The Hateful Eight (2015)

Sometime after the end of the American Civil War, a stagecoach is hurtling through snow-covered Wyoming, trying to keep ahead of a blizzard. On board are grizzled bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his valuable prisoner, the murderous Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh).

On their journey they encounter a couple of men, seeking rescue from the cold, fellow bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L Jackson), and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), the new sheriff of Red Rock - the coach's ultimate destination.

Unable to outpace the storm, the coach stops at Minnie's Haberdashery, an isolated waystation in the mountains, where they meet a number of other strangers (Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, and Demián Bichir) - but, suspiciously, not the station's owner or her partner.

Then the storm hits and they are stuck there until it passes.

The Hateful Eight is another Western masterpiece from Quentin Tarantino, who draws on a number of familiar techniques (chapters, non-sequential storytelling, historical liberties etc) to mesmerise his audience for two-and-three-quarter hours.

As might be expected from a Tarantino movie, as well as excessive harsh language (and a heap of racial slurs), the scenario eventually builds to a very bloody - and protracted - climax.

Because of the 19th Century setting, the absence of pop culture riffs in the dialogue means it isn't as riddled with quotable lines as some of his movies, yet it still resonates. However, The Hateful Eight relies primarily on atmosphere and tension to hold the audience's attention for such a long runtime.

It's been almost nine years since I last saw this, so not only had I forgotten all the magnificent twists and reveals in this epic, dark, character-driven drama, but I had no problem being carried along by Tarantino's mastery of pacing.

With the long middle act of the film, and much of the final act, taking place in a single - albeit large - room, The Hateful Eight can feel like a play at times, which, again, isn't necessarily a bad thing and highlights Tarantino's willingness to experiment with film-making styles.

Both this, and the sweeping scenery the coach travels through in the opening act of the film, make majestic use of widescreen. I hate to think how crushed, or cut, this beautiful-looking work of art would appear in full-screen or on an old-style TV set.

In a number of ways, The Hateful Eight took me back to Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, hitting many similar beats.

The plot is similarly straight-forward, while the story is complicated by the many strong characters and their individual, and often hidden, goals.

Every character the audience is introduced to along the way is, in some way, a bad person and one of the film's themes is the value of reputation (generally regarded as a key element of the old west, or, at least, Westerns).

Ruth knows the financial worth of his prisoner, and fears others might be out to steal her from him for the cash reward or to simply set her free. His paranoia is infectious and we quickly become suspicious of everyone, doubting what they saying, looking for double-meanings, or clues to who wants what.

And Tarantino is in no hurry to get to the big reveal, ratcheting up the tension as tightly - and slowly - as he can. This isn't a film for someone looking for a quick fix. The Hateful Eight requires investment.

The Salvation (2014)

No genre quite embraces the revenge story like westerns.

Danish immigrant Jon Jensen (Mads 'Hannibal' Mikkelsen) has worked for seven years preparing his farm and raising the funds to ship his wife and child over from the motherland.

Unfortunately, on the day they arrive, and the family is traveling to Jon's home - that he shares with his laid-back brother Peter (Mikael Persbrandt), just outside the town of Black Creek - they end up sharing a stage coach with a couple of ne'er-do-wells with tragic consequences.

Jon, an ex-solider like his brother, quickly exacts revenge, but that's only the beginning of his troubles.

One of the men he kills (Once Upon A Time's Michael Raymond-James) happens to be the brother of the irredeemably loathsome land baron Colonel Henry Delarue (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, of Watchmen and Supernatural fame), an unbalanced ex-Indian killer, with ambitions to take over Black Creek.

Delarue, a gonzo pantomime villain of an antagonist, wants to buy up the town because of the oil beneath it that his paymasters have their beady eyes on.

He also lusts after his brother's mute wife, Madelaine (Penny Dreadful's Eva Green), and very quickly takes advantage of her loss.

Venting his anger on the townsfolk of Black Creek - which includes undertaker-mayor Nathan Keane (Jonathan Pryce) and sheriff-priest Mallick (Primeval's Douglas Henshall) - Delarue demands the capture of his brother's killer and it isn't long before the cowed inhabitants point the finger at Jon.

Despite aspiring to be the new Unforgiven, The Salvation is more spaghetti western in its execution (just check out the number of quirky, gimmicky deaths in the third act, for instance) with a script - from director Kristian Levring and co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen - that's not afraid to corral a few clichés along the way.

Eva Green's character, in particular, gets the short end of the stick, being little more than a trophy to be 'won' and whose development revolves around successive brutalisation until she is finally driven to fight back.

Given that Jon would have only known her as Delarue's sister-in-law and accountant, there's no real logic for why Jon saves her, mid-battle, from Delarue's lieutenant, The Corsican (ex-footballer Eric Cantona), except for the fact that she's Eva Green!

Shot in South Africa, The Salvation looks gorgeous, has great pacing and an ice cool central performance from Mads Mikklelsen - who really can do no wrong.

Plot wobbles and misogyny aside, The Salvation stands as a stylish, old school, western revenge movie.

School's Out, Vigilantes Are In

The official (and frenetic) trailer for My Hero Academia spin-off Vigilantes, which begins airing next month (April 7).

Yummy (2019)

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Young Belgium couple Alison (Maaike Neuville) and Michael (Bart Hollanders), and Alison's mum Sylvia (Annick Christiaens), go to a dodgy Eastern European hospital so the women can get cheap plastic surgery (Alison to have a breast reduction and Sylvia a tummy tuck).

Upon arrival, Michael - a failed medical student (let down by his general clumsiness and his hemophobia) - is immediately suspicious of the shady doctors and disorganised nature of the facility.

As the women go off for their operations, the hospital's "fixer", Daniel (Benjamin Ramon), a charming scumbag, tries to distract Michael with a "behind-the-scenes" tour of the hospital.

However, while Daniel is stealing some drugs, Michael accidentally stumbles across the subject of a secret experiment, a restrained zombie woman he accidentally frees. 

Naturally chaos ensues in no time at all as a zombie plague spreads through the hospital, and our heroes try to survive and escape... without getting bitten.

For a largely run-of-the-mill outbreak flick, Yummy, Belgium's first zombie movie, is a lot of fun.

It quickly lifts itself above the deliberately dated, laddish 'humour' of its opening scenes into a manic midsection and then brings us crashing down to earth for a surprisingly nihilistic denouement, that comes close to rivalling the final moments of Romero's original Night of The Living Dead.

In fact, it's the leftfield surprises that writer/director Lars Damoiseaux, and co-writer Eveline Hagenbeek bring to Yummy that stick in the mind: for instance, there's a laugh-out-loud, yet simultaneously shocking, sequence with lothario TV star William (Tom Audenaert) that will stay with me forever.

Amidst the expected zombie movie blood and guts, this creative team have also served up their fair share of genuinely, inventive squirm-inducing moments that made even this old hand at the zombie-lark wince on more than one occasion.

Having dialogue seamlessly sliding between a variety of languages also helps add to the mystery of "what's going on", as key moments are neither in English nor subtitled.

It's a smart move that isn't overused, but helps prevent the audience from getting too far ahead of the protagonists.

Like so many one-off zombie movies, Yummy is only concerned with the genesis of the epidemic, but certainly leaves the door open for sequels down the line.

A worthy addition to the genre,  and financed in part by a crowdfunding campaign, Yummy is a well-balanced blend of throwback, tongue-in-cheek OTT Grand Guignol and full-on zombie gorefest, tempered by modern sensibilities and carried along by a solid cast and crew.

The Toll (2020)

A jet-lagged traveller from Chicago, Cami (Jordan Hayes, who has a look of Kate Mara about her), lands at Hamilton International Airport in Canada in the middle of the night.

She has flown up to visit her dad who lives on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, but her flight was delayed by a storm, so she now has to hail a rideshare to complete her journey.

The overly chatty and socially awkward driver, Spencer (Max Topplin, who has a bit of Tim Key, from recent Alan Partridge series, about him), kind of gets on Cami's nerves, but she really starts to freak out when his GPS sends them off down a dark road she has never travelled before.

However, checking Spencer's route, Cami accepts that this is an alternate way to her dad's place.

Only shortly after that, when they are heading down a pitch black country road, they are suddenly spooked by someone seemingly stepping out in front of the car.

But when they check, there's no one there.

Unfortunately, getting back into the car, Spencer discovers it won't start and they are stranded.

Both he and Cami, separately, decide to walk and look for help, but whichever direction they go, they end up back at the car.

That is just the beginning of their night of terrifying weirdness.

All credit to writer-director Michael Nader, The Toll does a phenomenal job of slowly building tension, then easing off, then escalating matters once again.

Nader's track record has primarily been with short films, and while this certainly has the feeling of a well-contained short horror film, it doesn't drag its heels or feel padded.

Beginning as a very modern psychological horror, with Cami's growing paranoia about being 'trapped' in a car with a peculiar stranger, the story then takes a dramatic supernatural turn that increasingly reminded me of the unusual occurrences in As Above, So Below.

For the first half an hour, of this 75-minute movie, we're just with Cami and Spencer, and the strained atmosphere feels so unnervingly real.

It's the early hours of the morning, they're alone in some dark, spooky woods, without phone service, with only Spencer's bow and arrow for protection (he's a bow hunter, who keeps his equipment in the boot of his car, much to Cami's initial horror). 

It isn't until they cross paths with a local that they learn they have somehow been drawn into the parallel world of The Toll Man, a paranormal entity who - attracted by a scent of death around our protagonists - demands a payment in blood before he will let them resume their journey.

There's maybe one or two minor jump scares, but mainly The Toll relies on the psychological weapons in its arsenal, as well as such tricks as shadows moving around in the darkness behind the main characters.

Increasingly they are pulled through a series of surreal nightmares that seem determined to undermine the couple's recently developed confidence in each other, trying to force one to kill the other.

These mind-games are a supernatural spin on Jigsaw's challenges in the Saw franchise, testing the mettle of Cami and Spencer, served up by an unseen - and unheard - antagonist à la Death in the Final Destination franchise.

The dynamic between the two main characters swings back and forth, eventually going to a very dark place at the climax of the film.

While other characters do pop up, largely in the nightmare sequences, it's Jordan Hayes and Max Topplin that carry this great little Canadian fright feast.

And after watching this: I'm never getting in an Uber ever again!

Reading Goals 2025

I'm reading Westerns again... for the first time in decades

For the last 18 months or so I'd hoped that I could convince myself to do do more 'constructive' things with my free time. 

Ultimately, though, I found myself spending a lot of time watching television. And I mean a LOT.

I've always enjoyed TV and movies at home, but really this got out of hand. 

I certainly wasn't helped by the constantly expanding library of channels available to us, through Sky and various streaming platforms.

So, it wasn't as though I was consuming mental garbage, but still the number of shows I became addicted to ended up eating into my time more than I could really justify.

I also watched a lot of movies (although possibly not as many as usual... for reasons), and was particularly impressed by the second part of the epic Dune adaptation.

This convinced to take another crack (my third or fourth?) at trying to read the book. So I acquired the gorgeous new edition from Gollancz, then got Dune Messiah from Rachel as a Christmas present (see below).

The third of the original trilogy, by Frank Herbert, comes out later this year, so I have set myself the possibly overambitious goal (given how slow I actually read these days) of reading the three books in 2025.

My new editions of the first two Dune novels

However, in recent months I've also discovered a pair of "booktubers" who have inspired me to focus more on reading, beyond my usual "I have to read stuff that informs whatever gaming project I'm thinking about at the time".

Both McNulty's Book Corral and and Michael K Vaughan (who is not the same person as comic book writer Brian K Vaughan, despite what my addled brain kept trying to tell me) love pulp books, horror, old sci-fi, westerns, and vintage comics, which corresponds to my own preferences.

The Book Corral even piqued my interest in reading Westerns again (something I haven't done seriously for decades).

So, following the show's recommendation, I picked up Peter Brandvold's Nordic & Finn, the first book in a new series, as it tells the tale of a rugged mountain man who adopts a stray dog, and the scrapes they get into.

Rather chaotically, as is my wont when I'm suddenly "inspired" in this manner, I've also started listening to an audiobook of another of Brandvold's books, Bloody Joe.

I know it's kind of 'cheating' but I still consume a majority of books via the audio format, which allows me to "hear" a story in the bath or last thing at night, before I grab a few hours of sleep.

This also allows me to revel in the many, many Doctor Who (and Whoniverse-adjacent) audio dramas being produced by Big Finish. Currently this is the best source for new Who material, the present run of televised episodes being very underwhelming.

Comics-wise, my pull-list continues to get whittled down, but, unexpectedly, DC is making a strong comeback these days, which - along with indies such as Mad Cave's excellent Flash Gordon range - are now dominating Marvel. 

THROWBACK THURSDAY: A Galaxy Not So Far Away

For my 41st birthday (back in 2007), Rachel took me to the touring Star Wars Exhibition at County Hall in London. This wasn't an exhibit of film props... this was a museum! Star Wars is real, baby, I tells ya, it's real!

Rachel had to hold me back from hopping in the podracer and taking it for a spin!

Sadly I was too old to start my jedi training...

The Lighthouse (2019)

Late in the 19th Century, apprentice lighthouse keeper Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson, The Batman) arrives on an isolated New England island for a four-week stint to learn the "wickie" craft from veteran lighthouse keeper Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe).

A former lumberjack, Winslow soon chafes at the drudgery of his chores under the stentorian commands of the superstitious Wake, and becomes particularly obsessed with the older man's refusal to allow him to tend the lighthouse's lamp.

The disputes between the men ebb and flow like the tide, as they gradually build a tenuous friendship that appears to be heading towards a father-son relationship, with Winslow both respecting and loathing the grizzled Wake.

However, as his time on the island draws to an end, Winslow is driven to break another of Wake's edicts: not to kill any of the militant seagulls that have the run of the island. Wake tells him it's bad luck to do so, as the birds contain the souls of dead seamen.

When a bird dies in their watertank, Winslow loses his temper and kills the first one that lands nearby.

And while Winslow is already starting to see things on the lonely island, the murder of the seagull is the signal for all Hell to break loose.

The men suddenly find themselves cut off by a seemingly never-ending storm, time plays tricks on them, details in Wake's stories change, Winslow's hallucinations get worse, the tension between the men mounts, leading to inevitable violence.

Released through Sky Store this week, The Lighthouse is a stunning, claustrophobic, physiological, horror movie.

Given the current state of the world, it is also an unexpectedly prescient study of two strong personalities locked down in a confined space for an excessive period of time - and possibly a template for many more movies to come in the next few months and years.

Inspired by historical events, once again - as he did with The Witch - writer/director Robert Eggers demonstrates his ear for linguistic verisimilitude, with the two, mighty, central actors in The Lighthouse not scrimping on the thick accents and genuine, period, vocabulary.

Beautifully shot in crisp black and white and shown in an archaic, square, ratio that accentuates the claustrophobic story, the film's escalating weirdness embraces both Lovecraftian horror and David Lynch levels of peculiarity that will have you wondering about your own sanity as well as that of the men trapped in the titular edifice.

I Stand With Bibbo

Superman: House of Brainiac Special, June 2024, 
art: Steve Pugh, colours: Jordie Bellaire, letters: Dave Sharpe

As well as reading new comic book releases, I've been playing catch-up with recent Superman storylines and am currently on The House of Brainiac storyline which crossed over between Action Comics and Superman.

It's all good world-threatening stuff as you'd expect from a Superman vs Brainiac story, but what has stood out for me has been the more-grounded Metropolis subplot about Perry White (former editor of The Daily Planet) and his run for city mayor against the populist xenophobe Garon Blake.

And, yes, I may know who won this particular race, but it's interesting to see how they got there.

The oversized Superman: House of Brainiac Special, cover date June 2024, is split into three chapters by different creative teams, with chapter two, Campaign Headquarters, by Mark Russell (with art by Steve Pugh, colours by Jordie Bellaire, and letters by Dave Sharpe) focuses on the build-up to - and aftermath of - a head-to-head debate between the Metropolis mayoral candidates.

The chapter is narrated by Bibbo Bibbowski, Superman's number one fan and owner of the Ace o' Clubs bar in Suicide Slum.

Part of his wonderful monologue particularly resonated with me, possibly more than if I'd read it when it was first published:

"In Suicide Slum, we have a sayin'... nobody yaps louder than a lapdog.

"Every preacher, politician, or mob boss who ever came in the bar -- they all dressed the same. Respectable, legitimate. So you couldn't tell the saints from the killers. And yet, you could always tell. Not by how they looked... but by who followed 'em in."