Skip to main content

Beyond Fest · 2023

Beyond Fest 2023

Features

Programme

49 films · 29 reviews

Jump to a film

The Abyss

Review preview for The Abyss

The tension is never loosened, the action seldom rests and the dialogue sounds as sharp and convincing as the actors who speak it.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
Action-packed underwater rescue thriller, with nuclear warheads, explosive relationships and extra-terrestrials.

(Country: US; Year: 1989; Director: James Cameron; Writer: James Cameron; Stars: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester, Todd Graff, John Bedford Lloyd, J.C. Quinn, Kimberly Scott, Captain Kidd Brewer Jr., George Robert Klek)

Full review

Adam Chaplin

A vengeful Adam Chaplin is on the warpath; in order to avenge the murder of his wife, by mafia boss Denny, he strikes a deal with a demon.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2011; Director: Emanuele De Santi, Giulio De Santi)

All Of Us Strangers

Review preview for All Of Us Strangers

Protagonist Adam (Andrew Scott) lives in a neatly furnished home, no longer feels the need to hide his sexuality, and tells himself he’s fine, but the music says otherwise.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A screenwriter embarks on a relationship with a neighbour at the same time as making a journey into his troubled past.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Andrew Haigh; Writer: Andrew Haigh, Taichi Yamada; Stars: Jamie Bell, Paul Mescal, Andrew Scott, Claire Foy, Cameron Ashplant, Guy Robbins, Zachary Timmis, Jack Cronin, Christian Di Sciullo, Jack Pallister, Victoria Walker, Oliver Franks, Carolina Van Wyhe, Lincoln R. Beckett, Gsus Lopez)

Full review

All You Need Is Death

Review preview for All You Need Is Death

It’s solidly rooted in the ordinary and yet its habit of drawing out small absurdities means that ordinary things and places won’t seem so safe after you’ve seen it.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A young couple records and collects folk songs in rural Ireland, selling them to a mysterious, rich buyer. When rumours of a song never-before-heard reach the couple, they find themselves in an uneasy alliance with a music professor to discover an ancient song.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2023; Director: Paul Duane; Writer: Paul Duane; Stars: Simone Collins, Charlie Maher, Olwen Fouéré, Catherine Siggins, Barry McKiernan, Benedict Stewardson)

Full review See: Interview with Paul Duane about All You Need Is Death

Anatomy Of A Fall (Anatomie D'une Chute)

Review preview for Anatomy Of A Fall

Hüller has always been an unfussy actress, who allows a character's flaws to shine out in interesting ways.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman is accused of her husband's murder.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Justine Triet; Writer: Arthur Harari, Justine Triet; Stars: Sandra Hüller, Samuel Theis, Swann Arlaud, Jehnny Beth, Milo Machado Graner, Antoine Reinartz)

Full review

The Becomers

A romantic tale of two body-swapping aliens trying to find their place.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Zach Clark)

Caligula (Caligola, Caligula, My Son)

Review preview for Caligula

This is not an erotic movie, true there are copious scenes of copulation... but Brass doesn't linger on them long enough for them to become titillating, he has to show something gross and/or bloody in the same scene.

Tony Sullivan · 4 out of 5
Graphic retelling of the story of the Roman emperor.

(Country: Italy, US; Year: 1979; Director: Tinto Brass, Bob Guccione, Giancarlo Lui; Writer: Gore Vidal, Bob Guccione, Giancarlo Lui, Franco Rossellini; Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Peter O'Toole, Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Guido Mannari, John Gielgud, Giancarlo Badessi, Bruno Brive, Adriana Asti, Leopoldo Trieste, Paolo Bonacelli, John Steiner)

Full review See: Producer Thomas Negovan on the new edit of Caligula

The Cassandra Cat

A village in Czechoslovakia is thrown into chaos following the arrival of a travelling circus, whose star attraction - a magic cat with sunglasses - exposes the hypocritical townspeople's true colours after his shades are tipped.

(Country: Czech Republic; Year: 1963; Director: Vojtech Jasný)

Cemetery Man (Dellamorte Dellamore)

A cemetery undertaker, beyond taking care of burials, funerals, and the cemetery, is also responsible for making sure the dead who return are disposed of. His life is further complicated when he falls for a young woman whose husband has recently died.

(Year: 1994; Director: Michele Soavi; Writer: Tiziano Sclavio; Stars: Rupert Everett, Anna Falchi)

The Church

An old Gothic cathedral built over a mass grave develops strange powers that trap a number of people inside with ghosts from a 12th Century massacre seeking to resurrect an ancient demon from the bowels of the Earth.

(Year: 1989; Director: Michele Soavi)

Crash

Review preview for Crash

Certainly not a film for the masses.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
After being caught up in a violent crash, a quiet man with a struggling marriage discovers a cult of car crash sex fetishists.

(Country: Canada, UK; Year: 1996; Director: David Cronenberg; Writer: David Cronenberg, based on the book by JG Ballard.; Stars: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger, Rosanna Arquette) , Trailer

Full review

The Creator

Review preview for The Creator

Detail abounds. Glorious detail.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A post-apocalyptic thriller involving a future impacted by a war between humans and AI.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Gareth Edwards; Writer: Gareth Edwards, Chris Weitz; Stars: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney, Ken Watanabe)

Full review

Enter The Clones Of Bruce Lee (Enter The Clones Of Bruce)

Review preview for Enter The Clones Of Bruce Lee

A fascinating portrait of a cinematic era which will leave those who remain martial arts fans with a lot of titles to hunt down.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary about the men drafted in to fill the gap and keep audiences happy after the death of cinema's greatest martial arts star.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: David Gregory; Stars: Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Lo, Bruce Liang)

Full review

Femme

Review preview for Femme

The tension is masterfully handled in a revenge thriller narrative which also poses difficult ethical questions.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Jules is a drag artist in London. After a performance, he is brutally attacked and, traumatised, withdraws into himself. Months later, he recognises his assailant in a gay sauna and begins an affair with him, incognito. A revenge thriller.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping; Writer: Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping; Stars: George MacKay, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett)

Full review

Foe

A stranger makes a surprising proposal to a couple, offering them the chance to change their own futures and perhaps alter the course of human existence.

(Country: US, Australia, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Garth Davis; Writer: Garth Davis, Iain Reid; Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, Aaron Pierre, Goran D. Kleut, Jeriya Benn, JJ Pantano, Yesse Spence, Tanith Martin, Michael M. Foster, Kwame N. Kamara, Nick Downing, Shamita Siva, Jordan Chodziesner, William Freeman)

The Funeral

A lonely hearse driver falls in love with his passenger after she wakes up and starts moving around - taking her hunger for human flesh in his stride.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2023; Director: Orcun Behram)

Final Destination

Review preview for Final Destination

James Wong's debut feature mixes a little psychic spookiness into the teenage body count.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
Teens take on death after escaping a plane crash.

(Country: US; Year: 1999; Director: James Wong; Writer: Glen Morgan, Jeffrey Reddick, James Wong; Stars: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Tony Todd, Kristen Cloke, Seann William Scott, Daniel Roebuck, Roger Guenveur Smith, Chad Donella, Amanda Detmer, Brendan Fehr)

Full review

La Haine

A gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically the low-income banlieue districts on Paris’s outskirts.

(Country: France; Year: 1995; Director: Mathieu Kassovitz; Stars: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Said Taghamaoui)

History Of Evil

A family on the run from a corrupt state in the near-future takes refuge in a farmhouse, unaware that the evil past of the place may be more dangerous than they could ever think.

(Year: 2023; Director: Bo Mirhosseni; Stars: Paul Wesley, Jackie Cruz)

Hostile Dimensions

Review preview for Hostile Dimensions

Though it might seem to be all over the place – structurally as well as thematically – there’s a tight control underlying Hostile Dimensions which pretty much holds it together and delivers a satisfying story.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Two documentary filmmakers traverse alternate dimensions, confronting nightmares to uncover the truth behind a graffiti artist’s disappearance who seems to have vanished into thin air. These dimensions mix the ordinary with the bizarre - a hilly idyll is thrown off kilter by whales floating across the skies.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Graham Hughes; Stars: Graham Hughes, Stephen Beavis, Annabel Logan, Andy Stewart)

Full review

The Iron Giant

Review preview for The Iron Giant

The film works on almost every level, particularly its central relationship.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
A boy forms a bond with an alien giant.

(Country: US; Year: 1999; Director: Brad Bird; Writer: Tim McCanlies; Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, Christopher McDonald, John Mahoney, Eli Marienthal, M. Emmet Walsh, Mary Kay Bergman, Ollie Johnston)

Full review

It's A Wonderful Knife

A troubled young woman finds her life even more complicated when she stops the rampage of a local serial killer, but that's just the start of a very strange experience.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Tyler MacIntyre; Writer: Michael Kennedy; Stars: Jane Widdop, Justin Long)

Kill

A train to New Delhi becomes a battleground as a pair of commandos faces an army of invading bandits.

(Country: India; Year: 2023; Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat; Writer: Ritesh Shah; Stars: Tanya Maniktala, Laksh Lalwani, Raghav Juyal)

Last Straw

Review preview for Last Straw

It’s a clever structure but one which could easily go awry. Neal handles it well, with the confidence to alter events very slightly so as to communicate the different perspectives of his principal characters.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Miscommunication and a lack of empathy cause events to spiral out of control as a young waitress finds herself in the centre of a murder spree.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Alan Scott Neal)

Full review See: Interview with Alan Scott Neal and Taylor Sardoni about Last Straw

Lovely, Dark, And Deep

Review preview for Lovely, Dark, And Deep

Campbell is perfectly cast. She has sufficient physicality to make one believe that she could cope with this demanding job, yet there’s a nerviness about her whole body reminiscent of prey animals.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A new back-country ranger travels alone through the dangerous wilderness, hoping to uncover the origins of a tragedy which has haunted her since she was a child.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2023; Director: Teresa Sutherland; Writer: Teresa Sutherland; Stars: Georgina Campbell, Nick Blood, Wai Ching Ho, Edgar Morais, Ana Sofia Martins, Paul S Tracey, Soren Hellerup)

Full review See: Interview with Teresa Sutherland about Lovely, Dark, And Deep

The Magician

A 19th Century traveling mesmerist and peddler of potions finds his magic put to the test in Stockholm by the cruel, eminently rational royal medical adviser Dr. Vergérus

(Year: 1958; Director: Ingmar Bergman; Stars: Max von Sydow)

Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow

Review preview for Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow

There are so many great stories surrounding Cliff that it’s clear director Jake West was spoilt for choice.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Polymath Twemlow was a nightclub bouncer, novelist, composer, singer, screenwriter, producer and actor, who for a decade was the most prolific indie filmmaker in the UK! Witness how this 20th century Renaissance man created his own innovative micro-film industry in Manchester.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Jake West; Stars: Barry Twemlow, Oliver Tobias, Ginette Gray, John Saint Ryan)

Full review See: Interview with Jake West about Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow

Manhunter

Review preview for Manhunter

Cox's Hannibal is a masterclass in moderation.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A scarred FBI agent tracks a serial killer.

(Country: US; Year: 1986; Director: Michael Mann; Writer: Thomas Harris, Michael Mann; Stars: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, Stephen Lang, David Seaman, Benjamin Hendrickson, Michael Talbott, Dan Butler, Michele Shay, Robin Moseley, Paul Perri, Patricia Charbonneau)

Full review See: Article about journalism in film , Article about Blindness and blind people in cinema

Night Of The Hunted

Alice is at a complicated junction in her life—her relationship with her boyfriend is on the rocks and she’s having an affair with her colleague. On the way back from a tryst, the two stop at a remote gas station to fill the car up, but it isn’t long before Alice, all alone, is made the target of a psychotic sniper with a private vendetta.

(Year: 2023; Director: Franck Khlafoun)

Nowhere

Follows a day in the lives of a group of Los Angeles high school students and the strange lives they lead.

(Country: France, US; Year: 1997; Director: Gregg Araki; Writer: Gregg Araki; Stars: James Duval, Rachel True, Nathan Bexton, Chiara Mastroianni, Debi Mazar, Kathleen Robertson, Ryan Phillippe)

Omen (Augure)

Review preview for Omen

The powerful forces of family and fable, old and new, intertwine and vie for supremacy in Belgian-Congolese director Baloji’s visually striking debut.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When a man who was cast out as a child after being considered a sorceror returns home, he faces prejudice.

(Country: DRC; Year: 2023; Director: Baloji; Writer: Baloji, Thomas van Zuylen; Stars: Marc Zinga, Lucie Debay, Eliane Umuhire, Yves-Marina Gnahoua, Marcel Otete Kabeya)

Full review

Pacific Rim

Review preview for Pacific Rim

The battle scenes are nothing short of astonishing.

Max Crawford · 4 out of 5
Men operating giant robot suits are the last line of defence against sea monsters from another dimension.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Guillermo del Toro; Writer: Travis Beacham, Guillermo del Toro; Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Max Martini, Mana Ashida, Ron Perlman)

Full review

Raging Grace

Review preview for Raging Grace

Raging Grace is a Gothic thriller with the potential to appeal to a wide audience. It’s also a fierce critique of the racism embedded in a culture which still treats it as normal for some perfectly capable people to be waited on by others, and to treat them as less than human in the process.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An undocumented Filipina immigrant is struggling to do the best she can for her daughter when she secures the perfect job, taking care of an extremely wealthy but terminal old man. The new position pays well and guarantees a roof over their heads but very soon, she realise that something is amiss.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Paris Zarcilla; Writer: Paris Zarcilla; Stars: Max Eigenman, Leanne Best, David Hayman)

Full review See: Interview with Paris Zarcilla and Chi Thai about Raging Grace

Ripple

A true-crime podcast investigation into the murder of a young woman has unexpected consequences.

(Year: 2023; Director: Joey Moe; Stars: Ulrich Thomsen, Rasmus Hammerich, Ida Marie Nielsen)

The Royal Hotel

Review preview for The Royal Hotel

The feeling that something bad could happen at any moment permeates the mood.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
US backpackers Hanna and Liv take a job in a remote Australian pub for some extra cash and are confronted with a bunch of unruly locals and a situation that grows rapidly out of their control.

(Country: Australia, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Kitty Green; Writer: Kitty Green, Oscar Redding; Stars: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Toby Wallace, Daniel Henshall, Herbert Nordrum, Ursula Yovich)

Full review

The Seeding

Review preview for The Seeding

It’s the sort of story rarely told in cinema today, and one which seems destined to attract a cult following.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
When a hiker gets lost in the desert, a gang of feral children propelled by haunting legacies traps him in a sadistic battle for survival with a frightening endgame.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Barnaby Clay; Writer: Barnaby Clay; Stars: Scott Haze, Kate Lyn Sheil)

Full review See: Interview with Barnaby Clay about The Seeding , Interview with Scott Haze about The Seeding

Slashers

Six random contestants appear on a Japanese game show where the only goal is to survive the Slashers, maniacs recruited to ensure the contestants never make it out alive.

(Year: 2001; Director: Maurice Devereaux)

So Unreal

An exploration of 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.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Amanda Kramer; Writer: Britt Brown, Amanda Kramer; Stars: Debbie Harry)

Spooktacular!

David Bertolino's journey from whoopee cushion salesman in dad and brother's Boston joke shop, meteoric rise in the Halloween products industry and the creation of the Boston Costume iconic superstore, industry expert witness for New Line Cinema and the creation of Spookyworld, America's first Halloween Themepark.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Quinn Monahan; Writer: Gail Jorden; Stars: Tom Savin, iAlice Cooper, Jay Leno, Bill Maher, Linda Blair, Dee Wallace, Kane Hodder)

Suitable Flesh

Review preview for Suitable Flesh

It feels like a natural successor to Gordon’s work, and a film of which he would have been proud.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A psychiatrist becomes obsessed by a young patient who seems to have multiple personalities.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Joe Lynch; Writer: Dennis Paoli, based on a book by HP Lovecraft; Stars: Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Davison, Johnathon Schaech)

Full review See: Interview with Joe Lynch about Suitable Flesh

True Romance

Review preview for True Romance

Another victim of the style over substance genre.

Scott Macdonald · 3 out of 5
An earnest young comics geek goes on the run with an inexperienced hooker and an accidentally acquired suitcase full of cocaine - Christopher Walken's cocaine...

(Country: US; Year: 1993; Director: Tony Scott; Writer: Quentin Tarantino; Stars: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer, Michael Rapaport, Samuel L Jackson, James Gandolfini, Gary Oldman)

Full review

Totally Killer

When the infamous Sweet Sixteen Killer returns 35 years after his first murder spree to claim another victim, 17-year-old Jamie accidentally travels back in time to 1987, where she becomes determined to stop the killer before he can start.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Nahnatchka Khan; Writer: David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, Jen D'Angelo; Stars: Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Charlie Gillespie, Lochlyn Munro, Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson)

To Fire You Come At Last

Review preview for To Fire You Come At Last

Coloured with rural folklore, this black and white take on the experience on 17th Century life is deeply English in its sensibilities.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
In rural 17th century England, a group of men gather to carry a coffin on the long walk to the local graveyard for burial. A great deal of ancient folklore and superstition surrounds the pathway to the church, and several of the party are afraid to walk it after dark.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Sean Hogan; Writer: Sean Hogan; Stars: Mark Carlisle, James Swanton, Harry Roebuck, Richard Rowden)

Full review

V/H/S/85

Review preview for V/H/S/85

By far the best instalment to date, with a stylistic consistency and a sharp wit which make it worth seeking out regardless of your feelings about the found footage genre as a whole.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An ominous mixtape blends never before seen snuff footage with nightmarish newscasts and disturbing home video to create a surreal, analogue mashup of the forgotten Eighties.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Natasha Kermani, Mike P Nelson, Gigi Saul Guerrero; Writer: C Robert Cargill, Zoe Cooper, Scott Derrickson, Evan Dickson, Mike P Nelson, Gigi Saul Guerrero; Stars: Freddy Rodríguez, James Ransone, Jordan Belfi, Rolando Davila-Beltran, Dani Deetté, Alex Galick, Justen Jones, Tyler Noble)

Full review

Vincent Must Die (Vincent Doit Mourir)

Review preview for Vincent Must Die

The writer-director team of Mathieu Neart and Stéphan Castang shows a repeated willingness to take risks which really elevate the film.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
Vincent finds himself under attack for no apparent reason overnight. When the phenomenon intensifies, he must run and change his way of life completely.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Stéphan Castang; Writer: Mathieu Naert; Stars: Karim Leklou, Vimala Pons, François Chattot, Karoline Rose Sun, Emmanuel Vérité)

Full review

Welcome Space Brothera

The true story of The Unarius Academy of Science, a long-running extraterrestrial-channelling spiritual school in El Cajon, California that in the late 1970s became a wildly prolific filmmaking and art collective.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jodi Wille)

When Evil Lurks

Review preview for When Evil Lurks

The film carries us from a carefree existence made possible by not paying attention, to a crushing tragedy.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In a remote village, two brothers find a demon-infected man just about to give birth to evil itself. They decide to get rid of the man but merely succeed in helping him to deliver the inferno.

(Country: Argentina, US; Year: 2023; Director: Demián Rugna; Writer: Demián Rugna; Stars: Ezequiel Rodríguez, Luis Ziembrowski, Demián Salomón, Marcelo Michianaux, Federico Liss)

Full review

The Wicker Man

Review preview for The Wicker Man

Truly a milestone in British cinema.

Max Blinkhorn · 5 out of 5
A policeman gets more than he bargained for on a remote Scottish isle.

(Country: UK; Year: 1973; Director: Robin Hardy; Writer: Anthony Shaffer; Stars: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt, Lindsay Kemp, Russell Waters, Aubrey Morris, Irene Sunters, Walter Carr, Ian Campbell, Leslie Blackater, Roy Boyd, Peter Brewis, Barbara Rafferty)

Full review See: Interview with Robin Hardy and Keith Easdale about The Wicker Tree