An underrated aspect of the horror festival is the programming process as you need to satisfy the demands of the genre faithful, whilst also providing palate cleansers since a weekend of nothing but horror is exhausting. After previously playing Grimmfest in 2019 with his movie, Artik, writer/director Tom Botchii returns to […]
Rob Simpson
Chief Editor
Host of the Uncut Network. With a love of movies kicked off by Hong Kong Action and Claymation Monsters, Rob has forever been cradled in the bosom of Cinema. Rob has his hands in many a pie, including no budget film making. Filthy
Marama (Fantastic Fest 2025)
Colonialism is an ill of the “political class”, an eternal manifestation of the 1%’s insatiable greed. Their empire way of thinking has drawn together some far-flung corners, such as North Yorkshire and the Maori people of New Zealand, as facilitated by the violence of Captain James Cook. While Captain Cook may be […]
Kenichi Ugana Interview: The Curse (Fantastic Fest 2025)
We continue our 2025 coverage of Fantastic Fest with something a little different now… Yesterday, I talked about the latest movie from Japanese indie director, Kenichi Ugana. A bit fan of his previous work, The Gesouidoz, as soon as I saw it was part of this year’s fantastic fest line-up, […]
The Curse (Fantastic Fest 2025)
Long wanting to catch Kenichi Ugana’s work, it wasn’t until we caught the inimitable punk fever of last year’s The Gesouidoz (at London Fanta) that we finally caught up with the eclectic director making a name for himself on the international festival circuit. When his name popped up again for […]
Looking Forward to Celluloid Screams 2025
The UK festival scene is strong, but one facet of it is stronger than all other – the horror festivals. We know the top of the totem pole is in central London, yet spotted up and down the country are all manner of weekend long events for the macabre genre. […]
Where is Juan Moctezuma? & Human (Frightfest 2025)
When in the moment of covering a film festival with multiple stages and screens, there are conflicts that mean you often don’t get the chance to see everything you’d like to. Today, I’m talking about two wildly different movies that fell victim to this – Where is Juan Moctezuma? (dir. […]
Frightfest 2025, Day 3 & 4 (Redux Redux, The Descent, Mother of Flies & More)
This final entry will mush together my third & fourth days, as I only watched 2 movies on the Monday before heading into the labyrinthine underground system and my long coach journey home. My third day started by skipping the first movie, sometimes you just have to. As good as […]
Frightfest 2025, Day 2 (Feat. The Red Mask, Marshmallow, Crushed & More)
Day 1 of this style of article will always have the most storytelling, after all, transport and the stories therein have more meat on the bones than me regaling you, repeatedly, about my sleeping arrangements, recalling how battered and bruised I am from climbing down from and up to my […]
Frightfest 2025 Day 1 (Getting There, Appofeniacs, What She Doesn’t Know, Transcending Dimensions & In a Cold Vein)
Getting the nightbus isn’t the best way to get to anything, never mind your first in-person Frightfest, but when you are 247 miles away from the event and trying to be efficient, there are few better ways to go. So, its 12:45 am and I’m waiting outside the local BBC […]
Burning (Ot) (Fantasia International Film Festival 2025)
The famous quote about movies is that they are an “empathy machine”, and personally I believe that is at it truest within the genre space – whether it be marginalised voices or something from an otherwise culturally “uncharted” part of the world – horror has it all. Whenever I see […]