Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Director: Philip Kaufman
Screenwriter: W. D. Richter
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy

This film is about aliens. Technically. But also, it isn’t.

This is the second adaptation of “The Body Snatchers” by Jack Finney (following the 1956 Don Siegel adaptation, also titled Invasion of the Body Snatchers). It follows roughly the same plot, where strange, plant-based life forms come to Earth after travelling across the stars, where they grow replicas of human beings in huge pods, each identical save for the removing of emotion (and so no war, no pain, no love). Their infiltration of the community they find themselves in is the scene of paranoia, of the discovery of a conspiracy, of the terror of realising that your family members may look and sound the same, but that they aren’t actually them. A small band of survivors must battle the odds when the system has been infiltrated and turned against them. The novel and original film, taking place in the midst of 1950s Red Scare McCartheyism, is as thinly veiled an allegory for America’s fear of communism as you can get, though Finney denied this throughout his life (movies such as The Thing From Another World and It Came From Outer Space also follow the trend). Both of those texts are also seminal sci-fi horror reading/viewing. The question, therefore, is how does this version stack up?

Part of the genius of this interpretation is the decision to move the action from the small town of Santa Mira (in the film)/Mill County (in the book) to downtown San Francisco. The added chaos of urban life gives a sense of menace to the spreading contamination. The allegory here is of corporations turning people into shells of their former selves, and of the destruction of the natural world – a kind of capitalist updating of the red weed from H. G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds”. Roger Ebert commented that it might also be influenced by the Watergate scandal, with tapped phones and wires. Whilst this is a possibility, those features were always elements in the novel and the first film. What is certain, is that by putting this viral personality takeover in the middle of a city, the danger is far more immediate. With the first film, if it gets out of the small town, there’s still a chance. There’s a larger civilisation out there to help. Here, if you’re dead in the city, with all that manpower and all those connections, with all that modernity, there’s not much chance that anywhere else is going to last. Along with this updating, the pod-people in their growing stage are much more organic, more tissue-like, adding to the ecological themes. It isn’t as strong a body-horror shift, but perhaps comparable to the way in which the 1958 version of The Fly (starring Vincent Price) was updated for modern audiences: a reimagining rather than a remake, as directed by David Cronenberg in 1986 (ironically, also starring Jeff Goldblum).

The air of being hemmed in is all around. The buildings impose, the close proximity that everyone is to each other (and in some sequences having several of the characters together in every shot one after the other), makes the idea that the people next to you aren’t who they say they are even worse. The main cast is terrific, bringing sufficient weight and drama to a terror slowly building up as the horrific realisation of what is going on dawns on them. The little things occurring in the background add to that paranoia, and is something Edgar Wright specifically mentions as an influence on the background details for Shaun of the Dead in his DVD commentary (ironically, Wright’s body-snatching film The World’s End actually has the ending of the original novel, in which the invading force realises humanity will never be converted, which is something no actual novel adaptation has kept). The occasional shots of the garbage compactors crushing the husks of used pods comes back time and time again unmentioned but always there, and when you realise what they are, by then it’s all too late. Everything’s already over.

Speaking of endings, Kevin McCarthy (who played Dr Miles in the first film) has a cameo in this one, playing very much a similar character (but not the same), slamming on Donald Sutherland’s car and screaming ‘You’re next!’, much like his famous ending to the first film. Even if it’s not Dr Miles, it gives the impression that Miles has been wandering for years warning us of the oncoming apocalypse. It’s so iconic an original ending that one wonders how this film could possibly one-up it. And yet it does, in an ending reveal burned into the public consciousness with just sound. Sound that has drained from the world as the film runs on, with characters fleeing through the streets, their feet slamming against the road. Somehow that’s the most disturbing thing of all. The takeover of the pod people, with their uniformity, has reduced the need for talk, for going anywhere unplanned, for noise. Despite their horrifying screech, the emptiness of the sound of the world is what truly scares. The naturalness of the world has faded. Now it is simply a factory of the pods, a greenhouse for empty husks.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers has everything you could want. A great cast, direction that mostly stands up (there are unfortunately some parts when Kaufman decides to go for some egregious camera movements which betray the camp B-movie roots and lodge in the cinematic throat), an all-consuming tone, and some of the most iconic scenes of all science-fiction and horror. It has to be seen to be believed, and, even with the odd misstep, remains an all-time classic.

Score: 20/24

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)
Director: Francis: Lawrence
Screenwriter: Michael Lesslie, Michael Arndt
Starring: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andres Rivera, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Viola Davis

Everyone loves a good origin story. Whether that origin story is worth telling is a different matter entirely.

When The Hunger Games was released more than a decade ago, its massive success (both with fans and at the box office) opened the floodgates for countless other young adult dystopian adaptations. We got The Mortal Instruments, I Am Number Four, Ender’s Game, Divergent, The Fifth Wave, and The Maze Runner, all of which failed to garner the same praise as The Hunger Games had. Though this trend didn’t make it out of the mid-2010s alive, The Hunger Games series has continued to endure thanks to the quality and consistency of the performances, writing, directing, and production design across all four films. Its themes of war, rebellion, oppression, and the power of love, are more timely than ever.

It was inevitable that Hollywood would eventually circle back to The Hunger Games, especially considering the new trend that has emerged in recent years: nostalgia. In the years since The Hunger Games series ended, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Ghostbusters have all been resurrected to varying degrees of success, each new entry seemingly struggling to justify its reason to exist. But The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes somehow manages to escape the same fate. Based on the 2020 prequel novel of the same name by “The Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins, the film stands on its own, reigniting the same spark that made the original films so popular, without ever using those films as a crutch.

In Songbirds and Snakes, we return to the world of Panem 64 years before Katniss Everdeen stepped into the arena. The country is struggling to rebuild following the war, the dark days are barely behind them. The Hunger Games is in its 10th year, but Head Game Maker Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) is struggling to figure out how to get people to keep watching her sickening reality show. Amid this, a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), years before he will become the powerful and cruel dictator we know him to be, is desperate to save his family from financial ruin. Though his father helped to create The Hunger Games, his suspicious death left the family penniless. Coriolanus lives in a constant state of possible eviction with his grandma’am (Fionnula Flanagan) and older cousin Tigris (Hunter Schafer), who will go on to become a stylist for the games and later an ally to Katniss in the resistance against The Capitol.

At the academy, Coriolanus is informed that there will be one more test before graduation: seniors must become mentors in the upcoming games. “Your job is to make them into spectacles, not survivors,” Dean Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) tells them. Coriolanus ends up being paired with Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a fiery tribute from District 12 and member of the Covey, a traveling musician troupe. Lucy Gray doesn’t have much in the way of fighting skills, but she is a performer and the arena becomes her stage. She also has a habit of slicing snakes on people that have wronged her. When Coriolanus and Lucy Gray form an unexpected connection, he ends up risking everything to make sure she makes it out of the games alive, but the threat of rebellion in the districts and Coriolanus’ ambition begin to tear them apart.

Songsbirds and Snakes works for a couple of different reasons, chief among them being the fact that almost the entire production team behind The Hunger Games returned to make it. Francis Lawrence, who took over for The Hunger Games director Gary Ross with Catching Fire (2013) and stayed until the end of the series (2015), returned to direct, along with producer Nina Jacobson. Returning production designer Phillip Messina and cinematographer Jo Willem manage to recreate the look of the original series to ensure that it feels as though no time had passed between the final instalment and this prequel, while still giving the film its own visual flair. While The Hunger Games is not tame by any means, the luxury and gloss of The Capitol’s state of the art technology gives everything a glossy sheen. In Songbirds and Snakes, everything is primitive and wild: the arena is a crumbling concrete dome, there is no late night talk show, no fancy training center or tribute living quarters, everything feels rough and unpolished and ten times as dangerous. The color pallet, although reminiscent of the original films, is decidedly darker. The production and costume designers took obvious inspiration from the 1940s, and particularly Nazi Germany, especially in regards to the battle rifles used. While The Hunger Games used analogue technology as a jumping off point for its futuristic designs, Songbirds and Snakes takes that to another level. It’s easy to see how this Panem will eventually becomes that one, decades later. The film is one of those rare big-budget spectacles that actually looks as expensive as it is.

The Hunger Games succeeded in part because the novels were adapted with care, the filmmakers making sure to keep important details and characters and moments that made the story work in the first place. The narrative wasn’t tossed into a blender and then thrown up on screen. Suzanne Collins’ rich world building remained in tact throughout the four original films, and the same goes for Songbirds and Snakes. Every film in the original series is nearly 1 to 1 to its novel counterparts. Fans eager for another faithful adaptation will not be disappointed. Songbirds and Snakes stays almost entirely true to the spirit of the novel.

Despite the pressure of being the first entry in a widely popular franchise in nearly decade, Songbirds and Snakes is not trying to replicate the story beats of The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins crafted an intriguing origin story for her main villain, and that is partially responsible for this, but the filmmakers can also take credit as they didn’t feel the need to replicate moments from the original series or reference characters and events that haven’t happened yet (in the timeline of their in-film world). The closest they get to a wink and a nod is when Lucy Gray tells Coriolanus that the plant she’s holding is Katniss. Of course, those looking to have a little bit of the original series injected in their veins will not be disappointed either. Composer James Newton Howard knows exactly when to employ his Mockingjay theme. The structure of the film is also different and not just a carbon copy of the previous films, which almost always ended in the arena or in some type of explosive battle. Songbirds and Snakes takes the opposite approach. The first half of the movie is spent preparing for and executing the games, with the latter half dedicated to the unravelling of Coriolanus and Lucy’s relationship. Although, the movie does lose some steam once the games are over.

As far performances go, Songbirds and Snakes has a strong main cast that helps elevate the material and convey the complex inner lives of our characters even when it’s not necessarily found on the page. In addition to an impeccable American accent and a really good blond wig, relatively unknown English actor Tom Blyth manages to step into the shoes previously worn by the prolific Donald Sutherland with ease, although he doesn’t quite have Sutherland’s flair for the dramatic. But he’s just as charismatic to watch, and although he makes the character his own, it is not hard to believe that he is the younger version of a character we already know. He has a similar face and a similar voice, but there’s a hint of humanity in him that he has all but abandoned when we see him in The Hunger Games. In Songbirds and Snakes, there’s a vulnerability to him, but there’s also a darkness lurking just below the surface and Blyth balances that very well. Rachel Zegler is perfectly cast as Lucy Gray, brimming with charm and confidence. It should be no surprise that Zegler has a fantastic voice, thanks to her screen debut as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Josh Andres Rivera is an absolute scene stealer as Sejanus Plinth, classmate of Coriolanus whose sympathy for the rebel cause becomes his ultimate downfall, and Hunter Schafer, who burst onto the scene as Jules on the HBO series “Euphoria”, is enchanting as Snow’s cousin Tigris, although her talent does feel wasted on such a small part. Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City) is absolutely hilarious as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, first television host of the games and presumed relative of Caesar Flickerman, who was played by Stanley Tucci in the original. His one liners in the midst of children killing each other highlights just how crass and and out of touch the people in The Capitol are. His performance never feels forced or over the top, as Tucci’s sometimes did.

All in all, Songbirds and Snakes is a worthy entry into The Hunger Games canon, offering a rich and intriguing peek into the past. It’s not as emotionally satisfying as the original series, but with only one film as opposed to four, that’s a difficult height to reach. Still, in an industry overrun with remakes, prequels, sequels, and reboots, Songbirds and Snakes understands how capturing the magic of a series so many already love is easy, you just have to tell a really good story.

Score: 22/24

The four films released annually between 2012 and 2015 present a dystopian near future dominated by class divides and its public’s insatiable appetite for violence and cheap thrills. It focuses upon Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) as she navigates her position as a tribute in the 74th Hunger Games in Panem, what was once North America, before winning and unintentionally becoming the face of a rebellion.

In the universe of the films, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event in which 24 participants (Tributes) are forced to fight to the death until one remains. This competition was enforced by the Capitol (the ruling power of Panem) after the 13 Districts of Panem rebelled against their power. As retribution, District 13 was annihilated, and the 12 remaining Districts must offer up their children into the Hunger Games as a reminder of the cost of insurrection against the Capitol.

One boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 are selected from each District in a lottery system (the Reaping). They are paraded as if they are celebrities, dressed in high fashion, interviewed on mandatory viewing programmes, before being shipped into a custom-made themed arena in a battle that often lasts weeks.

The Victor is then bestowed a home, riches, and exemption from further participation in the Games, while their District receives additional food for the year following their victory. The Victor will then be placed into a pool of Mentors to support the future Tributes of their District as they navigate their own preparation for the Games.

The Quadrilogy follows Katniss primarily, as she wins her first Hunger Games and manages to survive her second until she is liberated by the Rebellion. Whilst this is ongoing, she is navigating complex relationships with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), her two-time District 12 Tribute/Victor counterpart, and Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), her childhood friend and closest ally in District 12. Meanwhile, she is trying to keep her family safe, primarily her sister Primrose (Willow Shields), and trying to escape any negative attention from her accidental enemy, President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we are evaluating the best moments across the four films that cover Katniss Everdeen’s journey from a District 12 Tribute to the figurehead of a revolution. We will be considering the moments that made our hearts stop and kept us on the edge of our seats as we attempt to outline what truly are the most iconic moments of the Girl on Fire and beyond. These are the 10 Best The Hunger Games Moments.

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10. Katniss Adjusting Her Aim to Kill President Coin
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)

The rebellion has ended with the underclass Districts triumphing over the might of the Capitol. The Government of Panem has been overthrown. The end of the Hunger Games, and the end of forced starvation and extreme poverty, is in sight. But Katniss is all too aware of what it has cost her, having witnessed the deaths of her squadron, including Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin) and brutally, in the last moments of the war, her little sister Prim (Willow Shields). The whole saga started with Katniss trying to save Prim from death, and despite it all she couldn’t save the person who mattered to her the most. Katniss has been charged with killing President Snow (Donald Sutherland), the now dethroned ruler of Panem. President Coin (Julianne Moore), the leader of the Rebellion and now assumed President, announces what is about to happen. Katniss pulls the single arrow from her sheath and takes aim at Snow, before quickly adjusting her aim and shooting Coin straight in the heart. She intends to kill herself with a nightlock pill (crafted from poisonous berries) tucked in her outfit, but Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) stops her in her tracks, allowing her capture and Snow to be torn apart by seething crowds.

This, as the end of the war, is what we’ve been waiting a long time to see. Katniss facing President Snow, finally with her in power. However, her previous discussions with him illuminate the pawn she has been for President Coin. Katniss begins to see that Coin is not trying to overthrow Panem for entirely pure reasons, she wishes for power and is willing to allow the Hunger Games to continue in a differing format. Katniss also comes to learn that Prim died in a trap placed by the Rebels, which also killed many Capitol children, seen as collateral damage by Coin. In this moment, Katniss finally reclaims the autonomy she lost as a pawn for both Snow and Coin. Whilst she becomes an enemy of the nation, Katniss knows she has avenged her sister and prevented another corrupt leader rising in Panem. Katniss never wanted to be the hero, but she still did it. This, Katniss’ final kill, represents the end of her journey as a warrior and a piece in their games. Katniss barely makes a sound, but the weight of her emotion is clear in every small movement she makes. She has nothing to lose, but might be able to change the course of the future with one final shot.

This moment makes the list because of how shocking it is, and the gravity of the situation itself. Katniss, a girl from the poorest part of a poor region, now stands before two Presidents as the most important person in the country. The culmination of the series must be represented in the top 10, only hindered by how much we’ve lost to get to this point, and how painful it is to see Katniss ready to die after losing Prim.

9. Finnick Odair’s Death
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)

In one of the scariest moments of the franchise, Katniss and her elite Capitol invasion squad have descended below the streets of the city to avoid ‘pods’ (traps intended to kill advancing rebels) and increased Peacekeeper (Capitol soldiers) presence. However, the sewers and tunnels beneath the city are not without danger. Snow-white humanoid lizard beasts (created by the Capitol) pursue the group, soon decimating them as they attempt to flee via tight, dark sewer tunnels. Our heroes make a last stand as they attempt to climb out of the sewers, with Katniss and Finnick (Sam Claflin) leading the charge as the most skilled combatants. Finnick manages to save Katniss and takes out countless Mutts as the others escape, ultimately throwing his trident straight through a Mutt to save Katniss as she ascends the ladder. Armed only with a knife, Finnick makes it to the ladder before being dragged underwater to be massacred. Katniss activates a detonation sequence in her Holo (a map loaded with sensitive Capitol info) and uses it to kill Finnick and the Mutts.

Katniss having to mercy kill Finnick is yet another traumatic moment for her and the audience. Finnick’s death represents the hopelessness of the group’s Capitol mission. Finnick is the Victor amongst Victors, beloved by all and a larger-than-life personality. Katniss lied to make this mission happen, and she sees Finnick’s death as yet another that she caused, another weight for her to bear. It could have been avoided if she had only stuck to her original orders of avoiding live combat, but she wished to be the one to kill Snow no matter what. Finnick’s death cuts deep as, by this point, we know he has married his childhood sweetheart, and that in his years post-victory of the Hunger Games he was sex-trafficked by President Snow. He was presented as a symbol of success amongst the Districts but treated only as a plaything by those in charge.

This scene is so iconic for many reasons, the pure shock of Finnick’s death when he has become one of the most beloved characters and revealed many new layers of vulnerability throughout the franchise. As an audience member, you just want to see Finnick finally live a quiet life with his wife, however it is snatched away in a particularly horrifying manner, allowing him no reprieve from the non-stop torture he has faced since the age of fourteen. Finnick’s death remains one of the biggest talking points of the franchise many years on.

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Born in 1972 in London, Wright spent the early part of his career working at Oil Factory, a music video production company. Following the completion of a few short films and serials, in 2003 Wright directed the miniseries, ‘Charles II: The Power and the Passion’, for the BBC. The series was a critical success and, just a few short years later in 2005, Wright was chosen to direct a new adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel, “Pride and Prejudice”. The film, starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, was a critical and commercial success, and launched the filmmaker into the spotlight. Pride & Prejudice was nominated for a slew of Academy Awards and BAFTA Film Awards, with Wright taking home the BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer at the age of 33.

Since that noteworthy breakthrough, Joe Wright has found most of his success as an artist in romantic costume dramas. He’s partial to historical fiction, particularly when it’s set during World War II, though he has dabbled in numerous genres, like action, thriller and fantasy. One of the stylistic signatures of the director’s visual work is his tendency for long tracking shots, which arguably was at its very best in the continuous, five-minute take during the evacuation of Dunkirk in Atonement (2007). To achieve this unique visual style, Wright works closely with cinematographer and frequent collaborator Seamus McGarvey, while the director’s work is also commonly associated with screen actors Keira Knightley, Ben Mendelsohn and Tom Hollander.

Wright’s 9 feature films vary in quality from Oscar-winning period pieces to $100million box office bombs. While the majority of his movies have been both commercially and critically successful, earning numerous Academy Award and BAFTA nominations, others have missed the mark completely. In this edition of Ranked from The Film Magazine, we’ll evaluate Joe Wright’s movies based on critical reaction, writing, performance, and directorial choices. From his most bewildering to his unparalleled masterpiece, these are the Joe Wright Movies Ranked.

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9. Pan (2015)

Pan was such a financial failure it nearly forced Joe Wright into an early retirement.

Set in London during World War II, the film is a prequel to J.M Barry’s 1904 stage play “Peter and Wendy” and serves as an origin story for Peter Pan, one of fiction’s most well-known and beloved characters. It is a truly bewildering film with one of the strangest uses of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” ever put to screen.

Pan claims to be an origin story for a character that has existed in the public consciousness for over 100 years, but its approach to the material is so far out of left field that it feels completely foreign. There is nothing familiar to cling to. It’s held back by Jason Fuchs’s script, which seems to have no interest in coming up with fresh ways to recount the origin of Peter Pan (Levi Miller) or any of the other well-known characters. For instance, instead of coming up with a unique and fun way to show how Captain Hook (Garrett Hedlund) lost his hand and earned his name, the film decides that nothing interesting happened at all and that “Hook” is just his last name. Captain Hook doesn’t lose his hand at all, actually, and the movie doesn’t even attempt to explain why he and Peter become enemies. It feels like half the film is missing or they were planning for a sequel that, on account of the film making no money, never materialized.

Visually, Pan is an ugly movie that rarely feels whimsical or magical, which is honestly a shock considering co-cinematographer Seamus McGarvey worked with Wright on both Anna Karenina and Atonement. The steampunk aesthetics are presented in such a way that makes everything seem grimy and unappealing, devoid of life.

The film’s humor is similarly uneven and awkward. It seems like Pan wants to have an absurdist approach to its humor, but it doesn’t commit. Because of this, Garret Hedlund’s performance as Hook feels wildly out of place and he is the only person doing… whatever he’s doing. Rooney Mara, despite being present as the result of tone deaf casting that miscasts her as a Native American, is a bright spot in the film, and her scenes with Peter are probably some of the best in the movie.

Wright’s inability to tackle a big budget spectacle, along with a messy script and unfocused visual language, makes Pan a weak link in his career.

Mr Harrigan’s Phone (2022)
Director: John Lee Hancock
Screenwriters: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Jaeden Martell, Donald Sutherland, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Joe Tippett, Cyrus Arnold, Colin O’Brien

Stephen King is well known for horror; that’s what has made him. He can do the spooks and the monsters as well as, if not better, than anyone else. Mr Harrigan’s Phone, despite being marketed as a horror film, coming from a horror writer, originating from a collection of horror stories in “If It Bleeds” from 2020, and starring an actor (Donald Sutherland) well known for horror, is not a horror story. It is what King does better than anyone: a coming-of-age tale for the suburban American kid, which happens to have a ghost or two in the background. Thankfully for us all, not only is Mr Harrigan’s Phone (2022) a faithful retelling of the original short story, but it’s a damn good one.

Jaeden Martell (It) is Craig, a kid with a good reading voice who lost his mother some years before. His services are acquired by wealthy, aging business mogul John Harrigan, played by Donald Sutherland, to read to him several times per week. The bond they grow through this eventually leads to Harrigan, a man both scared of the future and his past, acquiring a fancy new gadget through which the pair can communicate: an original iPhone. When Harrigan passes, Craig receives messages from beyond the grave; messages that can only come from Harrigan’s phone six feet underground.

Stephen King adaptations are as notoriously hit-or-miss as his endings. Sometimes they’re astonishing, and elsewise they’re cheap and nasty affairs that are affronts to cinema (see this year’s re-adaptation/remake of Firestarter for more details on that). John Lee Hancock, however, has thankfully managed to battle through the attempts from both Netflix and Blumhouse to throw jump scares galore into anything they can get their grubby paws on, Mr Harrigan’s Phone being a simple, graceful, solemn affair which dispenses with almost all horror tropes. The only marginal jump scare section of Hancock’s film is handled in such a fashion that the jumps are not intended to scare, but to confirm what we already know, and encourages our narrative comprehension and predictions of upcoming events to manage the tension for us. Yes, there are a moments of over-editing that aren’t needed, and some conversations in which there are too many cuts for no reason at all, but for the most part the direction is understated, unnoticed, and has managed to escape the editing suite unscathed.

Combined with two wonderful performances from Donald Sutherland and Jaeden Martell, Mr Harrigan’s Phone becomes something different to a horror film, it becomes a coming-of-age story. It is about a young man facing the horrors of the world and learning, sometimes to his detriment, how he wishes to deal with them. It’s about making bad choices, understanding consequences and, more importantly, of living with oneself in the face of the world. Martell’s performance may be the best of his young career so far.

Mr Harrigan’s Phone is stately, understanding, empathetic, and much more mature than other King adaptations, and indeed many genre pictures of our current times. It doesn’t try to be something it isn’t. It has moments of joy and moments of despair. It has times to teach and times to sit back and watch. It is quiet but wise, never stepping forward too far to lecture or demean. Its detractors will moan and complain that it isn’t scary enough, or wow enough, or that it’s too slow, and yet all of these things are what make it good. Thankfully, Mr Harrigan’s Phone simply is what it is.

Score: 20/24

The Slasher horror movie became fruitful in the late 1970s and directors began to push the boundaries of what could be shown on screen. Many were popular at grindhouses and drive-in cinemas, attracting fans of low-budget splatter-horror and gore.

The films in this list were considered to be some of the most shocking horror films of their time, most of them using never-before-seen special effects, horrifying narratives and intensely thrilling performances from their casts.

With such a plethora of memorable, genre-defining releases, the 1970s offered up dozens of memorable horror movie moments, the 10 Best of which will be presented in this Top List.

These are the 10 Best Horror Movie Moments of the 1970s.

Let us know your favourites in the comments, and be sure to follow us on Twitter.

10. Dawn of the Dead (1978) – Basement Zombies

Kicking off our top ten is the second in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead series, Dawn of the Dead. Showing the further extent of the events in the first film, survivors of the outbreak barricade themselves in a shopping mall amid mass public hysteria.

One of the film’s more unnerving scenes comes at the start. Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott Reiniger) find themselves fighting through a housing block full of zombies before coming upon the building’s basement. Realising that residents have been hiding their dead rather than delivering them to the National Guard, Peter and Roger discover a room of zombies all feasting on fresh flesh and struggling inside body bags. In a drawn-out moment, Peter begins to kill each ‘undead’ individually by shooting, which Roger steps in to help with.

The scene focuses particular attention to the ethnicity of the undead – with the majority of them being black or Latino – a big hint to the awful treatment and conditions of housing for minority communities in the 70s and beyond. Although this scene is not necessarily terrifying by way of jump scares or some of those yet to come in this list, it is scary in a way that points to the true terror of our own world and thus as poignant of a moment in horror as any to come.

9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) – The Scream

At number nine is Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a remake of the 1956 film and adapted from the novel by Jack Finney. In a world where humans are being replaced by alien duplicates, the most disturbing moment in the film comes at the last minute.

In the final scene, Matthew (Donald Sutherland) reveals himself to be a duplicated “pod person” by emitting an ear-splitting shriek whilst pointing frighteningly at Nancy (Veronica Cartwright). Presenting a constant sense of unease throughout the film, this scene is the icing on the cake. It has since become the stuff of legend, the above shot recognisable to all fans of film, not just those who enjoy this Ivasion of the Body Snatchers, and one of the most memorably unnerving moments of 1970s horror.

The source material may have been aimed at the YA demographic, and feature young characters, but the mature themes of violence and social justice at the heart of The Hunger Games gave these movies a mass appeal that was reflected in both their box office success and positive critical reception. Plus, the series was a key part in propelling Jennifer Lawrence (who played Everdeen herself) to superstardom.

With all four movies maximising their rewatch appeal courtesy of an announcement that Collins is penning a new book in the series – a prequel, set during the 10th Hunger Games and titled “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” – it’s clear that the Mockingjay’s legacy lives on.

But, the big question – which of the Hunger Games movies is the best?

Have an opinion? Make sure to leave a comment!

4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part One (2014)

In this third instalment of the series, the plot takes us out of the Hunger Games arena and moves underground. There we find District 13 and their president, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), attempting to make the most of the momentum from Katniss’s act of defiance in the Quarter Quell, and unite the districts against the Capitol.

It’s in this film where Katniss tentatively steps into her role as the Mockingjay, the face of the revolution. She is separated from Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), who is being imprisoned and tortured by President Snow (Donald Sutherland), and she is attempting to stoke the fire of the rebellion by broadcasting footage of her on the battlefield.

One of the key elements that makes these films engaging is the dynamic between Peeta and Katniss – her pessimism and his optimism, his light to her dark, and the love story between them that grew from reality TV fodder to a matter of keeping each other alive. Without Peeta, that balance is skewed, but it also lets us see who Katniss is without him, as well as what she will do to save him.

There’s lots more to enjoy; Mahershala Ali has a quietly magnetic quality as military leader Boggs, Natalie Dormer makes a welcome addition to the ensemble as director Cressida, and there’s a satisfaction in seeing the behind-the-scenes of how Katniss evolves from inspiring tribute to a true leader.

Mockingjay – Part One isn’t bottom of the list because it’s a bad film, but simply because it’s not quite as good as the rest. It suffers from a problem that occurs with all first parts of a two part story, where one book has been split in half – nothing really happens. There’s no clear structure, and it instead feels like two hours of setup for what’s to come in the next chapter. For Hunger Games fans, that’s not really a problem – the more time spent in this world, the better – but it still makes this movie the weakest of the bunch.

3. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part Two (2015)

Picking up right where the previous film ends, Mockingjay – Part Two sees the aftermath of Peeta being rescued, the rebels finally storming the Capitol, and the conclusion to the entire Hunger Games saga.

After disobeying orders from Coin and secretly travelling to the frontline, Katniss and her team continue as the public face of the war. They walk through a Capitol littered with deadly ‘pods’, edging ever closer to President Snow’s mansion, and Katniss’s mission to assassinate him.

This final chapter was the most surreal and hardest to follow of Collins’ books, and the same can be said for some of the film version too. The supernatural elements are dialled up; Peeta being ‘hijacked’ into hating Katniss by the Capitol, increasingly weird and gruesome traps, a woman who gives them refuge who has been surgically altered to look like a human-tiger hybrid. 

But, despite these distracting you from the story at times, this final chapter has all the emotion, tension and action you would want from a finale. There’s a standout horror sequence in the underground tunnels that will have your heart racing, and many friends and allies are sadly lost along the way, giving a tangible sense of the cost of this war. Most impactful of all, Katniss loses the one person she was trying to save when this story started. 

Overall, Mockingjay – Part Two ranks very closely to the film that preceded it, but works a little better as a satisfying end to the franchise. 

Ad Astra (2019)
Director: James Gray
Screenwriters: James Gray, Ethan Gross
Starring: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Donald Sutherland

In the darkness of space and with the contrast of its blackness against the bright colours of Earth in Sunlight, an experienced space engineer who holds rapport with his co-workers steps out onto what looks like a space station; his task is to check the facility for damages. He’s knocked from scaffolding by an explosion, reaching for a trigger switch to save as many people as he can. Then, seemingly at odds with his selflessness, the engineer is sent plummeting to Earth.

Brad Pitt stars as space engineer and astronaut Roy McBride, a man who’s thrust into the centre of efforts to find a solution to the mass destruction being caused by flares of electricity that are being sent to our planet from the outer reaches of space. His task is to open communications with his father he long thought to be dead, a man he’s told could still be alive on the edge of our solar system with the secrets of the universe and a solution to these disasters in the palm of his hands.

James Gray’s follow up to his 2016 hit The Lost City of Z is similar to his previous release’s tale of Amazonian exploration, Ad Astra replacing the unknowns of early 20th century South American rainforest with the not too dissimilar plights of outer space – disease, unknown enemies, conflicting national and human interests, and the effects of isolation upon the human condition – in a “near future” universe in which Earth has built antennas to the edge of our atmosphere and colonies across the Moon and Mars. Like the director’s previous picture, the surface level themes and points of analysis are perhaps deceptive as regards the picture’s core meaning, because more so than a film about space, than a picture about a father-son relationship, than a movie about humanity’s never-ending pursuit of truth, Ad Astra is a deep exploration of mental health, namely depression, as told through well orchestrated metaphor pointed towards masculinity’s vicious dismissal of its own weaknesses and a well aimed deconstruction of said issues.

Anchoring the movie in this space is the narration of its lead, whose existential and philosophical inner dialogues bring about a comparison with the pictures of Terrence Malick, The Thin Red Line perhaps being the biggest influence on this aspect of the film, its presentation of one man in the midst of warring ideologies, pursuits and demands seeming to hold particular influence over the character’s limited dialogue. It is notable, however, that the use of this method in Ad Astra becomes less intrinsic to its fabric than in its Malick counterpart, the early promise such narration brings to the presentation of the repressed nature of the hero’s mental health sometimes being replaced by the use of this function as a crutch for the narrative, it disappointingly fluctuating between existential and expository.

A similar fluctuation hinders the impact of the film’s central arc, with the picture viciously diverting from slow, intrinsic, thoughtful cinema that has been likened to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris, to audience grabbing moments of action and even horror not too dissimilar to lesser sci-fi films of the past few decades, the combination of these ideals seemingly the result of conflicting interests – likely between the producers and screenwriter-director regarding marketability and artistry – as opposed to brave creative decisions aimed at heightening the conflict at the narrative’s heart.

It seems especially evident at particular moments in the film that the core intentions of the piece were to create a quite extraordinary exploration of masculinity not too dissimilar to another of its clear influences Apocalypse Now, and the heart of this intention is still very loudly beating throughout the picture. In spite of out-of-place action and horror, the film remains devoted to what it feels like to be a repressed, masculine male struggling to overcome long-gestating issues and the immediate nature of stress, anxiety and trauma. Pitt is integral to this purpose, his performance being as much about what he isn’t doing as what he is doing, the toned back but immaculately refined portrayal being polarising to his performance in Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, the actor offering one of his career highlights and a standard bearer for male actors in 2019. He is simply unmissable.

By the same token, the score of the indelible Max Richter is one that truly elevates the picture, the legendary composer’s material working alongside the photography of Interstellar cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema to forge a quite remarkable, tangible and beautiful exploration of our solar system while carefully remaining in tact with the film’s more earthly concepts. From this technical standpoint, Ad Astra is somewhat unforgettable and will almost certainly be included in just about every “end of year” awards season montage.

This James Gray picture is, then, a beautifully photographed, scored and performed piece of cinema that rampantly straddles a line between “high brow” and “audience accessible” but, despite its flaws that reduce the impact of its interesting narrative’s emotional impact, quite clearly thinks that it is very good. It is very good, but only so much as an entertaining science fiction entry level point to deeper, more profound and historically more significant cinema (some of which has been outlined already in this article) can be, the impact of other sci-fi cinema from the past decade being far greater, namely Ex Machina and Under the Skin. Ad Astra, like the similarly as accessible and emotionally more impactful Interstellar, is an uneven but well intentioned film with several aspects that reach such a high standard that they mask the more divisive and negative aspects of the production, making for one of film’s most promising but not necessarily greatest space stories of the year. For that, watch Claire Denis’ High Life instead.

17/24

Despite taking a hit of over 55%, Dwayne Johnson monster-action movie Rampage held on to the top spot for a 2nd weekend in a row, out-grossing breakout horror hit A Quiet Place by around £400,000 to earn a weekend total of £1,413,973.

While bragging rights may be on the side of the Warner Bros movie, the actual figures seem to suggest that the film’s two-week-long ride at the top has been less successful than such a stat may indicate, with the film sitting at only £6,483,777. This is around the same amount A Quiet Place had accumulated at the two week stage of its run, though the John Krasinski film didn’t have to contend with the upcoming Infinity War in its third weekend (which was this weekend) and was made for approximately $100million less.

At £8,262,665 after three weeks on the chart, A Quiet Place is currently sitting at a higher figure than is expected for Rampage at the three week stage this time next week. Internationally, the story is quite different however, as the Dwayne Johnson factor has once again come to the rescue of a big budget movie with a $215million accumulation in foreign language markets compared to the $70million accumulation of A Quiet Place, with the latter of course being out for a whole week longer.

Interestingly, the North American market – which has been known to have strong leanings towards horror films in the past few years – has sided much more strongly with A Quiet Place, gifting the $17million minnow a three week total of $133million in comparison to the 2 week total of $67million for the $120million movie Rampage, all but guaranteeing that the small budget film will out-gross its bigger rival in the US, Canada and the UK, three of the most vital English-language speaking countries for Hollywood movies.

In fact, Rampage is already tracking behind the likes of Fifty Shades Freed, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Darkest Hour and of course Johnson’s last movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, despite having a budget that far exceeded each of those films and even some of them combined.

The weekend’s only top 5 debut was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society starring Lily James and adapted from the novel by Annie Barrows and Ann Shafer. The Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco – 1997; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – 2005) directed movie, set in the aftermath of World War II, is currently receiving polarising reviews but may benefit from being aimed at a totally different demographic to the upcoming summer blockbuster slate, not least Infinity War, making a run that is longer than would usually be expected a real possibility. While details are currently thin regarding the movie’s budget, a similar performance in Australia has the British independent film sitting at around £1.5million worldwide, which doesn’t seem to be the kind of return distributors Studiocanal would have hoped for, though we’ll see how this unravels in future weeks.

Here are the top 15 films at the UK box office for the weekend of April 20th-22nd 2018:

1. Rampage – weeks on release: 2 – weekend: £1,413,973 – total: £6,483,777
2. A Quiet Place – 3 – £1,024,722 – £8,262,665
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – 1 – £825,777 – £825,777
4. Ready Player One – 4 – £503,099 – £15,439,019
5. Peter Rabbit – 6 – £487,412 – £38,892,842
6. Truth or Dare – 2 – £401,031 – £1,719,375
7. The Greatest Showman – 17 – £304,478 – £45,446,913
8. Love, Simon – 3 – £274,213 – £3,265,492
9. Black Panther – 10 – £235,388 – £49,858,826
10. Blade Runner: The Final Cut – £228,962 – £1,743,320
11. Isle of Dogs – 4 – £159,442 – £5,498,924
12. Duck Duck Goose – 4 – £115,644 – £3,372,496
13. Blockers – 4 – £113,814 – £3,808,366
14. The Leisure Seeker – 1 – £105,129 – £105,129
15. Ghost Stories – 3 – £82,479 – £1,495,625

The week’s only other debuting feature was The Leisure Seeker starring Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren, which clocked in only £105,129 despite a lack of competition and fitting into the same bracket as The Guernsey in terms of its targeted demographic. The Italian directed film, which was released in the US in 2017, has made around $16.7million (£12million) in total worldwide across its staggered release, easily covering rumoured production costs and therefore must be considered a success despite what has happened here in the UK during what is expected to be its only chart entry weekend.

The other big story from outside of the top 5 is that Black Panther is about to hit a total UK accumulation of £50million. In fact, it may hit that figure by today! The almost unbelievably successful Marvel standalone superhero movie has proven to be an incredibly positive pre-Infinity-War warm up for fans of the genre and specifically the franchise, and may even prove to be a challenge to Infinity War in terms of its overall accumulation once all is said and done. For those keeping tabs, Black Panther debuted at £17.7million – the highest opening of any superhero movie since the start of 2016 – so that’s the figure Infinity War will be looking to top.

We’ll have full details on Infinity War‘s UK box office debut in next week’s report – scheduled for Wednesday 2nd May; top 5 video posted to YouTube on Tuesday 1st May – but make sure to bookmark our homepage in the meantime as we’ll have a review of the highly anticipated superhero team-up in the coming days. You can also keep up to date with all of our latest and greatest updates on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for exclusive news stories, trailers, gifs, memes and articles.

I had actually been wanting to watch this movie for a while: I have a soft spot for British Horror – I’m particularly fond of the campy Hammer Productions, and I find the original ‘Wicker Man’ to be one of the eeriest films to have graced our screens, so; when I switched this movie on I was all ears. Even so, I made sure I was prepared to be horrified by either bone-chilling tales or by abominable film-making, both of which seem likely results in watching most Horror movies these days, whether the movies are old or new.

To the filmmakers’ credit, I had the most splendid time. 

It was the first of a series of Portmanteaus – a movie comprised of short stories with an overarching plot. In this case the plot revolves around 5 ordinary passengers sharing a train compartment with the enigmatic Dr Schreck (which translates as ‘terror’ – something that Peter Cushing definitely invokes in this creepy performance despite the hilarious make-up). In turn he reads each of his fellow passengers’ fortunes with his tarot cards – his so called “House of Horrors” – thus, as each poor souls’ dreadful doom is slowly revealed, a short story is told to make up most of the film.

As the first of Amicus’s portmanteau’s, Dr Terror does an excellent job of ensuring a following series, as it impresses audiences with its display of spooky stories, which covers many fan favourite tropes and horror clichés. We start off with a rather frightening tale of an architect returning to his family home only to find himself fending off the curse of a werewolf destined to wreak revenge upon him. Not only does it boast some of the most genuinely frightening scares of the movie, but it’s all rather dashing with Neil McCallum running around in an open shirt as the persecuted architect. This is then followed by another straight-up horror that borders ever-so-slightly into the realm of sci-fi as, after returning from holiday, a lovely nuclear family find a rather pesky vine in the garden which is in danger of choking the hydrangea. It, of course, proves to be a hardy bugger which doesn’t take kindly to garden shears – dog lovers beware!

To my complete surprise, the movie then takes an outright comical turn in the third tale. Now taking suit of almost all 1960s British Horror Film, Dr Terror is overall a joyously camp romp and just a bit cheesy, but the fate of the third passenger is basically outright horror-comedy with pratfalls and all. A musician gets a gig in the West Indies, and upon discovering a Voodoo religious ceremony, makes notes on the frantic and amazing music. Despite several warnings regarding the jealous and quick-tempered nature of the Voodoo God, he arranges a performance in his London Club. On his tail is the said God, who doesn’t take kindly to his music being stolen. It’s probably the weakest in terms of actual horror, but it’s a great opportunity to see Roy Castle in his film debut, showing off his musical talents and being utterly silly.

Quickly we are shunned back into the darker stuff as Dr Terror this time reads the fortune of a thoroughly grumpy Christopher Lee, revealing the most shocking story of the bunch. The Horror Giant, Lee, plays an unbearably haughty and arrogant art critic who is taken down a peg or two by a practical joke delivered by Michael Gough – an artist whose work is often ripped to pieces by the critic. Being a man who prides himself on his keen intellect and the awe of his fans and underlings, Lee simply cannot take the humiliation and plans his revenge. The result is devastating: an artist who lives only for his work, is mutilated. At Gough’s demise, Lee is stalked and terrorised by a phantom disembodied hand until vengeance is wreaked upon him. Seriously, is there anything more you could ask for from a horror movie?

The final story features a baby-faced Donald Sutherland as a promising young doctor, bringing his lovely French bride back to his home in the States. This last one boasts mystery, romance and sensuality as the young doctor begins to have doubts about who his wife really is after an odd case of anaemia in the clinic (and an awkward finger-sucking scene).

At the end of all these predictions, the passengers find out why they are all destined for these terrible fortunes, and it all ends thoroughly miserably.

Dr Terror’s House of Horrors is such a modest little movie, but is an exquisite gem amongst the anthology of British Horror. Despite the fact that these stories are limited by them having such a short narrative, they still engage and captivate, and the cast is mostly to thank for that. It’s made up of a mixture of giants of British cinema, and promising newcomers, who all do a brilliant job of characterisation and emotion in such a small time-frame. Importantly, they don’t take themselves too seriously, with some very enjoyable tongue-in-cheek performances which don’t detract (well at least not too much) from the horror.

Amicus’ Portmanteaus were unique at the time when compared to its rivals. Obviously the narrative was like nothing else at the time, which of course has its pros and cons: some of the stories were inevitably duller than others, for example. Importantly however, as Hammer Horror (another pillar in British Horror) was slowly spiraling down into cheap gore and vulgarity, Amicus Productions were more sparing with their blood. This movie, for example, creates a terrible sense of dread by the subtlest touches in production; things that are all a source of terror in our subconscious. Odd noises, things moving in the shadows, something in the corner of your eye which can’t quite be explained, even uneasy conversations. The use of ominous sound, chaotic music, eerie visuals with spooky figures looming in the background all helps to keep you on edge, so when the actual few gory and shocking moments come along, you get a jolly good fright. I’ll admit it now, my Budgies having a sudden squabble gave me a little fright during the more tense moments.

Of course, it’s not going to hold a candle to modern slasher or even ghost movies in terms of scares, but Amicus’ debut in Portmanteau boasts greater character and charm. As I write this feature, I do feel tempted to give the movie another watch and I certainly want to check out its many successors. Dr Terror’s House of Horrors is a testament to the originality and quirkiness of British cinema and is as moreish as Trick or Treat sweeties.