Classic cosmic horror from John Carpenter, taking obvious influence from Lovecraft. The Thing relies on a simple basic premise - a group of people battle an unknown alien creature in an isolated location. The concept of The Thing itself is paramount. It could be anyone, humans become just the meat - insignificant in the face of insurmountable horror with unimaginable intentions. Carpenter really ramps up the paranoia, with the group's own fear and suspicions of each other providing the backbone…
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Inferno 1980
Every viewing of Inferno is a pleasure! There aren't many films that make perfect sense in their own right and no sense whatsoever simultaneously. Argento's story is carried not through logic but by feeling and sound. A curious girl looks for a key; drops her keys, then finds a key in a secret flooded room under a basement. A letter is carried from New York to Rome by notes of classic music. Time forsakes logic, spanning different periods in different…
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Someone's Watching Me! 1978
John Carpenter's "lost" film; a made for TV thriller shot before his blockbuster hit Halloween and released after it. Someone's Watching Me takes huge influence from Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window specifically, and focuses on a high rise dwelling female TV director, who begins being menaced by a seemingly omnipotent stranger who seems to know her every move. It's a simple premise, but very well executed; Carpenter really elevates it beyond It's TV movie limitations. Much of the film takes place…
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Halloween 1978
Halloween may not have been the first slasher ever made, but it was the one that went on to provide the blueprint for the rest of the subgenre. It's a real simple premise; an escaped mental patient with murderous intent is let loose on a small town on Halloween night. Halloween is rather tame in terms of violence and gore, expecially compared to later genre entries, but it doesn't matter. This is a film that really works because of the…
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Possession 1981
This film is pure adrenaline on screen. Director Andrzej Zulawski's opus about a fractured couple (apparently based on his own experience of divorce) is rich with metaphor and symbolism. The dream logic means that it doesn't always make perfect sense - but the film is utterly captivating, helped by Andrzej Zulawski's nauseating roaming camera and a pair of brilliant central performances from Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani - the latter of which absolutely owns the film. It's a mesmerising and…
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Double Indemnity 1944
For my money, this is the greatest film noir ever made. The story is set in motion with a clever metaphor - a car running through a stop sign. This leads to a hard boiled story of murder and deception. The way the film is set up instills a sense of foreboding over every sequence - it's brilliant storytelling, steeped in dramatic irony. The direction courtesy of the great Billy Wilder is absolutely flawless - and matched by an intelligent…
