Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021)

Director: Jacob Gentry
Starring: Harry Shum Jr, Kelley Mack, Chris Sullivan, Anthony E Cabral .USA. 1h 44m

Jacobs Gentry’s uncanny valley neon lit thriller is a great diversion for horror fans, but unlike other broadcast horrors it fails to give a satisfactory conclusion to its own question but will raise eyebrows though it’s stunning display of solid drama and a deep dive investigation.

While logging tapes of retro TV Broadcasts, a video archivist, James (Shum Jr.) discovers a disturbing clip that he believes is a sign of early hacking, out of his armchair investigation, James is innocently trying to track down the source but it turns into a deadly cat and mouse chair that night lead to solving a slew of murders.

Censor (2021)

Director: Prano Bailey-Bond Starring: Niamh Algar, Nicholas Burns, Adrian Schiffler, Guillaume Delause, Richard Glover, Michael Smiley, UK. 1h 24m

An unfaltering, visually stunning movie outlining the effects of censorship and suppression on the persona and a precise documentation of the departmentalisation of one’s repressed memories. If you’ve had the privilege of seeing Prano’s short movie, Nasty then you’ll be prepared for the vivid colours, the frantic style of her curious retrowave tales. Nasty is a perfect introduction to her love of tracking, video culture and a warped perception of reality taking over her characters.

Don’t Press Play

Videodrome (1983)

Director:David Cronenberg .
Starring: James Woods, Debbie Harry, David Cronenberg, David Dvorsky, Leslie Carlson, Julie Khaner. Canada. 1h 29m.

Having watched Videodrome at quite a young age the film fascinated me for all the wrong reasons, pulsating VHS tapes, clips of dodgy torture rooms and people morphing into guns and machines really lit my young mind on fire, this was something that really carried on through my teens while lapping up underground comic books and really came to life when I discovered tales of the dark web and Tetsuo Iron Man (1989) which hit home this idea of bio mechanics along with my love of Giger’s artwork but nothing was quite on that level of bizarre as Videodrome, covering so many aspects of the darker side of the human psyche it’s science fiction body horror touches on some worrying habits and disgusting practices but all in such a way that it’s almost too clever for it’s own good.

James Woods takes centre stage as Max, as the CEO of a small UHF television station specialising in sensationalist programming he’s constantly displeased with his current line up which is mostly soft core, while looking  for ways to boost the station, he stumbles on a bizarre broadcast featuring extreme violence and torture which he believes is staged and wants the show known as Videodrome for his station as he perceives it as something that everyone wants to see. While searching for the source of the broadcast, he employs his cameraman Harlan,  to record the shows for him, eventually he deduces that the show is being transmitted from Malaysia, and soon Max orders that Harlan to broadcast the show unlicensed via his network. The more Max watches Videodrome the more he begins to hallucinates the world around him, mechanical items become soft and fluid, pulsating with life and breathing, but this is only the beginning.

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeee

Well I’ve finally turned 32! Whoo!!

I got a few lovely presents from my loved ones but what really got me going were the movies.. yes i’m addicted remember.

I got..

Creepshow 3 (2006)

and..

• Gangster No1 (2000)
• Moby Dick (1956)
• Thelma and Lousie (1991)
• Raging Bull (1980)