What did we do to deserve this?
The cast of HBO's hit series Game of Thrones will be glad that the journey from television to film doesn't compare to the traveling across Westeros on the show. Many stars have already made the leap, with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau appearing in Mama and Oblivion, Richard Madden taking a lead role in Cinderella, and Emilia Clarke joining James Franco in The Garden Of Last Days, and Kit Harrington takes lead in Pompeii by Paul W.S Anderson. The big screen seems to be agreeing with the cast, as there have been no complaints yet and another two of the show's own are to be cast in new films.
Peter Dinklage, also known as Lord Tyrion to Game of Thrones fans, is set star in an Edgar Allen Poe adaptation, while Carice Van Houten, who plays Melisandre, is to play silent movie star Greta Garbo in a new Swedish biopic.
Ben Wheatley's Down Terrace was a quirky, mean, keenly observed look at family dynamics through the prism of a fading criminal empire. It was The Godfather by way of Andrea Dunbar. His follow-up, Kill List, is one of the most frightening and unsettling horror movies of recent times. All this time since my first viewing (which ended with a long, uncomfortable late-night drive through the countryside) and the movies vicious imagery and creeping tone still have an effect on me. Sightseers was a much-needed, but nonetheless violent and mean-spirited, palate cleanser after the all-consuming gloom of Kill List.
All of this is a roundabout way of establishing that Ben Wheatley is a singular vision in British film. Naturally, expectations for A Field In England are high.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, one of the most famous horror movies of all-time and an originator of the "slasher" genre, has spawned numerous prequels, sequels and remakes, but nothing has really come close to the original. We are reminded of this during the opening sequence, in which we experience a quick recap of the first movie, including meat hooks, dismembered bodies and of course, a chainsaw. Unfortunately, this is where the movie starts to go downhill.
Fans of V/H/S (if any) and horror anthologies (hopefully many), have we got a treat for you.
If you're wondering why it is that horror buffs fall over themselves to sing the praises of cult Italian director Mario Bava, then this collection of three tales is as good a place as any to satisfy your curiosity. It comes from Bava's halcyon days in the early '60s and shows him at his peak as a visual stylist; it's also full of morbid subtexts and flesh-creeping tension, proving he could be just as scary in colour as in black-and-white.
Hola, we have the Spanish and English version of the one-sheet teaser for Rec 4 – the final film of the Spanish zombie series.
Neil Jordon’s Byzantium is a return to the genre he has most certainly mastered – the vampire flick. You know when he's attached that you're going to get a beautiful looking film, with sensuous characters and buckets of blood - but in today’s climate of family friendly, shiny style vampire films how will it go down?
Given the recent horsemeat scandal, the timing of this release couldn't be better – but then, it's hard to imagine a bad time for welcoming back this prime cut of '80s cult horror. Kevin Connor's salty black comedy concerns Vincent (Rory Calhoun) and Ida (Nancy Parsons), twinkly proprietors of Motel Hello (the neon sign's final “O” is temperamental) and purveyors of Farmer Vincent's smoked meats, which have customers drooling with delight. Outwardly, their business has all the hallmarks of a wholesome Mom and Pop concern. Trouble is, they make use of a controversial secret ingredient – human flesh – and, as a result, their tasty wares have turned half the county into unwitting cannibals.
