When a film starts off with the credit “Less Tech More Life presents…” you can probably guess where it’s going to land on certain issues. Video Vision comes from writer-director Michael Turley, whose lesstechmorelife.com website hosts a manifesto on the need to “wake ourselves up from the digital spell we […]
Movies & Documentaries
Strange Darling (Frightfest 2024) Review
As the sappy Everly Brothers classic that scores this film’s opening goes, love hurts, and right off the bat it should be prefaced that Strange Darling is a film you should go into completely blind. It’s the sort of energetic, attention-dominating indie thriller that boasts a major twist every other […]
Dead Mail (Frightfest 2024)(Review)
From American writer-director duo Kyle McConaghy and Joe DeBoer comes this strange, 1980s-set low budget indie film that manages to defy easy categorisation, standing alone as a revival of dirty ’70s exploitation dramas (think John Flynn or Sam Peckinpah), and ’80s analogue nostalgia. Dead Mail jumps right into the action, […]
Ghost Game (Frightfest 2024) Review
For as long as there have been cameras, they’ve been used to “capture” ghosts. The invention of the daguerreotype in the 1800s brought with it the advent of “spirit photography” – an attempt to capture definitive photographic proof of the paranormal (or at least sell it as such), during the […]
THE DAEMON (Frightfest 2024) Review
It can be argued that film doesn’t work for someone not because of what it’s about, but how it’s done. Familiar, and even cliched features can receive imaginative and effective treatment that provoke emotions in people and draw us closer to the characters. The Daemon features many familiar tropes, but […]
Hell Hole (2024) There’s Something in the Dirt (Review)
Better known as “fracking”, the process of hydraulic fracturing is, if you’ll pardon the expression, a largely untapped well of horror potential. The controversial fossil-fuel mining technique (outlawed here in the UK since 2019), is infamous for causing environmental damage, pollution, sickness, and even earthquakes – making it a real-life […]
House of Sayuri (Fantasia 2024)(Review)
Koji Shiraishi is one of the most prolific directors currently working, yet beyond cult hits like Noroi, Occult, and his ongoing series Senritsu Kaiki File, his work seems to have gone under the radar for those not intimate with Japanese horror. House of Sayuri has the potential to reach a […]
Wolves, Pigs & Men (1964) Yakuza Cinema By way of the French New Wave (Review)
The influence that French New Wave had on Japanese cinema throughout the 60s can never be understated. With its swathes of nihilism and cool tragedy, it seemed that one perfectly reflected the emotions of the other, as all sides (just 15-20 years removed from World War II) these children of […]
The Beast Within (2024) An intricate, Slow Burn tale of Dread & Secrets (Review)
From the opening shots of dark woods and a woman calling a name, The Beast Within creates an ominous atmosphere that doesn’t let up throughout its running time. Director Alexander J. Farrell weaves an intricate, slow burn tale of dread, secrets, and various forms of bodily betrayal that both rewards […]
Sting (2024): Fun and Slick Creature Feature with Bite (Review)
It is a strange coincidence that in the same year two nunspolitation films (Immaculate and The First Omen) were released close together, the same has happened with two spider-centric horrors. Infested/Vermines was released on Shudder at the end of April and just over a month later Sting now arrives in […]