Behind the Couch

2014 Dir. Gerard Johnstone When delinquent Kylie is placed under house arrest after a botched robbery, she is forced to return to her childhood home and the guardianship of her overbearing mother and timid stepfather. A series of strange occurrences lead her to suspect the house is haunted and as she delves into the building’s history, she not only uncovers a darkly tragic past, but shady family secrets. Beginning as an oddball haunted house yarn, the plot of this New Zealand comedy-horror soon veers off into some very unexpected places; with each twist and turn the well measured pace and careful editing gradually build tension and intrigue, ensuring the viewer is riveted throughout. A rare gem in genre cinema, Housebound  is a comedy-horror that provides well timed laughs alongside genuine shocks, chills and suspense, sometimes in the same scene. Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review . 

2015 Dir. John McNaughton A couple who attempt to keep their sick son in a completely secluded environment for the sake of his ailing health, find their rigidly controlled and isolated lives intruded upon by a recently orphaned young girl who moves into the house down the lane. What follows is a tale of domestic abuse, desperation and the exhumation of dark family secrets. An intense domestic psychodrama featuring disarmingly powerful performances from Samantha Morton and Michael Shannon, Can’t Come Out to Play is director John McNaughton’s first feature film in over a decade. While certainly a much more subtle affair than previous offerings such as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and the sublimely trashy thriller Wild Things , it’s no less provocative or compelling. Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review .

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) needs little introduction. Adapted from Stephen King’s chilling bestseller, it is an undisputed masterpiece of horror cinema, featuring a bleak atmosphere, striking visuals, frenzied performances, and an utterly unshakable, creeping sense of dread. It has long been an absolute favourite of mine, but I have always been somewhat hesitant to write a review of it; after all, what is there to say about it that hasn’t already been said? As there is indeed already so much to say, where on earth do you begin when just writing a straight-up review? An intimidating prospect to be sure, but it’s good to challenge yourself, isn’t it? With a little advice and much encouragement from the editor of Eye for Film (thank you Amber), I closed my eyes, opened my mind and took the plunge. Head over to Eye for Film to read my humble (and probably too gushing) take on The Shining , and the special features available on the Blu-ray it has just been released on...

2012 Dir. Jonathan Zarantonello Featuring a strong female cast comprised of renowned veterans of the genre, The Butterfly Room is headed by the fabulous and formidable Barbara Steele ( Black Sunday, Nightmare Castle, Pit and the Pendulum, Silent Scream , Shivers ), who delivers a mesmeric performance as maniacal matriarch Ann. Mentally unstable yet strangely vulnerable, her vanquished relationship with estranged daughter Dorothy (Heather Langenkamp) drives her to weave maternal bonds around a young girl called Alice (Julia Putnam). It turns out enigmatic Alice is not what she seems though, and has a few dark secrets of her own. Shocking revelations push an already unstable Ann over the edge as she seeks to preserve her relationship with Alice at any cost... With its mix of melodrama, Grand Guignol camp and tragic pathos, and its casting of a sensational older star in the role of a severely unhinged recluse, The Butterfly Room echoes 'hagsploitation' creepers such as C...

Issue 20 of Diabolique is now available to order. The overriding theme of this issue is Family... The Family. What is it? How does it shape us? Strengthen us in the face of horror? Scar us? Destroy us? The mysteries and dysfunction of the family unit have been ripe for examination in countless contemporary and classic horror releases. Diabolique 20 takes a look underneath the surface of the family, featuring exclusive interviews with acclaimed filmmakers Adrian Garcia Bogliano ( Here Comes the Devil ), Mike Flanagan ( Absentia, Oculus ), Jim Mickle ( We Are What We Are ), and Navot Papushado ( Big Bad Wolves ), as well as my own ‘meaty’ exploration of familial themes in the films of Tobe Hooper. All this and more rounds out this fresh look at a crucial trope of horror culture. Diabolique 20: it’s a family reunion, and you’re invited… Pick up a copy here .

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 ...

1973 Dir. Nicolas Roeg Based on the short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, Don’t Look Now is from a collection of stories revolving around the intrusion of the supernatural/paranormal upon the lives of everyday, normal people. Released on a double bill with The Wicker Man – whose protagonist’s death is, in hindsight, also very much pre-conceived and signposted throughout the film's narrative - Don’t Look Now ripples forth as a devastating and often terrifying study of grief. When their young daughter drowns in a pond in the family garden, John and Laura (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie), attempt to come to terms with their loss and reconcile their relationship by travelling to Venice. John throws himself into his work and denies the possibility that their daughter could be trying to communicate with them from the afterlife. After befriending a spooky psychic and her sister, Laura opens herself up to the possibility that their daughter is trying to reach o...

2013 Dir. Neil Jordan Byzantium sees Neil Jordan return to vampire territory for the first time since Interview with a Vampire ; echoes of which abound throughout this compelling story of a mother and daughter whose dependency upon human blood, and each other, threatens to become their undoing. Adapted for screen by Moira Buffini, and based on her play, A Vampire Story , the film follows bawdy Clara (Gemma Arterton) and introverted Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) as they seek sanctuary in a rundown guesthouse in a quiet English seaside resort. Not your typical vampire film, its character driven narrative dispels many of the usual traits associated with cinematic bloodsuckers. Dreamily filmed, Jordan’s careful direction beckons us into the story and immerses us within it. Odd and wonderful things are done in the reconstruction of vampire lore - there are no fangs, only thumbnails that become talons - and while a few conventions remain – blood dependence, immortality, needing to be invi...

1988 Dir. Sandor Stern As children, Leon and Ursula Linden (David Hewlett and Cynthia Preston) are taught important life-lessons by their emotionally vacant ventriloquist father (Terry O’Quinn), who demonstrates with his medical doll ‘Pin’ – as in Pinocchio. When their parents are killed in a car crash, things take a turn for the dark and twisted as Leon becomes obsessed with Pin; eventually dressing the life-size doll in his dead father's clothes and insisting that visitors to the house meet him. Eventually Pin begins telling Leon what to do. And who to kill… A PLASTIC NIGHTMARE! Opening with a placid, vaguely spooky piano score, and exhibiting a stately creepiness akin to those melodramatic made-for-TV thrillers we all love so much, Pin gradually unfolds as an intriguing and fascinating psychological study of a young man’s descent into madness, brought about by his stifling childhood, emotionally vacant parents and an inability to relate to anyone other than an anatomy d...