film and disc news, views and reviews with a non-mainstream bias

A brilliant but obsessed surgeon goes to extreme lengths to aid his injured daughter in Eyes Without a Face, Georges Franju’s 1960 noir and horror-laced gem of French cinéma fantastique. In a review seriously delayed by work on the new site, Slarek recalls his first encounter with this personal favourite and enjoys its new UHD incarnation from the BFI.
The 1972 Hammer thriller Fear in the Night, starring Judy Geeson, Joan Collins, Ralph Bates and Peter Cushing, will be released as a UHD/Blu-ray edition in February from StudioCanal.

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Hilary and Jackie, the story of celebrated cellist Jacqueline du Pré, featuring Oscar-nominated performances from Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths, is released on Blu-ray by the BFI. Review by Gary Couzens.
Things go rapidly downhill for an honourable samurai when he agrees to take the blame for the crime of another to protect his clan in The Betrayal [Daisatsujin Orochi], Tanaka Tokuzō’s compelling and sometimes thrilling blend of jidaigeki drama and superbly staged chanbara swordplay. Slarek sides with the betrayed on Radiance’s welcome recent Blu-ray release.
The BFI’s fourth compilation of Short, Sharp Shocks short films, from nearly-features to less than a minute, is released on Blu-ray. Review by Gary Couzens.
Having been very curious about this series since the teasers started dropping years ago, finally here it is. Or, as of a few weeks ago, there it went. The first TV series based on the 46 year-old cinematic IP, Alien: Earth is upon us. Camus slowly looks around every dark corner…
Jerry Whyte reports from the London Film Festival on two hot tickets: Óliver Laxe’s Sirât and Mascha Schilinksi’s Sound of Falling – riveting, ravishing films, shot in 16mm and 35mm respectively, that transport audiences, even cinema itself to places they’ve not been before.
A young woman starts to fear that a traumatic incident from her childhood is causing her to lose her mind in the 1974 Italian psychological thriller The Perfume of the Lady in Black [Il profumo della signora in nero]. Gort discovers that paranoia can be justified on Indicator’s superb new UHD.

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