The Magdalene Laundries were never really a secret. The official McAleese Report into the institutions claimed that around 11,000 Irish women were held in these institutions after the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Aoife Kelleher’s documentary Testimony, released in UK and Irish cinemas this weekend, draws on […]
Movies & Documentaries
Bulk (Imagine Festival 2025) Ben Wheatley At His Most Wildly Experimental
After garnering acclaim for his early folk horrors, Ben Wheatley has struggled to reach those heights again. One possible explanation is the input of Amy Jump as co-writer and editor of all his films until Free Fire. Since then, Wheatley’s solo work has felt much looser, whether it is the […]
The Maiku Hama Trilogy (1994-6) Film Noir through a Vividly Japanese Lens
Anyone mourning the recent cancellation of Rian Johnson’s Poker Face might find a more than acceptable substitute in the form of Third Window Films’s new Blu-Ray release, The Maiku Hama Trilogy. They may be a series of films rather than a television series, but they have exactly the right stand-alone […]
Retreat: All Deaf Cast Shine in Intelligent Slow-Burn Thriller (Imagine Festival 2025)
In many ways, Retreat has been a long time coming, with reports of it being shot back in 2020. Its origins go back further with writer and director Ted Evans’ short film of the same name in 2013, though only the setting is retained (an isolated community focused on supporting […]
Redux Redux (Imagine Film Festival 2025)
WARNING! This a film worth going into blind. While this review does not contain spoilers, it does outline the premise that it might be more fun to discover for yourself. Still here? Well then, let’s proceed. Revenge is a dish best served cold, or in the case of Redux Redux, […]
Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie (Imagine Film Festival 2025)
I was unaware of Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol’s lo-fi comedy TV series, Nirvanna the Band the Show, before pressing play on Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie for the Imagine Fantastic Film Festival in Amsterdam. The title should have been self-explanatory, yet it’s so absurd I completely took it for granted. […]
Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Imagine Film Fest 2025)
You can’t move for nostalgia in the cinema today. People go to the movies to escape into the reassuring, and studios are only too happy to supply them with cinematic safety blankets made from IPs of old, the comic book hero, the remake, the TV reboot. But for those of […]
Horror in the Andes: Ayacuchean Cinema in the Making (Imagine 2025)
Academic analyses of film can sometimes be esoteric and alienating. References to theorists and terms like ‘mise-en-scene’, ‘postcolonialism’ and ‘intersectional understanding’ might cause readers to lose interest, and in some cases, annoy filmmakers. The documentary Horror in the Andes: Ayacuchean Cinema in the Making indicates such annoyance with its opening […]
I Live Here Now (Imagine Film Festival 2025)
Since its premiere at Fantasia a few months ago, I Live Here Now has been gaining some traction among festival goers and horror fans. The directorial debut of Julie Pacino (yes, she’s related), is a surrealist and claustrophobic piece of horror where one budding actress’s stay in a hotel quickly […]
New Group: Offbeat Horror on the Fear of Conformity (Imagine Festival 2025)
Yuta Shimotsu has become the latest breakout writer/director of Japanese horror after the arrival of his debut, Best Wishes For All dropped on Shudder this year. It’s awkward and strange tone immediately stands out in its uniquely unnerving way and it’s a style Shimotsu continues with his follow-up New Group. […]