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 […]
From the Festivals
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 […]
Broken Bird (Frightfest 2024) Review
Sybil works at an undertakers. It’s a lonely job, with few perks. So she takes solace where she can. People pity the dead, but the dead are laughing in their sleep. Sybil (Rebecca Calder – House of the Dragon, Kandahar), charms her way through life, rarely straying from the societally […]
Never Have I Ever (Frightfest 2024) Review
What goes around comes around in Never Have I Ever‘s tale of domestic drama and drinking games. Sam (Andrew Lee Potts), is a struggling screen writer with a drinking habit who misses his deadlines and is low on cash. His reputation around town precedes him, and his struggles to get […]
Members Club (Frightfest 2024) Review
Genre Film Festivals are a wide parish, and some movies appear at certain events to play the field – either to find the highest bidder to launch something onto the unsuspecting masses, or they’ve already got distribution and want to build up hype before their eventual release. Other titles aren’t […]
Derelict (Frightfest 2024) Review
Derelict is a curious combination of gritty social realism and arthouse stylistics, the former coming from the locations, characters and narrative. Set, and largely filmed, in the English Midlands (but including Hereford, Manchester and London), we’re introduced (via the title card), to Abigail (Suzanne Fulton), who lives in a small […]