There is no finer innovation than a family trying to get out of financial trouble. The second feature film by Ant Timpson (Come to Daddy), Bookworm at its core, is a testament to the spirit of survival and the notion that no matter how grim things are, imagination and family […]
From the Festivals
Girl Internet Show: A Kati Kelli Mixtape (2022) (Fantastic Fest 2024)
Do you ever wonder about how people will remember you after you’re gone? Girl Internet Show: A Kati Kelli Mixtape (2022), is a film which is hard to discuss via conventional means – largely because it’s not a conventional film. The act of reviewing this mixtape is more akin to […]
Respati (Fantastic Fest 2024)
Respati recently played at Fantastic Fest 2024, Sidharta Tata’s movie is the latest in a growing trend of Indonesian horror and thrillers making it to Western screens large and small. Named after the lead character (Devano Danendra), Tata tells the story of a teenage boy who struggles to sleep with […]
Satan War (1979) (Fantastic Fest 2024)
When The Exorcist was first released back in 1973, rumours began to spread that the movie itself bore supernatural, satanic properties; after all, how could somebody possibly make, or even want to make, a movie as sinister and shocking as that without calling upon the forces of darkness? In the […]
Chainsaws Were Singing (Fantastic Fest 2024)
I mean what more can you say? If you hadn’t guessed already, Chainsaws Were Singing is a madcap comedy splatterfest from the country that brought you… anyone else seen November? That’s a good one, and in fact is also a certifiably odd film and yet it doesn’t come close to […]
Sunset Superman (Fantastic Fest 2024)
Fantastic Fest isn’t just a horror film festival – it covers all the genre staples (action, sci-fi, & horror) and the spaces that intersect those divides. Lately, however, the heaviest load falls on horror, relegating sci-fi and action to supporting roles, which is true of both the microcosm of Fantastic […]
Apartment 7A (Fantastic Fest 2024)
The horror genre is often characterised by ongoing sequels, as filmmakers devise ever more convoluted ways to bring back the threat. In recent years, the legacy sequel has become popular, from Scream V (and VI) to Halloween (2018 and its sequels) to The Exorcist: Believer. Amongst these continuations, there have […]
Frankie Freako (Fantastic Fest 2024)
What ever happened to freaky little guys? For many of our childhoods, they were scuttling around everywhere – from Gremlins to Ghoulies, the rubbery wee nightmares were wreaking havoc in fictional suburban homes, instilling fear in children who really ought not to be watching such traumatic whimsy. Many of those kids are now […]
The Severed Sun (Fantastic Fest 2024)
Ever since I first clapped eyes on his 2018 short The Sermon, I’ve been assiduously following the work of Cornish based filmmaker Dean Puckett for the last five years. A folk horror tale about a homophobic church community living in rural isolation, the short was imbued with a wonderful 1970s aesthetic […]
Oddity (Fantasia 2024)(Review)
A horror movie doesn’t necessarily need to be “scary” to be successful, and even then what gets under peoples’ skin is highly subjective. Describing a horror movie as “scary” can nonetheless imply its success in several areas at being able to frighten audiences, such as having a well-developed atmosphere or […]