Mirrah Foulkes reimagines the infamous seaside puppets in her intoxicating Judy & Punch By Katherine McLaughlin 11-10-19 3,066 Released: 15 November 2019 Director: Mirrah Foulkes Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Damon Herriman, Benedict Hardie Distributor: Picturehouse Entertainment If you like this, try… The Company Of Wolves Angela Carter and Neil Jordan’s fantasy horror is startling and ripe
Reviews
Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen’s debut feature Scales toys with fantasy in surprising ways By Katherine McLaughlin 09-10-19 673 Released: TBC Director: Shahad Ameen Cast: Basima Hajjar, Yagoub Alfarhan, Abdulaziz Shitan If you like this, try… Daughters Of The Dust Julie Dash’s seminal debut tells the story of a group of three generations of Gullah women
Here’s our review of the final film in Fabrice du Welz’s Ardennes based trilogy, Adoration By Katherine McLaughlin 08-10-19 733 Released: TBC Director: Fabrice du Welz Cast: Laurent Lucas, Benoît Poelvoorde, Martha Canga Antonio Distributor: TBC Director Fabrice du Welz concludes his Ardennes based trilogy, following Calvaire and Alleluia, with a nightmarish fairy-tale that recalls
Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona is one of the most powerful depictions of the legend in film By Katherine McLaughlin 08-10-19 2,036 Released: TBC Director: Jayro Bustamante Cast: María Mercedes Coroy, Sabrina De La Hoz, Margarita Kenéfic Distributor: TBC If you like this, try… Atlantics Mati Diop’s haunting debut feature gives a powerful voice to those
Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s latest horror The Lodge is chilling and atmospheric By Katherine McLaughlin 08-10-19 3,072 Released: TBC Director: Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz Cast: Jaeden Martell, Alicia Silverstone, Riley Keough Distributor: TBC From the makers of Goodnight Mommy, Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz (the Austrian nephew/aunt directorial duo) comes a chilling and atmospheric
The latest formal experiment from Ang Lee, Gemini Man feels caught between the wholly conventional and the entirely unfamiliar. It deploys two new technologies in tandem, using de-aging and a frame-rate higher than the human eye can technically perceive to make another Lee film about fathers, pondering on the gruelling effects of military service and
In 1999, Jean-François Laguionie, a French animator with directing credits dating back to 1965, made his third feature, Le Château Des Singes (The Castle Of Monkeys). It followed a rebellious teenage simian discovering an ostensibly more civilised society of simians, only to get caught up in a plot to murder a king. In the UK
“Fucking rich people!” screams Grace, long after she’s come to terms with the fact that the family she’s just married into are trying to sacrifice her to an entity who they believe demands her blood. For all the gory, funny thrills of this latest effort from filmmaking collective Radio Silence (contributors to V/H/S and Southbound,
James Gray’s sci-fi Ad Astra offers emotion, excitement and more By Katherine McLaughlin 18-09-19 2,610 Released: 18 September Certificate: 12A Director: James Gray Cast: Brad Pitt, Liv Tyler, Ruth Negga Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox If you like this, try… First Man Damian Chazelle’s poignant and creative take on Neil Armstrong’s mission to the moon is
It is not every day that a new film arrives with as many hopes hanging over it as there were over Rose Glass’ Saint Maud. If the introduction of a new voice in the UK landscape is already an event in itself, it is even more special when that filmmaker is a woman, or working
Ari Aster’s Midsommar Director’s Cut is worth the indulgence By Sarah Lines 09-09-19 4,537 Released: Out now Certificate: 18 Director: Ari Aster Cast: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter Distributor: Entertainment Film If you like this, try… The Ruins In another sun-soaked nightmare, a group of friends finds an ancient
The biggest challenge of splitting Stephen King’s leviathan of a novel into two films was always going to be the adults, the grown-up Losers who return to Derry 27 years later to finish what they started. It’s one thing to sell the idea of a monstrous clown hunting children, it’s quite another to conjure that
In the fantasy world of Carnival Row, tensions between humans and magical creatures are high. The Republic of Burgue has become somewhat of a refuge to fae folk who have been driven from their homelands by the predatory Pact, and those without wings, horns or hooves are far from welcoming. Unless they’re looking for a
What makes the Joker such a threatening villain? Until now, he’s been a psychopathic enigma, wreaking havoc across Gotham and taunting Batman with his maniacal cackle. But Todd Phillip’s Joker attempts to dive into the psyche of the iconic villain, fishing around in murky waters for over 2 hours in the hope of revealing an
A title like Sadistic Intentions comes with a certain expectation/bracing oneself, but writer-director Eric Pennycoff’s tightly wound debut is more interested in exactly what the title describes, and whether or not said intentions will come to fruition, than a violent payoff. After a shocking prologue, we watch as Chloe (Taylor Zaudtke) receives a phone call
Stirring mental illness into supernatural horror is a tricky thing to get right. The allure of the “is this really happening?” element is understandable but it can be so dispiritingly manipulative and exploitative when done carelessly, so: hats off to director Brian Hanson and his co-writer Richard Handley for working hard to maintain ambiguity and
The Soska Sisters return with their pointed and bloody remake of David Cronenberg’s Rabid By Katherine McLaughlin 27-08-19 25 There was a moment in fashion back in 2001 when Alexander McQueen confronted the hypocrisies of the industry with his Asylum show. He literally held up a mirror to those in charge with a final reveal
Andrew Desmond’s feature debut The Sonata, co-written with Arthur Morin, opens with composer Richard Marlow (the late Rutger Hauer) putting the finishing touches on a musical score. He then walks downstairs, heads outside into the dark night with a petrol canister and candle in hand, douses his body in the fuel and sets fire to
The beginning of Henry Jacobson’s feature debut Bloodline seems comfortable (at least to the horror viewer) because it is so steeped in cliché. A nurse (Christie Herring) wanders an empty hospital corridor at night, thinks she hears something behind her, enters the shower room, undresses, and has a shower, while a POV shot makes it
The vengeful revenant at the heart of Adam Egypt Mortimer’s feature debut Some Kind Of Hate (2016), co-written with Brian DeLeeuw, embodies and enacts the darkest drives of the film’s living characters. In its follow-up, Daniel Isn’t Real, adapted by Mortimer from DeLeeuw’s 2009 novel In This Way I Saved, once again mental illness takes
As its title implies, Master Of Dark Shadows, directed by David Gregory (Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey Of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr Moreau, 2014; Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death Of Al Adamson, 2019), has two focal points. The first is the romantic gothic TV series Dark Shadows that played on
Witches In The Woods opens with a quote from playwright and screenwriter Robert Oxton Bolton: “A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind.” These words introduce the film’s central theme – the irresistible power of belief, misapprehension and deception over our thinking and actions –
“They say when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes,” says James (Adrian Glynn McMorran) in voice-over at the beginning of Volition. “I wish it were that simple.” James is practically announcing that this film, directed by Tony Dean Smith and co-written with his brother Ryan Smith, is a chronicle of a death
Young student Harper (Katie Stevens) is a victim twice over. She still bears – faintly – the bruise on her face from where her alcoholic almost-ex stalker boyfriend Sam (Samuel Hunt) hit her the other night; and she also bears the mental scars of her childhood home – which she expressly terms the ‘haunted house’
“Be me, then be yourself”, advises self-help guru Chuck Knoah (Ben Lloyd Hughes) in the motivational video that opens A Serial Killer’s Guide To Life. “You can be like me, but you can’t be me,” he adds, sounding like an unhinged – and somewhat confused – narcissist. “You can be like me.” The psychotically manipulative
Siblings Jesús (Pablo Sigal) and Maria José (Valeria Giorcelli) work symbiotically. The siblings live together in their late father’s apartment. They have their own routine. They don’t particularly want to be disturbed. So, when their half-sister Magdalena (Augustina Cerviño) arrives from Spain suggesting that dad’s death means it’s time to sell the place and split
When you’re dealing with a film as self-consciously odd as Ant Timpson’s directorial debut Come To Daddy, casting is so important. Get it wrong and you end up with something infuriating, get it right and it can be a joy. This is why there’s a real thrill to be had from seeing Pontypool’s Stephen McHattie
Here’s our review of Alexandre Aja’s apex predator monster movie Crawl By Jonathan Hatfull 19-08-19 140 Released: 23 August Director: Alexandre Aja Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfydd Clark, Ross Anderson Distributor: Paramount Given the delightful resurgence of the shark attack movie over the last few years, it’s surprising that it’s taken this long for
Here’s our review of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, in cinemas 23 August By Katherine McLaughlin 19-08-19 1,127 Released: 23 August Certificate: 12A Director: André Øvredal Cast: Zoe Margaret Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush Distributor: Entertainment One If you like this, try… Hocus Pocus Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy play
Is it time for the evil doll to be contained? Find out with our review of Annabelle Comes Home… By Amy West 11-07-19 2,521 Released: Out now Director: Gary Dauberman Cast: Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson Distributor: Warner Bros Pictures If you like this, try… Ouija: Origin Of Evil Mike
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