You’d think you would know what kind of film you’re in for when you decided to sit down and watch a movie called Dildo Heaven (2002), but no matter what your expectations might be, you’d only be half right. It’s a hell of a title, to say the least. For […]
From the Festivals
Kenichi Ugana Interview: The Curse (Fantastic Fest 2025)
We continue our 2025 coverage of Fantastic Fest with something a little different now… Yesterday, I talked about the latest movie from Japanese indie director, Kenichi Ugana. A bit fan of his previous work, The Gesouidoz, as soon as I saw it was part of this year’s fantastic fest line-up, […]
A Woman Called Mother (Fantastic Fest 2025)
The Indonesian horror scene is currently doing very strong domestic business; it hasn’t had a break-out international film on the level of Japan’s Ringu or South Korea’s A Tale of Two Sisters yet, but you wouldn’t bet against it happening. Randolph Zaini’s A Woman Called Mother probably won’t be that […]
Meat Kills (Fantastic Fest 2025)
Upon brief inspection, mainly the title and synopsis, Meat Kills would appear to be a horror-thriller about the grotesque way that animals are treated for human consumption. A group of activists stage a rescue mission to release pigs suffering under atrocious conditions in a pig farm, and come face to […]
The Curse (Fantastic Fest 2025)
Long wanting to catch Kenichi Ugana’s work, it wasn’t until we caught the inimitable punk fever of last year’s The Gesouidoz (at London Fanta) that we finally caught up with the eclectic director making a name for himself on the international festival circuit. When his name popped up again for […]
The Piano Accident (Fantastic Fest 2025) France’s greatest prankster goes straight
Quentin Dupieux is the rarest of all filmmakers: someone who is at their best when actively getting in their own way. A prankster of both the music and film scenes, his dual-career as electro-maestro Mr. Oizo and teasing deadpan feature film sketch-comedy auteur has inspired as much laughter as it […]
Tie Man (Fantastic Fest 2025)
Every so often, a movie comes along which is so deeply committed to being sincerely odd that – regardless of my overall enjoyment of it – I can’t help but appreciate it on principle. Tie Man (2024) is one of those movies. Directed by Rémi Fréchette, best known for his […]
Looking Forward to Celluloid Screams 2025
The UK festival scene is strong, but one facet of it is stronger than all other – the horror festivals. We know the top of the totem pole is in central London, yet spotted up and down the country are all manner of weekend long events for the macabre genre. […]
A Blind Bargain (Frightfest 2025)
In 1922, acclaimed silent filmmaker Wallace Worsley would release one of his most famous directorial efforts, A Blind Bargain – a tale of mad science and medical malpractice which starred horror legend Lon Chaney as both the sinister Doctor Lamb and his creation, “The Ape Man”. Worsley drove the censors […]
Where is Juan Moctezuma? & Human (Frightfest 2025)
When in the moment of covering a film festival with multiple stages and screens, there are conflicts that mean you often don’t get the chance to see everything you’d like to. Today, I’m talking about two wildly different movies that fell victim to this – Where is Juan Moctezuma? (dir. […]