Elevator To The Gallows (1958)

Elevator to the Gallows (1958; Ascenseur pour l’echafaud) is a French film noir directed by Louis Malle that doesn’t waste any time, introducing its adulterous lovers – Julien (Maurice Ronet) and Florence (Jeanne Moreau) – on the phone in gorgeous close ups plotting the murder of her husband, his boss. Getting straight into this carefully […]

Gloria (1980)

The first time I saw John Cassavetes’ Gloria (1980) as a teenager I was like “I don’t know, it’s okay; not enough action scenes.” Watching it again, there is enough action scenes. However, the true action is not the shoot outs or any gun play – it’s more the indomitable Gena Rowlands herself. As the […]

New Rose Hotel (1998)

New Rose Hotel (1998) is based on a William Gibson short story but is pretty low-tech in terms of being anything cyberpunk. For director Abel Ferrara (of Bad Lieutenant and King Of New York), it’s more about the raw emotions surrounding what is basically a classic noir plot – a honey trap designed to secure […]

Assault On Precinct 13 (1976)

Over time, Assault On Precinct 13 (1976) has become one of my favourite John Carpenter films. Much like George A. Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead, which it was influenced by, it is a triumph of low budget genre filmmaking that cracked the market and inspired countless rip offs. It is the first action picture […]

The Wages Of Fear (1953)

Tangerine Dream’s score for William Friedkin’s Sorcerer stuck in my head during. The original, The Wages Of Fear (1953; Le salaire de la peur), from my memory, generally keeps the music to the beginning and end, letting silence add a lot to the infamously gripping sequences of two trucks and four drivers transporting dangerous nitroglycerine […]