Articles by MARTIN UNSWORTH
STAR WARS: GALACTIC RACER
PLATFORM: PS5 (REVIEWED), PC, XBOX SERIES | RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 6TH High-speed racing and the Star Wars galaxy are a natural fit, so it’s strange that we haven’t had a racing game set in the galaxy far, far away since 2002’s Racer Revenge. Enter Galactic Racer, from Fuse Games and Secret Mode, which finds both video games and Star Wars in a very different place to 2002.
BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS
Synopsis: From legendary action director and martial arts choreographer, Yuen Woo-ping (Kill Bill, The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) comes the highest-grossing wuxia film of all time, Blades of the Guardians. Experience this global box office sensation like never before in stunning 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray combo, on standard Blu-ray, and Digital platforms. The film is presented in original Mandarin language with immersive Dolby Atmos, and an English dub track is also available.
MUM, I’M ALIEN PREGNANT
Debilitating pain, creaking bones, oozing goo, blood, and viscera from places you didn’t realise it could come from. I’m not describing the content of your favourite horror movie; instead, just describing the average pregnancy. The nine months it takes to grow a baby has long given us an abundance of content for genre cinema, and some of the most iconic films that have withstood the test of time.
RESIDENT EVIL - STARBURST Magazine
Who do we think about when we think about Resident Evil protagonists? The iconic Jill Valentine? Boulder-punching hunk Chris Redfield? Top cop twink Leon S. Kennedy? Or Milla Jovovich’s zombie slaying heroine Alice? Whoever might come to mind, they’re probably extremely capable in a zombie uprising-type situation. They’re definitely not Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier thrown into the plot of a Resident Evil game – zombies, mutants and everything.
INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER
Is it scarier to be a dentist or go to the dentist? Whichever side of the chair you sit on, Insidious: Out of the Further is sure to leave your teeth itching with anxiety. Filling in for the Lambert family, Gemma Hall (Amelia Eve) is the one afflicted this time, thanks to a family curse (or gift?) handed down by her troubled mother. Traumatised after watching mum (Laura Gordon) dash her head against a bathroom wall as a child, Gemma grows up to become a mommy too, to little Maya (Island Austin).
HIGH ROAD TO CHINA (1983)
Tom Selleck famously missed out on playing Indiana Jones due to his Magnum P.I. commitments, but High Road to China offered him the opportunity to star in his own globe-trotting adventure. While it never reaches the heights of Raiders of the Lost Ark, it remains an enjoyable Sunday afternoon romp, now re-released on Blu-ray from Toy Robot Video.
FrightFest Announces New Headline Sponsor
The 2026 FrightFest takes place in London in August and the team has just announced this year’s headline sponsor, Tubi. Tubi, Fox Corporation’s ad-supported streaming service, will take part in the landmark partnership that brings together the streaming service that delivers the largest collection of free movies and TV episodes in the UK, with the UK’s most popular genre film festival. Moving forward, the 2026 five-day festival will be officially known as Tubi FrightFest.
ASSASSIN'S CREED: BLACK FLAG RESYNCED
PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: JULY 9TH Often considered as one of the top-tier entries in the long-running Assassin’s Creed series, Black Flag felt like a breath of fresh air when it was first released in 2013.
TREASURE OF THE LOST REEL
A love letter to film preservation, Nate Neal’s Treasure of the Lost Reel is Indiana Jones for cinephiles. Heck (Sean Shannon) is a teacher by day and a hunter of lost film in his spare time. His latest acquisition is a rare Boffo cartoon. He’s approached by Bellamy (Kevin R. Free), who makes a convincing argument that his grandfather created a character, Biffo, which the company Pinnacle (who are definitely not Disney, no, sir… not at all) used to ‘inspire’ Boffo.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe almost nails it. It’s a funny, vibrant reboot with a big heart and even bigger designs on the definition of machismo, compartmentalising nostalgia so that something more earnest and forward-facing can emerge. It’s also an ugly and frustrating film, because despite being packed with great moments and ideas, it can’t help but feel messy, fragmented, and unwilling to commit to itself.
TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA
It’s no hyperbole to say that Jane Schoenbrun is redefining how we see genre films. The filmmaker forces the audience to question everything from their identity to their most closely-held views, insecurities, and fears, all the while playing with traditional tropes to turn horror on its head.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
It has been 40 years since He-Man’s rippling abs have graced the big screen, and this reboot of the beloved Mattel toyline, which is equally as inspired by the likewise cherished ‘80s animated series and the now cult 1987 feature film adaptation, has been a long time coming. Undergoing a lot of changes over its years in development, it is by the power of Grayskull that this new film has found its way to summer blockbuster season.
DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968)
Based on the hugely-popular fumetti neri (“black comic”) Diabolik series created in 1962 by Italian comic book writers Angela and Luciana Giussani, Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik is a wild, madcap, surreal and really rather bonkers 1960s pop art masterpiece. It’s a film that couldn’t be the product of any other decade than the 1960s, with its bright primary-colour pallet, arch performances, and absurdist plotting.
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It’s been over a quarter of a century since Maul, the red-skinned, horned lord of the Sith, made his Star Wars debut. Now, following his incredible resurrection in The Clone Wars, he finally has his own series – proof that some things are worth waiting for. Maul – Shadow Lord is a breathless, carnal and stylish series that leans heavily into its protagonist’s appeal, while living and breathing the history of Star Wars. The animation style has come so far since The Clone Wars.
FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974)
Filmed in 1972 and released in 1974, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell might not have been quite the last gasp for Hammer, but the legendary studio’s breathing was becoming distinctly laboured and it was clearly on life support after a sustained assault by a new generation of filmmakers creating a new breed of horror film.
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PLATFORM: PC, PS5, SWITCH, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW More than twenty years years since we last saw Kain and his goth mates from the dark fantasy Legacy of Kain games (if you don’t include the recent remasters, that is), the series has been resurrected for a brand new instalment. Ascendance moves away from its predecessors’ 3D formula, instead taking the form of a side-scrolling 2D action platformer with both feet firmly planted on the “retro inspired” side of the room.
I KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU DIE
With a delicious premise at its heart, I Know Exactly How You Die looks intriguing on paper, but its execution is so poor that it fails to convey its own inner logic with any satisfaction. Hack writer Rian (Rushabh Patel) checks into a seedy motel to write his latest slasher novel, while coming to terms with breaking up with his girlfriend. The protagonist of his book appears as the traumatised Sarah (Stephanie Hogan) on the run from a stalker.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY (1971)
Jess Franco’s follow-up to the hypnotic Vampyros Lesbos carries over many of the cast and the director’s singular style. Following the death of her controversial scientist husband, Soledad Miranda’s character becomes an avenging angel of death, seeking out those who persecuted him and hounded him to commit suicide.
The Greatest Casino Movies Ever Made
Casino films have a special kind of electricity. They are rarely just about cards, chips or roulette wheels. The best ones are about temptation, nerve, greed, glamour, desperation and that ridiculous human belief that one more hand might change everything. Put a character under the glow of a casino floor, give them a drink, a debt, a secret or a plan, and suddenly you have cinema doing what it does best: making bad decisions look magnificent.
DRAGONKIN: THE BANISHED
PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW Closely following the familiar action RPG formula, Dragonkin asks players to save the world by stepping into the shoes of one of four classes – a knight (tank), barbarian (brawler), oracle (mage) or tracker (ranged) – and fighting through a roughly 12-hour campaign. An isometric looter along the same lines as Diablo, Torchlight 2 and Path of Exile, Dragonkin differentiates itself from its peers with its levelling system.
READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME
2019’s Ready Or Not was an unexpected delight. Transforming the then mildly famous Samara Weaving (then best known for Netflix’s teen-centric horror The Babysitter… and Home and Away) into an instant horror icon, and propelling directors Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) onto the horror A-list, with two Scream entries and the wildly entertaining Abagail following. The ironic part of this is that, for the most part, the movie is more of a black comedy than a horror.
LEGACY OF KAIN: DEFIANCE REMASTERED
PLATFORM: PC, PS4/5, SWITCH, XBOX ONE/SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (SWITCH TBC) As many retro game fans will be able to attest, being accustomed to modern gaming sensibilities can make revisiting older titles feel like a bit of a bugger, to put it politely.
IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU
No film has made this writer feel so anxious and tense quite like this one did. Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is an absolute masterpiece in exploring the struggles of a working mother who has the whole world against her. It’s strongly focused on mental health and the difficulty of balancing all your responsibilities, while also being a psychological horror relating to the sheer pressure mothers are put through from start to finish.
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