Zombies have long been used as an allegory. From the Haitian legend that treated zombification as an extension of slavery to the Civil Rights and consumerist concerns of George A. Romero; from the mindless shuffle of everyday life in ‘Shaun of the Dead’ to the class divisions in ‘Train to […]
Movies & Documentaries
Bad Karaoke (Frightfest 2026)
Bad Karaoke opens with a tone so CW‑coded it’s almost confrontational; there was certainly nothing else at this year’s FrightFest that even came remotely close. The casting leans heavily on hot young things, the cinematography has that overtly digital gloss you associate with mid‑budget American genre TV, and the banter […]
Snapshot (Frightfest 2026)
The year is 1888, and the British Isles are full of wonder and horror. In Leeds, the French pioneer Louis Le Prince has just invented the first moving-picture camera, whilst down in smog-bound London, William Friese-Greene and Alexander Parkes are conducting early experiments in celluloid; next door in Whitechapel, a […]
Holy Days (2026) Your Granny’s Feel-Good Movie of the Year
Directed by Nathalie Boltt and adapted from the novel by Joy Cowley, Holy Days is positioning itself as your granny’s feel-good movie of the year. It’s a broad and syrupy comedy-drama from New Zealand that tells the story of Brian (Elijah Tamati), an indigenous boy who’s been struggling after his […]
Vampire’s Kiss (1988) The Patient Zero of Nicolas Cage Performances
What would us cinephiles do without Nicolas Cage in the world? Internet discussions about the man who successfully shook off the reputation of coming from the Coppola family by simply picking whatever project he felt like (some good and plenty bad), tend to forget that he’s a very strong and […]
Hellcat (2025) Breathes Fresh Life into One-Location Horror
Isn’t it funny how time can heal all wounds in the world of movies? Just a few short years ago, the words “contained”, “chamber” or “one location horror” had utterly exhausted the genre audience – to the extent that people didn’t want to see another film set in one place […]
Jiří Trnka – Puppet Master: The Czech Year (1947), Old Czech Legends (1953), The Hand (1965)
Animation – it’s not just for adults any more! If the most internationally famous Czech animator is still that macabre Surrealist Jan Švankmajer, then Second Run have been doing their best to present global audiences with a more rounded picture of the country’s animated output. They’ve reissued several films by Karel […]
Stolen Kingdom (2026) – A whole new world behind the curtain
If you are a film fan, chances are that you use Letterboxd to log your films. Nestled within the site is Video Store, a rental service which offers a curated selection of films which are worth trying, and one of their recent additions is the fascinating documentary Stolen Kingdom. At […]
Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) A Taut and Terrifying Tale of Abuse and Revenge
The success of 2006’s This Is England, and its subsequent TV continuations, established Shane Meadows’ style of gritty working-class stories that drew on his personal experiences and exposed the darkest sides of humanity. But before the consolidation of his themes in This Is England, there was his previous film, 2004’s Dead Man’s Shoes, […]
Tokyo Burst: Crime City (Fantasia International Film Festival 2026)
Eiji Uchida’s Tokyo Burst: Crime City, which hits the city’s Kabukichō district with an unmistakable Ryu Ga Gotoku swagger, is kind of a spinoff of the Roundup series fronted by Don Lee (Ma Dong‑seok). From street brawls to gang politics and host‑club intrigue, the director’s narrative chicanery turns small disturbances […]