1st Victor Halperin

Getting back on the PhD research train after being focused on making up lost ground thanks to the conference, this low-budget indie horror benefits from a magnetic Bela Lugosi performance and a real eye for visuals, but gets bogged down by a static pace, especially in the second half. The titular zombie is a young woman bought to the island of Haiti by her fiancée for their wedding. A wealthy plantation owner, however, takes a fancy to…

2nd Whit Stillman (after Metropolitan, before Barcelona, 'The Cosmopolitans' and Love & Friendship)

Rewatched with Ben Nash after dinner last night, this film is just a sheer delight to revisit after nearly six years away. How could a film about a group of friends during the final months of the disco movement be anything BUT delightful? When I was a lonely teenager back in grey Northampton, the idea of these smart, sophisticated twenty-somethings in their suits and dresses chatting until all…

1st Rob Zombie

This might a bit of a long read, so bear with.

My exposure to Rob Zombie was, until recently, limited. Largely this was because I tended to believe the great mass of people who said that he was a tasteless, unqualified hack who glorified sadism and violence against women. Recently, however, I've been forced to adjust my perceptions due to my interactions with fellow Southampton uni student and Letterboxd user Ben Nash. He, and a small cadre…

1st Kevin Connor

So I was supposed to see a friend for dinner tonight but exhaustion has got the better of me, so I'm stuck in with a double-bill of horror. First up is the final Amicus portmanteau, and my favourite so far in my watching. Connor has a natural touch with horror that Baker and Freddie Francis frankly lack, and he coaxes some great performances out of his starry cast. The stories all have a nice bit of social…