated booklet with essays and credits

Pre-order / Buy:Tess (DVD & Blu-ray) [1979]


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5 February 2013

GFF 2013 - Watch The American Trailer For Studio Ghibli's From Up on Poppy Hill

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It maybe still doing the festival circuit rounds but 2013 finally looks the year Studio Ghibli's From Up On Poppy Hill will finally be released in English as tonight we have the US Trailer.

Based on a Manga of the same name , From Up on Poppy Hill is an coming of age story  set in the 1960s  2 teenagers who fall in love in the wake of preventing an old clubhouse at the school their both at in Yokohama.

The film marks a return to directing from Goro Miyazaki with his father the legendary Hayao Miyazaki on scripting , the film on the animation equivalent of an Oscar back in 2011, the Japan Academy Prize for Animation. From Up On Poppy Hill certainly keeps the charm, beauty and even innocence we expect from Studio Ghibli, our only concern with this, is its not one of Studio Ghibli's 'fantasies' which are a easy sell however the source of this film should be enough to sell this one.

This a dubbed version of the film, we don't know yet if they'll be an UK voice cast like Arriety, if not Chris Noth, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Howard, Bruce Dern and Aubrey Plaza will provide the cast. GK Kids are the new American distributor taken over from Disney, Here in The UK we're still expecting Studiocanal to release this for now next UK screening is at Glasgow Youth Film Festival 10th February, USA Release will be 15th March .

Synopsis

The latest Studio Ghibli masterpiece is scripted by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro. Set just before the 1964 Olympics, this anime features Umi, a hardworking teen looking after her family while her mother is abroad. One day she comes across a poem in the school newspaper, apparently written about her. A little while later she meets Shun, a daring young man who is part of a school movement to help save the local clubhouse from demolition. Umi joins the movement and she and Shun grow closer, until they are suddenly torn apart by a shocking secret…



source:TheFilmStage
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4 February 2013

GFF 2013 - Rob Zombie's The Lords Of Salem Trailer 2

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We're impressed by the visual style of Rob Zombie's The Lords Of Salem first trailer which played to the sounds of Mozart's Requiem playing like an homage to horror Maestro Mario Bava. Tonight we have an second trailer for The Lords Of Salem which possess the atmosphere, visual qualities of the previous trailer but now going for a more conventional approach.

The Lords of Salem stars Sherri Moon Zombie (wife of director) plays a radio DJ who receives a strange gift in a wooden box, within the box is a record 'gift to the lords' which awakens a 200 year old coven of witches.

This new trailer has given us a better understanding in what the film is all about you can see the plot is delving into old school giallo , near enough arthouse style horror but the question is The Lords of Salem more style over substance? Hopefully not as this looks insane film, he does have an uphill battle with cinephiles convincing his film making skills are as worthy as his musical talents, we're convinced!

No word on a UK Release just yet however on 22nd February The Lords Of Salem will make its UK Premier at Glasgow Film Festival during Film4 Frightfest strand. The Lords of Salem also stars  Bruce Davidson, Jeffrey Daniel Phillips, Ken Foree, Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace, Maria Conchita Alonso, Judy Gleeson, Meg Foster, Griffin Boice.



Synopsis

Hard rock Boston DJ Heidi Hawthorne co-hosts a late-night radio show. One day she receives a promo record from a mysterious band called The Lords whose music is strange and sinister. It transpires the droning tune was composed during the Witch Trials to turn all the local Salem women into satanic acolytes. When she plays it on the air, Heidi spirals into drug addiction and starts having nightmare hallucinations about the demon seed. Cult director Rob Zombie returns with his darkest horror – a journey to the unfathomable depths of terror in the tradition of Rosemary’s Baby and The Devils. 


source: Bleeding Cool
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GFF 2013 - New Poster For Nordic Thriller A Hijacking

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It wouldn't be same without some Scandinavian presence on our television or cinema and this May Arrow Films will release Nordic thriller  A Hijacking (Kapringen) and they have sent us this eye catching poster.

A Hijacking is written & directed  by Tobias Lindholm (writer of the Hunt) a acclaimed Somali pirate drama which stars a few familiar to fans of the recent Nordic TV invasion ,, Borgen's  Pilou Asbæk and The Killing's Søren Malling.The film is based on stories of the recent attacks from Somalian pirates and in A Hijacking it's the Danish cargo vessel, MV Rozen that falls fowl to the pirates in The Indian Ocean.

The poster symbolic with the silhouettes of a freighter ship and the gun the symbol of the pirates with the red lettering the danger sailing in the shores which could cause your life. If Lindholm  delivers the same solid storytelling like Borgen we have a powerful entertaining film on our hands and the early reviews from the films London film festival back that promise up.

A Hijacking is set for an 10th May UK&Irish release but you can catch early previews of the film at this month's Glasgow film Festival on the 20th & 21st February.

Synopsis

A tense, chilling drama following the emotional journeys of a ship’s crew as they are taken hostage in the Indian Ocean, A HIJACKING was the stand out film at the Venice and Toronto’s Film Festivals 2012.

The cargo ship MV Rozen is heading for harbour when it is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship’s cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk) and the engineer Jan (Roland Møller), who along with the rest of the seamen are taken hostage in a cynical game of life and death. With the demand for a ransom of millions of dollars a psychological drama unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company (Søren Malling) and the Somali pirates.
A_HIJACKING_UKPoster

Did you miss the trailer? Here it is one more time....

Official Trailer


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GFF2013 - ABCs Of Death Getting A UK&Irish April Release

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Monster Pictures announced today that The ABCs of Death, an anthology of 26 short films, directed by 26 Directors depicting 26 ways to die will be released theatrically in the UK & Eire in 26 cinemas nationwide on the 26 April 2013.

· 26 Directors

· 26 ways to die

· 26 cinemas

· 26 April 2013

The ABCs of Death is perhaps the most ambitious anthology film ever conceived with productions spanning fifteen countries and featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world's leading talents in contemporary genre film, including the directors of House of the Devil, Hobo with a Shotgun, A Serbian Film, Tokyo Gore Police, You’re Next & four British Directors - Ben Wheatley (Sightseers), Simon Rumley (Red, White & Blue), Jake West (Doghouse) & Leeds based Lee Hardcastle, who with his claymation short, won a competition to be the final Director. Inspired by children’s educational books, the motion picture is comprised of twenty-six individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free rein in choosing a word to create a story involving death.

This alphabetical arsenal of destruction orchestrated by what has been described as "a stunning roll call of some of the most exciting names in horror across the world." is one of the most hotly anticipated releases for 2013. When the trailer received its first UK airing, last year, it was screened to a packed audience at the 13th Frightfest, Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, the 2 minute clip received rapturous applause from the attending audience. The film will receive its UK premiere at the this year’s Glasgow Film Festival as part of Film4Frightfest (Tickets for this event are now sold out) and its Irish premiere at the inaugural Twisted Celluloid Film Festival at the Triskel Arts Centre.Cinehouse & The People's Movies will be attending the whole of Film4 Frightfest @Glasgow Film Festival so stay tuned for our review but if you enjoyed the recent V/H/S film you'll dig this one, If your attending do say hello as I'll be one of The Ushers during the weekend.

Monster Pictures UK have also gave us the list of  26 cinemas you can catch ABCs Of Death at before that check out the full list of short films and the 26 directors behind them....

The Short Films & Directors
Apocalypse by Nacho Vigalondo (TimeCrimes), Spain
Bigfoot by Adrían Garcia Bogliano (Cold Sweat), Mexico
Cycle by Ernesto Díaz Espinoza (Mirageman; Mandrill), Chile
Dogfight by Marcel Sarmiento (Deadgirl), USA
Exterminate by Angela Bettis (Roman), USA
Fart by Noburu Iguchi, (Robo Geisha), Japan
Gravity by Andrew Traucki (The Reef), Australia
Hydro-Electric Diffusion by Thomas Malling (Norwegian Ninja), Norway
Ingrown by Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Mexico
Jidai-Geki by Yudai Yamaguchi (Yakuza Weapon), Japan
Klutz by Anders Morgenthaler (Princess), Denmark
Libido by Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre), Indonesia
Miscarriage by Ti West (House of the Devil; The Innkeepers), USA
Nuptials by Banjong Pisathanakun (Shutter), Thailand
Orgasm by Bruno Forzani & Héléne Cattet (Amer), Belgium
Pressure by Simon Rumley (Red, White & Blue), UK
Quack by Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die), USA
Removed by Srdjan Spasojevic (A Serbian Film), Serbia
Speed by Jake West (Doghouse), UK
Toilet by Lee Hardcastle (T is For Toilet), UK
Unearthed by Ben Wheatley (Kill List), UK
Vagitus by Kaare Andrews (Altitude), USA
WTF! by Jon Schnepp (Metalocalypse; The Venture Bros.), USA
XXL by Xavier Gens (Frontiers; Hitman), France
Youngbuck by Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun), Canada
Zetsumetsu by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police), Japan

26 Cinemas
ABERDEEN, The Belmont Picturehouse http://bit.ly/12mkxl8
BELFAST, QFT http://www.queensfilmtheatre.com/films/theabcsofdeath/
BRIGHTON, Duke of York's Picturehouse http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Duke_Of_Yorks/
BRISTOL, Watershed http://www.watershed.co.uk/
CAMBRIDGE, Arts Picturehouse http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Arts_Picturehouse_Cambridge/
CANTERBURY, Gulbenkian Cinema http://www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian/
CARDIFF, Chapter http://www.chapter.org/index.html
DERBY Quad www.derbyquad.co.uk
EDINBURGH, Cameo Picturehouse http://bit.ly/WSBz6o
EXETER, Exeter Picturehouse http://bit.ly/Tyl2EQ
GLASGOW, The Grosvenor Cinema http://www.grosvenorcafe.co.uk/cinema.php
LEEDS, Hyde Park Picture House http://bit.ly/YwrT0s
LEICESTER, Phoenix Square http://phoenix.org.uk/
LONDON, Stratford East Picturehouse http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Stratford_London/
LONDON, Clapham Picturehouse http://bit.ly/WSqUbN
LONDON, Hackney Picturehouse http://bit.ly/X9y0ai
LONDON, Greenwich Picturehouse http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Greenwich_Picturehouse/
LONDON, Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton http://bit.ly/URkpFN
LONDON, Prince Charles Cinema http://www.princecharlescinema.com/index.php
LIVERPOOL, Picturehouse at FACT http://bit.ly/VyFZME
NEWCASTLE, Tyneside Cinema https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/
NORWICH, Cinema City http://bit.ly/WLv1U5
OXFORD, Phoenix Picturehouse http://bit.ly/Y4RoUN
SOUTHAMPTON, Harbour Lights Picturehouse http://bit.ly/11AGZa2
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, Stratford Picturehouse http://bit.ly/XiCVnl
YORK, City Screen Picturehouse http://bit.ly/Y4RMCC

Tickets for many of the venues are available to pre-order now. The ABCs of Death will also be previewed in selected cities around the UK. Further details will be announced shortly.

Provocative, shocking, funny and ultimately confrontational, The ABCs of Death is the definitive vision of modern horror diversity.

For further information and details about The ABCs of Death go to the film’s official website www.26waystodie.com and follow on Twitter @26waystodie

A DVD and Blu-ray edition of The ABCs of Death are set to be released on 3 June 2013. Pre-order now from Amazon and other online outlets DVD or BLU-RAY. Details about extras and special features will be announced later this year.
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1 February 2013

GFF 2013 - Watch The UK Trailer For Neil Jordan's Byzantium

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Neil Jordan returns to the vampire genre for his next film but instead of interviews with vampires its vampires on the run with Byzantium and we have the new UK Trailer.

Byzantium stars Gemma Arterton, Saorise Ronan play Eleanor and Clara Webb 2 mysterious women who seek refuge in a run-down coastal resort. Struggling to make ends meet thanks to a lonely man called Noel the find refuge in the deserted Byzantium guesthouse. As they start to befriend the local its not long until their deadly secret is out, there vampires and the past they have been running from suddenly catches up with them with deathly consequence.

The vampire genre is in dire need of  TLC especially after a certain tween franchise made the sub genre very unpopular, Byzantium may just be that film to help the creatures of the night become a little more popular  once again. Oscar winning Neil Jordan knows how how deliver something a little bit different  and Byzantium does look a unique take on the vampire myth.With its grandoise visuals, opulent in nature, most of all chilling, atmospheric and melancholic something that you find throughout Jordan's work

Byzantium made it's world premier at Toronto Film Festival in 2012 leaving with some great positive reviews and later this month on 22nd February the film will make it's UK Premier at Glasgow Film Festival in the Film4 Frightfest strand with Jordan, Arterton and Ronan all confirmed to attend.

Studiocanal are releasing Byzantium in UK&Ireland with the film due to be released on 3rd May 2013, IFC will deal with the American release but no date has been confirmed yet. The film also stars Jonny Lee Miller, Caleb Landry Jones, and Sam Riley.

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Berandal aka The Raid 2 Starts Shooting, First Images Revealed

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Production has finally started on the eagerly awaited The Raid 2 also known as Berandal, kicking off an 100 day shoot in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and we have some images to get us in the mood!

The Raid 2:Berandal reunites Gareth Huw Evans and star of The Raid Uwo Iwais as Rama once again picking up from the moment he leaves the towering high rise taking the city's infamous crime syndicate. With the stakes now even higher and with corruption among the city's police department now exposed too Rama must protect his family and go deeper into Jakarta's criminal underworld.

Very moody images with Rama looking tired, bruised but not out looking edgy but most of all ready to inflict more pain on some nasty people which we want to see. What's more intriguing is Evans promises The Raid 2: Berandal will be “bigger, better and bloodier!”. The Raid was one of my highlights of 2012 when it made it's UK premiere at Glasgow Film4 Frightfest  meeting the director and the film's main star and of course my autographed poster takes centre stage in The Peoples Movies & Cinehouse main office!

The Raid 2: Berandal will arrive sometime 2014.
Here's the official American press release:

Highly-anticipated Actioner “The Raid 2” Starts Production in Jakarta, Indonesia

Los Angeles, CA (January 31, 2013) – PT Merantau Films and XYZ Films announce the start of production for THE RAID 2 (Indonesian title, THE RAID 2: BERANDAL), the sequel to the wildly popular international hit THE RAID (aka THE RAID: REDEMPTION).  The film reunites writer/director Gareth Huw Evans with actor Iko Uwais, who will be reprising his starring role.  Ario Sagantoro is producing for PT Merantau Films, along with Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, Aram Tertzakian and Todd Brown for XYZ Films.  Executive producing are Rangga Maya Barack-Evans and Irwan D. Mussry.

In addition to Uwais, the international cast includes Tio Pakusadewo, Putra Arifin Scheunamann, Julie Estelle, Alex Abbad and Roy Marten.  The film is currently lensing in Jakarta, Indonesia and is scheduled to shoot for over 100 days. Line producing the film is Daiwanne Ralie, with Matthew Flannery and Dimas Imam Subhono serving as directors of photography.

Picking up right where the first film ends, The Raid 2 follows Rama (Uwais) as he goes undercover and infiltrates the ranks of a ruthless Jakarta crime syndicate in order to protect his family and uncover the corruption in his own police force.

The Raid premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, where it took home the Audience Award in the Midnight Madness section. It went on to play at Sundance and SXSW, before enjoying a theatrical release in the United States through Sony Pictures Classics. The film is approaching $15M in global box office.

XYZ and PT Mereantau Films are also in post-production on KILLERS, which is co-directed by Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel, with Gareth Huw Evans and Rangga Maya Barack-Evans executive producing .  Evans and Tjahjanto recently collaborated on SAFE HAVEN, a celebrated segment in the horror anthology film S-VHS, which just premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

XYZ Films recently premiered Calvin Lee Reeder’s THE RAMBLER at Sundance as well.

“We’re incredibly excited to start the next chapter of The Raid story,” said XYZ Films. “Gareth introduced a rich and fertile world in the first film, and we’re eager to see him expand on that vision with Berandal.”

“To all our fans thank you so much for your support. We can’t wait to come back and show you what we have been working on,” said writer/director Gareth Evans. “We’ll be there in 2014 with a film bigger, better and bloodier! Wish us luck.”
source:Twitch

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31 January 2013

Chained Review

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First thing to note about Chained is: it is not a pleasant viewing experience.
Second thing to note about Chained is: it will probably rot your soul a wee bit.


From Jennifer Lynch (yes, that’s David Lynch’s daughter) comes possibly the most brutal study in serial killers you’ll see this year and I don’t feel too pedantic saying that even though its only February. This truly intense piece of film, is unrelenting in its focus and painful in its portrayal of life with a serial killer.

A young boy (Evan Bird) is forced to become the personal slave of a serial killer cab-driver called Bob (Vincent D’Onofrio), after him and his mother are kidnapped and the mother murdered.  As a strange relationship forms between the two, not unlike a master-apprentice, the boy, (now older and portrayed by Eamon Farren) must choose whether to follow in his captor’s footsteps or make desperate attempts to flee the horror of the isolated home.

Even the first ten minutes is enough to deeply unsettle any seasoned horror fan, and it kinda roller coasters from there, reaching highs that have you so wound up you’ll want to look away and lows that will make you ponder the sad and inevitable lifestyles inherent to many abusive childhoods.  These lows are where D’Onofrio shows his true worth, in those sad wretched moments masked with rage and in the flashbacks of a life plagued with violence and cruelty. His quiet lisping voice and gaited wander are so adept at masking the strength and ferocity of a murderer, that at some points you can’t help but feel sorry for him. But then, that’s Lynch’s point: there’s a feeling that this piece doesn’t really have a villain in the traditional sense,  there’s too much cause and effect going about to simply mark any of the characters down as “evil”. By the end, though, he definitely deserves his comeuppance,

This careful characterisation allows the bizarre father/son relationship between Bob and Rabbit to grow without ever seeming laughable. Farrer’s barren performance is painful to watch but in that good way reserved only for truly distressing thrillers, kind of like Leland Orser in Se7en. Stuttered words and the furtive body language of a terrified child in a teen’s body all hint at years of systematic abuse and exposure to a life less cared for. Lynch is careful with which details of Rabbit’s life she presents to us, and which she holds back, since this is an intricate study in psychological horror it could easily be upset by anything too out-there.

There’s an ironic tone under all this misery matched with a deft and startling eye for detail. Bob’s taxi, scrawled luxuriously with the word Comfort is unsettling start to finish, Rabbit’s seemingly mile-long chain is near iconic, and Bob’s house in the middle of a lush green field seems like a prison island out at sea, to name a few wee details. That’s not to mention Bob and Rabbit playing trumps with the slain girls’ I.D. cards. There are a lot of clever little touches and beautiful framings which play with the restricted space of the house also, ensuring the film has merit as a cinematic construction as well as a heart-wrenching psyche-disturbance.

This is why it’s such a shame the ending flops.

A last minute dash for a twist leaves the film switching tracks far too late and the message gets thrown into the air. Its disappointing and does render the film slightly less than if it had stayed on its simple but strong premise.

Overall an intense and wholly unsettling affair thanks to careful scripting and a jaunting, claustrophobic style. D’Onofrio’s stellar performance is one of the best screen killers in a long time, whilst Lynch’s direction maintains an impressive near-perfect study of the cycle of abuse, spoiled only by an outlandish finale.

SCOTT CLARK

★★★★☆

Rating:18
UK Release Date: 1st February 2013 (Cinema) 4th February 2013 (DVD)
Director: 
Cast: , , 
Pre-order/Buy Chained: DVD / Blu-ray

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Antiviral Review

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Take a look at the modern world and it’s difficult to deny we’re in a certain amount of trouble. Pick up any magazine, flick through any social networking sites, and you’ll see we have celebrity on the brain. Brandon Cronenberg (son of cult director, David Cronenberg) has chosen this sordid affair as a launching point for his impressive debut: Antiviral.

                Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones) works at the Lucas Clinic, a multi-million dollar institute that specialises in a very particular product: viruses that have been extracted from celebrities. In a world where celebrity obsession has reached dizzying levels, these diseases are the most intimate way for fans to connect to their idols. Syd infects himself with the diseases in order to smuggle them out the clinic and sell them on the black market, but after infecting himself with a disease that goes on to kill superstar Hannah Geist, he is forced to race against time in a desperate attempt to unravel the mystery of what is happening to his body.

                I can’t actually remember the last time a debut feature was so poignant, so keyed into what’s going on in the modern world. Brandon has obviously inherited his father’s keen eye for social commentary along with a vivid sense of style. Dependency on gossip, desire for more than just autographs, and the tide of nonsense crap that we consume daily in our desire to know more and more about glorified wannabes, it’s all here. Cronenberg flaunts his wit when he shows just how all this madness will end up, his script proves inventive time and time again; the faces given to viruses in order to determine their character, edibles made from celeb stem cells, cyber strippers, you get the drift. It’s a bleak and unsettling affair.

                The film looks dead sharp too; the cinematography, particularly the miserable palate, enforces a truly bleak dream-like world where the only real colour amidst the droll is blood-red. Bare minimum white-washed sets dominated by unnervingly large celeb posters are to be found everywhere in Cronenberg’s world. There’s some genius moments of body horror here reminiscent of early Cronenberg Sr; mechanical-human crossovers are unnerving viewing but if any real achievement is made, its making blood genuinely horrific. The parasites unseen are where our fears should really be lying, and after watching Syd slowly succumb, you’ll probably start noticing how few people bother to cover their mouths when they cough.

                Landry Jones deserves praise for a fantastic performance, one which becomes more and more desperate as the film progresses and hence, more riveting to watch.  Malcolm McDowell sneaks in as a Doctor interested in Syd’s regression, at one point admitting to him ‘I’m afraid you’ve become involved with something sinister’, surely  scoring the best horror one-liner thus far this year. It’s a wonder it’s not on the poster.


By the end of this ride you may be left wondering if the plot packs enough wallop, but in the face of the concept, style, and discourse, narrative can be excused ever-so-slightly. This is not only an impressive debut, but an important one, especially depressing when you stop to think, actually…this isn’t that far-fetched.

SCOTT CLARK

★★★★☆

Rating:15
UK Release Date: 1st February 2013 (Cinema) 11th February 2013 (DVD)
Director:
Cast: , , 
Buy:Antiviral [DVD]
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