February, 2013. For no particular reason, a feature on terrible ’80s end-credits songs. I went for ‘terrible’ to avoid endless debates about ‘classic’. On the whole, people seemed not to take issue with these choices, which include Dokken, Frank Stallone, and Dan Aykroyd rapping with Tom Hanks. The horror. http://www.empireonline.com/features/awful-80s-end-credit-songs I was especially amused and pleased… Continue reading 1980s Movie Themes
February, 2013. Marking the release of the awful A Good Day to Die Hard, this is a little feature on the many and various films that ran with the original Die Hard formula. So Cliffhanger, Under Siege, Sudden Death… There were a lot. http://www.empireonline.com/features/die-hard-movies-that-arent-die-hard/
November, 2012. Damon Wise was double-booked, so he asked me to cover for him at the 2012 European Film Awards in Malta. So I did. Great evening for Michael Haneke. His translator probably remembers it less fondly. Originally published on the Empire Blog, which sadly no longer exists (as of October, 2015). Still accessible via… Continue reading European Film Awards 2012
November, 2012. Another interview from Night Visions. This is Silje Reinåmo, the star of the superb Norwegian fantasy Thale. The interview was originally published on the Empire blog, which no longer exists since the Empire site was overhauled. So here’s the piece in full. ———- Home-grown Scandinavian films are in relatively short supply at this year’s… Continue reading Silje Reinåmo
November, 2012. At FrightFest in London last year, I met a guy who invited me to his own horror festival in Helsinki. Having established that he wasn’t a serial killer and really did work for Night Visions, I accepted and went and had a brilliant time. I was there for four days, and spent most… Continue reading Juan Martinez Moreno
October, 2012. Another in my indie horror series. This interview with debut director Richard Bates Jr. marked the release of his excellent Excision. Originally published at Empire, but didn’t survive the migration to a new site. Here’s the full transcript. Excision, a story of high-school awkwardness, peculiar proclivities, dangerous fantasies and horrifying amateur surgery,… Continue reading Richard Bates Jr.
October, 2012. I have kind of an ongoing fascination with novelisations, so this piece on books based on Arnold Schwarzenegger films was a chance to indulge that. The excuse was the publication of Arnold’s autobiography: so this was a feature on Arnold in fiction to go alongside the non-fiction. The snippets of interview with Piers… Continue reading Arnie Novels
