The Magnificent Seven: Films (1960-72)

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Dir. John Sturges

Hollywood swapped east for west, B+W for colour and katanas for guns in their reworking of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954).

Despite being pushed for time behind the scenes they managed to come up trumps in every way with the first film in the series.

The John Ford-esque clique; the men beholden to nothing but their own moral code; recurring good and bad guy themes (by Elmer Bernstein); and even the timely split between the recruit, preparation and battle phases are all instantly recognisable pre-existing elements to fans of both the Western and Chanbara genre but it's still indelibly iconic in its own way.

Ōkami (2006) / Ōkami HD (2012)

Ōkami (2006) / Ōkami HD (2012)

Genre: Action / Adventure | Players: 1 | Developer: Clover Studio (PS2) / HexaDrive (PS3 Conversion) / Ready at Dawn (Wii Conversion)

Ōkami is a strong contender for the finest Legend of Zelda game that Nintendo never made. I don’t use the comparison lightly. LoZ is one of my most treasured game franchises, so for anything to come even remotely close to it is an accolade in itself. It’ll draw comparisons with Twilight Princess mostly, principally because of the use of a wolf as protagonist, but TP didn't hit the shelves until over half a year afterwards; that they both involve a wolf is an unlucky coincidence.

Visually it's exquisite. As Amaterasu runs (hereafter 'Ammy' for short), flowers shoot up and blossom in her wake, similar to the Forest Spirit's passing in Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke (1997). (In the NA version of the game Ammy was genderless. A wolf god is okay, but a female god isn't, eh?) The painterly quality is inspired by traditional Japanese watercolours and Ukiyo-e wood carving art. The beguiling nature of that style is even more magnificent when backlit. No words can do it justice.

Shivers (1975)

Shivers (1975)

aka: Frissons / The Parasite Murders / They Came from Within

Dir. David Cronenberg

Shivers is crude and suffers from some clunky pacing in the middle section, but the imagination and the sense of dread that it manages to exude help raise it up.

It's set in a modern high rise building that claims to be largely self-sufficient. It has shops, a public pool and even its own resident doctor and nurse. Being situated close to the city but still far enough away that it feels isolated is something that the story uses to its advantage.

By existing within a host building that's built for perfect human living and convenience, the residents create a perfect breeding ground for a new kind of life to thrive.

Gamera: Heisei Era Films (1995-99)

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)

Dir. Shûsuke Kaneko

GotU is the first of three films in a hugely successful Heisei era reboot for Gamera. It's actually the ninth outing for the turtle in total, but seeing as how it's a reboot, and a shit-ton better than any of the previous films, it's the perfect place to start if you're new to the franchise or are unsure if it's even for you. It's arguably the weakest of the trilogy, but still good and a great taster for what follows.

It's a kaijū movie that builds tension in the usual way, by having a small group of humans tracking the destruction left by the beast(s) before the eventual reveal. The beasts are familiar, giant, carnivorous, featherless birds.

There's an ecological message beneath the chaos, but it's the destruction of model cities that most people want to see and in that it doesn't disappoint.

Gamera (the creature) is awesome. He looks like a fat, stumpy turd on radar, but when he surfaces he's towering and menacing with none of the bad comedic decisions that were forced upon him in some previous films. It's a triumphant return.

Uzumaki: 3-in-1 Deluxe Edition (2013)

Uzumaki: 3-in-1 Deluxe Edition (2013)

Author and Illustrator: Junji Ito | Page Count: 648

"Spirals…this town is contaminated with spirals."

Some fears are universal, such as the eeriness of an empty corridor or short-cutting through a shadowy graveyard at midnight, and some are more specific, such as islanders and their complicated relationship with the sea; Junji Ito has the uncanny ability to tap into both kinds and use them to full effect.

Uzumaki (Spiral) is the story of a small coastal town, Kurôzu-cho, and a girl named Kirie Goshima. The town has a strange influence upon its inhabitants that most are oblivious to, but as the peculiarities escalate Kirie begins to take notice of how horrific everything is and how difficult it is to escape.

Making the source of the horror a shape, the titular uzumaki, as opposed to an entity that can be hunted and killed creates a fine line between bizarre and ridiculous, but Ito seems to be fully aware of that; he takes that invisible line and warps even it into a spiral. The result is that the weirdness creeps from deeply unsettling to just plain silly and back again, sometimes from one panel to the next, but approach it with an open mind and you’ll be drawn invariably and uncomfortably inward.

Beyond Good and Evil (HD edition) (2011)

Beyond Good and Evil (HD) (2011)

Genre: Action / Adventure | Players: One | Developer: Ubisoft

BG+E was originally released in 2003 for PC and consoles. The 2011 version is an HD release with updated visuals to make it look more attractive on modern TV equipment. Beneath the polish it's the same game with the same aged camera system and inherent game engine limitations.

I played through it multiple times back in the day (on PS2) so am in a good position to judge whether the update is successful or not. It is, but it’s not perfect. I encountered some minor glitches that I didn't fall prey to before. It was mostly due to bad luck and my trying to cut corners, but I had to reload twice because I'd slipped between scenery. Freakish accidents aside, the game has aged beautifully.

Eraserhead (1977)

Eraserhead (1977)

Dir. David Lynch

Lynch is renowned for being weird and making complicated, non-linear narratives appear to work effortlessly in his favour. Eraserhead is possibly his most unhinged and surreal feature.

It sets the tone early on with a slow zoom into what appears to be some kind of landscape, but why is it terrifying? Is it because it also manages to make us feel like we're travelling through a diseased artery? Or is that just me? Whatever the case may be, it's pure nightmare fuel.

A constant industrial murmur fills the empty spaces. It plays a vital role in both making and keeping us uncomfortable, not unlike the dwarfing effect that the concrete world has on the film's main character, Henry Spencer.