Our autumn issue is available now at selected retailers and cinemas or online from Wallflower Press for a 15% discount! The theme is cruel games, from the politics of human blood sport in the Corman-produced ultra-violent Death Race, to sadistic power play in Korean thriller A Bloody Aria, fascist games in German hit The Wave and Stanley Kubrick’s career-long fascination with game-playing. Plus: an interview with comic book master Charles Burns about the stunning animated film Fear(s) of the Dark and a fantastic London Film Festival comic strip, which surely is worth the price of the issue alone!

This month’s film releases include Wong Kar Wai’s sumptuous Ashes of Time Redux, acclaimed documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad, taut South Korean thriller The Chaser, superb animé The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Hong Kong experiment in collective filmmaking Triangle, directed by Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnnie To.

In the DVD releases, we look at Carl Dreyer’s masterpiece of eeriness Vampyr, the Walter Hill Collection, which includes minimalist thriller The Driver and urban subculture shocker The Warriors, art documentary Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe, Judex, a surreal treat from George Franju, the Ennio Morricone-scored giallo Who Saw Her Die?, more Italian exploitation with Inglorious Bastards, soon to be remade by Quentin Tarantino, and a discussion of seminal sci-fi movie Dark City.

We also preview the 16th Raindance Film Festival and the Compass of Mystery Film Festival, report on Film4 FrightFest 2008, investigate the MacGuffin Library and talk to Helen McCarthy about Japanese manga and animé master Osamu Tezuka. And we have an interview with Ivan Kavanagh, whose Tin Can Man was the talk of last year’s Sydney Underground Film Festival.

In the Short Cuts, we have a profile of Sebastian Godwin and Tom Harper, who both won awards at last year’s Raindance Film Festival. In the Film Jukebox, Greg Weeks from Espers regales us with psychedelic folk and erudite film choices.

The Electric Sheep Magazine team