Tom Jolliffe offers up ten essential serial killer films… Cinema has long had a fascination with the macabre. The serial killer film has been a staple since the silent period with films tending to cross between an array of genre, most notably drama, thriller and horror (and in more recent cinematic history, black comedy). There […]
Manhunter at 35: Michael Mann’s slippery, enduring masterpiece
A commercial flop at the time of release, the film that introduced moviegoers to Hannibal Lecter has since earned deserved plaudits. George Nash takes a look at its impact three decades on… Manhunter, director Michael Mann’s 1986 adaptation of Thomas Harris’s bestselling novel Red Dragon, is a film about transformations. Like The Silence of the […]
The Cop on the Edge
Tom Jolliffe on the well-worn but effective cop on the edge trope… Cinema can often be pretty simple. Good guys are often morally upstanding. Bad guys often irredeemably corrupt. Your good guy might be a cop, your bad guy a crook. The hero might have a foible or two, but is generally psychologically on an […]
Movie Marathon: From Friedkin to Mann, via William Petersen and Tangerine Dream
Tom Jolliffe looks back at four must see cult classics… Whilst perusing a few episodes of Mark Kermode Uncut I stumbled upon an episode focused on a film I’d been meaning to see for a fair while. Firstly, it was directed by William Friedkin, a cinematic great. Secondly the film is scored by Tangerine Dream. […]
October Horrors Day 18 – Manhunter (1986)
Manhunter, 1986. Directed by Michael Mann. Starring William Petersen, Brian Cox and Tom Noonan. SYNOPSIS: Based on the novel Red Dragon, FBI profiler Will Graham reluctantly comes out of retirement to lead the hunt for an elusive serial killer dubbed “The Tooth Fairy”. To aid him in his efforts, Graham seeks out the advice of Dr Hannibal […]