Behind the Couch

1984 Dir. Saxon Logan An evening of drunken debauchery, sexual rivalry and political debate turns bloody when a wealthy couple visit their friends, brother and sister Alex and Marion, in their decaying family home in the English countryside. A curious and highly effective blend of social satire, jagged political commentary and horror, Sleepwalker was thought lost for many years, with some doubting its very existence, it is so rare and obscure. Director Logan found it difficult to obtain distribution, partly because of the film’s running time (a trim and taut 50 minutes), partly because it’s so genre defying. Sleepwalker is incredibly atmospheric and eventually nightmarishly violent. The barbed points it makes on political life in Eighties’ Britain, many of which remain pressingly relevant, slice through to expose bare bone. The spiky dialogue is peppered with telling references to sleep disorders and serves to fuel the ambiguity of the narrative, whether it be through drool ...

2011 Dir. Peter Strickland Peter Strickland’s sophomore film is a striking combination of dazzling Argento-esque style and haunting Lynchian atmosphere; it’s as though the director glimpsed into the collective mind-space of these filmmakers and recreated what he saw and heard there in this claustrophobic nightmare of sound and vision. Set in the Seventies, Berberbian Sound Studio tells of mild-mannered British sound technician Gilderoy (Toby Jones), who is brought to Italy to work on the sound effects for a gruesome horror film. His increasingly nightmarish task slowly begins to take its toll, and before long, life begins to imitate art. Or does it? From the opening moments, as Gilderoy is led into the studio – rather like a patient being led into a psychiatric hospital - an ominous dread seeps throughout proceedings and an ever dank ambiguity manifests itself. Alone in a foreign land, Gilderoy is completely ostracised by the rest of the crew as he spends his days recording ho...

2011 Dir. Paddy Considine Stifled by his past and his own anger and frustration with the world, Joseph thinks he finds redemption in the form of local charity shop worker Hannah. However Hannah has a dark secret of her own which threatens to shatter both their lives and plunge them both deeper into deadly despair. In Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park there’s a famous moment when the audience and characters are alerted to the oncoming danger of an approaching T-Rex by water rippling in a paper cup. Paddy Considine’s assured and commanding feature directorial debut doesn’t have man-eating monsters in it, but it does feature a one-man rampage against life and the same sense of impending doom and menace as that moment from Jurassic Park ripples throughout. Considine is an actor who made a name for himself with his intense performances under the direction of Shane Meadows. Appearing in films such as Dead Man’s Shoes (which he co-wrote) and A Room For Romeo Brass , Considine soon ...

2008 Dir. Marek Losey Roy Tunt, a compulsive birder (that’s bird watcher to you and I) settles down in a secluded bird-hide on the barren Suffolk mudflats to try to catch a glimpse of the elusive ‘sociable plover’. A brewing storm brings Dave, a bedraggled and bloodied young man, to the hide to seek shelter. Over the course of the day the two men seem to bond until news of a police manhunt comes over Roy’s shortwave radio. This puts both men on their guard, forcing their impromptu and already brittle relationship to a shocking conclusion. Adapted from his own play, writer Tim Whitnall has carefully crafted a complex and rather compelling two-hander. The story unravels in one location – the bird-hide – and the action rarely leaves the four ramshackle, draught-ridden walls. The bulk of the film consists of the burgeoning relationship between the two men as they size each other up, make small talk and eventually confess deep, dark and sordid secrets. A stark and moody opening sets u...