U2’s long term manager Paul McGuiness penned an article for The Daily Telegraphwebsite last week in which he claimed that the end of the free digital music era is nigh, thanks to internet service providers (ISPs) in North America finally embracing their “obligation” to prevent “copyright thefts on their networks.”

North American ISPs are due to install a system of “copyright alerts” for those who download music (or any other media) by illegal means. Those who ignore such warnings can expect to face “deterrent sanctions” (nice and vague!) France began tackling the problem of illegal file sharing similarly back in 2007 and it would appear that ISPs in the UK will soon follow suit also, thanks to the government’s recent passing of 2010’s Digital Economy Act.

The “deterrent sanctions” may not be consistent across different countries but it is obvious that such repercussions will need to be harsh to see them have significant effect and force the majority of consumers to switch to legitimate ways of acquiring digital files. As a regular user of BitTorrent, it is obvious that I would be unwelcoming of such changes being implemented in the UK.

I am sure that I am not the only person who often relies on the joy of music to soften the blows that life can bring. The cost of living continues to increase whilst our pay packets do not however and this can make it incredibly hard for me to build upon my own CD collection (I actually prefer owning CDs above music downloads). I would like to point out that I do not just steal music via torrents – I buy CDs whenever I am not staring into the abyss of bad credit and I also have a Premium subscription to music streaming service Spotify.

Spotify is one such service which is likely to be encouraged in the wake of ISP copyright crackdown initiatives. It is worth pointing out that this once fully ad-supported (and therefore free) service moved into a subscription model earlier this year whilst concurrently severely restricting the amount of music that users continuing to use the free version of the service can listen to.

Despite the fact that the Spotify service is no doubt a fantastic one that offers impressive value for money (debit or credit cards are charged just £9.99 a month to access a colossal jukebox!) there are some significant artists and albums missing from its catalogue. Just a few that I personally wish I could access through the service include the AC/DC, Metallica and Tool discographies, mewithoutYou’s ‘Brother, Sister’, Reuben’s ‘In Nothing We Trust’ and Pendulum’s ‘Hold Your Colour.’ If I want to hear a particular track or album that I do not currently own on CD and is also not available via Spotify, I am left with little choice but to turn to Google to hunt out a live torrent for said music.

I argue that this is fair enough (but I would, wouldn’t I!) I contend though, that the more music I am exposed to, the higher the amount of money that I am likely to put back into the industry via the purchasing of gig and festival tickets and merchandise - which, funnily enough, are the arms that bands and artists tend to make the most profit from.  

Admittedly though, there are some individuals who take the piss and download more music than they could ever possibly listen to and/or torrent despite the fact that their bank accounts are heaving. Whilst I would like UK ISPs to implement an “illegal torrent cap” on their customers (perhaps allowing each to download a maximum of 2GBs via torrents each month), this is incredibly unlikely, for it would suggest that the ISPs condone such behaviour.

The ISPs should work with consumers on this issue instead of against them considering that 95% of music downloads are of the illegal variety according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) – this fact could equate to a hell of a lot of (arguably pointless) punishments and/or arrests!

Usually, when there is a will, there is a way and so if ISPs do implement torrent-blocking legislation, the computer nerds of the world will find a way to get around and/or disguise the fact that we’re all torrenting.

Hopefully…

Hello Tumblr followers!

So it has been a ridiculously long time since I posted anything to this blog and for this I apologise. My excuse? Well, I managed to secure myself a full time job (as an SEO copywriter) with SEO and web design agency Fresh Egg back in October 2010, located in Worthing on the UK’s south coast. Although I love my new role, it does mean that I now spend the majority of my time writing about an endless list of topics…but rarely music!   

I am hoping to return to reviewing albums and live shows (including Deftones’ Reading Festival warm up show in August!) ASAP but in the meantime, you might be interested to read the following post I recently wrote for website Moon and Back Music; “But It’s Cheaper Online!: The High Street Price Point Of Music.” The articlediscusses why an increasing number of consumers are leaving the high street and turning to the internet to acquire new music in the form of CDs – yes, many of us still buy music in this physical format despite what some industry types would have you believe! 

I will also be posting again later on today with an article discussing whether or not the age of free music - perpetuated by the internet - is soon to come to end. 

Written by Kat Cole for MidnightMixtape.com [LINK]

Release date: September 8^th, 2010

Many a hip, alternative-young-adult type would readily deny ever owning a copy of the 26th best-selling album of all time, but the success and vast appeal of Linkin Park’s debut Hybrid Theory was no doubt rooted in its’ not particularly big or clever - but certainly infectious and accessible - song craft.  A decade and two full lengths later - in addition to no particular sharp steers away from the accepted formula - enter A Thousand Suns; the bands’ first (whisper it!) concept album which deals with themes of nuclear warfare. “On this record, the concepts blend human ideas with technology […] Human fears, your fear of what’s going to happen in the world “, said LP rapper Mike Shinoda to MTV.

Fair enough.

The album contrasts with its predecessors as a somewhat disjointed work, their talent for seamless genre cohesion seemingly faltering in the wake of pseudo-artiness and an unwelcome smattering of sonic non sequiturs (read as; “redundant interludes”). A Thousand Suns opens with two of said interludes; ‘The Requiem’ gently lullaby-ing vocals from first single ‘The Catalyst’ by it’s end, followed by ‘The Radiance’ which features “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer quoting Hindu scripture. It’s all sounding quite Pendulum-intro-epic-esque, so third track ‘Burning in the Skies’ revealing itself as a lazily-penned ballad is a jarring anticlimax.

‘When They Come for Me’ - with it’s middle-eastern yodel and rhythmic, tribal swagger - is an energetic surprise by this point, but is frustratingly followed by another slow ditty, this time the breathy 90s-boyband-akin ‘Robot Boy’. Ballads are arguably the bane of this record, with the later ‘Iridescent’ equating an expansive yawn fest and acoustic album closer ‘The Messenger’ – with Chester Bennington’s croaky, shouting-serenade – a cringe ridden, aurally painful experience.

Despite this however,the album is not a complete disaster, with some interesting moments emerging from the experimental tangle. The bark of ‘Blackout’ brings the nu-metal balls of 2000 back, but this time shrouded by a divergent stomping euro-dance loop. Cheesy but melodically indulgent second single ‘Waiting for the End’ explores a softer side of Bennington’s vocals, somewhat reminiscent of Green Day’s Billie Joe, rendering Shinoda’s laughable input (almost) forgivable. The RATM-inspired, political crunch of ‘Wretches and Kings’ is head-banging highlight and sees Bennington’s vocal warp into a spat staccato that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Disturbed record (which is better than it sounds!)

A Thousand Suns is a frustrating release. Although it indicates that the ‘Park are an outfit with ideas beyond those which propelled them to household name status, the mixing and track placements are often ill-advised. But it is a bold effort, and whilst it may not be a work of great longevity, the less forlorn moments will certainly benefit from repeat listens from the more determined of LP fanatics. 

Written/Edited by Kat Cole on behalf of Mud Hut Digital.

“…an impressive professionalism and an enigmatic musical presence that belies their status as relative newcomers… Keep an eye on this lot.”

Rock Pulse Magazine

“…a collision between dark, clashing soundscapes, and bright, catchy melodies which seep like honey through a toxic sea”

MusicTowers.co.uk

Too long has indie-rock ‘gazed at its shoes’ in a desperate attempt to appear to not be trying too hard.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

www.myspace.com/rev78official

www.mudhut.co.uk

Review: Kat Cole

Pineapple Express (2008)

Director: David Gordon Green

OK, I admit it. I watched this film with every intention of hating it. I just never imagined it would be so easy!

Dale Denton (Seth Rogan) is a lazy, pot smoking court-process clerk who meets a new dealer named Saul Silver (James Franco) in his quest to get high. Saul hooks Dale up with a quarter of “Pineapple Express”, a rare and potent strain of bud.

Later, Dale becomes the only witness of a murder conducted by a bent female copper and the notorious and dangerous Ted Jones (Gary Cole), the city’s biggest drug dealer. Dale is spotted by the perpetrators and tries to quickly drive away from the scene, hitting two cars and dropping his roach as he does so. Saul later informs Dale that the strain of weed is so rare that his abandonment of the roach is enough that it can be traced back to him and so they run for their lives, stalked by the bad guys hell-bent on the urge to kill the pair.

If only they had managed!

The best part of the film was also the most disappointing; witnessing James Franco getting stabbed in the shoulder with a fork. Disappointing because it should have been Seth Rogan, and for real. This man is completely infuriating. One has to wonder if he has any other performance angle than the frantic, yelling idiot he continually portrays. Go sit on the naughty step Rogan; you are not funny, nor do you have the redeeming quality of attractiveness. ARGH!

Not even the bloody demolishment of his ear later on in the film was enough to satisfy my hate of this man. Anyone with half a brain cell who has also sat through this travesty would agree with my desire to repeatedly punch the sod in the face. Though that would involve touching the cretin. Eugh.

How could you not want to punch this face?

Pineapple Express is - primarily - extremely slow paced. I’m guessing that this was the “artistic” aim of the director; to reflect the mental delays that stoners can experience whenever under the influence however, I simply found this yawn and anger inducing.

I don’t want or need to have 100s of different cannabis strains reeled off to me, or see the characters constantly sparking unless it leads to decent plot advancements and/or actual humour.

Pineapple Express’ attempt to be clever through the hybridisation of the comedy and action genres failed in my opinion, leaving me nothing but a sour after taste and a new “what-the-fuck!?” furrow to my brow.

Review: Kat Cole

Eagle VS. Shark (2007)

Director: Taika Cohen

Lily (Loren Horsley) is a shy, strange and awkward girl working her last week as a cashier at a fast food restaurant. Lily has developed a crush on one of the stores’ regulars; Jarrod (Jermaine Clement), an equally awkward but apparently self-assured geek who works in a local video games store. Jarrod manages to resist Lily’s initial advances in the form of free cheese on his burger, though he does not refuse her odd offer of a free upgrade to big fries with his meal.

Jarrod much prefers Jenny, another - more conventionally attractive – cashier at the restaurant.  One day Jarrod brings Jenny an invitation to his come-as-your-favourite-animal party, though she is not working that day so he reluctantly leaves it with Lily to pass on, which she does only to witness Jenny mock Jarrod’s interest and throw the invite into the trash. Lily fishes it out of the bin and simultaneously discovers the true – and rather harsh - reason as to why she recently became redundant from her restaurant job.

Lily decides to attend the party with her brother Damon who is already a friend of Jarrod, hoping that he will not mind.  Jarrod is impressed with her shark costume, amusingly remarking that he almost came as that animal himself, but then realised that an eagle – his costume – was “slightly better”. After an impressive stint by Lily on a video game called Fight Man, Jarrod’s interest is sparked and the two end up in bed:

Jarrod: You wanna have sex?

…

Lily: Ummm. OK.

After the seemingly mediocre event, Lily decides her new career should be to (innocently) stalk Jarrod as much a possible. The rest of the film is very much built around character development (especially that of Jarrod) and acts to document how two weirdoes can fall in love despite their problems.

Review: Kat Cole

What Happens in Vegas (2008)

Director: Tom Vaughan

Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz) has just been humiliatingly dumped by her fiancé. Jack Fuller (Ashton Kutcher) has just been fired by his own father. Simultaneously, they are individually convinced by their best friends (Tipper (Lake Bell) and Hater (Rob Corddry) respectively) to spend the weekend drinking and partying away their woes in the City of Sin.

A room booking error at the hotel in Vegas means that the two pairs meet. The receptionist apologises for the confusion over the rooms by reluctantly giving free VIP club and casino passes to the group. A whole lot of booze later and Joy and Jack have inadvertently gotten hitched (how incredibly unexpected! Yawn…), a fact that neither are ecstatic about when they wake up the next morning. A freak, $3,000,000 Jackpot win on a slot machine Jack pulls (using a quarter belonging to Joy) postpones the annulment of their marriage however; the odd couple are sentenced by court law to spend 6 whole months working on their marriage, in order to earn each of their halves of the money.

Wow! Think of the hilarity!

*RAISES EYEBROW*

This is defiantly one of the worst films I have ever have ever “watched” – it was so extremely predictable, cringey and quite simply, God awful that I actually decided to start cleaning my room after only 14 minutes in, whilst the “film” (read as; “crock-of-shit”) continued to play in the background. Really, I should have realised What Happens in Vegas was going to naff the second the opening credits began to role…accompanied by a song by Mika.

Good. God.

The script is abysmal. The jokes are of the slapstick and immature variety (an exhausted “Jack-off” joke and antics involving urination are two examples of this), the plot brings nothing original to the romantic comedy genre and unsurprisingly, the film has a typical Hollywood ending.

The stars represent nothing more than the characters they are so used to being type cast as (Kutcher: funny, cute and a bit mentally retarded, Diaz: ditzy and a tad anal) and the cameos from Queen Latifah and Dennis Miller were not funny, or particularly memorable. Though the biggest question that What Happens in Vegas raises is whether it is actually necessary for us to see Ashton Kutcher snogging Diaz, when we are already quite aware of his taste in old poontang.

*Cough*MOORE*Cough*

I cannot fathom how $35,000,000 was spent on this film when its equivalent comes out of many a sphincter daily - and for free!

Never ask a man to pick a “contemporary Chick Flick” for you from the DVD rental shop. This is the nauseating result.

Review: Kat Cole

Teeth (2007)

Director: Mitchell Lichtenstein

Teeth tells the story of Dawn O’Keefe (Jess Weixler), a leading teenage spokesperson for a Christian Abstinence group that she and her friends are members of. Despite their supposed morals, these horny teens just can’t keep it in their pants and soon (well, actually, after about 40 minutes of extremely slow paced, character building “action”), Dawn starts getting the horny on with Tobey (Hale Appleman) - a guy she likes from school – in a nearby swimming hole. When Dawn changes her mind regarding the loss of her virginity, Tobey tries to rape her and consequently receives a bloody, yet hilarious, castration in reward for his efforts. You see, it turns out Dawn is a living myth; Vagina Dentata – Latin for “toothed vagina” and when her puss gets pissed, it chomps on down. Nice.

Any normal female would have reservations about anyone else coming anywhere near their mutant vagina after such an event, but not Dawn who decides to sleep with another of her male friends almost instantly. Dawn then decides thatvisiting a gynaecologist (that is unfortunately keen on inappropriately touching his clients) is a good idea. Oh, and then she decides a bit of incest related revenge on her step brother is in order. All of which lead to driving force of the plot; the mass, uproarious and grotesque lobbing off of cocks.

The acting in the film is absolutely terrible. The editing is abysmal. The porno-like soundtrack is completely cringe worthy. But I would still recommend that you rent Teeth. If you are female and decide you want to watch this, the best piece of advice I can give you is to ensure that you watch it with some men in close proximity. The shear horror that washes over the faces of men who watch this is absolutely priceless and lets face it ladies – we’re never going to fully understand the fear of penis castration like men do!

Everybody in my household was literally screaming the house down in unison, half with laughter and half in absolute dismay. I feel this reaction is summarative of a successful comedy horror. If Teeth had strictly belonged to only one of the genres of comedy or horror, the film would not have worked so well since everything was too badly executed to adhere to our expectations of either of these genres alone.

Together though, the mix is priceless – if a little gruesome. Teeth seems aware of itself as a cheap, crappy B movie, making in-jokes regarding the plot and subject matter of the film throughout its duration. I was most amused by the iconography used, including a tree that looked like a vagina in the opening shot of an early scene and also, the lingering moment where Dawn’s brother oddly teases his girlfriend by trying to put a dog biscuit in her mouth, which she then tries to bite.

It’s going to be a long while before I can forget this film.

Or the image of a dog, chewing up an unattached, pierced bellend.

Eugh. Hahahaha!

Review: Kat Cole

American Beauty (1999)

Director: Sam Mendes

“I’m 42 years old; in less than a year, I’ll be dead. Of course, I don’t know that yet. And in a way, I’m dead already.”

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is having a midlife crisis. Fed up with his uptight wife, ungrateful daughter, unfulfilling job and after meeting (and taking quite a shining to) Angela (Mena Suvari) - a friend of his daughter Jane, he finally decides it is time to stop adhering to what society expects of him; goodbye crappy job, hello pot.  Goodbye sexless marriage, hello fresh, teenage meat.  Goodbye Toyota Camry, hello 1970 Firebird. Goodbye, constraints, hello liberation.

Meanwhile, Jane falls for Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) a mysterious loner and drug dealer who spends his time documenting all that which he considers beautiful with his video camera.

Whilst reading for my dissertation, I came across a book called The Rebel Sell (2005, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter) in which American Beauty is discussed in relation to a countercultural analysis and the repression of the Freudian concept of id (or, the inner child). This interesting critique is what sparked my interest in watching this film for the first time.

American Beauty is aesthetically stunning. The use of the colour red within the film (rose petals, lipstick and blood for example) to me represented moments in which the ego/super ego of a character was unable to control the innermost, childlike desires of their id. Choosing not to heed these red warnings and then attaining these ‘red’ desires ultimately lead to Lester’s red, bloody demise.

The conflict between the anal but socially adhering characters and the pot smoking rebels in American Beauty does little to challenge countercultural ideology (primarily, that you must buckle down and conform in order to get on in life) and “the question therefore becomes not whether one of [the other characters] will kill Lester, but rather which one of them will do it” (Heath and Potter, 2005, page 56). 

Interestingly, I felt that the story of American Beauty actually centered on the character of Ricky Fitts and not Lester Burnham like it may at first appear. That Fitts experiences life via the captures of his video camera symbolises that he views the world differently to the other characters and connotes further the driving point of the film, to “…look closer” (the film’s tagline) in order to see beauty in the places you never thought that you would.

One of my initial reactions to American Beauty was that it could (and perhaps should?) have been edited to be shorter than its 122 minute long running time, as there were parts where it felt as if very little was happening. Drama is a genre of film that I have had very little previous engagement with. As a genre where the focus is on the development of characters, it would be interesting to see if I would appreciate these slower paced moments more (in relation to my understanding of each of the characters) after a second viewing of the film. 

Review: Kat Cole

Trapped in the Closet

Chapters 1 – 12 (2005), Chapters 13-22 (2007)

Directors: R Kelly, Jim Swaffield and Victor Mignatti

Trapped in the Closet is the “hip-hopera” written and (partly) directed by R&B singer, R Kelly. The whole of this musical is sung by Kelly but it uses actors to portray the characters that he voices throughout. Kelly plays Sylvester, a married man who wakes up one morning in a bed that is not his own. He soon realises that he has cheated on his wife and is so guilt ridden that he quickly gets ready to leave and return home.

The women he has slept with stops him, warning Sylvester that her husband is seconds away and she frantically hides him in the bedroom closet. The husband walks in and soon discovers the hiding Sylvester. The couple (revealed to be named Cathy and Rufus) and Sylvester have a three way shouting match and Rufus eventually reveals to the two of them that he himself has been cheating on his wife, but with another man.

We are rapidly introduced to more characters and it becomes abundantly clear that we should all be slightly concerned about R Kelly’s imagination and overall mental health. The characters of Trapped in the Closet are connected through that fact that either they – or someone they know – have had sex with at least one of the other characters and this is the biggest driving factor in terms of the films “plot”.

Each character also appears to have a gun about their person at any given time and very little excuse is needed for the threat of using them to be made (Sylvester especially is rather fond of “pull[ing] out [his] berretta” and is regularly singing about this fact). Throw in some lesbian action and a midget that shits himself and you might be on your way to understanding just how ludicrous this film actually is.

Trapped in the Closet ends with the mass diffusion of the rumour that Chuck (Rufus’ gay lover) has “received the package” (AKA; contracted aids), a possible disaster since all of the fucking means that at least 4 of the other characters could now also be infected. The narrative is left open, meaning the possibility of another sequel.

The first half of Trapped in the Closet was absolutely fantastic in my opinion, although I watched it less as a musical and more for its perhaps unintentional, but extremely comedic value.  R Kelly has discussed this work in a serious manner in the press but you can only laugh at any serious intentions behind (cliff-hanger) lyrics such as the following two examples:

“Now PAUSE the moooovie, coz what I’m about to tell y’all is so damn twisted! Not only is there a man in his cabinet, but the man is also a midget! MIDGET! MIDGET! MIDGET!”

“…and it’s Ro-o-o-o-sie the no-o-o-sey neighbour, ooooh, with a spatula in her hand (SPATULA!!!), like it’s gonna do sommin against those guns, yeeeeah, it’s Rosie. The nosey neighbo-uuuur!”

The second half of Trapped in the Closet did not impress me as much as the first. This is probably due to the fact that the second half was made in the wake of the cult popularity of the first 12 chapters, despite Kelly’s apparent lack of new ideas. The music of the film began to grate on me also because it was actually just one single, 80 minute long song, with no chorus and the same, repetitive chord pattern used throughout.

Despite this (and the annoying likelihood that the tune will be stuck in my head for the next 17 days) I would recommend others watch this film for the simple reason that you can’t even begin to comprehend or believe how barmy it is until you have actually sat through it. 

Review: Kat Cole

Boss Nigger (1975)

Director: Jack Arnold.

There is desert. There is conflict. There are horses! There are guns! There are ladies. There are sluts!  There is the defending of honour. There is a lot of sand. This is a Western film. But with one difference that is nicely summed up by the films tagline:

White Man’s Town… Black Man’s Law!

Boss (Fred Williamson) and his sidekick Amos (D’Urville Martin) are two Black bounty hunters who stumble upon a town in the west whilst hunting down Jed Clayton (William Smith), a notorious, Caucasian outlaw. Jed has been terrorising the town, pillaging everything he wants using the threat of violence regularly and for a long while. Boss discovers that the town has no sheriff and after overthrowing the little authority left and found in Mayor Griffin (R. G. Armstrong), he appoints himself the new Sherriff and Amos his deputy.

Only problem is, this town is inhibited with rude, racist folks, many of which have never even seen a black person, let alone taken an order from one.  The bounty hunters begin to win a number of townsfolk over however, by punishing those who are rude or disrespectful to others, by providing free food and clothing to the poorer residents who live on the outskirts of town and Boss manages to get a couple of the ladies to fall for him too. It is now the duty of Boss and Amos to protect the town from Jed and his pack of minion cowboys.

The action escalates into a one-on-one shoot off at the end of the film between Boss and Jed (as is expected of the genre) but this one is splendidly hilarious, thanks to the words exchanged between the two characters and some very strange, unauthentic, body writhing from Jed, when Boss eventually shoots the crap out of him.

I had never watched a blaxploitation film before and was unsure how comfortable I would be when doing so because I knew very little about what the genre involves. Before watching the film, I looked for information about it on the internet and found this quote:

“[Boss and Amos] raise hell, chase women, and milk the locals for cash, while waiting for the opportunity to get their man.”

IMBD.com, (2008)

This made me think that this film would present the bounty hunters/black individuals in a negative way and that this would be the central point that the film would be built around. I defiantly feel that any of the negative acts performed by Boss and Amos were outweighed by the acts of kindness they also did and thankfully, it is the racists who end up suffering in by the end.

Black people were presented as highly stereotypical in this film and funk music is weaved throughout its duration - most notably the reoccurring use of Boss’ theme song, with lyrics that go along the lines of:

 “BOSS NIGGURRRRRRRR! THEY CALL HIM BOSS COZ HES BAAAAAAAD!!”

making this film “extra mature cheddar” on the cheesy scale of cheese. But this film is very funny in places and I would recommend others to rent a copy if they ever get the chance (apparently, it is quite a hard film to find).

I leave you with one of my favourite moments from Boss Nigger:

Waiter comes outside and notices the 2 black men that have just sat down in his restaurant. He stares. And stares.

BOSS: …look…he knows he’s a nigger. I knows I’s a nigger, so you don’t have to tell us we is. But even niggers has got to eat so go get me some food before I BLOW YOUR DAMN HEAD OFF!

WAITER: Yes sir, Mr Nigger! Oh dear –I mean, Yes sir!

[Waiter runs off]

Review: Kat Cole

Perfect Blue (1997)

Director: Satoshi Kon

Mima Kirigoe is one third of the sweet and innocent pop band CHAM!, until one day when she decides its time to enter and launch an alternative career for herself in acting. Not everybody is happy with Mima’s transition - primarily due to the sordid and horrifying, rape-involved roles that she agrees to play in order to further her profession.

Amongst the disgruntled lies the creepy Me-Mania, Mima’s obsessed stalker and Rumi, Mima’s agent who shares similar reservations as the actress does about taking on such risqué parts.  Intense mysteries and savage murders are unravelled to reveal the intense folie à deux that sums up the mesmerising lunacy that leads you through to the climatic end of Perfect Blue.

This was my first ever experience with an anime film. When the film was recommended to me by my housemate, I was informed that the film was of the psychological horror genre. I honestly thought the fact the film was animated would be enough to desensitise me of any potential scares but I genuinely found it to be very unnerving and also - to be frank - a complete head-fuck. This familiar trait of the psychological horror was amplified for me personally due to certain information being unclear or lost through translation - the version I watched was dubbed - meaning I found myself all the more confused at times.

My expectations in relation to Perfect Blue as an anime film were high, since I have predominantly heard good things regarding the genre. I am now definitely planning to investigate further into my housemate’s collection of anime feature lengths.