“They say I’m slow, but I have my own pace”, this is how a mental health inpatient in a mental health institution describes his very own predicament. The Madness among Us takes viewers on a trip of psychiatric hospital in the city of Salvador, in Northeastern Brazil, as well as into the lives and the challenges that patients have to face when they are outside the institution. The film opens with a barrier being lifted in what seems to be a car park at the entrance of the institution. This is a reminder that we are about that enter another world, but that the boundaries can be easily removed.

Central paradoxes of humanity are examined with a soft and tender streak: a patient dabbles between the desire for peace and uncontrollable violent outburts, while another one ponders about the urgency of work and the lunacy of idleness. These people suffer from mild to more serious mental health conditions, most of them take medication such as fluoxetine in order to control their moods swings.

Many of the patients understand the social norms and boundaries that keep them under medical control in a controlled environment, and this awareness can cause enormous frustration. A bipolar female claims that she’s not a threat to public safety, and therefore she should not be locked up. Another woman is back home and struggling to keep her sanity: she is trying to find the triggers for her fits, so she can avoid in the future. She confesses that she has burnt her own clothes in the past.

The film is packed with hopefulness. The patients often sing songs with a positive message (they are especially keen on the Brazilian composer and singer Caetano Veloso), and one says that “they are all crazy… for each other”. There is redemption through work and arts: some enjoy doing crochet, some enjoy painting, others prefer gardening. They all seem to find fulfilment and a purpose in life through these activities. The creative work seems very liberating, perhaps because it allows them to express emotions which they are not able to vocalise.

There are also humurous and disturbing moments, such as bipolar woman wearing a mask while delivering a harangue about her highs and lows in mock-Spanish. At one point, another lady claims “Jesus will come back in flesh and kill all mankind, because we are not worth it”.

The director Fernanda Fontes Vareille, a former student at Goldsmith’s College in London, created a touching and highly feminine movie. Not only the director’s gaze is gentle and intuitive, but also most of the inpatients are women. However, the film is packed with too many characters in its relatively short 76 minutes, and so the personal stories are somewhat loose. Sometimes it’s a little difficult to get under the skin of the patients, or to string the pieces of the film together. Still a fitting tribute to patients with mental health disorders, and a valuable commentary on everyone else’s relative sanity.

The Madness among Us has been shown in film festivals in various countries, including the US, Canada, Portugal, France and its home market Brazil. DMovies will keep an eye for screenings in the UK and elsewhere for your. You can click here for more information about the here.

You can watch the film trailer right here:

Cinema rocks, and rock’n roll wouldn’t exist without moving images. Rockers and movies are so intrinsically linked that it’s hard to dissociate one from the other. How else would you see the see Sid Vicious’s angry face and nimble fingers in action firsthand? And how would you experience the sheer madness of a middle-aged heavy metal band in desperate search of limelight? And what about the reclusive Scott Walker, how would you learn more about his dirty habits?

We asked the founder, director and programmer of the Doc’n Roll Film Festival Colm Forde to pick the top 10 rock’n roll documentaries ever made, and he came with an impressive selection of rock gems, as well as other popular music genres with a similar fervour and verve. The list includes from the fury of the Sex Pistols to the warm and gentle Buena Vista Social Club, from Nas’s fiery rapping vocals to Chet Baker’s soulful trumpet. Colm eats and breathes rock’n roll films all year round, so he should know a thing or two about the subject!

The Doc’n Roll Film Festival is now in its third year, taking place between November 2nd-13th in London. The event features music-themed films along with intimate Q&As with the scene’s directors, as well as live music acts and DJs. Just click here for more information about this year’s programme, which includes Gregory Porter (in the opening night at the BFI) and Placebo.

10. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (Sacha Gervasi, 2008)

“Anvil are the real Spinal Tap“, explains Colm referring to the spoof British heavy metal band. This rockumentary film about the Canadian heavy metal band Anvil was directed by screenwriter Sacha Gervasi. It includes interviews with other musicians who have been influenced by the band, such as Slash, Lemmy and Lars Ulrich. The film has received widespread praise and acclaim in many reviews, receiving a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

He concludes: “I was shocked by the two truly dedicated/deluded band members refusing to give up their dreams of reviving a barley existent fame they almost had 30 years previously. Worth watching for the sheer madness entailed in their quest for teenage rock stardom – in their late 40s!”

9. MC5: A True Testimonial (David C. Thomas, 2004)

MC5 are a Detroit-based rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s, and the film was produced by Laurel Legler and directed by David C. Thomas, who spent more than than seven years working on the project. Although the MC5 are considered very influential today, they were relatively unknown at the time. Thomas collected pictures and film clips of varying quality, including U.S. government surveillance footage of the MC5’s performance at the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He also talked to the surviving members of the band and their close associates.

“This is probably my favourite of all 10″, Colm fesses up. ” But unfortunately it’s almost impossible to get a copy of as it got pulled from distribution due to a legal injunction by one of the departed band member’s family. The history of a seminal rock band from Michigan, who truly didn’t give a f*ck who they upset in their quest for fun/sex on the streets. Kick Out The Jams Motherfuckers!”

8. The Buena Vista Social Club (Wim Wenders, 1999)

Directed by the emblematic German helmer Wim Wenders, The Buena Vista Social Club is an international co-production of Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Cuba. It is one of the most commercially successful music documentaries of all times.

It documents how Ry Cooder, long-time friend of Wenders, brought together the ensemble of legendary Cuban musicians to record an album (also called Buena Vista Social Club) and to perform two times with a full line-up: in April 1998 in Amsterdam and then in July 1998 in the US (at the Carnegie Hall, in New York). Despite their geographic proximity, Cuba and the US couldn’t be farther apart, and so this concert is a major cultural and political accomplishment.

“An obvious choice, maybe – but this film sparked a love for the genre in me and spoke to my sense of history and adventurism. I love how it was shot with an affection and respect for its vital yet thoroughly ignored Cuban veteran musicians, whose joie de vivre is truly inspiring”

7. The Filth And The Fury (Julien Temple, 2000)

6. The Devil And Daniel Johnston (Jeff Feurzeig, 2006)

“Manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist is beautifully profiled in this portrait of madness, passion and love. An eye opener for me his championers include Matt Groening, David Bowie, Sonic Youth, Beck, and Tom Waits” – Colm puts it succinctly.

American filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig examines the life of also American Daniel Johnston, a bipolar and emotionally explosive musician and artist. He uses a mixture of home movies, Johnston’s own audiotapes, vintage performances and current footage. Johnston has recorded more than 10 albums and amassed a prolific portfolio of lesser-known sketches.

5. Where You’re Meant To Be (Paul Fegan, 2016)

Cult-pop raconteur Aidan Moffat – best known for his work with Malcolm Middleton in Scottish indie rock band Arab Strap – sets out to explore Scotland’s past by rewriting and touring its old folk songs. He clashes the 79-year-old force travelling balladeer Sheila Stewart, who is firmly against the updating of the historical material. The film is a vivid dialogue between the old and the new

This one ticks all the boxes for Colm. He explains: ” the first time director’s gorgeously shot the Scottish Highlands. They are the backdrop to city indie boy meets old school folk artist determined to preserve the heritage of folk tunes, while Moffat is determined to re-invent them for his contemporary urban fans.”

DMovies‘ assistant editor Maysa Monção had a sightly different view of the movie – just click here for her review.

4. Scott Walker: 30th Century Man (Stephen Kijak, 2007)

The highly reclusive musician Scott Walker first became famous as a member of the 1960s trio The Walker Brothers. This documentary investigates his career, from teen idol to eccentric solo artist. “Admirers from Radiohead to David Bowie explain his legacy to doubters like me, convincing us by the end of the importance of this cult living legend.”

The movie does not delve into Scott Walker’s personal history. It just vaguely hints on a man struggling with chronic depression and alcoholism, but it never discusses his relationship. The focus is entirely on his music, and how it defined a human being.

3. The Last Waltz (Martin Scorsese, 1978)

Seventeen years after joining forces as the backing band for rockabilly cult artist Ronnie Hawkins, Canadian roots rockers The Band call it quits with a lavish farewell concert at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in late 1976. Filmed by Martin Scorsese, this documentary features standout performances by rock legends such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell and Muddy Waters, as well as interviews tracing the group’s history and capturing their road life.

Shot by Scorsese, this has got to be the concert film to beat all.

Colm first across the movie two decades ago: “Celebrating the The Band’s swan song of ’76 with an unbelievable supporting cast – Dr. John, Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Clapton, Neil Diamond, Ronnie Wood, Van Morrison, The Staple Sisters, Muddy Waters…When I first came across it 20 years ago, I was blown away!”

2. Let’s Get Lost (Bruce Weber, 2008)

The life and the career of the legendary jazz trumpeter Chet Baker was beyond turbulent written and directed by the acclaimed photographer Bruce Weber. The title is derived from the song Let’s Get Lost by Jimmy McHugh and Frank Loesser from the 1943 film Happy Go Lucky, which Baker recorded for Pacific Records.^[1]

A group of Baker fans, ranging from ex-associates to ex-wives and children, talk about their friend and idol. Weber’s film traces the man’s career from the 1950s, playing with jazz greats like Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan, and Russ Freeman, to the 1980s, when his heroin addiction and apathy towards towards his homeland the US made him stay in Europe.

To Colm, this is “a beautifully stylised portrait of jazz trumpeting legend Chet Baker on his last legs. Surrounded by ex-wives, numerous children and ex-cronies he still oozes charisma despite the final years of junkie abandon.”

10. Nas: Time Is Illmatic (One9, 2014)

The last movie on our list goes deep into the making of Nas’ 1994 debut album Illmatic and the environment that both surrounded and influenced its creation. Illmatic has become an emblem rap and hip-hop. It encapsulates the zeitgeist, the socio-political conjecture and the humanity or marginalised young black men in the US.

In Colm’s words: “Short and sweet – at 70 mins this film packs a serious punch in re-telling the creation of a hip-hop classic album from the depths of New York’s Queens ghettos. Celebrating 20 years since Nas’ debut Illmatic LP changed the game in both rhyming and production terms, it’s both a portrait of a young urban poet and a testament to sheer dogged determination against the odds.”

Those of us who experienced the furore of Aids epidemic in the early 1990s – a time when the medication was mostly inffective and most of the infected died within a few years of contracting the disease – would equate the virus with suffering and despair. But not for a small group of rockers in Cuba, mostly in the cities of Pinar del Río and Santa Clara. For these people. For them HIV meant a very strange type of freedom.

Director Vladimir Ceballos spontaneously filmed young Cuban rockers in their 20s who had deliberately infected them with the HIV virus through sex or needles between 1990 and 1993. They would even hand out blood amongst themselves as a very morbid and yet valuable gift. Their attitude may sound incomprehensible and insane to most of us, but the interviews help to shed some light on their very unusual logic.

Rockers were highly estigmatised and prosecuted back then. Those who didn work would almost inevitably land in jail or the military service, which as an affront to their liberal ideologies. These people wre so oppressed that they were not even allowed to gather in public areas, a criminal act described as “guerrilla”. So at least 100 young men and women decided to turn to the healthcare system instead, which is internationally recognised for its quality.

These people were locked up in safe havens called “sanatoria”, where they received medical care and attention, and did not have to face police harassment public embarrassment. They could still occasionally go out to see their parents and friends, and that precisely when Ceballos interviewed them. The Cuban government wasn’t very pleased, and the helmer had to flee the country with his controversial footage in 1994, only to return in 2015. Fidel Castro certainly wasn’t with the image of a country painted by Ceballos: a place so oppressive that people choose to embrace a fatal disease.

Freedom through sickness and death is very unusual path that very few people choose to take. These people were failed by both their system but also by nihilistic interpretation of rock music and anarchism. Suicide, particularly through such an agonizing disease, has nothing to do with liberty, but with hopelessness instead. A very glaring symptom of a severely broken youth.

While the quality of the film photography is very poor – due to the technology available then – the images are still very memorable poignant: you will make eye contact with very troubled youths, see the streets of a country empoverished by the Embargo, and even footage from rock parties where people relentlessly shake their mohicans and piercing. Not what most people would expert from Cuba. This is the kind deeply sobering and thought-provoking film that you won see often. A true dirty gem.

Cursed Be Your Name, Liberty is showing as part of the 11th Berlin Porn Film Festival taking place right now – click here for more information about the event. Sadly this is the type of film which is very difficult to catch, but DMovies will be in touch with the director for more. So stay tuned!

Watch the first four minutes of the film below:

When most people think of pornography they immediately picture lonely men pleasuring themselves from the comfort of their homes, or perhaps an old-fashioned cinema or cruising club where male homossexuals go cruising. Most of the films are dull, the actors have unnatural bodies (often with grotesquely pumped-up muscles and gentital), there is hardly any script – the most audacious aspect of the storyline is normally a visiting carpenter or plummer – but instead repetitive money shots and relentless penetration. And sex is mostly unprotected.

Not in Berlin. The 11th Berlin Porn Film Festival taking place from October 26th-30th is a very transgressive event, but not because it shows explicit sex in oldest surviving cinema of Germany, Moviementos. The Festival is very unusual because it subverts the concept of porn, going far beyond males phantasies and self-pleasure, to including thorny political issues, social commentary, technology experimentation, the female gaze and much, much more. You wouldn’t expect the conventional American off-the-shelf porn flick to attract a crowd of highly-tuned, cosmopolitan, progressive and liberated Berliners, would you?

A long day’s journey

I arrived yesterday at the 11th Berlin Porn Film Festival in the morning. This is my second time at the event: I had visited the first edition in 2006, when its survival was still uncertain. I was delighted to see that the Festival is now firmly established, taking up all three screens of the emblematic cinema in Kreuzberg, with a 72-page programme, and plenty of media partners and sponsors – including a law firm.

The first film on my list was Europe She Loves (Jan Gassman, 2016), marketed as “Europe on the verge of social and economic change. A close up into the shaken vision of four couples, daily struggles, fights, kids, sex and passion”. Clearly a commentary on the woes of modern Europe, and not your backstreet shop purchase. Sadly the tickets were already sold, and all I could do was watching the eclectic crowd – old, young, hipters, punks, suited and booted types, male, female, gay, straight and everything in between – walk into the film. It’s only Thursday afternoon, and people had shown up in drives to a porn film festival. There’s definitely something very special about it.

So I headed to the cinema’s lounge full with pictures of glowing genitals and a bar serving quiches for just €2,20. I sat down and ate my pastry while contemplating the shiny artwork on wall, and waiting for the queer ultra-progressive Canadian filmmaker Bruce LaBruce to arrive for our scheduled interview. Bruce explained to me that he had a very special relation with Berlin, which he had visited for the first time in 1989 throught his friendship with the film producer Jürgen Brüning – who is also the founder and the director of the Porn Film Festival. I asked Bruce a lot of very dirty questions about libertarian arts in Berlin, conservative politics the UK and what porn role he would give to the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – so stay tuned for the full interview next week!

In the afternoon, I took a few hours break to walk around town with my friend Mark in order to visit and photograph sites from the films we love. Berlin is a city in motion. We went to the Europa Center, where Christianne F. used to work and takes drugs – as seen in Christiane F. We Children from Bahnhof Zoo (Uli Edel, 1981) -, the railway bridge where Liza Minelli screamed in Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972), and we even visited the toilet where the characters of Fassbinder’s The Third Generation (1980) delivered an expletive-laden anti-semitic rant. Sadly these facilities were now exclusively for ladies, and so we had to do out snaps from outside. The females probably wouldn’t appreciate if two males walked inside their toilet taking pictures, even if we explained that we were homosexuals doing it in the name of cinema.

Back to Moviementos and the Porn Film Festival: we got tickets to watch the featurette Cursed Be Your Name, Liberty (Vladimir Ceballos, 1994). The director talked to Cuban rockers who had purposely infected themselves with the HIV virus in the early 1990s in order to avoid the military service, police persecution and estigmatisation (!!!). They found it more liberating to be locked up in a sanatorium and to die than to face a deeply conservative and oppressive society. The director had to flee Cuba, and couldn’t return until 2015. This is the kind deeply sobering and thought-provoking film that you will not see anywhere else. A true dirty gem.

Mark and I wrapped up the evening by watching the highly experimental Andy Wahrol To Se Vrati: Boyz (Malga Kubiak, 2016), a very unusual tribute to the American pop artist. There was an impromptu drag queen strip-tease before the film started, while the director was literally jumping and running around in a frenzy as if she has accidentally poured her prescription drugs in her whisky. There was also a dog on which I accidentally stepped. To my surprise, all of the unusual types – including the pooch – starred in the film. This was definitely not your everyday cinema experience.

The movie consisted of a screen split in up to 16 simultaneous images of people being naked, talking about sexuality, arguing or just sitting on a sofa. There were also images of children and of a man on his deathbed. There was no sex at all. In fact, Mark and I had reached end of first day at the Berlin Porn Film Festival without having seen any sexual activity whatsoever. This could change tonight though, as I’m heading there to see a compilation of Brazilian short porn movies entitled Pop Porn (2016). I wonder whether they will have any surprises in store before – or after – the screening!

To be honest, I am not concerned whether I will see penetration on the silver screen tonight. “Porn” here is beyond what most people think. It’s a far more extensive and liberating experience, where all types of people – regardless of genre, age and race – can deep dive into their sexuality, as a reflection of their cultural, social and political views. This is extremely refreshing; you should dive in, too, and don’t be scared of drowning!

Two Spanish soldiers Silverio (Eric Francés) and Teo (Joan Carles Suau) are guarding a very remote and cold outpost during a bitter winter of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), when they suddenly discover a Polish woman (Monika Kowalka), hurt and unconscious. They immediately recognise that she is a “red” fighting with the enemy, and ponder whether it would be best to kill her, for their own security. Silverio and Teo are Nationalists supporting General Francisco Franco, who would eventually win the War and rule Spain until his death in 1975.

They nurse her back to health, and both man become infatuated with the mysterious woman, who turns to be called Zoska. Silverio is much more passionate and and straightforward in his attraction, while Teo holds back and does not even touch the beautiful Polish enemy, whose strong complexion looks a lot like a young Liv Ullmann. They decide to keep her hidden, despite knowing that this would almost certainly lead to their execution by their own commanders.

The biggest achievement of El Destierro is its astounding cinematography. The black and white images segue seamlessly into colour photography, while the conspicuous snow conveys a sense of isolation as well as a false and strange sense of romance and security. All three characters know that their chances of surviving are very meagre.

Political allegiances and loyalty are central themes, and these are not as black and white as the images that pervade the film. Zoska explains that she decided to fight for “freedom” in Spain because she admired Spanish painters such as Velázquez and Goya, and these were threatened by the fascists that Silverio and Teo are fighting for. The two man think that she is wrong but they are not able to articulate their views. Here it is the female that possesses the intellectual capital.

War often switches off humanity and solidarity, but Silverio and Teo made the difficult decision to sacrifice their political ideology for the sake of a human life. But will they succeed in their risky endeavour? Or will their personal differences and the fear of execution prevail? These dilemmas are far from exclusive to these two men; they reflect life in Spain for the next four decades, when people had to decide between feigning allegience to the regime or risking political persecution.

Arturo Ruiz Serrano’s first feature is a beautiful and touching movie, but there are also teething problems. The complexity and the depth of the narrative is not entirely matched by the somewhat unidimensional and flat performances, and the dialogue sometimes slips into emotional platitudes and clichéd gender role discussions. And the soundscore is a little saccharine, which also dilutes the dramaturgy of the film.

El Destierro will open the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival taking place from November 3rd-12th – just click here for more information about the event. You can also find out more about the film, other screenings and distribution in other countries by clicking here. This would make a refreshing addition to your local cinema, more used to the colourful Almodóvar dramas when showing Spanish cinema.

You can watch the film trailer below:

There is a voice breaking ranks in the jazz and R&B scene. Musicians Jools Holland, Jamie Cullum and Van Morrison, as well as the president of Blue Note Records Don Was and radio presenter Ruth Fisher have all surrendered to it. Gregory Porter: Don’t Forget Your Music presents Porter’s incredible journey from the humble beginnings in Bakersfield, California in the 1970s all the way to the Grammy Awards nominations and win in 2014. It’s an candid documentary about an honest musician. By the end of the film, you’ll surrender too.

In a nutshell, Porter’s music is about hope. He was raised among seven brothers in a Californian neighborhood not used to black people. He suffered hostility since he was very young and one of his brothers was shot in the middle of the street. His mother was a missionary and his father a charismatic piano player who didn’t show much affection to his boys. Gospel music was the entry to self-acceptance and redemption, while religion gave Porter the structure he needed to move on.

Porter has an eccentric personality. His only ambition is to play music and it doesn’t matter whether it is in the toilet circuit or at Royal Albert Hall. He was discovered by his friend and mentor Kamau Keniatta, who introduced him to flautist Hubert Laws. Laws immediately recognised he was in front of a gifted man, so he let Porter sing Charlie Chaplin’s hit ‘Smile’ for an album in 1999. Porter’s then left his hometown and started doing gigs within the African-American communities. He went to Detroit and felt the vibe of Sam Rivers and Herbie Hancock. He went to the Harlem and Brooklyn in New York where he encountered no criticism and had full freedom to play what he wanted.

In 2004, Porter wrote the musical ‘Nat King Cole & Me’, which allowed him to his early music influences and his childhood in general. He says: “My mother also loved Nat King Cole. That was some of the first music that I heard, Nat King Cole and the Mississippi Mass Choir”.

Director Alfred George Bailey interviewed many musicians who worked with Porter and they were all flabbergasted after hearing Porter for the first time. Porter is a crossover musician. He represents nowadays what Miles Davis once called “social music” – read our review of Miles Ahead (Don Cheadle, 2016) here for more on social music. Gregory Porter had the guts to accept an invitation for a DJ set in Ibiza and mix jazz and house music to the crowds. He is attracting new crowds to the world of jazz.

In Gregory Porter we see a fresh movement in jazz. Jazz finally found a timeless expression in him. Porter is not the future, or the past, or the present. He is an everlasting note.

Gregory Porter: Don’t Forget Your Music is opening the Doc’N’Roll Festival on November 2nd at BFI Southbank, London. The 8:45 pm screening is already sold-out, but there are still tickets for the second screening at 6:10 pm. The world premiere will be followed by a Q&A with Porter and the director. Buy your tickets here and watch the trailer below.

Forget Friday the 13th, Paranormal Activity and the latest zombie movie out! DMovies brings to you the filthiest, eeriest, most shocking and supremely scary horror movies ever made. From alien sex predators in Berlin to necrophiliac crossdressers in the US and glittery ghosts in Brazil, our list will take you on a horrific tour of death, fear, paranoia, deformed creatures, gooey fluids and oppressed sexuality.

These 10 films are much more innovative and subversive than the average horror shtick seen nowadays. The genre has become so commoditised and formulaic that it is increasingly difficult to be original and audacious when making a scary movie. So we have looked back in time, south and across the pond for the dirty gems that have challenged the pre-conceptions and rules of the horror film industry, as well as various political and social taboos.

Now open your eyes and read on. This hellish ride through the history of horror will both shellshock and hypnotise you. You might even recognise your inner demons in some of these movies. It’s now time to face and kill them!

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10. The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar, 2011):

Let`s start our our creepy list with a bizarre Spanish gender-bender. After all, who hasn’t dreamed of being kidnapped, having a sex change surgery forcibly performed upon you and then being made your captor’s sex slave? Well, just in case you haven’t, Almodóvar has done it for you.

In his 17th feature, the Spanish filmmaker – best-known for his sexual twisted, loud and colourful dramas and comedies – treads into the dark territory of unorthodox scientific experiments. Dr. Robert Legard (Antonio Banderas) tracks down and abducts his daughter’s rapist Vicente. Over a period of six years, Robert he physically transforms Vicente into a replica of his late wife, and calls him Vera. He consistently rapes his creation, who struggles to retain his sanity and true identity. The Skin I Live In is based on Thierry Jonquet‘s novel ‘Tarantula’.

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9. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977):

This extremely unconventional Italian horror film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy in Germany, but then realizes that the organisation is a front for something far more bizarre and supernatural. The plush setting, the vibrant colours, the frantic pace of the narrative, the music score composed by progressive rock band Goblin make plus a top-drawer cast including the Spanish musician Miguel Bosé and the German actor Udo Kier make Suspiria a deliciously odd piece, unmatched in its visual and stylistic verve.

A remake, made by director Luca Guadagnino and starring Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton, is set to be released next year.

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8. At Midnight I’ll Take your Soul (Coffin Joe, 1964):

Joe terrorizes a small religious community in his search for the perfect woman to bear his child, in a low-budget film that has shocked and terrorised Brazilians for more than 50 years. This startlingly graphic horror movie – the first ever made in Brazil – included plenty of murder, blood, sex and nudity, often all of them together.

Coffin Joe both directed and starred in his first film, which spawned a film career and a cult following to this date. At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul is a true work of art dealing with the social and sexual angst of a very puritan nation entering an oppressive military dictatorship. In this sense, it’s also a politically prescient movie. Coffin Joe – whose real name is José Mojica Marins – has a very clear vision and firm control over every detail of his production. Much of the film was made in very long, single takes and Marins even glue glitter to the actual movie print in order to create the ghosts, due to budgetary restrictions. The gore effects are extremely convincing. The result is a dream-like movie with dash of surrealism.

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7. Under the Shadow (Babak Anvari, 2016):

You have probably seen plenty of movies about the antichrist and priest exorcists. You might even keep a crucifix on your wall or a Wholy Bible in your drawer in order to keep the evil spirits away. None of that would work in Under The Shadow, a British-Iranian-Jordinian production set in Iran, and which shuns the Christian tradition of many Western horror movies in favour of the Islamic demons. The film also blends war with a criticism of the country’s religious police and fundamentalist traditions.

It’s 1988, and Shideh (Narges Rashidi) decides to stay in Tehran with her daughter Dorsa despite the insistence of her husband Iraj. He is a doctor working for the military, and he has been assigned to an area of more intense fighting. Shideh’s flat is suddenly hit by an unexploded missile, which instead brings evil spirits known as Djinn inside it. A neighbour explains to Shideh: “They travel in the wind. And they will take away one of your possessions, and will not leave until you find it”. Read our review of the movie here.

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6. Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973):

It’s not everyday you get a truly sweaty and vibrant sex in a scary movie, but British director Nicolas Roeg did just that. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland star as John and Laura Baxter in one of the steamiest and most realistic sex sequences ever made. The action takes place in Venice, while the couple mourn the accidental death of their young daughter Christine, who drowned in a lake.

Don’t Look Now is an explosive mixture of sex, guilt, premonitions and a very elusive ghost in a red coat – who John believes to be his daughter. The film in very unusual in its unusual romantic setting, hybrid drama-erotica-horror genre, and the final sequence is guaranteed to give you nightmares for years to come. The writing is on the wall: this is not the time to be naughty, you should be mourning your child instead! The film is adapted from the short story by Daphne du Maurier (who also wrote the short story in which Hitchcock’s The Birds was based in 1973).

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5. Possession (Andrzej Żuławski, 1981):

Berlin is a grey and ugly city, particularly in the lonely and isolated west side years before the Wall came down. It is is the perfect setting for the scrawny, pale and neurotic Anna (played by Isabelle Adjani, in a performance of a lifetime) to start a romantic and sexual dalliance with an alien, which slowly replaces her loving husband Mark. This likely is most absurd tale of love and adultery you will ever see, and an often overlooked dirty gem of cinema.

The movie includes a very graphic sex scene with the strange creature (below and at the top of this article), which progressively morphs into a human being. There is also a miscarriage in a subway passage, where Adjani screams and ejects liquids from pretty much every orifice of her body. Possession will make you reassess your relation with underground passageways, the German capital and… meat grinders!

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4. The Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968):

The horror starts already in the first minute, as Barbra (Judith O’Dea) and Johnny Blair (Russell Streiner) visit a dead relative in a cemetery. John is promptly attacked and killed by a walking corpse, in what would would become the most influential and audacious zombie movie ever made. This unrelentingly bloodclurdling and claustrophobic black-and-white movie will leave you entranced for every one of its 96 minutes.

The audacity of The Night of the Living Dead lies in many subtle elements, which may go unnoticed to some of the less attentive eyes. It exposed cold-blooded racism through a very unexpected and brilliant twist in the very end of the movie. The movie is also a commentary on the hysteria and fearmongering of the Cold War, as well as the invisible consequences of military action, radioactive and atomic experiments: radiation from the Soviet Union is briefly mentioned as the likely cause for the return of the dead. There is also a child feeding on her dead parents, in extremely gruesome and nauseating sequence.

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3. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1926):

Halloween openly promotes death, devils, witches, zombies and… vampires. The vampires are the remarkable creatures because they survive on blood and it’s almost impossible to kill them. Nosferatu is one of the earliest vampire movies ever made, as well as an exponent of elegantly dark and lavish German Expressionist movement.

Murnau knew all the secrets of optics. His obsession with camera technique was such that he held the apparatus as if it was a sketching pencil. For him, the camera is a character. The vampire of Nosferatu is frequently placed in oppressive spaces that emprison, such as windows and arches. Here prison is immortality.

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2. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960):

Hitchcock’s masterpiece is the father of all splatter movies and it has also the most famous sequence in the history of cinema, where hapless Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is murdered in the shower – to the incredibly vigorous and catchy soundscore composed by Bernard Herrmann.

The film is subversive in so many ways that it’s difficult to decide where to start: it’s the first mainstream to open with a woman in her bra after having unmarried sex, and it’s the first film ever to show a flushing toilet; it blends the Freudian Oedipus complex with necrophilia; and spikes it up with with split personality disorder and and cross-dressing. Hitchcock goes even further: he kills his film star halfway through the film, a completely unacceptable unforeseen device 56 years ago. The experience was so powerful that Anthony Perkins – who played the murderous Norman Bates – was said to be psychologically tormented for the rest of his life. Perkins was a closeted homosexual who died from Aids-related complications in 1992.

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1. Freaks (Top Browning, 1932):

Scores of viewers left the cinema halfway through the movie, with American novelist F.Scott Fitzgerald running outside to vomit, and a woman suing MGM for a miscarriage apparently caused by the images on the screen. Tod Browning’s masterpiece was so controversial and heavily censored, that it had to be cut down from 90 to 64 minutes. Sadly the 26 missing minutes have since gone missing. The movie also triggered the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines two years later, regulating anything deemed indecent at the time, from sexual innuendo to infidelity and violence.

Viewers at the time failed to realise the message within this highly provocative and sophisticated piece, which was very far ahead of its time. In the film, the physically deformed “freaks” working in a circus are inherently trusting and honorable people, while the real monsters are two of the “normal” members of the circus who conspire to murder one of the performers in order to obtain his large inheritance. The freaks were played by people with real deformities, including the half-boy (Johnny Eck), the siamese twins (Daisy and Violet Hilton), the living torso (Prince Randian) and many more. Freaks is one of the most wronged films of all times; ironically and sadly it was treated as unfairly as the amazing human beings it portrays. Perhaps it’s us film viewers that are freaky and disturbed after all; it’s time we show our love for these poor movie creatures!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. ZZzzzzzZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. RON PCH. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. hngGGggh-Pfnhjv. ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZ. This is the mode Paterson puts you on. The film opens with Adam Driver (Paterson) and Golshifteh Farahani (Laura) sleeping. That sequence will be repeated, with very subtle variations, another six times, for each day of the week. After 40 minutes outside the cinema theatre, you’ll still be sleepy or hypnotised.

The idea behind the film is not new in Jim Jarmusch’s artwork: to bring poetry and music – in this case, hip hop – to cinema. He’s done that several times with a relative innovative point-of-view. In Dead Man (1995), a Gothic William Blake (Johnny Depp) is a wanted outlaw living in a cruel and chaotic world. In Down by Law (1986), a DJ (musician Tom Waits) divides a prison cell with a pimp (composer John Lurie) and an Italian tourist (Roberto Benigni). More recently, in Only Lovers Left Alive (2014), Jim imagined a vampire as a musician (Tom Hiddleston in the role of Adam) whose hobby is to collect vintage instruments as well as to moan about the state of the modern world and music scene. All those previous features contain a hybrid of glamour, noir and mist. Sadly, that missing in Paterson.

The new film, that premiered earlier in May in Cannes, portrays a bus driver who also happens to be a poet. His name is Paterson and he lives in Paterson, New Jersey. ‘Paterson’ is also the title of an epic poem by American poet William Carlos Williams published in five volumes from 1946 to 1958. (O, Muses, where are you? Are you also sleeping? There are too many Patersons here.) The issue is that William Carlos Williams’ poems were experimental, even revolutionary, whilst Paterson’s (the character) aren’t. They are very flat and descriptive. One of them describes a matchbox in as much detail as possible!

Maybe Jarmusch wanted to tell the story of an ordinary man who escapes his routine by writing poems. If so, art could rescue Paterson from the weariness of a bus driver’s life. Poetry saves the dull man. But what we taste is the dullness, not the poetry. Paterson has no ambition; he writes for himself, he doesn’t want to publish. Besides he does the same thing everyday: he wakes up between 6 am and 6:30 am, he walks to the bus depot, he observes his passengers, he goes back home, walks the dog and has a pint in the same pub every night. And then it’s time to sleep again. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

His crestfallen personality hits his partner’s joie de vivre. Laura is a colourful bird in a cage. She’s is full of life, she insists that his poems are good and everyone should have a chance to read them. She spends her time at home, painting curtains, learning music or cooking cupcakes. She is about to explode with life every time the camera focus on her, but then the light fades away. She surrenders to Paterson’s grey stupidness. Only a stupid man would allow his art to end as it did in the movie. (ZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Did you wake up? This is a spoilerless review.)

Well, then, maybe it’s time to go to bed. Grab a book.

Paterson was part of BFI London Film Festival that ended last Sunday. It will be released nationwide on November 25th. Stay tuned for a reminder around the time!

Watch the film trailer here:

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Shideh was earlier a political activist against the Revolution, and this prevented her from going to university. She now feels guilty for not holding a degree, as she also feels that she is not a good mother. She is often heavy-handed and tactless with Dorsa, who does not entirely trust her. In addition, she owns forbidden items in her property, including a VCR and music videos of foreign artists. Her demeanour is censurable, and could even land her in jail. To make it worse, one day she flees the evil spirits in despair running down the street without her headscarf, only to be stopped by the vice squad and nearly arrested. She promply returns to her flat to encounter the entities angrier and more revengeful than ever. The writing is on the wall: misbehave, and we will come to get you – if not the police than the evil paranormal forces.

Shideh isn’t safe anywhere: there’s danger inside and outside. Missiles and Djinns can strike at any time, and the darkness of the shelter underneath the building doesn’t feel safe at all. A curfew might be just the perfect opportunity for the spirits to attack the woman and her daughter. What makes Under the Shadow so effective is that the horror is used very sparingly, and instead the narrative relies on a feeling of guilt, anguish and entrapment in order to keep the viewer hooked. The few scary moments are very cleverly devised and guaranteed to make you jump off your seat.

Under the Shadow is showing tonight at the Curzon Bloomsbury. The movie is also available for streaming on Google Play – just click here for more information.

You can also watch the film trailer here:

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