Where to find me...

I don't really have the time these days to update this blog as often as I'd like, but you can find stuff that I write here http://www.brutalashell.com/ and also here http://www.eatsleeplivefilm.com/ even if you have no interest in what I write about I'd still recommend checking both those sites out, because they are awesome (not that I am biased).

You can also follow me on twitter @goregoregirl

or email me goregoregirl[at]hotmail.co.uk if you so wish.

My Top Ten Films of 2010

1. Red, White & Blue*
2. Monsters
3. The Killer Inside Me
4. Winter’s Bone
5. The Illusionist
6. Inception
7. Samson & Delilah
8. Four Lions
9. A Prophet
10. The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Honourable mention: The Kids Are All Right, The Loved Ones*, Greenberg, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Dogtooth, A Single Man, We Are What We Are, Dream Home.




*I know these weren't released in UK cinemas in 2010, but I saw them in 2010 so I'm counting them.

Film4 FrightFest 2010 - Part 2

Saturday began early with The Pack a fun if disjointed French horror film. It started off well getting progressively more ridiculous as it went on, overall I enjoyed it well enough, it was short too which I was glad about because I'd entered into the cannot-stop-fidgeting phase of the festival which always hits me by day 4, much to the chagrin of those around me I'm sure. Still there are much worse cinema habits to have, such as the guy I saw tucking into an entire bucket of KFC - I'm just glad he was nowhere near me or there would have been trouble. Next up was Andy Nyman's Quiz from Hell which was good fun and I was quite pleased with myself at how many I got correct, but really I was never going to beat the FrightFest crowd at a horror quiz... I was also glad to see the return of the Short Film Showcase, which had been missing from the line-up last year. Almost all of the 12 films screened showed real talent, my favourites included the strange and disturbing To My Mother and Father by Can Evrenol, the hilariously gory Papa Wrestling by Fernando Alle, a Welshman attacked by a Breville toastie maker in Rise of the Appliances by Rob Sprackling, Scottish dancing Zombies in Choreomania by Louis Paxton and Switch by Melanie Light was also very good. We Are What We Are was an intriguing and exceptionally well shot Mexican slow burner that centred around a family struggling to cope after the death of their patriarch and provider, the fact that they also happen to be cannibals is sidelined in favour of giving a strong character study of each remaining family member and how they spiral out of control and deteriorate mentally. I read mixed reviews of this and people complained it was too boring and for the first half I was undecided whether I liked it or not but it succeeded in bringing me around by the end, and I'm eager for a second viewing. Again this was a highlight for me, although it's certainly divisive and not to everyones tastes. Damned By Dawn on the other hand had to be one of the worst films I saw all weekend, I'm not even sure what happened as I stopped paying attention an hour in. Really dreadful special effects and an nonsensical plot that completely lost me. If anything it just made me even more disappointed that Kaboom had been dropped from the line-up. Next up was supposed to be A Serbian Film which was pulled at the last minute due to Westminster Council stepping in and refusing to let it be screened without a BBFC certification. Which it was never going to get uncut. I'd seen A Serbian Film beforehand, as I'd always had a sneaking suspicion something like this would happen, but I was slightly disappointed as I'd been looking forward to seeing it with an audience to witness their reactions. I'll say this though, it wasn't nearly as shocking as I'd been expecting it to be, maybe because I'd read about it and had fully prepared myself for the worst it then didn't have the same effect as if I'd been watching it blind. I can understand why the BBFC refused to pass it uncut - sexual violence, and particularly sexual violence involving young children was never going to go down well (if you'll pardon the pun). I wish I could remember where I'd read this... but after the screening at The Tribeca Film Festival I'd read an article describing the filmmakers as having come from privileged, affluent backgrounds which makes the argument that it's some kind of statement about the atrocities they'd supposedly suffered at the hands of the Serbian Government not sit right with me, also the "message" is about as subtle as being repeatedly hit in the face with a brick whilst someone screams "Serbia is fucked!" in your ear. I'm sure perhaps a documentary would have been more effective in getting the message out there. All they've really accomplished is pissing off any potential mainstream audience and giving the genre fans something to get all hot and bothered about. Anyway, the replacement film was Buried which I thought was okay, I really wasn't expecting much as the entire movie is literally just Ryan Reynolds in a box for 95 minutes. Taking this into consideration it was quite an accomplishment and it certainly wasn't boring, even if the the whole Iraqsploitation vibe doesn't do much for me. My mum on the other hand hated it and said she almost walked out she thought it was that bad. Next up was another Australian horror, The Loved Ones which I'd heard good things about but wasn't really expecting much from, however it turned out to be the big surprise for me this year and I absolutely loved it. It was good fun, and the central performances were great particularly Robin McLeavy as Lola. It's great to see a female protagonist in a horror film that's not a victim, hellbent on revenge or simply following the lead of a man but is instead a complete and utter psychopath in her own right (which is where the Misery comaprisons come from). It was perhaps the best straight up horror film of the festival for me and I had Kasey Chambers "Not Pretty Enough" stuck in my head for days afterwards. It's out on DVD in the UK on 4th October and I'd strongly recommend checking it out.

Monday was the last day and I was both sad and relieved, sad it was all coming to an end for another year but relieved because I wasn't sure my body could handle much more caffeine. First up was Jake West's documentary Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape it was short, concise and informative although I did have the feeling that I'd seen it all before somewhere else before, particularly in Fear, Panic & Censorship which was on Channel 4 a while back. It was certainly entertaining, even if I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know. Next was The Dead and I don't know if maybe I'm just bored of zombies at the moment but this didn't do much for me, it certainly looked amazing and it made the most of the African setting but overall I found it to be dull, saccharine and the acting wasn't particularly good either. Korean revenge film Bedevilled was next, and knowing precisely nothing about the film going in I was actually pleasantly surprised and I liked it a lot. At it's core it is a similar narrative to I Spit on Your Grave, abused woman snaps and wreaks revenge, but it's really far better in almost every way. First time director Jang Cheol-so is one to keep an eye on. Finally the film I'd been most looking forward to, Red, White & Blue from British director Simon Rumley. Set in Austin, Texas it tells the story of 3 unhappy individuals and how their lives intertwine with ultimately devastating consequences. This really blew me away, it was an absolutely fantastic low key thriller, like if Larry Clark was more competent and less of a dirty old man. Amanda Fuller gives a very brave performance as Erica and Noah Taylor (who I absolutely love) was fantastic as the damaged sociopath Nate. Really the less you know about this the better and I really hope it gets a cinema release because it deserves to be seen. The closing film of the festival was The Last Exorcism a mock documentary about an evangelical preacher and exorcist who continues his trade even after losing faith. I liked this for about the first 30 minutes then it just got silly, and the ending was a complete and utter cop out in my opinion. Also, it really wasn't very scary at all and those hand-held camera movies always make me a little motion sick. A slightly disappointing end to an otherwise interesting weekend.



HATCHET II **
PRIMAL **
TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE *****
ISLE OF DOGS **
F ****
RED HILL ***1/2
CHERRY TREE LANE *
THE TORTURED 1*
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE **
MONSTERS ****1/2
THE PACK ***
WE ARE WHAT WE ARE ****
DAMNED BY DAWN *
BURIED ***
THE LOVED ONES ****
VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC,CENSORSHIP AND VIDEOTAPE ***
THE DEAD ***
BEDEVILLED ****
RED WHITE & BLUE *****
THE LAST EXORCISM ***

A SERBIAN FILM **1/2

Film4 FrightFest 2010 - Part 1

So, that's it for another year. I sat through 21 features, 12 shorts and a host of trailers and previews. Even though I'd decided to stay a few nights at the Travelodge in Covent Garden instead of night busing it all the way back to Peckham in the middle of the night I'm still absolutely exhausted, the best way to describe it is that it's a lot like jet lag. Up to 14 hours a day spent in a dark cinema sends your perception of time and what day it is out of whack and I'm sure consuming enough caffeine, alcohol and sugar to give an elephant a case of the shakes didn't help either...

Overall it was a mixed bag this year, a few great films and more than a few stinkers, but I've found that's always the way with FrightFest. My first full weekend was back in 2003, and boy, things have changed a lot since then. It's now spread over 5 days in the massive 1,300 seat Empire 1 screen in Leicester Sq. This is both a benefit and a determent I feel - bigger and better screen but more people (and there are one or two I've come to recognise over the years as people to avoid at all costs).

Unfortunately, it's near impossible to spot anyone in a crowd when you're only 5'1 and everyone else towers over you, or simply walks straight into you as they assume you're a gap in the crowd... so there were a lot of folks from Twitter I wished I'd gotten the chance to say hello to, or at least chatted to more than just in passing. There's also my crippling shyness to take into account, the pinnacle of which saw me about 3 feet away from Gareth Edwards, director of Monsters, in The Phoenix unable to say how much I enjoyed the film. My networking and social interaction skills could, needless to say, do with improving.

I spent most of the weekend with my mum, a few of my friends were a little taken aback when I said she was coming with me, but really she's the only person I know who'd be willing to go with me and actually enjoy FrightFest. After all she was who introduced me to film and to horror in particular as a child. She hadn't been since 2004, but thoroughly enjoyed it this year and plans on going again. We were also lucky to have decent seats. Last year I was in row D and really struggled with subtitled films in particular, this year I was in J and it was a vast improvement, despite the guy next to me being a little odd and having an unnaturally loud laugh. Luckily he only showed up for a handful of films so I mostly had an empty seat next to me.

Thursday ended up being a bit of a wash out for me, literally... my phone died, I got rained on, my umbrella broke, I'd been up since 6am, my cupcakes didn't like being in my bag all day, I had wet feet all the way through both films and was in a thoroughly bad mood. The two films I saw on Thursday didn't do much to cheer me up either. I saw Hatchet back in 2006 when it was at FrightFest and wasn't overly impressed, I was always confused as to why people liked it so I didn't have high hopes for Hatchet II. I understand the genre and that it's supposed to be funny and have clunky dialogue and silly death scenes, but really to me it's just boring and it looked liked they'd knocked it out in about a week for a quick cash in. I really like Adam Green, he seems like a really nice guy, and he showed real talent with Frozen, but this really just wasn't for me. Primal didn't fare much better, a piss poor ozploitation film where the only things shocking were the acting and awful special effects. It was your usual 5 kids go camping in the woods and get knocked off one by one, this time by some kind of sucky slug demon thing in a cave that infected them and turned the victims into toothy ninjas who wanted to eat people, or at least that's as much as I could figure out about it. Absolute nonsense it was. I guess I can see why two such films were chosen as the crowd tends to be well lubricated and over-excited on the Thursday night and nobody really wants a film you'd need to think about too much, but still, the barrel was well and truly scraped this year. I missed Dead Cert in favour of putting dry shoes on and from what I heard I'm glad I did.

I decided to pass on Eggshells on Friday morning, I just wasn't in the mood for something like that, although I may have to check it out on DVD soon. I'd seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on the big screen back in 1998 (I was 16 at the time, so I guess they weren't really checking IDs at cinemas much back then...) when it was finally released in the UK uncut. At the time I remembered not being particularly impressed and wondering what all the fuss was about, but seeing it again 12 years later I completely disagree with my 16 year old self and I think it has hardly aged a day. The cinematography and sound particularly stand out and the opening sequence still gives me the creeps. The Q&A with Tobe Hooper was also interesting despite the fact that he didn't much seem like he wanted to be there. Next up was Isle of Dogs which I really, really wanted so badly to like, but, I just couldn't. It was dreadful. It's so rare you see a female director at FrightFest and it was a real shame her film was one of the biggest stinkers this year. It had the production values of a dodgy ITV drama with poor continuity, stilted dialogue and a relentless noisy score. A real shame. I was supposed to see F at Bloodlines in Leicester all the way back in March but had passed it up due to not having been impressed with Johannes Roberts previous efforts, however I decided to give it a go this time and boy was I surprised. It's an extremely competent thriller with some great acting, particularly from David Schofield in a rare leading role. "Hoodie Horror" seems to have become a uniquely British addition to the horror canon since Eden Lake a few years ago and F has got to be the best example of this subgenre to date. I'm not sure if I was just relieved to finally see a film I liked (that wasn't something I'd seen before) but this really stood out for me as being one of the best films shown this year, definitely one too look out for. Red Hill was also far better than I was expecting it to be, a not entirely original but entertaining Aussie neo-western about a big city police officer relocating to a small town and having to deal with an escaped murderer hell bent on revenge... I had kind of figured out what was going on halfway through but I still enjoyed this. There should be more movies were Aborigines kill stupid white Australians. I missed Alien vs. Ninja, it's not just my thing and I probably would have fallen asleep anyway.

Saturday started out fairly abysmally for me, I didn't like Cherry Tree Lane at all, it was extremely derivative and played up to every white middle-class Daily Mail reader's worst nightmare. Right down to the two central black characters, one who could barely read and the other a rapist with a crack addict mother. I loved London to Brighton but I'm starting to wonder if perhaps Paul Andrew Williams is a bit of a one hit wonder after The Cottage and now this. Things got even worst with The Tortured, which was torture in itself to watch, a truly awful film which seemed like one giant montage sequence that had some of the most god awful dialogue and acting I've ever seen. The "twist" at the end was also absolutely fucking ridiculous. There were plot holes as big as entire continents in this film... one to avoid at all costs. I'd heard bad things about 13hrs and I just didn't think I could sit through another awful film, so I passed on that to have an extended lunch before the I Spit On Your Grave remake. I had a real dilemma with this film. I don't have the time or energy to do a full write up at the moment, as I have a lot to say, but I do plan on doing a blog specifically about this film (and the original) at a later date, so keep an eye out. There were certainly some creative death scenes but overall I think the content of this film in this context was poor taste, do we really need an anal rape scene in a film clearly aimed and marketed towards the popcorn munching Saw/Platinum Dunes audience? I'm not so sure. I also thought the portrayal of the "retard" was fairly offensive, not to mention it also portrays every male character as a sadistic, remorseless rapist. Nice. So after a day of mediocre and downright awful films, boy was I glad for Monsters. What an achievement... hats off to the director who reportedly made it for around £15,000 and did all the special effects on his laptop. Without spoiling too much, it's a little bit like Lost in Translation meets some giant alien octopuses. The acting was great, and I think given that the script was largely improvised the director made a wise choice in hiring a real life couple to play the two leads. Shooting on location with local people in the smaller roles really helps give this film a sense of genuine realness and believability even though it's a story concerning giant aliens that have taken over most of Mexico. Don't get me wrong, it's not flawless, but when you consider the budget, shooting locations and time constraints it's an extremely impressive debut film from Gareth Edwards, who is undoubtedly one to watch out for in the future. I missed Dream Home in favour of consuming far too much alcohol, but judging from some reactions I'm regretting doing so. I'll definitly be giving it a watch when it comes out on DVD.



Part 2 to follow shortly.

FAIL

Well, I completely failed at doing anything I set out to do after I had the tonsillectomy. I didn't expect to be quite as sick as I was and therefore completely neglected my blog writing/movie watching/book reading.

It's been 3 weeks since my operation and I'm finally starting to feel somewhat normal although my sense of taste is completely shot.

Film4 FrightFest 2010 Line-up

Main Empire screen
Thursday 26th August

6.30 - HATCHET II
9.15 - PRIMAL
11.15 - DEAD CERT


Main Empire screen
Friday 27th August

10.15 - EGGSHELLS
1.00 - TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
3.15 - TOTAL ICON TOBE HOOPER
5.30 - ISLE OF DOGS
7.45 - F
9.15 - RED HILL
11.30 ALIEN VS. NINJA

Discovery Screen
Friday 27th August

10.45 - BURNING BRIGHT
12.45 - THE CLINIC
3.00 - FINALE
5.00 - WOUND
7.15 - OUTCAST
9.45 - HIGANJIMA: ESCAPE
FROM VAMPIRE ISLAND


Main Empire screen
Saturday 28th August

11.00 - CHERRY TREE LANE
1.15 - THE TORTURED
3.15 - 13 HOURS
6.30 - I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE
9.00 - MONSTERS
11.30 - DREAM HOME

Discovery Screen
Saturday 28th August

11.00 - CHRISTOPHER ROTH
1.15 - FAN BOYS
3.30 AFTER.LIFE
6.35 - FINALE
9.00 - BURNING BRIGHT


Main Empire screen
Sunday 29th August

11.00 - THE PACK
1.00 - ANDY NYMAN'S QUIZ FROM HELL
+ FILM4 FRIGHTFEST INTERNATIONAL
SHORT FILM SHOWCASE
4.00 - WE ARE WHAT WE ARE
6.30 - KABOOM
9.00 - A SERBIAN FILM
11.30 - THE LOVED ONES

Discovery Screen
Sunday 29th August

11.00 - HIGANJIMA: ESCAPE
FROM VAMPIRE ISLAND
1.30 - OUTCAST
4.05 - WOUND
6.35 - AMER
9.05 - THE CLINIC


Main Empire screen
Monday 30th August

11.15 - VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC,
CENSORSHIP AND VIDEOTAPE
1.15 - THE DEAD
3.30 - BEDEVILLED
6.30 - RED WHITE & BLUE
9.00 - THE LAST EXORCISM

Discovery Screen
Monday 30th August

11.00 - AMER
1.30 - AFTER.LIFE
3.35 - FAN BOYS
6.35 - CHRISTOPHER ROTH

I'm super excited about A Serbian Film, Red White & Blue, Kaboom, The Loved Ones and Monsters. Also curious about Primal, Red Hill, We Are What We Are and The Dead. Overall a pretty good line-up although I have to say Dead Cert and the I Spit On Your Grave remake look missable...

Photograph

I just came across this picture, and wow...

While I'm on the subject of Isabella Rossellini click here.

My impending confinement

The first time I had my tonsils removed was in 1989, but those persistent pesky fuckers grew the fuck back so I'm having Tonsillectomy Round 2 in 5 days time. Apparently it would be very bad for me to get some kind of infection right after surgery, so I'm not supposed to leave my house for 2 weeks after I get out of hospital... 2 weeks! In a bid to stop myself sitting on the sofa watching awful daytime TV for the entire time I figured I should set some goals to ensure I actually do something productive:

1. Finish blogging about my favourite horror movies.

2. Write AT LEAST 1000 words of my book each day.

3. Watch one film a day that I have never seen before but have been meaning to watch for ages.

4. Reorganise my books. They are a mess and piled up all over my flat.

5. Get back into the habit of regularly updating my blog. Not that anybody reads it*.



*Most of the hits on my blog seem to come from people google imaging the Dustin Diamond porno movie, which I once mentioned...

9. Don't Look Now (1973)

"This one who's blind. She's the one that can see."

I first saw Don't Look Now in my A-Level Film Studies class when I was about 17 and I'm fairly sure we watched Performance at around about the same time, which I also love. Don't Look Now is a rare gem in that it properly unnerved me the first time I saw it, I think a lot of this is down to Roeg's unique skill as a director and the wonderful performances from Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie who are completely believable in their roles are grieving parents.

Don't Look Now is based on a short story by Daphne Du Maurier about a couple, Laura and John Baxter, on a working vacation in Italy shortly after the accidental death of their young daughter. While John works restoring an ancient church Laura befriends two elderly sisters, one of whom is blind and claims to be psychic. John also suffers premonitions of a sort, although you're never sure how much is real and how much is a figment of his distraught mind. This is also set against the stunning backdrop of Venice which is being plagued by a serious of grisly murders.

There is of course the infamous sex scene, which led to much speculation as to whether or not Sutherland and Christie actually had sex on camera. The scene itself was explicit for its day and unusual in it's tenderness and frank portrayal of marital sex. It's interesting that so much focus in film is put on illicit encounters and young lovers, often forgetting the intimacy and passion between long term partners who we often forget, are still capable of loving each other and enjoying their sex life, further highlighted by the scene being intercut with the innocuous business of getting ready to go out afterward.

The film is very much preoccupied with the fear of love and death, primarily the fear of losing someone you that love. It's extremely effective and each scene is perfectly tense and creates a gradual build up of unease culminating in a surreal and shocking ending that is not easy to forget. It's truly a masterpiece of British cinema as a whole, not just within the horror genre.

Weird Night

As I was working on what I was going to write about Don't Look Now it got me thinking about Nic Roeg which led me to The Man Who Fell to Earth... I remember an evening on BBC 2 late '94 when I would have been 12 years old called Weird Night where they showed a series of unusual TV programmes and movies. It's mentioned here on the BFI website, but I swear on my life that The Man Who Fell to Earth was also shown (can anyone confirm this?). Needless to say it really had a profound effect on me, it was one of those instances that properly changed my understanding and appreciation of film and probably life in general. My mum said to me I should stay up and watch it as I was a huge fan of Bowie and she said I'd probably like Martin a lot too, so that's exactly what I did. Seeing Romero's Martin, David Lynch's short The Grandmother and The Man Who Fell to Earth is a lot of cult weirdness right there to absorb at the grand old age of 12. I remember sitting on the sofa struggling to stay awake at 2am but so utterly enthralled that I couldn't stop watching.

There are a few stand out events from my childhood that I think really had an impact on who and what I am as a person today... going to see a stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on my 8th birthday, watching my first 18-rated video (The Howling 3), going to my first show (The Cure), and Weird Night which introduced me to 3 of my favourite filmmakers all in the space of a few hours.

100 Years of Horror

I obviously haven't been paying enough attention, as it's June, but apparently 2010 marks the 100 year anniversary of the horror film, and more specifically it was on 16th March 1910 when J. Searle Dawley's Frankenstein was first shown. To mark this momentous occasion I will endeavour to write a blog on each of my top ten favourites of the genre. Note that there is a big difference between "favourite" and "best", I'm simply going with my own personal preferences.

After much deliberation, actually more like 10 minutes, here is my list:

1. An American Werewolf in London
2. The Thing
3. Let the Right One In
4. The Wicker Man
5. Braindead
6. Evil Dead 2
7. Martin
8. Near Dark
9. Don't Look Now
10. Ginger Snaps

I'll try and do one a week, but I am quite lazy so that's not a promise.

Clip joint: Cats

Here's something that I wrote for The Guardian.

Clip joint: Cats

Some of the wording has been changed around quite a bit, but it's my first paid article so I'm quite pleased!

Sad News...

...although not entirely unexpected.

Guillermo Del Toro quits as director of The Hobbit.

I would love to see Peter Jackson do it instead, but that ain't gonna happen so my money is on Neill Blomkamp.

The Killer Inside Me

Since it first screened at Sundance earlier this year there has been a lot of controversy surrounding Michael Winterbottom's film adaptation of Jim Thompson's 1952 pulp fiction novel The Killer Inside Me due to it's graphic depiction of violence against women. It is also central to a lot of what has been written and discussed about the film, something which I think is overshadowing the fact that it's a very competent and well acted neo-noir from a director who effortlessly flits from genre to genre (was I the only person who liked Code 46?), churning out at least one film a year and yet remaining shockingly underrated.

The Killer Inside Me is a faithful adaptation of Thompson's novel, about a deputy sheriff in small town Texas called John Ford (Casey Affleck) who underneath his mild mannered facade is a cunning and depraved sociopath. The story is told entirely from his perspective, so it's not often clear what's going on until later as we only know what Ford knows and even he isn't a particularly reliable narrator. He is tasked with checking up on local prostitute Joyce Lakeland (Jessica Alba) who he quickly enters into a sadomasochistic sexual relationship with despite already being with local girl next door Amy Stanton (Kate Hudson).

Joyce awakens what Lou calls his "sickness", something that through a series of double crosses and blackmail attempts leads him to commit murder, first in an act of revenge and later in an attempt to cover his own steps. But as the bodies mount up there's only so far his confidence and lies can get him.

Casey Affleck is excellent as Lou Ford, after impressive turns in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Rober Ford and Gone Baby Gone he is fast becoming one of the best young actors around today. I've never seen Jessica Alba in anything I've liked before and I don't think Kate Hudson has made a decent film since Almost Famous, but both girls give brave performances here.

There are elements of both Blue Velvet and American Psycho; the feeling that if you scratch beneath the surface of small town America, behind the white picket fences and uniformly mowed lawns there's always something dark and sinister lurking. Ford is also as unreliable as Patrick Batemen and you're never sure how much is real and how much is his perception of what's going on giving the film a constant air of ambiguity, which I think worked well and without there could probably be a more solid argument against the violence and sexual acts depicted.

Overall I found the film to be rewarding, both as a fan of the book and as cinema goer. The violence, I think, is justified. As I mentioned before the film is told entirely from Lou's perspective and he's a misogynistic murdering sociopath - so really, it's not going to be very nice. If you don't think you can watch a film about a murderer (and the clue's in the title) then don't go and see it, simple. For me vapid romcoms, such as the recent Jennifer Lopez vehicle The Back-Up Plan are far more offensive, misguided and misogynistic than anything in The Killer Inside Me.

There was a Q & A with Winterbottom after the screening I attended and he was berated by a couple of audience members on soap boxes who completely missed the point of the film and felt the need to express as much in an ineloquent manner. I thought Winterbottom explained himself well and there is nothing on the screen that isn't in the book. The violence ensures that Ford is never a sympathetic character and to be honest I think that if he'd glossed over the violence he'd probably get just as much grief for making it titillating. We're all so used to seeing stylised Hollywood violence on our screens that we forget how horrible it is. If someone is beaten to death, it's not going to be over with quickly or neatly and The Killer Inside Me shows violence for what it truly is - a deplorable act. Although I have to say, and maybe I'm just desensitised, I didn't think it was nearly as bad as everyone is making it out to be. But I guess a little media hype and controversy can only help the film gain notoriety and a wider audience.

The Killer Inside Me is released on 8th June 2010.

Women in Horror Month

I just discovered this website.

As someone who has been championing the women in horror cause for many years I was very excited to come across this initiative to celebrate women as writers, directors, aficionados etc. of horror not just as busty scream queens in movies solely aimed at men who never leave their bedrooms. There are tonnes of talented, smart female horror fans out there that deserve to be taken seriously as an audience and as filmmakers in their own right. We need to stand up and claim it for ourselves to dispel the myth that horror is just for men.

I'm a girl, I like make-up and clothes and kittens but I also like horror and I take it very seriously (I wrote my dissertation on body horror at university), I like sci-fi, dystopian, post-apocalyptic stuff too, I play videogames and go to film festivals and conventions, and not just because my boyfriend goes but because I want to. I find it disheartening that so few women take an interest in genre film and that the only women who get any attention for their work are the nubile scantily glad young actresses who have all the fan boys slavering at the bit.

In fact there needs to be more women in film full stop, not just in horror, I have my fingers and toes crossed that Kathryn Bigelow takes home the best director oscar, and not just because she'd be the first woman to do so but because she deserves it.



Come on ladies, lets show them how it's done!

BAFTAs

This years nominations are as follows:

BEST FILM
Avatar
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire
Up In The Air

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
An Education
Fish Tank
In The Loop
Moon
Nowhere Boy

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
LUCY BAILEY, ANDREW THOMPSON, ELIZABETH MORGAN HEMLOCK, DAVID PEARSON Directors, Producers – Mugabe and the White African
ERAN CREEVY Writer/Director – Shifty
STUART HAZELDINE Writer/Director – Exam
DUNCAN JONES Director – Moon
SAM TAYLOR-WOOD Director – Nowhere Boy

DIRECTOR
James Cameron - Avatar
Neill Blomkamp - District 9
Lone Scherfig - An Education
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Jon Lucas, Scott Moore - The Hangover
Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter - Up

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell - District 9
Nick Hornby - An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche - In The Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up In The Air

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Broken Embraces
Coco Before Chanel
Let The Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

ANIMATED FILM
Coraline
Fantastic Mr Fox
Up

LEADING ACTOR
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Andy Serkis - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

LEADING ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Audrey Tautou - Coco Before Chanel

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alec Baldwin - It’s Complicated
Christian McKay - Me and Orson Welles
Alfred Molina - An Education
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne-Marie Duff - Nowhere Boy
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Mo'Nique - Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Kristin Scott-Thomas - Nowhere Boy

MUSIC
Avatar - James Horner
Crazy Heart - T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton
Fantastic Mr Fox - Alexandre Desplat
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - Chaz Jankel
Up - Michael Giacchino

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar - Mauro Fiore
District 9 - Trent Opaloch
The Hurt Locker - Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds - Robert Richardson
The Road - Javier Aguirresarobe

EDITING
Avatar - Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron
District 9 - Julian Clarke
The Hurt Locker - Bob Murawski, Chris Innis
Inglourious Basterds - Sally Menke
Up In The Air - Dana E. Glauberman

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Inglourious Basterds

COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
A Single Man
The Young Victoria

SOUND
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Up

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek

MAKE UP & HAIR
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

SHORT ANIMATION
The Gruffalo
The Happy Duckling
Mother of Many

SHORT FILM
14
I Do Air
Jade
Mixtape
Off Season

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Jesse Eisenberg
Nicholas Hoult
Carey Mulligan
Tahar RahimKristen Stewart

Bold - Who I would like to win Italic - Who I think will win

The Best TV of the Decade

1. Red Riding
2. Six Feet Under
3. The Thick of It
4. Battlestar Galactica
5. Planet Earth
6. Misfits
7. Sopranos
8. Being Human
9. Mad Men
10. Flight of the Conchords
11. Freaks and Geeks
12. True Blood
13. Skins
14. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
15. Carnivale
16. Lost
17. Fringe
18. Veronica Mars
19. The Simpsons
20. State of Play
21. The Street
22. Boy A
23. Nathan Barley
24. Gavin and Stacey
25. Mighty Boosh
26. Brasseye Special - "Paedogeddon"
27. Black Books
28. Gilmore Girls
29. Shameless
30. Bloody Sunday


(I haven't seen all of Deadwood or The Wire, so couldn't count them)

My Top 100 Films of the Decade

Okay, so here is my list of the top 100 films of the decade (in my humble opinion), some are there because they are great films and others because I simply enjoyed them. I had originally done a top 50, with blurbs about each film, but I accidentally deleted most of them then the stupid blog autosaved and I couldn't be bothered to write it all out again so you're just getting a list, sorry...


1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003, Peter Jackson)*

2. Dead Man's Shoes (2004, Shane Meadows)

3. Let the Right One In (2008, Tomas Alfredson)

4. The Proposition (2005, John Hillcoat)

5. Control (2007, Anton Corbijn)

6. Hunger (2008, Steve McQueen)

7. Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch)

8. Fish Tank (2009 Andrea Arnold)

9. Pan's Labyrinth (2006, Guillermo del Toro)

10. The Road (2009, John Hillcoat)**

11. The Mist (2007, Frank Darabont)

12. 28 Days Later (2002, Danny Boyle)

13. Amelie (2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

14. Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee)

15. Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)

16. Up (2009, Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)

17. District 9 (2009, Neill Blomkamp)

18. My Summer of Love (2004, Pawel Pawlikowski)

19. In Bruges (2008, Martin McDonagh)

20. Moon (2009, Duncan Jones)

21. There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson)

22. The Hurt Locker (2008, Kathryn Bigelow)

23. No Country for Old Men (2007, Joel and Ethan Coen)

24. Oldboy (2003, Chan-wook Park)

25. Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki)

26. Grizzly Man (2005, Werner Herzog)

27. Donnie Darko (2001, Richard Kelly)

28. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007, Tim Burton)

29. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007, Cristian Mungiu)

30. Atonement (2007, Joe Wright)

31. Y Tu Mamá También (2001, Alfonso Cuarón)

32. A History of Violence (2005, David Cronenberg)

33. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007, Andrew Dominik)

34. Brick (2005, Rian Johnson)

35. Amores Perros (2000, Alejandro González Iñárritu)

36. City of God (2002, Fernando Meirelles)

37. Little Miss Sunshine (2006, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris)

38. Children of Men (2006, Alfonso Cuarón)

39. WALL·E (2008,Andrew Stanton)

40. Battle Royale (2000, Kinji Fukasaku)

41. The Dark Knight (2008, Chirstopher Nolan)

42. The Hangover (2009, Todd Phillips)

43. American Psycho (2000, Mary Harron)

44. Être et Avoir (2002, Nicolas Philibert)

45. Ginger Snaps (2000, John Fawcett)

46. Head-On (2004, Fatih Akin)

47. The Devil's Rejects (2005, Rob Zombie

48. The Piano Teacher (2001, Michael Haneke)

49. Mysterious Skin (2004, Gregg Araki)

50. In the Loop (2009, Armando Iannucci)

51. Zombieland (2009, Ruben Fleischer)

52. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004, Michael Moore)

53. Secretary (2002, Steven Shainberg)

54. The Escapist (2008, Rupert Wyatt)

55. Bourne Trilogy (2002, Doug Liman 2004, 2007, Paul Greengrass)*

56. The Last King of Scotland (2006, Kevin Macdonald)

57. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Gore Verbinski)

58. The Descent (2005, Neil Marshall)

59. This is England (2006, Shane Meadows)

60. 24 Hour Party People (2002, Michael Winterbottom)

61. Requiem for a Dream (2000, Darren Aronofsky)

62. Into the Wild (2007, Sean Penn)

63. Capturing the Friedmans (2003, Andrew Jarecki)

64. Lost in Translation (2003, Sofia Coppola)

65. Motorcycle Diaries (2004, Walter Salles)

66. London to Brighton (2006, Paul Andrew Williams)

67. Red Road (2006, Andrea Arnold)

68. Ghost World (2001, Terry Zwigoff)

69. In America (2002, Jim Sheridan)

70. Gangster No. 1 (2000, Paul McGuigan)

71. In the Cut (2003, Jane Campion)

72. Taxi to the Darkside (2007, Alex Gibney)

73. Where the Wild Things Are (2009, Spike Jonze)

74. Memento (2000, Christopher Nolan)

75. Hidden (2005, Michael Haneke)

76. Before Sunset (2004, Richard Linklater)

77. Waltz With Bashir (2008, Ari Folman)

78. Inside (2007, Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury)

79. Stranger Than Fiction (2006, Marc Forster)

80. An Inconvenient Truth (2006, Davis Guggenheim)

81. Bad Education (2004, Pedro Almodóvar)

82. Monsters, Inc. (2001, Pete Docter and David Silverman)

83. Switchblade Romance (2003, Alexandre Aja)

84. L.I.E. (2001, Michael Cuesta)

85. Sicko (2007, Michael Moore)

86. Milk (2008, Gus Van Sant)

87. Irreversible (2002, Gaspar Noé)

88. Chopper (2000, Andrew Dominik)

89. Far from Heaven (2002, Todd Haynes)

90. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009, Niels Arden Oplev)**

91. Gran Torino (2008, Clint Eastwood)

92. Sexy Beast (2000, Jonathan Glazer)

93. Code 46 (2003, Michael Winterbottom)

94. Revolutionary Road (2008, Sam Mendes)

95. Teeth (2007, Mitchell Lichtenstein)

96. Bubba Ho-tep (2002, Don Coscarelli)

97. The Woodsman (2004, Nicole Kassell)

98. The House of the Devil (2009, Ti West)

99. Psycho Beach Party (2000, Robert Lee King)

100. Carriers (2009, Àlex Pastor and David Pastor)


* I'm counting trilogies as one, if you don't like it - screw you!
** I know these aren't technically released in the UK until next year, but I saw them in 2009 so I'm still counting them.

The best year was 2007 with 14 entries and the worst was 2003 with 8 entries.

Procrastination and Women's Toilet Politics

I am still midway through my top 50 films of the decade list, I've only managed 22 out of the 50 blurbs, but I'm getting there. Slowly. I will have it finished by next week... then I can start on my other lists.

Another matter which has pretty much always subconsciously been a factor in my life but that I haven't really given too much thought until recently is bathroom politics. This is something that I don't think really affects men to the same extent, the primary worry being whether or not the guy next to you is staring at your penis. But for women, public urination (or god forbid, a number two) is like a mine field of embarrassments and potential faux pas.

It's especially bad in the work place, where you have to pee in the company of those you actually know, but who aren't really your friends. At my work there are 2 toilets. This proves particularly troublesome as it's only ever going to be you or the other person who is responsible, you worry about peeing too loudly, you worry about peeing too quietly, you worry about inadvertently passing wind within ear shot of another human being, but worst of all is "The Dead Lock". Imagine the setting... 2 otherwise perfectly reasonable and normal women in adjoining cubicles, they both desperately need to pee but fear the other hearing them so they sit there in silence, wishing the other one would simply just get on with it... the silence drags on and on until both become completely incapable of peeing at all. Then there's the fear of leaving, what if they leave at the same time as you and realise who it was they were in pee dead lock with? Usually it's customary for one person to give in and leave so the other can then pee anonymously in private. Even if you both manage to pee at the same time there's always the awkward moments afterwards when you have to wash your hands next to each other and politely say hello both painfully aware that the other has just heard you pee, or when you've almost finished just as someone else comes into the toilet so you have to rush as quickly as possible to leave before they do. Worst of all the the person who just doesn't care, the person who pisses like a race horse, farts like a man, then appears from the cubicle as if nothing has happened, gives you a cheery hello whilst reaching over you to get to the soap and then attempts to engage you in meaningless conversation about hand towels. The horror!

Gah... like I said, it's a mine field out there! So next time you're paranoid that some dude is staring at your cock, just be grateful you're not a woman.

Best of the Decade

Wow... so, those last 10 years sure flew by quickly, huh?

As a result I shall be jumping on the blogging/media bandwagon and creating various lists of my favourite films, TV shows, books, games and music of the decade.

I'm not going to set a particular length, mainly because I could easily name 50 great movies from the past decade and maybe only 1 or 2 albums (I'm bad with music post 1997...)

So I guess I better put my thinking cap on...