COBRA (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Crime is a disease. Meet the cure.” With one of the funniest taglines in cinema history, how can you possibly resist revisiting Sylvester Stallone’s violent, ultra-earnest cult action movie Cobra, which turns 40 this year?

Marion “Cobra” Cobretti (Stallone) is a tough LA cop who plays by his own rules. Sporting aviator shades, a matchstick in the corner of his mouth and a gun emblazoned with a cobra, he takes on criminals with a steely dedication to violence and wisecracks, and an aversion to due process that would make Charles Bronson blush.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/feb/04/sylvester-stallone-cop-movie-cobra

IMDB: Cobra

HORROR EXPRESS (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Every day is a good day to reacquaint ourselves with Horror Express, the 1972 Spanish-British co-production that sees scream kings Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing battling an ancient evil on board a choo-choo train. Need I say more?

Prof Saxton (Christopher Lee) unearths a 2 million-year-old iceman while on an expedition to the Manchurian wilderness. It’s a nightmare trying to transport it back to the UK: his reservation on the Trans-Siberian Express gets messed up and he has to suffer the indignity of sharing a cabin with his professional rival Dr Wells (Peter Cushing). And to top it off, the iceman thaws out and starts melting passengers’ eyeballs.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oct/29/celebrate-halloween-watching-1972-film-horror-express-christopher-lee-peter-cushing

IMDB: Horror Express

SOCIETY (full article at The Guardian Australia)

The Substance, Together, Titane, Sick of Myself: body horror is having a bit of a resurgence lately. So what better time to revisit Brian Yuzna’s slimy obscenity Society? It’s a movie that definitely thinks we should be taxing billionaires, and to make its point, Society throws an ending at you that you will never – ever – forget.

Society’s entire reputation rests upon this finale and there is no discussion to be had without addressing the queasy and lurid final act. So please take this as both spoiler and content warning, and don’t blame me if you feel like your eyeballs need cleaning after seeing it.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/sep/24/eat-the-rich-before-they-eat-you-in-praise-of-body-horror-classic-society

IMDB: Society

MONSTER ISLAND (ORANG IKAN) (full review at Screen Realm)

During WWII a Japanese prisoner transport is torpedoed at sea. Two convicts, one Japanese (Dean Fujioka), the other British (Callum Woodhouse), are washed ashore on a deserted island. As the two adversaries are suddenly equalised by circumstance and nature, they immediately embrace conflict and, eventually, mutual understanding, in a manner not too dissimilar to the start of Kong Skull Island, or countless episodes of Star Trek.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

https://screenrealm.com/monster-island-movie-review-shudder-horror-film-orang-ikan/

IMDB: Monster Island (Orang Ikan)

Elysium (full article at The Guardian Australia)

When director Neill Blomkamp followed up his acclaimed debut feature, District 9, with the cyberpunk dystopia Elysium in 2013, it was met with a resoundingly mediocre reception. It’s a movie that even Blomkamp has disavowed. “I fucked it up,” he said bluntly in a 2015 interview. But I think he’s too hard on himself: a decade on, Elysium might be worthy of reappraisal.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/10/even-elysiums-director-thinks-his-film-is-a-mess-but-a-decade-on-it-deserves-a-second-chance

IMDB: Elysium

BRING HER BACK (full review at Screen Realm)

Bring Her Back is the second film from Talk to Me directors Danny and Michael Philippou and is another original and visceral excursion into supernatural horror. Bring Her Back is a slow burn, tinged with a thoughtful sadness that ultimately unravels into chaos.

Following the death of their father, Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are put into foster care and sent to live with Laura (Sally Hawkins) and her other foster child Olly (Jonah Wren Phillips). Laura is grieving the loss of her own daughter, and the emotional scars remain raw. She immediately takes Piper under her wing and into her heart.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

https://screenrealm.com/bring-her-back-movie-review-philippou-brothers-horror-2025/

IMDB: Bring Her Back

ARENA (full article at The Guardian Australia)

There are two questions you need to ask before deciding to watch the 1989 sci-fi action film Arena. One: did you enjoy Rocky? And two: what if Rocky fought a giant space armadillo? Because Arena is for those of us who saw Sylvester Stallone’s tale of a pugilist underdog and liked it well enough – but felt it needed more monsters.

Two people who definitely thought this were the director, Peter Manoogian, and the B-movie impresario Charles Band, whose Empire International Pictures made a raft of other terrific horror and sci-fi throughout the 80s including Re-Animator, From Beyond and the underrated Trancers.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/may/21/arena-if-you-liked-rocky-youll-love-rocky-with-monsters

IMDB: Arena