The CKGT Encyclopedia of Everything Filmic

'seeing an animal, usually a horse, in an inappropriate setting in a war film, cliche', the

Jarhead is for the most part an OK film but the bit where Jake Gyllenhall finds a horse wandering about in the middle of a warzone and apologises to it for the evil that is man and his warmongering ways (well, he just says 'sorry' to it but you get the gist) is RUBBISH.

It felt like something I'd seen in films loads of times before, the soldier finds an animal lost in a warzone and it all goes a bit elegaic. Having said that, I've tried to think of other examples and I've drawn a blank. Do you know what I mean and can you help out with examples? Even if there aren't any, this bit of the film didn't work.

The bit where he dreams he's vomiting sand was ropey too.



(Charlie Adds): I know this isn't the point, but there was a fair bit of this "look at the animals, they are serene, and don't fight wars" in The Thin Red Line, but since I really like The Thin Red Line, I don't think it's a bad thing. I know what you mean though, but I'm always a sucker for this run-of-the-mill surrealistic bent films often take.

(BlackJesus Adds): If he's really trying to make amends with animals he should try an abattoir or a glue factory.

"let's try playing it fast" cliche, the

Maximum points to 'Walk The Line' for being the first music biopic I've seen in ages to NOT employ the "let's try playing it a bit faster" cliche which goes roughly thus



STAR'S BAND ARE IN A HALF CAPACITY CLUB PLAYING A SONG. IT'S ALRIGHT, BUT THE MAGIC ISN'T THERE.



STAR THEN LAUNCHES INTO A SONG AT TWICE THE SPEED OF THE LAST ONE. PREFERABLY ONE THE BAND DON'T KNOW. ('WALK THE LINE' DOES USE THE 'THE BAND DON'T KNOW THE SONG' CLICHE BUT IT'S ABOUT JOHNNY CASH SO WE'LL LET IT OFF.)



BAND LOOK CONFUSED AND ANNOYED. PROPRIETOR OF CLUB REACTS AS IF STAR HAS JUST GOT OUT HIS COCK AND STARTING WANKING ABOVE THE FRONT ROW. (NOTE: THIS COULD CONCEIVABLY HAPPEN IN A G.G ALLIN BIOPIC, BUT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE THERE ISN'T ONE AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE) SOMEONE SAYS "HEY, MAN! YOU CAN'T PLAY IT LIKE THAT! THAT'S CRAZY!"



IT TURNS OUT PEOPLE DO LIKE THE TOO-FAST SONG. DANCING ENSUES. MONTAGE FOLLOWS.

Bad guys win, films in which the

Up there with the as yet unchallenged 'films with evil bunnies are always cool' rule espoused on these very pages, films where the bad guys win are invariably great. 'Arlington Road', 'Body Snatchers' (all three versions), 'The Empire Strikes Back', 'The French Connection'. All great movies. I currently can't think of any films with the bad guys winning that suck, so there y'go.

Batman and Robin

Still the worst film I've ever paid money to see. Inept on every level. Arnold Schwarzenegger could reprise his role as Mr. Freeze as an effective torture tool to extract information from political prisoners, with his endless stream of cold-based puns, of which 'let's kick some ice!' is only the tip of the...yeah. Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy isn't much better.

"Wretched!"

:- Ross


"A rollercoaster ride of a movie!"

:- Paul Ross, probably

Big Sleep, The

Arguably not noir, but still the best noir in the world. Nobody knows who killed the chauffeur, but even so, every part in this film is electric, especially Bogie and Bacall, but top marks to Charles Waldron as General Sternwood (sitting in his hothouse like an orchid vicariously enjoying his booze through Marlowe), and Martha Vickers as the other daughter (marginally crueller than Bacall, but a nympho). I'll say it again, this film RUUUUUUUUUUUUULES. Everyone should watch it.

Bloke who plays Frank Drebin's sidekick in 'The Naked Gun', the

One of those character actors who has minor roles in movies spanning at least three decades, and yet appears to be the same age in every single one of them. He plays the bloke with a hook for a hand in 'Charade' (1963) and doesn't look any different to how he looks in 'The Naked Gun' 24 years later. See also to a lesser extent the bloke who plays Christopher in the Sopranos.

EDIT: This was originally 'bloke who plays Nordberg...' but I remembered the other day that Nordberg was the name of the character played by OJ Simpson, not the guy who I mean that looks the same age in every film. Ah well.

Boom

Instrument operated by a boom operator on movie sets. Furry.

Boom Operator

Operates the boom on movie sets.

Brando, Marlon

Was he the greatest movie star that ever lived? Quite possibly. Anyway he's dead now.

Bride of Frankenstein, The

With the possible exception of The Godfather II, this is the only film I can think of where the sequel is much better than the original. James Whale directed this high-camp horror masterpiece which still allows you to take the serious bits seriously, and let you laugh with the over the top pantomime bits. Influences of expressionism (too early for proper noir, I suppose) are in the shadows and camerawork. I often wonder if Amoldovar was thinking about the shrunken lady scenes when he did the bit where the dude climbed inside a woman's genitals (in his dream) in Habla Con Ella. You've got to love Colin Clive as the slowly-driven-crazy Doctor Frankenstein.

Bridge on the River Kwai

Man, that Alec Guinness was pretty hard. Together with Fitzcarraldo, this is my favourite "Undertaking a Superhuman Task for No Very Good Reason in Utterly Horrific Conditions" movie.

I've now seen Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, and that too makes it into the same list.

Burns, Edward

Poor man's Jim Jarmusch

Butterkist Butterkist Rah Rah Rah

Advert. Ubiquitous in cinemas, certainly ones in the Kent/Greater London area, from 1983-1988. Usually shown after an advert which featured a knight in full suit of armour drowning under a sea of peanuts. See also :- 'Thievessssssssss', the animation that gave paticularly stupid Kentish pre-pubescents the mistaken belief that their popcorn would be half inched by snakes if they weren't holding the container. Not me, though. I dug it wasn't about actual snakes, man.

C3P0

Debate once raged in the workplace about whether or not C3P0 is homosexual. The answer is of course, no. He's a robot.

Casablanca

Look, there's a reason everyone loves this film. It's because it rules.

"REEEEEEECK, REEEEEEECK, you've got to help me."

Man I love Peter Lorre.

Charlie - film critic

Guaranteed to like any film that is crap but no-one else likes, and guaranteed to dislike any film which is popular/successful/liked by many.

Children Of Men

Finally, a film with Clive Owen that isn't 'Croupier' that's good. More than good, actually. Children Of Men is possibly the best film I've seen all year. Proper nightmarish future dystopia sci-fi like they used to make in the olden days, with the added bonus of Micahel Caine playing air guitar to nosebleed techno. Recommended.

Children's Film Foundation

British studio that made faintly depressing children's films, routinely aired up to the late 80s on Children's BBC in the summer holidays, whcih no child in existence ever watched the whole way through. One memorable offering involved some kids getting kidnapped by a tattooed mentalist who may or may not have been played by the late 'Big Ron' of Eastenders fame. Studio pre-credits ident: some pigeons going apeshit to the soundtrack of horribly atonal church bells. By God, these were grim. Who were they for?

Chinatown

You know "Mulholland Drive"? Not the film, the actual street? Well, that was named after William Mulholland, who the character of Hollis Mulwray is based on. Let's not bother comparing it to LA Confidential, that's a stupid thing to do. Either way, Chinatown's better.

Cinema adaptations of British sitcoms

It sometimes seems that every British TV sitcom in the 1970s, no matter how obscure/short lived/dreadful, was made into a 90 minute cinema film. These films always feel horribly stilted, shot on film instead of video and devoid of their usual canned laughter so every joke feels like it's fallen flat even if it was halfway decent, and with an episodic script usually either patched together from seperate episodes of the TV series, or featuring the main characters going on holiday. They are pretty much all as rubbish as that one off 'Only Fools and Horses' episode shot on film and without canned laughter where Del and Rodney go to Miami and it turns out Del has a mafia lookalike, and for all the same reasons.

Even big hitters like 'Porridge' feel somehow wrong in their cinema incarnations, but at least the 'Porridge' one actually has Richard Beckinsale in it, which is more than can be said for the 'Rising Damp' one. A lot of them have a cheap, unconvincing tom tom-infested 'disco' theme song that sounds less funky than the Kings Singers replacing the usual music.

Thankfully, the sitcom-to-cinema transfer has more or less died out, otherwise your local Warner Village would be groaning under the weight of 'All About Me the movie' and 'My Hero goes to Benidorm', but stuff like 'Kevin and Perry Go Large' serve as a spectral reminder that the beast may not be quite dead yet.

Citizen Kane

You know that scene where Orson Welles walks down the hall and there are mirrors on both sides? Man, I love that scene.

Clash Of The Titans

It's raining, it's a bank holiday, chances are this pile of old guff is on. Release the Kraken!

Corridor scene in Exorcist 3, the

Night. We're looking down a dimly lit hospital corridor. Virtual silence. A nurse is going about her duties, looking in on sleeping patients, collecting linen etc. Man, this has been going on for a while. It's late and I want to make it to the end of this film even though I'm tired and parts of the plot have kind of escaped me. But if I know my horror movie cliches we've been on this hospital corridor shot now for so long that something fucked up is bound to happen. No music. Long static shot. Not a lot of activity. Yep, we're gearing up for a shock here, kids. Heh heh. That nurse is doomed. Yawwwwwwwwwwwwn. God, I'm tired. This film isn't all that. Maybe I should call it quits and go to sleep. Just want to....see..what happens with the.......................................................................................................still the corridor..........................hang on, did I set the alarFUCKINGHELLWHATTHEFUCKISTHAT?!!!!!ARGGGGGGGGHHHH!

Right. I'm awake now.

Double Indemnity

Oh yes, a dark moody thriller, scripted by Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder, directed by Wilder and based on a novel by James M. Cain. And there was I thinking it would all turn out fine at the end. Edward G Robinson is almost certainly the best fast-talking boss ever, Pacino and Baldwin in Glengarry Glenross notwithstanding.

Geeky point, notice the reference to the guy's not getting insurance because of his heart at the beginning of the movie. Think about it. Yes.

Dr. Strangelove

Goddammit George C. Scott kicks ass. So does Peter Sellers. And James Earl Jones. All we need is a crazy set designed by Ken Adam, and notorious fruit loop Stanley Kubrick to direct, and we got ourselves a picture.

Dresser, The

Tom Courtenay plays camp assistant to mentally ailing actor (Albert Finney) gradually being taken over by the role of Lear. Extraordinarily good. Apparently there's a West End version on at the moment. Either way, both leads totally rule. Maybe the best screen almost-Lear (rivalling Nigel Hawthorne's in The Madness of King George).

Duck Soup

The mirror scene. Say no more.

Eight legged freaks

Giant leaping spiders with a taste for blood? Abandoned gold mines? Scarlett Johanssen? And not forgetting her incredibly fit mum? This mixture between arachniphobia and tremors is at once funny and....well funny. Pete shrieked like a little bitch and Rowl got a little over excited by the little boy but overall well worth watching.

Electric Cinema

Arguably the most comfortable cinema in London. I saw Performance there, which, as you will know if you've seen it, is very appropriate.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, The

Overrated. The bit where Jim Carrey is made to look like a toddler is meant to be an amazing piece of visual trickery but looks the same as when Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke did it. Shame, because Michel Gondry's videos are nearly always stunning, and I loved Charlie Kaufman's script for 'Adaptation'. This falls into the same tricksy but unedifying bracket as 'Being John Malkovich'.

Felix Leiter

James Bond's mate from the CIA, who for some reson sometimes seems to be following orders from M. No one actor has ever played Felix Leiter twice. He was first played really woodenly in 'Dr No' by Jack Lord, the bloke off Hawaii Five-O. The bloke who plays him in 'Goldfinger' is probably the best, but I've forgotten his name. The bloke who plays him in 'Thunderball' is slightly amusingly called Rick Van Nutter. He's miraculously become black in 'Never Say Never Again'. I expect he'll crop up as a dog or something in one of the rubbish Brosnan ones.

Finding Nemo

Very over-rated cartoon, voiced by lesbians though so not all bad.

General, The

This is such a kick ass movie. It's about Martin Cahill who worked in the IRA stealing stuff and nobbling people, and is directed by John Boorman. Shot in black and white and with Jon Voight as the police chief it's a brilliant film, and of course true. One of my top 20 movies. MANT.

Gilliam, Terry

Top marks for style. But as mentioned in the Peter Jackson article. Peter Jackson is a lot better organised about the whole thing.

Godfather - Part II, The

MANT's favourite film of all time.

Haim, Corey

'Whatever happened to Corey Haim?' muse The Thrills on their iMDB.com-eschewing single of the same name. He made a brief splash in the late 80s in films such as 'The Lost Boys' but struggled to maintain much of a career into the 90s with flops like 'Prayer Of The Rollerboys' and...some other ones. Not to be confused with Corey Feldman, his funny faced mate, or Corey Hart, lightweight US pop star. Perhaps the Thrills song will give Corey a surprise renaissance, and we can enjoy him saying 'You're a vampire, Michael, a shitsucking vampire!' and the like all over again.

Hanks, Tom

Self serving, oscar seeking cunt. Every film he has ever made [except Big, I admit it, I loved that film....and maybe dragnet, but that's only because of Dan Ackroyd] has been shit. Really, really shit. He only makes 'heart warming tales of victory over adversity' that guarantee an academy nomination. Philadelphia, Forrest Twat, Apollo 13, Castaway, That one where they go to France to find Matt Damon. All shit. I used to have respect for Spielberg. But not now he casts Hanks in every goddamn one of his films.

Hole, The

Great film where you can see Keira Knightley's breasts.

It Happened One Night

Back in the day when romantic comedies were actually funny. This and Some Like it Hot are the only two good comedies without a dark subtext that count as "very good films".

It's a Wonderful Life

That Clarence kicks ass. The most annoying thing about this film is that I always burst into floods of uncontrollable tears about two minutes into the movie. You'd think I'd be able to control my emotions better than that, but I can't. It's really annoying. The film kicks ass.

Jackson, Peter

I just watched all four bonus DVDs in the extended Lord of the Rings sets. Following it up with Lost in La Mancha later, it occurred to me that if you plan everything down to the last detail, you're probably more likely to get your film made.

As a result I would like to introduce a scale on which a director's efficiency at planning can be measured:
Terry Gilliam --------------------------------Peter Jackson

That's not to say that Terry Gilliam doesn't rule as well (see above) just that he takes a more relaxed attitude to intricate contingency planning.

Jarmusch, Jim

Rich man's Edward Burns.

Kaufman, Charlie

Hmmm, this is a very tricky one. I think all of his films are highly original, and he has an excellent ear for comic dialogue, but after having seen A Cock and Bull Story I'm now thinking that Adaptation compares very badly with it, given that they both have similar premises. I know that debate rages on these very pages about Spotless Mind. Personally, I really enjoyed it, as I could ignore the tricksiness, and really enjoy what I thought was a very tender film told in an interesting way.

Either way, I'm not sure Being John Malkovich is going to age very well.

King Kong - (2005)

What more use could $220m be put to? Nothing at all. A quite brilliant film.

Knightley, Keira

She's mine, all mine.

Lady and the Tramp, The

The only film I've ever cried whilst watching. (MANT, when i was about 7)

Lawrence of Arabia

Peter O'Toole is the original blue-eyed messianic bringer of doom to the turks. Apparently T.E. Lawrence had brown eyes, which proves once again that real life just isn't as good as the movies.

Do you reckon Lawrence was sodomised by the Turkish Official? Apparently David Lean referred to this scene as "The Buggering Scene" so all signs point to yes. I guess it's pretty integral to the plot that he was raped. Has anyone ever managed to finish The Seven Pillar of Wisdom? I just can't get into it. Omar Sharif's not in it, for a start.


Gypsy Boy adds: You know that amazing scene where it is a shot of the desert and after a while (about ten minutes I think) Omar Sharif appears and rides toward the camera? Apparently the whole thing hinges on the fact that they sprinkled a trail of lightly coloured sand from the camera to where Omar Sharif appears. Your eye is almost subconciously drawn towards the horizon at that exact point... Damn, that's some thinking going on.

Liar

Excellent and complex thriller starring Tim Roth (except the end, which by all accounts, is not worth watching).

Lilo and Stitch

Rubbish. "Family means never being left behind" what tosh, this film is a poorly thought out amalgam of Disney movie cliches.

Lynch, David

Much maligned director. The perfect eye for beauty with a rotten core. Leading contemporary surrealist. There is some debate in CKGT as to whether he is the Emperor's New Clothes (see below for MANT's poorly informed critique of Mulholland Drive).

Maltese Falcon, The

The only unarguable film noir. Peter Lorre reprises his role as volatile psycho with puppy-like behaviour when cowed. Best of all is Sydney Greenstreet saying "Gad sir".

Did you know they made an adaptation of the same book ten years earlier? And who's heard of that one? No-one, that's who. Except me of course. And now, you.

Mirrors in Cinema

Citizen Kane, Evil Dead 2, Duck Soup, All About Eve, Odd Man Out (well, it's his reflection in a cup of coffee). There are probably more. Anyway, these guys are all good, ALL of the time. More mirrors in cinema please. But not that irritating "the mirror moves slightly and there's SOMEBODY ELSE THERE" that's no good, you're just not trying.

Mulholland Dr.

Haunting, stunning film. Perhaps the best film of David Lynch's career.

MANT is a complete tool for not liking this movie. This, when taken together with the rest of the evidence for MANT's stupidity, ought to be the clincher.

Mulholland Drive

The joint worst film of all time, along with the remake of Planet of the Apes. It's so shit I wanted to kill myself after watching it, and that cunt David Lynch that made it. Charlie only likes it because no-one else does.

Mullholland Drives me Nuts

I just want to re-iterate how much I hated this film.

However I am willing to view it again to decide for sure that if it's rubbish as maybe I was wrong. But I doubt it.

Murphy, Eddie

Checking imdb.com, it would seem that Eddie Murphy has made no good movies since 1989, unless you're feeling generous enough to count 'Bowfinger' which does at least contain the scene where Steve Martin makes him cross the freeway and the phrase 'chubby rain'. That's pretty crazy. I was sure there must have been at least ONE! But, no, after his early eighties reign ('48 Hrs', 'Trading Places', 'Coming To America') he directed and wrote the dogrough 'Harlem Nights' in 1989 and ever since then it's been rubbish sequels, kiddie comedies and vanity projects like 'Boomerang'. 'Shrek' me no 'Shrek' either, that's just a voiceover. Come on, Eddie! 1989! Pull your finger out, mate.

Patch Adams

Robin Williams attempts to cure cancer by wearing a clown nose and mucking about.
TRUE FACT: Every time someone in the world rents out 'Patch Adams' a baby rabbit dies.

Planet of the Apes

Crap film, as bad as Mulholland Drive

psychedelic interludes

You know, films made in the 60s and 70s that shoehorn in a scene featuring a psychedelic 'love-in' type thing for seemingly no reason. 'Coogan's Bluff' is the classic example of this, and it's on this week. There's a bit where Clint Eastwood chases his quarry into a club full of 'hippies' dancing to a band playing a song called 'Pigeon Toed Orange Peel', and I can't remember there being much of a reason for it other than to give Clint an opportunity to growl 'goddamn longhairs' or something and pull a 'is this where 'progress' has led society?' face.

Quirk

Wes Anderson, Charlie Kaufman, David O. Russell, the Guys that did Napoleon Dynamite, Paul Thomas Anderson, Zach Braff (well, he gets a vote for Garden State). Quirky quirky quirky, yes, and an American indie soundtrack to complete.

The weird thing for me is that I basically can never get tired of these types of films. I know they follow a pattern in directorial styles, but I honestly think they're all great. Maybe I'm the only one. Everyone else is wrong, the world needs even more lingering zoom out crane shots of a bowed down loser looking at the ground while Modest Mouse or something plays in the background.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Original and best Indiana Jones film. Setpiece after endlessly rewatchable setpiece. I caned my taped-off-the-telly copy so much as a kid I still half anticipate an Angel Delight advert coming on after that monkey carks it when watching it on DVD now.

Reagan, Ronald

Ex Actor. Also famous for being a cunt. Dead.

Richmond Filmhouse

Lovely one screen arthouse cinema near the river. Comfy seats, gin served at the bar. First film the Giraffe saw here - Dances With Wolves. Man that was long.

Rose, Bernard

Director who filmed "Candyman" and "Immortal Beloved", and who is also Emily's Godfather

Salty Popcorn

What is it with people that eat this shit. It just tastes like bits of cardboard that someone has wanked on.

Schneider, Rob

Irritating, short-assed gonk or towering comedy genius? The jury is still out, but with a filmography boasting Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, The Hot Chick and The Animal; Rob seems to be tying up what marketing men call the "Utterly Fucking Stupid" end of the market at a frightening pace.

Seagal, Steven

It's hard to actually put into words how much Kiwinkey loves Steven Seagal movies. When we reigned at Jedburghasia I would frequently return from an evening of Chablis drinking to find him ferverently masturbating to "Under Siege 2", "Executive Decision" or "On Deadly Ground".

Serpico

Al Pacino speaks in an irritating nasal voice, and gets annoyed with police corruption. Very good, actually, and true apparently. My pick of the actors goes to the giant English Sheepdog that acts as a visual clock because he buys it towards the beginning of the film, and it ages as time goes by. And it's soooooo cuuuuuute. Aaaaaah.

Showcase Cinema in Bristol

Pretty tacky cinema, however if you go early in the morning and go to watch one film, you can sneak into any other film during the day without paying again. I once watched three movies in one day there in my youth, all for the price of one ticket.
Sorry, M'lud.

Signs

Utter bumguff alien film with Mel Gibson, directed by M Knight Shyamalan, who previously had been alright but would have to continously make the world's greatest film every year for a ten year stretch to make up for Signs. Aliens which are allergic to water invade Earth, a planet that is 70% water. Mel Gibson's character regains his faith in God at the end, despite having seen proof of the existence of aliens, which I would have thought would more than likely make a lapsed Christian even more lapsed. This film is shit, don't bother watching it.

Smith, Kevin

US indie writer/director who made the ace 'Clerks', the quite good 'Mallrats', 'Chasing Amy' which I have on VHS but now realise is a dog rough load of rubbish, 'Dogma' which is again rubbish, the sporadically funny sprawling in-joke that is 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' and now 'Jersey Girl' which I'm hazarding a guess life's too short to sit through. Ben Affleck is in five of Kevin Smith's six films and unsuprisingly the one he's not in is by far the best.

Soylvent Green

Amazing film with Charlton Heston which I used to watch when I was a little boy. Nobody has ever heard of it, but it is good.

Spotless Mind, Eternal Sunshine on the (non-gaywad entry)

A beautiful piece of work, far and away the most complete and sarifying of all of Charlie Kaufman's writing career.

Star Wars

Essentially i'm talking about the first three films that were made. I've never actually seen them all, but what i have seen looks a bit crap really. I'll probably buy the DVD's when they come out and will watch them then, but aren't they just overrated? MANT

Sweet Popcorn

Much tastier than salty stuff. Mmmmmm Sugar.
MANT

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Errol Flynn righteously smites filthy normans. This movie totally kicks ass, mainly because it's got a kick ass cast. Claude Rains (the Morally Dubious Police Chief with a secret heart of gold in Casablanca) rules as Prince John. Basil Rathbone (the original David Niven) is a caddish Guy of Gisborne. And Olivia de Havilland (not quite as beautiful as Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind, but still fine) is nothing if not winsome. Every time I see it I want to shout "hah-hah", and swing on a rope.

They Live - Fight Scene in

Sitting through this scene, you go through about five different stages of wondering whether or not he's taking the piss, until you come to accept that it will never ever end and you will be watching this fight scene for the rest of your waking life. Then it ends and you surmise that he was definitely taking the piss.

Tremors

Small town in America terrorised by big underground wormy things that eat people. Luckily for mankind Kevin Bacon is there to save the day.

Troy

What was it with all those fucking funeral pyres every 20 minutes? It was a bit shit, apart from the pretty girl with the nice bum.

Wicker Man, the

Best horror film ever made. Rumours abound that there is to be a Hollywood remake with a 'less downbeat' ending. Perhaps at the end of the new one God will come down, save the policeman and kick the wicker man down on the pagan islanders, crushing them as he laughs his booming God laugh. Who knows?

Witchfinder General

Nerve-jarring Hammer horror film starring Vincent Price and Ian Ogilvy, which breaks from the Hammer tradition of camp, hammy potboilers, instead going for and achieving genuine unease with its scenes of screaming women dragged off by baying mobs to meet their death. Superlative but consistently nasty stuff.