James Balmont
![James Balmont James Balmont](https://blogscdn.thehut.net/app/uploads/2021/12/jamesbalmont_1638545978.jpg)
James Balmont is a freelance journalist based in London, whose work has been published by The Guardian, BBC Culture, Sight & Sound and more. He specialises in coverage of contemporary East Asian cinema, and has previously worked as a music reporter for outlets including NME and Crack Magazine.
![Battle Royale: the sum of all conflicts](https://blogscdn.thehut.net/app/uploads/sites/1367/2022/01/battleroyalearticle_1641490190_1200x672_acf_cropped-700x392.jpg)
Battle Royale: the sum of all conflicts
Battle Royale may have been the last film from director Kinji Fukasaku but the themes of his best work remained constant throughout his output.
![Snake Girls, Spirals and Slit-Mouthed Killers: a History of Twisted Manga Adaptions](https://blogscdn.thehut.net/app/uploads/sites/1367/2021/11/Snake-Girl-screengrab-10_1636476967_1200x672_acf_cropped-700x392.png)
Snake Girls, Spirals and Slit-Mouthed Killers: a History of Twisted Manga Adaptions
We look at 7 film adaptions that originally came from Manga and assess how these disturbing tales of horror were converted to the silver screen.
![How Teruo Ishii Became Japan's Ero Guro King](https://blogscdn.thehut.net/app/uploads/sites/1367/2021/03/toei-1_1617200226_1200x672_acf_cropped-700x392.jpg)
How Teruo Ishii Became Japan's Ero Guro King
With his combination of eroticism and violence, Japanese director Teruo Ishii became the leading name in the Ero Guro genre.
![Sympathy For North Korea](https://blogscdn.thehut.net/app/uploads/sites/1367/2021/03/JSA-feature-1_1617195710_1200x672_acf_cropped-700x392.jpg)
Sympathy For North Korea
JSA broke box office records in South Korea, brought international acclaim to Park Chan-wook and gave a nuanced view of politics on the Korean peninsula.
![Forty Years Of Found Footage](https://blogscdn.thehut.net/app/uploads/sites/1367/2021/03/The-Blair-Witch-Project_1617106852_1200x672_acf_cropped-700x392.jpg)
Forty Years Of Found Footage
A short history of the found footage genre and the impact its had on the horror genre from Cannibal Holocaust to Blair Witch, [REC] and beyond.