Writing about movies, monsters, cinematic events and other wild trips
This one took awhile to wing its way to Australia, but I’m pleased to have now seen the final edit of my first visual essay about monsters – and breathe a sigh of relief (it came up quite well).
Anyone who has read my Top 8 horror films of 2022 will note that TAKE BACK THE NIGHT made the grade, so it’s extra thrilling to have contributed to this release from Arrow Films, produced by the always astounding Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.
Should you see it too? Yes, you should.
Be still my beating heart. This film. VIDEODROME. Cinema doesn’t get much better. And this beautiful 4K Ultra HD Special Release from Arrow Films even smells fantastic.
I’m proud to have contributed a retrospective roundtable discussion for the booklet with Cerise Howard, Dr Josh Nelson and Dr Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. But this is only a small portion of this special release, which is bursting with vivid viscerality.
Long live the new flesh!
I’m tripping over myself with new blu-ray releases at the moment, so my tardiness in promoting Second Sight’s sigh-worthy release of LAKE MUNGO is due to nothing but giving it some room to breathe.
The featured artwork should be enough to encourage you to see this mesmeric Australian story of ghosts and grief but, if not, I encourage you to do a quick scoot around the internet and you’ll hear from others who have been wrapped in its magic.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and I had a lot to say in our audio commentary on this release of LAKE MUNGO. But we’re not the only ones.
This limited edition boxset brings together diverse voices to talk about a feature that will only be more and more appreciated with the passing of time until it is eventually regarded as a classic.
I was lucky to be part of Monster Pictures’ release of Julia Ducournau‘s RAW a few years back, in which there were masses of extras featuring venerable film critics such as Kier-La Janisse and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. The extras from this one have now found their way to not one but two new Blu-ray releases of RAW – one from Scream Factory (Region A) and another from Second Sight (Region B).
Let me draw your attention to the one from Second Sight, though, because it’s a little bit special.
As well as all the juicy original extras, it’s got a heap of news ones (and beautiful cover art!) including a freshly cooked video essay from Alexandra, a perfect-bound booklet with new essays by Hannah Woodhead and me (Emma Westwood), and a new interview with Julia Ducournau by Lou Thomas.
That’s just a taste (pardon the pun) of what makes this special limited edition extra special. You won’t be disappointed if you decide to add this one to your Blu-ray library.
I’ve just taken possession of this jaunty new release from Arrow Films. It’s a highly inventive, low budget monster film called LAKE MICHIGAN MONSTER by Ryland Brickson Cole Tews and Mike Cheslik that kicks up a notch in the third act (a rarity these days). I’ve seen lots of monsters in my time, and this one is really something else.
I provide one of the commentary tracks with my other Lady of the Lake, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (the lake theme will become more evident with an upcoming announcement from Alex and myself). In the meantime, there are a heap of extras on this one to keep you busy, as the following image demonstrates…
Do yourself a solid and get behind these filmmakers. They’re ones to watch.
This piece was written at the beginning of 2017 but, inexplicably, I failed to post it to my website. Me bad.
But I’m proud to say this is, likely, one of the most substantial/lengthy articles written about David Cronenberg’s second short film, From the Drain, to appear online at the very least. I am willing to be proven wrong and would, in fact, be very interested in reading someone else’s take on this surreal mind-fuck.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, one of the editors at Senses of Cinema, asked me to undertake this challenge as part of the journal’s tribute section of the March 2017. Titled ‘Love Letters: 1967’, this section included articles about filmmakers who would later become big players on the cinematic landscape but were only just emerging in short form in that particular year.
The likes of David Lynch, Seijun Suzuki, Joseph Losey and Norman Jewison also had ‘love letters’ written to them by a variety of talented folk. It’s well worth perusing them all. But, first, help me make sense of David Cronenberg’s enigmatic mind.
Some people may call this sub-genre of films ‘psycho-biddy’, others may call it ‘Grande Dame Guignol’ but, however you want to say it, ‘Hagsploitation’ is not a dirty word.
I’m extremely proud to be presenting as part of the Cinemaniacs’ Hagsploitation Film Festival, in what we believe to be the first ever celebration of hagsploitation in the world.
On Friday 12th to Saturday 13th January 2018, a cluster of superb films that shines the spotlight on some of history’s most legendary leading ladies, bigger than the films themselves, will be screened at Backlot Studios in Southbank, Melbourne.
I am privileged to be speaking about Joan Crawford in William Castle’s under-rated Strait-Jacket (1964), although I’ll also be joining Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Sally Christie to provide sweeping adoration for The Women of Hagsploitation in a panel discussion.
Browse the program and book tickets now.
Julia Ducournau’s sensational coming-of-age directorial debut, RAW, is now available on DVD from Monster Pictures.
Included on the Blu-ray release are a number of exclusive extras, including my audio commentary with Julia and our in-discussion featurette, Raw À Votre Goût.
Other extras include Quick Bites with my much-loved radio cohort, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas; Australian premiere discussion with Kier-La Janisse; and a whole lot of other delicious features.
All biases aside, this is one of my DVD releases of the year…
Having transformed my living room into a set for the special Umbrella Entertainment blu-ray release of Long Weekend, the unstoppable Lee Gambin got the band back together to do it all again.
This time, in a discussion titled ‘A Bicentenary with Bite: Revisiting Dark Age’, Lee Gambin, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Sally Christie and I turn our loving gaze to the Australian horror delight Dark Age (1987) – directed by Arch Nicholson, starring John Jarrat, David Gulpilil, Burnam Burnam and Nikki Coghill.
Dark Age nearly disappeared into the annals of lost cinema so, luckily, Umbrella Entertainment is continuing their loving work and giving this film the blu-ray special edition treatment that it deserves.
You can buy it and make it yours by clicking below…
(And immense thanks goes to Ben Gurvich for the camerawork and Justine Ryan for her able tech assistance).
This Monday 7th August at 7pm, our radio show Plato’s Cave will be transported from the Triple R studio to one of my favourite Melbourne spaces, Forum Theatre (or MIFF Festival Lounge), where we’ll be broadcasting live in front of a film-hungry audience on flicks at the 2017 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF).
Since Thomas Caldwell will be assuming his own MIFF duties, joining the all-star (?) lineup of Cerise, Alex and I will be original Plato’s Caver, Tara Judah, flying all the way from the United Kingdom for the privilege. She’s a good egg.
We are not the only ones from Triple R broadcasting from the MIFF Festival Lounge. Things will be kicking off at 4pm with Fee-B-Squared and Maps going live-to-air with a number of guests, including the legendary Steve Kilbey from The Church.
Come along, nab a booth and a beverage, and hear some good radio, including us PC gals gabbing on like a foursome of witches drinking cups of tea (thanks to Alex for the featured image). Admission is free.
EMMA WESTWOOD 