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Abertoir — A–Z of films

2020

  • 0

  • 12 Hour Shift
    Review preview for 12 Hour Shift

    A splatter-happy romp through one night in the organ trade.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Nurse Mandy is just trying to make it through her double shift alive, but her nasty drug addiction, annoying coworkers, needy patients, and devious cousin are making it pretty tough, not to mention organ-stealing criminals and an injured convict.
  • Anything For Jackson
    Review preview for Anything For Jackson

    Richings and McCarthy deliver two of the finest performances in genre works this year.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A bereaved Satanist couple kidnap a pregnant woman so they can use an ancient spellbook to put their dead grandson's spirit into her unborn child, but end up summoning more than they bargained for.
  • Bleed With Me
    Review preview for Bleed With Me

    Whilst a less skilled filmmaker might have added a sexual connotation to this, Moses opts for something simpler and yet more intangible.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    During a winter getaway at an isolated cabin, a self-destructive young woman becomes convinced that her best friend is stealing her blood.
  • Come True
    Review preview for Come True

    Has some smart observations to make.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Plagued by disturbing dreams and unable to go home, a teenager is relieved to find help at a university sleep study, but unwittingly becomes the channel to a horrifying new discovery.
  • The Curse Of Audrey Earnshaw
    Review preview for The Curse Of Audrey Earnshaw

    Witchcraft is a difficult subject for today's filmmakers, not least because of the public's shifting sympathies, but Lee has found a story in which it is a perfect fit.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A mother and daughter are suspected of witchcraft by their devout rural community.

  • D

  • Detention
    Review preview for Detention

    Cinematographer Li Hsien-chou deserves praise for the immersive way that he has recreated the atmosphere of the game.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A high school student falls in love with the teacher who organises a secret book club in contravention of the White Terror martial law.

  • I

  • Kriya
    Review preview for Kriya

    Like most occult horror, Kriya will have its most profound effects on those raised within the minority traditions it addresses, or at least something close to them.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    A DJ encounters a beautiful woman at a club, goes back to her home, and finds himself thrust into a nightmare odyssey of ritual magic, patriarchal death customs and unusual family conflict.

  • R

  • The Reckoning
    Review preview for The Reckoning

    The various torture devices used here are all real but lose much of their horrific impact because the film is so over the top.

    Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
    A period thriller set in 1665 during the Great Plague and subsequent witch hunts.
  • Relic
    Review preview for Relic

    Director Natalie Erika James, still only in her twenties, draws viewers into her astonishing debut feature by externalising the horrors of a disease that will be all too familiar to many.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    When Edna, the elderly and widowed matriarch of the family, goes missing, her daughter Kay and granddaughter Sam travel to their remote family home to find her. Soon after her return, they start to discover a sinister presence haunting the house and taking control of Edna.
  • The Returned
    Review preview for The Returned

    There are shadows everywhere, shapes moving on the fringes of one's vision, and it's easy to suspect that one is being watched.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    The indigenous people of the Guarani tribe has either been exterminated or reduced to servitude. Julia, the wife of a wealthy landowner, gives birth to her third dead child. In desperation, she begs Kerana, her indigenous housekeeper with ancient powers, to bring him back to life - but he doesn't return alone.
  • Shakespeare's Sh*tstorm
    Review preview for Shakespeare's Sh*tstorm

    Kaufman remains one of the sharpest interpreters of Shakespeare out there..

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Troma takes on The Tempest, against the backdrop of the US opioid crisis.