Once

Once Upon A Time In London (2019)

Once Upon A Time In London first published by Sight & Sound, May 2019 Review: This time capsule of a nation’s (criminal) history is, as its title suggests, an English response to Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In America (1984), and it is populated with characters who, both in the film and in real…

Crowhurst

Crowhurst (2017)

Crowhurst first published by Sight & Sound, May 2018 Review: It begins near its end, with Donald Crowhurst (Justin Salinger) being informed by radio that he has just won the Golden Globe Trophy. This ought to be great news, but the look of grave horror on the mariner’s face is recognisable as the very same crestfallen…

Johnny

Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word (2016)

With his features The Living and the Dead (2006) and Red White & Blue (2010), and his standout shorts Bitch (on 2011’s Little Deaths) and P is for Pressure (on 2012’s The ABCs of Death), Simon Rumley has proved again and again to be the UK’s best kept secret when it comes to intelligent genre…

Deaths

Little Deaths (2011)

Review first published by CineTalk In the wake of the Credit Crunch when cash is in relatively short supply, if you are an independent genre filmmaker who hopes to advertise your wares to the market in the hope of attracting investment for your future full-length projects, one of the best approaches is to contribute a…

red

Red White & Blue (2010)

Review first appeared in Sight & Sound, October 2011 Review: While Simon Rumley’s first three low-budget features Strong Language (2000), The Truth Game (2001) and Club Le Monde (2002) were dialogue-driven comedy dramas that earned comparisons to Eric Rohmer and Richard Linklater from the press, his fourth film marked a radical stylistic departure for the…

The ABCs of Death

The ABCs of Death (2012)

The ABCs of Death first published in Sight & Sound, May 2013 Synopsis: An anthology  of 26 short films, each named for a different letter of the alphabet, each directed by different genre filmmakers, and each focused upon death. Review: “I’m sorry, it was going to be better – but we didn’t have time.” The…