Orphaned as a result of a smallpox epidemic, siblings Jack (Levon Hawke) and Lula Parker (Esme Creed-Miles) leave their homestead and, with their grandfather, begin a journey across forbidding territory to their aunt’s place. A run-in with notorious outlaw Cutthroat Bill (Juliette Lewis) ends with grandfather dead, Lula kidnapped and Jack needing to rescue his […]
Don’t take medication which isn’t intended for you. Think twice about taking medication which is intended for you. These are the takeaway lessons of Birdeater (2023) – a film which relies heavily on altered states for both its linear and experimental plot points. This is as much of a moral standpoint as anything you get […]
There’s a scene in Vulcanizadora where, in the darkness of the woods, one of the main characters unpacks a Discman and some analogue speakers he’s brought along to entertain his friend on their camping trip. Nothing works; the cable isn’t connected to the speakers at first, but they hiss anyway; the Discman skips and stutters, […]
Misery becomes a literal monster in The Killgrin – a film which nods to a number of established horror ideas and other projects, but benefits from the ambition of director Joanna Tsanis in terms of pulling those ideas together. Airport worker Miranda (Konstantina Mantelos) is just getting off her shift at the beginning of the […]
There’s a moment during the first act of A Desert when one character asks another character, an outsider, ‘You like being a tourist?’ It’s this divided America which forms the unstable foundations of the film, looking at what happens to people choosing to be tourists in their own country, spectators in a version of America […]
In amongst recent press emails, The Caller (2025) stood out for one key reason: it’s a film made by one person (Andy Blithe). What that means here is: one person acts, and the same person makes up all of the crew, too. An interesting fact and no doubt an important project personally, then, but fortunately […]
It’s public domain IP time, folks! After Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey waded into the concept of bringing horror riffs to classic, childhood favourites, a number of projects were queueing up to put their own scary spin on a number of beloved characters as soon as those pesky copyright issues were out of the […]
Super Happy Fun Clown (2024) opens with a woman – dressed as a clown – who has a hostage, engaged in a confrontation with the police. So, if nothing else, the title can be taken literally; there are no (or not only) metaphorical clowns here. Adapted from a short film of the same title (and […]
Whilst the title is some indication of what we are going to experience, it’s fair to say that The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia can’t easily be summed up via its title alone, much less guessed at. This is a superb piece of indie cinema storytelling, a deeply personal character study, but one which draws […]
If you don’t immediately recognise the name of Thomas Kinkade, then chances are you’ll recognise his work. He’s famous for painting a kind of pre-industrial utopia, all cobblestones, pristine cottage gardens and picturesque landscapes which in truth feel as far away from ordinary life for most people – if not further away – than many […]
I asked to review Sew Torn for a few reasons, but the biggest reason was curiosity. How, exactly, could a film be so closely themed around, of all things, seamstressing? Well, it is. It really, really is. It’s also a varied, funny crime drama which manages to incorporate elements of existential fantasy along the way, […]