The Wicker Man: Film (1973)

The Wicker Man (1973)

Dir. Robin Hardy

Police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) travels alone to a remote Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, but the local villagers hinder his efforts at every turn.

Undeterred, the single-minded officer digs deeper and discovers things that shock and offend him, both on a literal and spiritual level.

The Wicker Man has singing, dancing, and Christopher Lee in a wig and summer dress. I'm sincere when I say it's perhaps the most unique British film ever made (certainly that I've ever seen, at least) and is arguably both Christopher Lee's and Edward Woodward's finest moment. Both men had a CV filled with superb work, many times over, so it's high praise indeed.

It's been described as "The Citizen Kane of Horror Movies," and while that means absolutely nothing in real terms (I don’t even consider it a horror film) it's undeniably atypical and for that alone deserves to be applauded, even if you hate it.

Under the Dome: Season One (2013)

Under the Dome: Season One (2013)

Dir. Various | 13 episodes, approx 43 minutes each.

I'm so bored of 'edgy' US dramas, but I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and a sucker for a Stephen King adaptation despite their tendency to have a great buildup and then fall flat on their ass in the latter half. Under the Dome bucks that trend by falling flat on its ass even earlier. It kills off the most interesting character in Ep 01 and leaves the chaff to pick up the slack, meaning that from Ep 02 it drags its shitty heels through the corn.

It's the story of a town trapped under a mysterious dome. What that means for the people within differs depending on their ability to cope with disaster, the unknown, and the depravity of the secrets they want to keep hidden. Their focus is on getting out, naturally, but Season One's overall focus is on exploring the inner aspects of each individual and the community as a whole.

Jonathan Creek: Daemons' Roost (2016)

Jonathan Creek: Daemons' Roost (2016)

Dir. Sandy Johnson | 1 episode, approx 89 minutes.

The overly dramatic opening of Daemons' Roost is a loving nod to the classic British horror films made by Hammer Studios in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

It seems odd in some ways, but also carries through into the main story; e.g. the taxi driver who's unwilling to drive up to the large house, like a movie coachman who's afraid to take travellers to the castle's gates.

When the "...tale of terror" ends the modem day mystery takes over, and for a time the story is significantly better than anything in series five.

Having not spoken to her stepfather (Ken Bones) in fifteen years, at his behest Alison (Georgie Lord) returns to the family home to finally discover what caused the deaths of her mother and sisters. But things go awry and Jonathan's talents are needed.

Jonathan Creek: Series V (2014)

Jonathan Creek: Series V (2014)

3 episodes, approx 58 minutes each.

Note: the following review contains spoilers for the previous JC outing, The Clue of the Savant's Thumb (2013). If you're as sensitive to spoilers as I am and haven’t watched the Savant's Thumb episode, it would be advisable to not read beyond this sentence.

The fifth series of the show is unusual for a number of reasons. Firstly, while there are a significant number of minor mysteries in need of solving, there's no mysterious deaths in any of the episodes, in a locked room or otherwise. Speaking of episodes, there's only three of them, not the usual six. And finally, at no point does Jonathan wear his trademark duffel coat, which is like asking us to accept Columbo without his raincoat, or Sherlock without his pipe.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, he's married still to Polly (Sarah Alexander). Not only does Polly's pissy attitude stand in the way of his doing what he does best, but the duo have zero chemistry. One wonders why they're together at all. There's no feeling of love or even affection. It's like a marriage of convenience, most of which is hers. When the character interjects it's usually to belittle or dissuade Jonathan (Alan Davies) from getting involved. She deadens the narrative flat.

Beyond Rue Morgue (2013)

Beyond Rue Morgue Anthology:
Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe's 1st Detective (2013)

Editors: Paul Kane / Charles Prepolec | Authors (in the order presented): Edgar Allan Poe / Mike Carey / Simon Clark / Weston Ochse + Yvonne Navarro / Jonathan Maberry / Joe R. Lansdale / Elizabeth Massie / Lisa Tuttle / Stephen Volk / Clive Barker | Page Count: 332 

"Between ingenuity and the analytic ability there exists a difference far greater, indeed, than that between the fancy and the imagination, but of a character very strictly analogous. It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic."

The detective in Edgar Allan Poe's short story Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, was used by the author in two more of his works, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt (1842) and later The Purloined Letter (1844). Considered the world of literature's first mystery detective, Dupin was solving horrific crimes long before either Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.

Famously, the word 'detective' hadn't even been coined when Poe penned his first Dupin mystery. His crime-solver used what the author called 'ratiocination'. But you can read about all of that in the book's introduction, so I won't spend any more time on it. Commenting on the stories in the pictured book is why I'm here. As the full title says, it's 'further tales' of Dupin, written by a number of different authors and in a number of different styles.

Ring: Kanzenban (1995)

Ring: Kanzenban (1995)

Dir. Chisui Takigawa

Japan's first filmed adaptation of author Koji Suzuki's Ring (1991) novel, about a cursed video tape that heralds the death one week later of anyone that watches it, was made for TV. As such, it didn't have the kind of money or resources to play around with that Dir. Hideo Nakata would subsequently have for his more famous version.

Still, it does an admirable job with the story and packs quite a lot in. It's not a horror, per se, so don't expect to be hiding behind the sofa at any time. Interestingly, it's the only one of the film versions to keep the protagonist male. In fact, at time of writing, it's the most faithful to the book.

Unfortunately, neither the supporting cast nor the music is much good, which lessens its impact. But with that in mind, if you're a fan of any part of the Ring franchise, then it's an interesting addition.

The Prisoner (2009)

The Prisoner (2009)

Dir. Nick Hurran | 6 episodes, approx 45 minutes each.

The original The Prisoner (1967–68) is a classic example of British counterculture television. And even though it's a product of its time, its underlying commentaries and critiques of such things as politics and community are still arguably relevant. It didn't need a remake and it didn't need an update. But it got one. Mostly, it sucks.

For the benefit of anyone reading who didn't watch the original 1960s series, and therefore may not know what the title refers to, I'll give a brief synopsis of what you're in for with the 2009 version.

An unidentified man wakes in an unfamiliar location with no knowledge of how he got there. His travels take him to a nearby village that's filled with people, but none of the people have names. Instead, they have numbers. The new arrival is told that he's Number 6. Over the course of the miniseries Number 6 attempts to find out where The Village really is, why he was taken there and ultimately how he can escape from it.

Coma (2005)

Coma (2005)

Dirs: Various | 5 episodes, approx 55 minutes each.

A South Korean miniseries set mostly inside a hospital that's almost completely abandoned, having recently been marked for closure.

A young professional woman named Yoon Young (Lee Se Eun) is sent into the hospital to check insurance criteria are being met by the few remaining staff members, all of whom are suspiciously reticent about why there's a single female patient still in the ward. The patient, Lee So Hee (Cha Soo Yun), is in a coma, unable to speak for herself.

Investigating why So Hee is there and why she's in a comatose state opens a door to a horror/mystery that leads to a dramatic and creepy conclusion. If you have a morbid fear of hospitals, you may want to avoid watching.

The Prisoner (1967–68)

The Prisoner (1967–68)

17 episodes, approx 50 mins each.

In the opening credits of The Prisoner we witness a man driving to what we will soon presume to be his place of work. It's a building somewhere in London. The man enters through the OUT door, storms purposefully into an office and slams on a desk an envelope upon which hand-written text can be seen. He then leaves the building via the same route, drives home and hurriedly packs a suitcase.

Sometime thereafter the unnamed man reawakens in a furnished house in a populated village and the series begins proper.

The credits are the viewer's back-story, and everything that follows is the man's here and now. We come to know him as Number 6.

If asked to compile a list of perfect castings in TV history, alongside the likes of Mr. T as B.A. Baracus (The A-Team), Brent Spiner as Data (Star Trek TNG), Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar (Babylon 5), and Ian McShane as Al Swearengen (Deadwood) my list would definitely have Patrick McGoohan as The Prisoner's Number 6.

Jonathan Creek: The Clue of the Savant's Thumb (2013)

Jonathan Creek: The Clue of the Savant's Thumb (2013)

Dir. David Renwick | Approx 89 minutes

Jonathan's life has changed. He's retired from the crime solving business, but seems ill at ease in his new role and awkward in his new clothes.

I accepted the changes without much affront, but one thing bugged me: where the hell is the windmill? I'd never move out of a windmill, not for anyone!

When a dead body turns up and mysteriously disappears from a locked room on the same day, Jonathan's curiosity is piqued. How could he resist?

Joey Ross (Sheridan Smith) is on hand to both complicate and help, in equal measure. I really like Sheridan and she doesn't disappoint in the role. Her chemistry with Alan Davies is good and her eagerness is only equalled by her sassiness.

Sapphire and Steel (1979-82)

Sapphire and Steel (1979-82)

Dirs. Shaun O'Riordan (Assignments 1, 3, 5)  /  David Foster (Assignments 2, 4, 6)
34 episodes, approx 25 minutes each.

"All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned."

I saw Sapphire and Steel first when I was a kid. I don't remember what age exactly, but it blew my young mind. I saw some of it again in my twenties. It blew my mind once more. You can guess where this is going... yup, and again in my thirties: mind blown.

In all that time I've not encountered anything else quite like it, so in my experience it's unique. It's so unique that I could easily skip the introduction (and indeed the middle section) and go direct to the recommendation, but I won't. Instead, I'll try to give an overview of just what the hell it's all about.

The Tyrant King (1968)

The Tyrant King (1968)

Dir. Mike Hodges / 6 episodes, approx 24 mins each.

Adapted from a 1967 children's adventure book (The Tyrant King - A London Adventure by Aylmer Hall, a pen name of Norah Eleanor Lyle Cummins), the story follows three bored British teenagers, siblings Charlotte and Bill and their friend Peter, who overhear a shady man's phone conversation while exploring a stranger's house (aka trespassing).

Overcome with curiosity, and partial good intentions, the trio make it their business to solve the cryptic coded words of the mysterious stranger.

The tagline promises 'A Prog Rock Odyssey Through Swinging London', which is glamorous speak for what's essentially a visual tour of the city incorporated into a Children's TV show.

Jonathan Creek: The Judas Tree (2010)

Jonathan Creek: The Judas Tree (2010)

Dir. David Renwick | Approx 93 minutes

The Judas Tree had Jonathan's spirited opposite, Joey Ross, return for another of the feature-length outings that kept the series sporadically alive for years after the regular weekly format ended. The unlikely duo investigate a macabre mystery involving a ghostly apparition and an unexplained death.

The Adam Klaus character is once again shoehorned into the story but it's less forced this time.

However, I did get the feeling more than once that creator/writer/director David Renwick was overcompensating for something by filling the story with multiple twists and turns, some of which ask the viewer to make some sizeable leaps of faith and logic. Perhaps the BBC's decision to chop the budget had him worried? To his credit, though, he managed to not let that aspect visibly weaken the production; it looks just as good as what he had delivered previously.

Jonathan Creek: The Grinning Man (2009)

Jonathan Creek: The Grinning Man (2009)

Dir. David Renwick | Approx 118 minutes

A feature-length adventure (of two whole hours!) that saw the wooly-haired sleuth return to our TV screens after a lengthy five-year absence.

It's written and directed by series creator David Renwick, so the quality is high. The only dip is with the inclusion of an entirely superfluous subplot featuring magician Adam Klaus. I mean no disrespect to actor Stuart Milligan, but it goes nowhere interesting and serves no purpose other than to give the character something to do; its removal would've strengthened the pace of the main plot considerably.

When last we saw JC he was being tormented by Carla Borrego (Julia Sawalha), but she's moved on to graze in pastures new. What is it with the women of the series? They never stick around for long enough.

Jonathan Creek: Series IV (2003-04)

Jonathan Creek: Series IV (2003-04)

6 episodes, approx 60 minutes each.

The first three series of JC can be seen as one collective era because they share the same two principal actors, Alan Davies and Caroline Quentin.

But Caroline chose not to return after Series III, which left a gap needing to be filled, because Jonathan's character needs an ancillary to bounce ideas off and to get (unintentional) inspiration from.

That gap was filled by Carla Borrego (Julia Sawalha) and, happily, Carla made the show even better. She's a wonderfully rounded character who brought a similar kind of resourcefulness and determination as Maddie had shown but with a whole new self-important attitude supporting it. She's sometimes vulnerable beneath the hard outer shell, but goes to great lengths to hide that fact from the world.

She got her introduction in the 2001 Christmas Special. It's not necessary to have seen it, but it's advisable because it shows the genesis of their relationship and helps explain the boundaries that exist from the offset in Series IV.

Donnie Darko (2001) : Arrow Video Edition (2016)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Dir. Richard Kelly

I'm one of the people who consider Donnie Darko to be a modern classic. But did we really need another edition of it? The film had been previously released and re-released a number of times on disc, even distributed free to thousands of people in a UK daily newspaper years ago.

After having watched the new edition, my short answer is a sincere yes, we did need it. The picture quality on the previous discs was always less than perfect, and when played back on modern equipment it looked even worse.

The Arrow Films remaster was supervised and approved by Dir. Richard Kelly and DD's cinematographer, Steven Poster. It's sourced from the original camera negatives, scanned at 4K (encoded at 1080p to fit on the disc), and includes both the Theatrical Cut (113 mins) and the Director's Cut (133 mins) of the film. Visually it's a little darker overall than the US Blu put out by 20th Century Fox, but it's not as soft and the film grain is lovingly retained.

Jonathan Creek: Christmas Specials (2008)

Jonathan Creek: Christmas Specials (2008)

2 episodes, approx 90 minutes / 120 minutes, respectively.

There are more specials than what's included on this particular DVD release, but they weren't made until after its release (2008), so you'll either need to buy them separately if you want them or save yourself some cash and buy the recent 14-Disc Complete Collection (2017) box set - the latter isn't really a good option for me seeing as how I bought the individual releases in a more timely manner, so I'm reviewing them this way.

What you do get are two feature-length specials: Black Canary (1998), which takes place sometime between Series II and Series III, and Satan's Chimney (2001), which takes place sometime between Series III and Series IV.

There's two new characters introduced; one in each of the two episodes. Firstly, there's Gideon Pryke (Rik Mayall) in Black Canary. Gideon is Jonathan's equal in some ways. He didn't become a regular but does make a subsequent appearance in the show, and if things had worked out differently he could've been a great recurring addition. He's woven into a story that involves someone from Jonathan's past reappearing and, of course, needing a head-scratchingly complex murder mystery solved.

Jonathan Creek: Series I, II and III (1997-2000)

Jonathan Creek: Series I, II and III (1997-2000)

S1: Pilot, approx 90 mins + 5 episodes, approx 60 mins each |

S2: 6 episodes, approx 50 mins each | S3: 6 episodes, approx 50 mins each

A mystery/detective series, but the titular Jonathan (Alan Davies) isn't an actual detective, he designs magic tricks for a stage magician.

His knowledge of stage magic, or rather his understanding of what it takes to create the perfect illusion, enables him to take available clues from a crime scene and work backwards.

He assesses the impossible without ever dismissing the implausible. In a sense, the show is less of a traditional 'whodunnit' and more of a 'howdunnit' in which every episode keeps you guessing right up to the inevitable reveal.

It's not all death and murder, though. There's also a lot of comedy, much of which revolves around Jonathan's relationship with his partner in crime-solving, the female writer/investigative reporter Maddie Magellan (Caroline Quentin). He's the reserved, quiet sort, whereas she's the bold, outgoing kind. As the show progresses their relationship deepens and they spend more and more time under each other's feet, and on each other's couch!

Blue Velvet (1986)

Blue Velvet (1986)

Dir. David Lynch

By chance, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) stumbles upon something very peculiar while walking through a field near his parents' home.

His desire to understand its origins leads him into a murky, suburban dream gone awry.

What unfolds drags the viewer to a place most of us pretend doesn't exist. Often unsettling, always powerful, the film is an unfurled canvas depicting a surrealist landscape that is both analogous to reality and surreptitiously real.

When Blue Velvet makes you feel afraid remember this: scratch the surface of anything shiny and you’ll likely find something less appealing underneath. The shine isn't merely an illusion, it’s one facet of the larger whole.