S2 Episode 4: Ken Lauder on Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)

Ken Lauder from The Ken and Stu Show podcast joins Pete to discuss Todd Haynes' Safe, starring Julianne Moore. Wikipedia has it down as a psychological drama film, but writer/director Todd Haynes himself described it as a "latent horror film where everyday life is the most frightening of all". So who's right? Ken and Todd, or Wikipedia? There's only one way to find out. Listen now!

S2 Episode 3: Grace Thornley on Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014)

Pete is joined by director, production assistant, producer, 1st AD (she's really, really busy, and can do anything OK?) Grace Thornley to discuss Alex Garland's first feature as a director: Ex Machina. A masterpiece, maybe? A science-fiction film, surely? But a horror? Let's see what Grace has to say!

S2 Episode 2: Dr Francesco Sticchi on Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray, 1956)

Is Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life more horrific than many horrors? Pete discusses this James Mason-starring melodrama with Dr Francesco Sticchi, author of The Politics of Monstrous Figures in Contemporary Cinema: Witches, Zombies, and Cyborgs Re-enchanting the Ends of the World.

Series 2: Episode 1: Melanie Light on The Herd (2014)

Where is the line between horror film and vegan activism? In this episode, Pete speaks to writer and director Melanie Light about her short film The Herd. Synopsis: A number of kidnapped and trafficked women find themselves imprisoned in a squalid medical facility. For Paula her continued survival relies on her basic human function. Escape, on any level, is seemingly impossible as the women are condemned to a life of enforced servitude at the whims of their captors; for one reason only – their milk. The Herd replaces female cows with female humans, and by doing so hopes to promote a greater understanding of the suffering inflicted upon cows in the dairy industry. Known as the first feminist vegan horror film. Check out Melanie's other work here Support the show

Episode 10: Tugce Kutlu on We Need to Talk About Kevin

Pete talks to scholar Tugce Kutlu about why she thinks We Need to Talk About Kevin strays deep into horror territory with its tale of a mother raising a very disturbed young man. Listen and enjoy!

Episode 9: Professor Greg Singh on Play Safe Public Information Films

Do you remember the Play Safe and other public information films of the 1970s? Produced with the specific intention of terrifying young children, Professor Greg Singh, author of Black Mirror: Allegories for the Atomised andThe Death of Web 2.0: Ethics, Connectivity and Recognition in the Twenty-First Century, argues that these disturbing media artefacts should be considered horror.

Episode 8 of The Limits of Horror: Reece Goodall on Passengers

Is Passengers, the Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence-starring science fiction romance, more "Titanic in the stars" or "The Shining on a spaceship"? Dr Reece Goodall, author of French Horror: Industry, Society and Media, joins the podcast to discuss the horrific leanings of Morten Tyldum's Passengers (2016).

Episode 7 of The Limits of Horror: Rebecca Andrews on the Bond franchise

Does Bond ever go full horror? Rebecca Andrews from the "Do You Expect Us To Talk?" podcast talks Bond, body horror and where the franchise borrows from the horror genre.

Episode 6 of The Limits of Horror: Christine Arnold on Nightcrawler

This week, Pete Turner and Christine Arnold, co-host of the Minimalist Educator podcast, co-author of "The Minimalist Teacher" and "Your School Leadership Edit: A Minimalist Approach to Rethinking Your School Ecosystem", explore Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler. Is Jake Gyllenhaal's ambitious Loo Bloom too ordinary to be a truly iconic horror monster?

Episode 5 of The Limits of Horror: Ian Cooper on The Trip

In this episode, Pete Turner is joined by Ian Cooper, screenwriter and author of "The Manson Family on Film and Television", and the Devil's Advocates books on "Frenzy" and "Witchfinder General" to explore Roger Corman’s The Trip. Is the film an advert for taking LSD, or a warning of the potential horrors of messing with your mind? No monsters, no violence. Just mind-expanding psychedelics and Bruce Dern trying to be friendly.

Episode 4 of The Limits of Horror: Dr Catherine Lester on Watership Down

Host Pete Turner is joined by Dr Cat Lester, the author of "Horror Films for Children: Fear and Pleasure in American Cinema" and editor of "Watership Down: Perspectives On and Beyond Animated Violence" to explore what makes Watership Down a horror film. They discuss the violence and the vulnerability of these lovable bunnies, but also the film's themes around death, leadership and community.

Episode 3 of The Limits of Horror with animation expert Luke Holmes on Perfect Blue

What makes Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue such a disturbing film? And just because it's disturbing, does that make it a horror, or would it be better classed as a psychological thriller? In episode 3, host Pete Turner and animation expert Luke Holmes explore how the film taps into some deep fears about selfhood and identity, surveillance and performance, and disorientation and paranoia.

Episode 2 of The Limits of Horror with cinematographer Jamie Laxton on Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula

Did Francis Ford Coppola intend to make a horror film or a gothic romance when he adapted Bram Stoker's Dracula? Can horror films be filled with beauty? Do our expectations of horror change with age and experience? In this episode, Pete discusses Coppola's version of Bram Stoker's Dracula with cinematographer Jamie Laxton to try and decide if a Dracula film can ever not be horror?

Episode 1 of The Limits of Horror: Govind Chandran on his short film Scarlet

Are vampire films always horror films? Does a horror film have to be scary? Does a filmmaker always know what genre their film belongs to? In this first episode, Pete sits down with Govind Chandran to discuss Gov's short film Scarlet. Do we answer any of these questions? Listen to find out. And you can also watch Gov's short film here. Enjoy the episode and the film!

Launching The Limits of Horror podcast

2025 Box Office Bloodbath(?): China's Ne Zha 2 crushes the compeition

Over the past decade, Chinese films have been creeping up the Worldwide Box Office charts, and finally in 2025, it is a Chinese film that is easily the highest-grossing film of the year. Ne Zha 2 is the only film in 2025 to break $2 billion with a grand total of $2,259,822,417 according to Box Office Mojo. It comfortably beat all competition, with only Zootopia 2 coming remotely close with $1,830,234,346. 

Ne Zha 2 dominates 2025 box office

With the Avatar franchise flagging on its third entry Fire and Ash (making approximately $1.5 billion less than the original film), and the IP-fuelled likes of Minecraft, Jurassic World: Rebirth, How to Train Your Dragon, Superman and Mission Impossible all failing to reach a billion, it makes Ne Zha 2's success all the more astonishing. 

Not only is it crushing all American competition, but it doesn't need American audiences to do so. Ne Zha 2, as is very common with the most popular Chinese films, made $2,209,602,296 in China alone, meaning only around a poxy $50 million came from audiences outside China. 

This is the culmination of a trend we can see beginning in 2015, when Chinese fantasy adventure Monster Hunt just scraped into the top 20 films of the year with $387,053,506 while the likes of The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Furious 7, Age of Ultron and Minions were all making comfotably over a billion dollars and sitting atop the charts. 

This was followed by The Mermaid in 2016 which was the 14th highest-grossing film of the year with $553,810,228, then Wolf Warrior 2 which broke into the top 10 of 2017 at number 7 with $870,325,439. Meanwhile, new entries from the Star Wars, Fast and Furious and Despicable Me franchises still dominated alongside another live action Disney remake (Beauty and the Beast) as the only films to break the billion dollar mark.

Arguably, the real shift happens in 2018 with three Chinese films being in the top 20 highest grossing films of the year. In 2019, it's four, including the original Ne Zha which didn't make it to a billion. Then, in the great global clusterfuck of the 2020 pandemic, there are a whopping eight Chinese films in the top 20. No films made even half a billion that year due to cinema closures and lockdowns and the general terrible state of the world. 

Following the anomaly of 2020, things went slightly back to normal, but it must be noted that in 2021, three of the top 10 films are Chinese, including the second and third highest grossers of the year behind the spectacularly successful Spider-man: No Way Home. Two of the top 20 are Chinese in 2022, four in 2023, three in 2024, and three again in 2025 including the all-conquering Ne Zha 2. 

All this to say, there has never been a Chinese film as the worldwide number one highest-grossing film of the year, until 2025 and Ne Zha 2. Not only has it beaten the slowly dying Hollywood franchises of Avatar, Jurassic World, Mission Impossible, Marvel and DC, but it beat the up and coming new franchises like Minecraft and potentially F1. 

Chinese audiences are clearly seeing less Hollywood movies, and becoming more accustomed to their own homegrown hits. Will Hollywood start remaking Chinese hits? Will there be more Hollywood/China co-productions like The Meg? Do Hollywood just need to stop flogging dead horses? One thing is for sure, Hollywood needs to watch its back. Chinese films are here to stay.

Wait till you see what Ralph Fiennes gets up to in The Bone Temple

Ralph Fiennes' performance in The Bone Temple is worth the price of admission alone. There is a scene in this film which is so delirious, OTT and frankly quite joyous despite the circumstances of some the characters that I was convinced I was seeing one of the best scenes of the year and it's only January. 

I watched a double bill of 28 Years Later and The Bone Temple and it was great to see them back to back as they do feel like two halves of a whole. I liked 28 Years Later a lot more on this second viewing. I find it to be quite an impressively odd, experimental sort of film. The score by Young Fathers feels brilliant in some places and strangely out of place in others - but it consistently feels very Danny Boyle though. The much discussed cinematography is also very distinct. It's got that cool new way of capturing the kills with the iPhones setup but also the focus/depth of field in some shots is very striking. I still wish it was scarier.  There is nothing like the end of 28 Days Later where Cillian has to cope with deranged soldiers and the Infected. The decision in 28YL to bring a terminally ill person to the mainland is bonkers, but it worked better on this watch, and I found it much more affecting this time. Alfie Williams as Spike really is excellent. Fair play to Aaron Taylor-Johnson for playing such a dick, but fair play to Alex Garland for not making him completely one dimensional - there is a good Dad in there probably, but not much of a good husband. Fiennes' Dr Kelson is still the standout, and even moreso in The Bone Temple.

What an absolute blast this film is. There is a scene where Jack O'Connell and Ralph Fiennes finally meet that is absolutely bonkers. It's all far less experimental than 28 Years Later, but with the Jimmys and developments in the Kelson/Samson relationship, this is still a pretty strange film. Low on scares, but someoretty damn nasty stuff all the same. Jack O'Connell and Fiennes are both absolutely exceptional. I wish the Jimmys had a bit more to do and had been utilised more scarily come he climax, but I still can't wait for the next one.

Ralph Fiennes deserves some kind of award for the Iron Maiden scene. Absolutely wicked.

Restarting blogging?

Hello world! I'm yearning to share my thoughts on all things movies! And maybe the odd bit of TV. But this blog has been dormant for some years now. Since stopping writing on this blog, I've become a father with two young kids. So restarting blogging might have to be about baby steps. I've just downloaded Blogger on my phone which might make this doable.

I still watch a lot of movies, but nowhere near as many as I used to. I rate and review almost everything I see on Letterboxd but that's as far as I get. I'm lost on social media... I really despise that Elon Musk so don't really use the platform formerly known as Twitter anymore, and that was always my favourite place to talk films. 

So I'm back here. Let's see how this goes. For now, I'll just say that my third academic book is coming out in February (hardback available to pre-order here) so I'm sure I'll be trying some shameless self-promotion. If anyone happens to read this post, I'd love to know, say hi!