28 Days Later
2002
●Dir- Danny Boyle.
●Main Actors- Cillian Murphy, Naomi Harris, Christopher Eccleston
●Writer- Alex Garland
●Filming Locations – London, Lake District, Pinewood.
●Production Companies- DNA Films, British Film Council.
Introducing Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who wakes up in hospital after 4 weeks of unconsciousness. He awakes to a very different London. The city is empty, and ghostly. After disturbing some zombielike creatures in a church his is taken under the wing of Selena (Naomi Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley). They explain that a virus, spread by bites, saliva and blood, has ravaged the population. It is known as Rage.
They meet up with a London cabby (Brendan Gleeson) and his daughter, they decide that London is dead. They leave the city and head up north following a radio transmission quoting the answer to the infection is with them.
They then meet with a small group of soldiers holed up in a mansion on the outskirts of Manchester. It is run by Major Henry West (Christopher Eccleston) who does have the answer to infection, but is it right or ethical.
It is superbly made and acted, the special effects are very effective and all together it makes for a terrifying image of the apocalypse.
A Dark Song
2016
●Dir- Liam Gavin
●Main Actors- Steve Oram, Catherine Walker, Susan Loughnane
●Writer- Liam Gavin.
●Filming Locations- Ireland.
Production Companies - Bórd Scannán na hÉireann, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Samson Films, Tall Man Films
In frustration to speak again to her dead son, Sophia reaches out to a failed Occultist in an attempt to contact him via the dark side. Sophia rents a desolate house for a year up front and the unlikely pairing prepare themselves and the property.
They undergo numerous rituals in an effort to bring forth Sophias Guardian angel. Initially the rituals don’t work, but when the truth finally comes out about Sophias intentions, things do start to happen. The story snowballs to a violent and lonely conclusion.
Afraid of the dark
1992
●Dir- Mark Peploe
●Main cast- James Fox, Fanny Ardant, Paul McGann
●Writers- Mark Peploe, Frederick Seidel.
●Filming Locations- Brompton, Artesian Road, Needham Road, Moorhouse Road, London
●Production Companies- Les Films Ariane, Telescope Films, Cine Cinq.
Lucas is a you boy with a blind mother, Miriam (Fanny Ardent), and a police officer father, Frank (James Fox). Miriam teaches others with blindness how to knit at a clinic, Lucas enjoys going with her.
The news at present is that one of their friends, another blind woman, has been attacked and had her face slashed. He seems to have an unhealthy obsession with his older step sister, with whom he is close and drops into strange violent fantasies involving her and other events. He is convinced every man in comes into contact with is the attacker.
It is hard to follow what is real and what is created in Lucas' mind. To make matters worse his own eyesight is starting to fail with the requirement of an operation.
All his fears and violence collide after the birth of his little sister and ends with his operation. A moving tale with either a child with a morbid vivid imagination, or on the brink of insanity.
The Wicker Man
1973
●Dir- Robin Hardy
●Main Actors- Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland.
●Writer- Anthony Schaffer
●Filming Locations – Scotland.
●Production Companies- British Lion Film Corporation.
Summerisle is a small private island just of the coast of Scotland. Sgt Howie (Edward Woodward) is a devout puritan police officer and is sent to the island to investigate the disappearance of a child.
Howie gets the runaround from the moment he arrives. Instead of leaving without clues his enquiring mind seeks suspicion and he decides to stay. The woman who supposedly made the report and contacted the police laughs it off. It is not long before Howie discovers the people of the island are not how they appear. They are crude with strange customs.
He meets Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), the leader of the islanders. Howie surmises they are Godless, in fact they are Pagan and celebrate the gods and goddesses of the land and nature. He discovers it’s a very dangerous place for a man of faith.
The scenery is stunning, and the soundtrack is haunting but in a traditional way. It is a true Folk horror film.
10 Rillington Place
1971
●Dir- Richard Fleischer
●Main Cast- Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt
●Writers- Clive Exton, Ludovic Kennedy
●Filming Locations- Shepperton Studios, London, Wales.
●Production Companies- Columbia Pictures, Filmways, Genesis Productions Limited.)
The true story of John Christie, one of Britains most notorious serial killers during the late 1940’s. The lead role was played by Richard Attenborough his inadvertent accomplice, Timothy Evans, was played by John Hurt.
It starts with a shocking murder, not Christies first. Things heat up when a couple move in with their baby daughter. Christie lies when he finds out the girl is pregnant and says that he can get rid of it. When Timothy gets home Christie breaks the news that his wife died, but they can’t say anything or the law would come down heavy on them as abortion was still illegal at that point.
After Evans leaves to stay in Wales, despite telling Evans he had given his daughter to a childless couple, he kills the baby and puts both mother and baby’s bodies in the washroom of the house. Evans can’t handle the grief so he hands himself in. When the police search number ten they find the bodies. Timothy is arrested and convicted of murder.
It’s a surprising film, and what makes it all the more moving is that the external shots of 10 Rillington Place were the real house, internals were filmed at Lee International studios, and the garden scenes were filmed at the rear of 6 Rillington place.
What makes this film all the more frightening is that it really did happen.
An English Haunting
2020
●Dir- Charlie Steeds
●Main Cast- David Lenik, Tessa Wood, Barrington De La Roche.
●Writer- Charlie Steeds.
●Filming Location- Warwickshire.
●Production Companies- Dark Temple Motion Pictures.
Set in the 1960's Mother and son, Margot (Tessa Wood) and Blake (David Lenik), are called to Clemont Hall. Margot's Father needed looking after his nursemaid left.
There is no love lost between Daughter and Father, who is in a catatonic state and being fed oxygen in an attic room. The single mother Margot is happy to have a roof over their heads despite it being an aging wreck of a mansion that is falling into decay.
Blake, who did enjoy his grandfather’s company as a child, is happy to be in the house. But soon after they arrive, he starts having nightmares. The following day he sees a strange figure in the gardens, he follows but instead of finding out who the figure is he finds his lost violin broken in a greenhouse.
After the old man is found out of his bed one night and they discover the previous carer just disappeared, Blake decides to try and work out what is going on.
It is very atmospheric with a mixture of paranormal and ritual for Blake to decipher. When the truth does come out, it leads to a shocking revelation.
The Asphyx
1971
●Dir- Peter Newbrook
●Main Actors- Robert Stephens, Robert Powell, Jane Lapotaire.
●Writers- Christina Beers, Laurence Beers, Brian Comport.
●Filming Locations – Shepperton Studios.
●Production Company- Glendale Films.
Sir Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens) discovers that you can see the Asphyx, the lifeforce of a person, at the moment of death. He photographs executions and actually sees the asphyx leave the body. He becomes obsessed with capturing it, in effect preventing death and in the long run giving himself immortality.
It’s a very stylish film and a typical style of its time.
28 Weeks Later
2007
●Dir- Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.
●Writers- Rowan Joffe, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, E.L. Lavigne, Jesus Olmo.
●Main Actors- Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne
●Writers- Rowan Joffe, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, E L Lavigne, Jesus Olmo
●Filming Locations – London, Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf
●Production Companies - Fox Atomic, DNA Films, UK Film Council, Figment Films, Sogecine, Koan Films.
Rage infection ravaged the United Kingdom badly. Survivors have been put under the control of the American military and have created a starter society in the docklands of London. The intention is to repopulate the capital.
Dom’s (Robert Carlisle) children have been abroad for the duration and they are the first children to return to the UK. After he explains the loss of the childrens mother, his son and daughter decide to break quarantine to get some memories from their old family home.
To their surprise they find more than just memories, their mum was hiding out scratching an existence in the attic. The soldiers recover them and take them all back to the safe zone.
It is discovered that the mum is infected with Rage, but not exhibiting the symptoms. Dom makes the mistake of going in to meet her, and with one kiss it begins again. The virus spreads fast throughout the safe zone. Suspecting Dom’s son is immune, but a carrier, military medic, Scarlet (Rose Burn), and sniper Doyle (Jeremy Renner) take the two children under their wings in an effort to get them to safety and work on a cure as the safe disappears in an all-enveloping manmade inferno.
Contact us
E-mail: paulshuggins@gmail.com