Unfortunately, the last few months of last year got away from me slightly. Work and personal pressures meant I wasn’t able to keep up with the publishing schedule I would normally adhere to. As a result, I’ve got a backlog of reviews to put out from what I was able to see and take notes for. As these may be shorter than my usual reviews, they’ve been compiled here in one place.
Fishmonger
Synopsis: In this supernatural dark comedy, a pathetic Irish fishmonger must survive a sex pact with an ancient sea creature in order to save his mother’s soul from burning in hell.
Neil Ferron’s sea creature short film is heavy on gross-out humour, great effects and strange characters. It impresses with an ability to build a full world within a short time frame, the monochrome colour scheme doing little to detract from the vast amounts of splatter on show. While the style of humour won’t be to everyone’s taste the outright absurdity and immense creativity marks Ferron as a director to look out for.
So Unreal
Synopsis: Explores film as a conduit for the anxiety, fear, exhilarating joy and obsession from humanity over emerging technology at the end of the millennium, all through the cyberspace cinema from 1981-2001 like The Matrix, Tron, Tetsuo.
Amanda Kramer directs a clip-heavy documentary on how film has embraced, critiqued and featured technology. Setting the scene with the paranoid cinema of the 1970s, the film posits that the 1980s began to delve further into the threat and potential of technology. Debbie Harry delivers an intoxicating voiceover, covering the ‘bewildering and bewitching’ world of technology in film. The clips chosen are illustrative and vast, covering that journey from 1981-2001 with depth. The questions around if technology in film is about fantasy or prophecy weigh heavily, as does a closing section around the ways that film has to confront modern technology (a topic that has only increased in relevance since the surge of AI use at different levels of film production).
Visitors (Complete Edition)
Synopsis: Evil meets comedy: creatures, flying eyes, chainsaws, musical heads, Lloyd Kaufman, mystical apparitions, sci-fi horror comedy and a host of other gleeful shenanigans that can’t be revealed for fear of ruining the surprise.
I first saw Ken’ichi Ugana’s short film version of Visitors as part of a Final Girls Berlin Midnight shorts block in 2022. The creepy setting that swiftly veers into a gorefest had great energy and excellent effects made for an impactful and memorable short film. The short film’s initial set up is repeated here, providing incredible set design – a messy, neglected space that instantly evokes the feeling of something being very wrong and provides the ideal setting for throwing around the gore. From this familiar setup, the film launches into chronological sequence that follows characters three months and one year later as the events of the opening come to light. This broad film that is heavy on physical comedy and light on dialogue provides that midnight movie experience, if a little unevenly split between scenes of intense action and longer, more drawn out scenes. Though lacking much of Troma’s more caustic, controversial elements, their DIY spirit, oozing effects and irreverence is felt throughout.
The Coffee Table
The buzz around Caye Casa’s agonising dark comic farce, The Coffee Table is easily justified. The opening tension between new parents Jesús (David Pareja) and Maria (Estefanía de los Santos) surrounding their new coffee table starts the film and that tension does not let up for the entire run time. There is a queasy inevitability to the film’s events and Casa’s direction forces the viewer to repeatedly confront and process them. Peppering deadpan comedy moments like a pause over a ‘smile at life’ doormat throughout only adds to rather than detracts from the horror. Never anything less than utterly gripping, even when you’d really prefer to look away.
Information about the next edition of Fantastic Fest is available at their website.
Synopsis: Wynne, who is suffering PTSD from the death of her fiancé, starts seeing disturbing images on her cell phone about her future. If she doesn’t figure them out in time, she will die.
Cellphone wastes no time in showcasing the scares it has to offer, serving up an intriguing pre-credits sequence in which a mobile phone camera lens offers a very different perspective to a terrified inhabitant of the remote house soon to be occupied by Wynne (Whitney Rose Pynn) as she recovers from a recent accident.
As Wynne settles into the house, reckoning with her PTSD, she begins to notice strange occurrences in the property. She turns to Bob (Malcolm McDowell – appearing via voice performance for the most part) for reassurance but finds his responses cryptic at best. Eventually striking up a strange friendship with Chris (Justin Malik Jackson), she continues to become lost in the secrets of the house and her own mind.
Cellphone is a curious mix of pulpy horror that takes its serious subject matter and places it into a strange, near-hammy presentation. A middle section where Justin Malik Jackson’s already off-kilter performance as Chris leaps up a few levels is a genuine joy, even if there is the sense that it doesn’t always quite belong within this film. In sending up the tropes it is employing it at least feels knowing, rather than simply embedding those references without any recognition about their predictability.
Of course, the high-energy, tropey sections don’t always align comfortably with the more serious subject matter which creates a jarring clash between them. It is difficult to fully embrace Wynne’s crisis when there feels like there is a more fun, arguably more interesting film just under the surface. Pynn’s performance is good, but gets lost in increasingly chaotic cycles as it tries to balance the jolts, feeling and irreverence the film tries to build.
Overall, Cellphone is promising, if confused and hints at a promising future for first-time feature director Luke Sommer and writer Rachel Sommer if those excesses are able to work in greater harmony.
The great thing about the Final Girls Berlin short film blocks is they so often programme films that reflect the current horror landscape. With the ubiquitous nature of technology in all of our lives, it is no surprise that horror creatives are using it to find new ways to terrify us. The following films turn the lens onto influencer culture and the creeping threat of AI.
Influence Fen (Alectra Griffis) is an influencer – constantly viewed in front of her carefully curated background, but people are starting to notice that all of her videos take place in front of that backdrop and she is never seen to create content anywhere else. When Ander (Jeff Willy) visits to discuss how this may end up making her videos stale and uninteresting, Fen’s unusual arrangement comes to the surface. The small cast are excellent, with Peyton Nicole Morton as Laurel really standing out for the way she is able to embody her role. Moments of quiet tension dominate and it is to the cast’s credit and clever writing that this feels perfectly paced, picking up speed only when it absolutely needs to.
Iris Lex Benedict brings us tech and Christmas horror combined as Laney tries to navigate a night home alone with a virtual assistant that will not go quietly. Starting with a Steve Wozniak quote that asserts ‘never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window’, this comedy horror deals with both aspects equally well with scares and jokes landing. Christmas lighting creates a film that is beautiful to look at but also adds to a sinister atmosphere.
The Influencer A stylised take on the cult of influencer culture, The Influencer begins with a bright ring light – almost as a beacon to followers. A strongly delivered voiceover starts to cycle through the videos of three influencers as the camera stays focused on the light. What follows is a pleasingly heady montage of parties and fleeting glimpses of extravagant, filtered lifestyles. The frenetic pacing is near an intensity overload before arriving at an unexpected, arresting conclusion.
CarlyThe InfluenceriRISMaraiNFLUENCE
Carly Another short which focuses on the way in which internet and influencer culture has changed how people interact with it, but this time on a considerably larger scale. Carly showcases a dystopian future in which citizens are forced to compete, rated on their ‘likeability’ to protect their loved ones. Under the banner of ‘change, not charity’, Carly introduces the neon-soaked kitchen of The Cupcake Factory in which a cheerful host boasts about the success of their world, regarding working or buying as a betrayal of their utopic vision. The contrast between the high-tech cityscape and the dire straits that citizens find themselves make this an obvious, but entirely successful satire.
Mara Arguably my favourite of this block, Mara takes aim at the hypocrisy of various sites, especially around the activities of sex workers. Bored and frustrated cam girl Erin (Erin Carroll) tries to spark viewership with new fetish-focused content, but soon finds her account flagged for breaking draconian rules. Carroll’s energy throughout is compelling and she is fascinating to spend time with as she tries to navigate her situation. The film is razor sharp in its commentary, complete with a last-minute rug-pull that leaves you to meditate on what you have just watched. An incredibly powerful piece of work.
Apologies for the silence that has fallen across the blog for a little while. I have also watched a few films that I’ve not managed to review. This is owing to a hectic personal life schedule and a few things that understandably took priority. As a result, I’m hoping to start afresh in 2024 and return to a more regular publishing schedule.
As ever, the films presented here will sometimes be marked as 2022 releases and some are still on the festival circuit or unavailable to watch (at least in the UK) as of the end of 2023. I’ve also deliberately used the word favourite as opposed to top or best as there may be films throughout the year that I’ve maybe rated more highly but as I’ve thought about them further, either revised my initial rating or simply found myself thinking about those films more.
Not every film is a genre movie and as is always the case with these things, there are films like Femme, Poor Things, How to Have Sex and All Of Us Strangers that are on my list of films to watch but I’ve been unable to watch yet. Still, these lists are always an interesting exercise in reviewing how films change in the mind over time and on a purely self-involved level is useful for compiling a scrapbook of favourites that hopefully help others decide if my review of something aligns with their taste. After all, life is too short for hate watches when there is so much good stuff out there. As a result, on a few entries I’ll note a few honorary mentions from the festival it played at. Yes, this is entirely a way of sneaking a few more names onto the list.
25. The Moor
Super spooky with an arresting conclusion but what I most enjoyed about this was the way that the filmmakers made the area feel like one gripped by grief and fear. It takes something special to really imbue an entire film with that kind of unsettling, deeply felt emotion so this was very impressive.
24. Doctor Jekyll
Eddie Izzard (as credited) brings gravitas to this retelling of a story that has already been told so many times. Her performance is nuanced and provides an emotional weight to the story while also keeping a fun, almost throwback Hammer horror. The pacing is great and the story also makes space for an exploration of Scott Chambers’ character Rob, who would be easy to sideline in favour of more Jekyll/Hyde set pieces.
This is quite a gentle genre film and it would be an incredible stretch to call it horror, but there are moments of darkness in this that would feel at home within horror. The visuals and how people’s hearts are represented are so thoughtful and often striking (I’ve thought about the red cord around the trees so often since viewing). This will be almost unbearably quirky for some, but the exploration between messy humanity and sanitised perfect technology is frequently moving.
Sometimes it is hard to remember films from earlier in the year when it comes time to do these year-end roundups. However, the visuals of Trim Season have stayed in my memory throughout, with director Ariel Vida using her wealth of production design experience to bring something so vivid and perfect for the subject matter. Intriguing lore and memorable horror moments throughout.
21. M3GAN
After Malignant, Akela Cooper being credited as a writer does attract my attention (aside from The Nun 2 because sorry, but that had enough in the trailer to indicate it was not for me) and something like M3GAN feels like the perfect subject for her refreshingly campy take on mainstream horror. There was a fear that the meme-heavy marketing campaign complete with Taylor Swift soundtracked trailer and dancing M3gans could be guarding a poor film, but the film manages to deliver enough on a concept that could so easily be lost. I really hope Cooper’s work continues to gather steam as one of the most interesting mainstream horror writers.
20. Barbie
Look, I’m as surprised as you are, but Greta Gerwig’s take on Barbieland was a genuinely good time. These things always work best when everyone commits and Barbie really benefitted from that – the world it exists in was perfectly designed and Ryan Gosling’s Ken has given a momentary pause from all method actors seemingly just wanting to be difficult for a while by so fully embracing his Kenergy in the show and promotional materials. Yes, this has entry-level feminist ideas but for some of the kids who just went to see a shiny toy movie that could be the start of something more.
19. Scream VI
The latest Scream entry worked well for me, despite a lacklustre killer reveal. The ‘core four’ felt slightly more established and the switch in setting also helped to freshen things up in the absence of the long-standing cast members. Melissa Barrera really shone for me and the Carpenter sisters were increasingly easy to root for. A shame as her departure from (at the time of writing) the upcoming seventh instalment leaves precious little else for the franchise to explore.
18. Sanctuary
I’m not saying I’m predictable but I am saying you can basically guarantee I’ll watch anything featuring Christopher Abbott. Sanctuary is, despite the initial premise, a lot lighter than I expected in places, becoming a dom-rom-com. Yes, there is an intensity to this, but that tendency toward the rom-com, however dysfunctional, dulls it a little as the film feels like it scrambles toward the end to meet that. Abbott and Margaret Qualley’s chemistry is excellent though, which certainly offsets many issues.
17. Howdy, Neighbor!
This screenlife film finds true horror in fandom. Matthew Scott Montgomery plays Benjamin Caldwell, a former child actor who found fame in a sitcom. As an important anniversary of the show looms, we follow his increasing concern that a fan is too invested in the reunion and Benjamin himself. What follows is a masterfully creepy and inventive take on the obsessed stalker with an endearing cast, strengthened by the screenlife limitations rather than confined by them.
Sohome Horror Festival Honorable Mentions: The quiet beauty and pain of Summoners.
16. Saint Drogo
Since watching the incredible Death Drop Gorgeous I’ve been waiting for the second film from the team behind it. Promising a folk-horror narrative rather than the city setting of their first feature, Saint Drogo follows a couple who take a trip together to a small town during the off-season. Nightmare sequences, lashings of sex and 1970s-style paranoia topped with some of the most striking practical effects of the year make this a must-see.
Soho Horror Festival Honorable Mentions:Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism and Booger. If you want to be angry at reactionary and regressive ideas then Godless is the film for you. At times, the film feels a little like a Hallmark movie but it contains a vital message and delivers on the true horror of so-called exorcisms taking place in contemporary life. Booger is an entirely different kind of film, focused on grief and accountability with a memorable singing scene that struck exactly the right note for me.
It is a shame this film didn’t quite make the horror festival circuit rounds as much as it should have. A limited UK cinema release may have brought some eyes to it but Back Home feels like a horror fan’s horror movie, managing to reference many of the past few year’s big hitters while also presenting genuinely effective scares and an emotional core. Fully indulgent horror that touches on familial trauma, belonging and loneliness.
14. Stopmotion
This would make an excellent double bill with Censor, with a focus on a woman starting to lose her grasp on reality. Robert Morgan’s unsettling stop-motion short films are well known so it is fascinating to see them play a vital role in this tale of obsession and perfection. The art of stop-motion animation and Ella’s (a standout performance from Aisling Franciosi) own concerns merge perfectly and as a debut feature, this is an incredible effort.
Celluloid Screams Honorary Mentions: Slow-burn, ambient Falling Stars sees something from above impact a small community. Compelling and witty What You Wish For presents Nick Stahl’s desperate chef with a fascinating moral dilemma. Loop Track sees Wellington Paranormal‘s Thomas Sainsbury head out on a walking trail that heads in a genuinely surprising direction.
13. Klokkenluider
Neil Maskell’s directorial debut could easily be a play given the focus on dialogue and excellent performances but the camera significantly livens it. Soaring overhead shots make the characters appear like pieces on a chessboard and lapses into slow motion further extend that sense of manipulation that underpins this gripping political thriller.
12. The Seeding
Some are going to find The Seeding slow and this won’t be helped by some attempts to market it as extreme. This is a slow-moving, screw-turning exercise in dread as a man finds himself held captive by a roaming group of children. The description can’t really do it justice as the film itself has a sprawling intensity, taking its time to arrive at a conclusion it deliberately sews seeds for.
FrightFest Honorable Mention: High-action revenge flick, Farang(renamed as Mayhem), boasting the kind of choreography that would be at home in The Raid.
11. Holy Spider
Holy Spider is one of those films that I found incredible but I’ll likely never watch again. A damning portrait of the Iranian justice system and misogyny based on real events. Close-quarters, claustrophobic and unflinching representations of violence that feel intrusive. It will near the exploitative threshold for some but it at least feels like it has something to say about the violence enacted upon these women. A truly uncomfortable watch.
10. Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
I don’t think I can name a more charming film from this year. A relatively light-touch comedy despite the dark themes with some laugh-out-loud lines in among the more consistent small laughs. This moves at such a rapid pace that you’ll wish you were in the film’s company for much longer but is perfectly timed, moving without being schmaltzy and contains an utterly beautiful musical number.
David Dastmalcian’s charisma brings this to life as a talk show host takes on the challenge of a live paranormal investigation. There is fun, pathos, scares and a pleasing wraparound for all of it. The 1970s setting throws you into that era of occult paranoia but the film maintains a playful edge, carefully straddling the tones of horror, sadness and fright.
8. Renfield
It is fairly unlikely for me to rank something quite so fun this highly, but sometimes, you really just do need that. This struck the balance just right for me, finding fun in moments of Dracula lore, plus bringing it into modern times. The cast are excellent – Nicholas Hoult is so endearing as Renfield and Nicholas Cage as Dracula is genuinely a joy to watch. The action is diverting and at times, drew a wince or two but it is primarily here because it just feels so easy to watch. Popcorn for the brain with some gags that land.
7. Where The Devil Roams
From the opening poem, Where The Devil Roams sets itself apart in terms of its visual language. Riffing on Frankenstein‘s warning scene, the film soon delves into the lives of a family travelling Depression-era America with their vaudeville act. The Addams family have created such an incredible texture with monochrome visuals and their own music. Each character feels so lived in, so laden with history and trauma that it’s impossible to not be moved by it, even when it veers toward the dysfunctional.
6. Scala!!!
I have only very recently visited Scala and while it was in the capacity of an emo club night rather than a cinema, there is truly something otherworldly about that venue. The ornate stairs, the wear and tear, it all feels like a building that has borne witness to so much. As the documentary details, possibly too much! In any case, Scala is an affectionate, but honest documentary about the magic and danger of the infamous cinema screenings. More than that though, it is an ode to the importance of and need for queer alternative spaces in which people can find one another.
Ask me about the Satanic Panic and I’ll be happy to bore you for hours. This documentary comes at just the right point in time, able to offer an exploration of the hysteria around Michelle Remembers with some of those who knew Michelle and Lawrence Pazder while also operating as a sobering reminder of how these moral panics resurface time and time again. Hearing the tapes is vital, with ridiculous details delivered in a distressing fashion. The hoax perpetuated in the name of protecting children is laid bare here, even without the involvement of the main couple and should serve as a reminder about listening to groups of people looking to create panic around another group.
4. Good Boy
Some films are just instant sells. This low-budget psychosexual thriller is one of them, featuring a woman who starts dating a man who she thinks may break her pattern of lost causes until he introduces her to his rather strange pet: a man wearing a dog suit. What follows is a tense take on power relations, discipline and control, with a side of kink.
FrightFest Honorable Mentions: An actress takes gory payback in Faceless After Dark. In Suitable Flesh, Lovecraft is brought to life via a star-studded cast, lots of sex and a particularly memorable car scene.
3. Red Rooms
While others on this list may be more overtly graphic, I don’t think any other film on this list has made me gasp out loud as many times. Juliette Gariépy as Kelly-Anne is a character that you cannot take your eyes off and the film exploits this to its full extent during a scene that is so skin-crawlingly shocking that it will stay in my memory for a long time. What makes the film so effective is how it marries its critique of serial killer fandom media saturation with refusing to glorify or provide too much detail about crimes while still delivering a completely unnerving narrative
2. Infinity Pool
Brandon Cronenberg’s brand of science fiction is compelling because he can build worlds with a convincing texture – those small details that allow you to slip under the film’s spell and buy into the technology on display. The celebrity obsession of Antiviral and covert assassination technology of Possessor are all made eerily plausible by Cronenberg’s clever design, which continues throughout Infinity Pool’s expanded world. Mia Goth’s standout performance and a fascinating turn by Alexander Skarsgård make this decadent, violent story one to get lost in.
1 . Saltburn
Anyone who has been watching my Letterboxed or social media already knows how I feel about this film so this placement should be no surprise. Emerald Fennell’s debut feature Promising Young Woman made number 3 on my favourites of 2021 and Saltburn proved to be a follow-up that shared the same darkly comic sensibility. Saltburn veers away from the more serious subject matter of PYW, instead creating an erotic thriller that feels purpose-built to go viral in a cultural landscape increasingly shying away from movie sex scenes.
Barry Keoghan’s performance is riveting and his dedication to that elevates what could so easily become a series of ‘shocking’ vignettes into something compelling. The overall presentation including the 2006/2007 soundtrack, fashions and makeup (I am *so* grateful that messy makeup will be on trend marking the first time I have been on trend since 2007) works for my personal tastes. As with any big film the ‘discourse’ has been fairly exhausting on this, especially when the film itself doesn’t take itself all that seriously. It is a pop culture collage, borrowing from low and high art and instilling that into characters that despite being broad, still feel lived in, believable and flawed despite surface charm.
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.
A gloriously mean take on the possession subgenre.
Synopsis: The residents of a small rural town discover that a demon is about to be born among them. They desperately try to escape before the evil is born but it may be too late.
When brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jimi (Demián Salomon) stumble across a grisly scene in their town they are drawn into an evil far beyond their comprehension. With the town at risk of a “rotten” (the film’s terminology for a possessed person) thanks to a “cleaner” being unable to reach them, the brothers decide to try and deal with the problem themselves. However, their lack of expertise soon comes back to damage them as their actions unleash a ubiquitous evil.
Among the spinning heads and pea-green vomit of The Exorcist there is a greater manifestation of evil that shows it is all around the characters, intricately sewing itself into their lives, guilty consciences and memories. When Evil Lurks takes this idea into a higher gear, with director Demián Rugna creating palpable tension around when the next bout of violent terror is to emerge. Lionel Cornistein’s smooth but swift edits lend the film a breathless quality, speeding up as the danger draws ever nearer.
In using a mixture of sequences in which the inevitable horror is highly telegraphed and those that happen with a more immediate shock factor Rugna is fully in control here, guiding the viewer through this landscape of inescapable threat. This is a film primed for audiences to yell out at the screen, both as unheard warnings to characters and as visceral reactions to the violence.
That kind of inevitability of violence may wear on some, but When Evil Lurks excellently keeps characters moving through the landscape, splitting them up for ever more inventive set pieces. The pacing is brisk, furthering the sense of urgency the characters face.
As you would expect, the effects further recommend it. Even the quickest glimpses of the results of violence will draw winces but the devil is really in the detail here. The body of the rotten at the outset is laden with unpleasant details and vividly sets the scene for other instances.
Setting itself apart from a host of possession horrors, When Evil Lurks brings horrific thrills.
4 out of 5 stars
When Evil Lurks was released in UK cinemas on October 6th. It will stream on Shudder from October 27th.
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.
A moving and often surreal take on loneliness.
Synopsis: Angela lives alone, fearful of strangers and of change. When her reality is upended by the arrival of a new caregiver, she struggles to come to terms with truth vs. fantasy.
The power of this short centred on the loneliness experienced by an elderly transwoman is how it grounds itself within that space and creates an instantly vibrant character in Angela (Celeste González). From the very first moments, we see her as an engaging presence, yet there are concerns from those she speaks to on the phone that her breezy nature is hiding a rather more damaging reality.
Director David Velduque manoeuvres the apartment slowly, echoing the movements of Angela as she fills her time. Close-ups of an overflowing ashtray confirm her seclusion and hint at a space that is not being adequately looked after. It uses the quiet of being alone effectively, with time spent without much action, all fully immersing the viewer in Angela’s space. Despite the monochrome colour palette of the film, a moment of body horror succeeds in inducing a wince.
The use of door frames within the apartment is inspired. In one moment they function as dividers, further constraining Angela, but in others, they become a window for her curiosity with a particularly evocative segment of the film allowing the action to breach the barriers the film sets up. It is a clever, resourceful use of the space, complemented by Celeste González’ committed performance.
Halted vocalisations in the film’s soundtrack during the opening and closing credits add to the sense of voicelessness the rest of the film explores. That uneasy tone permeates the whole film, effectively drawing the viewer into Angela’s story.
Transition is a thoughtful, well-realised film about loneliness and neglect, bolstered by inventive visuals and a likeable central performance.
Transition plays Fantastic Fest as part of the SHORT FUSE shorts block screening on 28th September at 11:20am.
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.
A beautifully shot, but delightfully silly ‘meet the parents’ nightmare.
Synopsis: Sandy is grievously forced to break it off with the boy of her dreams in order to avert him from meeting her unusual parents.
Everything about Fck’n Nuts feels deliberate and confident. The hyper-styling and performance styles all contribute to its ability to deliver on its strange premise. For those familiar with his work it will be no surprise to see Joe Badon listed as a co-producer, with that mix of strange characters and world creation fitting well with his existing interests and work.
Sandy (Maddie Nichols) has learned to dread taking her previous boyfriends home to meet her parents. However, Dan (Vincent Stalba) is chirpy and convinced he can make a good impression. Desperate to be let into her ‘little world’, he convinces her to make the introduction, but are some things truly too much to overcome?
From Sandy’s bubblegum pink room featuring sinister details with girly touches, the film puts a great deal of effort into setting up the oddness of the house, even before the parents are referenced. The styling is impressive, extending to the wardrobe choices for both Sandy and Dan. The house, illustrated by close-ups that deny the viewer the full story until the last possible moment feels like a living, breathing entity. The feverish tone and anxiety that builds only furthers the strength of the central joke.
Director and writer Sam Fox describes the film as an ‘absurdist horror/comedy based on my personal experience growing up with my insane family’. The absurdist elements allow this to flourish as a comedy, but Fox shows great control and a knack for creating atmosphere too. The punchline, once delivered, is absurd in the best possible way, assisted by the cast all continuing to treat the situation with the utmost seriousness.
Those details extend into the credit sequence, continuing to provide laughs beyond the close of the film. Fck’n Nuts is a surprising, effective short that showcases a huge amount of talent in a short space of time.
Fck’n Nuts plays Fantastic Fest as part of the SHORT FUSE shorts block screening on 28th September at 11:20am.
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.
A short film that neatly carries out its central concept while still allowing for further exploration.
Synopsis: A single woman alone in her house can’t be sure if the changing pictures and shapes around her are real, or whether something is watching her.
Pareidolia is one of the phenomena I find most interesting – theorised as an evolutionary hangover that enabled humans to perceive and act upon even the slightest threat by finding faces in blank spaces that now results in our overactive imaginations finding patterns where there are none, leading to everything from sinister ghost sightings to meme content like Drunk Octopus Wants to Fight. To some extent, it feels under-explored in horror narratives so it is interesting to see it take centre stage in this short film.
Sinead Chambers (Diane Franklin) is an academic who has been given an opportunity to cover a colleague’s class. Choosing to shift to a topic she is more comfortable with, she asks the class to find examples of pareidolia but soon finds that the results are increasingly uncomfortable.
Pareidolia feels much like a segment of an Amicus anthology feature, neatly introducing characters and the concept with a grisly pay off within a short space of time. The placement of the narrative within academic terms further lends itself to the tone and feel of those stories. At times, the pace can feel rushed as it splits between Father John Cavanagh (Graham Cole) arriving at a hospital and Sinead’s terrors at home. There is a sense that this is a story with much more to explore and given the time and space to do so would only increase its fear factor.
Yes, a pub discussion around Jean Baudrillard and Simulacra may be a little dense in terms of exposition but establishing them as academics (a trait typical of old British ghost stories like those from M R James) allows this to fit. It helps that the script offers a simple, comic example of pareidolia to bring the viewer along even if the other concepts get a little lost in the shuffle. It is this friendship between the academics that would benefit from fleshing out and allow us to learn more about the women. It is, of course, refreshing to see this focused around older women – while many M.R. James horror stories focus on academics, they skew male.
The film offers layered intertextual references to primarily American horror, mainly in casting terms, bringing Diane Franklin on board as well as Sandy Johnson in a small cameo role, but retains the feel of British horror. The scares tend toward the minimalist, cleverly utilising moments of light and dark in addition to calling back to earlier conversations. It shows an attention to detail in the crafting, providing a mix between creeping dread and more jump-scare-focused sequences.
Overall, Pareidolia presents a concept that satisfies but also whets the appetite for further scares. Hitting all the necessary beats of classic ghostly tales, this will make you nervous about what your eyes may find in that dark corner.
Scared Sheepless can exclusively announce that Pareidolia has been selected for the Los Angeles International Film Festival. Check the webpage for updates and further information.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.
A film that echoes the wandering of its protagonist to disquieting effect.
Synopsis: Lennon, a new back-country ranger, travels alone through the dangerous wilderness, hoping to uncover the origins of a tragedy that has haunted her since she was a child.
Director and writer Teresa Sutherland is no stranger to narratives of isolated women, having penned The Wind (2018), which focused on stories of frontier women being driven to insanity by the sound of the wind. In her directorial debut, she follows a similar thread, taking the numerous disappearances at American National Parks as a starting point for her protagonist’s trauma and a fertile ground for horror.
Lennon (Georgina Campbell) is a new park ranger in the Avores National Park. As she arrives, she’s struck by the vastness of the area but also her traumatic connection to the space. With that history bubbling under the surface, the darkness and uncertainty threaten to overwhelm her.
From the outset, Sutherland establishes the park as a living, breathing space, namely in an opening scene in which another ranger leaves a note at their cabin stating ‘I owe this land a body’. The emphasis in the ranger training on respect for the forest, the notoriety of the park for disappearances and the film’s ability to continually pull back to show the scale of the area initially set out a tension that the rest of the film heavily relies on. A conspiracy podcast that plays during a scene adds to this, providing a sense of genuine threat.
A creaking soundscape surrounds the landscape as the camera tilts around it, creating a genuinely disorientating experience. These scenes during the day set the scene for the nighttime, in which the camera gives way to more intimate tracking through the woods, leading Lennon down sinister pathways to unusual figures. It is genuinely absorbing and Georgina Campbell, as her performance in Barbarian proved, makes for a performer you want to follow.
Exposition is carefully woven into the plot, mostly dialogue-free, which lends it a certain sophistication. As the film progresses, it wants to throw more and more at the viewer, abandoning some of the more serene creeps it originally lays out for something more layered. The relatively short runtime exacerbates this somewhat, with a jump from the scene setting to a more energetic final section. It is, mostly kept from spinning out of control, but some of the ways it folds in on itself are perhaps not as satisfying as they could be.
Ultimately, Lovely, Dark, and Deep is a strong directorial debut for Sutherland and demonstrates an excellent handling of the material related to isolation, grief and connection to land.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.
A gender-flipped horror-thriller merge that straddles both genres well.
Synopsis: A mysterious woman on the run, and the resourceful fixer assigned to bring her in. Their two unique stories inextricably link, as the stakes of the pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions.
When we meet Jess (Hayley Erin) she is sneaking through a house, trying to prevent being seen. We are not shown why she is on the run, but are soon shown the company trying to find her and that they have brought in Elsa (Sonya Walger) to aid them. The film moves between the women as their circumstances intertwine, each with developing circumstances that put them both, and humanity, in danger.
The traditional cat-and-mouse thriller tends to revolve around a male criminal and his male crime-fighting counterpart. At times, this can be switched to a male-female pairing in which potential sexual chemistry between the pair can be exploited. Where New Life succeeds is in altering those dynamics in terms of bringing Jess and Elsa’s lives into parallel, but without them knowing very much about one another. The tensions they have are kept internal, with them connected by their circumstances than any personality-based connections or chemistry. It is a move that allows the film to unfold at a more deliberate pace, without the need to introduce them to one another directly too early.
Hayley Erin is excellent as Jess, treading lightly through wilderness, homes and towns to try and get to the border. Her fragility and panic is palpable but she is also able to be remain enigmatic enough that she also appears as a potential threat. Sonya Walger brings a multi-faceted performance as Elsa, a capable, strong woman faced with an entirely new challenge. Outside of the central pair, the supporting cast are well-developed, helping make the road movie elements that much stronger.
If there is a stumble that New Life makes (for me, at least) it is that it follows a deeply emotive and horrific sequence with a final moment that cannot hope to match the power of what has come before. While it makes sense as a final scene, the imagery and meaning in that previous scene is so striking that it would feel like a bold move to leave it as the final moment.
New Life‘s horror takes a little while to arrive, with characters taking precedence, but it does so in explosive fashion, bringing gooey body horror and startling jolts from the quiet. Some of this occasionally sits unnaturally, with those bursts of energy and violence at odds with the more sombre, meditative moments. The parallels between the women at times are drawn effectively, building the tension well.
New Life finds a freshness in this combination of horror and pursuit thriller.
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