A short but sweet review from Nia Edwards-Behi If I may indulge in some flagrant cliché abuse, the Soska Sisters are not just going places, but they’re paving the way to an exciting, vital and game-changing career in genre filmmaking. The powerhouses behind Dead Hooker in a Trunk have made their second film, American Mary, [...]

by Stephanie Scaife *spoilers ahead* Okay, so let’s not get too pernickety about naming sub-genres here. There are always a lot of grumblings over what’s apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic and dystopian, however one thing is clear regardless – the world has gone to shit and you’re going to have to fight for survival and adapt to your [...]

A Labour of love from Annie Riordan and Keri O’Shea Annie: Summer, 2003. Pirates Of The Caribbean had only been in theaters for a month and I was already sick as shit of Jolly Roger eye patches and “Talk Like A Pirate” day. I mean, sure – it was a cool movie and I’d enjoyed [...]

by Ben Bussey As I think we’ve established by now, the 80s were a boom period for the sword and sorcery genre; indeed, in a way it’s hard to think of the genre existing before that time. But obviously that’s not the case. Tales of gallant knights or otherwise courageous swordsmen doing battle with hissable [...]

by Ben Bussey “I have mastered your god! Accept me! NOW!” As film fans in the 20teens, just how often nowadays do we truly feel like we’ve made a discovery? Here in the wonderful world of cyberspace – with IMDb, Wikipedia and the proliferation of blogs and fan sites of which your beloved Brutal As [...]

Review by Marc Patterson John (Robert Nolan) is forty-five years of age and in the middle of his own personal hell. While he should be seeing his only child off to her final years of high school before moving towards “freedom” he’s recently learned that his wife has just gotten pregnant. His boorish, dull, and [...]

by Keri O’Shea Movies released on the eponymous Indonesian label Rapi Films were nothing if not a pleasing fusion of East meets West; playing with recognisable genres, yet distinctly Indonesian in theme, you could always be sure of a mix between the familiar and the batshit insane. The Warrior is probably one of the best [...]

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND SACRIFICE PEOPLE Part II – The (Black) Magic of the Movies by Gavin Baddeley ‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are [...]

by Ben Bussey Between the time when the ocean drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of… a time when there was a conspicuous lack of movies featuring muscle-bound swordsmen doing battle with hideous monsters and black-hearted warlocks whilst quivering, nubile, near-enough butt naked women gripped feverishly [...]

Review by Comix Teenagers are pretty scary, especially in Japan. In fact, a lot of things are scarier in Japan, but especially bullies. The bully problem over there is pretty brutal and with the combined pressure to succeed in school and conform at work it has created violent little fucks. Extortion, black mail, violence and [...]

The Most Blasphemous Movie Moments by Annie Riordan 1. The Exorcist: Mother Mary Gets a Play-Doh Makeover I’ll bet you were expecting me to single out the crucifixion masturbation scene, weren’t you? Yeah, I thought about it, but ultimately dismissed it for two reasons. #1 – she wasn’t masturbating with it, she was fucking stabbing [...]

by Annie Riordan “The hallmark of stones that obstruct the ureter or renal pelvis is excruciating intermittent pain that radiates from the flank to the groin or to the genital area and inner thigh. This particular type of pain, known as renal colic, is often described as one of the strongest pain sensations known.” Oh [...]

Review by Keri O’Shea Since cinema’s earliest inception, the presence of the Devil has been ubiquitous – whether Old Scratch appears as a monstrous entity or a cunning outsider, a gentleman magician or a horned miscreant, the silver screen has never been long without him. That is the central thesis of author Nikolas Schreck’s far-reaching [...]

by Keri O’Shea Nothing, absolutely nothing, will make you want to see a film more than being told you can’t. This is a maxim which holds true now (some filmmakers seem to actively court the type of controversy which will get their film banned) and, back in the pre-DVD days, before you could spend five [...]

By special guest contributor Gavin Baddeley Part I: Silent Psalms for Satan Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh [...]

As tomorrow is Walpurgisnacht, we at Brutal As Hell decided this would be as good a time as any to celebrate Satan on screen. Kicking things off, here’s an appropriately devilish entry from Keri O’Shea… The Devil’s relationship with cinema is a lengthy one. As the horrors of Hell have always found their way into art [...]

by Marc Patterson Damn. I feel like I haven’t been around here in fuckin’ forever. Truth be told, I haven’t. Remember that whole “I’m in a transitionary period” rant from awhile back? No? It’s okay, you didn’t miss much. Well, all that’s behind me now. Life has finally – and I repeat FINALLY – settled [...]