Articles
Not reviews. Context: what was happening in the genre and the culture when a film was made, and why it still matters.
Deep dive · 10 September 2026
New French Extremity, named in a 2004 complaint
New French Extremity was coined by James Quandt in Artforum in 2004. What the phrase covered, and how Cannes and the BBFC handled it.
Profile · 2 August 2026
Tom Savini
The combat photographer who came home from Vietnam and spent thirty years putting what he saw on screen.
Deep dive · 26 July 2026
Gore and disturb are not the same measurement
Why this site rates them separately, and what happens to a recommendation engine when you conflate them.
Survey · 19 July 2026
The video nasties panic, 1982 to 1984
How a gap in British licensing law produced a moral panic, 72 prosecutions and one man in prison.