fishermensmell

Alucarda! Alucarda! Alucaaarrrrda!

Justine! Justine! Justiiiine!!!

There is a lot of impassioned shrieking throughout Alucarda. Protect your ears! I expected a slightly sleazy, cheap nunsploitation film, but was pleasantly surprised by the artistry on display. Director Juan López Moctezuma leans into the fantastical, fable-like and surreal with some interesting and memorable characters, set pieces and shots. The disturbing bloody bandage costumes of the nuns are one of many arresting decisions made in the production of this film that gives Alucarda extra depth. Tina Romero was effectively magnetic and creepy in the title role. However, it is let down by some bad acting across the rest of the cast, by occasionally cheap make-up/effects and by stretching its somewhat thin story to the limit. With a little more budget this could have been really good, as the director clearly has a knack for creating atmosphere and strong visuals.

Thematically, Alucarda explores several concepts all under the umbrella of repression. The film builds to a chaotic, bloody resolution, with a somewhat ambiguous fate for the title character that seems to carry some poignancy.

This is an excellent TV series that clearly inspired The X-Files with its secret government paranormal unit, claustrophobic atmosphere of distrust, sexual tension between the male and female leads, and clandestine testing by the military on the unfortunate public. There's even a gifted boy who becomes a pawn and potential weapon, a la Gibson Praise. Although episodic in nature, across the series there are allusions to a higher authority within government, the shadowy Omega group, and with each episode the plot thickens. It's all delivered with a sort of downtrodden gloom that only BBC Scotland can deliver and feels distinctly British, with echoes of spy thrillers and Hammer horrors resonating through the screen.

Naturally, some episodes are stronger than others as Tom Crane investigates various paranormal goings-on, but they are mostly pretty gripping and I was completely absorbed by the overarching story, ripping through the whole series in a few days. Unlike The X-Files, it is all brought to a dramatic, logical and satisfying conclusion in the final episode, with the writers also opening further doors on an even greater conspiracy. The fact that no second series was made is a huge disappointment.

An entertaining documentary that fails to really get under the skin of the subject; it's a fairly superficial overview that spends too much time covering well-worn topics (specifically The Beatles, in particular songs like 'A Day in the Life' and 'Blackbird', which have been covered to death). Rather than telling a linear story of the studio's up and downs over the decades, it jumps around to just profile a handful of big names that McCartney has access to, spending as much time discussing their general achievements as their time at Abbey Road. Other documentaries telling the stories of iconic studios, like Muscle Shoals or Sound City, managed to tease out what made the studios special: be that the time, the place or the specific technical aspects of the equipment; Mary McCartney seems to land on the Abbey Road staff being the key to its enduring success, so it's a shame they aren't better profiled. Who were these talented "boffins" who could bring the artists' ideas to life? This film feels like it only scratches the surface, delivering some facts and a few new interviews, but no great insight.