Reviews by Donald Munro

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Friday the 13th (1980)

  Review preview for Friday the 13th

  Friday The 13th is a well made but fairly unremarkable film. What about it could so incense the white male American critic?

  A series of vicious murders occurs at a summer camp.
• 
  Winter Of The Crow (2025)

  Review preview for Winter Of The Crow

  As a director Adamik is good when it is close up and claustrophobic.

  A psychiatry professor gets caught up in Poland's instigation of martial law during a trip to Warsaw and ends up in a cat-and-mouse chase to escape.
• 
  The Himalayan (1976)

  Review preview for The Himalayan

  The Himalayan has a very distinct sense of place. It's not just the mountains and the buildings, it's the locals used as extras, their clothes, their music.

  A treacherous martial artist desperately wants his brother to marry into a rich family, but he refuses. Blinded by greed, he kills him, and gets a lookalike to take his place, then begins scheming to take over the wife's family fortune.
• 
  Reap The Whirlwind (2026)

  Review preview for Reap The Whirlwind

  Four classics of 1970s Hong Kong action

  A box set of four films starring Angela Mao.
• 
  Stoner (1974)

  Review preview for Stoner

  Stoner has all the pieces in place for a really fun Hong Kong action flick.

  Two cops acting outside their jurisdictions team up to bust a drug lord.
• 
  The Tournament (1974)

  Review preview for The Tournament

  The driving narrative has been parked in a garage, covered in a tarp and forgotten about.

  Protection money is 'owed' to a gangster. A disastrous attempt to win the money in a kickboxing tournament shames kung-fu. Two students of the art travel to Bangkok to regain its honour.
• 
  The Angry River (1971)

  Review preview for The Angry River

  What sets it apart is writer/director Huang Feng's eye for composition. His landscapes are amongst the best in Hong Kong cinema.

  A respected martial arts elder is poisoned by a treacherous kung fu master, who plans to rule over the martial arts world. His daughter makes a perilous journey to obtain the only known cure, but things don't go according to plan.
• 
  The Fires (2025)

  Review preview for The Fires

  What Sigríður, Markus Englmair, and Ugla have done as writers and writer/director is hang a disaster movie on top of a family drama. That is what makes the film compelling.

  Anna Arnardóttir, Iceland's top volcanologist, faces two disasters at once: a volcanic eruption that threatens the safety of the capital city and a love affair that could destroy her marriage.
• 
  Weapons Of Death (1977)

  Review preview for Weapons Of Death

  Caiano's expertise at directing action in westerns really comes to the fore.

  A police commissioner tries to bring a gangster to justice as the kingpin's out-of-control crimes set even his own underworld allies against him.
• 
  Cecile Is Dead (1944)

  Review preview for Cecile Is Dead

  The comedy is quick, funny and often well observed. The actors are all quite capable of delivering it at pace.

  A woman keeps coming to Quai Des Orfevres to see Inspector Maigret about disturbing events in her household. Maigret is annoyed, until this woman is found dead and he realises she was on to something.
• 
  Ben-Hur (1959)

  Review preview for Ben-Hur

  The film uses an unusually wide aspect ratio: 2.76:1, which accentuates the stillness of the fleets approaching before the screen erupts in the chaos of battle.

  A Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, but it's not long before he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
• 
  Cruel Tale Of Bushido (1963)

  Review preview for Cruel Tale Of Bushido

  Tadashi Imai is an excellent director of both character and action, but what really stands out in Cruel Tale Of Bushido is the way he frames suffering.

  After a salaryman's fiancée attempts suicide, he remembers his gruesome family history, which sees his ancestors sacrificing themselves for the sake of their cruel lords, and realises that he's repeated their mistakes.
• 
  The Devil's Hand (1943)

  Review preview for The Devil's Hand

  Considering when and where the film was made there is an obvious allegory between the plot and cooperating with the Nazi regime, or at least the Vichy puppet government.

  Roland buys a severed hand talisman for a nickel, gaining love, wealth and fame. After he has enjoyed a year of success, the devil appears to collect payment.
• 
  Zen And Sword (1961)

  Review preview for Zen And Sword

  Musashi is no American action hero. He does not need a kidnapped daughter of murdered wife to justify violence. All he needs is becoming spiritually one with the sword.

  An adaptation of Yoshikawa Eiji's biography of Miyamoto Musashi, swordsman and author of the Book Of Five Rings, who fights his way through many opponents while developing his philosophy of swordsmanship.
• 
  Strongroom (1962)

  Review preview for Strongroom

  Sewell's camera is claustrophobic. The lens is in the actors' personal space, the interiors are dark and shadowy.

  A bank robbery goes awry, the manager and cashier locked in vault. The robbers return after a failed rescue attempt, racing against time to free the hostages before police arrive.
• 
  The Man In The Back Seat (1961)

  Review preview for The Man In The Back Seat

  The streets of London are dark and grimy, full of shadows.

  Two young thugs rob a bookie leaving a dog-racing track with his winnings, but when they grab his case full of money they discover that he has chained it to his wrist.
• 
  The Sweeney: Series Four (1978)

  Review preview for The Sweeney: Series Four

  The stories become more sensational. The writing is still there but they seem less grounded than those in the first three series.

  The fourth series about hard-edged detectives in the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police.
• 
  The Big Blue (1988)

  Review preview for The Big Blue

  The Big Blue is pure cinéma du look.

  Two of the best ‘free’ divers in the world are set to compete against each other at the world championships.
• 
  The Sweeney - The Complete Third Series (1976)

  Review preview for The Sweeney - The Complete Third Series

  By series three the formula, now tried and tested, is, for the most part, followed. But there are changes.

  The Flying Squad takes a third turn around the block.
• 
  The Ice Storm (1997)

  Review preview for The Ice Storm

  James Schamus's script is sharp and witty. Lee is very good at getting affecting performances out of actors, especially the younger ones.

  In 1973 suburbia, several middle-class families experimenting with substance abuse and the swinging lifestyle find their lives spinning beyond their control.
• 
  Barry Lyndon (1975)

  Review preview for Barry Lyndon

  Kubrick badly misses the mark with this film, not in quality, but by a whole decade. It simply does not fit into the 1970s.

  The rise and fall of an Irish rogue.
• 
  Iron Bodyguard (1873)

  Review preview for Iron Bodyguard

  Fewer fights means the supporting actors are able to give the film a more complete feel.

  The tale of a patriot committed to ending the corruption of the Ching rulers.
• 
  Daughters Of Darkness (1971)

  Review preview for Daughters Of Darkness

  The story is told more through symbols, the expressionist, the surreal, rather that through the harsh binary abstractions of language.

  While passing through a vacation resort, a newlywed couple encounters a mysterious, strikingly beautiful countess and her aide.
• 
  Furious Swords Fantastic Warriors (2025)

  Review preview for Furious Swords Fantastic Warriors

  Some superb, if sometimes overlong, Kung Fu fights combined with physical stunt work that is truly impressive.

  A box set featuring ten films by Chang Cheh.
• 
  The Diabolical Dr. Z (1966)

  Review preview for The Diabolical Dr. Z

  Almost safe for work.

  Dr. Zimmer, a neurosurgeon disciple of Dr. Orlof, dies when trying to prove that the origin of good and evil is physiological. His daughter seeks to avenge her father by controlling the mind of a Black-Widow dancer with long fingernails.
• 
  Shaolin Martial Arts (1974)

  Review preview for Shaolin Martial Arts

  Shaolin Martial Arts is characterised by Chang Cheh's trademark use of fast pans, tilts, pushes and pulls, superbly choreographed but overlong fight scenes and some fairly gentle comedy.

  When the ruling dynasty in China sends soldiers to destroy the Shaolin Temple, students use their martial arts to defend the school.
• 
  Men From The Monastery (1974)

  Review preview for Men From The Monastery

  The martial artists are highly competent at what they do. They display an exceptional level of skill in fight sequences and other stunt work. Unfortunately their acting ability is almost nonexistent.

  Legendary heroes get together to fight an army.
• 
  Perfect Blue (1998)

  Review preview for Perfect Blue

  With Perfect Blue, Kon takes the tropes of the thriller and twists them to the point of surreality. He also subverts them.

  Anime about a former pop singer who is being stalked.
• 
  Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979)

  Review preview for Nosferatu The Vampyre

  Adjani's performance has an ethereal, otherworldly quality about it.

  Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror.
• 
  The Sweeney: Series Two (1975)

  Review preview for The Sweeney: Series Two

  A few of the episodes have a more comic tone than any in the first season.

  Jack Regan and George Carter return as the hard-edged detectives from the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police. They pursue villains by methods which are underhanded and often illegal, frequently violent and - more often than not - successful.
• 
  The Sweeney: Series One (1975)

  Review preview for The Sweeney: Series One

  Subtextually The Sweeney is about police corruption and malpractice. On the surface it stays withing the broadcasting code of the time.

  Jack Regan and George Carter are hard-edged detectives in the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police. They pursue villains by methods which are underhanded and often illegal, frequently violent and - more often than not - successful.
• 
  The Hidden Fortress (1958)

  Review preview for The Hidden Fortress

  Akira Kurosawa's first foray into widescreen is first and foremost a highly entertaining piece of work.

  Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
• 
  Subway (1985)

  Review preview for Subway

  It is about the counterpointing of the popular with the stuffiness of well respected art, the harsh cold fluorescent light of the Metro station with the more humane darkness of the interconnecting conduits and forgotten spaces.

  A thief stumbles on a Parisian subculture after he robs a house and takes the loot into the Paris Metro.
• 
  Pale Rider (1985)

  Review preview for Pale Rider

  The way in which Megan and Preacher are interacting feels creepy. It is intended that way.

  A mysterious preacher protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.
• 
  Dirty Harry (1971)

  Review preview for Dirty Harry

  Dirty Harry helps usher in a series of nihilist American thrillers that typified the 1970s.

  When a man calling himself the Scorpio Killer menaces San Francisco, tough-as-nails police Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan is assigned to track him down.
• 
  Scanners (1981)

  Review preview for Scanners

  The concept, narrative, dialogue, cinematography and action sequences are elements of Scanners that can't be faulted.

  A scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called 'scanning' to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non-scanners.
• 
  Shatter Belt (2023)

  Review preview for Shatter Belt

  Where the episodes work is when they have a driving, kinetic energy about them. When they don't it's repetitious loop.

  A collection of interconnected stories that follow the mysteries surrounding awareness, intention, desire, free will, and the uncanny nature of consciousness.
• 
  Sanjuro (1962)

  Review preview for Sanjuro

  The film concludes with what is probably the most influential special effect in the history of cinema.

  A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
• 
  Yojimbo (1961)

  Review preview for Yojimbo

  Kurosawa's masterful synthesis doesn't stop with the script. He weaves a late Edo period samurai film, in its painstaking historic detail, into modernity.

  A mysterious ronin finds his services are popular in a town where two gangs are trying to wipe each other out.
• 
  Chantal Akerman: Volume 1, 1967-1978 (2025)

  Review preview for Chantal Akerman: Volume 1, 1967-1978

  A collection of early films by Chantal Akerman.

  A selection of early films by Chantal Akerman.
• 
  Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels (1975)

  Review preview for Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels

  The viewer has to be keyed into Akerman's cinematic language, how she portrays boredom, claustrophobia, isolation.

  A widow for six years, Jeanne maintains a strict household routine. She cooks, cleans, shops and entertains a gentleman caller each afternoon to support herself and her teenage son.
• 
  Bonnie Blue: James Cotton's Life In The Blues (2025)

  Review preview for Bonnie Blue: James Cotton's Life In The Blues

  A mix of archival material, sections of interviews with people who knew the man and a few talking heads to give their opinion on things.

  A documentary about James Cotton, schooled by Sonny Boy Williamson II and Muddy Waters, who brought delta blues into the rock 'n roll mainstream and the blues to everyone.
• 
  Beneath The Valley Of The Ultra-Vixens (1979)

  Review preview for Beneath The Valley Of The Ultra-Vixens

  50 attempts at shark jumping sexplotation and a main plot that consists of three puerile jokes.

  Believe it or not, even Smalltown USA still has people who are unfulfilled and unrelieved in the midst of plenty.
• 
  Supervixens (1975)

  Review preview for Supervixens

  As the film progresses so does the level of farce and surreality. The mundane is juxtaposed with the ridiculous and there is a deliberate subversion of narrative flow.

  Clint Ramsey must quit his job at Martin Bormann's gas station and flee after his wife is killed by psychopathic cop Harry Sledge, who tries to pin the murder on him.
• 
  Vixen! (1968)

  Review preview for Vixen!

  Exaggerated acting and an over-the-top script keep the darker elements of the film from being upsetting. It gets its social message across whilst maintaining a light and vigorous tone.

  An everyday story of a bisexuual nymphomaniac from the Russ Meyer stables.
• 
  I Could Never Go Vegan (2024)

  Review preview for I Could Never Go Vegan

  It didn't really address what it set out to address.

  I could never go vegan. Five words uttered around the world by many a non-vegan, but why? On a quest for the truth, a filmmaker sets out on a journey to find out what the leading arguments facing the vegan movement are, and if they're justified.
• 
  Black Tuesday (1954)

  Review preview for Black Tuesday

  The film has a German Expressionist look about it, more so than many of the later American film noirs: the way faces are shot, the bizarre object in the warehouse.

  A gangster and a bank robber escape from Death Row minutes before their scheduled execution by electric chair.
• 
  Les Vampires (1915)

  Review preview for Les Vampires

  Feuillades indoor sets are still cluttered but outside he makes more use of the openness and of the trappings of modernity: the car, the train, the tram, the movie theatre.

  An intrepid reporter and his loyal friend battle a bizarre secret society of criminals known as The Vampires.
• 
  Louis Feuillade: The Complete Crime Serials (2024)

  Review preview for Louis Feuillade: The Complete Crime Serials

  The spidery touch of the cinematic language developed by Feuillade gets everywhere.

  The complete series Fantômas, Les Vampires, Judex and Tih-Minh.
• 
  Fantômas (1913)

  Review preview for Fantômas

  Much of the cinematic language that is used in crime, action and spy films today has its origin in these silent films.

  Fantômas is pursued by Inspector Juve (Edmund Breon) and newspaper reporter Jérôme Fandor (Georges Melchior) as he carries out his nefarious schemes.