Film Reviews by PV

I enjoyed this film - the first hour anyway. No spoilers but the third act made me laugh out loud - a shame as the first and second acts nicely built tension, in a slow but creepy way (do not watch if you want fast action shocker horror!). I liked it.

The acting of the children is really excellent and creepy - totally believable, especially the boy played by an actor called Harvey Scrimshaw, I think. And the 2 creepy little ones. The acting of all the cast is faultless.

This is sort of based on folk tales and also dialogue of real-life 17th C accounts, as at Salem etc, but to be honest it's an almighty mash-up. Mass hysteria caused the Salem witch trials - and the theory that ergot, a fungus in rye which can cause hallucinations in humans was also a factor in the 17th C obsession with witches, that and a general belief in the spiritual back then in Puritan times.

Another criticism is the accents - in the 17th the standard English accent was like the modern West Country of farmers; accent, with a voiced 'R' as in a Bristol accent. It was not pure northern or Yorkshire or Leeds really. The American accent comes from the standard accent in England in the 17th century which resembles a modern West Country accent. That niggles.

Also, subtitles often needed due to naturalism in verbal delivery AKA 'mumbling' as is the modern TV drama fashion too (no-one annunciates any more compared to old movies!)

2 stars. It would be 3 stars were it not for the third act which, in my opinion, was not needed - not that plotline anyway - and the movie should have ended 10 minutes maybe before it does. Shame.

Oh happy days! Remember when people make movies to tell a good story and not tick woke diversity boxes! I think many movies have a 20% white male limit now - the BBC certainly do.

I remember watching this aged about 10 on our rented black and white telly and remember it from them - not all but the demon scenes and slip of paper bits for sure. It's in the same class as other 1950s classics The Midwitch Cuckoos and The Day The Earth Stood Still. Those two (which I also remember watching aged 10/11 on TV) have been remade in recent years - horribly - and that is the true horror. I pray to the gods and demons they never try to remake this wonderful, beautiful, scary, spooky, memorable classic British film.

And yes, of course, Kate Bush sampled the "It's in the trees - it's coming" from the medium scene, actually, not the initial demon experience. Loved that scene, the playing with sound and voices. The camp medium is also spot on!

Acting is great - the US element may not have been in the original MR James short story, I do not know. But handy for US sales, so American interest often shoe-horned into movies, then and now.

As others have said, the main Alistair-Crowley-type character is beautifully played as are so many (Mr Barraclough from Porridge plays the mental patient under hypnosis).

And some scenes are genuinely scary and made me jump - the Halloween scene, for example.

AND for 1957, the special effects are pretty decent too - I am sure kids would watch this and be spooked (so much so when shown on TV the announcer states some scenes may be too scary for younger children; I disagree - show it to all ages to scare em silly and show them what great films used to look like because OTT CGI special effects and quick-tick editing). It all makes a refreshing change from the yawnsome and trite CGI of now, that's for sure, as do many of those old Ray Harryhausen movies. More believable too, oddly.

Some decent photography - close-ups and distance shots which I am sure come from German expressionism.

Anyone at all interested in film or who just wants a great 1 hour 50 minutes of class and scary entertainment should watch this classic old film which is genuinely spooky and just SO satisfying.

There is NO issue in this being made from a short story at all. Compare to modern Hollywood films which average 2 and a half hours - so full of flab and false endings, I often lose interest. You do of course have to suspend disbelief AS WITH ALL FICTION. The leading man needs romantic interest - and he is not unlikeable. Just rational. The spiritually-minded who believe in angels may not like that, but...

Forget the X-files. This does the believer/sceptic debate better.

5 stars.

I rented this because I really like Freddie Highmore, especially in the 5 series of BATES MOTEL.

This series is not as good as that; and it is not as good as 'House' either, though the writer/director of that. David Shore, developed this too. Each episode follows the same template really - a 'genius' medic sees an issue no-one else can see. In this case, the Freddie Highmore character Shaun Murphy, has autism too, which ticks a good few more diversity boxes which goes down well these days.

I deeply disliked the soapy aspects of this, but hated the woke pc box-ticking diversity aspects more. Literally, the only main white male character is the one played by Freddie Highmore, and he has autism so ticks a box as well. Every single other main character is female and/or 'of colour'.

And the issues are ticked too: Racism - TICK. Sexism - TICK. Sexual harassment - TICK. Domestic violence (but only against women by men, not then 40% done against men mostly by women) - TICK. Some episodes spread the woke pc putty on with a trowel and are cringe-worthy. Some episodes are better (episode 15 was great).

The MeToo BLM agenda is here everywhere and that, I suggest, is why it won awards. If all future TV dramas are like this, I have to say I shall be looking back at the archives. Why is racism and sexism against white men in casting seen as good? It isn't.

So-so then. But not sure I'll be renting series 2. So 3 stars.

I hope Alfred Highmore does more and better in future, for sure.

I generally enjoy this series - it does sometimes get bogged down in rather Mills and Boon romantic subplots, no doubt to appeal to female viewers. That is yawnsome. It slows the series right down, and it loses momentum at those points - hence 4 stars and not 5.

However, the battle scenes are awsome! Really great. I rewound and watched some again. They are so well done it is awsome. They must have had such fun filming this (in Hungary, coz it's cheaper - watch the EXTRA little film on the final DVD).

Not sure it's necessary to pander to 'authentic casting' with Scandinavian actors playing Vikings (after all they look no different to Brits really). However, thank goodness there is no 'colourblind casting' - imagine if 40% of the actors here were BAME as on TV ads or awful woke BBC drama. I for one would not watch it, in that case. Historical drama MUST be authentic re skin colour. The way it is. Film is visual.

One weak point of series like these is that there are so many characters and so many look alike! One has to keep track. The last DVD has an EXTRA with a full recap of series 1 and 2. Useful, that. Hard to keep track of all the characters and changing allegiances at times too.

Very silly to see female warriors fighting and killing men twice their size but woke pandering to metoo pc girl power criteria is standard these days, if utterly tiresome and not authentic - though there were a very small number of manly female Viking warriors (in sensible shoes no doubt lol), but I'd bet anything they were not the eye candy blonde model totty we see here with long perfect blonde hair, perfect teeth, perfect skin, perfect unstained clothes etc. SO one has to bear in mind all that fantasy element. Maybe that is being true to the historical novels, I have no idea.

Anyway, a decent watch - better than any drama on terrestrial TV now, all the woke preachy pc Dr Who drivel which I avoid. Different from VIKINGS but about as violent - though I do not mind appropriate goriness. To leave it out would be pofaced and prissy indeed. Life was very violent back then.

4 stars. I hope they keep it up in series 3.

I really enjoyed this. OK it is no SHAUN OF THE DEAD in comedy horror zombie stakes. And it is no SEVERANCE either which is the better film of a group out in a strange place in the woods. THE RITUAL is a seriously scary version of this sort of thing too. This film though looks are feel cheap and stagey. And becomes an OTT Grand Guignol blood and guts fest. It is what it is.

However, what is REALLY refreshing is the lack of pc - and it is very un-pc at times. Probably wouldn;t be allowed not - or maybe the other way round only with women killing male zombies. 2009 was a saner time.

BUT it does not take itself too seriously and is tongue in cheek always SO any wokies or feminuts who have an issue with it, should go back to gurning over Sylvia Plath whinge-gest poems or watch the femiwhinge fantasy Handmaids Tale or watch manhating femi-TV or the BB-She, and steer well clear of this.

I laughed and rolled my eyes and generally let myself go - so enjoyed this for what it was.

I never like Noel Clarke as an actor - so stagey, fake and over-rated - every character he plays is always Noel Clarke. BUT I like Stephen Graham and other actors here like Lee Ingleby.

Some of the female zombies are GREAT - especially the big mama! Others are fun. The plot s nonsense - but the same can be said of most horror films and most Hollywood movies too, even Oscar winners.

4 stars. One for the lads - get the beers in! Very refreshing in these woke and broke pc New Puritan times.

This film was AWFUL, But then I tend to think Almodovar is THE most over-rated film director EVER. If a British film director made drivel like this he'd get slated. Maybe there is a Hispanic bias at work here because his mediocre movies get showered with praise.

I turned off before 1 hour as I could not stand any more.

Pointless, pretentious, dull, tedious, deeply boring - it could be a BBC TV drama!

FOR A DECENT film about drugs watch 'OSLO, 31 AUGUST' which is a BRILLIANT 2011 Scandinavian film.

AWFUL no stars.

Well more of the same, if you've watched the first film SINISTER.

It is really painting by numbers and predictable - and as in so many horror movies these days, the torture porn of SAW etc demands all movies like this are gruesome.

The usual tropes - possession, haunted house, bogie man, dead children, darkness, tinkly music, TV/radio interference.

But I have watched worse. Nothing special but OK. 3 stars.

I seriously enjoyed this 1975 film - old-fashioned, maybe, but a good yarn of derring-do. They don;t make em like this any more and wouldn't - not with today's pc woke diverse casting box-ticking.

This is a movie where Sean Connery plays an Arab or Berber Sultan with a broad Scottish accent, remember - and these days the demand would be for someone non-white to play the role (hardly authentic though and no demand for colourblind casting for any ethnic roles ever, I notice...SUCH woke hypocrisy).

I have no idea if this is based on a true story or not. And really, I do not care. The British are there and Americans and French and Germans - and Moroccans. So it predates Casablanca then but is just as much a melting pot.

All that matters is that this is an action-packed story set in 1904 Morocco and thoroughly entertaining, with Connery acting the Berber Sultan in the manner of the Arab rulers in Lawrence of Arabia.

Of course, one has to remind oneself that the Barbary (Berber) pirates were the ones who raided the coast of Europe and especially England (Devon and Cornwall), Wales and Ireland stealing slaves - estimated at 1.25 million between the 14th and 18th centuries, right up to when Britain banned the slave trade in 1807. The BBC has yet to make a documentary about that - it does not fit the 'bad white European colonialist' agenda. But it is FACT. These Muslim Arab slave traders would raid villages on Sunday mornings when everyone was at church - they especially wanted the women and children, and all people stolen ended up in Arab slave markets, sold to hareems. Many people in Asia and the Middle East and North Africa have white European ancestry because of it (and soldiers). I would LOVE to see a movie made about that - but it won;t be in these woke and broke lie times.

4.5 stars. A good yarn. A Sunday afternoon film. Watch with Lawrence of Arabia.

I really enjoyed this AND would recommend watching the 3 excellent little extra films on the final disc showing how the series was made and how they all strove for authenticity.

It's not fair really to compare it to VIKINGS - also an excellent show, but with a very different feel. I enjoyed both series massively.

Some great characters and fight scenes, although i would advise viewers to pay attention esp in early episodes as there are lots of characters and it can be confusing, esp when some of the women look so alike!

I'm not sure it's 100% necessary to have authentic casting for the Vikings with Scandinavian actors - though they are all great; the equal and opposite would be to say no non-native English speaker should be allowed to play native English speaker British/American roles in films. But anyway THANK GOODNESS there is no colourblind casting - if the BBC had make this or a pc woke film maker (like the one who cast an Indian actor as David Copperfield) the Anglo-Saxon and Viking strongholds may well resemble Wakanda lol. Or perhaps Midsomer Murders...

Some serious characters and some good fun comic ones - I liked the poor king who lives in a 'palace' shed! There were so many kings around at that time, in what was to be England and Wales, and Ireland and Scotland, it seems anyone who thought they could chance it as a warlord did so.

I am not a fan of historical novels really - I always see them as a bit of a cheat too, taking facts and characters from history with research and writing them up. But it is a popular genre and I often like the TV series that come from the books.

I particularly liked the authenticity in place names and character names too - though some of the Vikings are perhaps not so authentic, and look more like a 1980s version of Keith Richards! I know Winchester which was Alfred's capital so that made it even more interesting for me.

Great anyway. Good music too.

I had no idea what to expect from this film. None. I thought it may be the usual tedious Scandinavian smuggery. Slow movies which go nowhere about relationships.

How wrong I was! This is a\bout relationships but oh so much more.

Oddly it is utterly believable. And wonderfully specific to Scandinavian traditions and myths.

The specific crime ring plotline may be a tad unbelievable BUT the writing, set-up, sheer skill at establishing character and place that has happened before means we can suspend our disbelief for that too.

I LOVED this film. Just brilliant. Better than anything I have seen from Hollywood for years. If I could I'd give it the Oscar.

Imagine the BBC Film Unit making this - the demand for authentic casting and the shoehorning of black characters and racism issues in the plot. Thankfully, there is none of that. None. WHAT A BREATH OF FRESH AIR.

5 stars and then some - this is a brilliant movie. SO good. Intelligent, thoughtful, genuine, BRILLIANT!

This series is occasionally enjoyable but often very irritating indeed. I suspect this director's style fits the southern Catholic Italian sensibility more than the northern Anglo-Saxon one. I suspect Catholics who care so much who the pope is will find this more interesting than I do. I have no idea why he won the Cannes from with THE GREAT BEAUTY - awful, pretentious movie.

The director's tendency to keep trying to make pop videos grates, as does his stereotypical nonsense about British food being awful (It isn';t and in Italian restaurants here you can get anything anywhere, unlike in regional Italy) and British weather being always rainy. IN FACT, Rome gets more annual rainfall than London, YES, REALLY. Lazy, silly, Italian bigotry.

BUT there are some great scenes and actors - and nice to see Woburn Abbey on TV standing in for the stately home of the John Malkovich character. BUT ultimately it is all rather silly and pointless.

2 stars

I see they are remaking this or have done - predictably with a black female director and screenplay from the man who wrote GET OUT (who also says films with white people in have no interest for him - such utter racism! The characters matter NOT the skin colour).

Anyway, this is fun and there are several points than made me jump out of my skin. Funny how all actors in it white and black disappeared without trace though.

Remember that this is based on a horror novel by a white British man, Clive Barker. No doubt people yell STAY IN YOUR LANE at him now. It was Mr Barker who came up with the classic stare in the mirror and say the name 5 times shtick. Perfect. I can imagine youngsters doing that and being disappinted when sod all happens lol.

One thing has always puzzled me though - why Candymen takes revenge on the poor black people. Supposedly as they didn't help him in the legend but still doesn;t quite work logically. Nor does the whole bee thing, though it looks good. And as for the toilet scene and what happens to the boy - a lot of this just does not make sense and is here for pure imagery and the look of it. Fair enough.

Reminds me of SHE actually - and those old Egyptian mummy films with a modern woman who looks like an ancient princess in a picture.

3 stars for the film and 1 extra star for the brilliant Philip Glass soundtrack. I bet the remake uses awful rap and R&B. Yawn.

I enjoyed all 5 series of this - watched the shows back to back, and only found out recently they were made between 2012 and 2017.

Freddie Highmore is perfectly cast here. Maz Thieriot is superb as normal Dylan. Vera Farimiga grew on me as Norma, even if looking way too young and glamorous at first. I loved the character of Chick and Romero's character curve neatly mirror's Norman/Norma's.

The show pays homage to the 1960/1 Psycho movie. That is blatant here in an episode (5) with the motel shower scene... ALTHOUGH Hitchcock himself did not create that - it was storyboarded by a French scriptwriter apparently.

However, WHY did they cast Rihanna as Marion Crane. In the original movie a pretty Marliyn-Monroe-esque sexy blonde woman played her. In the EXTRA documentary here they say Rihanna was a fan of the show so cast her. WHY? She may well be a good rapper/singer (I have no idea - not my kind of music) but she is not stunningly pretty which is what is required for this character. I just did not believe the person she was in a relationship with would have a relationship with her (no spoilers). This spoilt the story for me. I suspect a reaction to #OscarsSoWhite etc and deliberate diverse casting (ie shoehorning black actors into the drama, which is set in a VERY white area of the USA actually).

There is also a pc nod to female casting with the female Sheriff. That doesn't work really. It's a copy and paste job from Fargo to tick diversity boxes again - and made me cringe.

I am so glad the series has ended here as it was in serious danger of jumping the shark and outstaying its welcome.

But these are minor points. The entire series is well paced and written, although sometimes when the plot veers off into romantic relationships away from the spooky house and motel, it loses momentum. But when it's in the motel with Norman, it's superb.

The split personality stuff is handled well despite its inaccuracy in medical terms (Ed Gein was the model for this and other mass murderers). It's also worth noting that a son loving his mother and living with her is not odd or abnormal. We wouldn't say that if a daughter did it. so why the sexism? In these times of insane soaring house prices and parents getting older nearing care, many grown-up sons and daughters will be living with mum.

To take a classic movie and mash it up like this is brave and original - those TV series that just plod on, remaking things loyally, or all those TV series which take some old book and make a dull plodding TV series (preferably set in India) are so tedious and best avoided.

But this is special. AND they even get a mention of great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in at the end so well done for that!

The ending (no spoilers) is satisfying and right. And the soundtrack, as ever, is cool and often very British too.

Watch the extras to hear from the producers and actors.

4 stars.

I really enjoyed this movie - it had me hooked and jumping out of my skin in all the right places.

Gets a tad silly but all very well done. A bit predictable in act 3 to be honest but the ride was great.

Far better than most budget horrors.

But why oh why is the young boy have such long girly hair and why is he called 'Trevor'? I mean, 'Trevor'! If he were e 60 year old cock-er-ney maybe. Maybe it's an American thing. I'd recast that character and rename him.

Otherwise, good fun silly and effective horror. The sequel looks decent too.

The acting and plot are spot-on and the soundtrack is excellent too.

4 stars.

OK so this is very much a B-movie with some very wooden acting and on the nose obvious dialogue which should have been edited out before shooting started.

Having said that, it is an enjoyable revenge fantasy. A couple who (improbably) move to France after an army friend of their father leaves them a house in his will but only if they live there a year, get agro from the local yobs, male and female.

This being France, some are obviously north African heritage (in the UK that;d be black, esp in cities). Anyone who has lived in London will know the type - amoral feral kids who make everyone's life a misery with mugging, anti-social behaviour etc. The young actors here get it spot on as does the script - these yobbo kids are truly menacing and scary. AND true to life, sadly.

I wort of didn';t believe some parts (a couple like this would surely own a property at home in the USA by their age and yet they say they have never owned a place themselves, Hmmm). And the police procedure and seeming lack of any investigation or DNA testing or SOC officers make it all a bit absurd.

BUT it is I must admit rather enjoyable to see the yobbish thugs who do not care who they hurt getting what they deserve. If only...

Watch with EDEN LAKE a British-set version of this, violent too and classier to be honest. Great to watch the two movies back to back.

Now I look forward to someone somewhere daring to make a version of this feral youth thug storyline but set in the ethnic inner city with black feral kids making everyone;'s life a misery (an everyday story in London).

4 stars. A decent effort on a small budget.