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We all love monsters. From Dracula and King Kong to the Wolfman and Freddy Krueger, our affection for these fictionalized beasts has been satisfied through film and television for over a century. The disconnect between the audience and the world in which these monsters exist is part of the enjoyment and escapism that horror has always sought to provide us. However, a very real evil lurks among us in the shadows and treads the same path as we do. This evil takes the form of individuals with a predatory nature who lack empathy for others. It’s an evil that we find repulsive and fascinating, and much like the fictionalized creations of Hollywood, they’ve also been incarnated on film and television.

Whether it’s the depiction of Adolf Hitler in Downfall or the true-crime series Monster: The Jeffrey Damher Story on Netflix, the humanization of evil attracts controversy but...

Pat Heywood, the veteran Scottish actress who made her film debut as Olivia Hussey’s nurse and confidant in Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, has died. She was 92.

Heywood died June 26, the Scottish Daily Mail reported.

During her four-decade career, Heywood portrayed the maid in the manor at the center of Freddie Francis’ horror comedy Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1970) and the wife of British serial killer John Christie (Richard Attenborough) in the Richard Fleischer-directed 10 Rillington Place (1971).

Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968), which also starred Leonard Whiting alongside Hussey and featured narration from Laurence Olivier, was a hit at the box office as it introduced a new generation to Shakespearean tragedy. Paul McCartney, Phil Collins and Anjelica Huston had been among those considered for the top roles.

The film won Oscars for cinematography and costumes and was nominated for best picture and director, and Heywood...

The 18th edition of the Motelx – Lisbon International Horror Film Festival is set to return to Cinema São Jorge from 10th to 16th September 2024. With a programme brimming with exclusive premieres, revisits of classics, and innovative horror experiences, this year’s festival promises to be a spectacular celebration of the genre.

Among the highlights is the world premiere of Sasquatch Sunset, directed by David and Nathan Zellner and executive produced by Ari Aster. This unique film offers a bizarre and rigorous portrayal of the daily life of a Bigfoot family. Another major highlight is In a Violent Nature by Canadian director Chris Nash and Oddity, a paranormal nightmare by Irish director Damian Mc Carthy, both premiering in Portugal.

This year’s festival also marks the debut of Edgar Pêra’s Telepathic Letters, an AI-driven documentary-essay that explores the connections between Fernando Pessoa and H. P. Lovecraft. Additionally, the festival will feature Cuckoo,...

Britain's true-crime media landscape has consistently grown since the infamous Jack the Ripper murders during the late 19th century, starting as novels and eventually moving to the screen. Continuing this trend, director Richard Fleischer's 10 Rillington Place (1971) hauntingly recounts the grisly murders of eight innocent women and the execution of one innocent man. However, his film sets itself apart from the generally sensationalized serial killer documentaries and true-crime fiction due to Fleischer's commitment to the facts and authentic storytelling. His banal approach allowed the horrific story to speak for itself, terrifying audiences everywhere and even the cast members themselves. But it was also an important story to tell, as both John Reginald Christie's despicable actions and the injustice against Timothy Evans highlighted one of the British justice system's biggest failures, ultimately leading to the abolition of capital punishment.

There is a promising idea behind “See How They Run,” a whodunit set in London’s West End in 1953 against the backdrop of Agatha Christie’s long-running stage hit “The Mousetrap,” but it proves far too complicated to execute for director Tom George and writer Mark Chappell, who resort to clumsy flashbacks and pointless split-screen sequences without ever finding the right tone for their movie.

“See How They Run” starts out with narration by crass movie director Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody), who has been hired to direct a film of “The Mousetrap” after the play has closed out its run. Köpernick gets into a fight at a party with the cast of the play and winds up murdered backstage at the theater; his corpse is propped up on a couch on stage, and the murderer has pulled out his tongue.

Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) sets about solving the case with...

You don’t have to have seen Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap to enjoy wonderful theatreland-set, whodunnit See How They Run. Nor does it spoil things if you have (you probably still wont guess the ending of the film). Nor do you need a working knowledge of Agatha Christie herself, the peculiar contract that exists around The Mousetrap, 1950s London, Richard Attenborough and other real-life celebrities of the time, or indeed Tom Stoppard’s play The Real Inspector Hound. But part of the beauty of this incredibly meta, zippy, crime caper is that after the credits roll you’re probably going to want to do a bit of googling.

Set in London in the early ’50s, See How They Run sees The Mousetrap celebrating its 100th performance. The cast includes the celebrated Richard Attenborough (perfectly embodied by Harris Dickinson) and his wife Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda), meanwhile obnoxious Hollywood director...

October’s here and it’s time to get spooked. After last year’s superb “’70s Horror” lineup, the Criterion Channel commemorates October with a couple series: “Universal Horror,” which does what it says on the tin (with special notice to the Spanish-language Dracula), and “Home Invasion,” which runs the gamut from Romero to Oshima with Polanski and Haneke in the mix. Lest we disregard the programming of Cindy Sherman’s one feature, Office Killer, and Jennifer’s Body, whose lifespan has gone from gimmick to forgotten to Criterion Channel. And if you want to stretch ideas of genre just a hair, their “True Crime” selection gets at darker shades of human nature.

It’s not all chills and thrills, mind. October also boasts a Kirk Douglas repertoire, movies by Doris Wishman and Wayne Wang, plus Manoel de Oliveira’s rarely screened Porto of My Childhood. And Edgar Wright gets the “Adventures in Moviegoing” treatment,...

British actor Tim Roth is to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award in recognition of his “exceptional contribution to the art of film.” The ceremony at the Sarajevo Film Festival will be held on Tuesday. He will hold a masterclass on the same day.

His first screen role was the lead in the controversial Prix Italia award-winning TV movie “Made in Britain.” Roth’s second project came immediately after, starring in Mike Leigh’s critically acclaimed film “Meantime.” As his success continued, Roth starred in more than 15 film and television projects including Stephen Frears’ “The Hit,” for which he won the Standard Award for best newcomer, Peter Greenaway’s “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover,” Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” and Robert Altman’s “Vincent and Theo,” in which he portrayed Vincent Van Gogh.

Roth gained worldwide recognition for his roles in two Quentin Tarantino films,...