When Cary Grant discovers a corpse in the window seat of his quaint old maiden aunts, and realises thay are cold blooded murderers, the scene is set for all out farce. Add the appearence of his long lost brother with another victim to dispose of and you've a madcap, brilliant, comedy.
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KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949)
CertificationU Our Rating
The best film in the history of comic British cinema. A black tale of sex, adultery, murder and social class told with low key irony. Alec Guinness plays all the leading roles, and the delightfully witty and sardonic script is ideal for him. A landmark of British film.
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M' (1931)
Certificationpg Our Rating
Lang's first sound film, and perhaps his most imaginative. The plot concerns the police search for a Berlin child-molester. The underworld is forced to look amongst its own for the perpetrator. Lang draws fascinating parallels between police and criminals in this radical masterpiece.
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MONSIEUR VERDOUX (1947)
CertificationPG Our Rating
This blistering little black comedy was well ahead of its time when released in 1947. Originally, Orson Welles had wanted Chaplin to star in his drama about a French mass murderer, but Chaplin was hesitant to act for another director and used the idea himself. He plays a dapper gent named Henri Verdoux (who assumes a number of identities), a civilised monster who marries wealthy women, then murders them. A dark Chaplin gem.
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PEEPING TOM (1959)
Certification18 Our Rating
Critically maligned on its release, this tale of a twisted lens-man who lures unsuspecting female victims to their grisly death is an interesting study in the voyeuristic implications of cinema. The killer is an eternal victim whose crimes are cries of rage against his father and stepmother and, at the same time, pathetic rehearsals for his own inevitable death. A Freudian script of notable maturity teases limitless implications from this premise, while maintaining a healthy sense of humour.
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PSYCHO (1960)
Certification15 Our Rating
Do you really need to be told about this film? The Bates' Motel, the shower sequence and, of course, Mother! THE Hitchcock movie!
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THE BOSTON STRANGLER (1968)
Certification18 Our Rating
With 13 women murdered, Boston is held under seige by a madman. One by one they fall, each death more gruesome than the last. The actual murders that rocked Boston in the 60s are the gripping subject of this unforgettable police thriller. 'The Boston Strangler' is one of the most powerful films in its genre, with possibly Tony Curtis' finest performance.
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THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI (1919)
CertificationU Our Rating
One of the first horror movies, about a hypnotist who uses a somnambulist to do his murders, and a landmark in the history of cinema. The dark shadows, crazy angles and doom laden atmosphere of German Expressionism and the film's extraordinary use of painted light have rarely been copied, and its influence, on film noir in particular, is indisputable.
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THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS (1974)
Certification15 Our Rating
Director Weir started an illustrious career with this bizarre and apocalyptic tale of a small outback town that lures passing drivers, cannibalises their cars and uses the survivors for strange medical experiments by the town doc. Mad, witty, surreal..superb!
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THE HONEYMOON KILLERS (1969)
Certification18 Our Rating
When the desperate, obese Martha meets handsome Ray, who leeches off rich widows, she falls madly in love and teams up with him as he scours the lonely hearts clubs, but her jealousy is to lead to murder and betrayal. A bleak, unsentimental thriller loosely based on the real-life 'lonely hearts killers' Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez.
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