Arcade music and flashing lights cut through the title screen which displays Geronimo, alerting us straight away that the weird world of ‘amusements’ will figure here. But, it’s a film of contrasts, and we get that straight away, too. We first meet the arcade owner Peter (Ged McKenna) navigating his way through everyday life, which […]
It’s really encouraging that more and more short films are being picked up for general release of late. Hopefully gone are the days when someone’s groundbreaking project, full of blood, sweat and tears, could only ever disappear from sight after its festival run. So it’s great that Arrow – so often the benchmark for cult […]
Dagr (2024) is quite clear on what it is and what it’s all about from the very opening credits: this is found footage, brought right up to date. We get some on-screen text telling us about two social media stars, Thea and Louise, who had amassed a serious following by 2021 for their particular shtick, […]
One of the most hard-hitting of the slew of New French Extremity films which slithered into being in the early Noughties, Inside (2007) is now one of the latest famous, or infamous titles to have received the Second Sight box set treatment, and we have one of these box sets to give away thanks to […]
Malina (Sina Martens) wakes up to find herself in the trunk of a car – hence the title, apologies to anyone here for elephant-related action – but you’re here now, so you may as well read the rest of this. Unable to extricate herself from the vehicle before it sets off, her mobile phone is […]
Why would anyone go camping, ever, for supposed ‘pleasure’? It seems to be a lesson lost on South Koreans, too, if we can judge at least a little bit based on The Human Trap (2021). However, the camping aspect of the film is only a minor aspect of what the plot eventually has in store; […]
It’s no surprise at all that frontier horror, or Wild West horror, continues to hold such great potential for new storytelling. Consider it: an uncertain, changeable point in history; the arrival of immigrants from different parts of the world, coming together as strangers in a strange land; the land itself, potentially hostile, unknown and peopled […]
Accomplished scientist Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) gives new life to Bella (Emma Stone), a recently deceased young woman, via a brain transplant and some good old fashioned, Frankenstein-style electrical charge. In order to track Bella’s development, “God” enlists the help of student Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) and Max comes to fall for Bella’s unfiltered view […]
It’s a strange thing – I was prepared to write this review of The Frightened Woman as if this film is nothing more than a quirky time capsule, a pretty, picturesque piece of cinema coming from some very particular social and cultural mores. Of course, it is all of that, but its story of a […]
Brandon Cronenberg may not have the most extensive filmography on the block – as of yet – but, based on the films he has brought us so far, you could suggest that selfhood and the performance of self are important themes. Infinity Pool (2023) is certainly no exception, but as Cronenberg continues to grow his […]
Every year there’s always some comment about how it’s been a terrible one for horror movies, and every year I think “What have those people been watching”? The genre rarely fails to deliver terror of all types and, as usual, narrowing the field down to my favourite ten (plus five honourable mentions) has been just […]
