Found Footage Festival: Vol 8 (dir: VHS, 2017, vert 18)
The latest edition of Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher’s rummage through the cultural refuse tip of VHS history includes satanic panic videos from the eighties, classic educational fare such as ‘How to Have Sex’, ‘Urine’ and ‘The Porno Project’. Ninety minutes of the most bizarre material ever recorded on to our favourite medium. We just hope the Electric can sort the tracking out in time.
Mon 27 Mar at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £10 www.theelectric.co.uk

The Ghoul (dir: Gareth Tunley, 2017, cert 15
A disconcertingly Lynchian debut from Brit Gareth Tunley who pokes a mischievous stick into dark suburbia with this melancholically surreal cop drama. Intelligent and surprising; ‘The Ghoul’ flouts convention and subtly wreaks emotional havoc, as homicide detective Chris’ mind and universe unravel and reality becomes a shifting and nebulous entity, or does it? An exciting debut. A BIFA Independent screening.
Mon 27 Mar 6.30pm at Everyman, 116 The Mailbox, Birmingham B1 1RF  £10 www.everymancinema.com

Get Out (dir: Jordan Peele, 2017, cert 15)
Not only is Get Out a fresh and original horror film it also fearlessly pokes a stick into the glibly dangerous racism of white middle class suburbia. English actor Daniel Kaluuya excels as Chris Washington the black boyfriend of a privileged white girl meeting her parents for the first time. Their cringe making ‘some of my best friends are black’ attempts at bonding are all too familiar and make for uncomfortable viewing. But that’s just the start. An aching dread seeps gradually through every pore of the movie building to an unforgettable climax. A stunning directorial debut from Jordan Peele.
Mon 27 Mar to Thu 30 Mar at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk
Mon 27 Mar to Wed 29 Mar at Everyman, 116 The Mailbox, Birmingham B1 1RF  £13.50 www.everymancinema.com

Pale Moon (dir: Daihachi Yoshida, 2014, cert TBA)
Yoshida’s wry crime melodrama is a sharp study of greed and amorphous personal morality that cheekily defies expectation and happily wrong foots the audience several times throughout. Set in 1994 and starring the captivating Rie Miyazawa as the listless and bored personal banker Rika Umezawa, we follow Rika as she embarks on a career of embezzlement surprised at the ease with which such crimes can be covered up. An absorbing and trip filled ride.
Tue 28 Mar 2pm at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £8 macbirmingham.co.uk

Elle (dir: Paul Verhoeven, 2017, cert 18)
A new Verhoeven film is something to be cherished. The Dutch director loves pushing the envelope and Elle certainly doesn’t disappoint, Verhoeven himself has stated “it’s not a rape comedy’ which gives some indication into Elle’s dark nature. A modern paranoid noir as Isabelle Huppert, in a career best performance, searches for the man who assaulted her. Unsettling, uncomfortable and at times hilarious. Verhoeven’s abrasive magic is still there.
Tue 28 Mar to Thu 30 Mar at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk
Fri 31 Mar to Thu 6 Apr at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £8 macbirmingham.co.uk
Fri 31 Mar to Thu 6 Apr at Lighthouse, Chubb Buildings, Wolverhampton WV1 1HT £8.15 light-house.co.uk

Notorious (dir: Alfred Hitchcock, 1946, cert U)
Hitchcock on the big screen is one of life’s special treats and it is especially suited to the extravagantly shot Notorious, a film that is brimming with imaginative cinematography and cute close ups. The poetic language of film is writ large throughout and with two huge stars in Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman this is cinema on a gloriously grand scale. Our heroes hunt Nazis in Brazil through a series of exquisitely staged set pieces with our favourite being the long from high to low tracking shot that impossibly culminates in a close up of Bergman’s hand clutching a key. The MacGuffin is radioactive wine bottles and Hitch can be spotted drinking champagne at the big party hosted by Claude Rains just over an hour in. ‘The screen’s top romantic stars in a melodramatic masterpiece!’ A Cinematic Time Machine screening.
Wed 29 Mar 8.30pm at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

The Godfather (dir: Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, cert 15)
The lovely folk at the KGC have an offer you can’t refuse. A screening of the mobster classic Godfather to celebrate its 45th birthday. Coppola’s seminal study of mafia politics and violence is one of the greatest films ever made and demands to be seen on the big screen. Brando’s demise; as Vito Corleone, whilst playing with his grandson in a summer garden, is one of the most poignant scenes of mortality ever committed to celluloid and certainly the best naturalistic death scene ever filmed. We also like the severed horse’s head in the bed scene quite a lot. We’re off to sleep with the fishes.
Wed 29 Mar 6.30pm at Kitchen Garden Cafe, 17 York Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 7SA £5 kitchengardencafe.co.uk

Headshot (dir: Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto, 2016, cert 18)
Indonesian cinema has made a name for itself in producing full on extreme piledrivers of movies brimming with sadistically choreographed and bone crunching mayhem. Iko Uwais, who you may remember from the balletic bloodbath of The Raid, kicks and punches his way through a viscerally unrelenting stream of shocking violence. There is a plot in there somewhere about an amnesiac’s past life coming back to haunt him but you’ll be far too absorbed in the on screen jackhammer butchery to care very much. Intense.
Thu 30 Mar 5.40pm & 8.10pm at Mockingbird, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA £5.95 ticketing.eu.veezi.com

Free Fire (dir: Ben Wheatley, 2017, cert 15)
If you were lucky enough to get tickets for February’s screening at the Electric including a live Q&A with Mr Wheatley himself then you know what to expect. 1970’s Boston is the setting for a full on kinetic bullet fest as a major arms deal goes wrong, as they always do, with violent consequences. The mayhem is complemented by some serious facial hair, polyester suits, crackling dialogue, laughs and a bristling Cillian Murphy as visiting Republican terrorist Chris. Uproariously violent fun.
Fri 31 Mar to Thu 6 Apr at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Trespass Against Us (dir: Adam Smith, 2017, cert 15)
Adam Smith’s debut feature, exploring the travails of an Irish traveller family adrift in the West Country stars Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson as son and father Cutler. Their scenes together are electrifying as talk turns to pulling off one last big job and tension is ratcheted skywards. Whilst the film certainly drags in places the dynamic exchanges between Gleeson and Fassbender more than compensate for its flaws.
Fri 31 Mar to Thu 6 Apr at Lighthouse, Chubb Buildings, Wolverhampton WV1 1HT £8.15 light-house.co.uk

Casablanca (dir: Michael Curtiz, 1942, cert U)
Two Ingrid Bergman films on the big screen in one week. Happy days. Cinematic Time Machine follow up the screening of Hitchcock classic Notorious with the oft misquoted romantic Second World War thriller Casablanca. Bogart and Bergman light up the screen as Rick and Ilsa, sacrificing their love to help defeat the Nazis. ‘Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time’.
Sat 1 Apr 12pm & Sun 2 Apr 12.45pm at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

From Noya (dir: Daniel Anderson, 2016, cert tbc) Q&A + mental health discussion.
Interesting screening of Daniel Anderson’s acclaimed short film From Noya, which has a chilling prescience in the current political climate with funding for mental health being stripped irresponsibly to catastrophic levels. Noya’s depression pushes her to the brink of despair before she seeks help. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the director, lead actress and a panel of leading specialists within the Mental Health field.
Sat 1 Apr 1.30pm  at Mockingbird, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA £5 www.eventbrite.co.uk

The Warriors (dir: Walter Hill, 1979, cert 15)
Taking us back to the age of VHS. A real ‘first film I ever rented’ coming-of-age classic. Thrilling adventure as our boys struggle to get home to Coney Island, through gang infested New York City, after being framed for murder. No Crips or Bloods here. The Warriors must fight the Turnbull ACs, the Orphans, the Baseball Furies, the Lizzies and the Rogues to get home, not to mention the police. Colourful, violent, snappy and featuring the world’s greatest film set, 70’s New York. “Warriors come out to play.” Screened in conjunction with the UK Conclave Warriors convention and featuring after party, music from the era and themed drinks.
Sun 2 Apr 8pm at Mockingbird, The Custard Factory, Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA £9.50 ticketing.eu.veezi.com

Flatpack Film Festival begins next week read our top ten preview here