New review: Ink

A couple of thousand words on the independent fantasy film Ink. Sorry to report that I really didn't like it.


"Watching Ink is like looking at a really terrible website full of different fonts and colours with endless flash animations and rows of dancing hamsters. This is chuck-it-all-in-because-we-can film-making which completely obscures the simple story at its heart."

Mark Hamill narrates Conor Timmis' new documentary

Conor Timmis has been working for some time now on a very personal documentary about the Korean War, entitled Finnigan's War. And he just dropped me a line to say that the narration has been recorded by the voice-legend that is Mark Hamill. You can watch a three-minute behind-the-scenes bit about the recording on YouTube.

How to Stop Being a Loser

How to Stop Being a Loser is a new comedy from the folks behind Dead Cert, Devil's Playground, Jack Says/Said/Falls, The Last Seven, Cut, The Scar Crow - quite the all-star collaboration.

Jonathan Sothcott, Billy Murray, Simon Phillips, Patricia Rybarczyk and director Dominic Burns are the producers, and the cast includes Billy Murray, Simon Phillips, Colin Salmon, Richard E Grant, Gemma Atkinson, Adele Silva, Craig Conway, Martin Kemp etc etc.

There's a trailer now on YouTube.

New interview: Frankie Krainz

New on my site is an interview with screenwriter Frankie Krainz, about the two films he wrote for Steve Balderson - Stuck! and The Casserole Club - plus their forthcoming third collaboration, Culture Shock.

Dark and Stormy Frankenstein

4Digital Media has two very different horror films lined up for May

Dark and Stormy Night is a spot-on pastiche of 1930s 'old dark house' movies, directed by Larry Blamire (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra) and with a cast that includes Mark Redfield. That's out on 9th May. Here's the trailer.

One week later comes The Frankenstein Experiment (US title: The Frankenstein Syndrome), a powerful and effective modern take on the Mary Shelley classic, starring and produced by the marvellous Tiffany Shepis. There's a trailer for that too.

Watch out for reviews of both of these soon.

Jack and Zomblies triumph at LIFF

Jack Falls, the concluding part of the Jack Says trilogy, has won Best Action Feature at the London Independent Film Festival. Writer/director Paul Tanter picked up the award.

And Zomblies took home two LIFF awards: for Best Sci-Fi/Horror Feature and Best Editing (a thoroughly deserved award to Eve Hazelton).

• Full list of LIFF winners

Review: Harold's Going Stiff

I've just posted a 2,000 word review of Harold's Going Stiff, the brand new zombie comedy from Keith Wright, the director of Take Me to Your Leader.