Massacre Gun [Minagoroshi no kenjû]

Bridges the gap between the American hard boiled gangster Noir of the 40s/50s and the flashy over violent Yakuza movies of the 70s/80s, and does so very well indeed.

The Silence

Moronic shambles that everybody involved with should be thoroughly embarrassed about.

The Washing Machine [Vortice mortale]

A trio of sisters insist a murder has taken place, but the investigating policeman doesn’t believe them, so they all have sex with him until he changes his mind.

Willy’s Wonderland

An eighties throwback horror movie desperately trying to make itself heard, except Cage doesn’t want any part of it and simply beats the shit out of it at every opportunity.

Phase IV

The humans and their print outs were sometimes a bit dull, but the ants were always fantastic.

Fudoh: The New Generation [Gokudô sengokushi: Fudô]

Why Miike is unparalleled as a director. This was made only 5 years into his directing career, it’s his 19th movie and it’s fucking superb.

Corpse Mania [Si yiu]

Not the brutal bloodbath the title suggests, rather this is a sophisticated hat nod to Argento’s gialli packed with long tracking shots, over the top stabbings and an explanation that is equal parts ‘clever’ and ‘doesn’t actually make any sense’.

Cut And Run

Felt like about four different movies all trying to happen simultaneously and none of them managing with any real level of success.

Father’s Day

Astron-6 redeem themselves after the hideous Manborg with this hymn to all out trash. Not as funny as they think it is, but funny enough that it works.

The Sentinel

Squanders an excellent cast and fucks up a half decent haunted building story.

The Devil Rides Out [The Devil’s Bride]

The apogee of Hammer’s sumptuous style with everybody stiffly delivering baffling nonsense about Black Magic as straight as possible on grandly furnished sets. Did enjoy old goat face, mildly disappointed about the cop out ending.

Devil Fetus [Mo tai]

Starts with a woman fucking a haunted vase and then maintains that level of utter insanity for its entire duration via copious amounts of wizarding, eagle blood and a man being squashed by a sauna.

King. 

Ilsa: She Wolf Of The SS

A riotous concoction of soft porn and gruesome torture that attempts to serve a stark message on Nazi atrocity, but does no such thing.

Mank

A meticulous recreation of 40s cinema used to tell a tale that’s occasionally dull and often listless.

Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia

Typically Peckinpah in that it’s scuzzy, grimy, violent and treats its female character with such disdain that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. And yet despite this it’s undeniably brilliant.

The Girl In Room 2A [La casa della paura]

An absolutely barking mess that starts as a ghost story, then slinks into giallo territory for a bit before descending into a lot of weird cultists torturing girls until three blokes run in and beat the shit out of them all. Also manages to fit in a car exploding off the side of a cliff, somebody getting their face cut off with a sword and possibly the finest mad killer outfit in all of Giallo. King.