Nick Bartlett

Freelance Writer

Blog

Filmhounds Magazine •

From Page to Screen: The Ongoing Struggle to Adapt Salem’s Lot - Filmhounds Magazine

Stephen King's works have always had a mixed track record on screen. Despite being a master of horror, only a few adaptations have truly done his books justice (The Shining is a horror classic, though King famously hated Stanley Kubrick's version). Salem's Lot is one of King's most iconic novels—often hailed as one of the best vampire stories ever written, blending small-town Americana with existential terror.
Critical popcorn •

The Third Man 4K review: Dir. Carol Reed (1949)

How do you find something new to say about a film like The Third Man? Voted by the BFI as the best British film of all time, and more importantly, my own favourite film, it must be among the most written about films of all time. I was fortunate enough to attend a screening last week to celebrate the film’s 75th anniversary, along with a wonderfully insightful introduction and Q&A with Script Supervisor Angela Allen.
Critical popcorn •

Risky Business Blu-ray review: Dir. Paul Brickman [Criterion Collection]

When people think of Risky Business, chances are the first image that pops into their head is the now-iconic moment where Joel (Tom Cruise) dances round his parent’s empty mansion miming to Bob Seger’s Rock n’ Roll Music. While this moment proved iconic, it’s a scene that is at odds with the often subdued nature of the rest of the film. A subversive, 1980s version of The Graduate crossed with Wall Street, Risky Business is a scathing commentary on American wealth and capitalism.
Critical popcorn •

Inside No.9 – 9.5 Review: The Curse Of The Ninth

There are some ideas that naturally lend themselves to a format. I wasn’t aware of the superstition of “The Curse of the Ninth” before tonight’s incredible episode of Inside No.9 and genuinely thought it was a phenomenon that Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith had invented for this episode. It’s a concept so uniquely suited to this series, right down to the number, that it makes you wonder why they didn’t make this episode years ago!
Critical popcorn •

Inside No.9 – 9.4 Review: CTRL/ALT/ESC

I like to think that you can tell which of the Inside No.9 creators took the lead on specific episodes. Sometimes it’s obvious through the subject matter, other times the tone. They’re generally quite cagey about it, but Reece Shearsmith loves magic, and has stated in the past about preferring the more comic episodes, while Steve Pemberton has always had more of an affinity for the more dramatic ones, as well as anything involving puzzles.
Filmhounds Magazine •

The Unsung Brilliance Of Dennis Price — Kind Hearts and Coronets At 75

Ealing Studios is responsible for some of the most slyly subversive films in the history of cinema. As a studio it dipped its toes in genres like war and horror with Went The Day Well? and Dead Of Night, but it's best remembered today for comedy classics like The Ladykillers, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man In The White Suit, and Whisky Galore. Of these, Robert Hamer's Kind Hearts And Coronets stands as the pinnacle of what the studio achieved.
Critical popcorn •

The Cat And The Canary Blu-ray review: Dir. Paul Leni [Masters Of Cinema]

The Cat And The Canary is one of the most quietly influential horror films of early cinema. It’s one of the first Universal horror films, and one of the first American Gothic films. While not the first example of either, it’s also a definite antecedent of both the haunted house sub-genre and the horror comedy. In fact the film essentially sets the template for pretty much every episode of Scooby Doo.
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