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 […]
From the Festivals
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. […]
Mother of Flies (FrightFest 2025)
At the time of writing, it has been a week since I watched Mother of Flies, the latest film from ‘The Adams Family’, a filmmaking troupe composed of Toby Poser, John Adams, and their two daughters, Zelda and Lulu Adams – and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about […]
Bambi: The Reckoning (Frightfest 2025) Public domain horror that (almost) finds its footing
The public domain gold rush is alive and well from one side of the globe to another, with low-budget filmmakers picking away at the mummified remains of fresh ideas from nearly a century ago. The US seems content with pedalling out three cursed Popeye films in one year, as well […]
A Serbian Documentary (Frightfest 2025) – A one-sided dive into cinematic controversy
Within the horror genre, there is one film whose notoriety extends into legend. Even if you have not seen the film, you damn well know about A Serbian Film. Banned in 46 countries, the 2010 feature is considered one of the most censored movies in history, and it is the […]
The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House (Frightfest 2025)
“Screen life” or “livestream” films have become prominent in contemporary horror, and from Unfriended to Deathstream to Dashcam, this concept has many of the same ideas as found footage. Viewers are vicariously put in the position of the characters, and therefore experience a sense of immediacy – the trend reflecting […]
Frightfest 2025, Day 3 & 4 (Redux Redux, The Descent, Mother of Flies & More)
This final entry will mush together my third & fourth days, as I only watched 2 movies on the Monday before heading into the labyrinthine underground system and my long coach journey home. My third day started by skipping the first movie, sometimes you just have to. As good as […]