Red Sonja (2025)

If you're nuts about sword and sorcery movies chances are you'll enjoy the new RED SONJA, which we were treated to a Bristol MegaScreen big screen showing of last night. The photography is frequently gorgeous, there are some nice bits of production design, and the world building is a lot of fun, suggesting a land filled with weird creatures and a world of men powered by arcane devices rather than magic. 

        It's the standard plot: all-powerful villain wants the thing, hero has to stop him getting the thing, with the help of an unruly but likeable band acquired during the journey, and if that's what you fancy then you'll be happy. However, if you want something a bit more, or if you're a fan of the Robert E Howard-inspired character from the books (and the comics, apparently), you may find yourself having less of a good time. 

The biggest problem with RED SONJA is the casting, in particular the lead. To play a Robert E Howard hero you ideally need both physical presence and the ability to evoke the magnetism necessary to have your audience believe you could be a leader in a brutal world of gods and monsters. Unfortunately Mathilda Lutz possesses neither in sufficient quantities to make her believable in the role. Of course it doesn't help that we are expected to accept her as a great warrior when she has seemingly spent most of her life faffing about in a forest with her horse. 

Similarly, Robert Sheehan, an actor I like a lot, has quite a bit of fun with his role as the evil Emperor but it's far harder to believe his character could have ascended to such a position on sheer graft alone, as opposed to Eddie 'Does it hurt, mother?' Redmayne's baddie in JUPITER ASCENDING who got there by birthright. Best sword 'n' sorcery performance of the entire film is Wallis Day as the evil Empress-to-be who plays it as mad and obsessed, frequently talking to the demons in her head when she's not whacking people with her massive swords. She's the only one in this film whose characterisation approaches that of the characters of Howard, Karl Edward Wagner et al and she would have been a much better lead, although presumably a less marketable one.

The fight scenes are good, the music needs the kick up its arse that most modern movie music does (do they not teach Jerry Goldsmith 101 in film music school anymore?), and while some reviews have called the film out over an overly long running time (close on two hours) I'll admit I enjoyed this sufficiently that I was surprised when it was obviously close to the end. 

        RED SONJA is going straight to digital in the UK which is a bit of a shame as, for all its faults, it looked fantastic on the biggest screen it is ever going to play on according to director and special guest MJ Bassett. It's nowhere near as good as Bassett's 2009 SOLOMON KANE which also played last night, also looked fantastic, and which I have always been happy to defend as one of the best sword and sorcery films out there. Having James Purefoy along for a Q&A with Bassett helped make the event special as well. If you're pining for something epic with swordplay and monsters RED SONJA may well fit the bill for a quiet evening, but don't expect too much. Here's the trailer:

MJ Bassett's RED SONJA is out on digital platforms from Signature Entertainment from Monday 18th August 2025. It's getting a Blu-ray and DVD release on Monday 8th September 2026

Aguirre, The Wrath of God 4K (1972)

 

Werner’s Herzog’s classic up-the-creek-without-a-paddle tale of 16th century Spaniards and their doomed search along the Amazon for the mythical city of Eldorado is getting a new 4K UHD and Blu-ray release from the BFI, with a couple of new extras in addition to those ported over from their previous Blu.

A group of Spanish conquistadores cross the mountains of Peru and descend with the intention of travelling along the Amazon (with cannons, horses and everything else the Spanish nobility travelling with them might need) on rafts they have built. We the viewers know they’re onto a loser right from the start but it’s only a couple of minutes in, when the camera catches sight of star, frequent Herzog collaborator, and all round uncontrollable loony Klaus Kinski, that we know they’re utterly doomed. 

What follows is seriously great (and often seriously hard to believe they actually did it) film-making, as the intrepid group pushes ever onwards, losing men, women and sanity along the way. Except for Klaus of course, who’s already several sandwiches short of the picnic he’s forgotten to bring and doing his best to scare the hell out of anyone within a hundred mile radius with his contagious madness. By the end he’s chasing monkeys, planning to marry his daughter, and still insisting the few remaining members of his band pilot their hopeless little raft on to inevitable destruction and death. 

From its breathtaking opening shot, AGUIRRE is never anything less than mesmerising. We’re with this doomed band of explorers all the way, through death and disease, hallucinations and madness towards the inevitable conclusion, and the film is a fascinating, and almost hypnotic, experience that rewards repeat viewings.

The BFI's new 4K restoration (2160p) presented in Dolby Vision is a leap in picture clarity and quality from the BFI's previous Blu-ray release, which is still entirely adequate, but if you want the best and most vivid transfer this is definitely the way to go. Audio options have been retained, with mono audio tracks available in both German and English, with a 5.1 surround sound option mix in German as well. 

Extras new to this release release consist of a three minute introduction by Mark Kermode and a decent 19 minute piece from film historian Nic Wassell that concentrates on AGUIRRE but takes in other Herzog / Kinski projects as well. Other extras have been ported over from the BFI's Blu-ray release, including a trailer and a host of short subjects: The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz (1967), Last Words (1968), and Precautions Against Fanatics (1969). Also included is the weird and hallucinatory feature-length FATA MORGANA (1971). Consisting mainly of wide sweeping vistas of the Sahara, Algiers and Lanzarote before it became a tourist destination, FATA MORGANA looks even better on the UHD disc. The commentary track with Herzog and Crispin Glover has been retained and the Herzog AGUIRRE commentary is present and correct as well. The disc also comes with an illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Geoff Andrew as well as archival essays.

Werner Herzog's AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD is out in a 4K restoration on UHD and Blu-ray on Monday 25th August 2025

The Odd Job (1978)

 

Director Peter Medak's late 1970s British comedy starring Graham Chapman and David Jason is getting a Blu-ray release in both the UK and the US from Severin Films. 

Arthur (Chapman) comes home on the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary to discover his wife (Diana Quick) in the midst of leaving him. Distraught, Arthur gets drunk and tries to kill himself. The problems encountered in his attempt to do this by electrocution are possibly solved with the arrival of an Odd Job Man (David Jason) and after some discussion they decide the Man will kill Arthur at a random time when he least expects it. 

Then Arthur's wife returns and Arthur changes his mind. Unfortunately he has told the Odd Job Man that whatever he subsequently says his request should be carried out, which the Man attempts to do. Repeatedly. Killing a number of others in the process. 

A black comedy with suicide as its central theme, it's possible that modern audiences may find things to get upset about in THE ODD JOB, but we're essentially in 'comedy giallo' territory here. Arthur and his wife live in a lovely apartment, and the only major differences between this and the flamboyant Italian murder mysteries of the same decade is that Arthur knows exactly who is trying to kill him and that the other deaths are all by accident.

A cast of familiar faces includes Simon Williams, Carolyn Seymour (Medak's wife at the time), Richard O'Brien, Michael Elphick, Bill Paterson and George Innes. Severin's transfer is a 2K scan taken from Medak's own 35mm print and there's a note at the beginning warning that the quality isn't perfect. For those who may remember THE ODD JOB from its original cinema release (and from its mid-week afternoon 1980s screenings on ITV) it looks absolutely fine for a late 1970s British film, and the parts that are a bit faded won't impair your enjoyment. 

Extras include a two minute introduction from the director which segues nicely into the audio interview with the director which plays as a commentary track for 33 minutes of the movie, culminating in Medak's opinion that on a recent screening he found he now loved the film. David Jason and Peter Medak talk for the first time since the film was made in a 16 minute piece that is as nostalgic as it is touching. 

Writer Bernard McKenna is interviewed in a 20 minute piece about his work, including the Ronnie Barker half hour TV special that was the origin of the movie. Richard O'Brien delivers an excellent 14 minute interview, contextualising 1978 not just in terms of ROCKY HORROR but also Derek Jarman's JUBILEE and what else he was doing at the time. Other interviews include producer Mark Forstater (19 minutes), and stars Carolyn Seymour (8 minutes) and Simon Williams (14 minutes).

        For an obscure late 1970s British comedy like THE ODD JOB Severin have to be highly praised for going the extra mile in getting perhaps every extra they possibly could about this little slice of 1978 British comedy culture. Well done, chaps.

Peter Medak's THE ODD JOB is out on Blu-ray from Severin Films on Monday 25th August 2025 

Blood Orange (1953)

The latest in Hammer's series of posh whistles and bells 4K releases is what many will consider to be this curious choice from before the studio made it big with THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT (1955) and the gothics that followed. It's a film not many will have heard of and while it will have Hammer fans nodding at some familiar faces in the cast and names in the credits, it's not a film to expect too much from if you've never seen it before.

Tom Conway plays Tom Conway (yes, really) a private investigator who works for Mr Mercedes (Eric Pohlman), a man who lends jewellery to a fashion house for their exhibitions and gives them a percentage should anyone wish to buy it. When some of the jewellery is stolen and the police (headed by Richard Wattis) are called in, things rapidly get worse when women wearing the house's 'Blood Orange' dress start dying. Is Mr Mercedes behind it? Is it the owners of the fashion house? Or perhaps one or more of the other models?

BLOOD ORANGE is what one can kindly call a solid mystery picture of the period and is strictly 'B' programmer stuff. In fact if you're expecting something of the quality of Merton Park's slightly later series of Edgar Wallace pictures you're going to be disappointed. It's directed by Terence Fisher but there's little evidence of the style he would bring to his later gothics. Cast-wise familiar faces also include Michael Ripper and Roger Delgado, and fans will spot Jimmy Sangster and Renee Glynne's name in the credits. 

Hammer have done their best to dress BLOOD ORANGE up with a wealth of extras. You get UK and US versions of the film, the latter under the title THREE STOPS TO MURDER and with a slightly different title sequence but the running time is the same for both. There's a different commentary track for each. If you don't know much about Hammer and Exclusive Films then start with the track by Lucy Bolton and Phuong Le. Advanced students of Hammer (and British Film) will want to go straight to the commentary from Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw. 

Otherwise extras include Dressed to Kill in which David Pirie and Wayne Kinsey look at the work of producer Michael Carreras during Hammer's 'early' days. I'm Just a Girl! has Alice Lowe discussing the film's male gaze, while The House of Glamour has fashion historian Liz Tregenza discussing the fashion industry at the time the film was made. The ABC of British B! has three academics sitting round a table (or rather on stools) discussing British B movies of the period. Finally there's a still gallery.

Also included in the set (but not provided for review) is a handsome-looking paperback featuring new writing on the making of the film, Exclusive Films, Hammer's femme fatales, Tom Conway, and James Carreras. As with their release of SHATTER some will find it's less the film and more all these extras that will make BLOOD ORANGE an essential purchase.

Hammer's BLOOD ORANGE will be released in a limited collector's edition including both UHD and Blu-ray transfers of the film as well as a book and slipcase on Monday 11th August 2025

When Evil Lurks (2023)

Following a successful streaming release on Shudder, Argentinian writer-director Demian Rugna's follow-up to his excellent 2017 TERRIFIED (which you can also find on Shudder) is getting a whistles and bells 4K UHD and Blu-ray release in both limited and standard editions from Second Sight.

Investigating gunshots they heard in the night Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and his brother Jimi (Demian Saloman) come across a severely mutilated body in a field lying next to a box filled with esoteric equipment. At a nearby shack they find an old woman whose son is very ill. In fact he has become a 'rotten' - a term for someone in whom a demon has taken root and will soon be birthed. The son himself has been 'possessed' for over a year and is now little more than a huge festering bag of pus.

Killing him is out of the question as apparently that will release the demon as well, so they conspire to drag the man's body to a more remote location to avoid their village coming under the demon's power. 

The body falls off the back of their truck and disappears.

Meanwhile more demonic stuff is going down. The owner of the land they are on sees one of his goats possessed, kills it and suffers the consequences. In town Pedro tries to warn his ex-wife and her new husband that Evil is coming. His warning falls on deaf ears until something really awful happens involving the family dog and their little girl.

And that's just the setup for a movie that moves at a clip, is outstandingly gory, and for once doesn't spoon-feed its audience explanations as to what is going on. Instead you have to put the various bits of information together to understand how the world we are being given a glimpse of works. It's another excellent piece of horror cinema from Rugna and marks him out as a talent to follow. 

Extras on Second Sight's disc include a commentary track from academic author Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodriguez who helpfully fills in some background of the political situation in Argentina at the time of filming as well as analysing the film. Another excellent piece of analysis is provided by Mike Muncer's nine minute video essay that looks at the different techniques director Rugna uses to inspire terror. There are also interviews with Rugna (28 minutes), Ezequiel Rodriguez (23 minutes), Demian Saloman (18 minutes) and actress Virginia Garofalo who plays Pedro's ex-wife. All these extras are on both the UHD and Blu-ray discs, both of which are included in the limited edition while being available separately as standard releases.

Exclusive to the limited edition is a 120 page book with new writing on the film, six art cards, a behind the scenes gallery and storyboards and a box to keep it all in.

Demian Rugna's WHEN EVIL LURKS is out in both limited (UHD and Blu-ray and book, etc) and standard UHD and Blu-ray releases on Monday 28th July 2025

The Banished (2025)

THE BANISHED is the new film from writer-director Joseph Sims-Dennett, whose OBSERVANCE played the London Film Festival in 2015 and which I also reviewed on here. It's getting a digital release from Blue Finch at the end of this month.

After her father dies Grace Jennings (Meg Clarke) embarks on a hunt for her missing brother David who has apparently joined a mysterious cult of ex-drug addicts deep in the woods. The only person who knows how to get there is her old geography teacher Mr Green (Leighton Cardno) who only agrees to take her if she pays him $10 000.

They set off into the wilderness but soon Mr Green has disappeared and Grace is lost. Her walkie-talkie picks up the voice of a mysterious Michael who claims he's also lost. Her attempts to meet him and to find the cult culminate in a finale that almost makes up for the dirge-like pace of the opening hour of this 96 minute film.

There's no doubt that part of the problem with THE BANISHED is its low budget, meaning that many of the conversations Grace has before she leaves town are shot in close-up (and we're in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio here), presumably because filming is taking place in people's front rooms and there's not the space for a wide shot. Also, every character speaks in the same, measured, monotonous style which may be intended to add to the style of the piece but which, coupled with the slow pace, quickly becomes soporific.

And that's a shame because if you can stay awake until the end the final act of THE BANISHED is very good, with some extraordinary and arresting imagery, much of it religious, that ties together the backstory we have been drip fed in flashbacks throughout the film. So THE BANISHED is not a failure, in fact it builds to a climax that will weird you out very nicely, but it is one for the very patient, perhaps with a flask of coffee.

Joseph Sims-Dennett's THE BANISHED is out on Digital from Blue Finch on Monday 28th July 2025