REVIEWS

A liminal space is a strange, disquieting place- eerily distorted, uncannily familiar; just plain wrong. Few creations have weaponised that feeling as effectively as the Backrooms phenomenon- a piece of internet horror fiction built around the idea of an endless, maze-like area one can accidentally “fall into,” a parallel reality made up of empty, repeating rooms. What began as a single image posted online evolved into a vast mythology centred on an endless maze of yellow wal

“Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it” is an aphorism as old as time itself, that storytellers have spent decades exploring. In Penny Marshall’s ‘Big,’ a kid makes a wish to be taller and wakes up as a thirty-year-old Tom Hanks (whether that’s a dream or a nightmare is up to you), while in something like W.W. Jacob’s ‘The Monkey’s Paw,’ a granted wish is basically a guarantee of suffering to come. ‘Obsession’ is the latest film to explore the idea of

John Boorman’s ‘Deliverance’ has had an enormous impact on cinema. Its legacy is enormous: ever since its release, films have been haunted by the idea that a short detour into the wilderness can unravel the entire fabric of civilisation; that far from the city, strangers become prey. From ‘Southern Comfort’ to ‘Wolf Creek,’ filmmakers have often returned to the primal fear of the rural unknown, showing that Boorman’s film carved a cinematic wound that will never heal. Fabri

Corporate, male-CEO culture has long been fertile ground for cinema. Filmmakers have repeatedly returned to the boardroom as a stage for cruelty, ambition and the performance of masculinity. From the venomous mentorship of ‘Swimming with Sharks’ to the calculated misogyny of ‘In the Company of Men’ and the narcissistic violence of ‘American Psycho’, these stories expose a world where “locker-room talk” becomes corporate strategy, and emotional detachment is treated as a profe

Sometimes an actor’s entire career pivots on a single film. Bruce Willis transformed from the wise-cracking charmer of ‘Moonlighting’ into a full-blown action icon with ‘Die Hard’, while Liam Neeson unexpectedly carved out a second life as a tough-as-nails leading man after ‘Taken.’ Although she made ‘Æon Flux,’ years before, Charlize Theron stunned audiences as the badass Furiosa in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road,’ and Bob Odenkirk rewrote expectations with ‘Nobody’, revealing a steely

Action heroes dominated 1980s and 90s cinema marquees. Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis were at the top of their games, while Jackie Chan became an international icon. Superstars like Harrison Ford, Kurt Russell and Mel Gibson balanced action roles with major dramatic work, and even Steven Seagal was taken seriously (for a little while, anyway). Jean-Claude Van Damme was one such name in lights- the flexible Belgian dynamo who combined Willis’ charm with Chan’s acrob

Stories of isolation and survival have long served as mirrors for the societies that produce them. First published in 1719, Daniel Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’ set the template for the lone castaway wrestling with both nature and self. Later works, from J. M. Barrie’s ‘The Admirable Crichton’ to William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’, used the desert-island scenario to interrogate class, authority and the ease with which social order gives way to brutality. By the late 20th centu

Christmas is said to be the most wonderful time of the year. A season of goodwill, forced cheer and aggressively jingled joy. It’s also one of horror’s most fertile settings. From ‘Gremlins,’ to ‘Black Christmas’, and even the most recent addition in the ‘Terrifier’ series, blood has flowed like eggnog. The appeal lies in the clash: warmth and joy colliding with violence and dread. Christmas promises togetherness and safety; horror tears those promises apart. Charles E. Sel

Killer-animal movies are surprisingly hard to get right. With obvious exceptions like ‘The Birds’ and ‘Jaws,’ they are almost always schlocky. Yet, there is a surprisingly meaningful difference between good schlock and bad. The sheer ridiculousness of campy B-movie delights like ‘The Swarm’ and ‘The Killer Shrews’ can be a genuine pleasure, while drearier offerings such as Louis Morneau’s ‘Bats’ underwhelm at every turn. Johannes Roberts’ ‘Primate’ is the latest entrant in

Until shows like ‘The Last of Us’ and ‘Fallout’, decent video game adaptations were almost non-existent. For whatever reason, they proved an elusive nut to crack. From the bizarre ‘Super Mario Bros.’ surreally starring Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper, to Steven E. de Souza’s ridiculously camp ‘Street Fighter’ and what feels like about fifty unbelievably trashy Uwe Boll-helmed efforts, there are so many bad examples to draw on, it almost feels like its own genre. ‘Return to Si

Some films are good, many are bad and a few downright ugly. However, even the worst can be redeemed by a strong performance. ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’ is pretty lousy, yet Alan Rickman’s delightfully camp Sheriff of Nottingham makes it worthwhile. Morgan Freeman very nearly saves ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’ from the trash heap of cinema history, while Gene Hackman elevated countless films- from ‘Superman IV: The Quest for Peace’ to ‘Loose Cannons’- showing that while

In 2025, Danny Boyle resurrected the ‘28 Days Later’ franchise with ‘28 Years Later’, a bold addition that split audiences straight down the middle. Plenty of viewers embraced its ambition and found it a gripping, atmospheric return to the Rage-infected world, but others were far less convinced. For some, the film’s bleak mood felt oppressive, its runtime indulgent and its somewhat restrained approach to gore a disappointing departure from the series’ feral energy. Almost exa

Film noir has always thrived on shadow- moral, psychological and literal. Born from post-war disillusionment, it evokes rain-slicked streets and smoke-filled rooms, where cynical detectives navigate worlds already rotting from within. Though closely tied to mid-20 th -century Hollywood, noir was never confined to American cities alone. In Europe, as well as in Soviet and Eastern Bloc cinema, it surfaced in fractured, disguised forms. In the Soviet Union, where film was meant

Although they seem ubiquitous nowadays, film remakes and reboots are really nothing new. In fact, they go as far back as 1896, when Georges Méliès remade Louis Lumière's 43 second short ‘Partie de Cartes’ as the comparatively expansive 67 second ‘Une Partie de Cartes.’ In the decades since, Hollywood has churned out countless remakes- a few inspired, many mediocre and plenty that never should’ve slithered onto screens in the first place. While something of a commercial succe

Park Chan-wook is widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers working today. A versatile multi-talent, he has dabbled in a variety of genres, while leaving his own unmistakable authorial stamp on each. From the operatic revenge of ‘Oldboy’ and the rest of the so-called Vengeance Trilogy, to the melancholic machinations of ‘Decision to Leave’, and even the off-kilter eroticism of ‘Thirst,’ his films are united by an enduring fascination with obsession, violence and moral r

By 1977, Stephen King was rapidly becoming a household name, with the best sellers ‘Carrie’, ‘Salem’s Lot’ and ‘The Shining’ making him...

In 2022, Joseph Kosinski’s ‘Top Gun Maverick’ took the world by storm. A sequel to Tony Scott’s 1986 classic, the Tom Cruise starrer took...

In 2002, Danny Boyle’s ‘28 Days Later’ stormed into cinemas like a blood-soaked bolt of lightning, electrifying a genre that had begun to...

The ever-versatile Nicolas Cage remains one of cinema’s most unpredictable delights. For some, his grounded turns in films like ‘Pig’ and...

Few genres are as seductive or as enduringly popular as the gangster movie. Since the earliest days of cinema- with 1906’s ‘The Black...