- Born
- Birth nameMark Fairey
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Mark Kermode's trademark intense, often frightening rants about various films which he likes or dislikes has earned him something of a 'cult' following in the UK. He began his career in film journalism and broadcasting in the 1980s after studying English at Manchester University, where he wrote his Ph.D thesis on horror fiction. After starting work as a van driver (he claims he was appointed as a film critic after he crashed the van), he began working for magazines such as City Life, Time Out and the NME and since then has also worked for The Independent, The Guardian, Vox, Empire, Flicks, Fangoria, and Neon among others.
In the early 1990s he moved into radio broadcasting, contributing to and presenting various programmes and shows on BBC radio networks. He also worked as film critic and presenter for Channel 4's 'Extreme Cinema' strand, introducing notorious films such as Crash (1996) and Man Bites Dog (1992), and he wrote and presented many documentaries for Channel 4 and the BBC such as On the Edge of 'Blade Runner' (2000), and Scream and Scream Again: A History of the Slasher Film (2000), The Fear of God: 25 Years of 'The Exorcist' (1998) and The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection' (2000) etc.- IMDb Mini Biography By: teknofobe
- 50s rocker style
- His favourite films for the years 2004 onwards are Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), A History of Violence (2005), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Of Time and the City (2008), Let the Right One In (2008), Inception (2010), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), jointly, Berberian Sound Studio (2012) & A Royal Affair (2012), Good Vibrations (2012), Pride (2014), Inside Out (2015), Under the Shadow (2016), Raw (2016), Leave No Trace (2018), Bait (2019), Saint Maud (2019), Petite Maman (2021), Aftersun (2022) and Past Lives (2023).
- His ten favourite films of all time are: A Matter of Life and Death (1946), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), The Seventh Seal (1957), Eyes Without a Face (1960), Mary Poppins (1964), The Devils (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), The Exorcist (1973), Brazil (1985) and Pan's Labyrinth (2006).
- He believes that The Exorcist (1973) is "the greatest film ever made" and considers Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) to be the worst film ever made. He believes that It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is the second greatest film ever made.
- His reviews can be heard every Friday afternoon on Radio 5 live with Simon Mayo. Among other things, also writes for the Guardian.
- The problem with Sex Lives of the Potato Men (2004) is it is absolutely, indescribably horrible, vulgar, stupid, tawdry, depressing, embarassing, filthy, vile, stinky, repugnant, slimy, unclean, nasty, degenerative, mind-numbing ...
- [on Club Dread (2004)] Surely there is a law against allowing people to make movies in which a rastafarian with a posh English accent is considered to be the height of hilarity?
- The Deer Hunter (1978) is one of the worst films ever made and a testament to the fact that, if allowed to do whatever they want, filmmakers will take their cameras and crawl up their own backsides.
- [on Elizabethtown (2005)] Things got so bad I half expected oxygen masks to drop down from the ceiling while red and white lights guided us all to the nearest exits.
- [on Good Luck Chuck (2007)] A really, really horrible film.
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