A casual observation of cinema history might suggest that if there are two genres that have been done to death, it’s the Western and the gangster piece. Indeed, these two genres have been responsible for producing some of the finest movies of all time; The Godfather, The Good, The Bad & the Ugly, Goodfellas, Unforgiven. The list goes on and on to the point where, unless you have something really special up your sleeve (like True Grit, for example), it’s probably an area best left alone.

With that in mind, one must at least admire the chutzpah of director John Hillcoat as he tackles Lawless, a story of Moonshine running gangsters in the 1920s, but which, through its setting in Franklin, West Virginia, bares several of the traits more commonly found in a western.

The story is that of the Bondurants, a trio of real-life brothers who ran a huge moonshining operation throughout West Virginia during prohibition. The brothers are old, wise and mumbling Forrest (Tom Hardy), slightly simple middle-child Howard (Jason Clarke) and ambitious, confident but naive youngest brother Jack (Shia LaBeouf). As the family business becomes more renowned, the brothers find themselves under the attack of corrupt local officials looking to take their slice of the profits.

The most important thing to get right in a genre mix like this is the tone. Too slick and we lose the essence of the Bondurant’s rough-around-the-edges approach, too earthy and the appearance of the more stereotypical type of prohibition-era gangster would be jarring. Fortunately, Lawless gets its tone just about dead-on, the Bondurant boys and their territory appearing as a pleasing contrast to their slick opposition.

The cast is an impressive ensemble, with Hardy in particular excelling. Forrest is a man of few words, but immense presence, his ability to silence and unite a room with two-sentences is a world away from the slick fast talk so commonly associated with criminals of the day. He stands nicely in contrast with LeBeouf’s cock-sure smooth talker. LeBeouf has come in for some stick over the past few years, but this is a prime example of how, if you surround him with the right people, he becomes immensely watchable. In a testosterone heavy movie, Jessica Chastain is worthy of a mention, being far more than “just the girl” in this tale.

This film however, belongs to one man and one man only; Guy Pearce. As Deputy Charlie Rakes, he plays the perfect antagonist, a man the audience will never tire of hating. It is said that a great villain should not only believe whole heatedly in what he is doing, but revel in the honour of being able to do it, and oh my does Pearce revel. Rakes is terrifying not just because he is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his ends but because he wants it to come to that. Pearce pulls of this near-sociopathic behaviour with style and panache, a more intimidating villain you’ll not see all year.

Aside from losing a little rhythm towards the end of Act 1 and a none-to-convincing side love story between LeBeouf and Mia Wasikowska’s wholesome pastor’s daughter, there’s very little to fault here. The narrative is strong, the setting and tone arresting and the performances all to an exceptionally high standard. Lawless delivers a highly satisfying slice of gangsta/cowboy action with an equal dose of those genres’ respective style and grit.

Overall Verdict: An excellent marriage of two classic genres. Lawless is smart enough and raw enough to keep fans accord the board engrossed.

Reviewer: Alex Hall

It’s a struggle to think of any performer in Hollywood who illicits the same kind of negative feeling as Keira Knightley. There seems to be an entire segment of the population (mainly, but not exclusively, women it seems) that will go out of their way to avoid films that she’s had anything to do with. Why? There are plenty of actresses out there with far worse track records than she. She perhaps could, at certain points in her short career, be accused of slightly vacuous, aesthetically reliant performances, but no more than say, Julia Roberts. Whatever the case, one can only hope this prejudice lifts soon, because if performances like the one Knightley gives in Anna Karenina are anything to go by, we should all be taking her very seriously indeed.

Based on Tolstoy’s classic tale, Knightley plays Anna, the wife of a pre-Communist Russian dignitary (Jude Law), who falls for a young high-society stud Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Trapped between her forbidden love and the constraints and etiquette of the Russian aristocracy, Anna slowly drifts into a downward spiral of paranoia and irrational anxiety.

Any adaptation of Anna Karenina is burdened by expectation. Considered to be amongst the finest pieces of 19th Century literature, luminaries such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and William Faulkner have called it the finest book ever written and this version does not shy away from bravery in execution. Penned by theatrical maestro Tom Stoppard, Anna Karenina toys with the staple ingredients of period romance in intriguing ways, the most notable of which is to set the entire story in one room, a theatre (perhaps a deliberate ironic stab, Tolstoy famously despised most staged drama).

Scenes begin in the wings, or in two-dimensional set buildings, creating a pleasing element of magical realism around proceedings. Sets move and turn around the actors, the action moves from the stage to the empty, seat-less auditorium. From a purely cinematic perspective, Anna Karenina is like a beautifully choreographed dance.

The performances across the board are extremely strong. Some of the criticism of Knightley mentioned earlier may have had grounding when she first appeared on the scene as a bright-eyed teenager, but even the most hardened Knightley-cynic will have to admit that this performance glows with a maturity that suggests we may finally be on to something with this young woman. Her Anna is a rich and varied character, at once utterly comfortable as the girl everyone looks at whilst reflecting a deep insecurity catalysed by the constant judgement of her peers.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is magnetic as Vronsky. A lesser performer would be tempted to approach the character as a one-dimensional home-wrecking playboy, but Taylor-Johnson displays a genuineness not often accomplished in films about high society. The real highlight here though is Law, an understated presence in all of the scenes in which he’s involved. Never threatening to overshadow his fellow performers, but ever-noticeable, he plays the jilted husband to perfection. Lurking and scowling, but ultimately drifting and impotent, unable or unwilling to alter Anna’s fate.

Anna Karenina is that rarest of things, a period piece and literary adaption that’s definitely tried something new. It would have been easy for Stoppard and director Joe Wright to just slap out a generic costume epic, and the reputation of the book plus Knightley’s star power would have still have sold it. Thankfully, they’ve attempted something far bolder and, for the most part, come up trumps. It doesn’t always hold together, sometimes a touch of over stylisation leaves the experience feeling a little too superficial, and this change can be jarring, but when it works Anna Karenina as sumptuous and original a literary adaptation as you could hope to find.

Overall Verdict: A beautifully crafted sweeping romance that steers around the clichés of your average hum-drum period drama with an original stylistic concept serving as the foundation for three excellent lead performances.

Reviewer: Alex Hall

Giallo is back. However, as Dario Argento’s complete balls up, Giallo (2009), proved, reviving the genre is trickier than it looks. Amer (2009) touched on elements of the classic Italian genre but was essentially doing its own thing. Tulpa, on the other hand, is pure giallo.

For the uninformed, giallo began life as a genre of literature before infiltrating the world of film. For western audiences, giallo is pretty much a style of Italian thriller, walking a line between crime thriller and murder mystery and always adopting a flamboyant visual style. In short: black-gloved killers, lots of flesh, elaborate killings and an ostentatious soundtrack.

But the giallo also comes with baggage, including ropey acting, terrible dialogue and god-awful dubbing. As charming, stylish and revered as this genre is, how can a modern day director capture the pure essence of the giallo while making sure they incorporate everything that makes it what it is, warts and all?

Tulpa stars the stunning Claudia Gerini as Lisa, a spunky businesswoman by day and sultry sex club regular at night. As Lisa’s sensual night-time shenanigans open up a whole new exciting world, her life is eventually put in danger when those she has slept with become victims of a grisly murder. Not wanting to go to the police and expose her sordid lifestyle, Lisa decides to try and unmask the serial killer herself.

Throwing caution to the wind, Zampaglione goes for the no-nonsense approach, crafting a giallo that could easily be mistaken from something straight out of the 60s or 70s. While the plot makes a half-arsed attempt to bring the genre up to date, everything about Zampaglione’s film feels retro and embraces that giallo style over substance pizzazz that we all know and love. The murders are stylish, bloody and over the top, the music otherworldly and as subtle as a sledgehammer and the aforementioned script, dubbing and performance issues are all present and accounted for.

While this gory and gaudy spectacle might not be everyone’s cup of tea (indeed, Tulpa unintentionally prompted giggles throughout its recent world premiere at Frightfest), giallo fans and those hankering from some classic Argento-esque panache, Tulpa provides a weird and wonderful ride into some beautifully absurd territory.

Overall Verdict: Giallo is back and it’s just as daft, absurd and beautiful as it ever was.

Reviewer: Lee Griffiths

Note: [REC] Genesis hits cinemas on August 31st and DVD & Blu-ray on September 3rd.

In an age when zombie movies are made and distributed faster than you can say ‘They’re coming to get you Barbara’, it’s often hard to identify the shit from the shit hot without getting your hands dirty and wading through the living dead minefield.

Thankfully, to save you the trouble, [REC] Genesis arrives at London’s Frightfest for its UK premiere with the festival’s seal of approval.

Going solo this time around, director Paco Plaza takes the action away from the apartment block from the first two REC movies and relocates the flesh-eating antics to a nearby wedding ceremony. Here, young Clara and Koldo are celebrating their love with friends and family, including Uncle Victor, who has a strange bite on his hand…

The alcohol flows and merriment is high as the wedding reception shenanigans get under way, though when Victor pounces on a loved one and takes a chunk out of her neck, all hell breaks loose. Clara and Koldo are separated in the chaos of the zombie outbreak, but with the help of family members and wedding guests, they attempt to survive the onslaught of flesh eaters and hope to somehow make their way back to one another.

Going for sniggers over scares for the third (but not the last) [REC] outing, Plaza risks ticking off fans with the new zom-rom-com direction. But the new setting, the anything goes humour and the buckets of blood make this a refreshing addition to the series that wisely avoids repetition by not revisiting its old haunt.

Oddly, the film drops its home movie-style footage about a third in, and the film loses much of the intensity and impact of the shaky cam chaos as a result. But this seems incidental as gore and guffaws are clearly at the top of Plaza’s agenda, and the laughs and the violence are delivered in spades.

Overall Verdict: Chainsaw-wielding brides and buckets of blood. What more could you ask for?

Reviewer: Lee Griffiths

When a colleague is mysteriously killed, suburban do-gooder Evan (Stiller) sets up a neighbourhood watch scheme to keep an eye on his relatively quiet town. Joining the fight against crime is Bob (Vaughn), a beer-swilling man’s man; Franklin (Hill), an unhinged weapons enthusiast and wannabe copl; and Jamarcus (Ayoade), a weird looking Brit with a penchant for Asian ladies.

While the neighbourhood watch begins as a series of lazy, alcohol-fuelled lad’s nights, the group soon discover that their otherwise peaceful little town has become the target of an alien invasion, and it’s up to ‘The Watch’ to save the planet.

Initially coming across as a kind of Ghostbusters for the 21st century, The Watch never really gathers enough momentum, nor does it create an interesting enough plot to rival the 80s classic. It instead relies on its collection of comic talent to keep things afloat.

Unfortunately, despite a brilliant cast (Ayoade being a nice addition to the American comedy clique), The Watch’s juvenile sense of humour can only keep us laughing for so long. Vaughn leads the man-boy shenanigans in typically likeable Vaughn fashion, and dick and jizz jokes are flung about in reckless fashion. But that’s about all the script has to offer. Scenes drag as the actors compete for the biggest laughs with (largely ad-libbed) one-liners, and the whole thing becomes a tangled mess of one-upmanship and nonsensical banter.

It ultimately feels like a wasted opportunity (it was co-written by Superbad’s Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg after all), and it just goes to show that sometimes a good dick joke just isn’t enough to carry an entire movie.

Overall Verdict: A disappointing jumble of juvenile gags and not much else.

Reviewer: Lee Griffiths

For any discerning horror fan, Frightfest is the greatest show on Earth. A cornucopia of world, European and UK premieres, the festival offers a journey of genre discovery every August bank holiday weekend in the Nation’s capital. It’s always a high-quality affair with an eclectic line-up, with opening films that have ranged from the magical (Pan’s Labyrinth) to the sublime (Oldboy) to the darn right silly (Black Sheep).

This year’s opener might not be the strongest start the festival has seen, but it’s certainly one of the most depressing, at least for the first half.

Directed by Brit special effects whizz Paul Hyett (Doomsday, Attack the Block), The Seasoning House is a sordid tale of a Balkan Brothel where girls are kidnapped, imprisoned and forced into prostitution to aid the males of the nearby civilian and military population.

Angel (Day), a deaf mute girl who is also the brothel’s imprisoned ‘housekeeper’, looks after the girls by pumping them full of heroine and applying eye shadow in preparation for their public service. However, unbeknownst to the brothel’s sleazy owner and his equally sordid workforce and clientele, Angel moves freely in the crawlspaces of the house, spying on her tormentors and eventually forming a friendship with one of her fellow captives.

When Angel witnesses a particularly violent attack on her newfound friend, she intervenes, killing a soldier and incurring the wrath of her boss (Howarth) and deranged military man, Goran (Pertwee). What ensues is a claustrophobic game of hide and seek as Angel uses all her cunning in order to escape her captors and her prison.

The Seasoning House’s first act is a largely sobering experience as the dank and stifling setting plays host to all manner of sexual violence and humiliation. Incorporating a lot of slow motion, the camera glides throughout the house, revealing Angel’s despicable daily routines in painfully detailed fashion. Then, Hyett reveals his real agenda and unleashes his adrenaline-fuelled and ultra violent game of cat and mouse.

The director’s own description of the movie as a cross between Martyrs, Pan’s Labyrinth and Die Hard, certainly gives you an idea of what’s in store, and indeed, The Seasoning House has the emotional punch, the frenzied action and the disturbing qualities of the aforementioned.

But this also means that the film isn’t entirely original. We’ve seen this before and clear influences abound, including the down and dirty exploitation classic, Thriller: A Cruel Picture (which features a mute girl exacting revenge on those that drugged her and forced her into prostitution). The film also includes a playful twist or two similar to another previous Frightfest premiere, Eden Lake.

But what makes The Seasoning House such a memorable and engaging experience, despite the lack of true originality, is its real star of the show, Rosie Day. Sweet, deadly and playful, Angel is brilliant character brought to life in heart-wrenching fashion by the young actress, who adds emotion and heart to this disturbing but thrilling modern rape revenge thriller.

Overall Verdict: A fine central performance from Rosie Day adds heart and emotion to this hard-hitting revenge thriller.

Reviewer: Lee Griffiths