£10.00
Published annually, Beneficial Shock! is a fully illustrated film magazine exploring movie characters, genres and tropes through themed essays and original illustration.
What grabbed us about this issue...
Issue 4 is titled War & Peace, opening with a striking statistic: humans have been entirely at peace for just 8% of recorded history. The Casablanca feature is the one to look for. Taking the film's contemporary relevance in America as its subject, it earns its place in an issue like this. Equally worth finding, the feature on cinematic deserters asks what motivates a soldier to walk away. It's a less familiar angle on war films and a sharper one for it.
Who's Beneficial Shock! for?
Beneficial Shock! is one for when you want film writing that takes the medium seriously. Each issue builds its essays around a single theme, using it to travel across genres and eras. The illustration is central rather than decorative, with original work from a wide range of artists giving each issue its own visual identity. This would suit you if you're drawn to film as a cultural subject rather than a list of recommendations. Think of it as a film essay collection with pictures to match. It's one to reach for when you want to think differently about films you thought you already knew.
Type: Long-form, visual read
Pages: 80
Instagram: @beneficialshockmag