Ooh, this is a bleak film. I mean, really, really bleak. Once you think you’ve got through all the different layers of bleakness, there’s more down there to enjoy. When Evil Lurks (2023) certainly doesn’t misrepresent itself with that title; it’s chock-full of lurking evil. And dirty, bloody, grotty evil, too – none of this […]
Influencer (2022) starts by showcasing its often non-linear, inventive time structure, opening on the vision of a young female body, face down on an otherwise picturesque island beach. We then zip to something else: a motivational speech from a young woman, a social media influencer called Madison (Emily Tennant). Ah, this is content for her […]
By contributor Gabby Foor ‘Attachment’ is such an ambiguous word in this title’s sense, used so intentionally to describe a mother, a daughter, a lover, or something more. While this film brings much to love and much to fear, uneven characters and a slow pace might overwhelm any story of romance or unique stories rooted […]
Please note: this review discusses some points re: the film’s structure which could potentially offer mild spoilers. The Unheard (2023) feels like a difficult film to review as one, cogent whole. It doesn’t demarcate a number of chapters with title cards, like an awful lot of films do, but feels very much like two, distinct, […]
Funny how it’s turned out, but zombie horror has been with us so long and appeared so often now, that it all feels oddly comforting. For the most part, tropes which are maddening from other genres seem more than acceptable when there are zombies in tow: it doesn’t even really seem to matter that much […]
Whilst Slapface (2021) starts out with very broad strokes – literally showing us big brother Tom (Mike Manning) and Lucas (August Maturo) taking turns to slap each other as some sort of proxy household meeting – it soon becomes something if not altogether subtle, then certainly altogether more considered. Likewise, the opening credits, with their […]
There have been a fair few gloomy period pieces floating around over the last few years, and though it’s somewhat beyond the scope of this review, it would be interesting to ponder why: what is it about oppressive religious belief and isolated family groups which has such ready appeal for writers? We can’t possibly hand […]
Out now from Acorn Media International, and yours to win on Blu-ray comes Terrified, a Shudder Original title set in Buenos Aires. When a cop calls in two paranormal investigators to explore the strange goings-on on this city street, things go from bad to worse as they attempt to untangle this flurry of manifestations. This […]
More and more, anxieties about what we’re sharing online and who is watching are making their way into cinema. Scouting for clicks and ‘likes’ is a new version of the Satanic pact, it seems; surely, a horror unfolding on a TikTok timeline cannot be far away. And the appearance of ‘influencers’ was simply bound to […]
It’s a curious twist of fate/scheduling that writer-director Graham Skipper’s arcade game-themed horror should land on streaming platform Shudder in the same week that David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ gets its UK Blu-ray release. The Canadian body horror pioneer’s 1999 film would seem a likely influence on Sequence Break, given the gaming angle and the emphasis on […]