Horror Film Review: This Is Not a Test (2025)

If you’re going to tackle a zombie horror these days, you need something fresh. Look at what Black Summer did in a market already overflowing with zombie lore: urgency, terror, impossible choices to survive. This Is Not a Test, set in the opening days of a zombie apocalypse, promised a sharp, emotional story about an abused teen and the slow awakening of a survival instinct after years of wishing she was dead.

Olivia Holt stars as Sloane, a traumatised teenager trapped in an abusive home when a violent zombie outbreak brings chaos to her town. She escapes her father and falls in with a group of classmates, eventually taking refuge inside their high school. It’s messy, brutal and chaotic, but This Is Not a Test seems to be trying to position itself as a cut above.

It’s a powerful concept based on the novel by Courtney Summers, a major YA author whose work should have translated into something far more impactful on screen. But it never does. I didn’t see it and, more importantly, I didn’t feel it. The best zombie films and series get under your skin. They create a mood, a lingering sense of dread that sticks with you long after the credits roll. I first fell for the genre with Open Grave, and that whole film was pure mood.

This Is Not a Test had no mood.

A lot of the problem comes down to telling rather than showing. We’re told Sloane is suicidal, that her father is abusive, that her sister left home. We see some of the abuse. Logically, it makes sense why a teen would feel hopeless. But that’s not work my brain should be doing. The film should have done that work for me.

The same applies when Sloane meets the other survivors and they move to the high school. We know some of these teens aren’t in the best headspace, but none of it really lands. This is the opening day of a zombie apocalypse after all. They’ve all already lost someone.

I expected more from these rising teen stars, but the film never gives them enough depth or direction. Froy Gutierrez (Rhys), Corteon Moore (Cary), Chloe Avakian (Grace) and Carson MacCormac (Trace) all feel like they’re trying to do what they can with thin material, especially when the film never even bothers to properly explain what caused the apocalypse.

I rarely dislike a zombie film, especially one leaning into gritty, emotional territory rather than comedy. But I felt nothing here, much like Sloane did at the start.

This is the second Olivia Holt film I’ve rated one star, the first being Heart Eyes. At this point, I’m starting to think she’s just not my cup of tea.

If you’ve made it this far reading because you too were disappointed, I’m sorry. But I can wholeheartedly recommend anything in the Walking Dead universe, or Z Nation and Black Summer.

For promising and failing to deliver a hard-hitting zombie apocalypse horror based on the work of the excellent Courtney Summers, I give This Is Not a Test one out of five stars.

★☆☆☆☆

A Shudder Exclusive Film, This Is Not a Test Premieres Exclusively on Shudder and AMC+ Friday 22 May 2026

Trailer: This Is Not a Test, dir. Adam MacDonald

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Horror Film Review: I Know Exactly How You Die (2026)

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?

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Glasgow Film Festival 2026 Review: Satisfaction

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.

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FrightFest Glasgow 2026 Review: Bone Keeper

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.

★★★☆☆

Scares ★★★☆☆| Love ★★☆☆☆ | Design ★★★☆☆ | Acting ★★★★☆ | Plot ★★☆☆☆

Bone Keeper will have its World Premiere on 6th March at FrightFest Glasgow, followed by a UK Digital Release on 6th April

Trailer: Bone Keeper (2026), dir. Howard J Ford

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Frightfest Glasgow 2026 Review: Bury the Devil

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 Presence and 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

Trailer: Bury the Devil 2026, Dir. Adam O’Brien

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Fantastic Fest 2025 Review: The Vile

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.

Trailer: The Vile (2025), dir. Majid Al Ansari

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Frightfest 2025 Review: Super Happy Fun Clown

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

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Horror Film Review: Street Trash (2024)

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

FB: @lightbulb_films | TW: @Lightbulb_Films | Web: Lightbulb Film Distribution

Trailer: Street Trash (1987), dir. Ryan Kruger

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Horror Film Review: Blackwater Lane (2025) ★★★☆☆ (Independent Film)

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

FB: @plaionpicturesuk | IG: @plaionpicturesuk/ | TW: @PLAION_PICSUK / Plaion Film

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

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Horror Film Review: The Damned (2024) ★★★★★ (Independent Film)

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

Trailer: The Damned, Dir. Thordur Palsson

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Horror Film Review: The Exorcism (2024) ★★★☆☆

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 Exorcism is currently in cinemas.

Trailer: The Exorcism (2024)

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Horror Film Review: The Moor (2023) ★★★★☆ (Independent Film)

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 Moor will be in UK Cinemas from 14th June and Digital Download from 1st July

The Moor (2023) Trailer. Directed by Chris Cronin

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Horror Film Review: Silence of the Prey (2024) ★★★☆☆ (Golden State Film Festival 2024)

Folk horror Silence of the Prey opens the 8th edition of the Golden State Film Festival at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood tonight. Karyna Kudzina stars and makes her directorial debut, alongside Michael Vaynberg, in a film highlighting the plight of undocumented migrants who, lacking the protections of everyday people, often fall through the net.

Nina (Karyna Kudzina) has escaped her native Belarus and arrived, undocumented, in the United States. Desperate to provide a stable environment for her daughter Isabella, Nina accepts a position as a live-in caretaker for a man on an isolated rural homestead. She is warned that he is eccentric but nothing quite prepares her for Luther (Chris LaPanta) or his community who forego modern conveniences and hunt their own food.

When Colombian national Andres (Monte Bezell) arrives at the homestead after his car breaks down, Nina finds a kindred spirit, one to share the horrors of the locals’ geographical and political ignorance and their increasingly intrusive questions.

“If I have to choose between being homeless on the street with a four-year-old and eventually being deported, or staying with a strange old man, I will choose the last. Unless you have any other suggestions”

As Nina begins to experience disturbing visions and hallucinations, she realises that all is not as it seems with Luther and his community. What is the terrifying secret that Luther is hiding and what lies beyond his friends’ ignorance and prejudice?

Silence of the Prey highlights the exploitation and vulnerability of those who do not have a voice, the people who arrive silently in other countries and lack the protections of documented arrivals. Anything can happen and as Nina observes, nobody even knows she is there.

Like many folk horror films, Silence of the Prey is a slowburner with little action taking place in the first hour. The isolation of Luther’s homestead and antiquated views of the community provide ample foreshadowing of what is to come.

Silence of the Prey is a family affair. Karyna Kudzina is married to Monte Bezell and their daughter Isabella stars as Isabella in the film. It is no surprise then that there is chemistry and a sense of cohesion between the characters that is obvious on screen. Chris LaPanta shines as the maddening and abstruse Luther, who seems to be on Nina’s side in one moment and not in the next.

My only complaint about Silence of the Prey would be that the storytelling is a bit linear and somewhat lacking in nuance. In their effort to highlight the plight of the undocumented, writers Kudzina and Saro Varjabedian have fallen into the trap of telling rather than showing and the key conflict is delivered with little subtlety.

Despite that, I give Silence of the Prey a good three out of four stars and recommend to fans of independent film and folk horror. I'm interested to see what Karyna Kudzina does next and hope that it includes more collaborations with Monte Bezell.
★★★☆☆

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Trailer:Silence of the Prey (2024). Directed by Michael Vaynberg and Karyna Kudzina

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Now in its 8th year, the Golden State Film Festival is an opportunity for emerging independent filmmakers to showcase their talents, gain exposure to a wider audience, and compete for prizes. Filmmakers from across the United States and around the world are eligible to participate, and short-form as well as feature-length works are considered for entry.

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Horror Film Review: The Seeding (2023) ★★★★☆ (Independent Film)

Do you ever get the feeling you’re going to like a film, right from the first minute? In the opening scene of Barnaby Clay’s The Seeding, a long-haired toddler walks onto screen, gnawing what turns out to be a dismembered man’s finger. Settle down, get comfortable, because The Seeding  is a wild yet deeply uncomfortable ride.

Amateur photographer Wyndham Stone (Scott Haze, Venom) is on location in the desert to capture a solar eclipse. As the day winds down, he knows he needs to leave the desert and get back to civilisation. Fate intervenes when a boy appears, claiming to have lost his family. Against his better judgement, Wyndham follows and then loses the boy.

As night falls, he spies a woman walking into a cabin at the bottom of a canyon. He climbs down into the canyon to speak to the woman, who convinces him to share a meal and rest for the night. His nightmare begins the next morning when he realises he has no way of leaving the canyon.

There is a significant amount of misdirection in The Seeding and it’s likely that everything the viewer believes will turn out to be a lie. Is Wyndham a typical bro who deserves everything that’s coming to him? Is the woman, Alina (Kate Lyn Sheil, V/H/S) a victim who needs saving? Can Wyndham fix the manic gang of sadistic boys that watch their every move? What is actually happening here?

What do they want?

The effect is claustrophobic and quite agonising as the viewer cringes for Wyndham’s every experience. The Seeding is not scary as such, but embodies every person’s definition of horror and powerlessness.

Shot on location in Kanab, Utah, The Seeding features some stunning cinematography. The viewer is treated to starry vistas at night, the silhouette of the photographer as he captures the eclipse, and unsettling views of the arid desert.

Down in the canyon, the curtain of rock surrounding the tiny cabin is omnipresent and unsettling. Meanwhile, seen through Wyndham’s photographic eye, the cabin and canyon are full of trinkets and broken paraphernalia, artefacts of past lives and broken dreams.

The cast of The Seeding is tiny. Scott Haze and Kate Lyn Sheil give excellent performances as Wyndham and Alina and special mention must go to the cast of feral boys. Like Wyndham, the viewer never really gets to see them directly yet their menace is abundantly clear.

I give The Seeding an excellent four out of five stars and recommend to fans of independent, claustrophobic and folk horror. Director Barnaby Clay joins the rank of great horror directors such as Ryan Kruger who have made the move from directing music videos to delivering atmospheric, visually appealing horror.
★★★★☆

The Seeding is available to own or rent in the UK & Ireland from 12th February via Amazon, AppleTV, Google, Sky Store and Virgin Media Store.

The Seeding (2023) Trailer. Directed by Barnaby Clay

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Horror Film Review: The Inhabitant (2022) ★★★★★

On August 4th, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found dead in their home, brutally slaughtered with an axe. The main suspect was Lizzie Borden, Andrew's own daughter. One hundred and thirty one years later, I decided to watch The Inhabitant on exactly the same day.

They say that violence runs through the Borden family bloodline and that descendants of the Borden family continue to live in Fall River, Massachusetts, unaware of their dark lineage. Tara (Odessa A'zion, Hellraiser) is one such descendant. The teen field hockey player begins to experience disturbing nightmares and visions, convincing her that she is going to kill her family.

When people start disappearing in Fall River, including both Tara's main field hockey rival and a woman Tara babysits for, local police begin to zone in on one suspect.

Can Tara escape the Borden family curse?

With themes of mental illness, family legacy, and inescapable fate, The Inhabitant is the story of Tara's journey to the edge of darkness.

Directed by Jerren Lauder (Stay Out of the F**king Attic and written by Kevin Bacher (Jaws: The Inside Story), The Inhabitant is an unexpected teen scream triumph.

Odessa A'zion is mesmerising in her role as Tara. She commands her every scene and I liked that the viewer only gets to know as much as Tara knows. Dermot Mulroney and Leslie Bibb star as Tara's parents Ben and Emily and Lizze Broadway is Tara's best friend Suzy. Together they lead us down the garden path, deceiving the viewer as each in turn gaslights, manipulates and lies to the others.

It's not often that a horror film manages to mislead me to such an extent but The Inhabitant absolutely did and I was thrilled to get to the end and realise I'd been completely and effectively conned.

The Inhabitant is visually lush with great production design by Meg Cabell, cinematography by Brian Sowell and custome design by Summer Moore. There is a great use of light and shadow, giving the impression that scenes occur both in 1892 and present day simultaneously.

There is no time, only darkness, evil and mental decline

There is a feeling of disquiet as the film progresses and the viewer struggles to pinpoint what type of horror this is. Supernatural, psychological, slasher? This serves to make the film genuinely scary as you're never sure what to expect.

I give The Inhabitant an excellent five out of five stars. Highly recommended if you like unpredictable, and misleading independent horror. I enjoyed Jerren Lauder's direction / misdirection and very much enjoyed the ending.
★★★★★

The Inhabitant is coming to digital download from 14th August and can be pre-ordered on Apple Store here.

The Inhabitant (2022), dir. Jerren Lauder

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Horror Film Review: The Breach (2022) ★★★★☆

I was hooked from the very first scene of the trailer for Rodrigo Gudiño's Rue Morgue horror, The Breach. A body has been discovered in the tiny Ontario town of Lone Crow and when Chief of Police John Hawkins (Allan Hawco, Republic of Doyle) asks whether it is a local, Deputy Connie Parks replies uneasily, 'I don't know how you would tell'.

Something horrible has happened on the banks of the Porcupine River and, with one week left in town before he moves to the big city, Hawkins needs to get to the bottom of it quickly. He enlists the help of coroner Jacob Redgrave (Wesley French) and local tour guide Meg Fullbright (Emily Alatalo) and together they travel up-river to the last known address of their possible victim, Dr Porter.

What they find is a house derelict beyond belief; Meg assures the men that it was not in this condition when she first dropped the doctor off mere months earlier.

To compound their issues, it is clear from the outset that John, Meg and Jake have some serious baggage between them and it isn't always certain that they'll be able to sidestep that history and act like professionals. The casting was fantastic in this respect, with all three actors delivering an onscreen friction worthy of a soap opera.

Derelict-looking house, a victim with impossible wounds, drama between the main characters? What could possibly go wrong?

As it happens - a lot, maybe too much. But we'll get to that later.

Filmed on location in Parry Sound, Ontario, The Breach features some stunning cinematography from Eric Oh (Sorry About the Demon). Most of the film takes place in the derelict home of Dr Porter, with some truly artistic composition. I'm always wary of excessively dark scenes in horror films but there was a great use of shadow, silhouette and flashlight to guide the viewer through the scenes.

I should probably admit here that I clearly don't know how to watch trailers properly anymore because I thought this was going to be a dark mystery-thriller, more along the lines of a police procedural than a horror film. I was wrong. The Breach is a stomach-churning body horror that had me gagging in disgust in some scenes, peeking from between my fingers in others, and desperately wishing I could un-see that fingernail scene.

The music in The Breach was fantastic. One of the reasons I watched this film was due to the involvement of Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist, Slash. He was executive producer and wrote and performed the foreboding opening theme in collaboration with Aybars Altay. It is James Zirco Fisher’s excellent score that sets the disquieting tone for the rest of the film, featuring tracks from his 2004 album Nightmare Picture Theatre, and the film ends off with She Past Away’s dark-wave anthem “Soluk”.

I’m on the fence as to whether the plot delivers. The Breach is based on Nick Cutter’s Audible original of the same name, featuring much of Cutter’s penchant for gore and cosmic horror. The problem is that it was a primordial soup of plotlines – was it in the sci-fi, zombie or body snatcher genre? Who knows? One of these threads seems to prevail in the end but sadly it's the most vague and underdeveloped part of the plot. It's frustrating because if that’s the outcome, I would have wanted to know more about it.

I give The Breach a solid 3.5 stars, rounded up to four out of five stars thanks to the excellent music and the conflict between the main trio. Recommended for fans of The Void, The Fly and The Mist. Rodrigo Gudiño delivers a different type of horror to that which I normally enjoy but I'm intrigued enough to check out more of his work.
★★★★☆

The Breach is distributed by Lightbulb Film Distribution and will be available on Amazon, Sky Store, Virgin Media, AppleTV and Google Play on 10 July 2023. 

The Breach (2022) Trailer. Directed by Rodrigo Gudiño

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Horror Film Review: Bring Out the Fear (2021) ★★★★☆

It's early January and I'm sitting on a train, travelling through County Wicklow to Dublin. The rain is beating against the windows, the landscape outside is frigid and grey. Now is the perfect time to watch independent horror Bring Out the Fear, written and directed by Richard Waters and filmed in this very part of Ireland.

Bring Out the Fear should be a tale of cosy, winter bliss. Rosie (Ciara Bailey) and Dan (Tad Morari) take a long, outdoor walk to reconnect with nature and with each other. The only problem? Things are far from ideal between them and in a bad case of missing-all-cues-to-the-contrary and the worst-timing-ever, Dan decides to propose to Rosie on a romantic lookout point.

It does not go as planned.

Desperate to escape their increasingly awkward situation, Dan and Rosie rush to leave the forest and soon find themselves walking in circles. Could it be that someone is watching them? Does the forest not want them to leave?

Before long, the ghosts of their relationship begin to haunt them: the idea that things might not be as idyllic as Dan likes to believe, the spectre of Rosie's infidelity, Dan's inability to outrun the embarrassment of his failed proposal.

The question is: who will survive this impossible ordeal?

Bring Out the Fear was filmed almost entirely in a seemingly infinite forest in Wicklow, Ireland. The endlessly verdant background feels ever more claustrophobic and ominous and director Waters uses this setting to maximum effect. As Dan begins to blend more and more into the foliage, Rosie is a beacon of colour in her yellow raincoat.

The film is tense from the beginning and the horrors to come are heavily foreshadowed in both the opening scenes and title. That means little though, because the viewer is still piecing together the real source of evil here long after the credits have rolled.

An allegory for the humiliation and pain of a crumbling relationship, Bring Out the Fear is well-acted throughout with both Bailey and Morari enticing the viewer to share in every cringeworthy interaction between their characters Rosie and Dan. And just when viewers think they’ve got it all worked out following that rollercoaster of a climax, the final scene causes them to reconsider everything they thought they knew.

I give Bring Out the Fear an excellent four out of five stars and recommend to fans of claustrophobic folk horror. I'll be interested to see what Richard Waters brings to the Irish horror scene next.
★★★★☆

Bring Out the Fear is out now on Apple TV and iTunes. Visit the Bring Out the Fear official page for more viewing options.

Trailer: Bring Out the Fear (2021), Dir. Richard Waters

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