Film Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Mark Lord's - Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Science Fiction

This looks quite interesting, and the plot is definitely up my street:

“14th century crusaders take a woman accused of witchcraft to an abbey where the monks will examine her and determine if her sorcery is the cause of the Black Plague which has decimated Europe.”

Video Trailer for Season of the Witch

And here:

But difficult to tell from the trailer! Apparently not based on a book, but the title sounds very familiar. There is a novel with the same name, but it’s got a different setting, and also a George Romero film from 1973, but again set in modern times. I wouldn’t be surprised if they took the same plot and put it back into medieval times to give it a more fantasy feel.

Season of the Witch Official Trailer 2 (dashpunk.com)

Paprika [2006] is another one of those Crazy Japanese Anime, but this time with more of an urban setting, reminiscent of some contemporary Japanese horror but with a lighter touch. In a way it seemed like a film version of something like Watchman in style and tone – quite sinister but funny as well.

The story is about a device called the DC mini which allows the recording of dreams and thus the ability for therapists to help their patients by sharing the dreams of their patients. However, the device is still in development and things go quickly wrong and surreal when one of the maverick scientists working on the device steals it.

The eponymous heroine of the film, Paprika, is an alter ego of one of the other characters, and is involved in the treatment of the police officer responsible for tracking down the missing device.

As the film rapidly progresses, its quite short, the divide between reality, dream and fiction becomes very confused and blurred. I enjoyed the film and would definitely watch it again – lots of thought-provoking moments and some good jokes.

Here’s the trailer: