A horror sequel that seemed to get alot of flack in 2018 was The Strangers: Prey At Night, the follow up to the popular 2008 horror thriller The Strangers. This time around we have a lesser known cast including new actors in the role of the three masked killers from the first film. The question is...does the film really deserve the awful ratings it was given last year? or is there some good the find in the film?

The film follows a family, Dad Mike (Martin Henderson - Grey's Anatomy), mum Cindy (Christina Hendricks - The Neon Demon), Son Luke (Lewis Pullman - Battle of the Sexes) and daughter Kinsey (Bailee Madison - The Good Witch) as they have to stay over at an uncles Trailer Park on the way to take Kinsey to a private school. What they do not realise is waiting for them are three masked psychopaths looking to play a very twisted game of knock down ginger.

While this sequel maybe doesn't really live up to the first film, and possibly 9 years late to the party, Prey At Night is your typical 80's style slasher movie fair, but while some people think this may be the films downfall I actually loved it. i'm a sucker for a slasher and compared to alot of the modern slashers Prey At Night used the classic 80's tropes and used them well. Yeah okay so there is nothing majorly new in the film and yes most of the cast (aside from Bailee Madison's Kinsley, who I actually thought had the strongest performance overall) were pretty bland this is the norm in this kind of subgenre film. 

When it comes to your villains of the piece they swapped up the creepy with a more stalk and slash style which was a little disappointing. We seemed to jump straight into killing the family instead of the tense home invasion tease them make them scared route which made them so liked in the first film. On saying that though these three psychos are out to be brutal. There is a great line in the final half where Kinsey asks Dollface (Emma Bellomy - Before The Dark) why she is doing this and the reply is just 'Why Not'. These killers don't care and this is why the brutality is more interesting.

Will this film win any awards? No but it doesn't take away the fun of it. It was a good running time length, didn't clock watch so I would definitely suggest giving this a try

​ When Angels Sleep( or to give it is spanish title ‘Cuando Los Angeles Duermen’) has just hit Netflix here in the UK and bloody hell is this the definition of the phrase ‘well that escalated quickly’ in this Spanish thriller from director Gonzalo Bendala, director of Innocent Killers (Asesinos Inocentes). The film follows the story of businessman German (Julian Villagran – Grupo 7, Extraterrestrial) who is trying to rush home to see his daughter on her birthday after a business meeting runs longer than expected. Tired and in no fit state to drive he finds himself in a heap of trouble when he accidentally hits a young woman named Gloria (Asia Ortega – Your Son) on a dark side road. Panicking he tries to get Gloria into his car so he can rush her to hospital, but Gloria’s friend Silvia (Esta Expostio – Elite, Locked Up) sees this and believes German is trying to kidnap them and has murdered her friend and so begins a night of misunderstandings and an unintentional game of cat and mouse.

When Angels Sleep is a definite Frightfest style choice of film, which I am shocked wasn’t at any of the events this year. It is tense enough without the film begin to much bad or good. It is a middle of the road thriller (no pun intended) with so good acting across the board. It reminds me of films like In Fear with it’s dark roads that seem to last forever, but what this film brings is that sudden sense of dread of how quickly a good Samaritan can turn or at the very least seem to be a bad person. Villagran’s German is a prime example of how trying to do the good thing and not being able to explain yourself can lead to chasing a woman down in an attempt to get her to safety, which probably isn’t the best thing to do in hindsight. Villagran plays this well, you kind of feel sorry for him from the start and you even kind of hate the character of Silvia during the first half of the film. She is irritating from the off, which I will assume isn’t meant to be intentional, which really takes the care away from her till the final act where German’s mood changes.

However on the other-side you can see why Silvia is tripping the hell out. What would you be like if you suddenly find your best friend being carted into the back of a strangers car? You would go nuts on the guy and run the hell away, but Silvia is fucked off her gourd on crack which isn’t really going to help matters.

When Angels Sleep is an interesting little thriller with a convincing lead who becomes his own villain by the end act. The story is well paced with a nice little b-plot of his family life and the dickhole friends of Gloria and Silvia that complete the overall story in full with no major loose ends. It didn’t feel too long either, something that films like this have been guilt of in the past which is a huge plus in my book.

This is a good little watch for a quiet evenings entertainment so head on over to Netflix now and give it a go.

Some of the best things on show include all the Iron Man suits you could ever dream of (including the very first one and the Hulkbuster), all the Avengers costumes (including Hawkeye’s, the most under-appreciated character), and my personal favourite, a creepy elf from Thor: The Dark World that looks so realistic it looks like it’s going to come alive and murder you at any second.
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There’s plenty of interactive elements which is what makes it so enjoyable. There’s a game that simulates what it’s like to fight in the Iron Man suit, and lots of good photo opportunities to take advantage of; you can sit on the Winter Soldier’s motorbike, pretend you’re holding a replica of Captain America’s shield, high-five the Hulk and see if you’re worthy enough to pick up Mjolnir. You’ll also be able to fight Ultron in a game with your group at the end of it all before entering a shop filled with lots of Avengers mugs for all your tea drinking needs and get your photo taken in front of a green screen.

‘Mandy’ is the new horror film from Panos Cosmatos starring Nicholas Cage as Red, a man out for revenge when his wife Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) is taken by a gang hired by a religious cult. This first half of the film is slow paced and mundane, focusing on the simple everyday life of Mandy and we see her conversations with Red, but once the film gets going, it’s worth sticking around for.

Cage's performance is outstanding and I’m convinced he was born to play this role; his exaggerated style of acting is the perfect approach for the character as he becomes wilder and more out of control through the film. Despite the humour that comes from this, it still manages to hang on to themes of loss and he still brings a sense of tragedy to the role, especially in the last scene. Every performance is great, but Linus Roache as cult leader Jeremiah is also worth mentioning for his interesting line delivery. His monologue directed at Mandy is particularly impressive and that scene as a whole perfectly summarises the film – trippy, stylistic and weird. Even the dialogue is very strange at times, but it doesn’t feel out of place in the context of the movie.

The visual style of the film is also something to be admired. There’s red coloured lighting which adds the feeling of constant danger and creates a surreal effect. The practical effects are also impressive, as well as the character designs for the gang. Overall, this is a great film and showcases the talent Cage, and it’s good to see him do something so different and unique. This might not be a film for mainstream audiences, but if you can get through the slow start, you’ll be rewarded with crazy Nicholas Cage greatness and a wild ride of a movie.

Gnomes.....they are a funny little beast. Little creatures you put in your garden for some god knows what reason. They can be damn creepy with their eyes....and their beards.... ad this is what our lead character Chloe feels on meeting the titular characters of the latest animation to come out of Netflix and is brought to us by Director Peter Lepeniotis, the man who directed The Nut Job.

Gnome Alone follows young teenager Chloe (Voiced by Becky G - 2017's Power Rangers) who, after moving into a new town and a new home, is dragged into a mystic battle of Garden Gnomes and very hungry  inter-dimensional creatures called Troggs who are drawn to Chloe's house after she unwittingly releases them. Chloe must retrieve the key to closing the gap between the two worlds by joining forces with a team of Gnomes and her next door neighbour Liam (Voiced by Drake and Josh actor Josh Peck) before the world is destroyed.

‘3’ is a horror about a man and a woman who team up to find her rapist and get a confession out of him. However, Todd Bruno’s character (simply credited as ‘He’) is an ex-soldier suffering from PTSD who becomes increasingly unstable and out of control as he learns more about Her experience.

I enjoyed the film for its simplicity in the sense that it mostly takes place in one setting and is easy to follow. The acting was adequate, and Todd Bruno gave the best performance as someone who is on the edge and trying to convince himself that he’s in control. Nothing about the film initially gave any indication that it was going to be anything special, although it’s competent overall, but the unexpected plot twist pleasantly surprised me and made me appreciate it more overall. It gives hints that there’s something we don’t know as an audience that will be uncovered and also makes you question whether or not they really have the man who committed the crime, but the twist went in a completely different direction than I expected and is refreshing in how it examines masculinity, femininity and how people deal with being sexually assaulted.

While I don’t think ‘3’ is going to make a big impact on the indie horror scene, I think it deserves more credit than it’s been getting - it’s rated 4/10 on IMDb - as it’s a fresh take on the rape revenge genre and is smarter than you initially think it’s going to be. It’s low-key and will probably slip under the radar for a lot of horror fans, but it’s a quick watch that’s well paced and ends up being pretty interesting.  

In all of Marvel Spiderman has always being my favorite. From the amazing 90’s cartoon series to ALL of the films, yes even Amazing Spiderman which some people hated but I loved, I have always had a soft spot for the web head. It was even my starting point when I got round to reading comics a few years back when I started with the Superior Spiderman all the way to now as I read through the Ultimate universe.

Venom was always a great villain in the cartoon series, it was my opening the to story of the black space goo and with every version, apart from the god awful Spiderman 3 outing, He was always a firm favorite. So when they announced a solo Venom movie I was both excited and apprehensive as it was made very clear from the start that this wasn’t going to include our webslinging friend and will have a very different story to tell.


If you are unaware of the origin story of the symbiotic costume, It was originally known to have attached itself to Peter Parker during the Secret Wars event after Peter uses it to fix his torn costume, leading to the fan favorite Black Spiderman suit. We have recently found out that the Venom life-form attached itself to Deadpool, leading to many thinking that that is the reason for it’s psychotic behavior. This suit started to turn Peter crazy and during an epic comic scene he manages to rid himself of the goo but it lands right into the lap of Eddie Brock, on f many to take on the Venom mantle.


The film however takes out the origin and gives us a Venom who attaches itself to Eddie without the addition of the Spiderman powers, this is very confusing though as the only reason Venom looks the way he does, I.E the eyes of the costume, is because the Symbiote is connected to Spiderman and takes aspects of the Spiderman Costume. You don’t get the logo of his chest but you do get the eyes. However let us look at this film as a film fan rather than a comic book fan, as a lot of people will not have really been privy to Venom in the past.


So the film focuses on reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy – MAD MAX FURY ROAD, THE DARK KNIGHT), he has a great life with his Lawyer fiance Anne (Michelle Williams – I FEEL PRETTY, THE GREATEST SHOWMAN) he was a highly popular news program and all he is looking for is a way to make peoples lives better. After an ambush interview with shady business tycoon Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed – THE NIGHT OF, ROUGE ONE) goes badly Brock finds himself breaking into Drake’s underground lab where he is using living alien Symbiotes on homeless people to try and attach the to the right host. Well one finds the right host, as the Venom Symbiote merges with Eddie, protecting him from the on coming forces Drake has sent to retrieve and eat some heads as well. The unlikely duo must find a way to stop Drake but what they do not know is a missing Symbiote named Riot is also looking for a host to destroy the earth and take it for the symbiotic race.


This is a film of two halves, firstly I love Hardy as Brock, the partnership between Eddie and Venom was both funny and engaging throughout, however on the second half of it the story was thin, the villain wasn’t much of an imposing force (using whisper evil oooooooo) and the supporting cast were flat throughout. The action was good, I love the Venom wanted to eat the heads of his victims, I loved the chase scenes and I like what they have done with Venom's character so as a Character I would really wanted to see what a different writer/director could do with it, especially after seeing the end credit scene.


As a whole the film was well shot with a great leading character, but it lacks that little something. Even if you had a cameo by Tom Holland’s Spiderman in a second end credit scene or even a mention of the rumored Silver and Black film just something the break away from the utter dullness of everything else around it. You could of had Silver Sable hunting him down or, again, an end credit scene with Black Cat but alas no. I also think it really needed to be an 18 rating or a very close to it 15 rating. Venom needed to be that little bit more violent than it ended up being and it is a shame to see that Sony wasn’t willing to push it as far as Fox is trying to do with Deadpool and the x-men universe.

It is an okay start to the Sony Not Spiderman but kind of Spiderman Universe. Do I personally think you could have released this next year and connected it to Avengers 4? Yes I do as it would have been so cool to see Peter get the suit in Avengers 4, use it in Homecoming 2 then let it lead to an end credit scene in Homecoming 2 where Eddie gets the suit and then Venom later in 2019…..but that is just me. Overall it is the type of film you can watch, enjoy and not worry about again. I just hope the do something good with Venom 2.

Tis the season to scare the living crap out of people! That’s right horror fans we are in the Halloween season again and we managed to get a sneaky preview of the Halloween edition of Channel 4’s Hauntingly good series True Horror starring former Eastenders and Bionic Woman star Michelle Ryan as a woman who brought the most haunted house in Essex.

This episode of the docu-drama, which follows true stories and interviews of those effected by the hauntings and mixes it with dramatization of the events, follows the story of a haunted house only 30 minutes away from me in St Osyth in Essex, a little village between Colchester and Clacton on Sea, where in the 1500’s fourteen women were put on trail for witchcraft, one being the focused spirit in the episode, a convicted and murdered woman by the name of Ursula Kemp, a healer and wet nurse from the era.

Michelle Ryan plays Vanessa Mitchell (who is also in the docu-drama telling the viewer of her experiences in the house) who buys the historic house named ‘The Cage’ after moving back to the village to start a new life. As soon as she moves into the home Vanessa begins experiencing supernatural events, she sees dark looming figures walking the halls, blood on the floor and all manner of spooky goings on. We are also given eye witness accounts from Vanessa’s friends who also back up her stories and some who are still on the fence about it. The events get worse however as Vanessa is pregnant and the spirit becomes more violent.

This episode of True Horror takes you back the the old fashioned Horror stories of years gone by, like the M.R James adaptions on BBC.  Ryan was a let down, personally not a fan of her acting however I did love the real life accounts. The direction was eerie and felt very British is style, this I really liked. The dark shadows, the creepy house all set the tone perfectly. The based of true accounts aspect will always drag the viewer in and with the actual owner of the house on the episode telling her story it is the extra bit gripping...unless you know the other details left out of this.

In other accounts, not on the show, Vanessa’s CCTV apparently picked up the image of a goat demon, there was no mention of CCTV in the show. This would have brought a bit more supernatural elements into the story but this could just be down to the direction.

Overall the episode is very entertaining and if you were a fan of the series from earlier in the year you will love this installment. If you are a true ghost story fan this will be a fun watch on Halloween night.

The Episode will be shown on Channel 4 on Halloween 9pm

‘Bad Samaritan’ - * * * 1/2

‘Bad Samaritan’ is an intense thriller with some great names attached, particularly David Tennant and Robert Sheehan. Sheehan stars as struggling photographer Sean Falco who, along with his friend Derek (Carlito Olivero), burgle houses to make some extra money. However, one night they break into the house belonging to rich businessman Cale Erendreich (Tennant), and Sean discovers a woman being held captive. Tennant is, of course, brilliant playing a complete psychopath after already having proven himself to be an iconic villain in ‘Jessica Jones’. Whilst it’s unusual hearing him talk with an American accent in this, it definitely adds to the sense that there’s something off with his character, so I really liked that decision. Both Sheehan and Olivero are also great as characters you can sympathise with and root for despite being burglars, which makes it all the more intense as Sean battles all the challenges Cale throws at him as he tries to destroy his life.  

‘Upgrade’ - * * * *

‘Upgrade’ is the second time directing for actor/screenwriter Leigh Whannel, who is best known for writing and starring in horror franchises ‘Saw’ and ‘Insdious’. This is a sci-fi horror set in the future, where protagonist Grey (Logan Marshall-Green) feels uncomfortable with every aspect of his life being controlled by machines. However, after a horrible accident, he becomes paralysed and is given the chance to be able to move again with an experimental implant known as Stem. Whannel claims ‘Robocop’ was an influence on the story and it’s easy to see how. There’s also an homage to ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ through the voice of Stem which sounds exactly like HAL’s, but even with inspiration from these films, it doesn’t compromise on originality; and that’s a hard thing to pull off on a topic done as often as AI in science fiction movies. There’s a twist that I didn’t quite see coming, and the ending isn’t necessarily your typical Hollywood one where the hero wins. And of course, I can’t go without mentioning the unique, robotic camerawork and choreography used for the fight scenes which are amazing to watch.  

‘Piercing’ - * * * 1/2

Based on a novel by Ryu Murakami, ‘Piercing’ is about a man called Reed (Christopher Abbott) who has recently become a father but can’t quite get the need to murder out of his head. In an attempt to avoid hurting his wife and child, he checks into a hotel and hires a prostitute and meticulously plans her murder. However, nothing goes to plan as it turns out the woman he hires, Jackie (Mis Wasikowska) is just as crazy as he is. It’s a minimalistic story but the chemistry between these two characters as they play a game of cat-and-mouse is enough to make it interesting along with the 70s style and is rather charming in its own weird way. The music is also worth mentioning, as it’s memorable and is also very 70s style.  

‘Anna and the Apocalypse’ - * * * *

This zombie musical is something that really easily could have been terrible, but luckily it was a hit thanks to its catchy songs, good choreography and mostly unknown but incredibly talented stars. Set during Christmas in a Scottish town, Anna and her friends have to fight their way back to their family as a zombie apocalypse ensues. There’s plenty of laughs in the film, but also packs an emotional punch that will leave you feeling as dead inside as those zombies (that is a compliment, believe it or not), and it manages to do this without messing up the overall tone. The entire cast have amazing voices and Ella Hunt and Malcom Cumming in particular complement each other’s vocals beautifully. I can’t wait for it to officially be released now so I can go watch it a hundred times.  

‘Open 24 Hours’ - * * 1/2

‘Open 24 Hours’ is a slasher horror about Mary (played by Frightfest favourite Vanessa Grasse) who is trying to get her life back together after a dark past involving her ex-boyfriend and manages to get a job at a 24/7 gas station. The film manages to achieve a really nice aesthetic because of its setting on a dark, rainy night, but that’s all it did for me. It showed potential and has some good practical effects with the murders, but it doesn’t quite deliver. Overall, I found it a bit boring, but enjoyed Brendan Fletcher’s performance as Bobby and would have liked to have had him as an even more prominent character in the movie.

‘The Field Guide to Evil’ - * *

The idea for ‘A Field Guide to Evil’ was an interesting one, as it’s a feature-length anthology of short films from around the world about various myths and folktales. Unfortunately, despite a promising title sequence that had me excited for what was to come, the majority of the short films were incredibly boring with the exception of the ones from Turkey, India and Hungary. It seemed to go on forever, and it didn’t feel like I got any reward for my patience with it. This is the only film from the festival I really wouldn’t recommend to anyone and is the only one I saw people walk out of.

‘The Dark’ - * * * *

‘The Dark’ is about an undead teenage girl who unexpectedly connects with a kidnapped blind boy. Mina (Nadia Alexander) is angry and vicious compared to the scared, timid Alex (Toby Nichols), and parts of their personalities begin to switch as they spend more time together. The relationship between the characters becomes incredibly sweet despite the underlying pain they both feel, and there’s a bittersweet ending for both. Alexander and Nichols both give great performances which is what makes the film work so well since they’re the heart of it. It’s their characters that are the focus rather than the story, although there’s plenty of interesting pieces of backstory to make you think about it after it’s over without giving too much away, therefore leaving it to the imagination.

‘Climax’ - * * 1/2

‘Climax’ is Gaspar Noé’s latest film and has a big ensemble of characters, as it centres around a group of dancers practising for a competition – however, everything goes to hell when someone spikes the punch and the film descends into a nightmarish drug trip. It’s a simple but intriguing concept as it provides the perfect setting for a film mostly contained in one place. It is, however, a mostly improvised script and it shows as the characters talk for far too long, at which point you’re praying for something to finally go down. For an hour and a half movie it felt way longer than it actually was because of how long it took to get to the action, but that’s not surprising considering Noé is usually experimental with film structure. For that reason, I don’t think I could watch it again, but the dancing was certainly enjoyable and hypnotic and there were parts of it I enjoyed. This was definitely an interesting end the festival, and it will certainly go on the divide opinion among critics.  

Overall, Frightfest 2018 was one hell of a good time and considering how many films I saw over the weekend, the fact that I only really hated one of them is incredible. It’s obviously been a good year for horror, and I already can’t wait to see what lies ahead next year.

‘The Ranger’ - * * 1/2

The opening film seemed to be divisive with the audience. Set during the 80s (as were all three films of the night) and focusing on the punk scene, a group of friends hide out in Chelsea’s (Chloe Levine) dead uncle’s cabin in the woods when they have to go on the run. However, they come across The Ranger (Jeremy Holm), who is arguably just a bit too passionate about saving the environment from outsiders. What brought the film down for me at the beginning was how it felt like it was trying a little too hard to be punk and I didn’t find myself rooting for any of the characters. The closest I got was with Chelsea since she has the worst friends who are completely obnoxious (I couldn’t muster up any sympathy for her boyfriend played by Granit Lahu). It did improve when The Ranger became more involved and managed to add some humour as he manages to tread the line between being intimidating and over-the-top. This wasn’t the worst film of the festival, but it did leave me feeling indifferent towards it.

‘Summer of 84’ - * * * *

‘Summer of 84’ quickly became the film to beat for me and seemed overall very popular with the crowd. The film starts as a fun and nostalgic vision of the 80s but becomes darker with its subject matter as Davey (Graham Verchere) becomes increasingly convinced that his neighbour, a police officer with a great reputation, is a serial killer linked to the disappearances of children around the neighbourhood. He drags his friends into their own private investigation and Davey is convinced not everything is at it seems in the suburbs. He becomes more desperately obsessed with proving his conspiracy by the day and the great thing about it is that you don’t know which way it’s going to go – whether he’ll be proven right or if everything is a coincidence with a reasonable explanation. There are so many things to love about it; the beautiful lighting and aesthetic, the incredible performances from all the kids (they’re all amazing but Tommy played by Judah Lewis stood out for me), as well as their chemistry and comedic delivery despite the darkness of the subject matter. Rich Sommer who plays Davey’s suspect, Wayne, manages to come across as wonderfully menacing despite his friendly exterior and whilst not knowing if he’s the killer or not, you see him through Davey’s perspective. Everything he says or does becomes suspicious and has the potential to have another, darker meaning when you look at him from that angle. One criticism I’ve heard of ‘Summer of 84’ is that it changes tone at the end and after having a light-hearted, comedic side throughout the rest of the film, the ending becomes completely dark and terrifying. This might be an issue for some people, but the way I interpreted it was that it went from a nostalgic throw-back of the 80s that has become so popular in recent years, to exposing the dangerous side of the culture during this time – for example, adults assuming that their neighbourhood is safe and being blind to the potential risk of their unsupervised children being taken to the point where it’s mentioned that no one in the neighbourhood locks their doors. Overall, this was definitely one of my favourite films of the weekend. And go check out the soundtrack, it’s worth a mention because it’s so memorable.

‘Mega Time Squad’ - * * * 1/2

Honestly, I did expect a bit more from ‘Mega Time Squad’, but it was still a fun watch and the Kiwi humour really landed. The humour largely comes from the incompetence of its protagonist, John (Anton Tennet), who works for crime boss Shelton (Jonny Brugh, best known as Deacon from Taika Waititi’s ‘What we do in the Shadows’) but is in his bad books when he betrays Shelton by attempting his own robbery. And, naturally, he finds an ancient Chinese time travel bracelet. While many sci-fi films involving time travel ponder the potential consequences of messing with time travel, it’s interesting to see what would happen when that power is put in the hands of complete idiot and makes for some good, farcical comedy. However, John does also grow as a character in the end as he tries to make a better life for himself and his love interest, Kelly (Hetty Gaskell-Hahn), which is rather endearing. It’s ridiculous, doesn’t take itself too seriously and is just so charming it’s impossible to hate.

‘Seeds’ - * * *

Deciding on a rating for this one was hard because I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it. ‘Seeds’ is a slow-burner and its main theme is temptation, which becomes uncomfortable at times but as Edgar Allen Poe once said, the scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls, and when horror films like this one address the most forbidden desires some people may feel, that’s when they become the scariest (and in this case, also quite tragic). The film follows Marcus (Trevor Long), whose deepest fears and desires are represented by a horrible creature that follows him. When his niece Lily (Andrea Chen) stays with him when her parents are separating, their desire for each other becomes more and more difficult to control and Marcus desperately fights to maintain boundaries. He is a character you wouldn’t think you should feel sympathy towards if you describe the film out of context but seeing his inner conflict and the lengths he goes to in order to do the right thing makes him an interesting and tragic character. This film might be a bit much for some people, but its ability to go to such uncomfortable places whilst allowing the audience to maintain some sympathy towards Marcus despite knowing his weirdest secrets is something to be admired and is a credit to Owen Long and Steven Weisman’s writing. The film also has a real beauty to the way it’s shot (shout out to cinematographer Eun-ah Lee) and somehow adds an extra sense of melancholy.  

Braid - **1/2
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Again, I wasn’t sure how to rate this one. There are some parts of ‘Braid’ that I love, but I was also left extremely confused by it and I still have no idea what was going on during the last part of the film even after having some time to think about it. The basic plot is that two women go to see an old friend from their childhood, so they can break into her safe after they’re left in debt to their drug supplier. However, there are rules, as they have to play along with her game and be careful of her volatile mood swings. There’s no denying it looks amazing thanks to cinematographer Todd Banhazi and has some interesting camera shots, especially as the films gets more and more crazy. Sarah Hay (Tilda) and Imogen Waterhouse (Petula) also give strong performances, but the film becomes so confusing it just feels hollow and it can’t make it on aesthetic alone. As a result, it just becomes a mess in the final act as it attempts to blur the lines of reality far too much.

‘Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich’ - * * *

I’d never heard of the ‘Puppet Master’ franchise before, but when I saw the premise of this reboot I was intrigued since it gave the impression of a fun, ridiculous movie and it’s exactly that. Recently divorced Edgar (Thomas Lennon) puts his late brother’s creepy puppet up for auction at a convention, where all the puppets up for auction go on a killing spree. Oh, and all the puppets are Nazis. ‘Puppet Master’ doesn’t hold back on the gore and probably has the most inventive kills I saw over the course of the whole weekend, to the point where it’s in bad taste, but it’s stupidly entertaining nonetheless. If you enjoy over-the-top, gory horror films, this is the one for you. It also some pretty hilarious moments, mostly thanks to Markowitz (Nelson Franklin) and Cuddly Bear (Skeeta Jenkins) who is impossible not to fall in love with.

‘The Most Assassinated Woman in the World’ - * * *

This film is based on the true story of a French actress called Paula Maxa, who was famous for being on stage at the Grand Guignol Theatre in horror shows where her characters would be murdered on stage every night. Although it felt a bit too long, it was interesting to see the effects this job could have on someone psychologically through her character, as well as reflecting on the reasons why people love horror. Anna Mouglalis gives a great performance as Paula; she’s mysterious but also shows glimpses of vulnerability despite the hardened persona she puts on. The noir aesthetic style adds some character to the film, but overall it unfortunately didn’t stand out as much as I’d wanted it to.  

​‘Boar’ - * * 1/2

‘Boar’ is something I was looking forward to as a fan of creature features, but it ended up taking itself a little too seriously for a film about a giant boar. The pacing was strange as it went between a couple of groups of characters terrorised by the monster, but the effects can at least be appreciated and there’s one incredibly satisfying death. Nathan Jones stars as Bernie and brings likeability and someone to really root for with his role, as does John Jarratt as Ken.  

‘Killing God’ - * * * *

‘Killing God’ is a black comedy from Spanish directors Caye Casas and Albert Pintó, whose previous work have mostly been on short films. The film follows a dysfunctional family as they have to choose two people to survive the impending apocalypse after a dwarf claiming he’s God tells them he’s going to kill the rest of the human race at sunrise. All the performances are great and while the humour comes from the characters clashing, they’re also complex and it’s easy to believe they do also love each other despite that. This film is perfect for fans of Álex de la Iglesia’s films as this very much reflects the tone of his work. I also love how tragic the ending is which had me walking out of the cinema feeling slightly dead inside, which shows just how good this film is. It’s definitely another favourite of the weekend.   

‘The Devil’s Doorway’ - * * * 1/2 

‘The Devil’s Doorway’ is a found footage horror, but don’t let that put you off. It’s unique in that it’s set in 1960s Ireland, and documents Father Riley and Father Thornton as they investigate claims of miracles occurring in a home where so-called ‘fallen women’ – such as those who fall pregnant out of wedlock – are put to work doing the jobs no one else wants to do. This is director Aislinn Clarke’s first feature film after making some short films, and this film makes it obvious just how talented she is. She also introduced the screening and it was clear she had a strong vision which really shows through the aesthetic of the film, some of which is actually filmed on 16mm film to make the 60s style feel authentic – and it succeeds. This was the one film from the weekend that did manage to scare me; its use of jump scares isn’t lazy but manages to build tension and atmosphere beforehand. I also can’t go without mentioning the great performances all around, particularly from Helena Bereen as Mother Superior (she manages to pull off being shady without being completely alienating and despite her somewhat antagonistic role, it’s easy to understand where she’s coming from with her views), and Lalor Roddy as Father Thomas. Roddy is brilliant as a character who is religious but is also sceptical and gives a nuanced performance that creates intrigue around his character’s background without giving too much away. This is definitely one of the best recent found footage films, and I can’t wait to see what Clarke makes in the future.