TRANS-SCRIBE

Daniel Radcliffe Responds To JK Rowling Transphobia

Following harmful statements made by the world famous Harry Potter author JK Rowling, read more here, titular star of the movies Daniel Radcliffe has responded, coming out in support of the trans community.

Radcliffe made the statement through the LGBTQ+ suicide prevention charity The Trevor Project.

I realize that certain press outlets will probably want to paint this as in-fighting between J.K. Rowling and myself, but that is really not what this is about, nor is it what’s important right now. While Jo is unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken, as someone who has been honored to work with and continues to contribute to The Trevor Project for the last decade, and just as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment.

Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I. According to The Trevor Project, 78% of transgender and nonbinary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity. It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm.

I am still learning how to be a better ally, so if you want to join me in learning more about transgender and nonbinary identities check out The Trevor Project’s Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth. It’s an introductory educational resource that covers a wide range of topics, including the differences between sex and gender, and shares best practices on how to support transgender and nonbinary people.

To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.

Love always,

Dan

Monday, 8 June 2020

Hope Island by Tim Major - Book Review

'Workaholic TV news producer Nina Scaife is determined to fight for her daughter, Laurie, after her partner Rob walks out on her. She takes Laurie to visit Rob's parents on the beautiful but remote Hope Island, to prove to her that they are still a family. But Rob's parents are wary of Nina, and the islanders are acting strangely. And as Nina struggles to reconnect with Laurie, the silent island children begin to lure her daughter away.

'Meanwhile, Nina tries to resist the scoop as she is drawn to a local artists' commune, the recently unearthed archaeological site on their land, and the dead body on the beach... '

I really enjoyed Tim Major's debut work Snakeskins, which came out last year. The mixture of interesting science fiction, political conspiracy, and coming of age drama was wonderful to read, and made me very excited for Hope Island.

Hope Island was a much smaller story than I was expecting, in the sense that it was really the story of one family, and one woman in particular. Where Snakeskins had crafted a whole different world, this time Major focuses on a more personal level, as we see what happens when someone's world ends.

Nina Scaife has left her home and her all consuming job in the UK to travel to the US, visiting the parents of her partner Rob for the first time. Whilst she's never been to the remote Hope Island herself, her daughter Laurie has visited before, and Nina's hoping that her love of the island and her grandparents will make the news she has to break easier on them both. She plans to tell her teenage daughter, and Rob's parents, that Rob has walked out on them, leaving them for another woman that he's been seeing for years secretly.

We spend a good while with Nina as she struggles to find the right time to break this news. We see how much Rob leaving her has shaken a woman who seems to normally be a very strong and confident person. She's doubting herself, she' hurting. Add to that the fact that she's never really got on with her in-laws, and the fact that the island is remote and filled with strange people, it's a wonder Nina holds herself together so well.

Her whole life has been turned upside down, and she's having to face the possibility that she might not have been the best mother she could have, having put her career before her family for so many years. She's close to breaking.

I really enjoyed the switch from such a large scale story in Major's last book to this incredibly personal story, and so much of the first half of the book is given over to seeing Nina's reactions to these recent changes. She begins to lose herself a little, and it's a little like watching someone slip closer and closer to madness as you begin to realise she might be having something of an emotional breakdown.

Dotted throughout these early parts of the novel, however, are hints that something strange, and even sinister, might be happening on Hope Island. The children are weird. I don't just mean that they're into odd things or anything like that, you want to think Midwich Cuckoos type weird.

Whilst I did enjoy the personal drama that was happening in Hope Island that wasn't the thing I turned up for, I wanted the creepy horror that the blurb described. And whilst the book did get very creepy towards the end I couldn't help but feel that maybe we should have had some more stuff happen before to tease it out a little. Other than the kids acting very quite and a little off there wasn't much to remind me that this was supposed to be something of a horror, to the point where when things did become overtly horror I was almost taken by surprise as I was just reading a very real story about a woman whose relationship had just ended.

By the time things really started to happen we'd spent so long with Nina and her slipping emotions that there were a few things that happened where I was expecting it to be some kind of dream or hallucination. For some of these moments it was the case, but there was one particularly long and important sequence where I kept expecting Nina to wake up, so was thrown when she didn't. These kinds of feelings were exacerbated towards the end where the narrative kept flicking between the rel world and some kind of dreamscape.

I imagine this sense of confusion and paranoia were intentional on Major's part, to really put us in Nina's shoes, where you could never quite be sure if what was happening was real or not. It added to the sense of unease that permeated the book, but it also meant that I had to find myself concentrating hard on the narrative to keep track of things in my head; which did sadly take away a little of the enjoyment for me.

Overall, however, the book was very good, and Major was able to craft a slowly unfolding, creepy story that never gave you a moment to relax or feel at ease. The 'thing' that is behind the events (I won't really describe it in any way as to avoid spoiler) was something that I'd genuinely not seen before. It felt new and unique, something that almost couldn't work in any other format other than a written story. I was hugely impressed with the strange direction the book took towards the end, and how suddenly some of the weird little moments from earlier in the book all clicked into place and made perfect sense.

Hope Island subverted my expectations not only from the description, but also from what I was expecting based on Tim Major's other work. He's proven that he can craft a layered and intriguing personal story that will test the mind and push readers into bold new directions. A slow building and strange horror that's sure to stick out from the crowd.

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Sunday, 7 June 2020

Author JK Rowling Engages In Open Transphobia On Social Media

Globally beloved author of the Harry Potter series JK Rowling has come under well deserved criticism online following a series of tweets where she openly engaged in hostile attacks on the transgender community.

Rowling has been suspected of holding transphobic views for a while now. She's been seen liking tweets from open transphobes that have been bigoted towards the trans community, and has even said some things that have set alarm bells ringing within the trans community. These previous times, however, have been 'explained' away as being innocent mistakes, or trans people trying to find fault in what she's said and drawing the wrong conclusion.

Last month, whilst responding to children about her new story The Ikabog Rowling sent a tweet to a child that included a copy and paste from a transphobic article. She apologised for doing so, and she and her defenders claimed that there was nothing transphobic in her actions as she was simply reading about an incident involving a trans person. Whilst reading about things is of course not transphobic, the fact that she was reading an article that refused to acknowledge that trans person's identity, and seemed to be copying it to her clipboard for later use, did make some uncomfortable.

That same day Rowling used her position of power and wealth to threaten a trans journalist with legal action to make them remove their article that criticised her.

All of what she has previously done has been defended and justified by her supporters, and the idea that she's a transphobe has continued to be pushed as some kind of conspiracy theory. All this changed last night, however, as the author engaged in several tweets that cannot be seen as anything as transphobic, and a hostile attack on the transgender community.

Rowling seems to have been spurred into this attack on the trans community after she saw an article that used the term 'people who menstruate'. The author felt that this was wrong as she believes the only people who can have periods are women. This invalidates a huge number of people, such as transgender men, non-binary people, and intersex people. It seems to push the idea that in order to be a woman one needs to have a period, something that trans women don't have, as well as some cis women for a number of reasons.

People justifiably called her out on these views and tried to inform her that her understanding of sex and gender was not only incorrect, but that sharing it the way she was was also confrontational and rude. Rowling defended her position by claiming that she had spoken to her 'butch lesbian friend', and that they had said it was okay. Yes, she used the 'I've got a black friend so aren't racist' excuse. Please, no one point out to her that queer people aren't one collective intelligence represented by her one friend, and that some lesbians are transphobes too.

Rowling has also tried to make herself the victim in this situation by claiming that people calling her a TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) is somehow attacking her and her womanhood, equating the word to mean the same as 'bitch' and 'witch'. It's a shame that as one of the most famous authors on the planet she fails to understand what words are, and uses them completely wrong. But then you don't need to dig too deep into her books to see that her writing isn't the best. Perhaps understanding of language, like science, escapes her.

Rowling has tried to backpedal some of her comments, by claiming to be an ally to the trans people, saying that she would stand beside us if we were discriminated against. If we were discriminated against. If. In this one tweet Rowling has told the world that she doesn't think that trans people face discrimination. Despite engaging in it herself.

The level of disconnect that Rowling is displaying, to claim to have read masses of scientific texts on the subject, yet still denying the science, of saying she stands by the trans community, but then says we don't experience discrimination whilst engaging in it herself are absolutely staggering.

We all know (I hope) that Rowling has had a history of troubling things in her work. From goblins in Harry Potter that play on anti-simetic caricatures, to minimal representation for people of colour, to racist tropes and names, to making a transphobic character in one of her mystery books. She has repeatedly said and done things that are harmful to marginalised groups and has never apologised for them.

It's also worth noting that Rowling is friends with, and began a charity with, Baroness Nicholson, a member of the House of Lords who has not only openly attacked trans rights and legislation, but called a trans child a sexual predator.

Rowling has tweeted nothing about the Black Lives Matter movement. She hasn't given her solidarity or support to people fighting for their rights and their lives across the world right now. With all of her influence and power she's done nothing to help that cause. But she found time to make several tweets that target the trans community. During Pride Month no less.

JK Rowling is not a good person. The mask she wears to present herself as such has had cracks in it for a long while now, but it seems to have finally fallen away to show the bigot beneath. She engages in actions that are harmful and nasty. JK Rowling is a bigot, who is sharing bigoted views to attack a minority. It's time people stopped supporting her and giving her money. There are plenty of better people in the world, and charities that would make better use of the cash.

Friday, 5 June 2020

[Rec] 2 – 10 Years Later

Originally published on Set The Tape

[Rec] 2 was released in the UK on 28th May 2010. Spoilers ahead!

The 2007 Spanish horror movie Rec was a pretty good film. It followed a documentary crew who were making a film about a night in the life of a local Fire Rescue crew, and the call they received that caused them to get trapped inside an apartment building. The film featured a new twist on the zombie/infection genre, and was relatively well received.

When it was announced that there was going to be a sequel, and one that would pick up only hours later, fans knew that writer/directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza would have to do something new and interesting to make sure that the sequel wasn’t just more of the same. And they managed this with a twist that I don’t think anyone was really expecting.

During the latter stages of the first film it’s revealed that the infection that’s spread through the residents of the apartment building began because a priest was treating a young girl for supposed demonic possession, and that the infection she carried spread out into the rest of the building. It was assumed by many fans that this was a disease that the priests had assumed was demonic in origin, as conditions such as epilepsy were in the past. What Rec 2 does, however, is twists this expectation and reveals that the entire infection is in fact mass demonic possession.

Yes, the ‘zombie/infected’ people are actually under the control of a demon that’s passing its control on to others through the blood, effectively building itself an army of crazed killers. This reveal completely changes the way you have to think about the sequel, and also makes you go back and reexamine the first film too. It’s also one of the few times that I’m aware of that a virus type film such as this is given a pure supernatural origin, and it certainly makes it stand out.

Despite this revelation, Rec 2 is very similar to the original. Whilst it gets into the action much quicker here, and there isn’t the slow building of tension as you’re waiting for something bad to happen, events run a very similar course. There’s something wrong inside the building, a team gets sent in, they battle the infected, and have to make their way to the top of the building. Things are made a little different with the introduction of multiple points of view as a number of the soldiers have cameras, and a group of teens manage to sneak inside, but it does feel in some ways a retreading of the original.

I think if you were to watch the two films back to back it would probably flow a bit better, and would feel like two halves of one story. This way you wouldn’t really mind so much that it’s happening in the same location, and that many of the characters have returned as infected.

Despite not really being too different from the first film I do kind of have a soft spot for it for the level of surprise I felt the first time I saw it. Rec 2 might not stand out amongst the rest of the Rec series (that would probably be Rec 3), but it certainly sticks out in my mind as a neat twist on the zombie/infection genre.

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Thursday, 4 June 2020

Prince Of Darkness (1987) – Cinema From The Year I Was Born

Originally published on Set The Tape

If you ask people to name some of their favourite John Carpenter films they’ll usually give you some of the bigger names, like Halloween, The Thing, or Escape From New York. These are all great films, and ones that I love, but one that it seems that people often forget about is not only one of my favourites, but also from the year I was born: 1987’s Prince of Darkness.

Prince of Darkness follows an unnamed priest played by Donald Pleasance, who requests that quantum physicist Professor Birack (Victor Wong) and his students join him to investigate at a church in downtown Los Angeles. The church was home to the mysterious sect known as ‘The Brotherhood of Sleep’, which is all but gone. The priest needs assistance in investigating a mysterious cylinder in the church basement, filled with swirling green liquid, and a strange, ancient text.

The team of young scientists begin their investigation, discovering that the text claims the liquid is the corporeal embodiment of Satan. The liquid seems to defy all scientific logic, and the scientists begin to believe it may have otherworldly origins.

I’ve got to be honest, the combination of logic and the supernatural, of science and religion presented in Prince of Darkness is one of the things that I love most about this film. It takes the standard horror trope of otherworldly forces and tries to give it a grounding in our understanding of the modern world, presenting it as perhaps a science that we just don’t understand yet. The idea that Satan might be the son of an Anti-God, a being who presides in the anti-matter universe, is so crazy it’s actually kind of brilliant and something that could only come from a mind as creative and skilled as John Carpenter.

Despite some kind of new ideas about the science of the devil the film is very traditional horror fare, with a group of people trapped in a location they don’t want to be in as they’re slowly picked off one at a time. In this case it’s because the church gets surrounded by a group of homeless people under the influence of the supernatural forces, who will kill anyone trying to leave the building. The fact that these homeless killers are led by Alice Cooper makes these scenes kind of brilliant too, especially when Cooper breaks out his famous impaling bike trick from his live shows and uses it on one of the poor scientists.

Much of the action in Prince of Darkness is like this, sudden and violent, with some very gruesome and disturbing moments. Whilst the film doesn’t splash gore around it does show enough to leave you feeling very uncomfortable during these moments, and it’s more the abject fear that the characters go through that makes these deaths intense over blood and guts.

Thankfully, Carpenter seems to bring back a lot of the stuff that made Halloween such a good horror for this film, and relies on the slow build of tension during the early stages of the movie to keep viewers on edge. You spend time getting to know the characters, and begin to care about them to the point where some deaths will leave you crying out in disappointment as they’re people you wanted to see survive.

As with many of his films, Carpenter also provides the music for the film, and it immediately adds to the atmosphere. He knows how to produce tension through slow camera shots and creepy music in scenes that would otherwise be fairly stale and boring with other directors. There’s practically no scene in the film that doesn’t feel slightly wrong or creepy, even those before anything really happens, because of how Carpenter directs the camera and deploys the soundtrack in the right way.

Prince of Darkness might be one of the John Carpenter films that gets overshadowed by the director’s bigger hits, but is a film that should certainly not be forgotten about. Whether you’ve never seen it before, or just not seen it in a while, it’s definitely worth checking out for its amazing cast, bold ideas, and the ability to send chills down the spine every time.

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Wednesday, 3 June 2020

Space Precinct Episode 3 'Enforcer' - TV Review

Episode three of Space Precinct actually goes out of its way to focus on one of the characters for a change, and makes this the best episode of the series so far.

The episode opens on Skall Street, one of the most lawless parts of the city, and home to the Hydra Gang. An elderly Creon shopkeeper, Skeevan, is mugged by a member of the gang, but when a pair of aliens arrive on the scene to stop him the gang member suffers a heart attack and dies. These two aliens, a tarn called Trask, and an unidentified alien girl called Vala, begin to protect the citizens of Skall Street, taking on the members of the Hydra Gang. However, when they begin to demand money from the residents in exchange for this protection it becomes clear their motives are less than noble.

There's no great mystery to the plot in this episode, no killer to be found like in the last one, instead all the information is given to the viewer up front. That's because it seems like this episode isn't really about the crime at all, but instead it gives us an insight into the past of Captain Podly.

Over the course of the episode we learn that Podly grew up on Skall Street, and was even something of a crook himself when he was a kid. Having turned his life around and made something of himself he's angry that the people of his old home are being targeted, and wants to do something about it. The episode doesn't let this just sit in a clear black and white, however, as former friends of Podly call him out on the fact that he's essentially turned his back on his past. This raises some good moral questions on the issue, if Podly wasn't as concerned about Skall Street when it was being terrorised by the Hydra Gang, why should be suddenly care when someone is killing off the members of the gang now?

Honestly, this is the most thought that's been given to any of the characters in the show so far. Even Brogan, the hero of the series, hasn't really been given the spotlight in this way. We know he transferred from New York to Demeter City, but that's it. We don't know about his past, how he grew up, or really what drives him to be a good cop; yet we get that with Podly. It's a bold choice to have the first character focused episode be given over to a character who isn't even in the opening credits (as none of the alien actors are) but it's a very welcome one.

The 'surprise' reveal that Trask isn't the one killing people, but that he's using Vala to do it was pretty obvious, however, and I'm not sure if we were really supposed to suspect him or not. The episode doesn't seem to hide the fact that Trask can't be trusted, and the revelation that he's taking advantage of Vala seemed obvious before it happened. Despite this, Trask's a good character, and he's convincing as a villain taking advantage of the people around him. Towards the end of the episode he loses believably somewhat when he tries to send the police station crashing out of orbit as he becomes a bit more arch and transforms into a Saturday morning cartoon villain.

Overall 'Enforcer' is a very good episode, and probably the best of the series so far. Hopefully this is an indicator that the series will begin to look at their side characters more and put a bit of focus on the people rather than just the adventure of the week.

Tuesday, 2 June 2020

Star Trek: Voyager – It Isn’t That Bad!

Originally published on Set The Tape

Since the return of Star Trek onto television thanks to Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard it would seem as though the franchise has become something that fans inevitably argue over, mostly about what is and isn’t Star Trek. This isn’t anything new, however. Some fans were enraged when the franchise went back in time to explore the beginnings of the Federation in Enterprise; some were appalled with the flip-flopping behaviour and morals of the crew of Voyager; some said that it couldn’t be the same because Deep Space Nine didn’t go anywhere and was too dark; and some said The Next Generation was bad just because it wasn’t the original series.

People being angry about some aspect of the series is nothing new. Whilst some of these shows have since gone through something of a resurgence and found critical acclaim since their original airing, Deep Space Nine being a prime example, one that still seems to get a lot of hatred is Voyager.

Voyager gets a lot of hate despite previously being one of the most rewatched Star Trek shows on Netflix (according to a study by The Radio Times). It’s easy to point at things that make the show a little bad in places – Jennifer Lien’s Kes was pretty dull, and Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) was a bit erratic at times – but that’s not what I’m doing here. Instead I’m going to argue that the show is actually better than you’d think.

The Crew

Now, the crew of Voyager are probably one of the most interesting groups in Star Trek. This doesn’t necessarily mean the best crew (that’s absolutely Deep Space Nine) but interesting at least. Whilst the divisions between the Starfleet and Maquis crew wasn’t massively explored, certainly not to the extent that it might be today, there were still many episodes that focused on this.

Over the seven seasons we saw that despite friendships and romantic relationships between the two groups they often still thought of themselves as two crews, and this led to conflict. Season seven’s ‘Repression’ is a great example of how even towards the end the two crews could still create drama.

The Doctor

Robert Picardo is easily the best actor on Voyager, and is one of the all time fan favourite characters in the entire franchise. Originally supposed to be a minor recurring character, he made his Emergency Medical Hologram into a being whose journey to sentience was as exciting and engaging as Data’s (Brent Spiner) in The Next Generation. We saw his character learn how to act human, how to form friendships with people. The crew went from thinking of him as a piece of equipment to a real person, and eventually a part of their family who they’d go through hell to protect.

Whilst there are too many great episodes about The Doctor to list here, season three’s ‘Real Life’ saw him programme himself a family, so that he could learn what it’s like to have a wife and children. Thanks to some unfortunate events he has to watch his daughter, who he genuinely loves, die in front of him in what might be the most emotionally moving episode the series ever made.

The Delta Quadrant

The main premise of Voyager, a lone ship lost on the other side of the galaxy, is still one of the best set-ups the franchise has ever given a series. We have a single ship that’s separated from home, with no back-up, no reinforcements, and every species they come across a potential threat. Whilst the show did kind of ignore this sometimes, with an apparent infinite supply of shuttles and torpedo's, and the ability to get the ship looking brand new after every battle, there were occasions where the scenario was executed very well and you really felt the stakes were high for the crew.

It also added a lot more mystery to the series, as unless it was a species that kept coming back to plague them, such as the Kazon, each week viewers would be getting something brand new that’d never been seen on Star Trek before. This led to some exciting and interesting new allies and villains in the show, including the vicious Hirogen, and the terrifying Vidiians.

The Borg

The Borg are hands down one of the best alien races in Star Trek, and have become as iconic as Klingons and Vulcans. Despite this, they only featured in half a dozen episodes of The Next Generation, and only appeared in one brief flashback on Deep Space Nine. Voyager, on the other hand, got to have a whole lot more fun with this big bad, as they had to literally pass through Borg territory to get home.

Voyager didn’t over-use the Borg, but managed to feature them a number of times and, in part thanks to the introduction of Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), we got to learn so much more about them. The Borg episodes are easily some of the best Voyager has to offer, and really highlight how great a villain they are.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of what make Voyager a good show, but these are some of its best bits. But there is so much more about the show that’s good – great even. It takes a little while to find its feet, but seasons three onward are very good, and have some brilliant episodes. With the show celebrating its 25th anniversary, maybe now is a good time to give the series another go and discover that there’s actually a lot of good to be found here.

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Monday, 1 June 2020

Marvel Action: Avengers #10 – Comic Review

Originally Published on Set The Tape

Issue #10 of Marvel Action: Avengers seems to be a bit of a strange issue. To begin with it seems like a pretty simple set-up, A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) have taken over New York City, and rule it with an iron fist. They’re doing this, in part, thanks to having captured and brainwashed a number of heroes into working for them.

These heroes are A.I.M versions of themselves, fitting the colours and logo of the evil organisation, such as Spider-Mechanic, The Golden Witch, and Yellow Hulk. We learn all this through Captain America, who begins the issue as an enforcer for A.I.M. before being rescued by some of his fellow Avengers, who are now running a resistance group from a secret underground bunker.

All of this seems fairly simple, and is an interesting and engaging idea that would be good enough to play a story out of, especially as the few remaining Avengers would have to fight their former friends and colleagues to save the day. However, the final moments of the issue seem to hint that there’s actually a lot more going on here, and that everything we’d seen up to that point is simply an illusion inside Captain America’s head. There are hints that this may be due to the Fear Eaters, who were apparently beaten at the end of the last story.

Unfortunately, the issue ends there and we don’t get a clear answer to what’s going on. Now, this is bad because I want to know what happens next and have to wait to next issue to get some answers, but it’s also good comic writing as Matthew K. Manning has me wanting to know what happens next and waiting for the next issue.

I’m going to be interested in seeing if we’re going to be jumping in and out of this apparent A.I.M. illusion/dream; if the dream turns out to be real or not; or even if the events shown in the previous issue where they beat the Fear Eaters might have been fake and the heroes actually lost the battle. Or maybe there’s something else going on that doesn’t connect with those creatures at all?

Because all of the questions raised in this issue over what’s really happening I find it a little hard to say if it was a good start to the story or not. Either we’ve had a lot of set-up for what’s going on, or most of it’s just a dream and we’re just getting hints at other things to come. I think a lot of how this issue ends up feeling will largely depend on what happens in the subsequent parts, but I think this was pretty good.

The Woman / Offspring – Film Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

We take a look at popular 2011 horror film The Woman and its lesser known 2009 predecessor Offspring, as Arrow Films brings them together on Blu-ray for the first time, in a new Limited Edition set. Warning: contains spoilers.

The Woman is a film that I’d heard of long before I’d watched it, and was one that I’d seen a lot of horror fans discussing when it first came out; usually talking about how disturbing it is. It centres of the Cleek family, who live in a large farmhouse on the edge of the woods. When the father Chris (Sean Bridgers) discovers a feral woman (Pollyanna McIntosh) living in the woods he decides to capture her, chain her up in his barn, and civilise her.

Whilst the woman is supposed to be a cannibalistic killer, which is seen a lot more in Offspring, I can’t say that I can really class her as the villain of The Woman. This isn’t a film about a family who end up having to try and survive a feral killer, but a story about one twisted man’s hatred of women, and desire to abuse people.

Chris Cleek rules his family with an iron fist. His wife is a quiet and meek woman, who gets beaten, he berates his son for not doing well enough, whilst seemingly grooming to become an abuser himself, and his eldest daughter is hiding a pregnancy that the film indicates he’s responsible for. Chris is the very real monster in this film, and that helps to make it all the more disturbing. Having a feral cannibal woman chained up in your barn might not be an experience many can identify with, but being stuck in an abusive home certainly is.

The film doesn’t tip its hand though, it very slowly draws you in by making you think this is a normal family and that Chris is a nice guy. Before you know it though it’s clear he’s a violent abuser, but by then it’s too late. Like being in an abusive relationship the film shows you a nice front before it hits you the brutal reality.

Things do take a more open, horror turn by the gory end, but by then it feels more like a relief, because it breaks the mounting tension that has built within the Cleek home. Whilst the abusers of the film do get their comeuppance it doesn’t feel like a victory, and it left me feeling depressed by the time the credits rolled. It wasn’t a bad film because of this, but it’s not a fun type of horror film; it’s a film that you need to be in the right mood for because of the constant sense of oppression and sadness that seems to permeate its entirety.

Offspring, by contrast, feels a lot more like what you’d expect from a cannibal horror movie. The film is less oppressive, and there are very clear distinctions between the heroes and villains. There are good people who fall victim to the woman’s feral family, and you root for them to survive. The cops are there to try and save the women and children, and the douche-bag ex-husband is a dick and gets what he deserves before the end.

It’s what I would expect from a film like this, it ticked all the boxes and didn’t really try to do anything different or special, so didn’t stand out to me as particularly great. That’s a note that falls much more on the shoulders of The Woman.

The set offered by Arrow Films is an interesting one, as it’s got a fairly standard, almost forgettable movie, and one that’s going to affect you a lot more and stick with you for longer. It certainly makes for an interesting study in how the series changed from one film to the next though, and makes for an engaging comparison between the two.

The Blu-ray also comes with a host of extras for each film, including multiple commentaries for each film, including newly recorded ones, cast and crew interviews, behind the scenes making-of’s, webisodes, and deleted scenes. Sadly, I was only provided with a screener for the movies, so didn’t get a chance to see these extras, but I’d definitely be interested to learn more about the films and their making, and think that the extras on offer here sound like they’d definitely scratch that itch.

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