The Frightfest line-up is often home to some exceptional documentaries that chronicle everything from cultural curios to cinematic movements. They act as a sort of cinematic sorbet from the fictional chills and thrills that surround them, and this year is no different with two strong examples being Enter the Clones […]
Documentary
X Ray Spex in I am a Cliche – Pop Screen 102
The Circus Tent (1978) – A documentary-esque look at the drifting lifestyle of the marginalised [Review]
Known as Thamp̄, a title which translates into The Circus Tent, the acclaimed third film of Indian writer/director Govindan Aravindan was once thought to be lost. The Film Heritage Foundation spent nearly eight painstaking months restoring the film from a duplicate negative taken from a 35mm print and managed to […]
Marcel the Shell with the Shoes on (2021) A heartfelt gem in the sometimes brutal world of A24 (Review)
Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story (2022) This is the prime time for Icon Documentaries (Review)
Chronicling the life of a living legend, the new documentary from Dead Mouse Productions goes behind the mask (and glove) of one of horror’s greatest icons When approaching a documentary that profiles the life and times of the man portraying possibly the most recognisable horror villains of the 80s, it […]
Living with Chucky (2022) Peeking Inside the Heart of the Controversial Horror Franchise (Review)
Living with Chucky (2022) is the long-awaited (at least for us Chucky superfans) documentary of the charmingly maniacal killer doll franchise. Full of interviews with those central to the story, including writer/director Don Mancini, Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly, this documentary charts the rise, and sometimes fall, of the Chucky […]
Leaving to Remain (2022) A Collage of Roma Life in Britain (Review)
In both fiction and documentary, British moviegoers are largely presented with the same story about migrating to Britain: the arduous journey; the difficulty of fitting in; tales of suffering and overcoming hardships. Even a film like the highly acclaimed Flee from last year, which is ultimately optimistic, spends considerable time […]
Julia Scott: Funny That Way (2020) Nothing short of fantastic for both the familiar and unfamiliar (Review)
For those of you who don’t know, the 31st of March marked Transgender Day of Visibility, a worldwide event first observed in 2009 which celebrates trans and non-binary individuals, in addition to helping raise awareness of anti-trans discrimination. I suppose there’s no better day that Bohemia Media and playwright Susan […]
The Pawnshop (Kinoteka 2023 Review)
The great documentarian Molly Dineen once said her preferred subject was “anything British that’s dying”. Łukasz Kowalski’s debut film The Pawnshop, presented as part of the 2023 Kinoteka festival of Polish cinema, shows that this formula works for anything Polish as well. It’s set almost entirely within the four walls […]