Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

How sad is this?

A Disappointing Continuation

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a fab little gem as the posters say. I didn't quite know what to expect as this isn't a thriller, nor is it a horror or for that matter much of a costume drama. What unfold here is almost a playlette but in a real location. TP McKenna is a powerful Henry despite being towards the end of his life and every inch the king. Nice to see a different take on the usual school history version of Henry and his wives. That said the wives do make an appearance but a the less said here the better save for spoilers. I liked this film and think that if you are in the right mood you will connect with it. For those willing to try something away from the bodice ripping TV movie versions of Henry (all gelled back hair and waxed chests) this makes for a pleasant change and at least has something to say. Shot on a shoe string over just a few weeks make the achievement all the more impressive. This film has certainly been through the wars, having been released in the late 90s to not much ado and then lost. The extras on the DVD reveal the fascinating story of the original camera negative and how this was the key to this HD remastered release which hits cinemas again some twenty years after its first bow.

For all is money and bed room antics, The Tudors is not a patch on low budget feature Monarch. Why? Because I found out more about Henry VIII form this hidden gem of a movie than I did with four series of the soap opera with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I'm a big fan of The Tudors. It has a Game of Thrones take on history. But as an avid follower of British Monarchy, this film Monarch gives me more food for thought. That said it is everything The Tudors isn't: low budget; all set in one location; during one night; a cast that all seem well passed middle age. Despite that it works well as a companion piece. Big TV mini-series have the scope and budget to make the spectacle as real as possible for the viewer, but for most of the cast there is little progression in their characters from one series to the next. I would say take a look at Monarch and see if you agree with the reviews here that the film is like a little time capsule and has captured a new view of Henry VIII, undeniably the most written, talked and filmed about Monarchs of all time. The late Irish actor TP McKenna plays Henry here and turns in a first rate performance. The film was the brain child of the now well- known social and political film maker, John Walsh. I want to see more dramas from him.

For most people the words "costume drama" can be a big turn off. Yet this film is not the usual fare, no Mr Darcy here, in fact no romance at all. What the film does leave you with is a haunted feeling. So may films set in this period, 1500s have a sense of conceit and design that makes it hard for you to feel amerced in the period. Instead you are left looking at the crowds and costumes imagining all the man hours, not here.This film is set on location in a real manor house and with a sparse cast, the sense of unease and dread is palpable. Others that saw the film with me felt that same sense of chill, yet this is not a horror film. Afterwards I was left thinking about this and what John Walsh had achieved with his handful of players, confined story and location. Worth a look if you want to see that can be achieved away from the 'Madding Crowd' of those historical re-tellings. This is beautifully shot too.The big reveal here if course is that Henry VIII comes to stay, or rather has the house broken into. Great casting and music lends this to repeat viewings, but ideally at night time, after midnight.

Taking a new approach to the costume drama, John Walsh makes an interesting debut for a documentary director more established these days for harsh realistic films on hate crime and politics. This effort from the late 90s is testament to a genuine film maker with something to say. He manages to weave a part fact and part fiction story around a single night. It captures much of the darkness of The Downfall but arrived some a good five years before it. The micro budget does show at times but given this a guerrilla shoot, Walsh has managed to capture a sense of style and grace when his contemporaries were running around with 'mockney' crime cappers. Sadly the lead actor TP McKenna passed away 18 months ago, but with an imminent blu ray release coming down the tracks, his mesmerizing performance can be enjoyed by all.