What would you do to overcome writer’s block? With a looming deadline and freshly ghosted by his girlfriend, struggling horror novelist Rian (Rushabh Patel) retreats to a remote motel to finish writing his book. Caught between a storyboard populated only by the first and last scene and bouts of frenzied bathtub writing, Rian begins to hatch a story about drug counsellor Katie on the run from an increasingly violent stalker (and possibly serial killer).
It soon becomes clear that Rian’s story is unfolding in real time.
As his path collides with the real Katie, can they stop the stalker before it is too late? And what exactly is Naja, the mysterious hotel manager, hiding?
Quietly devastating and utterly spellbinding, Alex Burunova’s Satisfaction is screening at the Glasgow Film Festival this weekend. Fans of Mayor of Kingstown on Paramount+ will recognise lead actress Emma Laird from her role as Iris, and know that she doesn’t shy from difficult material, though this performance ventures into particularly dark territory.
Set against the sun-washed beauty of the Greek Isles, British composers Lola (Emma Laird) and Philip (Fionn Whitehead) exist together in a relationship defined less by love than by distance and silence. For all the tranquillity of their surroundings, an unbreachable divide spans between them. When Lola meets the enigmatic Elena (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), the fragile equilibrium between Lola and Philip begins to fracture, revealing a much darker portrait of people bound together by trauma.
So there's a mythical monster lurking in a cave and your father vanished trying to prove it existed. Thirty years later, your mother goes looking for it and disappears too. You decide to gather a few scientist friends to mount a rescue and naturally, one of them invites a vlogger known as the Bitch Hiker. What could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot, as it turns out, in Howard J Ford's Bone Keeper.
It does not begin badly. The opening scenes boast genuinely striking cinematography and intriguing effects work. With visual effects supervisor Giorgio Anita and prosthetic makeup effects Max van de Banks credited early on, my expectations rose sharply.
But there is also some really disorienting camera work, perhaps warning of what is to come. From that shaky foundation, Bone Keeper begins to unravel.
The characters in Bone Keeper know they are in a horror set up. They comment on the tropes, they clock the warning signs. And yet they still do exactly what they should not, most notably splitting up. Even if you're exploring caves without a legendary monster, you do not leave people behind. Honestly, the scariest thing here is the arrogance and stupidity of the characters.
Well, not quite. There are some deeply terrifying and grim scenes, credit again to the effects department and to the sound and music team, but you're rarely given enough time to fully take in what you are seeing.
Until you are.
That nest. That bone shrine. Those tentacles.
Ultimately, Bone Keeper earns few points for originality. The music and the cinematography are beautiful at times, shaky at others, but there is nothing particularly fresh about the plot. It is scary, of course it is, it is a monster horror. But it's also a monster horror that's uncomfortably aware of itself, and that makes the characters’ poor decisions harder to forgive.
To the cast's credit, they do a great job of portraying some thoroughly dislikable characters. John Rhys-Davies was criminally underutilised but I did like Nadia and Ravi, played by Sophia Eleni and Danny Rahim. Their scientific analysis, and what they uncover under the microscope, are genuinely compelling.
In the end, Bone Keeper wasn't wrapped up in a particularly satisfying way and, without giving anything away, it also made me want to scream, "That's not how things work here!"
As excited as I was to see a British monster horror premier at Glasgow Film Festival this year, Bone Keeper earns a slightly disappointed three out of five stars from me.
Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray for all the souls I keep
I love it when a film takes me by surprise. I went into Bury the Devil with modest expectations, shame on me, but it quickly became clear the film was something special. Adam O’Brien’s one-shot possession horror Bury the Devil is a standout at this year’s Frightfest Glasgow festival and comes from the team behind the 2024 festival favourite Mom.
On a dark and stormy evening, young hospice nurse Julia (Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez) helps her client Evelyn (Dawn Ford) prepare for bed for the night. Evelyn is slightly strange, but that is nothing out of the ordinary for someone with dementia. Following a visit from her estranged husband Randall (Bill Rowat), Evelyn's behaviour takes a turn for the worse and Julia begins to realise that all is not well in the house.
As the evening descends into chaos and violence, Julia must fight to survive the night and protect Evelyn. But what is she fighting against? What does Randall want from Evelyn? And is he the most dangerous entity in the house?
Bury the Devil is an intensely creepy film, so much so that the old house and the storm outside deserve credits of their own at the end. As Julia and Evelyn navigate the house, with all of its creaking floorboards and disturbing knocks, we begin to learn more about Evelyn through her artwork and the knickknacks that she collects.
The dynamic between the two women is powerful, despite their having met only that evening, and Canadian-born Martinez is flawless as Julia. Julia’s compassion and Evelyn’s rare moments of clarity contrast sharply with the palpable fear that grows as the film progresses.
What makes the film even more impressive is how it is constructed. After watching both Presenceand Bury the Devil, I think one-shot horror might be my new favourite subgenre. Director Adam O’Brien uses the technique to create a deeply claustrophobic experience, with the camera trailing the actors through every corridor and room of the house and rarely allowing either them or the audience a moment to breathe.
It is an exhausting watch, as you cannot lose focus for a second lest you miss the craft, but it is also exhilarating. I counted just two cuts in the camera work, one through a keyhole and another through a window. While Presence had the advantage of a larger budget and big names attached, Bury the Devil is a truly independent film with a tiny budget, which only adds to its charm.
Not satisfied with this technical feat, O’Brien takes it further through his use of sound. Even when the screen falls into darkness, what we hear becomes as important as what we see. Instead of flashbacks, the backstory emerges through recordings and illustrated diaries, revealing the narrative as the tension continues to build in real time.
For a perfect performance from Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez and for blowing me away in terms of technique, sound and cinematography, I give Bury the Devil a resounding five out of five stars and name it the must-see film of Frightfest Glasgow 2026. In an interview with The Hollywood News, O’Brien shared that the film is the first in an intended trilogy. I very much hope that is the case!
★★★★★
Bury the Devil receives its world premiere at FrightFest Glasgow on 6 March
What is horror? Is it what scares us? Makes us uneasy? Or is it the thing that makes our skin crawl as we recoil with revulsion? With disembodied doll parts, swarming flies and an unmistakeably foul atmosphere, Rod Blackhurst’s Dolly opts firmly for the latter from its opening scene and doesn’t relent for 82 minutes.
There's something uniquely compelling about foreign-language horror films, how they blend culturally specific fears with those that are universally terrifying. In The Vile, an Arabic-language first for me, Emirati filmmaker Majid Al Ansari drives the audience to the edge of their seat from the very first scene and doesn't let go for the rest of the film.
Mother and daughter Amani (Bdoor Mohammad) and Noor (Iman Tarik) enjoy an afternoon of fun in suburban Abu Dhabi while waiting for husband and father Khalid (Jasem Alkharraz) to return home. Joy turns to horror in the blink of an eye when Khalid arrives with a pregnant second wife, both without the consent nor knowledge of Amani.
As Amani's sense of betrayal deepens, she becomes increasingly alienated in her own home and begins to suspect that something far more sinister flutters behind the seemingly innocent eyes of second wife Zahra (Sarah Taibah). Try as she might, her efforts to reach out to Noor fail as the teen, struggling with schoolyard bullying, finds solace in the younger wife's company.
Viscerally unsettling and deeply uncomfortable, The Vile is an intense reflection on gender and power, and the demons we let into our lives with our insatiable appetites for more.
A self-proclaimed "huge horror fan" Majid Al Ansari's passion for the genre is evident throughout this feature. Casting his eye on polygamy, which remains a cultural norm in the UAE, Al Ansari asks what happens when consent is removed from the equation and what monsters does this betrayal manifest?
The Vile rises on the strength of Bdoor Mohammad and Iman Tarik’s performances. There is one scene in particular, with Mohammad slowly turning her head to look backwards over her shoulder, which continues to haunt me long after the credits rolled.
With top marks for scares, acting and themes, it's the execution that trips The Vile up. For a film that so successfully blends psychological and paranormal horror, the resolution seemed a little heavy-handed, undermining the subtle tension built throughout. Nevertheless, it's a terrifying, thought-provoking and powerful film.
For an unsettling introduction to the world of Arabic-language horror, I give The Vile an excellent four out of five stars.
I'll definitely be keeping an eye on what Majid Al Ansari, Bdoor Mohammad and Iman Tarik do in future.
★★★★☆
Following the World Premiere Screening at Fantastic Fest tonight, The Vile will enjoy a second screening at the Alamo Drafthouse on Wednesday 24 September before heading off to the BFI London Film Festival in October.
Sometimes watching horror is remarkably like witnessing a high speed train wreck. You can see it coming from a mile away, the sirens in your head are blaring, and you’re desperately hitting imaginary brakes, but there’s nothing you can do to stop it. That’s the feeling I had in one particular scene in Super Happy Fun Clown (no spoilers, but it involves a spoon). I simply sat there with my mouth agape for a stupidly long time because I couldn’t believe they actually went there.
Directed by Patrick Rea, Super Happy Fun Clown is a carnivalesque exploration of revenge, rage and the search for infamy. It is full of moments that you may see coming but which are no easier to digest because of it.
Perpetual outsider Jen (Jennifer Seward) has been abused all of her life, by her mother who scapegoated her and favoured her sister, by her jealous classmates, and by her disgraced-now-unemployable loser of a husband. As a child, her only happy places were in her love of clowns and a healthy, growing interest in serial killers and classic film monsters.
Jen rises above it all. An anonymous office worker by day, she balances the mundane by moonlighting as children’s mime artist Jenn-O the Clown, a wholesome persona that is a tribute to the one shining beacon of her childhood.
But no matter how clever her disguises, she cannot make the most important people in her life see her. Asking herself what would John Wayne Gacy do?, Jen decides to turn that frown upside down.
What starts off slowly, almost reasonably, ramps up in the weeks leading up to Halloween as Jen prepares for one night of mayhem that will elevate her amongst those she most reveres.
"The idea of acquiring power through consumption, even if it means taking it from those you love"
Super Happy Fun Clown is a wild ride with fantastic performances from both Jennifer Seward (adult Jen) and Violet Rea (young Jen). Seward is magnetic and utterly convincing as the lovely, friendly, miming clown.
The clown that steps over the line
As a horror film, this one is not so much about the scares and more about the gore; it is gratuitous and disturbing in the most violent of ways.The soundtrack was very well chosen too, elevating the mayhem of the film and underlining Jen’s descent into chaos.
It is wish fulfilment at its darkest and the message here is clear: if you’re going to snap, you may as well ensure the world never forgets it. But it is also what will make Super Happy Fun Clown controversial. This film opens up a whole lot of questions, especially around why we love Jen so much. With her little smiley faces and cute-as-a-button makeup, she is almost impossible to hate.
It is also impossible to ignore that this film is heavily influenced by Joker (alongside countless other pop culture references), and the undertones inevitably brought to mind the 2012 Aurora massacre.In that tragedy, the perpetrator was quite rightly reviled and universally despised. It is a disturbing contradiction, and one that Super Happy Fun Clown leans into unapologetically.
For sending me down an unexpectedly self-reflective rabbit-hole of why I enjoyed this gratuitous and violent film so much, I give Super Happy Fun Clown an excellent four out of five stars. It is clearly my kind of horror and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for Patrick Rea, Jennifer Seward and Violet Rea. ★★★★☆
Super Happy Fun Clown enjoyed its international premier at London’s Frightfest on Sunday 24 August
Have you ever wondered what happens to letters that can't be delivered? Probably not, snail mail is a relic of the 80s along with other horrifying concepts such as fax machines, shoulder pads and permanent waves. The producers of Shudder's Late Night With the Devil deliver Dead Mail, a chilling study of obsession, possession, and captivity. What begins as a desperate letter dropped into a USPS mailbox soon spirals into a nightmare, with the Dead Letters team battling to locate a kidnap victim.
In a deliciously atmospheric nod to Dario Argento, director Elric Kane’s Shudder Original, The Dead Thing, plunges us into the bleak world of internet dating, with a twist of horror that’s equal parts stylish and sinister.
Night after night, Alex drifts through a parade of fleeting internet dates, each encounter as transient and hollow as the last. These ephemeral moments of contact are the only sparks in a relentless routine: a slow, almost ritualistic waltz from dimly lit bars to the antiseptic hum of her nightshift as an office document scanner, before she retreats into the cold glow of her SAD lamp and finally, into sleep.
But everything shifts when Kyle enters the scene - a spark that cuts through the monotony and ignites a connection on a profoundly unexpected level. Almost instinctively, they find themselves tangled in a web of raw emotion, baring their souls before the night even draws to a close.
And then the inevitable happens. Kyle ghosts her.
The insidious thing about ghosting is this: you might not even particularly like somebody, but the moment they ghost you, the power shifts, control slips through your fingers, and obsession takes the wheel, accelerating into overdrive.
As Alex’s obsession tightens its grip, she starts crossing lines that should never be crossed. Then she makes a terrible discovery. Can she find her way back to Kyle? And more importantly, should she? For Kyle is harbouring a dark secret and will stop at nothing to reclaim his life.
The Dead Thing is a beautiful film. Elric Kane has captured Argento's visual aesthetic with lurid colours and deep shadows that accentuate a film set mostly at night. The signature violence takes its time to appear, but when it finally erupts, it’s as jarring as it is disorienting.
This isn’t your typical gore-fest or jump scare parade. Instead, it’s a slow-burning exploration of rejection, the loss of control when you let someone in, and the obsessive aftermath when it all unravels. The plot may appear deceptively simple at first, but a cleverly placed twist midway transforms the narrative into something both haunting and unexpectedly captivating.
Blu Hunt (The Originals) delivers a standout performance as Alex, perfectly matched by Ben Smith-Petersen’s enigmatic Kyle. The pair share undeniable chemistry, though in this film, they seem to spark with everyone they encounter.
I give The Dead Thing an excellent four out of five stars and recommend it for fans of lurid and slow-burning
horror. I'll be interested to see what
Elric Kane delivers next and whether he continues his dedication to Argento.
★★★★☆
A Shudder Original, The Dead Thing premieres 14 February 2025.
Cape Town, The Future: social problems, energy crises, daily curfews and rising instability. The rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and only those in bed with the government are getting anywhere. In Street Trash, Ryan Kruger's follow up to Fried Barry, a ragtag group of homeless misfits stumble upon a horrifying conspiracy: a ruthless plan to exterminate every homeless person in the city. Thrown into a desperate fight for survival, these outcasts must band together, outsmart their hunters, and live to party another day.
There's just one thing (and if you've seen Fried Barry, you will know this): things are going to get weird.
Based on the 1987 film by Roy Frumkes and J. Michael Muro, Street Trash is part horror, part damning indictment of the rich, and part psychedelic trip into Cape Town's seedy underground.
Street Trash is not for the faint of heart; in the opening scenes you will see some of the worst body horror ever seen on screen. It certainly not safe for people with emetophobia, or people with whatever the fear of skin-melting-off-bodies is called. If I’m honest, this isn’t my usual kind of horror. But with Ryan Kruger attached, I had to watch. His brand of irreverent, subversive chaos never fails to deliver a hallucinogenic trip through urban mayhem.
I say this because I suspect Street Trash isn't going to be everyone's cup of Klippies and rooibos tea. You're either going to love it or hate it and it definitely helps if you can speak street South African.
Ryan Kruger has a bold, anarchic vision for a dystopian South Africa, one that instantly earns its place alongside District 9 and Chappie as a new sci-fi cult classic. He doesn’t just craft a grimy, neon-soaked future; he fills it with unforgettable characters.
Fried Barry alumni Sean Cameron Michael and Gary Green return as Ronald and 2-Bit, bringing their signature weirdness to the mix. Donna Cormack-Thomson (Catch Me a Killer) is a standout as the fierce and compelling Alex, while Joe Vaz brings mystic hilarity as Chef. But it’s Shuraigh Meyer and Lloyd Martinez Newkirk as twins Pap and Wors who steal every scene with their comedic brilliance, injecting moments of twisted levity into the chaos.
Street Trash is an absolute blast. Sure, it’s not winning any awards for narrative complexity, but who needs a sophisticated plot when you’ve got over-the-top absurdity, gloriously grotesque set pieces, and enough belly laughs to keep you hooked?
I give Street Trash an excellent four out of five stars and recommend it to fans of trippy, psychedelic, comedy
horror. Bonus points if you're a fan of body horror and red paint. Extra bonus points if you get South African humour.
Ryan Kruger is definitely on my to-watch list now.
★★★★☆
Street Trash will be available on limited edition Blu-ray from 17th February. Pre order on HMV & Amazon here
There was never any question that I’d be watching Companion. As a massive Yellowjackets fan, much of my love for the show comes from Sophie Thatcher’s incredible performance as Natalie. So when Showcase Cinema announced mystery horror screenings, I had a strong suspicion that Presence and Companion would be on the lineup, and I didn’t hesitate to book my tickets immediately.
In Drew Hancock’s feature directorial debut, Josh (Jack Quaid) and Iris (Sophie Thatcher) first cross paths in an ordinary grocery store encounter before heading off for a weekend retreat at a secluded lakeside cabin. Hosted by Sergey (Rupert Friend), the billionaire boyfriend of Josh’s friend Kat (Megan Suri), the getaway quickly takes a tense turn as it becomes clear that not all of Josh’s friends welcome Iris.
The situation escalates when Sergey is murdered, but this shocking event is only the beginning. As secrets unravel, each guest is forced to confront unsettling truths, turning the weekend into a nightmarish descent into chaos.
Companion is a visually striking film, with every detail meticulously crafted from the stunning cinematography and breathtaking scenery to Iris’s impeccable costumes and the seamless special effects. I almost let my guard down, questioning whether this was truly a horror film, until the moment a certain characters was bathed in blood, in scenes that instantly evoked memories of Carrie.
The performances are top-tier across the board. Sophie Thatcher is phenomenal as Iris, but it’s Jack Quaid and Megan Suri who truly excel at making Josh and Kat almost unbearably loathsome.
More than anything, it was just great to watch a horror film with a solid, well-thought-out plot. I won’t lie, I spent most of the night after watching Companion running it over in my head, not just caught up in the twists but totally unsettled by the moral dilemmas it dredges up.
As always with horror films, I made sure to go in knowing as little as possible, and I firmly believe that this is the best way to experience Companion. The twists and revelations hit hardest when discovered in real time on the big screen, completely free of spoilers.
Blending elements of sci-fi,
horror, and dark comedy,
Companion explores themes of artificial intelligence, morality, and the darker aspects of human nature.
An excellent five out of five stars. Director
Drew Hancock already has another horror film in the works, here’s hoping it delivers the same thrilling originality and sheer entertainment as this debut.
Steven Soderbergh famously talked about the three-shot rule in a 2017 interview with Amy Taubin. "After the first three shots, I know whether this person knows what they’re doing or they don't", he explained. I was reminded of this as I watched the opening scenes of Soderbergh's latest film, Presence, this film is masterful.
Presence kicks off in an eerily vacant house. The camera moves through its empty rooms, gliding from floor to floor, lingering at windows just long enough to hint at what’s going on outside. It took me a minute to catch on, but by the second scene, it hit me: these shots are long. Really long. Characters drift in and out of view, and conversations are captured almost by accident, like the camera’s just there, quietly eavesdropping.
An estate agent arrives, followed by a family of four who buy the house. Slowly, it transforms from a barren shell to a cozy, lived-in space. Everything seems perfectly normal except for Chloe (Callina Liang, Tell Me Everything), the teenage daughter. She keeps staring directly into the camera, wide-eyed and visibly unsettled. There’s also a painter who refuses to step foot in one of the rooms.
A creeping unease settles in as it becomes unmistakably clear thar the camera is no mere observer. It’s a silent participant, a character in the film with its own fears, its own motives. And as the story unfolds, you can’t help but feel that its gaze is anything but neutral; its intentions are rooted in a darker and more disturbing truth.
Presence taps into fear on multiple levels. It’s got the familiar ghost-story thrills - jumps, creaks, that creeping tension - but it’s also something deeper, the insidious sense of the true potential for evil that resides in ordinary human beings.
The cast is small, with a core cast of just five people, but it’s a powerhouse ensemble. Lucy Liu and Chris Sullivan, as Rebecca and Chris Payne, bring a perfect contrast. Their characters are polar opposites: different personalities, opposite moral compasses, wildly conflicting parenting styles. It’s a subtle but brilliant dynamic that anchors the tension in the film.
Callina Liang owns the screen as Chloe, and it’s impossible to look away. The young actress commands every moment, effortlessly blending a haunting sense of innocence with the heavy weight of grief. It’s clear from the start that Chloe figures everything out long before anyone else does, and Liang nails that subtle shift perfectly. She doesn’t need to say much, her facial expressions say it all, capturing that eerie awareness that they are not alone in the house.
For a while, I thought I had the mystery figured out, but there was something oddly satisfying about getting it wrong. I was close but Soderbergh succeeded in concealing his final hand.
As the credits rolled, I realised one final thing, and I was totally fine with it. Fine with all the unanswered questions, the plotlines left to wither. I wouldn't call them 'red herrings', but there were many threads left up to the audience to answer on their own. It was a subtle message that much of what happens inside our homes is noise, that we need to focus on what truly matters, because life’s way too short to add more to our burden.
With impeccable direction (and some clever misdirection), stunning camerawork, strong performances, and enough scares to keep you on edge, Presence has it all. Consider this my enthusiastic five-star rating, along with a full mea culpa, because I genuinely didn’t think Steven Soderbergh had it in him to nail a ghostly horror film with this much finesse. I was wrong, and I’m here for it.★★★★★
Driving home on a rural road one stormy evening, teacher Cass (Minka Kelly) passes an accident but decides not to stop. Her decision comes back to haunt her when it transpires that the victim was actually murdered and Cass might be next. Also starring Dermot Mulroney and Maggie Grace, Blackwater Lane is based on the BA Paris novel Breakdown.
In the aftermath of the accident, Cass’s world starts to spiral into chaos. Strange accidents keep happening in her home, eerie visions of her deceased mother haunt her, and an unsettling feeling creeps in—someone else is in the house. As she grapples with these terrifying experiences, Cass slowly begins to doubt the people closest to her. Are these just hallucinations, or is there something much darker at play, threatening her every move? The line between paranoia and danger starts to blur, and Cass is left wondering if she can trust anyone, even herself.
Blackwater Lane straddles the line between supernatural horror, psychological thriller, and crime drama. The twist and central premise are surprisingly clever, delivering a satisfying payoff that keeps you guessing until the very end.
Sadly, it seems that the film was directed by somebody who believes England is a tiny island where Yorkshire, Cambridge, Suffolk and London are all within a stone's throw from each other. Filmed on location in Suffolk, Blackwater Lane features sweeping aerial shots of the autumnal landscape and village scenes on the streets of Framlingham.
It should have worked but then Cass goes for a psychiatrist's appointment in London and is later "rushed" to a hospital 90 minutes away in Cambridge. Coupled with the unusually electric storm in the opening scenes of the film (gale force winds are more Suffolk's style) and the fact that the murder is being investigated by a DC from Howden Moor (4 hours drive away), it's all a bit of a mess geographically.
The editing is slightly odd too. Camera angles switch mid-sentence, often leaving head and body positions out of sync. There are also several glaring mistakes, particularly when it comes to how emergency services operate in England, which definitely pulls you out of the experience.
I give Blackwater Lane an okay three out of five stars. The film proved compelling enough to hold my attention to the end and I was satisfied by the core conceit. I enjoyed the blend of thriller and horror too, but feel that director Jeff Celentano should perhaps have moved the setting of the film to a location he is more familiar with. ★★★☆☆
Blackwater Lane will be available on Digital Download from 27th January
Late one night a woman drives by a stranded motorist who is later revealed to have been murdered. After a series of terrifying events the woman believes she is the killer's next victim.
Trailer: Blackwater Lane (2025), dir. Jeff Celentano
The inhabitants of a remote Icelandic fishing village are no strangers to hardship. Reeling from the loss of one of their own, they are cut off from the outside world during an especially hard winter, with temperatures plummeting and provisions scarce. As they gear up for a perilous journey out to sea, young widow Eva and the fishermen are faced with an impossible choice when they witness a shipwreck before their eyes: do they save the doomed sailors and risk depleting their meagre resources, or do they prioritise their own survival?
Sometimes there is no right answer and once the crew make their decision, they have to live with the consequences of what they have allowed in to their tiny community.
Set in the 19-century and starring Odessa Young (The Stand) and Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders), The Damned is a slow-burn folk horror that is as shocking as it is frightening. It is a keen character study as we witness how the morality of their actions weighs so deeply on the crew.
Rarely do we see the true cost of characters' decisions and actions on screen, be it the decision to save, to steal or to survive, or not to.
The cast handle this burden admirably.
Siobhan Finneran is honestly a national treasure and shines in her role as cook and housekeeper Helga. Odessa Young steals the spotlight in a standout performance among an impressive cast featuring some of the finest British acting talent. She is spectacular and you absolutely believe Eva's mounting bewilderment and discomfort as the story progresses.
The Damned is a beautiful film featuring wintery scenes of the fishing village, the mountains and the unforgiving sea. Daytime scenes, some with blinding midwinter sun, are juxtaposed with the creeping and relentless darkness of the long winter nights.
I love that this is a dark film set in dark times and yet every scene is so well lit. Cinematographer Eli Arenson expertly uses light and shadow to highlight the bleakness of Icelandic midwinter, all while maintaining exceptional detail and clarity in every scene.
Director Thordur Palsson is masterful in his delivery of this film, skillfully keeping the true nature of the threat facing the fishermen just out of view. Never have I felt such a strong desire to shake a creature by its shoulders and demand that it show its face.
Perhaps I was looking in the wrong place.
"The only thing I know is that the living are always more dangerous than the dead" - Daniel (Joe Cole).
Drawing deeply on Icelandic folklore, The Damned is haunting and disturbing, right up to it's shocking and unpredictable end. I sat with my mouth open in disbelief for far longer than I anticipated, wondering how I'd been so deceived.
For achieving the perfect horror scorecard on plot, scares, atmosphere, acting and cinematography, I give The Damned a superb five out of five stars. I recommend to all fans of folk-horror and will absolutely be keeping an eye on director Thordur Palsson in future.★★★★★
The Damned will be available in UK and Irish cinemas from 10th January 2025
Brace yourselves. There is nothing worse than a horror fan scorned and I'm afraid Nosferatu didn't quite live up to my very lofty expectations. When I sat down alone in a theatre at 10am on the 1st of January, I honestly thought I was going to hand it an enthusiastic five out of five stars. There is so much about this film that is good but I can't shake the impression that it is overall a middling experience.
The Exceptional
Harking back to the 1922 silent film (itself an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula), Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession and possession as a terrifying vampire Count Orlok (played by an unrecognisable Bill Skarsgård) pursues a young woman, causing loss and devastation in his wake.
Robert Eggers has delivered a visually beautiful period film with outstanding cinematography and excellent detail in costumes and sets. The film begins with the journey of young Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) from what is now Germany to Transylvania, providing the viewer with an authentic insight into local folklore about vampires and the ways in which communities protected themselves against them.
Eggers makes great use of music, silhouettes, shadows and lighting to create a love letter to the 1922 silent film. One particular scene stands out, where Thomas arrives at Orlok's castle and is filmed walking through dimly lit passages, which thus appear to be monotone. As he approaches the Count, the reflection from the fires glows orange on the walls, creating a colour-splash effect and reminding us that this is not a silent film in black and white.
The effect is a visually spectacular film that is both chilling and unsettling, but horror fans cannot subsist on eye candy and a sense of foreboding alone.
The Okay
The problem is that the plot of Nosferatu is one of the most well-known stories of all time and nothing is going to surprise viewers familiar with Bram Stoker's Dracula, the 1922 film, Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula or, indeed, a host of other adaptations and remakes. What was perhaps surprising was how formulaic the storytelling felt, as if it were merely going through the motions of the source material without adding anything fresh or engaging. Given that this is a direct yet inoffensive adaptation, it would be unfair to mark it down on this count, but that still doesn't mean we needed this remake.
The Horrible
I absolutely love that Count Orlok was so horribly disgusting, with bits of skin hanging off his body and chunks of hair missing. He is grotesque, decaying and there is no trace of Skarsgård in his facade.
If you can feel a 'but' coming, it's this. What Nosferatu does so well is also its downfall and I'm fairly certain they are going to need to implement a Worst Sex Scene award at the Razzies because this film could secure two distinct nominations.
And this was the ultimate issue. Despite being technically brilliant with excellent cinematography, good actors and superb costumes, pedestrian storytelling (and to a much-lesser extent, bad sex) lets this film down. Considering how much I wanted to love this, I feel more than a little disappointed.
I give Nosferatu an okay three out of five stars. It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't great. It's honestly time for the current obsession with remakes to end, especially in the horror genre, and a director like Robert Eggers has already shown he's capable of original storytelling with The Lighthouse. More of that kind of stuff, please!★★★☆☆
Rural Yorkshire, 1970s. Starve Acre was meant to deliver an idyllic, countryside life for Richard Willoughby (Matt Smith, House of the Dragon), his wife Juliette (Morfydd Clark, Saint Maud) and their young son Owen. Inherited from Richard's father and situated on the edge of the Moors, the rural homestead held the promise of an unburdened life, despite Richard's unhappy childhood memories there.
All of that is thrown into disarray when Owen's temperament slowly changes, robbing him of his sweet nature and delivering a cruel and changeable boy. That is just the beginning of the family's trauma. Based on the award-winning 2019 novel by Andrew Michael Hurley and written and directed by BAFTA nominee Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy), Starve Acre is an atmospheric British folk horror that reaches into the depths of grief and the lengths people will go to in order to find peace again.
Starve Acre is delightfully creepy and very unsettling. It is subtle and slow-burning, with the central conceit dawning far too late on the audience for them to escape its horror. There are scenes that I fear I'll never be able to scrub from my mind, specifically those involving a miniature pony and a terrifying hare. It is years since I have recoiled in horror during a film.
Curiously, the homestead Starve Acre is itself a character in the film. Looming and foreboding, it is not so much a haunted house as a seething, malevolent entity. It seems unusual that Richard would return there, given his intensely unhappy (and frankly, unsafe) childhood but the way the land calls to Richard, Juliette's visions and Owen's cruelty foreshadow the tragedy that will beset the family.
Starve Acre is a beautiful film, assuming you find stark vistas of the barren Yorkshire Moors to be aesthetically pleasing. The original score and music by Matthew Herbert (The Wonder) is a moving accompaniment, especially the arrangement of “It Hails, It Rains” in the closing credits.
There is no shame in admitting that I watched the film for Doctor Who alum Matt Smith but the whole cast including Erin Richards (Gotham) deliver fine performances and look fantastic in their folksy 70s wardrobe.
I give Starve Acre an excellent five out of five stars. Drawing on the remote and foreboding setting of the Moors, this is the best on offer in the British folk horror genre. Director Daniel Kokotajlo has delivered a stylish and atmospheric film that fans of Midsommar and folk horror will love. ★★★★★
Starve Acre will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on 6 September 2024 followed by a release on BFI Player, BFI Blu-ray and digital release on 21 October 2024.
Trailer: Starve Acre (2023), dir. Daniel Kokotajlo
The 1973 film The Exorcist is the quintessential demonic possession film, so entrenched in horror culture that it renders all other films on the subject redundant. Who better than to explore this concept than Joshua John Miller, whose father played Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist? Miller confronts the legend in his directorial debut The Exorcism, a film about an ill-fated remake, a traumatised actor, and the wrecking ball effect on families of alcoholics.
Anthony Miller (Russell Crowe) is attempting to put the pieces of his life back together. A survivor of childhood abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church, he descended into alcoholism and philandering during his wife's illness and subsequent death. His daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins, Fear Street) has just been sent home from school. When Anthony gets a role as a priest on a remake of The Exorcist, he employs Lee as his PA and the two head off to set together.
Tensions are high from the outset, with the film's director Peter (Adam Goldberg) determined to tap into Anthony's guilt and trauma. Child abuse is a life sentence and now Anthony is forced to step into the shoes of his perpetrators, becoming one with those that brutalised him and others when they were children.
Adding to his woes is the presence on set of consultant priest Father Conor (David Hyde Pierce), his very collar triggering Anthony and dredging up memories of his past.
With all that is going on in his life, and with his reputation preceding him, the cast, crew and those closest to Anthony are blinded to the dark undercurrent of evil that is permeating the film set.
Is this just another ride on the rollercoaster that is life with an alcoholic or is something else at play here?
It's a bit of both really.
The Exorcism is a very ambitious film, filled with some big name actors, including cameos from Sam Worthington and Adrian Pasdar. Indeed, there was some inspired casting in the film, notably David Hyde Pierce who needs to be in more horror films.
Throughout the film, we get a fascinating insight into life on a film set, how it looks and how the stages fit together, but this ultimately detracts from the rest of the film. Perhaps the issue with this film-about-a-film is that the viewer can't help but be aware that they are viewing the film through the literal and figurative lens of a film camera.
I genuinely wish I could have rated this film higher but somehow the pieces of The Exorcism don't quite fit together to make a harmonious whole. I can see what the director was trying to do, that the film was intended to be an allegory for the trauma of childhood abuse and the journey into alcoholism, but ultimately it required too much work for the viewer to put together the pieces.
I give The Exorcism a good three out of five stars. This film was a bit hit and miss but I'll be interested to see what director Joshua John Miller does in future and whether he can achieve that heady mix of horror and drama that he seemed to be aiming for here. ★★★☆☆
The greatest horror on-screen is often not in the vengeful spirits or undead corpses, but in the terror of everyday events. When somebody you love is missing, it sucks the air right out of your lungs and you can’t shift your thoughts away from them for one moment. The not-knowing makes your mind circle in an endless loop, one that is never quite completed. For some of us, that moment passes and our loved one is found; for others, 25 years go by without a shadow of resolution. Chris Cronin’s feature length debut The Moor delves into the mind of a grieving father, 25 years after his son disappeared without a trace.
25 years ago, 5 children disappeared without a trace Now the darkness that took them has returned
The Moor opens with a single-take scene in the mid-90s. A young girl Claire encourages her best friend Danny to go into a shop to disturb the shopkeeper while she steals sweets. In the blink of an eye, a man enters the store, takes Danny and disappears with him. As the excellent opening credits roll with archive footage and VHS glitching, we learn that it is the “Summer of Fear”. Five children will disappear before the perpetrator is caught and put away for 25 years.
Set in Yorkshire, England, The Moor is beautifully atmospheric with sweeping shots of the barren moors and postcard views of the local town. Snippets of a documentary are featured throughout the film, giving the impression that this is a town defined by the Summer of Fear, one where young people left in droves following the terrible events of their childhoods.
Returning to her hometown for the first time in years, Claire (Sophia La Porta) meets up with Danny’s father Bill (David Edward-Robertson). Using increasingly esoteric techniques, and with the help of local psychic Eleanor (Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips) and guide Liz (Vicki Hackett), Bill shares that he is continuing the search for Danny on the moors where he is believes his son was buried.
Despite her visceral fear and deep-seated reservations, Claire agrees to join Bill. It soon becomes clear that they are dealing with a greater evil than they could ever have anticipated. They have already lost so much, what more does the moor want to take from them?
The Moor is frankly terrifying in parts, with the scenes in the séance and later on the moor forever embedded on my memory. Toeing the line between true crime and the supernatural, Chris Cronin delivers a nail-biting ride.
The Moor benefits from superb acting from the entire cast, be it interviewees in the documentary or the children in the opening scene. La Porta and Edward-Robertson shine as Claire and Bill, both in the carrying of their trauma and in the tentative, gentle way they treat one another.
The effect is addictive. I couldn’t draw my eyes away for screen for one moment, desperate to learn more about the forces at play in the moor, the nature of the great evil and the whereabouts of the children.
“There’s a time to accept that some things will always be senseless” – Claire
The thing about missing people is that you don’t always get a resolution. Children disappear and their parents can go to their graves without ever knowing what happened. Throughout the film, the audience is constantly haunted by the ghost of Keith Bennett, the Moors Murders victim whose remains were never found. Ultimately, The Moor buckles under the weight of that horrific burden, unable to resist the urge to close the circle. The final scene of the film, filmed used the found-footage conceit, provides an unnecessary and deeply unsatisfying ending to an otherwise excellent film.
In the end, I had to accept that no matter how conflicted I felt about that ending, how little it made sense, it achieved two outcomes: I couldn’t stop thinking about the film, for days after watching it, but I was also reminded that resolutions are seldom satisfying in legacy missing persons cases.
Despite my ambivalence, I give The Moor an excellent four out of five stars. I imagine I won't be the only viewer conflicted by the ending but on the whole, The Moor delivered on scares, atmosphere and performances. This was an impressive feature debut from director Chris Cronin and a welcome addition to the British folk-horror genre. ★★★★☆
The Moorwill be in UK Cinemas from 14th June and Digital Download from 1st July
Welcome back to October 31, 1977. Night Owls with Jack Delroy (a show desperate to poach Johnny Carson's viewers) is floundering. After the loss of his wife, Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian, Oppenheimer) returns with a Halloween show that will become the most notorious night in television history. Written and directed by the Cairnes brothers, Late Night With the Devil starts as a mockumentary before screening the full episode plus behind-the-scenes footage of that fateful night.
We’re transported back to 1970s late night television in all its beige, brown and maroon glory
The show starts off normally enough. We meet probable-charlatan-mystic Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) and magician-turned-skeptic Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss). The two lock horns immediately but something is not quite right and it’s about to be broadcast into every living room in the nation.
Dr June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon, Reckoning) and the very peculiar Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) are up next. Apart from an alleged demonic possession, Lilly is just a normal teenager, speaking in weird, veiled threats and occasionally using deeper voices.
What could possibly go wrong?
For a short while, the viewer will be forgiven for thinking that the most scary thing about Late Night with the Devil is the crimplene, corduroy and thick white tights.
Hold on to your seats, it’s about to get much more terrifying
Late Night with the Devil is about as perfect as a horror film can get. It is scary, with a great plot, and is wildly original. It’s also a lot of fun.
The set design, clothing, hair and makeup all perfectly encapsulate the dark era of late 70s fashion, when common sense flew out the window and the rainbow in orange and brown took its place. (Yes, I have trauma relating to the matching brown, crimplene pantsuits my mother made for me and my ragdoll in 1976, what of it?).
The cast are brilliant - awkward, cringey and overly posturing – for just a moment, it feels like you really have been transported back to 1977. Special mention has to go to Ingrid Torelli in her chilling performance as Lilly; I feel like I want to see a lot more of her in future.
I give Late Night With the Devil an excellent five out of five stars. Highly recommended if you teeter on the edge of true belief and are a fan of the late night horror genre. I think this film will especially appeal to fans of the cult classic Phantom of the Paradise. Most importantly, it's 93 minutes of fun and I'm intrigued enough to keep an eye on directors Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes in future. ★★★★★
With impeccable direction (and some clever misdirection), stunning camerawork, strong performances, and enough scares to keep you on edge, Presence has it all. Consider this my enthusiastic five-star rating, along with a full mea culpa, because I genuinely didn’t think 
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I give Nosferatu an okay three out of five stars. It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't great. It's honestly time for the current obsession with remakes to end, especially in the 
