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8/10
Opera meets Eyes Wide Shut
30 August 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Not since Dario Argento's "Opera" have I had so much fun in the cinema. TULPA in the tradition of the aforementioned giallo classic's continues the black gloved killer franchise in a way that their creator has failed to equal since. Enter Federico Zampaglione, cat-like femme fatale Claudio Gerini and future horror icon Nuot Arquint in a trippy and highly erotic sex and death adventure, accompanied by moody neo-noir cinematography and a score that rivals Simonetti and the Goblins at their very best. Clunky plot points and expositional dialogue aside, TULPA is a must see for any horror fan worth their weight in salt. 8 stars....
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Summer Scars (2007)
9/10
First in a new wave of disturbing thrillers involving British youth.
9 July 2008
This new feature from Julian Richards the director of THE LAST HORROR MOVIE boasts another 'volcanic' performance by Kevin Howarth. It would spoil the fun of SUMMER SCARS to reveal what exactly happens, but this morality tale, which takes place entirely in a forest, is an unsettling film about abuse, mental, emotional and physical.

This is a film that has resonance with a youth crime phenomenon in Britain. As knife crime dominates London and teen suicide dominates Wales, the best screen villains are now not serial killers or zombies but contemporary British youth (although In SUMMER SCARS the teens are more anti-hero than villain).

The irony, of course, is that SUMMER SCARS works precisely because of this social context, and not despite it. It is beautifully shot and intensely acted, and it's queasy approach to youth culture gives it a fascinating attraction.

We've had troubled youth movies in the past, everything from BULLY to MEAN CREEK, but this bold marriage of topicality and slick genre formatting is startling and defiantly un-Hollywood.
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