The 70th edition of the London Film Festival officially kicked off yesterday. The festival will screen 251 titles (comprising features, shorts, series and immersive works) from 88 countries. Kristy Matheson, Artistic Director of BFI Film Festivals, has curated a mammoth programme which will welcome some of the world’s best directors […]
From the Festivals
No Rest for the Wicked (Fantastic Fest 2026)
LGBTQ+ themes have played a large part in genre films of recent years. Just this year queer relationships have been explored in Whistle and Leviticus, being delicately handled and naturally presented in ways that influenced the supernatural events taking place without exploitation. No Rest For The Wicked can be considered […]
Roma Elastica (Fantastic Fest 2026)
Not, as Britons of a certain age may expect, a film about Justine Frischmann and the gang touring Italy, Roma Elastica is the latest film by Bertrand Mandico. If the name is unfamiliar, that’s no surprise. Mandico is one of the most unique, surprising and consistently entertaining voices in queer […]
Compliance (Fantastic Fest 2026)
Getting its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest 2026 is Kyle Mangione-Smith’s directorial feature debut, Compliance. And while the name may have had many outings over the years, the actual content of the movie is far less well-worn. On the eve of a landmark deal for a major tech start-up, […]
The Ones Who Grieve (Fantastic Fest 2026)
Director Quarxx had his English-language breakthrough with 2024’s vision of hellish ordeals, Pandemonium, offering himself up as a director specialising in “day-ruiners.” Making its World Premiere at 2026’s Fantastic Fest is the French director’s latest, The Ones Who Grieve. Taking place on an isolated farm in the French countryside, Zélie […]
Screamplay (Fantastic Fest 2026)
Interior: writer’s studio. The film reviewer sits hunched over her laptop, typing away like a madwoman – she has just begun writing her review of a recently-restored ‘80s horror gem that was recently remastered in 4K by Muscle Distribution, and premiered at the 2026 edition of Fantastic Fest. The door […]
Death Has No Master (Fantastic Fest 2026)
There is something drained, sickly, in the very colours of Jorge Thielen Armand’s film, which makes its way to Fantastic Fest from a successful Cannes premiere. I’m uncertain whether the film was shot digitally or on celluloid – whisper it around Christopher Nolan, but you can’t always tell these days […]
Too Many Beasts (Fantastic Fest 2026)
It’s sometimes unfair to judge a film based on what you wanted it to be more than what it is, but on this occasion, don’t blame me: the film started it. Sarah Arnold’s Too Many Beasts opens in medias res amid a conflict between farmers and hunters. An aggressive opening […]
Vertiginous (Fantastic Fest 2026)
In the 20th century, the idea of living in a simulation looked like it would really suck. From William Gibson to the Wachowski Sisters, fiction writers were very paranoid about our autonomy being ripped away from the fabric of our reality, bar getting a sick pair of shades and a […]
Phreaker (Fantastic Fest 2026)
Apparently it started with a whistle. A blind child from Richmond, Virginia, Josef Engressia, whistled down a phone line, heard a strange click, then realised he had free phone calls for life. This incident, which is dramatised in flashback in Adam Yorke’s debut film Phreaker, was the birth of “phone […]