Whilst the genre of ‘found footage’ is more on a downward arc these days than it was, say, fifteen or twenty years ago – when every no-budget filmmaker was irresistibly drawn to its cheap, practical possibilities – it’s nonetheless so familiar by now that we can instantly recognise its trappings and conventions. As such, we […]
Relentless (aka Syphon) starts life as a home invasion movie, with all the requisite anxieties of that genre. However, it quickly moves beyond home invasion, hovering over other genres along the way, but holding hands with horror as its sustained, often grisly pursuit unfolds. It’s also the third film I’ve seen in almost as many […]
The Housemaid paints in very broad strokes. On occasion, its strokes are so broad and even a bit clumsy, that it seems like the paint will tear straight through the canvas. However, if you wait it out, it gets into a much more horror-adjacent, nasty phase which feels like a decent payoff for all the […]
John (Adam Pally) and Kathy (Rosebud Baker) start off Hell of a Summer (2023) with a fireside guitar session, which as we all know is just asking for trouble. They’re the owners of a summer camp called Camp Pineway, but they live there permanently – their photos are all over the refrigerator. Anyway, we see […]
It’s time to look at my favourite short films of the year – and also time to feel sorry, as usual, that so few of these films are, currently, available for wider viewing. But who knows? Maybe in future, cinemas and online channels will diversify further; the beginnings of this are already in motion, with […]
I didn’t intend to start this rundown of my favourite independent films of the year with a rant, but it feels like the most honest way to start my preamble. Of course, I could start by saying what a diverse year it has been for a wide array of titles, genres and shooting styles, many […]
Fantasy advertisement for celibacy Together (2025) starts with a search team in the woods, looking for two people – two names are being called, but two people go undiscovered. Almost immediately, we see what the search team does not, as the camera pans down below ground level, where some search dogs seem to have found […]
Osgood Perkins – to judge by the slew of promo emails which have continued to arrive at Warped Perspective this year – is a very busy bee. He’s put out three features in two years; no sooner had Longlegs (2024) garnered perhaps more than its fair share of gushing critical attention, than gleeful emails concerning […]
Here we are again, then. The year is 1480: Wallachian marital bliss (which seems to involve assaulting lots of cushions) gets rudely interrupted by the prospect of holy war. So off goes Prince Dracula (who keeps referring to himself as ‘Dracul’), campaigning against the invading Turks. However all his thoughts remain with his beloved Elisabeta […]
Haunters of the Silence (2025) is avowedly experimental; this is not a narrative piece of filmmaking in any recognisable way, so this review opens with a proviso: it will not be for everyone, and in fact it will probably appeal to a very select band of film fans. If you are interested in the experimental […]
Is it me, or do even the most improbable dystopian situations feel a whisker away these days? Perhaps The Running Man (2025) feels oh-so close at hand because the novel on which it’s based, with its novel-contemporary analogue tech and big budget gameshow format blends so nicely with our world, billionaire media conglomerates with their […]