The UK’s most prolific film reviewer concludes his series on the secrets of movies by focusing on two genres of great interest to Sci-Fi Bulletin’s readers – science fiction and horror.

Let’s face it, Mark Kermode knows a lot more about cinema than you and I, and the first three instalments of his new BBC documentary series have been fascinating insights into rom-coms, heist movies and coming-of-age flicks. But we all know that the Wittertainment co-host’s genres of choice are science fiction and horror, and in these two instalments we find an even greater passion and insight. Add to that Kim Newman’s role as co-writer and you have a formidable cache of shared moviegoing experiences to fall back on.

The format is very simple: Mark talks to camera while in the presence of movie ephemera – he’s filmed in Lambeth’s The Cinema Museum – and covers the subject in depth. Naturally he looks at the innovators in the field who would influence the genre (H.G. Wells as an example) and classic movies (Blade Runner, 2001, The Terminator) but it’s the way that he teases out the themes, showing how one informed another, focusing on technique and giving us a very accessible entry to film studies by stealth. Whether Arrival, Twelve Monkeys, Black Panther or Vertigo, each work is shown to exist in an interlinked nexus, and Kermode is our astronomer narrator.

The horror segment is even better and one which horror writer Newman gets the chance to sink his teeth into. But more than just talking about the movies, Kermode tells us of how he used to watch them on late-night screenings, something that so many of us can relate to. And that’s the thing about movies, it was never just about the celluloid, it’s what you were doing or who you were when you watched them and how they affected you. Among the jump scares and The Exorcist there’s the roar of chain saws, haunted houses, Hammer and Hitchcock. Kermode could present a whole series on this subject, and I’d be there.

Verdict: This 21st Century successor to Moviedrome is delivered by your favourite Film Studies tutor, the enthusiasm and passion is infectious and you’ll be tracking down those both the movies you’ve never seen before and those that you’d forgotten were so good. Kermode and Newman are a formidable tag team and if they were sat on another table at the pub quiz you might as well pack up and go home. Luckily for us they’re on our team and can’t wait to share their giddy notes and observations to a receptive audience. 10/10

Nick Joy