Lore - DVD Review
Review by Rob Carnevale
HAVING won widespread acclaim for her first film Somersault, Australian director Cate Shortland’s follow up looks set to garner even more.
Based on a story in Rachel Seiffert’s Booker-shortlisted novel The Dark Room, Lore is a haunting but eye-opening look at life in Germany in the immediate aftermath of World War II as seen through the eyes of the teenage daughter of two SS parents.
The film picks up as her parents are taken into custody, leaving Lore (played by newcomer Saskia Rosendahl) to try to fend for her four younger siblings and guide them safely on a 900km across Germany to join their grandmother in Hamburg.
In doing so, Lore experiences an awakening that puts her loyalty and faith in both her parents and Hitler to the test. Although indoctrinated into her parents’ views, the realities of war-ravaged Germany soon hit home and are even exacerbated by the arrival of a young Jewish survivor (Kai-Peter Malina’s Thomas) who offers them much needed assistance.
Shortland’s film is a thoughtful examination of the issues at play, serving as both a gripping survival thriller and a meditation on denial and responsibility.
It’s not an easy film to watch, both in the way that it contains some genuinely harrowing imagery as well as in how it depicts the corrosion of the innocence of youth, but it’s all the more admirable for the way in which it refuses to pull its punches. The ending, too, is particularly well realised and very effective.
At the centre of it all, meanwhile, is a towering performance from Rosendahl who displays a maturity beyond her years to brilliantly capture the vast range of emotions tearing through her.
Charged with carrying the emotional brunt of the film, she offers a complex yet sympathetic portrayal of someone forced to grow up fast and re-evaluate everything she once had faith in. It’s a performance nothing short of astonishing.
There’s notable support, too, from each of the young actors playing her siblings and Malina as Thomas.
Lore is challenging cinema that grips from start to finish.
In German, with subtitles
Certificate: 15
Running time: 109mins
UK Blu-ray & DVD Release: May 27, 2013
Win a copy of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn on DVD
Preview by Jack Foley
HALO 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action drama based on the best-selling Xbox franchise that brings a brand-new story to life on a scale never before seen in the Halo® universe.
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn delivers an exciting story of heroism and sacrifice, taking fans back to the beginning of the human and Covenant war and leading into the events of Halo 4, the award-winning Xbox 360 exclusive video game.
Written by Todd Helbing and Aaron Helbing (Smallville, Spartacus) and directed by Stewart Hendler (H+, Sorority Row), the feature boasts a diverse cast of Hollywood talent including Tom Green (Dance Academy) and Anna Popplewell (The Chronicles of Narnia, Girl With A Pearl Ear-ring), as well as a top-tier production team.
Synopsis
For generations, humans travelled the stars and worked together under the banner of the United Nations Space Command. Now that peace is shattered by insurrectionists, causing a galaxy-spanning civil war.
Cadet Thomas Lasky and his fellow students at Corbulo military academy now train to make this war their future. But Lasky is conflicted about his path, and his resolve is tested when the academy comes under attack from a terrifying alien assault.
Lasky and his fellow cadets fight for survival, only to find assistance from a mysterious ally – a mythic, armored super-soldier known as the Master Chief.
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, November 27, 2013.
Win Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn on DVD
To celebrate the release of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn on DVD on May 27, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win a copy. Simply answer the following question…
Q. Who directs Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn?
Simply send the answer to Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Texas Chainsaw and other Hollywood power tool abuses
Feature by Gavin Baddeley
HORROR films have long been criticised as immoral, inspiring all manner of anti-social behaviour in their impressionable audiences.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in particular was singled out as a bad influence: Banned by the British censors in the 70s, several of its sequels were caught up in the ‘video nasties’ panic of the subsequent decade. Yet surely this was unfair.
For The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was actually a public information film in many respects; warning viewers of the hazards of picking up hitchhikers, while highlighting the issue of rural unemployment. In particular, the film led the way in stressing the perils of being careless with power tools.
So, to celebrate the release of the newest, nastiest entry into the Massacre family, Texas Chainsaw, we’ve thrown together a brief list of the most memorable moments of power tool misuse in cinema history…
Fight with Sledgehammers (1902)
Kickin’ it old school…
While a sledgehammer might not technically be a power tool, it was the closest our great-great-grandparents could lay their hands on, featuring in this now – sadly lost –pioneering British short in which two blacksmiths settle their differences in dramatic style. Incidentally, there are actually more people sledgehammered than chainsawed in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre…
Dark of the Sun (1969)
The first cut is the deepest…
An early example of the graphically violent, gritty action films that came to dominate the thriller genre in the 70s, Dark of the Sun is a saga of dodgy diamonds and double-crossing in deepest, war-torn Congo. It’s also probably the first example of chainsaw misuse on film, in one of several scenes that helped earn Dark of the Sun widespread condemnation as gratuitously brutal, as a retired Nazi attacks our hero with a power tool.
The Wizard of Gore (1970)
In devastating colour…
Perhaps the best film by B-movie pioneer Herschell Gordon Lewis, who introduced explicit splatter into cheap horror with Blood Feast in 1963. The Wizard of Gore features Lewis’s trademark blend of graphic gore and disarming incompetence in this tale of a magician whose grisly tricks include sawing a woman in half with a chainsaw, likely the first chainsaw killing in horror cinema.
I Drink Your Blood (1970)
Satan was an acidhead…
One of a number of exploitation movies inspired by the Manson murders of 1969, there’s plenty to savour in this pungent slice of grindhouse cheese, featuring a gang of devil-worshipping hippies, infected with rabies by an iffy meat pie. Look out for the two innocuous-seeming flower children who give a kindly old lady an early lesson in how not to use an electric carving knife…
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
You like head cheese?…
A movie that changed the face of a genre – banned, celebrated, analysed, adored, and reviled – the idea for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre came to Tobe Hooper while he was in the hardware section of a busy store. The moment when Leatherface first cranks up his chainsaw is the moment the traditional horror film enters the machine age, that high-pitched roar, the sound of the birth pangs of post-industrial Gothic.
Frightmare (1974)
Driller killer cougar…
Made by the UK’s unsung hero of 70s exploitation cinema, Pete Walker, and starring his greatest leading lady, Sheila Keith, who plays a cannibal granny who makes memorable use of a Black and Decker in order to satisfy her killer munchies. Even by Walker’s grim standards, Frightmare’s a bleak, nasty little flick, a gruesome satire of the conservative celebration of traditional family values.
City of the Living Dead (1980)
Cranial trauma Italian style…
The first of the notorious ‘Gates of Hell’ trilogy by Italy’s master of surreal splatter Lucio Fulci, City of the Living Dead features several examples of his trademark nauseating excess, such as one poor actress literally chucking her guts up. It’s the scene where the village idiot is given an impromptu lobotomy with an industrial drill that most excited the gorehounds and outraged the censors.
Scarface (1983)
White powder wipe out…
Chainsaws soon became standard issue for any filmmaker wanting to up the up the [del for repetition] ante in the nastiness stakes. So it was that when Brian de Palma decided to update the gangster film to reflect the increasing brutality of organised crime, he cast Al Pacino at his most unhinged in the lead, while Oliver Stone wrote a power tool torture scene into the script which still makes audiences squirm 30 years on.
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Mayhem on autopilot…
Stephen King’s first – and to-date only – stint in the director’s chair, even by the author’s own estimation, this tale of machines running amuck is a mess, King later confessing that he was ‘coked out of my mind’ during the shoot. But surely no film that features an AC/DC soundtrack, an ATM calling a customer (King himself) an ‘asshole’, and Emilio Estevez being menaced by a malevolent electric carving knife can be all bad.
Evil Dead II (1987)
Who’s laughing now…
While some purists prefer its less comical predecessor, the second Evil Dead film not only puts its chainsaw centre-stage, but in the hands – or more accurately instead of the hand – of its indomitable wisecracking hero Ash. This surely inspired games designers to make chainsaws the melee weapon of choice for computer game protagonists, from the influential FPS Doom onwards.
Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988)
They charge an arm and a leg…
While hardly Citizen Kane, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers does have a few things going for it, not least a robed Gunnar Hansen – the original Leatherface – presiding over disrobed scream queen Linnea Quigley, gamely performing the Virgin Dance of the Double Chainsaws. By this point, Brit censors had become so paranoid, even the word ‘chainsaw’ was taboo, and the film was released in the UK as Hollywood Hookers, with a silhouette of a chainsaw overlaid on the title.
Frankenhooker (1990)
Wanna date?…
NYC exploitation king Frank Henenlotter gives his version of Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 novel Frankenstein, bringing it up-to-date with buckets of sex, drugs and general sleaze. It makes our list courtesy of the opening scene, where an unfortunate incident with a lawnmower he’s customised obliges our hero, bumbling mad scientist Jeffrey Franken, to literally try and rebuild his girlfriend from spare parts.
Braindead (1992)
Kicking ass for the Lord…
An early film from Kiwi director Peter Jackson, before he wussed out and starting making movies about pixies and wizards, Braindead treats its audience to a delirious explosion of rat-monkeys, disintegrating relatives, and kickboxing priests. Highlights include a notably messy confrontation between a rotary lawnmower and a roomful of zombies.
American Psycho (2000)
Die yuppie scum…
Patrick Bateman, everyone’s favourite upwardly mobile psychopath, murders people in a wide variety of fashions to a selection of toe-tapping AOR. Notable power tool employment includes the stylish despatch of a hooker using a dropped chainsaw, and menacing his secretary with a nail gun (Patrick later confesses to having successfully killed an ex with the same device).
Switchblade Romance (2003)
Gender-bending Gallic gore…
Known elsewhere as High Tension, this was among the most successful of the ‘new French extremist’ thrillers, where horror collides with art-house cinema to satisfyingly messy effect, even if plausibility is often an early casualty. Confirming the sub-genre’s reputation for violent excess, the enigmatic killer in Switchblade Romance includes a concrete saw in their repertoire.
Hostel (2007)
Caution, floor slippery when wet…
While many agree that Hostel represented a cinematic landmark of sorts, whether that was a good thing remains more controversial, earning itself the ambivalent (and inaccurate) ‘torture porn’ tag. Certainly, Hostel pioneered new levels of graphic onscreen sadism, including a nod to Texas Chainsaw, in the shape of a blackly comical power tool mishap.
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil (2010)
You want a killer hillbilly?…
It’s a sign a film has become iconic when it becomes a target for affectionate, intelligent satire (Scary Movie 3 need not apply), and Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil does a beautiful job of sending up The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and its numerous offspring. The scene, where Tucker inadvertently terrifies the college kids after sawing into a bees-nest – slyly parodying Leatherface’s famous chainsaw-brandishing swagger – is pure gold.
Lionsgate UK releases Texas Chainsaw on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray and download on May 27, 2013.
Texas Chainsaw - DVD Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
LIONSGATE’S Texas Chainsaw, the US No.1 box office hit, picks up directly where the terrifying 1974 movie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ended, with the repercussions of Leatherface’s shocking slayings.
In the aftermath of Tobe Hooper’s classic, the townspeople take dramatic action against the Sawyer family. They had long suspected that the family was responsible for several mysterious disappearances and had their suspicions confirmed when a young woman escaped the house.
Word of the murders quickly spread, and a vigilante mob of enraged locals surrounded the Sawyer stronghold, burning it to the ground and killing every last member of the family – or so they thought.
Decades later and hundreds of miles away from the original massacre, a young woman named Heather learns that she has inherited a Texas estate from a grandmother she never knew she had.
After embarking on a road trip with friends to uncover her roots, she finds she is the sole owner of a lavish, isolated Victorian mansion. But her newfound wealth comes at a price as she stumbles upon a horror that awaits her in the mansion’s dank cellars…
With gruesome surprises in store for a whole new generation, Texas Chainsaw stars Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager, Tremaine ‘Trey Songz’ Neverson, Scott Eastwood, Tania Raymonde, Shaun Sipos, Keram Malicki-Sanchez, James MacDonald, Thom Barry, Paul Rae and Richard Riehle, along with special appearances from four beloved cast members from previous installments of the franchise: Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface), Marilyn Burns, John Dugan and Bill Moseley.
The film is directed by John Luessenhop (Takers), from a screenplay by Adam Marcus & Debra Sullivan and Kirsten Elms, based on a story by Stephen Susco and Adam Marcus & Debra Sullivan and based on characters created by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper, and produced by Carl Mazzocone. Lionsgate presents a Millennium Films production and Main Line Pictures production.
Texas Chainsaw is available on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, and download to own and rent on May 27, 2013.
Certificate: 18
Running time: 88mins approx
UK DVD & Blu-ray Release: May 27, 2013
Win Gone In 60 Seconds (1974) on DVD
THE original Gone In 60 Seconds is the inspiration behind the 2000 Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie smash-hit, here for the first time in the UK on Blu-ray.
The godfather of all great car chase movies, Gone In 60 Seconds follows top car thief Pace and his crew as they find themselves entangled in a drug smuggling plot. Caught in the underworld of stealing and selling on sought after vehicles, Pace must lead his guys to freedom as they are chased ruthlessly by the police.
This fast and furious high-speed hunt heats up resulting in the finale of cinema’s greatest, and longest, ever car chase with the immense destruction of an incredible 93 vehicles over 40 blistering minutes.
Gone In 60 Seconds, the movie that started the engines of all great high octane action films and will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on May 20, 2013.
Win Gone in 60 Seconds on DVD
To celebrate the release of Gone in 60 Seconds on Blu-ray and DVD on May 20, 2013, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 5 copies on DVD. Simply answer the following question…
Question
Q. Who directs Gone In 60 Seconds (Clue, the answer is in our preview)?
A) William Friedkin
B) HB Halicki
C) Peter Yates
Simply send the answer to Gone In 60 Seconds competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Win Playing For Keeps on Blu-ray
Gerard Butler will melt your heart in Playing For Keeps, a new romantic comedy with a bit of spice! Out to rent and own on DVD and Blu-ray from May 20.
Butler (PS I Love You, The Bounty Hunter) stars as George Dryer, a down-on-his-luck former football star who is desperate to rebuild a relationship with his ex-wife, Stacie (Jessica Biel, Hitchcock, Total Recall), and his young son, Lewis.
In an attempt to grow up and win his family back he starts coaching his son’s football team. But while football is a hands-free sport, the lusty mothers of the other kids can’t seem to keep their hands off the coach! Will his attempts to put his family back together be challenged by attractive soccer-mums?
Directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness, Seven Pounds) and also starring Uma Thurman (My Super Ex-Girlfriend), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Rock of Ages), Dennis Quaid (What to Expect When You’re Expecting), and Judy Greer (The Descendants) and introducing Noah Lomax as Lewis, Playing For Keeps is a fun and heart-warming tale with plenty of laughs.
Playing For Keeps is out on Blu-ray, DVD and to download on May 20.
Gerard Butler interview l Photo Gallery
Win Playing For Keeps on Blu-ray
To celebrate the release of Playing For Keeps on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, May 20, 2013, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies on Blu-ray. Simply answer the following question…
Q. What sport was Playing For Keeps originally going to feature (Clue, the answer is in our interview)?
A) Baseball
B) Basketball
C) American Football
Simply send the answer to Playing For Keeps competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
2013 marks the centenary of celluloid legend of film and TV great Peter Cushing, as well as the 50th anniversary of the first appearance on television of the legendary Timelord.
To honour this, STUDIOCANAL are delighted to announce the release on DVD and Blu-ray of both the only cinematic incarnations of the Doctor’s adventures, suitably putting him against his most infamous foes, The Daleks.
DR Who & The Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. have both been digitally re-mastered and are available in HD for the first time from Monday, May 27, 2013.
These releases are accompanied by a host of specially created new extras, including a look at the restoration work and brand new interviews.
About Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Directed by Gordon Flemyng and now fully restored, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966) stars Peter Cushing in his return to the big screen as British TV’s most iconic sci-fi hero, Doctor Who.
The earth of 2150 AD is a desolate and hostile ruin of a planet, crumbling at the edge of civilisation, slowly disappearing into the darkness of space. For the future of planet earth now belongs The Daleks, a destructive arm of alien invaders who have turned the human race into cowering slaves.
Meanwhile, deep within the London Underground a group of resistance freedom fighters are planning an attack. But there’s only one man who could possibly help them succeed in destroying their extra terrestrial enemies and take back control of planet earth.
A man of mystery, a man of time and space, a man known only as… The Doctor.
Extras include restoring Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., an interview with Bernard
Cribbins, an interview with Gareth Owen and a stills gallery.
Win Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD
To celebrate the release of Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD on Blu-ray and DVD on May 27, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies. Simply answer the following question…
Q. In what year was Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD first released?
Simply send the answer to Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Dr Who & The Daleks - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
2013 marks the centenary of celluloid legend of film and TV great Peter Cushing, as well as the 50th anniversary of the first appearance on television of the legendary Timelord.
To honour this, STUDIOCANAL are delighted to announce the release on DVD and Blu-ray of both the only cinematic incarnations of the Doctor’s adventures, suitably putting him against his most infamous foes, The Daleks.
DR Who & The Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. have both been digitally re-mastered and are available in HD for the first time from Monday, May 27, 2013.
These releases are accompanied by a host of specially created new extras, including a look at the restoration work and brand new interviews.
About Dr Who & The Daleks
Directed by Gordon Flemyng and starring Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey, Dr. Who & The Daleks (1965) was the first big screen film adaptation of British TV’s most iconic sci-fi hero, and the first time Doctor Who was ever seen in colour!
British film legend Peter Cushing plays everyone’s favourite Timelord, and having invented the TARDIS, a strange machine capable of travelling into other dimensions, the Doctor and his three young companions set forth on a quest through time and space.
Their journey takes them into the dark, undiscovered depths of the universe and to the planet of Skaro. A primitive world devastated by nuclear war and populated by two warring species, a peaceful tribe known as Thals and a life form heavily mutated by radiation, encased in protective machines. A merciless force of destruction known as The Daleks!
Extras include audio commentary with Roberta Tovey and Jenny Linden, Dalekmania, Restoring Dr Who And The Daleks, an interview with Gareth Owen, a stills gallery and trailer.
Win Dr Who & The Daleks
To celebrate the release of Dr Who & The Daleks on Blu-ray and DVD on May 27, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies. Simply answer the following question…
Q. Who directs Dr Who & The Daleks?
Simply send the answer to Dr Who & The Daleks competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Lore - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
It’s May 1945: Stranded with her younger siblings after their Nazi parents are imprisoned during the dying days of WWII, the young Lore (a stunning breakthrough performance by Saskia Rosendahl) leads the remains of her family across war-torn Germany.
Among the chaos of a defeated nation, Lore encounters Thomas, a young Jewish refugee who begins to follow and help them.
Lore finds her fragile reality shattered by feelings of both hatred and desire for Thomas, and as the consequences of her parent’s actions and beliefs slowly become apparent, she must begin to face the darkness within herself…
Win Lore on DVD
To celebrate the release of Lore on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, May 27, 2013 IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies. Simply answer the following question…
Q. Who directs Lore (Clue, the answer is in our review)
Simply send the answer to Lore competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Certificate: 15
Running time: 109mins
UK Blu-ray & DVD Release: May 27, 2013
Craig Campbell Live now available on iTunes - Win tickets to see Lumberjack live
Preview by Jack Foley
STAR of Michael Mcintyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Russell Howard’s Good News and Dave’s One Night Stand, Craig Campbell is one of the most charismatic and inventive performers on the circuit today.
Craig made his debut as part of the Lumberjacks alongside Stewart Francis and Glenn Wool, and the trio are currently touring the UK with their hilarious Edinburgh Festival 2012 show.
Now a successful comedian in his own right, watch Craig’s side-splitting show available to download exclusively through iTunes from May 13. Order a copy now.
Once the notorious host of Canada’s legendary Ed’s Night Party, Craig has appeared in a whole host of other shows, including Just for Laughs and Mountain Madness with Dennis Miller.
Since relocating to his new home in Devon, Craig has appeared as presenter of Sky One’s hit series From Wimps to Warriors, as well as appearing on Comedy Cuts (ITV2), Mitch Benn’s Musical Comedy Show (BBC Radio 4), and Out To Lunch (BBC Radio 2).
In 2010, Craig successfully supported Frankie Boyle on his record-breaking national tour, playing to an audience of over 300,000 people nationwide.
Craig has also toured solo with Craig Campbell Live, extended twice due to popular demand, notching up over 120 dates nationwide and continuing into spring 2012.
Craig’s unique ability to find humour in the mundane, coupled with his own natural eccentricity makes for truly inventive storytelling. Now an internationally acclaimed act, Craig’s whimsical travel anecdotes never fail to surprise or leave the audience in stitches.
And his energy isn’t just for the stage as he is quite the adventurer. In his spare time Craig can be found snowboarding, kayaking, skiing, cross country running, or even surfing! He is a genuine action man.
Craig Campbell Live available exclusively on the iTunes Store® now
Win tickets to see Craig Campbell’s Lumberjack in London
To celebrate the release of Craig Campbell’s solo live show, Craig Campbell Live, which released on iTunes last week, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win a pair of tickets to the Lumberjack live show at Leicester Square Theatre on Thursday, May 30, 2013. Simply answer the following question…
Q. Where in England is Craig Campbell’s new home?
Simply send the answer to Craig Campbell Live competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
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Lore - DVD Review · 3 hours ago by
HAVING won widespread acclaim for her first film Somersault, Australian director Cate Shortland’s follow up looks set to garner even more.
Based on a story in Rachel Seiffert’s Booker-shortlisted novel The Dark Room, Lore is a haunting but eye-opening look at life in Germany in the immediate aftermath of World War II as seen through the eyes of the teenage daughter of two SS parents.
The film picks up as her parents are taken into custody, leaving Lore (played by newcomer Saskia Rosendahl) to try to fend for her four younger siblings and guide them safely on a 900km across Germany to join their grandmother in Hamburg.
In doing so, Lore experiences an awakening that puts her loyalty and faith in both her parents and Hitler to the test. Although indoctrinated into her parents’ views, the realities of war-ravaged Germany soon hit home and are even exacerbated by the arrival of a young Jewish survivor (Kai-Peter Malina’s Thomas) who offers them much needed assistance.
Shortland’s film is a thoughtful examination of the issues at play, serving as both a gripping survival thriller and a meditation on denial and responsibility.
It’s not an easy film to watch, both in the way that it contains some genuinely harrowing imagery as well as in how it depicts the corrosion of the innocence of youth, but it’s all the more admirable for the way in which it refuses to pull its punches. The ending, too, is particularly well realised and very effective.
At the centre of it all, meanwhile, is a towering performance from Rosendahl who displays a maturity beyond her years to brilliantly capture the vast range of emotions tearing through her.
Charged with carrying the emotional brunt of the film, she offers a complex yet sympathetic portrayal of someone forced to grow up fast and re-evaluate everything she once had faith in. It’s a performance nothing short of astonishing.
There’s notable support, too, from each of the young actors playing her siblings and Malina as Thomas.
Lore is challenging cinema that grips from start to finish.
In German, with subtitles
Certificate: 15
Running time: 109mins
UK Blu-ray & DVD Release: May 27, 2013
Win a copy of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn on DVD · 3 hours ago by
HALO 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action drama based on the best-selling Xbox franchise that brings a brand-new story to life on a scale never before seen in the Halo® universe.
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn delivers an exciting story of heroism and sacrifice, taking fans back to the beginning of the human and Covenant war and leading into the events of Halo 4, the award-winning Xbox 360 exclusive video game.
Written by Todd Helbing and Aaron Helbing (Smallville, Spartacus) and directed by Stewart Hendler (H+, Sorority Row), the feature boasts a diverse cast of Hollywood talent including Tom Green (Dance Academy) and Anna Popplewell (The Chronicles of Narnia, Girl With A Pearl Ear-ring), as well as a top-tier production team.
Synopsis
For generations, humans travelled the stars and worked together under the banner of the United Nations Space Command. Now that peace is shattered by insurrectionists, causing a galaxy-spanning civil war.
Cadet Thomas Lasky and his fellow students at Corbulo military academy now train to make this war their future. But Lasky is conflicted about his path, and his resolve is tested when the academy comes under attack from a terrifying alien assault.
Lasky and his fellow cadets fight for survival, only to find assistance from a mysterious ally – a mythic, armored super-soldier known as the Master Chief.
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, November 27, 2013.
Win Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn on DVD
To celebrate the release of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn on DVD on May 27, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win a copy. Simply answer the following question…
Q. Who directs Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn?
Simply send the answer to Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Texas Chainsaw and other Hollywood power tool abuses · 5 hours ago by
HORROR films have long been criticised as immoral, inspiring all manner of anti-social behaviour in their impressionable audiences.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in particular was singled out as a bad influence: Banned by the British censors in the 70s, several of its sequels were caught up in the ‘video nasties’ panic of the subsequent decade. Yet surely this was unfair.
For The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was actually a public information film in many respects; warning viewers of the hazards of picking up hitchhikers, while highlighting the issue of rural unemployment. In particular, the film led the way in stressing the perils of being careless with power tools.
So, to celebrate the release of the newest, nastiest entry into the Massacre family, Texas Chainsaw, we’ve thrown together a brief list of the most memorable moments of power tool misuse in cinema history…
Fight with Sledgehammers (1902)
Kickin’ it old school…
While a sledgehammer might not technically be a power tool, it was the closest our great-great-grandparents could lay their hands on, featuring in this now – sadly lost –pioneering British short in which two blacksmiths settle their differences in dramatic style. Incidentally, there are actually more people sledgehammered than chainsawed in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre…
Dark of the Sun (1969)
The first cut is the deepest…
An early example of the graphically violent, gritty action films that came to dominate the thriller genre in the 70s, Dark of the Sun is a saga of dodgy diamonds and double-crossing in deepest, war-torn Congo. It’s also probably the first example of chainsaw misuse on film, in one of several scenes that helped earn Dark of the Sun widespread condemnation as gratuitously brutal, as a retired Nazi attacks our hero with a power tool.
The Wizard of Gore (1970)
In devastating colour…
Perhaps the best film by B-movie pioneer Herschell Gordon Lewis, who introduced explicit splatter into cheap horror with Blood Feast in 1963. The Wizard of Gore features Lewis’s trademark blend of graphic gore and disarming incompetence in this tale of a magician whose grisly tricks include sawing a woman in half with a chainsaw, likely the first chainsaw killing in horror cinema.
I Drink Your Blood (1970)
Satan was an acidhead…
One of a number of exploitation movies inspired by the Manson murders of 1969, there’s plenty to savour in this pungent slice of grindhouse cheese, featuring a gang of devil-worshipping hippies, infected with rabies by an iffy meat pie. Look out for the two innocuous-seeming flower children who give a kindly old lady an early lesson in how not to use an electric carving knife…
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
You like head cheese?…
A movie that changed the face of a genre – banned, celebrated, analysed, adored, and reviled – the idea for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre came to Tobe Hooper while he was in the hardware section of a busy store. The moment when Leatherface first cranks up his chainsaw is the moment the traditional horror film enters the machine age, that high-pitched roar, the sound of the birth pangs of post-industrial Gothic.
Frightmare (1974)
Driller killer cougar…
Made by the UK’s unsung hero of 70s exploitation cinema, Pete Walker, and starring his greatest leading lady, Sheila Keith, who plays a cannibal granny who makes memorable use of a Black and Decker in order to satisfy her killer munchies. Even by Walker’s grim standards, Frightmare’s a bleak, nasty little flick, a gruesome satire of the conservative celebration of traditional family values.
City of the Living Dead (1980)
Cranial trauma Italian style…
The first of the notorious ‘Gates of Hell’ trilogy by Italy’s master of surreal splatter Lucio Fulci, City of the Living Dead features several examples of his trademark nauseating excess, such as one poor actress literally chucking her guts up. It’s the scene where the village idiot is given an impromptu lobotomy with an industrial drill that most excited the gorehounds and outraged the censors.
Scarface (1983)
White powder wipe out…
Chainsaws soon became standard issue for any filmmaker wanting to up the up the [del for repetition] ante in the nastiness stakes. So it was that when Brian de Palma decided to update the gangster film to reflect the increasing brutality of organised crime, he cast Al Pacino at his most unhinged in the lead, while Oliver Stone wrote a power tool torture scene into the script which still makes audiences squirm 30 years on.
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Mayhem on autopilot…
Stephen King’s first – and to-date only – stint in the director’s chair, even by the author’s own estimation, this tale of machines running amuck is a mess, King later confessing that he was ‘coked out of my mind’ during the shoot. But surely no film that features an AC/DC soundtrack, an ATM calling a customer (King himself) an ‘asshole’, and Emilio Estevez being menaced by a malevolent electric carving knife can be all bad.
Evil Dead II (1987)
Who’s laughing now…
While some purists prefer its less comical predecessor, the second Evil Dead film not only puts its chainsaw centre-stage, but in the hands – or more accurately instead of the hand – of its indomitable wisecracking hero Ash. This surely inspired games designers to make chainsaws the melee weapon of choice for computer game protagonists, from the influential FPS Doom onwards.
Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988)
They charge an arm and a leg…
While hardly Citizen Kane, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers does have a few things going for it, not least a robed Gunnar Hansen – the original Leatherface – presiding over disrobed scream queen Linnea Quigley, gamely performing the Virgin Dance of the Double Chainsaws. By this point, Brit censors had become so paranoid, even the word ‘chainsaw’ was taboo, and the film was released in the UK as Hollywood Hookers, with a silhouette of a chainsaw overlaid on the title.
Frankenhooker (1990)
Wanna date?…
NYC exploitation king Frank Henenlotter gives his version of Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 novel Frankenstein, bringing it up-to-date with buckets of sex, drugs and general sleaze. It makes our list courtesy of the opening scene, where an unfortunate incident with a lawnmower he’s customised obliges our hero, bumbling mad scientist Jeffrey Franken, to literally try and rebuild his girlfriend from spare parts.
Braindead (1992)
Kicking ass for the Lord…
An early film from Kiwi director Peter Jackson, before he wussed out and starting making movies about pixies and wizards, Braindead treats its audience to a delirious explosion of rat-monkeys, disintegrating relatives, and kickboxing priests. Highlights include a notably messy confrontation between a rotary lawnmower and a roomful of zombies.
American Psycho (2000)
Die yuppie scum…
Patrick Bateman, everyone’s favourite upwardly mobile psychopath, murders people in a wide variety of fashions to a selection of toe-tapping AOR. Notable power tool employment includes the stylish despatch of a hooker using a dropped chainsaw, and menacing his secretary with a nail gun (Patrick later confesses to having successfully killed an ex with the same device).
Switchblade Romance (2003)
Gender-bending Gallic gore…
Known elsewhere as High Tension, this was among the most successful of the ‘new French extremist’ thrillers, where horror collides with art-house cinema to satisfyingly messy effect, even if plausibility is often an early casualty. Confirming the sub-genre’s reputation for violent excess, the enigmatic killer in Switchblade Romance includes a concrete saw in their repertoire.
Hostel (2007)
Caution, floor slippery when wet…
While many agree that Hostel represented a cinematic landmark of sorts, whether that was a good thing remains more controversial, earning itself the ambivalent (and inaccurate) ‘torture porn’ tag. Certainly, Hostel pioneered new levels of graphic onscreen sadism, including a nod to Texas Chainsaw, in the shape of a blackly comical power tool mishap.
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil (2010)
You want a killer hillbilly?…
It’s a sign a film has become iconic when it becomes a target for affectionate, intelligent satire (Scary Movie 3 need not apply), and Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil does a beautiful job of sending up The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and its numerous offspring. The scene, where Tucker inadvertently terrifies the college kids after sawing into a bees-nest – slyly parodying Leatherface’s famous chainsaw-brandishing swagger – is pure gold.
Lionsgate UK releases Texas Chainsaw on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray and download on May 27, 2013.
Texas Chainsaw - DVD Preview · 6 hours ago by
LIONSGATE’S Texas Chainsaw, the US No.1 box office hit, picks up directly where the terrifying 1974 movie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ended, with the repercussions of Leatherface’s shocking slayings.
In the aftermath of Tobe Hooper’s classic, the townspeople take dramatic action against the Sawyer family. They had long suspected that the family was responsible for several mysterious disappearances and had their suspicions confirmed when a young woman escaped the house.
Word of the murders quickly spread, and a vigilante mob of enraged locals surrounded the Sawyer stronghold, burning it to the ground and killing every last member of the family – or so they thought.
Decades later and hundreds of miles away from the original massacre, a young woman named Heather learns that she has inherited a Texas estate from a grandmother she never knew she had.
After embarking on a road trip with friends to uncover her roots, she finds she is the sole owner of a lavish, isolated Victorian mansion. But her newfound wealth comes at a price as she stumbles upon a horror that awaits her in the mansion’s dank cellars…
With gruesome surprises in store for a whole new generation, Texas Chainsaw stars Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager, Tremaine ‘Trey Songz’ Neverson, Scott Eastwood, Tania Raymonde, Shaun Sipos, Keram Malicki-Sanchez, James MacDonald, Thom Barry, Paul Rae and Richard Riehle, along with special appearances from four beloved cast members from previous installments of the franchise: Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface), Marilyn Burns, John Dugan and Bill Moseley.
The film is directed by John Luessenhop (Takers), from a screenplay by Adam Marcus & Debra Sullivan and Kirsten Elms, based on a story by Stephen Susco and Adam Marcus & Debra Sullivan and based on characters created by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper, and produced by Carl Mazzocone. Lionsgate presents a Millennium Films production and Main Line Pictures production.
Texas Chainsaw is available on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, and download to own and rent on May 27, 2013.
Certificate: 18
Running time: 88mins approx
UK DVD & Blu-ray Release: May 27, 2013
Win Gone In 60 Seconds (1974) on DVD · 6 hours ago by
THE original Gone In 60 Seconds is the inspiration behind the 2000 Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie smash-hit, here for the first time in the UK on Blu-ray.
The godfather of all great car chase movies, Gone In 60 Seconds follows top car thief Pace and his crew as they find themselves entangled in a drug smuggling plot. Caught in the underworld of stealing and selling on sought after vehicles, Pace must lead his guys to freedom as they are chased ruthlessly by the police.
This fast and furious high-speed hunt heats up resulting in the finale of cinema’s greatest, and longest, ever car chase with the immense destruction of an incredible 93 vehicles over 40 blistering minutes.
Gone In 60 Seconds, the movie that started the engines of all great high octane action films and will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on May 20, 2013.
Win Gone in 60 Seconds on DVD
To celebrate the release of Gone in 60 Seconds on Blu-ray and DVD on May 20, 2013, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 5 copies on DVD. Simply answer the following question…
Question
Q. Who directs Gone In 60 Seconds (Clue, the answer is in our preview)?
A) William Friedkin
B) HB Halicki
C) Peter Yates
Simply send the answer to Gone In 60 Seconds competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Win Playing For Keeps on Blu-ray · 6 hours ago by
Gerard Butler will melt your heart in Playing For Keeps, a new romantic comedy with a bit of spice! Out to rent and own on DVD and Blu-ray from May 20.
Butler (PS I Love You, The Bounty Hunter) stars as George Dryer, a down-on-his-luck former football star who is desperate to rebuild a relationship with his ex-wife, Stacie (Jessica Biel, Hitchcock, Total Recall), and his young son, Lewis.
In an attempt to grow up and win his family back he starts coaching his son’s football team. But while football is a hands-free sport, the lusty mothers of the other kids can’t seem to keep their hands off the coach! Will his attempts to put his family back together be challenged by attractive soccer-mums?
Directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness, Seven Pounds) and also starring Uma Thurman (My Super Ex-Girlfriend), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Rock of Ages), Dennis Quaid (What to Expect When You’re Expecting), and Judy Greer (The Descendants) and introducing Noah Lomax as Lewis, Playing For Keeps is a fun and heart-warming tale with plenty of laughs.
Playing For Keeps is out on Blu-ray, DVD and to download on May 20.
Gerard Butler interview l Photo Gallery
Win Playing For Keeps on Blu-ray
To celebrate the release of Playing For Keeps on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, May 20, 2013, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies on Blu-ray. Simply answer the following question…
Q. What sport was Playing For Keeps originally going to feature (Clue, the answer is in our interview)?
A) Baseball
B) Basketball
C) American Football
Simply send the answer to Playing For Keeps competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD - Preview · 12 hours ago by
2013 marks the centenary of celluloid legend of film and TV great Peter Cushing, as well as the 50th anniversary of the first appearance on television of the legendary Timelord.
To honour this, STUDIOCANAL are delighted to announce the release on DVD and Blu-ray of both the only cinematic incarnations of the Doctor’s adventures, suitably putting him against his most infamous foes, The Daleks.
DR Who & The Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. have both been digitally re-mastered and are available in HD for the first time from Monday, May 27, 2013.
These releases are accompanied by a host of specially created new extras, including a look at the restoration work and brand new interviews.
About Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD
Directed by Gordon Flemyng and now fully restored, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966) stars Peter Cushing in his return to the big screen as British TV’s most iconic sci-fi hero, Doctor Who.
The earth of 2150 AD is a desolate and hostile ruin of a planet, crumbling at the edge of civilisation, slowly disappearing into the darkness of space. For the future of planet earth now belongs The Daleks, a destructive arm of alien invaders who have turned the human race into cowering slaves.
Meanwhile, deep within the London Underground a group of resistance freedom fighters are planning an attack. But there’s only one man who could possibly help them succeed in destroying their extra terrestrial enemies and take back control of planet earth.
A man of mystery, a man of time and space, a man known only as… The Doctor.
Extras include restoring Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., an interview with Bernard
Cribbins, an interview with Gareth Owen and a stills gallery.
Win Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD
To celebrate the release of Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD on Blu-ray and DVD on May 27, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies. Simply answer the following question…
Q. In what year was Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD first released?
Simply send the answer to Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Dr Who & The Daleks - Preview · 12 hours ago by
2013 marks the centenary of celluloid legend of film and TV great Peter Cushing, as well as the 50th anniversary of the first appearance on television of the legendary Timelord.
To honour this, STUDIOCANAL are delighted to announce the release on DVD and Blu-ray of both the only cinematic incarnations of the Doctor’s adventures, suitably putting him against his most infamous foes, The Daleks.
DR Who & The Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. have both been digitally re-mastered and are available in HD for the first time from Monday, May 27, 2013.
These releases are accompanied by a host of specially created new extras, including a look at the restoration work and brand new interviews.
About Dr Who & The Daleks
Directed by Gordon Flemyng and starring Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey, Dr. Who & The Daleks (1965) was the first big screen film adaptation of British TV’s most iconic sci-fi hero, and the first time Doctor Who was ever seen in colour!
British film legend Peter Cushing plays everyone’s favourite Timelord, and having invented the TARDIS, a strange machine capable of travelling into other dimensions, the Doctor and his three young companions set forth on a quest through time and space.
Their journey takes them into the dark, undiscovered depths of the universe and to the planet of Skaro. A primitive world devastated by nuclear war and populated by two warring species, a peaceful tribe known as Thals and a life form heavily mutated by radiation, encased in protective machines. A merciless force of destruction known as The Daleks!
Extras include audio commentary with Roberta Tovey and Jenny Linden, Dalekmania, Restoring Dr Who And The Daleks, an interview with Gareth Owen, a stills gallery and trailer.
Win Dr Who & The Daleks
To celebrate the release of Dr Who & The Daleks on Blu-ray and DVD on May 27, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies. Simply answer the following question…
Q. Who directs Dr Who & The Daleks?
Simply send the answer to Dr Who & The Daleks competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Lore - Preview · 12 hours ago by
It’s May 1945: Stranded with her younger siblings after their Nazi parents are imprisoned during the dying days of WWII, the young Lore (a stunning breakthrough performance by Saskia Rosendahl) leads the remains of her family across war-torn Germany.
Among the chaos of a defeated nation, Lore encounters Thomas, a young Jewish refugee who begins to follow and help them.
Lore finds her fragile reality shattered by feelings of both hatred and desire for Thomas, and as the consequences of her parent’s actions and beliefs slowly become apparent, she must begin to face the darkness within herself…
Win Lore on DVD
To celebrate the release of Lore on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, May 27, 2013 IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies. Simply answer the following question…
Q. Who directs Lore (Clue, the answer is in our review)
Simply send the answer to Lore competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Certificate: 15
Running time: 109mins
UK Blu-ray & DVD Release: May 27, 2013
Craig Campbell Live now available on iTunes - Win tickets to see Lumberjack live · 3 days ago by
STAR of Michael Mcintyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Russell Howard’s Good News and Dave’s One Night Stand, Craig Campbell is one of the most charismatic and inventive performers on the circuit today.
Craig made his debut as part of the Lumberjacks alongside Stewart Francis and Glenn Wool, and the trio are currently touring the UK with their hilarious Edinburgh Festival 2012 show.
Now a successful comedian in his own right, watch Craig’s side-splitting show available to download exclusively through iTunes from May 13. Order a copy now.
Once the notorious host of Canada’s legendary Ed’s Night Party, Craig has appeared in a whole host of other shows, including Just for Laughs and Mountain Madness with Dennis Miller.
Since relocating to his new home in Devon, Craig has appeared as presenter of Sky One’s hit series From Wimps to Warriors, as well as appearing on Comedy Cuts (ITV2), Mitch Benn’s Musical Comedy Show (BBC Radio 4), and Out To Lunch (BBC Radio 2).
In 2010, Craig successfully supported Frankie Boyle on his record-breaking national tour, playing to an audience of over 300,000 people nationwide.
Craig has also toured solo with Craig Campbell Live, extended twice due to popular demand, notching up over 120 dates nationwide and continuing into spring 2012.
Craig’s unique ability to find humour in the mundane, coupled with his own natural eccentricity makes for truly inventive storytelling. Now an internationally acclaimed act, Craig’s whimsical travel anecdotes never fail to surprise or leave the audience in stitches.
And his energy isn’t just for the stage as he is quite the adventurer. In his spare time Craig can be found snowboarding, kayaking, skiing, cross country running, or even surfing! He is a genuine action man.
Craig Campbell Live available exclusively on the iTunes Store® now
Win tickets to see Craig Campbell’s Lumberjack in London
To celebrate the release of Craig Campbell’s solo live show, Craig Campbell Live, which released on iTunes last week, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win a pair of tickets to the Lumberjack live show at Leicester Square Theatre on Thursday, May 30, 2013. Simply answer the following question…
Q. Where in England is Craig Campbell’s new home?
Simply send the answer to Craig Campbell Live competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email