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Fantaspoa · 2022

Fantaspoa 2022

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Programme

86 films · 29 reviews

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All The Moons

A young girl is severely injured when a religious orphanage is bombed during the third Carlist war. On the verge of death, she is healed by a mysterious woman whom she believes to be an angel. They are soon separated, the child left to fend for herself - for decades upon decades.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Igor Legarreta; Stars: Haizea Carneros, Itziar Ituño)

Alpha Male

Review preview for Alpha Male

There have been a number of grim films on subjects closely related to this in recent years, so it’s nice to see it approached with humour and some measure of sympathy for all the characters.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A young man enters into a mysterious masculinity therapy, whose objective is to re-balance their relationship. He soon discovers that the leader of this therapy has radical, terrifying views on women and his dangerous methods are highly controversial.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2022; Director: Igor Priwieziencew, Katarzyna Priwieziencew; Writer: Katarzyna Priwieziencew, Igor Priwieziencew, Joanna Priwieziencew; Stars: Miroslaw Haniszewski, Adam Bobik, Krzysztof Stroinski, Tomasz Schuchardt)

Full review

Apps

Four stories in which an application will open the doors to terror.

(Country: Chile, Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Sandra Arriagada, Camilo León, Lucio A. Rojas, José Miguel Zúñiga, Samot Marquez; Writer: Sandra Arriagada, Camilo León, Lucio A. Rojas, José Miguel Zúñiga, Samot Marquez; Stars: Daniel Antivilo, Néstor Cantillana, Clara Kovacic, Jaime Omeñaca, León Arriagada)

Archipelago (Archipel)

Review preview for Archipelago

The feeling of incompatibility with reality is intensified by the animation itself, evoking associations with French cubism, and the oneiric-poetic, sleepy atmosphere is emphasized by disturbing ambient music.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 4 out of 5
A true animated film about an invented archipelago. About an imaginary, linguistic, political territory. About a real or dreamed country, or something in between.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Félix Dufour-Laperrière; Writer: Félix Dufour-Laperrière; Stars: Florence Blain Mbaye, Mattis Savard-Verhoeven, Joséphine Bacon)

Full review

Arco

A young woman who has recently been separated from her newborn child finds a new opportunity as an apprentice to a woman who plasticises dead bodies for display, but the woman's brother is working on something more extreme.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Kei Ishikawa; Stars: Kyoko Yoshine, Shinobu Terajima, Masaki Okada, Kurumi Shimizu, Kai Inowaki)

As Almas Que Dançam No Escuro

After his daughter is found dead on a beach but he is told that the cause of death could not be drowning, a man embarks on a desperate search for the truth.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Marcos DeBrito; Stars: Paulo Vespúcio, Francisco Gaspar, Alan Pellegrino, Elisa Telles, Gabriel Muglia)

Au Jour D'aujourd'hui

A woman decides to bring her husband back to life using new deep-fake technology, but he turns out to be different from the man she loved.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Maxence Stamatiadis; Stars: Suzanne Mouradian, Édouard Mouradian)

Baby Assassins

Review preview for Baby Assassins

This is a delight. From me it drew outpourings of laughter as sharp and as bright as the splashes of blood from a punctured neck.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Chisato and Mahilo are two high school girls who are about to graduate. They also happen to both be highly skilled assassins. When the organisation they work for orders them to share a room, the relationship between turns sour.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Yugo Sakamoto; Writer: Yugo Sakamoto; Stars: Yukina Fukushima, Saori Izawa, Saori Izawa, Masamori Mimoto)

Full review

Bashira

An electronic musician and a troubled fan are plunged into a hallucinogenic nightmare where they must confront an ancient Japanese entity - capable of bending space and time and wreaking havoc and death - in order to save their souls.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Fong Nickson; Writer: Fong Nickson, Eko Nonoyama, David Todd Ocvirk; Stars: Liam Aiken, Mitzi Akaha, Kiki Sukezane, Emma Caymares, Brandon Gill)

The Beta Test

Review preview for The Beta Test

Cummings and McCabe want to have it all - and go a fairly long way towards getting it.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man's life starts to fracture after he receives an unusual invitation.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2021; Director: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Writer: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe; Stars: Jim Cummings, Virginia Newcomb, PJ McCabe, Kevin Changaris, Olivia Grace Applegate, Jessie Barr, Christian Hillborg, Malin Barr, Jacqueline Doke, Wilky Lau, Grant Rosenmeyer, Keith Powell, Monroe Cline, Laura Coover, Boni Mata)

Full review

Bienvenidos Al Infierno

In a remote cabin in the woods, a woman hides with her mysterious, mute grandmother, hoping not to be found by metal band leader The Black Monk, who is the father of the child she's carrying.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Jimena Monteoliva; Writer: Camilo De Cabo; Stars: Constanza Cardillo, Demián Salomón, Marta Lubos, William Prociuk, Emiliano Carrazzone)

Capitão Astúcia

A frustrated former child star, trying to avoid a TV career revival, hides out with his grandfather, only to discover that the old man is trying to become a superhero.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Filipe Gontijo; Writer: Eduardo Gomes, Filipe Gontijo; Stars: Nívea Maria, Paulo Verlings, Fernando Teixeira, André Amaro, Gleide Firmino)

Chicken Of The Mound

A particularly curious chicken larva did not undergo the adult transformation and did not hide in the cave. Instead, it roamed the plains and mounds wearing robot armour.

(Country: Germany, China; Year: 2021; Director: Xi Chen; Writer: Xi Chen)

A Cidade Dos Abismos

When a young woman is murdered on Christmas Eve, her friends' yearning for justice leads them towards the abyss.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Priscyla Bettim, Renato Coelho; Stars: Veronica Valenttino, Carolina Castanho, Guylain Mukendi)

Cielo Rojo: Gigantes De Metal

An insomniac, schizophrenic woman who is suffering from trauma after being kidnapped by a cult as a child experiences visions in which she transforms into a cockroach, the sky turns red and giant robots stalk the Earth - but in an Apocalyptic age, how can she tell what's real?

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2022; Director: Marcelo Leguiza; Stars: Gaby Valenti, Noelia Antúnez, Susana Varela, Paula Manzone)

Cinema Of Sleep

Anthony plans to bring his family from Nigeria to join him in the United States. These plans are threatened when a mysterious woman in need of help shows up at his motel room.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Jeffrey St Jules; Writer: Jeffrey St Jules; Stars: Dayo Ade, Getenesh Berhe, Jonas Chernick)

Climbing

Review preview for Climbing

This is animation used for a purpose, and likewise the film’s genre elements, which enable it to get right to the core of what it means to find oneself sharing one’s flesh, one’s emotions, one’s life chances with somebody else.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A climber who has recently miscarried after a car accident is determined not to miss out on the world championships, but she begins to receive text messages from what is apparently another, still pregnant version of herself.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Kim Hye-mi; Stars: Kim Min-ji, Park Song-i, Gu Ji-won, Park Ju-gwang)

Full review

Corazón Azul

In an alternate reality, Fidel Castro turns to genetic engineering to create his elusive New Man and save his socialist utopia. Eventually the experiment fails because these highly intelligent beings are cruel and uncontrollable - and when they are cast out, they begin to engage in terrorist acts.

(Country: Cuba; Year: 2021; Director: Miguel Coyula; Writer: Miguel Coyula; Stars: Theodore Bouloukos, James Burns, Esther Chen, Marta Reiman, Lynn Cruz)

Crabs!

Review preview for Crabs!

Crabs! is not very good in the wrong ways.

Jennie Kermode · 1.5 out of 5
A horde of murderous crab monsters descend on a sleepy coastal town on Prom night, and only a ragtag group of outcasts can save the day.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Pierce Berolzheimer; Writer: Pierce Berolzheimer; Stars: Jessica MorrisDylan Riley SnyderRobert Craighead, Allie Jennings, Bryce Durfee)

Full review

Descaminhos

A group of friends get together after the death of one of their mothers. Personal conflicts open up old wounds which only a healing ritual can help, but lead them down a path of illusion and anger.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Armando Fonseca; Stars: Alice Stefania, Diego Borges, Bidô Galvão, Fernando Santana, William Ferreira)

Desert Shadows

After the death of their father, two brothers decide to embark on a hunting trip to help bring them closer together. But they get more than they bargained for when they become the prey of a deadly creature that has roamed the desert for centuries.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Tyler Bourns; Writer: Tyler Bourns; Stars: Mitch Pileggi, Bill Farmer, Emily Sweet, Julie Anne Prescott, Maria Olsen)

Dozens Of Norths (Ikuta No Kita)

North is everywhere solitary. Here is all North. This is a record of the people I met in the North. However, my memory is fragmented and does not get the point at all. Now I'm starting to wonder my efforts came to nothing.

(Country: Japan, France; Year: 2021; Director: Koji Yamamura; Writer: Koji Yamamura)

El Apego

Two troubled women on the edge see their lives intertwined when they embark on a vicious crusade of revenge, fuelled by shifting passions and haunting secrets.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Valentín Javier Diment; Writer: Valentín Javier Diment; Stars: Jimena Anganuzzi, Lola Berthet, Germán de Silva, Marcela Guerty, Marta Haller)

El Corazón De La Luna

An old woman spends her days dreaming about her past, until one day she finds something very similar to her: an ant. She decides to restructure her life around it.

(Country: Peru; Year: 2021; Director: Aldo Salvini; Writer: Aldo Salvini; Stars: Haydeé Cáceres)

The Eyes Below

Review preview for The Eyes Below

The dreamlike narrative gives Bruchon free rein to experiment with the constituent parts of the room, not just moving his camera around but creating a corridor from sheets and entangling his actors within them.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Eugene's home is quiet and peaceful as he goes to sleep, but when he feels something travelling up his body, he realises that it's not going to stay that way.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Alexis Bruchon; Writer: Alexis Bruchon; Stars: Vinicius Coelho)

Full review See: Interview with Alexis Bruchon about The Eyes Below

The Family

A young family, living in isolation and forced into hard labour out of fear of dishonouring their Father and Mother, fight to free themselves from their religious cult.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Dan Slater; Writer: Adam Booth, Dan Slater; Stars: Nigel Bennett, Toni Ellwand, Keana Lyn, Yasmin MacKay, Jenna Warren)

Fanga

An unstable farm girl becomes prisoner to a flesh-eating beast to cure her father's illness.

(Country: Iceland; Year: 2022; Director: Max Gold; Writer: Max Gold; Stars: Andrea SnædalIngi, Hrafn Hilmarsson, Gudmundur Thorvaldsson, Hana Vagnerová, Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Helga Braga Jónsdóttir)

Follow Her

Review preview for Follow Her

Made on a very small budget but getting away with it remarkably well, the film succeeds in challenging some popular assumptions about women who seek to become internet celebrities.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
An aspiring actress responds to a mysterious classified ad and finds herself trapped in her new boss's twisted revenge fantasy.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Sylvia Caminer; Writer: Dani Barker; Stars: Eliana Jones, Mark Moses, Luke Cook, Lorraine Farris, Bettina Bilger)

Full review

Follow The Dead

As viral videos seem to evidence the fall of Dublin at the hands of the undead, four Millennials in rural Ireland can't discern fake news from real. Has a dependent lifestyle left them too naïve to weather their fate?

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2020; Director: Adam William Cahill; Writer: Adam William Cahill; Stars: Tadhg Devery, Marybeth Herron, Aidan O`Sullivan, Abdul Alshareef, Bryan Smith)

Ghosting Gloria

Review preview for Ghosting Gloria

Stefania Tortorella makes a delightful heroine, with Gloria switching overnight from sweet but downtrodden store assistant to a woman with the kind of glow that makes everybody want to be near her.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A woman who has never had an orgasm finally finds the right man. There is just one issue: he’s a ghost.

(Country: Uruguay; Year: 2021; Director: Marcela Matta, Mauro Sarser; Writer: Mauro Sarser; Stars: Stefania Tortorella)

Full review

God's Petting You

Review preview for God's Petting You

Whilst the dark comedy here generally hits the spot and the characters are quirky yet believable, God’s Petting You doesn’t really have enough substance to justify its running time

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
A dark and twisted comedy which explores the depths and depravity of the Brighton underworld.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Jamie Patterson; Writer: Jamie Patterson; Stars: Alice Lowe, George Webster, Chris Willoughby, April Pearson, Joe Wilkinson)

Full review

The Greenhouse

Grieving the death of her, a young woman wakes one night to find a portal to the past in the forest surrounding her family home. Swept away by visions of her idyllic upbringing with her three siblings and two loving Mums, Beth becomes mesmerised by the past, unable to see the dangers that lie ahead.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2021; Director: Thomas Wilson-White; Writer: Thomas Wilson-White; Stars: Tel Benjamin, Rhondda Findleton, Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Joel Horwood)

Hayop Ka! (You Animal!)

Perfume sales cat Nimfa is torn between her macho askal boyfriend and a charming, philandering business dog.

(Country: Philippines, US, Brazil, UK, Taiwan; Year: 2020; Director: Avid Liongoren; Writer: Manny Angeles, Avid Liongoren; Stars: Angelica Panganiban, Robin Padilla, Sam Milby)

Holy Mother

A racist corporation sets out to destroy the Yakuza and seize control of part of the city. When a trans woman with supernatural powers steps up to defend the Yakuza, mutants emerge to do battle with her.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2022; Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura)

Holy Shit! (Ach Du Scheisse!)

A man wakes up from a drunken stupor to find himself trapped in a portaloo, and realises that if he can't escape within an hour, it will explode.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2022; Director: Lukas Rinker; Writer: Lukas Rinker; Stars: Gedeon Burkhard, Friederike Kempter, Micaela Schäfer, Uke Bosse, Rodney Charles)

Homebound

Review preview for Homebound

This is a house where children’s rules hold sway.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A man takes his new wife to meet his children in their remote country home.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Sebastian Godwin; Writer: Sebastian Godwin; Stars: Tom Goodman-Hill, Aisling Loftus, Raffiella Chapman, Hattie Gotobed, Lukas Rolfe)

Full review See: Interview with Sebastian Godwin about Homebound

Hotel Poseidon

The self-appointed manager of a decaying hotel watches as it is transformed into an existential purgatory.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Stefan Lernous; Writer: Stefan Lernous; Stars: Tom Vermeir, Ruth Becquart, Anneke Sluiters, Tania Van Der Sanden, Dominique Van Malder)

Jacinto

The story of a mentally disabled man who lives in a decaying and abandoned small village in the middle of the mountains, along with his parents and his dearest pig. His life is turned upside down by the arrival of two strangers.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Javi Camino; Writer: Javi Camino; Stars: Pedro Brandariz Gómez, Anxela Baltar, Corinna Rautenberg, Juanma Buiturón, Miro Magariños)

Jesus Kid

A struggling writer who found fame with his western-themed novel The Jesus Kid is given the chance to bring it to the screen, but to do so, he must spend three months in a luxury hotel with no contact with the outside world.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Aly Muritiba; Writer: Laura Malin, Aly Muritiba, Lourenço Mutarelli; Stars: Paulo Miklos, Sergio Marone, Maureen Miranda, Leandro Daniel, Luthero Almeida)

Killing The Eunuch Khan

A serial killer designs a plan in which victims kill victims.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2021; Director: Abed Abest; Writer: Abed Abest; Stars: Vahid Rad, Mah-Sima Kabari, Ebrahim Azizi, Sara Mohammadi, Iman Basim, Missagh Zareh)

Lagunas, La Guarida Del Diablo

A man who spends his life looking after the grocery store he inherited from his father finds his life turned upside down when his unstable brother escapes from an institution and begins killing people, leaving him with divided loyalties.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Marc Carreté; Stars: Joan Frank Charansonnet, Carlus Fàbrega, Patrícia Bargalló, Joan Massotkleiner, Miquel Sitjar)

Legions

Review preview for Legions

Fans of fantastic stories – especially those of the gruesome variety – are in for a treat.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Antonio is a sorcerer from a powerful bloodline, trapped in an asylum against his will. After an omen informs him that his daughter will be sacrificed by an evil entity, he must use his magical skills to escape and save her.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2022; Director: Fabian Forte; Writer: Fabian Forte; Stars: Germán De Silva, Lorena Vega, Ezequiel Rodriguez)

Full review

Lemonade (Limonada)

A couple go to a vacation villa with their parents to plan their wedding, then drink a lemonade adulterated with psychotropic drugs that they found in the fridge.

(Country: Dominican Republic; Year: 2022; Director: Ethan Maniquis; Writer: Tristan Desechenes, Ethan Maniquis, Junior Rosario; Stars: Sandy Hernandez, Sasha Higgins, Sebastian Kahuna, Omar Augusto Luis, Graciella Dietsch)

L'Inferno

An early film adaptation of Dante's Inferno.

(Country: Italy; Year: 1911; Director: Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan; Writer: Dante Alighieri; Stars: Giuseppe De Liguoro, Salvatore Papa, Arturo Pirovano)

Mandrake

Review preview for Mandrake

The film doesn’t leave much room for hope, but it does present viewers with a shifting moral landscape in which motivations are tricky to pin down.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Probation officer Cathy Madden is given the task of rehabilitating notorious killer ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw back into society after 20 years in prison. Cathy has always believed that every client deserves a shot at redemption, but her beliefs are firmly tested when two children disappear near Mary’s farm.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Lynne Davison; Writer: Matt Harvey; Stars: Deirdre Mullins, Derbhle Crotty, Paul Kennedy)

Full review See: Interview with Lynne Davison about Mandrake

Masking Threshold

Conducting a series of experiments in his makeshift home-lab, a skeptic IT worker tries to cure his harrowing hearing impairment. But where will his research lead him?

(Country: Austria; Year: 2021; Director: Johannes Grenzfurthner, Samantha Lienhard; Writer: Johannes Grenzfurthner; Stars: Ethan Haslam, Johannes Grenzfurthner, Jason Scott Sadofsky, Kudra Owens, Katharina Rose)

The Monsters Without

It's 2017 and the world still doesn't know which monsters are real. The task of keeping humans - and monsters - safe falls to P.H.A.S.E, an international organisation of underpaid scientists and warriors located in the rural Philippines.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2021; Director: Randal Kamradt; Stars: Jake Macapagal, Christina Yr. Lim, Dana Jamison, Meriden Angeles, Rachel Appelbaum)

The Nanny`s Night

Bianka takes the job for one night of babysitting. Soon, it will discovered that she is part of an online satanic sect and that same night her rite of passage will take place: the sacrifice of a virgin.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Ignacio López; Writer: Ignacio López, Pedro Rivero; Stars: Lone Fleming, Diana Peñalver, Antonio Mayans, Juan Carlos Vellido, George Karja)

Neptune Frost

Review preview for Neptune Frost

Set in a futuristic Rwanda, the themes are as old as the hills - with colonialism, identity and self-determination chief among them.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
The love story between an African intersex runaway and a coltan miner, and the virtual marvel born as a result of their union.

(Country: US, France, Rwanda; Year: 2021; Director: Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams; Writer: Saul Williams; Stars: Eliane Umuhire, Eliane Umuhire)

Full review

Nosferatu (Nosferatu eine Symphonie des Grauens, Nosferatu - A Symphony Of Horrors)

Review preview for Nosferatu

The movie's two main strengths are Max Schreck's compelling performance, as the eerily inhuman vampire, and Murnau's unparallelled ability to blend naturalistic and expressionistic elements.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4 out of 5
F W Murnau's silent adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

(Country: Germany; Year: 1922; Director: FW Murnau; Writer: Henrik Galeen; Stars: Max Schreck, Gustav Von Wangenheim, Greta Schroder, Georg Heinrich Schnell, Ruth Landshoff, Gustav Botz, Alexander Granach, John Gottowt)

Full review

No Looking Back (Otorvi i vybros)

After a woman is released from prison following a sentence for stabbing her partner in the eye, she tries to reconnect with her daughter, going so far as to kidnap her... with the girl's grandma in hot pursuit.

(Year: 2021; Director: Kirill Sokolov; Writer: Kirill Sokolov; Stars: Anna Mikhalkova, Victoria Korotkova, Sofia Krugova, Alexander Yatsenko, Olga Lapshina)

Opal

In a magic kingdom, the young princess Opal is struggling to remain joyful, as her sadness has the magic power to destroy the entire world.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Alain Bidard; Writer: Alain Bidard; Stars: Alain Bidard, Dawn-Lissa Mystille, Heather Mystille, Kaori Ravi, Joe Bonvent)

Os Dragões

Five teenagers involved in putting on a play become deeply anxious about getting older and having to take on more responsibilities. This manifests in their bodies as they begin to acquire superpowers like those of dragons.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Gustavo Spolidoro; Stars: Lóren Maitê, Paulo Reginatto, Juliana Zardo, Larissa Tres, Raphael Scarton)

Ox-head Village (Ushikubi Village)

Two friends investigate the disappearance of three of their other friends, which occurred after they pulled a social media stunt involving a haunted house. Rumours surface that they were victims of the Curse of Vila do Boi.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2022; Director: Takashi Shimizu; Writer: Daisuke Hosaka, Takashi Shimizu; Stars: Mitsuki Kimura, Masahiro Inoue, Rinka Otani, Haruka Imou, Keiko Horiuchi)

Phantom Summer (Verão Fantasma)

Review preview for Phantom Summer

A film which keeps upping the ante as the story progresses, never letting its obvious budgetary limitations get in the way.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Somewhere on the Brazilian coast, teenagers Lucas and Martin fall in love while investigating the disappearance of a local kid, but their blossoming romance is threatened by sinister forces lurking beneath that idyllic summery landscape.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Matheus Marchetti; Writer: Matheus Marchetti; Stars: Tuna Dwek, Bruno Germano, Tony Germano, Gabriela Gonzalez, Marcos Oli, Sue Ellen Tubaroa)

Full review

Pompo: The Cinéphile (Eiga Daisuki Pompo-san)

A film producer tries to break through into the mainstream.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Takayuki Hirao)

A Praia Do Fim Do Mundo

In the small town of Ciarema, the rising sea destroys houses and renders families homeless. Alice is a young environmentalist who lives with Helena, her sick mother, in a house constantly impacted by the tidal surges. Alice wishes to leave, but Helena wants to stay, living by the sea.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Petrus Cariry; Writer: Petrus Cariry, Firmino Holanda; Stars: Marcelia Cartaxo, Carlos César, Moabe Filho, Larissa Góes, Fabiola Liper)

Preman

A deaf criminal with a traumatic past and his son must fight their way out of their small Indonesian village after witnessing a horrible murder, pitting the gangster against the mob outfit that employed him.

(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2021; Director: Randolph Zaini; Writer: Randolph Zaini; Stars: Khiva Iskak, Muzakki Ramdhan, Kiki Narendra, Salvita Decorte, Revaldo)

Private Property

Kathryn, a struggling actress and unfulfilled housewife, becomes involved with her new gardener, Ben. As he gives her the attention and sensitivity she craves, they start to fall for each other. But Ben is not what he seems.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Chadd Harbold; Writer: Chadd Harbold, Leslie Stevens; Stars: Ashley Benson, Shiloh Fernandez, Logan Miller, Frank Whaley, King Orba)

Protegido, Irmão

Two brothers, one of whom is autistic, struggle to cope with poverty, drug addiction and the fact that a maniac is loose in their town.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2022; Director: Jorge Sanders)

Punto Rojo

Diego is in his car in the field. He hears a radio quiz about the club he's a fan of and a dead man falls on his windshield. A secret agent shows up and asks for information about the man in his trunk.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Nicanor Loreti; Writer: Nicanor Loreti; Stars: Demián Salomón, Mariana Anghileri, Edgardo Castro, Constanza Cardillo, Juan Palomino)

A Pure Place

Review preview for A Pure Place

Sumptuous costuming and production design, together with Yoshi Heimrath’s lucid cinematography, make this a feast for the eyes.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A tale of dirt, soap, and magic set in a cult on a remote Greek island.

(Country: Germany, Greece; Year: 2021; Director: Nikias Chryssos; Writer: Nikias Chryssos, Lars Henning Jung; Stars: Sam Louwyck, Greta Bohacek, Claude Heinrich, Daniel Sträßer, Daniel Fripan, Wolfgang Czeczor)

Full review

PussyCake

An all-female rock band schedules a new gig. When they arrive at the place, the city looks like a desert. There are only horrors that appear to be from another dimension.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Pablo Parés; Stars: Macarena Suárez Dagliano, Aldana Ruberto, Anahí Politi, Florencia Moreno, Sofia Rossi)

Revealer

Review preview for Revealer

It may have a mid-Eighties BBC TV series vibe to it, but it passes the time amiably enough.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
Tensions rise when a stripper and religious protester are trapped together in a peep show booth and must come together to survive the apocalypse in 1980's Chicago.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Luke Boyce; Writer: Luke Boyce, Michael Moreci, Tim Seeley; Stars: Bishop Stevens, Buzz Leer, Caito Aase, Phil Bogdan, Sammy DelPurgatorio, Shaina Schrooten)

Full review

The Sacred Sprit (Espiritu Sagrado)

Julio is dead. It's terrible news for OVNI Levante, the association of ufology aficionados that he ran. The death hits one its members, José Manuel, particularly hard. Julio and he had a secret project to change human destiny. Now he must carry on alone.

(Country: Spain, France, Turkey; Year: 2021; Director: Chema García Ibarra; Writer: Chema García Ibarra; Stars: Llum Arques, Nacho Fernández, Rocío Ibáñez, Joanna Valverde)

The Sadness

Review preview for The Sadness

The sheer quantity of imitable violence in the film is likely to frighten censors around the world.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
After a year of combating a pandemic with relatively benign symptoms, a frustrated nation finally lets its guard down. This is when the virus spontaneously mutates, giving rise to a mind-altering plague. The streets erupt into violence and depravity.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2021; Director: Rob Jabbaz; Writer: Rob Jabbaz; Stars: Regina, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Berant Zhu)

Full review

Second Sun

A film about life in a quirky Siberian village on a forgotten part of the Silk Road.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2021; Director: Rinat Tashimov; Stars: Vasilina Makovtseva, Tatyana Bunkova, Konstantin Itunin, Gulnara Gimatutdinova, Svetlana Bazhenova)

Seire

Review preview for Seire

A slow burn of a film which disturbs and unsettles, recalling insomniac night and too-bright mornings, a familiar world where everything seems slightly askew.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A new father strives to protect his baby for the 21 days during which it is vulnerable to spiritual attack.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Park Kang; Writer: Park Kang; Stars: Seo Hyun-woo, Ruy Sun-young, Shim Eun-woo)

Full review

Slumber Party Massacre

Review preview for Slumber Party Massacre

Esterhazy is showing us that she knows how to play the game by the old rules – before she subverts them.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A reimagining of the famous slasher film.

(Country: South Africa; Year: 2021; Director: Danishka Esterhazy; Writer: Suzanne Keilly; Stars: Hannah Gonera, Frances Sholto-Douglas, Mila Rayne, Alex McGregor, Reze-Tiana Wessels, Rob van Vuuren, Jennifer Steyn)

Full review

The Smoke Master

Two brothers and a handful of friends must face the fury of the Chinese mafia. Enlisting the help of Smoke Master and his unique cannabis fighting style, they have a chance.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Andre Sigwalt, Augusto Soares; Stars: Tristan Aronovich, David Wendefilm, Daniel Rocha, Tony Lee, Thiago Stechinni)

Some Like It Rare

Review preview for Some Like It Rare

Foïs is perfectly cast in the sort of villain role that’s rare these days, clearly relishing the viciousness of it.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Sophie and Vincent Pascal have run the family butcher shop for a decade, but business is bad. So grim it’s on the brink of bankruptcy and so is their marriage. But then Vincent kills a vegan activist who had vandalised their shop. When he butchers the body and his wife accidentally sells it, customers can’t stop lining up for the tender cuts.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Fabrice Eboué; Writer: Fabrice Eboué, Vincent Solignac; Stars: Fabrice Eboué, Marina Foïs, Jean-François Cayrey)

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Soul Of A Beast

Review preview for Soul Of A Beast

Merz creates a space where emotions run riot, especially in the neon lights of night, the 4:3 aspect ratio letting each of the characters' faces fill the frame with an intensity that matches the colour scheme.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Fantasy and reality meet in the emotional world of a teenage father.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2021; Director: Lorenz Merz; Writer: Lorenz Merz; Stars: Art Bllaca, Pablo Caprez, Lolita Chammah, Anastasija Fomina, Dagny Gioulami, Tonatiuh Radzi, Ella Rumpf, Luna Wedler, Art Bllaca, Pablo Caprez, Lolita Chammah, Anastasija Fomina, Dagny Gioulami, Tonatiuh Radzi, Ella Rumpf)

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Soul Park (L'élekpark)

Something bizarre happens at the zoo. A man wakes up completely naked among the crocodiles. He doesn't remember how he ended up there, and he also can't seem to recall where he's been in the last three years.

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2022; Director: Illés Horváth, Róbert Odegnál; Writer: Marcell Belso, Arion Csihar; Stars: László Attila Horváth, Viktória Staub, Gábor Urmai, Károly Tóth, Márta Szabó)

Subject (Sujeito Oculto)

Review preview for Subject

There’s a serious core to this film which explores questions around objectification, exploitation and who gets to direct a narrative, but it’s wrapped up in quirky humour and the characters are full of warmth.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
To escape writer's block, a famous novelist moves into a house near an isolated and strange village, where pages apparently written by the former resident of the house begin to appear on his desk, prompting him to question his sanity.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Léo Falcão; Writer: Léo Falcão; Stars: Gustavo Falcão, Marcos Breda, Toyn Garrido)

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The Ninja War Of Torakage

A ninja couple go in search of the missing piece from a treasure map in order to try and save their kidnapped son.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2015; Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura; Stars: Takumi Saitô, Eihi Shiina, Yuria Haga, Nana Seino, Maki Mizui)

Tokyo Gore Police (Tôkyô zankoku keisatsu)

Body horror sees a cop try to track down the cause of a virus in a futuristic Tokyo that drives the infected to murder.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2008; Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura; Writer: Kengo Kaji, Sayako Nakoshi, Yoshihiro Nishimura; Stars: Itsuji Itao, Camille LaBry, Shôko Nakahara, Sayako Nakoshi, Eihi Shiina)

The Timekeepers Of Eternity

Review preview for The Timekeepers Of Eternity

This is intertext, existing in a twilight zone where the benefit of 25 years of distance and the loss of colour gives it the cast of something at least as old again.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Footage from a forgotten Stephen King mini-series is edited, printed and animated into a hypnotic paper nightmare.

(Country: Greece, UK; Year: 2021; Director: Aristotelis Maragkos; Writer: Aristotelis Maragkos)

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Tiong Bahru Social Club

Ah Bee goes on a comedic odyssey through Tiong Bahru Social Club, a data-driven project to create the happiest neighbourhood in the world. Little by little, his encounters with the neighbourhood's residents reveal the absurdity of life.

(Country: Singapore; Year: 2020; Director: Bee Thiam Tan; Writer: Bee Thiam Tan, Antti Toivonen; Stars: Thomas Pang, Guat Kian Goh, Jalyn Han, Noorlinah Mohamed)

Two Witches

Review preview for Two Witches

The first half is familiar in its outlines, following an established pattern which, in its own way, reassures. The second is anarchic, meandering, suggesting the expression of a very different set of instincts.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A matriarchal witch passes on her sinister inheritance to her grand-daughter, triggering horrific curses.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Pierre Tsigaridis; Writer: Kristina Klebe, Maxime Rancon, Pierre Tsigaridis; Stars: Rebekah Kennedy, Danielle Kennedy, Ian Michaels, Clint Hummel Dina Silva, Belle Adams)

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Un Millón De Zombies: La Historia De Plaga Zombie

In 1997, a group of 17-year-old friends made the first zombie feature film in Argentina. Handcrafted and edited with a heavily used VHS camera and virtually zero budget, Plaga Zombie became a sensation, This documentary tells its story.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2022; Director: Nicanor Loreti, Camilo de Cabo)

Upurga

Review preview for Upurga

What could be silly in other hands, such as gnomic suggestions that "the river gose in circles here, generates a strange unease here, as Olte explores the psychological tricks a mind can play on itself.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A wilderness guide finds himself up against nature and his own anxiety after his sister and her film crew, who he is helping, disappear in the forest.

(Country: Latvia; Year: 2021; Director: Ugis Olte; Writer: Ugis Olte, Bojana Babic, Lucas Abrahão; Stars: Igors Selegovskis, Inga Tropa, Rihards Sniegs, Elvita Ragovska, Morten Traavik, Reinis Boters, Andris Akmentins, Mara Kimele, Elita Klavina, Ugis Praulins)

Full review See: Primal time: Ugis Olte on his debut fiction feature Upurga

What Josiah Saw

Review preview for What Josiah Saw

What Josiah Saw simmers throughout, always potent, always dangerous.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A family with buried secrets reunites at a farmhouse after two decades to pay for past sins.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Vincent Grashaw; Writer: Robert Alan Dilts; Stars: Robert Patrick, Nick Stahl, Scott Haze, Kelli Garner, Tony Hale)

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Yellow Dragons Village

A car carrying a group of college students breaks down near a small village while on its way to camp. The kids spend the night in the town, but brutal murders begin happening before very long - and soon, they must fight for their lives if any of them wish to survive.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Hugo Sakamoto)

Y Todos Arderán

A woman who feels suicidal due to the loss of her son finds her life transformed by the arrival of a mysterious girl, but other villagers think the child signifies the coming Apocalypse.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: David Hebrero; Writer: David Hebrero, Javier Kiran; Stars: Macarena Gómez, Fernando Cayo, Saturnino García, Ella Kweku, Rubén Ochandiano)

Zeria

Gaspard is the last man on Earth. Zeria, his grandson, is the first to be born on Mars. Gaspard tells him about his life, in the hope that Zeria will come to see him... Zeria would be the first human being to return to Earth...

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Harry Cleven; Stars: Merlin Delens, Coralie Vanderlinden, Tibo Vandenborre)