Nick Willing Archives

Photographing Fairies (1997)

Rating: ★★★★

Jun 14, 2002Fairies and Altered Perception

One of two films that came out in 1997 about the Cottingley Fairies Hoax. In comparison to the other, FairyTale: A true Story, this expands the premise out into a remarkable study of altered perception

Director: Nick Willing

Actors: Toby Stephens, Ben Kingsley, Frances Barber, Emily Woof, …

Category: Fantasy

14 June 20023 September 2019 by Roog

Alice in Wonderland (1999)

Rating: ★★★

Jun 30, 2003Alice in Wonderland TV Adaptation

A fairly reasonable tv mini-series adaptation of Lewis Carroll – a version that excels in terms of design and in using The Jim Henson Workshop to bring the Wonderland creatures to life

Director: Nick Willing

Actors: Tina Majorino, Miranda Richardson, Martin Short, Christopher Lloyd, …

Category: Fantasy

30 June 20036 October 2025 by Roog

Jason and the Argonauts (2000)

Rating: ★★

Sep 23, 2007Greek Myth Adventure

TV mini-series remake of the Greek myths that fails to stand up to the classic 1963 version. Here Ray Harryhausen's amazing stop-motion animated effects have been replaced by cut-price CGI

Director: Nick Willing

Actors: Jason London, Dennis Hopper, Jolene Blalock, Brian Thompson, …

Category: Fantasy

23 September 20076 October 2025 by Roog

Doctor Sleep (2002)

Rating: ★★

Dec 12, 2004Hypnotist vs Occult Killer

Here Nick Willing makes an initially promising film but this becomes a disjointed muddle involving hypnotism, serial killers and occult conspiracy. Not to be confused with the Stephen King adapted film

Director: Nick Willing

Actors: Goran Visnjic, Shirley Henderson, Miranda Otto, Paddy Considine, …

Category: Horror

12 December 200419 January 2026 by Roog

Tin Man (2007)

Rating: ★★★½

Jan 19, 2008Modernised Wizard of Oz

Nick Willing conducts the first of his SF revampings of popular tales. Here The Wizard of Oz is reworked into a Steampunk fantasy with startling reinterpetations of the familiar characters

Director: Nick Willing

Actors: Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming, Neal McDonough, Kathleen Robertson, …

Category: Fantasy, Science Fiction

19 January 20083 September 2019 by Roog

Alice (2009)

Rating: ★★★

Feb 17, 2011SF Version of Alice in Wonderland

Following on from his reworking of The Wizard of Oz in Tin Man, this is a tv mini-series where Nick Willing rather fascinatingly reinterprets Alice in Wonderland in SF terms

Director: Nick Willing

Actors: Caterina Scorsone, Andrew Lee Potts, Matt Frewer, Kathy Bates, …

Category: Fantasy, Science Fiction

17 February 20117 November 2025 by Roog

Neverland (2011)

Rating: ★★★

Jan 10, 2012SF Version of Peter Pan

Following Tin Man and Alice, another of Nick Willing's ingenious rewritings and rationalisations of classic children's tales in science-fiction terms. Here the essentials of Peter Pan are transported to another planet

Director: Nick Willing

Actors: Rhys Ifans, Anna Friel, Charlie Rowe, Q'Orianka Kilcher, …

Category: Fantasy, Science Fiction

10 January 201214 May 2021 by Roog

Altar (2014)

Rating: ★★

Sep 21, 2015Haunted House

Nick Willing is a genre director who has consistently impressed. Here he ventures into the English ghost story where your expectation is that he is going to turn the genre on its head – only he doesn't

Director: Nick Willing

Actors: Olivia Williams, Matthew Modine, Antonia Clarke, Steve Oram

Category: Horror

21 September 201515 November 2025 by Roog