I have ever been approached for.”

Nicolas Roeg – Director, Don’t Look Now

“Keep it Grisly!”

Simon Pegg –Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced

Between the mid 50s and the early 70s, Britain was the undisputed king of the Horror Film. Before American horror maestros like Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter came along British horror films were painting the screen red with what affectionately became known as 'Kensington Gore'. Off the back of these films actors such as Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price became stars and household names... although not necessarily the kind you would invite in for a drop of red.

It was not always like this. Before seminal Hammer Horror film The Quatermass Xperiment (its title a play on the new, adults-only X certificate) was released in 1955, British horror films were the victim of a strange bit of legislation by the Board of Film Censorship, stating that nothing produced in the horror genre could be 'too horrific'. The new certificate changed all this, ushering in two decades of classic films like The Beast Must Die, Peeping Tom and The Wicker Man which took the genre to new heights.

Then, just as quickly as the revolution took hold, the British Horror Film vanished...

Since then, there have been some great British horror films - just not nearly in the same numbers nor so recognisably British as they had been. Now, two British filmmakers - Luke Dormehl and Tom Atkinson - are helping to bring back British horror with an exciting and groundbreaking new project called The 10 Pound Horror Film. The idea behind the concept is simple: through contributions of £10 (far less than the cost of an average night out!), to take audiences on the journey of creating a 21st century British Horror film.

Initial interest in the production has been huge. The teaser trailer has had over 70,000 views on YouTube and in its first weeks online the website has already attracted thousands of hits from around the world. For more information on this project and how to get involved with the UK's most exciting independent film production, visit

Sales assistant Wiley (Colin Hanks) is fed up with his life, he works in a quirky Sherlock Holmes inspired bookstore in L.A. Forced to be jaunty and in character all day the last thing that Wiley needs when he returns home is a mystery, but that is what he finds. While doing the dishes he glances down to notice on the floor a finger, who does it belong to? Where did it come from?

The best part of the movie is spent with a series of imaginary events being played out to explain the reason behinds the finger being found in the kitchen, this varies from the seedy gay drug dealers next door hacking off a non payers finger as a punishment, to two young thugs engaged in a finger tossing contest in an aim to get a finger through the window of Wiley's apartment (no explanation of how they got the fingers in the first place of course), the different scenarios get worse and worse, and funnier and funnier, although the solution to the mystery actually is available to Wiley pretty much near the start of the movie, though Wiley is far to embarrassed to laugh.

The usually clean shaven Hanks is quite hard to spot in the movie as the rough and ready (though incredibly dull Wiley), so much so that having watched the entire movie I was rather surprised when I discovered that Wiley was played by Hanks. This is a really unusual casting for the actor, but a casting that really suits him well, having watched him its quite hard to see him playing any other role without having to refer back to this movie.

The arrival of Cheryl puts a strange spin on the movie; if your familiar with the British sitcom Peep Show then Cheryl will look incredibly familiar, played by Rachel Blanchard, the actress is best known as the neurotic Nancy from the television series. In the show she causes havoc wherever she goes, and here she too has a similar style about her, causing rows and bizarre scenarios wherever she goes. When a man asks her a question in a bar she smashes a bottle on her head, and this is the most normal that you see the character behave.

Fans of TV show Monk, will find Tony Shalhoub far from his usual compulsive obsessive behaviour, living in a filthy flat, completely obnoxious, and totally unsupportive of his son Wiley. When Wiley goes to him with his problems, Mr. Roth instead chooses to laugh at him. When the finger situation is raised Roth senior takes them all on a trip to a peanut obsessed witch doctor who decides that in order to find out the truth behind the finger must first see if it floats. Roth senior is beyond the level of oddball behaviour of the movies other characters.

I won't deny there are a few times that the movie gets a little frustrating, chiefly because Wiley stumbles around the subject of the story of the finger when he encounters who is obviously the owner. There are no answers however until the very end of the movie, and yes while occasionally frustrating you can fully understand why the mystery must remain.

Rather like any rather good sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm is the one that springs most to mind, the movie gives you fragments of a story, that by the movies conclusion all slowly string together. Unlike a lot of comedy movies that do the rounds, this one is at times genuinely funny. Had the movie not been so "independant" to the extent that to be fair few will ever see it, some of the movies moments could very well go down in history as some of the funniest moments in movie history, a bizarre incident in a back alley between two friends, that slowly involves ones girlfriend and a semi dressed next door neighbour; this verbal fight turns into a food fight with great distances between participants, it's almost a homage to the classic Laurel & Hardy movies, of 80 years ago.

Being a low budget independent picture, seeing Careless might not be a straightforward task, but with a little time and attention, you'll find tracking down this movie is a reward, and if you're a fan of movies like After Hours, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums then you'll find this movie a rare gem in a sea of very bland, often very similar movies.

When AIDS was discovered, it was believed to be a "gay disease." This common misconception lasted until as late as the 1990's. This movie exceptionally exhibited peoples' reactions to AIDS and how ignorant they were about it during the time period of the film. Not much was known yet about AIDS because not enough medical research had been done, so naturally the public was misinformed. A perfect example of this ignorance comes in the scene when Andy is reading court cases in the library and he sneezes and people feel very uncomfortable. This discomfort comes from the fact that people thought at the time that AIDS could be contracted by any kind of contact with an infected person. The librarian comes over to Andy and says, "Sir we have a private research room open, would you like to use it?" to which Andy replies, "No, would you like me to use it?" In this scene specifically, the film exemplifies the attitude toward gays and people with AIDS in the 1980's.

Along with not knowing how AIDS was passed along, at that point in time, people thought that AIDS could only be contracted by gay people, hence the name "GRID," or Gay Related Immune Deficiency. This led to a growing dislike of gays and a lot of discrimination. The film also portrayed this aspect of 1980's society very well. Outside of the trial on the first day when Andy leaves the courthouse there are people outside protesting against gay rights with signs such as, "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." There is also another example of peoples' emotions towards gays when in one scene Denzel Washington is inside a pharmacy and a gay man asks him to go out and have a drink with him because he likes that he is one of the few standing up for gay rights. Denzel responds with outrage and threatens to beat the man up. These scenes exemplify the discrimination gays went through in the 1980's.

Philadelphia is a film about the AIDS epidemic in the 1980's and its cause for discrimination towards gays and it portrays it just as it happened in history. Most people in the movie except close friends of Andy are hostile towards gays. Even the distinguished head of Andy's former law firm did not like gays. A smarter man like his character also shows how little people actually knew about AIDS at that time. A very educated man like the head of an enormous law firm does not know that AIDS was not only for gays and could not be passed through hugs, handshakes, or sneezes. Philadelphia excellently portrayed the social climate of the 1980's and peoples' lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS.