On this episode of the podcast, a British Film Board Classification censor gets caught up in the work of an exploitation director.
Here we are with Censor, a period piece set in 1980s London, during the peak of moral panic and the world of Video Nasties, so dubbed because they were deemed excessively violent.
This 2021 British psychological horror film was directed by Prano Bailey-Bond, and created a small buzz at Sundance.
On this episode, contextualizing the film with the likes of Videodrome and The Editor, plus discussions of Driller Killer, The Stuntman, and Don’t Answer the Phone! along with other films that infamously landed on the Nasties list.
On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we head across the pond to London, but also seaside England for two different, though in some ways similar productions Last Night in Soho and Saint Maud.
Last Night in Soho is about a sheltered wallflower who is accepted into design school in London, leaving her quaint bucolic confines to tackle big city life and all its pressures. Finding she can’t handle the party-fuelled dorm atmosphere, she rents a flat which turns out to be…a portal to another dimension! During her sleep, she is transported to swingin’ 60s London, that Carnaby era of high fashion, Twiggy, The Who and Matt Helm…grooooovy baby! Unfortunately, not all is as it seems. Edgar Wright directs…so you know this is gonna be good. After all, Shaun of the Dead, right???
Saint Maud, by contrast, is a brooding look at a PSW caring for a terminal ex-Broadway star. The two bond, and one, the personal care nurse is conflicted by her recent conversion to the Catholic faith. The terminal star, however, resolutely is not, and the two lifestyles are almost pitted against one another. Turns out, they have more in common than you may think.
This is a very dark film, both literally and figuratively. But it inches along at a snail’s pace, with…not much in the way of a captivating narrative. Still, the tone is good, the visuals are there, and the performances are dynamite. And it’s good in its own right.
What happens when a male bonding hunting trip goes horribly awry? This week, on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, the gripping Scottish thriller, Calibre.
Great performances, solid city/rural dynamics, a thick air of menace and lots to commend it overall.
Tune in for a contextual discussion of folk horror, urban / pastoral loggerheads, Scotland as a setting for horror, the importance of character-driven films, and much more!