Adam Wells
@awellwellwells.bsky.social
(he/him) | 📍London
About as edgy as a satsuma | Occasionally writes about films, art, and vampires
🩷💜💙
🇵🇸
About as edgy as a satsuma | Occasionally writes about films, art, and vampires
🩷💜💙
🇵🇸
Curzon Soho knows what's up
![Chalkboard above the entrance to a cinema screen reading:
The new Kelly Reichardt
[AKA: The Mastermind]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jexymgb7r3zjrykkm2vbyfwq/bafkreihgv6sdbcv536rgmct2xww6a2xzufwbmxhqxy4hmwsxvasr72olji@jpeg)
November 5, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Curzon Soho knows what's up
11. THE ERL KING (Angela Carter, 1979)
Hidden away in the middle of THE BLOODY CHAMBER, eschewing gothic excess for a creepy re-telling of the Green Man myth. Dark and nasty enough to have stuck with me since I first read it.
(feat. the scrawly little notes I made while studying it as a teenager)
Hidden away in the middle of THE BLOODY CHAMBER, eschewing gothic excess for a creepy re-telling of the Green Man myth. Dark and nasty enough to have stuck with me since I first read it.
(feat. the scrawly little notes I made while studying it as a teenager)
October 11, 2025 at 8:03 PM
11. THE ERL KING (Angela Carter, 1979)
Hidden away in the middle of THE BLOODY CHAMBER, eschewing gothic excess for a creepy re-telling of the Green Man myth. Dark and nasty enough to have stuck with me since I first read it.
(feat. the scrawly little notes I made while studying it as a teenager)
Hidden away in the middle of THE BLOODY CHAMBER, eschewing gothic excess for a creepy re-telling of the Green Man myth. Dark and nasty enough to have stuck with me since I first read it.
(feat. the scrawly little notes I made while studying it as a teenager)
10. PLAY FOR TODAY: ‘PENDA'S FEN’ (Alan Clarke, 1974)
Weaponises pastoral imagery, religion and the ghost of Elgar (???) to scratch the surface of conservatism, revealing the sickly, burbling self-hatred that it masks.
ALSO contains a cheeky lil gargoyle-y gooblin fella who i love (not pictured)
Weaponises pastoral imagery, religion and the ghost of Elgar (???) to scratch the surface of conservatism, revealing the sickly, burbling self-hatred that it masks.
ALSO contains a cheeky lil gargoyle-y gooblin fella who i love (not pictured)
October 10, 2025 at 9:04 PM
10. PLAY FOR TODAY: ‘PENDA'S FEN’ (Alan Clarke, 1974)
Weaponises pastoral imagery, religion and the ghost of Elgar (???) to scratch the surface of conservatism, revealing the sickly, burbling self-hatred that it masks.
ALSO contains a cheeky lil gargoyle-y gooblin fella who i love (not pictured)
Weaponises pastoral imagery, religion and the ghost of Elgar (???) to scratch the surface of conservatism, revealing the sickly, burbling self-hatred that it masks.
ALSO contains a cheeky lil gargoyle-y gooblin fella who i love (not pictured)
9. THE TELEPHONE BOX (Antonio Mercero, 1972)
Surrealist Spanish short about a man having a very bad day in a phone box.
Depicts the paradox of claustrophobia and ridicule in social isolation, culminating in chilling forces beyond the protagonist’s control deciding his fate for him.
Surrealist Spanish short about a man having a very bad day in a phone box.
Depicts the paradox of claustrophobia and ridicule in social isolation, culminating in chilling forces beyond the protagonist’s control deciding his fate for him.
October 9, 2025 at 9:48 PM
9. THE TELEPHONE BOX (Antonio Mercero, 1972)
Surrealist Spanish short about a man having a very bad day in a phone box.
Depicts the paradox of claustrophobia and ridicule in social isolation, culminating in chilling forces beyond the protagonist’s control deciding his fate for him.
Surrealist Spanish short about a man having a very bad day in a phone box.
Depicts the paradox of claustrophobia and ridicule in social isolation, culminating in chilling forces beyond the protagonist’s control deciding his fate for him.
8. THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (Robert Wise & Gunther von Fritsch, 1944)
How do you make a sequel to one of the greatest horror movies ever made? By sidestepping into a completely different gear for a tender Christmas ghost story, aching with sympathy and redemption for Simone Simon's Irena.
How do you make a sequel to one of the greatest horror movies ever made? By sidestepping into a completely different gear for a tender Christmas ghost story, aching with sympathy and redemption for Simone Simon's Irena.
October 8, 2025 at 9:58 PM
8. THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (Robert Wise & Gunther von Fritsch, 1944)
How do you make a sequel to one of the greatest horror movies ever made? By sidestepping into a completely different gear for a tender Christmas ghost story, aching with sympathy and redemption for Simone Simon's Irena.
How do you make a sequel to one of the greatest horror movies ever made? By sidestepping into a completely different gear for a tender Christmas ghost story, aching with sympathy and redemption for Simone Simon's Irena.
7. TYPE HELP (William Rous, 2025)
Great text-based mystery game that came out earlier this year. Almost feels like a spoiler describing it as a horror, but the slow realisation of what's happening is one of the most satisfying moments I've ever had in a game.
It's online, it's free, just play it.
Great text-based mystery game that came out earlier this year. Almost feels like a spoiler describing it as a horror, but the slow realisation of what's happening is one of the most satisfying moments I've ever had in a game.
It's online, it's free, just play it.
October 7, 2025 at 7:12 PM
7. TYPE HELP (William Rous, 2025)
Great text-based mystery game that came out earlier this year. Almost feels like a spoiler describing it as a horror, but the slow realisation of what's happening is one of the most satisfying moments I've ever had in a game.
It's online, it's free, just play it.
Great text-based mystery game that came out earlier this year. Almost feels like a spoiler describing it as a horror, but the slow realisation of what's happening is one of the most satisfying moments I've ever had in a game.
It's online, it's free, just play it.
6. THE SWIMMER (Frank Perry, 1968)
A horror disguised as soapy melodrama, with sunny surrealism pre-dating MIDSOMMAR by five whole decades. One of Burt Lancaster's best performance as an empty, shattered husk of a man, slowly smothered by the suffocating trappings of middle-class masculinity.
A horror disguised as soapy melodrama, with sunny surrealism pre-dating MIDSOMMAR by five whole decades. One of Burt Lancaster's best performance as an empty, shattered husk of a man, slowly smothered by the suffocating trappings of middle-class masculinity.
October 6, 2025 at 8:30 PM
6. THE SWIMMER (Frank Perry, 1968)
A horror disguised as soapy melodrama, with sunny surrealism pre-dating MIDSOMMAR by five whole decades. One of Burt Lancaster's best performance as an empty, shattered husk of a man, slowly smothered by the suffocating trappings of middle-class masculinity.
A horror disguised as soapy melodrama, with sunny surrealism pre-dating MIDSOMMAR by five whole decades. One of Burt Lancaster's best performance as an empty, shattered husk of a man, slowly smothered by the suffocating trappings of middle-class masculinity.
5. POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN (Cecelia Condit, 1983)
🎵But loooove shouldn't cost an arm and a leg🎵
I’m still not convinced that Cecelia Condit actually exists. I think some time in the 80s this film was spat out of an otherdimensional bog, sent from a future where everyone is from the Black Lodge.
🎵But loooove shouldn't cost an arm and a leg🎵
I’m still not convinced that Cecelia Condit actually exists. I think some time in the 80s this film was spat out of an otherdimensional bog, sent from a future where everyone is from the Black Lodge.
October 5, 2025 at 2:46 PM
5. POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN (Cecelia Condit, 1983)
🎵But loooove shouldn't cost an arm and a leg🎵
I’m still not convinced that Cecelia Condit actually exists. I think some time in the 80s this film was spat out of an otherdimensional bog, sent from a future where everyone is from the Black Lodge.
🎵But loooove shouldn't cost an arm and a leg🎵
I’m still not convinced that Cecelia Condit actually exists. I think some time in the 80s this film was spat out of an otherdimensional bog, sent from a future where everyone is from the Black Lodge.
4. ARCADIA (Paul Wright, 2017)
Documentary as folk horror and folk horror as documentary. Paul Wright weaves together public domain footage for a psychedelic, uniquely British nightmare - all scored by Adrian Utley and Will Gregory. Even more terrifying when you spot your home town in the footage.
Documentary as folk horror and folk horror as documentary. Paul Wright weaves together public domain footage for a psychedelic, uniquely British nightmare - all scored by Adrian Utley and Will Gregory. Even more terrifying when you spot your home town in the footage.
October 4, 2025 at 9:12 AM
4. ARCADIA (Paul Wright, 2017)
Documentary as folk horror and folk horror as documentary. Paul Wright weaves together public domain footage for a psychedelic, uniquely British nightmare - all scored by Adrian Utley and Will Gregory. Even more terrifying when you spot your home town in the footage.
Documentary as folk horror and folk horror as documentary. Paul Wright weaves together public domain footage for a psychedelic, uniquely British nightmare - all scored by Adrian Utley and Will Gregory. Even more terrifying when you spot your home town in the footage.
3. THE SINK: A SLEEP AID (Natasha Hodgson, 2020)
Horror comedy that’s actually funny *and* scary in equal measure - also sad, heartwarming, inventive, and queer as hell, with sound design that feels like someone scratching my bare skull. I listen to it every Halloween and urge you to do the same.
Horror comedy that’s actually funny *and* scary in equal measure - also sad, heartwarming, inventive, and queer as hell, with sound design that feels like someone scratching my bare skull. I listen to it every Halloween and urge you to do the same.
October 3, 2025 at 11:48 AM
3. THE SINK: A SLEEP AID (Natasha Hodgson, 2020)
Horror comedy that’s actually funny *and* scary in equal measure - also sad, heartwarming, inventive, and queer as hell, with sound design that feels like someone scratching my bare skull. I listen to it every Halloween and urge you to do the same.
Horror comedy that’s actually funny *and* scary in equal measure - also sad, heartwarming, inventive, and queer as hell, with sound design that feels like someone scratching my bare skull. I listen to it every Halloween and urge you to do the same.
2. THE AMUSEMENT PARK (George A. Romero, 1975)
Romero goes Lynchian, trading out zombies for a nightmarish vision of aging as the world speeds on without you. No pathos here, just terror, confusion and misery. Less than an hour long, but feels ten times its length (complementary).
Romero goes Lynchian, trading out zombies for a nightmarish vision of aging as the world speeds on without you. No pathos here, just terror, confusion and misery. Less than an hour long, but feels ten times its length (complementary).
October 2, 2025 at 8:53 PM
2. THE AMUSEMENT PARK (George A. Romero, 1975)
Romero goes Lynchian, trading out zombies for a nightmarish vision of aging as the world speeds on without you. No pathos here, just terror, confusion and misery. Less than an hour long, but feels ten times its length (complementary).
Romero goes Lynchian, trading out zombies for a nightmarish vision of aging as the world speeds on without you. No pathos here, just terror, confusion and misery. Less than an hour long, but feels ten times its length (complementary).
1. CARNIVAL OF SOULS (Herk Harvey, 1962)
The lone feature of industrial filmmaker Herk Harvey feels like it was entirely written, performed and directed in a trancelike state. By the time the final act rolls around it's impossible not to see the characters emerging, Sadako-style, from the screen.
The lone feature of industrial filmmaker Herk Harvey feels like it was entirely written, performed and directed in a trancelike state. By the time the final act rolls around it's impossible not to see the characters emerging, Sadako-style, from the screen.
October 1, 2025 at 4:22 PM
1. CARNIVAL OF SOULS (Herk Harvey, 1962)
The lone feature of industrial filmmaker Herk Harvey feels like it was entirely written, performed and directed in a trancelike state. By the time the final act rolls around it's impossible not to see the characters emerging, Sadako-style, from the screen.
The lone feature of industrial filmmaker Herk Harvey feels like it was entirely written, performed and directed in a trancelike state. By the time the final act rolls around it's impossible not to see the characters emerging, Sadako-style, from the screen.
Everyone's doing this thing, I also did this thing! Add Hanagatami to the ballot you cowards
June 25, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Everyone's doing this thing, I also did this thing! Add Hanagatami to the ballot you cowards
![[whispering to date while watching Zama when Don Diego de Zama first appears on the screen] That's Zama](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jexymgb7r3zjrykkm2vbyfwq/bafkreibafaw2hr4brkhsf7zngkmbhpm22hfd3m7xob6bknvcv3kkcrz2ce@jpeg)
Back on the Zama (Lucrecia Martel, 2017) train
February 7, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Back on the Zama (Lucrecia Martel, 2017) train
Post your favourite Pokémon wrong answers only
January 11, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Post your favourite Pokémon wrong answers only
Day 9
FIRST COW (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)
Not just a film about tenderness (although it absolutely is that), but also a film about how capitalism will trample any tenderness underfoot without even noticing. Soothing and gutting in equal measure in its depiction of male friendship.
FIRST COW (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)
Not just a film about tenderness (although it absolutely is that), but also a film about how capitalism will trample any tenderness underfoot without even noticing. Soothing and gutting in equal measure in its depiction of male friendship.
January 11, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Day 9
FIRST COW (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)
Not just a film about tenderness (although it absolutely is that), but also a film about how capitalism will trample any tenderness underfoot without even noticing. Soothing and gutting in equal measure in its depiction of male friendship.
FIRST COW (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)
Not just a film about tenderness (although it absolutely is that), but also a film about how capitalism will trample any tenderness underfoot without even noticing. Soothing and gutting in equal measure in its depiction of male friendship.
DAY 8
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943)
Hitchcock goes full Freudian. So much restraint - it's more about what *isn't* said than what is - that a simple scene of characters crossing the road was permanently burned into my brain on first watch. Joseph Cotten an absolute menacing presence.
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943)
Hitchcock goes full Freudian. So much restraint - it's more about what *isn't* said than what is - that a simple scene of characters crossing the road was permanently burned into my brain on first watch. Joseph Cotten an absolute menacing presence.
January 11, 2025 at 5:37 PM
DAY 8
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943)
Hitchcock goes full Freudian. So much restraint - it's more about what *isn't* said than what is - that a simple scene of characters crossing the road was permanently burned into my brain on first watch. Joseph Cotten an absolute menacing presence.
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943)
Hitchcock goes full Freudian. So much restraint - it's more about what *isn't* said than what is - that a simple scene of characters crossing the road was permanently burned into my brain on first watch. Joseph Cotten an absolute menacing presence.
Day 7
HOLY MOTORS (Leos Carax, 2012)
Leos Carax throws every idea he's ever had at the wall, and it *all* sticks. Every vignette, every Denis Lavant performance, every member of the marching-accordion-rock band (!!!!!) all builds to a complete, electrifying celebration of CINÉMA!!!
And: Kylie?!?!
HOLY MOTORS (Leos Carax, 2012)
Leos Carax throws every idea he's ever had at the wall, and it *all* sticks. Every vignette, every Denis Lavant performance, every member of the marching-accordion-rock band (!!!!!) all builds to a complete, electrifying celebration of CINÉMA!!!
And: Kylie?!?!
January 7, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Day 7
HOLY MOTORS (Leos Carax, 2012)
Leos Carax throws every idea he's ever had at the wall, and it *all* sticks. Every vignette, every Denis Lavant performance, every member of the marching-accordion-rock band (!!!!!) all builds to a complete, electrifying celebration of CINÉMA!!!
And: Kylie?!?!
HOLY MOTORS (Leos Carax, 2012)
Leos Carax throws every idea he's ever had at the wall, and it *all* sticks. Every vignette, every Denis Lavant performance, every member of the marching-accordion-rock band (!!!!!) all builds to a complete, electrifying celebration of CINÉMA!!!
And: Kylie?!?!
Day 6
CHUNGKING EXPRESS (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Understands loneliness in a way that no other film has before or since; listening to California Dreamin' on a loop and never getting sick of it. Maybe no better argument for the melancholy beauty of a drunken 3am burger.
CHUNGKING EXPRESS (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Understands loneliness in a way that no other film has before or since; listening to California Dreamin' on a loop and never getting sick of it. Maybe no better argument for the melancholy beauty of a drunken 3am burger.
January 6, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Day 6
CHUNGKING EXPRESS (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Understands loneliness in a way that no other film has before or since; listening to California Dreamin' on a loop and never getting sick of it. Maybe no better argument for the melancholy beauty of a drunken 3am burger.
CHUNGKING EXPRESS (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Understands loneliness in a way that no other film has before or since; listening to California Dreamin' on a loop and never getting sick of it. Maybe no better argument for the melancholy beauty of a drunken 3am burger.
Day 5
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton, 1955)
Ultra-expressionist fairytale with shadows sharp enough to cut glass. Robert Mitchum is a force of nature as the human embodiment of religious conservatism in all its clawing, howling depravity.
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton, 1955)
Ultra-expressionist fairytale with shadows sharp enough to cut glass. Robert Mitchum is a force of nature as the human embodiment of religious conservatism in all its clawing, howling depravity.
January 5, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Day 5
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton, 1955)
Ultra-expressionist fairytale with shadows sharp enough to cut glass. Robert Mitchum is a force of nature as the human embodiment of religious conservatism in all its clawing, howling depravity.
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton, 1955)
Ultra-expressionist fairytale with shadows sharp enough to cut glass. Robert Mitchum is a force of nature as the human embodiment of religious conservatism in all its clawing, howling depravity.
Day 4
TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (David Lynch, 1992)
Equal parts empathy and anguish, Lynch takes everything he couldn't show on television and dares his audience to look straight at it in brutal, nauseating detail. Impossible to watch Sheryl Lee's performance without being shaken to the core.
TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (David Lynch, 1992)
Equal parts empathy and anguish, Lynch takes everything he couldn't show on television and dares his audience to look straight at it in brutal, nauseating detail. Impossible to watch Sheryl Lee's performance without being shaken to the core.
January 4, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Day 4
TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (David Lynch, 1992)
Equal parts empathy and anguish, Lynch takes everything he couldn't show on television and dares his audience to look straight at it in brutal, nauseating detail. Impossible to watch Sheryl Lee's performance without being shaken to the core.
TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (David Lynch, 1992)
Equal parts empathy and anguish, Lynch takes everything he couldn't show on television and dares his audience to look straight at it in brutal, nauseating detail. Impossible to watch Sheryl Lee's performance without being shaken to the core.
Day 3
STOP MAKING SENSE (Jonathan Demme, 1984)
Even if the music didn't absolutely slap (it does), this would still work as a kinetic, electrifying illustration of musicians and performers operating in sync to an almost-psychic degree. Makes me feel like I could run straight through a brick wall.
STOP MAKING SENSE (Jonathan Demme, 1984)
Even if the music didn't absolutely slap (it does), this would still work as a kinetic, electrifying illustration of musicians and performers operating in sync to an almost-psychic degree. Makes me feel like I could run straight through a brick wall.
January 3, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Day 3
STOP MAKING SENSE (Jonathan Demme, 1984)
Even if the music didn't absolutely slap (it does), this would still work as a kinetic, electrifying illustration of musicians and performers operating in sync to an almost-psychic degree. Makes me feel like I could run straight through a brick wall.
STOP MAKING SENSE (Jonathan Demme, 1984)
Even if the music didn't absolutely slap (it does), this would still work as a kinetic, electrifying illustration of musicians and performers operating in sync to an almost-psychic degree. Makes me feel like I could run straight through a brick wall.
Day 2
HANAGATAMI (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2017)
Three overwhelming hours of pure, draining emotion, Obayashi suffuses every frame of the second entry in his anti-war trilogy with pain, hope, life and loss. 'Powerful' may be a completely overused descriptor, but this is the film that truly earns it.
HANAGATAMI (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2017)
Three overwhelming hours of pure, draining emotion, Obayashi suffuses every frame of the second entry in his anti-war trilogy with pain, hope, life and loss. 'Powerful' may be a completely overused descriptor, but this is the film that truly earns it.
January 2, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Day 2
HANAGATAMI (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2017)
Three overwhelming hours of pure, draining emotion, Obayashi suffuses every frame of the second entry in his anti-war trilogy with pain, hope, life and loss. 'Powerful' may be a completely overused descriptor, but this is the film that truly earns it.
HANAGATAMI (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2017)
Three overwhelming hours of pure, draining emotion, Obayashi suffuses every frame of the second entry in his anti-war trilogy with pain, hope, life and loss. 'Powerful' may be a completely overused descriptor, but this is the film that truly earns it.
Day 1
CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)
My go-to favourite of all-time. Corinne Marchand gives a performance *within* a performance that I will never fully understand, while Varda tackles the impossibility of being known with such lightness that it barely registers - until it cuts like a knife.
CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)
My go-to favourite of all-time. Corinne Marchand gives a performance *within* a performance that I will never fully understand, while Varda tackles the impossibility of being known with such lightness that it barely registers - until it cuts like a knife.
January 1, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Day 1
CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)
My go-to favourite of all-time. Corinne Marchand gives a performance *within* a performance that I will never fully understand, while Varda tackles the impossibility of being known with such lightness that it barely registers - until it cuts like a knife.
CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)
My go-to favourite of all-time. Corinne Marchand gives a performance *within* a performance that I will never fully understand, while Varda tackles the impossibility of being known with such lightness that it barely registers - until it cuts like a knife.