thekesslerboy

When I was 14 / 15 myself and two school friends used to go to our local cinema in Glasgow for the Wednesday night skuddie / horror double-bill. Allow me to clarify. The opening / supporting film would usually be a soft porn flick, and the main feature would be the latest horror. The man on the door would enquire re our age, to which we would reply "18, mate" - and that was us in.

We had an arrangement that we would each bring something to the party. And so it was that cans of lager, cigars and so on, were transported from our homes to the picture-house in large coats.

If I shouldn't move from here, I can remember - with one of my old Granda's cigars in one hand and a can of lager in the other - saying to my pals, as we settled down for The Evil Dead, how I was sick and tired of being disappointed by these would-be scary films about young Americans getting murdered on rural holidays. Not this one, one of my mates assured me. He'd seen the clips, and they were enough to convince him that this film would be different. And he was right.

All the knock knock knockin on horror's door stuff was familiar enough, but once it all kicked off, it was a relentless, concentrated gorefest. There is no doubt that I had never been so captivated by a horror film in my life. For once, I had got what I paid for, and was thoroughly entertained.

So, how did it look tonight, all these years on? Might sound daft, but I think that one of the things that 'dates' early 80's horrors (and Sci-Fi's) is the electro-drone music. But, I enjoyed the sfx - very European, with touches of The Thing near the end. Has there been a better horror film than this made since? I think that The Omen is a better horror than this - but it's older, and very different. And I would say the same of a number of other films. However, I cannot think of a younger horror film that is a better horror film than this. Then again, as you'll have worked out for yourself, it's all changed since my day - all of this was just fields, you know.

This is an old school London cops'n'robbers number a la The Long Good Friday.

Carlisle is superb as the guy who used to follow his heart, but now knows better. In fact, I'm going to take a short-cut here: there are no bad performances in this. Nutcase, Julie (Phil Davis)and gravelly Winstone are tops, and even fresh-faced "looks like bundles to me" Albarn does no harm.

Like a great episode of THE SWEENEY mangled-up in an Edgar Wallace Mystery, with all mod cons (e.g., brutal violence) this is a must see for genre fans. And it's an eyebrow raiser for those who thought that late 90's London couldn't turn this sort of thing out.

I loved Burt Reynolds when I was wee. And performances like this, for me, are what he was best at. Here's the scoop: he is normal, we are normal, but the world is a bit crazy, and us normal guys have got to navigate it and find true, terrific, wonderful love.

This is a romantic comedy, a genre which seldom produces a great film, and indeed this is not a great film. That said, it is an above - average, very enjoyable film of it's type, which is genuinely LOL funny in places, and has not dated at all. And, it has a nice Christmas-time thing going on, which may or not be relevant to your interest. Slightly wonky (New York / Bostony) music is fitting, and I would defo give Bergen a cuddle with that see-through blouse thing on.

When the end credits come up, with another cheesy song, you might feel that you know a wee bit more about humanity, and more again about what love really is, and isn't.