Favorite films

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1992

★★★½ Liked Watched 31 May 2025

I can never get over just how every run of the mill, mid budget action or thriller from the eighties and nineties looks orders of magnitude better than most contemporary equivalents. The lighting in this film alone blows away most films from the last twenty years and severely highlights how much the Hollywood industry has devolved through careless, rushed digitally shot releases and throwaway, straight-to-streaming efforts. I know it's horribly cliché, but they just don't make them like this anymore. This film is littered with genuinely exquisite shots that elevate a middling plot into a memorable watch.

2016

★★ Watched 30 May 2025

I cannot fault any of the technical elements of this film, the cinematography, the visual and sound design are all immaculate and create a solid framework that should have delivered a great experience. Unfortunately, the writing just doesn't hold up and all the good work the film does building the atmosphere and tension is undone by it's messy, trite plot and farcical ending. Very disappointing.

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2017

★★★ Liked 1

Solid, if mostly, unspectacular occult horror. Rafe Spall, who is usually relegated to comic relief side character, does a very decent job leading this one, and the character interactions come across as genuine and relatable. The main strength of this film, which I have criticised others for, is that it keeps it's monster hidden throughout, using darkness and sound to up the ante, and only reveals it at the very end; its creative visual design makes it well worth the wait.

2014

★★★★½ Liked Watched 29 May 2025

Okay, so four and a half is a very generous score, but I just really enjoyed this, I loved the esoteric historical and religious elements and how earnestly the film and characters play into it, it isn't just a backdrop gimmick like in many other horror films.

The atmosphere of the catacombs is palpable, there is a slow building sense of dread and hopelessness that by the climax of the film is completely overwhelming and it is all driven by…

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