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By Tim Greaves

The British sex film was a truly unique beast. Finding its feet at the back end of the 1950s, proliferating throughout the 60s and 70s, and all but gone the way of the dodo by the early 80s, sex may have been the selling point but scarcely was it delivered upon. Usually depicting the act itself as a bit of a lark and something to be sniggered at, due to restrictive British laws at the time the menu in this country was mostly comprised of light titillation as opposed to the more, er... shall we say ‘gratifying’ material being served up to European and Stateside audiences. With little to see beyond pert pink posteriors and bountiful bare bosoms, visuals whose stimulation value was already negligible were often further quashed by the wince-inducing sound of a slide-whistle.

The films that general audiences probably think of in regard to...

Stars: Anthony Forrest, Tom Marshall, Georgina Kean | Written and Directed by Alan Birkinshaw

What would you do if you thought you were in a dream? What do you think four lunatics would do if they were programmed to believe they were dreaming would do? That’s pretty much what Killer’s Moon is about.

The lunatics Mr. Trubshaw, Mr. Smith, Mr. Muldoon and Mr. Jones having escaped from the hospital in which they were being held are on the loose and living out their dreams. They have no morals in their dreams so they can do what they want, and they do. This includes murder, rape, theft and anything else they feel like doing. Why not, it’s only a dream right?

While these lunatics are lurking around the English countryside a bus full of school girls has broken down near a closed down hotel. Making their way to the...

British cinema (and to a certain extent, British pop-culture as a whole) has always had a strange relationship with screen portrayals of sex and sexuality. In the mid-1950’s, Britain’s film censorship board the BBFC passed a documentary about a naturist camp uncut, suitable for mainstream cinema release, leading to a wave of exploitation filmmakers using naturist camp settings in order to display as much nudity as possible onscreen. During this period, the BBFC’s guidelines clearly dictated that “breasts and buttocks, but not genitalia” were allowed to be displayed, as long as the naturist camp setting was clearly clarified to the audience- a guideline that unwittingly opened the floodgates to multiple films from opportunistic producers.

Despite the plethora of films showing the human body (almost) as nature intended, elsewhere British cinema was still offering archaic views of sexuality- the Carry On franchise, that begun in 1958 and still has...

Hammer and Horror Film Day!

Saturday November the 9th ( 10am – 5pm )

Central Hall Westminster.

Storey’s Gate, Westminster, London SW1H 9Nh

UK’s longest running film fair and convention.

Now in it’s 40th year!

The Convention presents dealers from all over the UK, Europe, Us ,

Canada and South America.

Specialising in rare original film memorabilia and collectables.

Taking place six times a year these are truly unique events for anyone with an interest in films!

With actors and director’s signings, illustrated talks, retrospectives and film screenings taking place through out the day.

Items covering the history of cinema can be found. From the silents to the present.

From rare items of the 1920’s to new releases and the latest heart throb.

Among the many different field of cinema covered at the show is – Classic Hollywood, horror films, sci-fi, the best of British and European cinema as we as cult tv!

It might seem like Mission: Impossible but give Tom Cruise another 15 years and he might make Paramount its money back

It's a bad day to be a Jack Reacher fan. Admittedly every day is a bad day to be a Jack Reacher fan, filled with endless meek admissions that you're a Jack Reacher fan and half-hearted defences of Tom Cruise's peculiar casting as Jack Reacher – but today is a particularly bad day to be a Jack Reacher fan. You see, it has been reported that there may not ever be a Jack Reacher sequel.

This is mainly down to numbers. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount bosses were expecting Jack Reacher to gross $250m globally. But because it wasn't able to hold its own in a crowded Christmas market, the film now faces the unenviable task of having to make $100m in China, Japan and Korea alone. That's unlikely to happen,...

Aleister Crowley. When it comes to being infamous, few names come to mind more than his. Let's face it; the dude was evil and batshit nuts! The perfect fodder for a horror film, and there's indeed a new one on the way!

Directed by Richard Driscoll, The Devil Rides Out stars Steven Craine (Highway to Hell, Return of the Jedi, HeadHunter), Bai Ling (The Crow, Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow), Lysette Anthony (Krull, Jack the Ripper), Sylvester McCoy ("Dr Who," The Hobbit), Oliver Tobias (The Stud, Arabian Adventure), Robin Askwith (U571, Flesh & Blood Show, Confessions of a Window Cleaner), and Dudley Sutton (The Devils, Football Factory).

Synopsis

Dealing with the loss of his family to his murderous brother, Vincent (Robin Askwith), George Carney (Steven Craine) is already a man on the edge of life. Three stories merge from the mind of a writer trapped in a coma in hospital,...

To mark the 50th Anniversary of one of the most successful movie franchises of all time and with filming well underway on James Bond’s 23rd official outing in Skyfall due for release later this year, I have been tasked with taking a retrospective look at the films that turned author Ian Fleming’s creation into one of the most recognised and iconic characters in film history.

With James Bond well established as a worldwide phenomenon raking in countless millions at the box-office, the tenth film in the series, The Spy Who Loved Me proved unexpectedly problematic in its journey to the screen and marked the longest gap between films since the series began. Due to personal financial issues Bond producer Harry Saltzman decided to sell his 50% stake in Danjaq S.A., the company he had established with Albert R. Broccoli to produce the Bond series. United Artists, who had...

Killer’S Moon

Stars: Anthony Forrest, David Jackson, Tom Marshall, Georgina Kean, Jane Hayden, Alison Elliott | Written and Directed by Alan Birkinshaw

What would you do if you thought you were in a dream? What do you think four lunatics would do if they were programmed to believe they were dreaming would do? That’s pretty much what Killer’s Moon is about.

The lunatics Mr. Trubshaw, Mr. Smith, Mr. Muldoon and Mr. Jones having escaped from the hospital in which they were being held are on the loose and living out their dreams. They have no morals in their dreams so they can do what they want, and they do. This includes murder, rape, theft and anything else they feel like doing. Why not, it’s only a dream right?

While these lunatics are lurking around the English countryside a bus full of school girls has broken down near a closed down hotel.

The full line-up of guests has been announced for the Winter Memorabilia Show 2010, to be held at the NEC, Birmingham, this coming weekend (November 20-21)

They include Angel Coulby (above) and Rupert Young from the BBC series Merlin and Tommy Knight and Anjili Mohindra from Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Hollywood actors coming to the event include David Warner (pictured below left) - whose five decades in the industry have seen him in films such as Time Bandits, Tron, The Omen, Titanic and Planet of the Apes - and David Bradley, best known for playing cantankerous caretaker Argus Filch (below right) in the Harry Potter movies. Also attending is Warwick Davis, who plays Professor Filius Flitwick in the Potter films and whose other credits include Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Willow and the Leprechaun series.

TV stars making the trip to Birmingham include Richard Herd and Andrew Prine,...

Now this is what we're talking about, man! Long lost movies hitting home video in new pristine prints! The news of another never ceases to get us excited, and now that Horror Hospital is coming home, we're downright feverish!

From the Press Release

Before he played the mild-mannered butler Alfred in Tim Burton’s “Batman” movies, Michael Gough was an icon of horror, appearing in such classics as “Berserk,” “Trog,” and “Horrors of the Black Museum.” But none of his roles can compare to his performance as sadistic and deranged Dr. Christian Storm in Horror Hospital. Director Antony Balch’s legendary 1973 shocker has now been restored to its uncensored glory and will be released on DVD by genre masters Dark Sky Films, via Mpi Media Group, on June 15, 2010. The disc, carrying an Srp of $19.98, includes a new feature-length commentary.

As with many British fright flicks of the ’70s, Horror Hospital pours humor,...

He is one of the world's most revered action directors, twice rescuing the Bond franchise. Now Martin Campbell has returned to Edge of Darkness, the 1980s TV drama that made his name. He talks to John Patterson

He has directed a string of global box-office smashes and honed ­action film-making down to a fine art, but Martin Campbell doesn't scream and shout about it. Or himself. A relentlessly self-effacing man, he is keen, in his plainspoken New ­Zealander way, not to get "too up ­myself". In person, he looks quite tough, combining a lean physique with a convict's buzz-cut, but he is instantly friendly, if maddeningly modest about his achievements. As he discusses his career – which has taken him from New Zealand to Britain to Los Angeles, and from TV drama to blockbusters – one theme keeps recurring: that film-­making is a team event, "not an ego trip".

Yet Campbell...