In November of 1980 a psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Lawrence Pazder from Victoria, British Columbia, wrote and published “Michelle Remembers” – an allegedly factual account of the childhood abuse of his patient, Michelle Smith, by a Satanic cult. Co-written by Smith herself, the book graphically describes how Michelle […]
From the Festivals
Hippo (Soho Horror Film Festival 2023)(Review)
The title character of Mark H. Rapaport’s debut film, played by the film’s co-writer Kimball Farley, is an amateur film-maker who, quoting Nikola Tesla, promises his audience “man-made horrors beyond your comprehension” – and the Soho Horror Festival seem to have agreed by hosting the film’s UK premiere. It’s no […]
Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism (Soho Horror Fest 2023) (Review)
Having its UK premiere at Soho Horror Festival’s in-person Satanic Panic Gala, Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism is an exploration that scours the darkest depths of religious exorcism. Directed by Nick Kozakis and written by Alexander Angliss-Wilson, Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism centres around Australian couple Lara (Georgia Eyers), and her husband […]
The Hyperborean (Soho Horror Festival 2023)(Review)
Spoiler warning! “Heaven is still here, but it can’t be breathe.” Cook’s cosmic journey into grief, family dynamics, and moral grey areas. Who doesn’t love whiskey? With coke, on the rocks, with lemonade, it’s the drink that tastes good in every mood. Robert McClaw, a discoverer tasked with finding another […]
Saint Drogo (Soho Horror Festival 2023)(Review)
In Catholicism, Drogo is considered to be the patron saint of the unsightly and the outcast, shepherding a flock made up of those who are exiled and shunned for their perceived ugliness. The Flemish martyr’s relevance to Provincetown, Massachusetts (a small holiday town on the New England coast), may not […]
The Promised Land & The Zone of Interest (Montclair Film Festival 2023)(Review(s)
The Promised Land (Bastarden) I have often found that anything that Mads Mikkelsen is in is usually great and if it is not, it’s not his fault. I say that realizing that I’ve never seen a Danish film of his. So this was my first Danish language film of his. […]
Faceless After Dark (Grimmfest 2023)(Review)
At Grimmfest 2023, this critic asked director Raymond Wood if he considered Faceless after Dark to be a ‘woke’ film. He replied that he didn’t like the term, it was too vague and reductive, but described it as a feminist film from a man who considers himself a feminist ally. […]
Give Me An A (Grimmfest 2023)(Review)
Few things could be more horrific than the loss of bodily autonomy, but in June 2022 millions of women across the USA lost theirs when the landmark case Roe V Wade was overturned, removing the right to abortion. Since then, many cases and protests have arisen, as well as various […]
Transmission (Frightfest 2023) (Review)
The “lost media” trope, a centrally important one in online horror fiction, seems to have had its old-media coming-out party this year, with lost episodes and unfinished films turning up in everything from Boots Riley’s Amazon Prime series I’m a Virgo to Graham Hughes’s new film Hostile Dimensions (also showing at FrightFest 2023). Now […]
The Moor (Frightfest 2023)(Review)
The landscapes of Britain can suggest a rustic charm and beauty, but they’re also ripe for folk horrors like The Wicker Man and Enys Men. Some of the most evocative locations are the various moors scattered across the land, which can be everything from the setting of Sir Arthur Conan […]