Dead Mail (Frightfest 2024)(Review)

Jake Kazanis

From American writer-director duo Kyle McConaghy and Joe DeBoer comes this strange, 1980s-set low budget indie film that manages to defy easy categorisation, standing alone as a revival of dirty ’70s exploitation dramas (think John Flynn or Sam Peckinpah), and ’80s analogue nostalgia. Dead Mail jumps right into the action, […]

Ghost Game (Frightfest 2024) Review

Robyn Adams

For as long as there have been cameras, they’ve been used to “capture” ghosts. The invention of the daguerreotype in the 1800s brought with it the advent of “spirit photography” – an attempt to capture definitive photographic proof of the paranormal (or at least sell it as such), during the […]

THE DAEMON (Frightfest 2024) Review

Vincent Gaine

It can be argued that film doesn’t work for someone not because of what it’s about, but how it’s done. Familiar, and even cliched features can receive imaginative and effective treatment that provoke emotions in people and draw us closer to the characters. The Daemon features many familiar tropes, but […]

House of Sayuri (Fantasia 2024)(Review)

Mike Leitch

Koji Shiraishi is one of the most prolific directors currently working, yet beyond cult hits like Noroi, Occult, and his ongoing series Senritsu Kaiki File, his work seems to have gone under the radar for those not intimate with Japanese horror. House of Sayuri has the potential to reach a […]

Parvulos (Fantasia 2024)(Review)

Mike Leitch

Isaac Ezban is a regular on festival circuits, with films like Evil Eye and The Similars establishing him as an interesting, if under-seen, contributor to Mexican horror. His latest film, Parvulos, is his longest feature at just under two hours, and he shows considerable ambition with this dystopian tale of […]

Animalia Paradoxa (Fantasia 2024) (Review)

Alex Paine

Think of any dystopian environment you’ve either read in a book or seen on screen. How do they typically come to be that way? Usually, it’s the result of humanity sliding into autocracy, or a cataclysmic environmental event, or a rapid increase in social injustices. It’s unclear as to how […]

The Tenants (Fantasia 2024)(Review)

Mike Leitch

There’s something depressingly relatable in seeing art about housing crises from other countries as it’s something that hits people so personally, knowing that we’re not alone. The sad part is obviously that it’s happening at all, with little social security, and this is the feeling that dominates The Tenants – […]

Cuckoo (Fantasia 2024) (Review)

Robyn Adams

Cuckoos are brood parasites that lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species and, once hatched, the chicks are raised by the unsuspecting host parents, who frequently reject their own eggs and young as a result. To Gretchen (Hunter Schafer), a teenage girl forced to move to the […]

Hollywood 90028 (Fantasia 2024) (Review)

Robyn Adams

Whereas many will undoubtedly be raving about the wonderful selection of new premieres at the 2024 edition of Fantasia Fest for weeks to come – and for good reason, as its lineup is tremendous – I’d certainly advise genre film fanatics to not ignore the restored and resurrected titles on […]