Review by Darren Gaskell Aimless Ryan (Richard Galloway) is struggling to find purpose in life. Having quit his teaching gig, he’s struggling to find gainful employment and his lack of drive is testing the patience of partner Louise (Louise O’Leary). Wandering around a local antiques emporium, Ryan picks up a somewhat overpriced hammer, but also […]
Review by Darren Gaskell 23rd March 2020. As the spectre of Covid loomed large over the UK and the population was told to isolate, filmmaker Damien Sung decided to film a series of vlogs documenting his experience as a divorced father of three living some distance away from his wife and kids. Soon the effects […]
Review by Darren Gaskell Security guard Ben (Adrian Linke) is working a night shift at a warehouse when three people, intent on getting their hands on the contents of the safe, break into the building. As Ben considers how to tackle the intruders, he also has to deal with the spectre of his recent past […]
Review by Darren Gaskell Harry Washello (Anthony Edwards) meets cute Julie Peters (Mare Winningham) and life is good as he prepares for what he believes will be a life-changing first date with her. One power outage later, Harry finds himself three and a half hours late to meet Julie at the diner where she works […]
Short film Vax (2023) is a cynical snapshot of the interplay between medical research and a profits-driven system, and one which has clearly bubbled away in the aftermath of the Covid-19 vaccine, with all of its attendant, sometimes barking mad discourse. But what Covid did was bring the subject of vaccination to the fore; whether […]
Review by Darren Gaskell Whether you’re a horror movie fan or you’d run a mile rather than watch anything remotely scary, chances are you’ll know the name of Robert Englund, propelled to icon status via his memorable portrayal of knife-gloved, stripey sweater sporting child killer Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare On Elm Street movies. Of […]
Art and horror have a long and fruitful relationship, from every cinematic rendering of The Portrait of Dorian Gray through to Fulci, Barker and Begos. Regrettably, End of Term (2021) won’t be making any ‘best of’ lists for its own treatment of the art theme; neither the art nor the horror are either plausible or […]
Strange goings-on are pressing in at the edges in Vincent (2023): disappearances, despair, double lives. But despite these blue-tinged, Nordic hints of horror, this turns out to be an immensely warm, often touching film about friendship which absolutely deserves to be seen. This is one of those indie cinema gems which you keep on reviewing […]
More a thoughtful, often thought-provoking experience than a straightforward horror or indeed a folk horror, Nightsiren (2022) doles out its story of rural generational harm piecemeal, but generally carefully. Undoubtedly, it runs aground in places, but this sober, sombre film is always a visual treat with a formidable atmosphere and lots of interesting layering to […]
Appearing midway-through what might once have been the new normal of the New Extremity movement of the Nineties and early Noughties, Calvaire (2004) was, nonetheless, an odd and interesting fit for that movement. No doubt it was helped into existence by the advent of films like Irréversible, which had been released two years prior (sharing […]
A sylvan nightmare introduces us to the world of Mercy Falls (2023) and a sylvan nightmare it remains; make of that what you will. As a film, it retains all of the standard nonsensical elements of a nightmare, alongside its tension and inescapability. The film on the whole can be perplexing, though it does do […]