Reviews

“This is the one you’ve been waiting for…”, goes the first line heard in Bodied, reflecting the precise thoughts of those of us who have been waiting six long years since Joseph Kahn’s postmodern meta slasher Detention knocked us sideways  – or 13 years for those lost folk who missed Detention but really loved the
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When, in John Landis’ The Blues Brothers, Jake and Eliot roll up at Bob’s Country Bunker claiming to be booked artists the Good Ol’ Boys, half the joke is the absurdity of seeing an urban rhythm and blues band having to impersonate a country-and-western outfit. Though more horror than comedy, Lasso, the feature debut of
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At the beginning of CTRL, Christian Lex (Saabeah Theos) and her boyfriend Dru (Hainsley Lloyd Bennett) are heading to the luxurious fifth-storey apartment of Lex’s brother Leo (Julian Mack), a reclusive computer geek with a strong streak of misanthropy, to celebrate his birthday. As the couple ascends, floor by floor, we hear Leo reciting (in
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Every horror fan knows that you have to follow the rules of the game if you want to survive, but the twisted “fun” in writer-director Mitzi Peirone’s stylized debut feature goes beyond the usual traps and twists. Instead, it’s a device to send the audience along with its leads into a fairy-tale dark trip. When
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With Aislinn Clarke’s The Devil’s Doorway, Paul Hyett’s Heretiks and Corin Hardy’s The Nun all enjoying their premières in rapid succession, 2018 would appear to be the year that sees nunsploitation returning with a vengeance. Not that St Agatha, the latest from genre director Darren Lynn Bousman (Abattoir, Repo! The Genetic Opera, the first three Saw
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Jason Statham takes on a megalodon in The Meg. Here’s our review… By Abigail Chandler 09-08-18 95 Released: 10 August 2018 Certificate: 12A Director: Jon Turteltaub Cast: Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Ruby Rose Distributor: Warner Bros When you go to a film in which Jason Statham takes on a 70-foot prehistoric
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Colin Minihan’s What Keeps You Alive opens with a low-angle, from-the-ground shot of treetops above, swaying in the wind – and with an anniversary. A year after they married, Jules (Brittany Allen) and diabetic Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson) celebrate with a second honeymoon at the isolated lakeside house in Timber Bay that Jackie’s grandfather built
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At its best, the horror anthology serves as a delicious amuse-bouche of scares. Ideally, the spread will feature complementary flavours and textures but in life, you rarely get exactly what you want. Mick Garris’ new horror anthology, Nightmare Cinema, is frankly a mix of good and bad. Featuring five filmmakers and six short films, Nightmare
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“I came here to have a serious discussion with you, not to be psychoanalysed,” complains Ethan Lightman (Thomas Mann) to his semi-estranged girlfriend Hannah (Nicola Peltz), about halfway through Anthony Scott Burns’ Our House. The line marks an important transition. For up until this point, Our House has followed young adult Ethan, his teenaged brother
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“I’m an old soul.” Rachel (Rachel VanDuzer) blurts out these words in Justin McConnell’s Lifechanger to cover her strange declaration to fellow drinker Julia (Lora Blake) that she has been frequenting the bar since the Seventies. After all, young Rachel cannot possibly be a septuagenarian. She also, confusingly, introduces herself to Julia by a false
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“This is Johnny,” says local self-appointed gangster Shelton (Jonny Brugh), introducing his sister Kelly (Hetty Gaskell-Hahn) to one of his underling ‘boys’. “He’s bloody dynamic.” Orphaned John (Anton Tennet) really is dynamic. He may just be a small-time criminal in a small town – Thames, New Zealand, to be precise, where the biggest tourist attractions
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Anya Taylor-Joy, George MacKay and Charlie Heaton star in horror mystery The Secret Of Marrowbone By Katherine McLaughlin 15-07-18 639 Released: Out now Certificate: 15 Director: Sergio G Sánchez Writer: Sergio G Sánchez Cast: George MacKay, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Mia Goth Distributor: Entertainment One If you like this, try… The Others Nicole Kidman stars
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Everything you need to know about Sam (Anders Danielsen Lie) is carefully laid out in the prologue to The Night Eats The World (La nuit a dévoré le monde) – the feature debut of director Dominique Rocher which he co-wrote with Jérémie Guez, and Guilaume Lemans. Returning one night to the Parisian apartment of his
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With the third film in the lucrative horror franchise ending on the election of a Hillary Clinton-esque figure promising to cancel the Purge — the annual 12 hours of lawlessness in America where all crime is legal — the series could only look backwards. This prequel answers many of the questions that such an insane
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A perfect murder doesn’t go according to plan in psychosexual two-hander Piercing By Josh Slater-Williams 04-07-18 1 Released: TBC Certificate: TBC Director: Nicolas Pesce Writer: Nicolas Pesce Cast: Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska, Laia Costa, Maria Dizzia, Olivia Bond, Wendell Pierce Distributor: Vertigo Releasing If you like this, try… Audition Takashi Miike’s rug-pull thriller is probably
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Matthew Holness’ debut feature Possum is a dark and dangerously unpredictable horror By Josh Slater-Williams 04-07-18 8,838 Released: TBC Certificate: TBC Director: Matthew Holness Writer: Matthew Holness Cast: Sean Harris, Alun Armstrong If you like this, try… The Babadook Jennifer Kent’s tale of trauma, also a debut feature, shares a picture book motif with Possum.
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