Iain Softley’s 2005 thriller The Skeleton Key has a queasily uncertain relationship with race, and I honestly cannot decide if it has stumbled into being unexpectedly clever about it or if it is simply so fearful of setting a foot out of … Continue reading REVIEW: The Skeleton Key (2005)
Joong-man (Bae Seong-woo) labours at his job working at a city sauna, while caring for his ailing mother at home. When he finds a bag packed with money in an abandoned locker he thinks all of his problems have been … Continue reading REVIEW: Beasts Clawing at Straws (2020)
Released in early 1977, John Frankenheimer’s thriller Black Sunday blends crime drama, espionage thriller, action flick, and disaster movie – all while maintaining an unexpected realism. It adapts the debut novel of author Thomas Harris, and indeed foreshadows the double narrative technique … Continue reading REVIEW: Black Sunday (1977)
They can’t all be winners. Despite the presence of cult favourite Maisie Williams (Games of Thrones) and Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who), Julius Berg’s home invasion thriller The Owners is less of a movie and more of a chore. With the plethora … Continue reading REVIEW: The Owners (2020)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this review names and references people who have died. The Last Wave is a 1977 supernatural thriller co-written and directed by Australian filmmaker Peter Weir. It followed his internationally acclaimed 1975 film Picnic … Continue reading REVIEW: The Last Wave (1977)
Six friends go hiking along Virginia’s Appalachian trail, but their curiosity soon leads to deadly consequences in Wrong Turn – a new thriller directed by Mike P. Nelson (The Domestics). It is technically a remake of the 2003 horror film … Continue reading REVIEW: Wrong Turn (2021)
Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen star in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, a mostly superb little Canadian thriller that sits uncomfortably between character-based drama and exploitation picture. It was released in 1976, and directed by Nicolas Gessner from … Continue reading REVIEW: The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)
Jarah (Alexis Lane) is an Aboriginal woman raised on a Christian mission with a husband and daughter (Dalara Williams). After her husband Waru (Shaka Cook) enlists to fight in World War II – on the false promise of more rights … Continue reading REVIEW: The Flood (2020)
A Californian motorist (Dennis Weaver) becomes the target of a monstrous and anonymous truck, in Steven Spielberg’s 1971 made-for-television film Duel – adapted by Richard Matheson from his own short story. It is an interesting step in Spielberg’s career. While his … Continue reading REVIEW: Duel (1971)
In Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Lodge, a father leaves his two grieving children alone in a winter cabin with his new girlfriend while they mourn their mother’s death. If nothing else, The Lodge may be 2020’s winner for “Worst Father of … Continue reading REVIEW: The Lodge (2019)
