Anne Billson on Film 2009

For three years, Anne Billson wrote a film column for the Guardian newspaper which became obligatory reading for anyone interested in the world of cinema. She combines in-depth knowledge of her field with an eminently readable and unpretentious style and makes sometimes surprising and controversial observations with wit and elegance. Quite simply, she's a must-read for anyone who likes reading about movies.

Billson, born in the UK, is a well-known film writer with thirty years experience (including eight years as film critic for the Sunday Telegraph) and half a dozen books about film and three horror novels to her name. After reading her vampire novel Suckers, Salman Rushdie called her, "a superb satirist"; Jonathan Carroll described it as, "a rare and impressive piece of literary juggling" while Christopher Fowler called it, "dark, sharp, chic and very funny." Nicholas Lezard of the Guardian wrote of Spoilers, another collection of Billson's film writing, "she's on the ball, and funny with it." Ian Freer in Empire magazine called her monograph on the Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In, "a fun, stimulating exploration of a modern masterpiece."