In 1983, the Director Of Public Prosecutions published its first list of movies which were tagged with the tabloid-friendly label of Video Nasties. These cinematic outliers were deemed to have to power to deprave and corrupt and, if the title in question had been successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act of 1959, any dealer […]
We start in a giallo-lit spin class as the opening credits of Thinestra (2025) run; the credits are rolling as if they’re on wheels, too. It’s a neat statement of visual intent for a film which takes beauty norms, particularly around weight, as a central theme, playing with aesthetics and style as it goes. In […]
Not short on ideas but perhaps short on ways to finally unite them all, I Know Exactly How You Die (2026) finds a place in that small but dedicated subgenre of horror which takes a fantastical look at the creative process. We start with an incredibly grisly, attention-grabbing start (as is customary, as filmmakers tend […]
An Irish marital body horror? Why not? A Hand to Hold is a highly entertaining short film which melds a recognisably lilting sense of humour with some outrageous practical gore effects. We start with an older couple, Moira (Frances Barber) and Patrick (Murray McArthur). Patrick is in ill-health – rigged up to a morphine drip, […]
Syria: six years previously. Journalist Jason Frey (Aneurin Barnard) and a female colleague have been captured by Isis; the woman’s refusal to fulfil their kidnappers’ demands, to read out an address on video, results in her losing her life, whilst Frey is maimed, having his hand smashed. He, however, does survive, and escapes: once back […]
Oh, we know what’s coming as the opening scenes of City Wide Fever (2025) appear on screen, and it’s good: as soon as we start to roll, the New York cityscape blends with a nightmarish montage of masked figures and gritty set pieces, showing the audience a film which wears its neo-giallo credentials openly and […]
A nameless female gravedigger (director Grace Glowicki) has a work-related issue: she stinks. This has made finding a partner very difficult. Who wants a girlfriend who smells of grave dirt and dead things? She tries to fix the issue by concocting perfumes for herself – which don’t work. The day (or night) job goes on, […]
Like many film festivals, Final Girls Berlin understands the value of short films and includes themed blocks of these on the schedule. This particular block – loosely grouped under the ever-popular title of ‘folk horror’ – is an eclectic range of films from a diverse roster of countries, though there are still, appreciably, thematic similarities. […]
Director Howard J. Ford has had a go at the lot over the past couple of decades, variously delivering independent films on zombies, cannibals, climbing – and now, extra-terrestrials. Moving around subgenres in this way, no wonder there’s been some variability: Bone Keeper (2026) is certainly evidence of that. It’s by no means the first […]
Starting with a couple of fake 80s DTV trailers (The Piano Killer and Don’t Go In That House, Bitch!) Jimmy & Stiggs – presented by Eli Roth – feels a little like an in-joke in places, and the Roth fan service and nods are clear to see, particularly in the early part of this feature. […]
Rarely does a film exercise the public this much before it’s even been released, but Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” – speech marks and all – has done it. This has been rumbling along for months actually, and certainly for longer than usual, even for most contentious film adaptations. Long before the trailer landed, it was […]