Eco Sci-Fi: Dead forests, mutant animals, food riots

We look at environmentally-concerned science fiction with Silent Running, directed by special effects genius Douglas Trumbull, the Roger Corman-produced mutant sea monster movie Humanoids from the Deep, the dystopian and prescient Soylent Green, post-apocalyptic adventure Damnation Alley and Saul Bass’s only film Phase IV, also the subject of our Reel Sounds column. We have an article on director Larry Fessenden and an Online Movie column on the Astronomy Photographer of the Year while in Alter Ego, dystopian SF writer Alastair Bruce identifies with Fargo‘s Marge Gunderson.

At the cinema we review the Guillermo del Toro-produced Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Soderbergh’s pandemic movie Contagion, hard-hitting Mexican drama Miss Bala, intelligent murder thriller The Silence and exhilarating Korean crime drama The Yellow Sea.

In the DVDs, we look at two depictions of murderers, the unflinching Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Michael Mann’s take on Hannibal Lecktor, Manhunter, as well as ground-breaking 90s Harlem gangster drama Juice. Our Comic Strip Review is on Quatermass and the Pit.

After the Venice festival we look at rape on film. We have an article on Maya Deren and an interview with Michael Tully about Septien. In Short Cuts, we review expressionistic animation film Lipsett Diaries. In the Film Jukebox, bombastic Welsh pop-rockers Race Horses pick their favourites. In the Blog, we report on Toronto, L’Etrange Festival, Raindance and the London Film Festival.

PODCAST:
Wicker Tree/Buried Land: In this special Halloween-themed podcast, Alex Fitch talks to three directors who have made films about man’s relationship with the land: Robin Hardy, Larry Fessenden and Steven Eastwood.