Zombies and Christmas: why haven’t we had more of this combination before? The overlaps kind of write themselves: gluttony, conspicuous consumption, a strong tradition of being trapped in the house. Unholy Night (2026) begins well, and clearly has a sense of how these two things could work well, but after a bold opening sequence which […]
“The whole point was you’re not supposed to space out.” We find ourselves following two pleasant but aimless young men during the opening scenes of Sour Minnows (2026), as Ricky (David Brown) and Tepper (Chase Williamson) talk contentedly about this and that, though often circling obliquely back to their favourite topics: filmmaking and film. They’re […]
We first see ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ (twins Emma and Ian Ho) as babies; these two children, now in their early teens or thereabouts, seem to have spent their entire lives in a spacious, but rather dark and dated-looking home, with only each other for company. However, this isn’t Megalomaniac (2022); the kids seem contented, they […]
Austria, the early 19th Century: in an evocative opening scene, a young woman kisses her hand to the gravestone of ‘Seraphine’, her late sister. The young woman, Florentine (Alina Schaller) is about to be married to Bruno (Daniel Holzberg), a minister who has just come into his living. Their lives should be happy, but Florentine […]
1862: the Faroe Islands, and a small, devout but insular community eking out a living in this remote place. We meet Ásla (Sofia Nolsøe) and her adult son, Baldur (Egor Venned, channelling a very young Rupert Everett). Baldur is a fisherman, who one day finds himself blanketed by an unanticipated sea-fret which disorientates him and […]
The short film Purge (2026) poses an interesting question, if at first a broad one: what makes us who we are? It then sees the question through in a sharply focused, often brutal manner, invoking aspects of body horror and, arguably, some modern Gothic elements. Honestly, it feels very much like a filmmaker-specific fever dream, […]
Prison inmate Tommy (Calem MacDonald) escapes prison via a bedbug-infested drop-off of mattresses and bedding at the local dump. Not only does this show commitment to the bit but, given the reaction of the worker who spots him, it isn’t even the first time this has happened. Tommy makes it into town, where he heads […]
The busiest and best time of the year for Warped Perspective is just around the corner again, as the Fantasia International Film Festival gets ready to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Covering Fantasia has become a regular fixture for the site and it’s always genuinely very exciting: it’s often an opportunity to see world premieres of […]