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Fantastic Fest · 2023

Fantastic Fest 2023

Features

Programme

90 films · 39 reviews

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100 Yards (Men Qian Bao Di)

Two bitter rivals duel for stewardship of a wushu academy.

(Country: China; Year: 2023; Director: Xu Haofeng, Xu Junfeng; Writer: Xu Haofeng; Stars: Xu Changchu, Jacky Heung, Bea Hayden Kuo, Kevin Lee)

Acide

In the middle of a heat wave, an ominous cloud appears and with it, a lethal acid rain. A separated family will have to come together to escape this plague ravaging the world.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Just Philippot; Writer: Yacine Badday, Just Philippot; Stars: Guillaume Canet, Laetitia Dosch, Patience Munchenbach, Marie Jung, Martin Verset)

The All Golden

An ailing polyamorous bicycle courier discovers that the older scholar she's dating has been keeping a sinister secret in his closet.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Nate Wilson)

The Altman Method

A forgotten actress, is pushed into a severe moral crisis after her husband miraculously survives a terrorist attack. The reality which she once trusted begins to crack, and lying becomes her only way to the truth.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2022; Director: Nadav Aronowicz; Writer: Nadav Aronowicz; Stars: Maayan Weinstock, Nir 'Niro' Barak, Dana Lerer)

Animalia

Review preview for Animalia

Pregnancy is often depicted as a state of enhanced vulnerability, and one which points the way to increased dependency. Here, Alaoui turns that around.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A young, pregnant woman finds emancipation as aliens land in Morocco.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Sofia Alaoui; Writer: Sofia Alaoui; Stars: Oumaïma Barid, Mehdi Dehbi, Fouad Oughaou)

Full review See: Interview with Sofia Alaoui about Animalia

The Animal Kingdom (Le Règne Animal)

Review preview for The Animal Kingdom

The aerial shots of the forest and the believable transformations with feathers, wings, beaks and claws as well as fish scales, make for riveting viewing.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Sci-fi adventure set in a world where humans are mutating into "creatures".

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Thomas Cailley; Writer: Thomas Cailley; Stars: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Romain Duris, Paul Kircher)

Full review

Baby Assassins 2

Chisato and Mahiro were banned from performing tasks because they violated the organisation's rules. Needing money to make ends meet, they resumed their days as part-time workers. Suddenly two other assassins are after them.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Yugo Sakamoto; Writer: Yugo Sakamoto; Stars: Oto Abe, Tatsuomi Hamada, Junpei Hashino, Joey Iwanaga, Saori Izawa)

Bark

When a man wakes up to find himself bound and helpless in the woods, he is relieved by the arrival of an outdoorsman - but as the outdoorsman pitches camp nearby, he realises that he does not intend to save him, and he has no idea why.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Marc Schölermann; Writer: Steve Fauquier; Stars: Michael Weston, Crazy Horse, Lennon Sickels)

Blonde Death

After being held hostage by a serial killer, a formerly sweet teenage girl gets a gun and goes on the rampage.

(Country: US; Year: 1984; Director: James Robert Baker; Writer: James Robert Baker; Stars: Sara Lee Wade, Jack Catalano, Scott Ingram)

Blood Diner

Two brothers are entrusted by their uncle to uphold the ritualistic cannibalism of the ancient cult of Sheetar. In order to do so, they have to prepare a feast of sacrifice for the resurrection of their goddess.

(Country: US; Year: 1987; Director: Jackie Kong; Writer: Michael Sonye; Stars: Rick Burks, Carl Crew, Roger Dauer, LaNette La France, Lisa Elaina)

The Book Of Solutions

Details coming soon...

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Michel Gondry; Writer: Michel Gondry; Stars: Pierre Niney, Blanche Gardin, Camille Rutherford and Vincent Elbaz)

Bugged!

Exterminators unwittingly create monsters by spraying crickets with a genetic mutating agent.

(Country: US; Year: 1996; Director: Ronald K. Armstrong; Writer: Ronald K. Armstrong; Stars: Priscilla K Basque, Ronald K Armstrong, Jeff Lee, Derek C Johnson, Billy Graham)

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

Centipede Horror (Wu Gong Zhou)

A powerful sorcerer targets the grandchildren of the man who burnt down his village 50 years ago, by casting his deadly Centipede Spell on them.

(Country: Hong Kong; Year: 1982; Director: Keith Li; Writer: Suet Ming Chan; Stars: Li Tien-lang, Miu Kiu-wai, Hussein Abu Hassan, Chan Chu-kwong, FC Chan)

Cobweb

Review preview for Cobweb

Its pastiches of mid-20th Century Korean cinema are beautifully observed and a lot of fun.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
An experimental and genre-defying drama shot entirely on sound stages in support of a film-within-a-film narrative.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Kim Ji-Woon; Writer: Shin Yeon-Shick; Stars: Song Kang-ho, Jeon Yeo-binJung, Woo-sung, Kim Min-jae)

Full review

The Coffee Table (La mesita del comedor)

Review preview for The Coffee Table

It’s cleverly written, beautifully performed and quite unforgettable, and yet I hesitate to recommend that anybody watch it.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
Black comedy about a couple facing a tricky moment in their relationship.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Caye Casas; Writer: Cristina Borobia, Caye Casas; Stars: Eduardo Antuña, Paco Benjumea, Itziar Castro, Estefanía de los Santos, Cristina Dilla, Clàudia Font, Emilio Gavira, David Pareja, Claudia Riera, Josep Riera, Josep Maria Riera)

Full review

Concrete Utopia

Review preview for Concrete Utopia

Um is interested in how such landscapes seduce us into particular ways of thinking.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Survivors from a massive earthquake struggle for a new life in Seoul.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Um Tae-hwa; Writer: Um Tae-hwa; Stars: Park Seo-joon, Lee Byung-hun, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, Park Ji-hu, Na Chul)

Full review See: Um Tae-hwa and Lee Byung-hun in conversation on Concrete Utopia

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

Crumb Catcher

A newlywed couple is held captive in a remote lake house by a maniacally optimistic inventor and his sour wife who are desperate to finance his dream project with a half-baked blackmail plot.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Chris Skotchdopole; Writer: Chris Skotchdopole, Larry Fessenden, Rigo Garay; Stars: Rigo Garay, Ella Rae Peck, John Speredakos, Lorraine Farris, Rebecca Watson)

The Deep Dark (Gueules Noires)

Review preview for The Deep Dark

It’s in [its] understanding of working life that the film really excels, and it’s refreshing to see working class characters given centre stage in a story like this.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Miners are forced to take a professor underground with them, to take samples for his measurements. After a landslide prevents them from going back up, they discover a crypt from another time, unknowingly waking up a bloodthirsty creature.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Mathieu Turi; Writer: Mathieu Turi; Stars: Samuel Le Bihan, Amir El Kacem, Thomas Solivérès, Jean-Hughes Anglade)

Full review

Divinity

Review preview for Divinity

For all its faults, the film is pretty, and that will probably be enough for some viewers.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Two mysterious brothers abduct a mogul during his quest for immortality. Meanwhile, a seductive woman helps them launch a journey of self-discovery.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Eddie Alcazar; Writer: Eddie Alcazar; Stars: Stephen Dorff, Moises Arias, Jason Genao, Karrueche Tran, Bella Thorne, Scott Bakula)

Full review

Door

After several strangely threatening calls from a local salesman, a homemaker becomes increasingly afraid to answer her apartment door.

(Country: Japan; Year: 1988; Director: Banmei Takahashi; Writer: Ataru Oikawa, Banmei Takahashi; Stars: Keiko Takahashi, Daijirô Tsutsumi, Shirô Shimomoto, Takuto Yanezo, Masao Ishida)

Eileen

Review preview for Eileen

There are so many shots through things, boundaries, borders, thresholds, that we are primed for other barriers crossed. Those transgressions are not light ones, but in them is an abject honesty.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counsellor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: William Oldroyd; Writer: Luke Goebel, Ottessa Moshfegh, based on the novel by Ottessa Moshfegh; Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Shea Whigham, Marin Ireland, Owen Teague)

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

Falling Stars

Review preview for Falling Stars

What’s missing in most folk horror tales –and indeed in many otherwise diligent historical films – is an understanding of the different perspectives of people with pre-enlightenment beliefs. It’s here that writer Karpala truly triumphs.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
On the night of first harvest, three brothers in the American West set out to see a dead witch buried by their friend and find themselves in a race to stop a curse.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Richard Karpala, Gabriel Bienczycki; Writer: Richard Karpala; Stars: Rene Leech, Shaun Duke Jr, Andrew Gabriel)

Full review

Fantastic Golem Affairs (El Fantástico Caso Del Golem)

Two friends find themselves on a rooftop terrace after an intense party in Madrid. Juan witnesses David falling to the void, and his body disintegrating into ceramic pieces after hitting a car.

(Country: Spain, Estonia; Year: 2023; Director: Juan González, Nando Martínez; Writer: Juan González, Nando Martínez; Stars: Brays Efe, David Menéndez, Luis Tosar, Bruna Cusí, Aimar Vega, Clara Sans)

Four's A Crowd (El Cuarto Pasajero)

A divorced middle aged man with a cash problem uses an app to share car to travel Madrid. He finds himself falling in love with an usual passenger, but trouble starts when two strangers join with them.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Álex de la Iglesia; Writer: Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Álex de la Iglesia; Stars: Blanca Suárez, Alberto San Juan, Ernesto Alterio)

A Guide To Becoming An Elm Tree

A lonely and grief-stricken man seeks the help of a mysterious carpenter to help him build a coffin for his already dead and buried wife.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Adam Mann, Skye Mann; Writer: Adam Mann, Skye Mann; Stars: James Healy-Meaney, Gerry Wade, MJ Sullivan)

I'll Crush Y'All (Os Reviento)

A retired boxer lives quietly in the countryside with his father and his dog, but one day his past comes back to haunt him.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2023; Director: Kike Narcea; Writer: Kike Narcea; Stars: Mario Mayo, Diego París, Fabia Castro, Fernando Gil, Antonio Mayans, Raúl Jiménez)

Infested (Vermines, Vermin)

Review preview for Infested

An impressively self-sufficient horror film with a dash of socio-political commentary.

Antoni Konieczny · 3.5 out of 5
Kaleb, passionate about exotic animals, accidentally lets his new eight-legged pet slip away.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Sébastien Vanicek; Writer: Florent Bernard, Sébastien Vanicek; Stars: Finnegan Oldfield, Sofia Lesaffre, Théo Christine, Jérôme Niel, Lisa Nyarko)

Full review See: Interview with Sébastien Vanicek about Infested

The Invisible Fight (Nähtamatu võitlus)

Review preview for The Invisible Fight

Sometimes the rumblings are of the Shaw Brothers, at others the Marx Brothers.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A kung-fu comedy set in an Orthodox Monastery in 1970s Soviet Union.

(Country: Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Finland; Year: 2023; Director: Rainer Sarnet; Writer: Rainer Sarnet; Stars: Ursel Tilk, Ester Kuntu, Indrek Sammul, Kaarel Pogga)

Full review

In My Mother's Skin

Stranded in the Philippines during World War II, a young girl finds that her duty to protect her dying mother is complicated by her misplaced trust in a beguiling, flesh-eating fairy.

(Country: Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan; Year: 2023; Director: Kenneth Dagatan; Writer: Kenneth Dagatan; Stars: Angeli Bayani, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, James Mavie Estrella, Beauty Gonzalez, Felicity Kyle Napuli)

Jackdaw

Review preview for Jackdaw

Every year sees the production of dozens of thrillers trying to do what this one does. Jackdaw leaves them in the dust.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A former motocross champion and army veteran is now caring for his younger brother. Broke, he agrees to do an open water pick up of a mysterious illegal package in the North Sea.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Jamie Childs; Writer: Jamie Childs; Stars: Jenna Coleman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Rory McCann, Thomas Turgoose, Vivienne Acheampong)

Full review

The Jar

A motorist who happens upon a car crash finds a bottle at the scene. The bottle contains a demon who proceeds to possess him.

(Country: US; Year: 1984; Director: Bruce Toscano; Writer: George Bradley; Stars: Gary Wallace, Karin Sjöberg, Robert Gerald Witt, Dean Schoepter)

Kennedy

A gangster thriller.

(Country: India; Year: 2023; Director: Anurag Kashyap; Stars: Sunny Leone, Rahul Bhatt)

Killing Romance

A retired actress, who marries an island chaebol and meets a three-time-test-taker who lives next door, decides to do away with her boring husband.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Lee Won-suk; Stars: Lee Hanee, Lee Sun-kyun, Yoo-ram Bae)

Kill Dolly Kill

Tromaville’s local celebrity murderess, Dolly Deadly, is a shoo-in to win Serial Killer of the Year. Unfortunately, Slasharella has designs on the title and will stoop to the lowest of lows to take the crown. The two will drag Tromaville out and turn it upside down in their fight to the death.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Heidi Moore, Daniel Murphy, Tony Walters; Writer: Tom Komisar, Heidi Moore; Stars: Lloyd Kaufman, Julie Anne Prescott, Elissa Dowling, Chtis Cortez, Kathy Corpus)

Kim's Video

Review preview for Kim's Video

Unashamedly quirky but burtsting with the love of film, this is the sort of one-off doc that’s as much about the engaging playfulness of its construction as it is the content.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Playing with the forms and tropes of various cinema genres, the filmmaker sets off on a quest to find a legendary lost video collection of 55,000 movies in Sicily.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin)

Full review

The Last Stop In Yuma County

Review preview for The Last Stop In Yuma County

The Last Stop In Yuma County tells a simple story but does so in an extraordinary way. It’s a film you won’t forget for a long, long time.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A traveling knife salesman is stranded and forced to wait at a rural rest stop and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a violent hostage situation upon the arrival of two bank robbers who are on the run after a recent heist.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Francis Galluppi; Writer: Francis Galluppi; Stars: Jim Cummings, Jocelin Donahue, Richard Brake, Nicholas Logan, Faizon Love)

Full review See: Interview with Jim Cummings and Richard Brake about The Last Stop In Yuma County , Interview with Francis Galluppi about The Last Stop In Yuma County

The Last Video Store

After a beachside video rental store is robbed, the owner installs security cameras store wide. Unbeknownst to the staff, he uses them to capture an emerging love story unfold between two of his young employees - one of whom has an ex with a dark past.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2023; Director: Brian Vining; Writer: Brian Vining; Stars: Jacki Simmons, Reece Madam, Jordan Abbey-Young, Phillip Avalon, Emily Rowbottom)

Letters To The Postman

A young inexperienced postman finds himself in the middle of a mystery.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Felix Dembinski; Writer: Robert Aickman, Felix Dembinski; Stars: Rad Brown, Catherine Bufton, Dominic Carmody-Keeble, Kym Cox, Marek Dembinski, Jack Edwards, Anna Fraser)

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

#Manhole

Review preview for #Manhole

In the end, the film succeeds not so much because of its thriller elements as because it’s an interesting character piece.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A real estate worker who is about to marry his boss' daughter falls down a deep manhole and can't work out how to escape.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri; Writer: Michitaka Okada; Stars: Nakajima Yûto, Nao, Nagayama Kento)

Full review

Messiah Of Evil (Dead People)

Review preview for Messiah Of Evil

After a lot of scene setting, the film delivers, almost out of nowhere, an intense and fully committed mythology which takes night scenes already set against a pitch black sky to a still darker place.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A young woman goes searching for her missing artist father. Her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious undead cult.

(Country: US; Year: 1973; Director: Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz; Writer: Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz; Stars: Michael Greer, Marianna Hill, Joy Bang, Anitra Ford, Royal Dano, Elisha Cook Jr)

Full review

Mushrooms

While collecting mushrooms and herbs in the forest, an old lady stumbles upon a young couple who have gotten lost. They beg her to help them escape the woods, but the old lady quickly senses that something isn’t right.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2023; Director: Pawel Borowski; Writer: Pawel Borowski)

The Nest

A biological experiment goes haywire when meat-eating mutant roaches invade an island community, terrorising a peaceful New England fishing village and hideously butchering its citizens.

(Country: US; Year: 1987; Director: Terence H Winkless; Writer: Robert King, Eli Cantor; Stars: Robert Lansing, Lisa Langlois, Franc Luz, Terri Treas, Stephen Davies, Diana Bellamy)

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)

One Percenter

When an action film star finds his craft replaced by wires, CGI and quick edits, he and his trusty apprentice decide to make their dream film by themselves - incorporating the Yakuza gangsters who invade their set.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Yûdai Yamaguchi; Stars: Tak Sakaguchi)

The Other Laurens (L'Autre Laurens)

A private detective investigates the death of his brother.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Claude Schmitz; Writer: Claude Schmitz; Stars: Olivier Rabourdin, Marc Barbé, Tibo Vandenborre and Francis Soetens)

Out Of Darkness (The Origin)

Review preview for Out Of Darkness

We stumble through the night with only guttering flames to guide us, straining to catch the tiniest sound that might give us a hint of what’s out there.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
In the Old Stone Age, a disparate gang of early humans band together in search of a new land. When they suspect a malevolent, mystical, being is hunting them down, the clan are forced to confront a danger they never envisaged.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Andrew Cumming; Writer: Ruth Greenberg, Andrew Cumming, Oliver Kassman; Stars: Chuku Modu, Kit Young, Iola Evans, Safia Oakley-Green, Luna Mwezi)

Full review

The People's Joker

Review preview for The People's Joker

It’s an anarchic mess – the sort of film the Joker himself might have made, and that’s part of its triumph.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
An aspiring clown grappling with her gender identity combats a fascistic caped crusader.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Vera Drew; Writer: Vera Drew; Stars: Vera Drew, The People's Joker, Lynn Downey, Kane Distler, Nathan Faustyn, David Liebe Hart, Bob Odenkirk)

Full review See: Interview with Vera Drew about The People's Joker, part two , Interview with Vera Drew about The People’s Joker, part one

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines

In 1969, a young Jud Crandall has dreams of leaving his hometown of Ludlow, Maine behind, but soon discovers sinister secrets buried within and is forced to confront a dark family history that will forever bind him to it.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Lindsey Anderson Beer; Writer: Lindsey Anderson Beer, Jeff Buhler, Stephen King; Stars: Jack Mulhern, Samantha Mathis, David Duchovny, Henry Thomas, Pam Grier)

Project Silence

An accident occurs on a foggy bridge and, as a result, an unknown beast is unleashed.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Kim Tae-gon; Writer: Kim Tae-gon, Kim Yong-hwa, Park Joo-Suk; Stars: Lee Sun-kyun, Ju Ji-hoon, Kim Hee-won, Moon Sung-keun)

Property (Propriedade)

When rebelling workers occupy Teresa’s family estate, she flees at the last minute into an armoured car. She is trapped, but refuses to negotiate.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Daniel Bandeira; Stars: Malu Galli, Zuleika Ferreira, Tavinho Teixeira, Samuel Santos, Edilson Silva)

Rage (Rabia)

A boy who spends all day listening to his weird neighbour comes to suspect that his widowed father may be a werewolf.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2023; Director: Jorge Michel Grau; Stars: Adrián AguirreMarco Antonio ArguetaGilberto Barraza)

Restore Point (Bod Obnovy)

Review preview for Restore Point

It’s nice to see a film which problematises familiar, overly comfortable assumptions about the sociological response to new technologies, and which doesn’t insist that babies need to be thrown out with bathwater.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
It’s the year 2041, and humanity has reached the point where it can cheat death. Anyone who dies an unnatural death has the right to be brought back to life. All you have to do is to create a backup of your personality – a restore point – at least every 48 hours. But a movement of people try to sabotage this concept.

(Country: Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, Serbia; Year: 2023; Director: Robert Hloz; Writer: Tomislav Čečka, Robert Hloz, Zdeněk Jecelín; Stars: Andrea Mohylová, Matěj Hádek, Václav Neužil, Milan Ondrík, Karel Dobrý, Agáta Kryštůfková, Katarzyna Zawadzka, Jan Vlasák, Iveta Dušková, Richard Stanke)

Full review

Riddle Of Fire

Review preview for Riddle Of Fire

Told from a child’s point of view, immediate and haphazard, magical and unlikely.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Three mischievous children on dirt bikes, armed with paint guns and cocky attitudes, launch an attack at a local warehouse, outwitting a security guard and 'liberating' the very latest video game console for themselves - but to make use of it, they need to figure out the password with which their mother has locked the TV.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Weston Razooli; Writer: Weston Razooli; Stars: Lio Tipton, Weston Razooli, Charles Halford, Phoebe Ferro)

Full review

River

Review preview for River

Yamaguchi and his regular writer, Makoto Ueda, have such a deep understanding of their characters that it’s the emotional timeline, rather than the physical one, that becomes the subject of real concern.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
One winter in Kibune, Kyoto, people find themselves stuck in a two minute time loop. As others try to work together to find out what's going on, one woman finds herself increasingly isolated.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Junta Yamaguchi; Writer: Makoto Ueda; Stars: Saori, Riko Fujitani, Shiori Kubo, Kazunari Tosa, Yoshimasa Kondô)

Full review

The Sacrifice Game

Review preview for The Sacrifice Game

Wexler makes a number of interesting directorial choices.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
The story of Samantha and Clara, two students who are staying behind for the holidays at their boarding school, who must survive the night against uninvited visitors.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jenn Wexler; Writer: Sean Redlitz, Jenn Wexler; Stars: Olivia Scott Welch, Mena Massoud, Chloë Levine, Gus Kenworthy, Madison Baines)

Full review See: Interview with Jenn Wexler about The Ranger, The Sacrifice Game and her career , Interview with Jenn Wexler about The Sacrifice Game

Salem

A former gang member believes that his daughter is the only one who save his community from an curse uttered by a rival gang member in his dying breath.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Jean-Bernard Marlin; Writer: Jean-Bernard Marlin; Stars: Oumar Moindjie, Dalil El Gharbaoui, Wallenn El Gharbaoui, Rachid Ousseni)

Scala!

A documentary celebration of the Scala cinema in London.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Jane Giles, Ali Catterall; Stars: John Waters, Adam Buxton, Mary Harron, Ben Wheatley, Stephen Woolley)

She is Conann

Gender-flipped version of Conan The Barbarian.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Bertrand Mandico)

Sleep (Jam)

A pregnant wife becomes worried about her husband's sleeping habits. What starts out as light sleep-talking soon escalates to unexpectedly grotesque behaviour. They consult a sleep clinic without success and as his nightmarish behaviour escalates, they desperately seek help from a shaman.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2023; Director: Jason Yu; Stars: Jung Yu-mi, Lee Sun-kyun)

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)

Sri Asih: The Warrior

Alana was separated from her parents and was adopted by a rich woman. As she reaches adulthood, she discovers the truth about her origin.

(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2023; Director: Upi Avianto; Writer: Upi Avianto, Joko Anwar, Raden Ahmad Kosasih; Stars: Pevita Pearce, Ario Bayu, Christine Hakim, Jefri Nichol, Surya Saputra, Reza Rahadian)

Stopmotion

Review preview for Stopmotion

Stopmotion is not a film that strives to keep secrets or deliver surprises. It wants us to understand what’s happening, at least to an extent, and still be helpless to prevent it.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
About a stop-motion animator struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Robert Morgan; Writer: Robin King, Robert Morgan; Stars: Aisling Franciosi, Tom York, Caoilinn Springall, Joshua J Parker)

Full review See: Interview with Robert Morgan about Stopmotion

Strange Darling

Review preview for Strange Darling

A gorgeous piece of work.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A relentless predator tracks an injured woman through the Oregon wilderness. The woman does her best to outsmart her attacker, but with each tense moment she grows weaker and less able. He’s a man on a mission, and it’s only a matter of time before he captures his prey.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: JT Mollner; Writer: JT Mollner; Stars: Kyle Gallner, Willa Fitzgerald, Barbara Hershey)

Full review See: Interview with JT Mollner and Giovanni Ribisi about Strange Darling

The Strangler (L'étrangleur)

A detective resorts to unorthodox methods to snare a serial killer.

(Country: France; Year: 1970; Director: Paul Vecchiali; Writer: Paul Vecchiali; Stars: Jacques Perrin, Julien Guiomar, Eva Simonet, Paul Barge, Jacqueline Danno, Katja Cavagnac, Jean-Pierre Miquel, Hélène Surgère, Sonia Saviange, Nicole Courcel, Paule Annen, Andrée Tainsy, Stéphane de Verchère, Jean-Pierre de Verchère, Germaine de France)

Suburban Tale

When a woman whose life is already a mess returns to her family for her sister's wedding, she finds them trying to hush up the possession of a young boy by a demon, fearful that it will put off their prospective in-laws - but the boy may be infectious.

(Country: India; Year: 2023; Director: Stephen Alexander)

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

There's Something In The Barn

Review preview for There's Something In The Barn

The script is funny and knowing but it wavers between a straight out kids' movie and horror aimed at an older teenage audience.

Donald Munro · 3.5 out of 5
An American family fulfils their dream of moving back to the old country after inheriting a remote cabin in the mountains of Norway.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2023; Director: Magnus Martens; Writer: Aleksander Kirkwood Brown; Stars: Martin Starr, Amrita Acharia, Jeppe Beck Laursen, Henriette Steenstrup)

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Tiger Stripes

A carefree 11-year-old girl begins to experience horrifying physical changes to her body.

(Country: Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, Netherlands, Indonesia, Qatar; Year: 2023; Director: Amanda Nell Eu)

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)

The Toxic Avenger

Review preview for The Toxic Avenger

The cheesy subtext is obscured by gross-out verbal and visual display, which wears down resistance to the basic message of wholesome optimism that many teenagers would not be keen to admit.

Chris · 4.5 out of 5
Transformed by toxic waste, a monster wreaks havoc among spoiled high school pupils.

(Country: US; Year: 1986; Director: Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz; Writer: Lloyd Kaufman, Joe Ritter, Stuart Strutin, Gay Partington Terry; Stars: Andree Maranda, Mitch Cohen, Jennifer Prichard, Cindy Manion, Robert Prichard, Gary Schneider, Pat Ryan, Mark Torgl, Dick Martinsen, Chris Liano, David N. Weiss, Dan Snow, Doug Isbecque, Charles Lee Jr., Patrick Kilpatrick, Michael Russo, Andrew Craig, Sarabel Levinson, Kenneth Kessler, Patricia Kaufman, Marisa Tomei)

Full review See: Interview with Lloyd Kaufman about Troma

The Toxic Avenger

Review preview for The Toxic Avenger

Even in the cheapest of zombie films, human bodies have never come apart so easily, nor contained such an abundance of blood. It explodes across the screen at frequent intervals, each one more spectacular than the last.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A reimagining of the Eighties franchise in which a janitor is transformed by radioactive slime and becomes an unlikely hero.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Macon Blair; Writer: Macon Blair, Lloyd Kaufman; Stars: Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Julia Davis, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, David Yow, Annette Badland)

Full review

Triggered (Topakk, Trigger)

A Special Forces operative suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder is discharged from the army due to his extreme medical condition. Finding employment as a security guard his world is turned upside down when he finds himself embroiled in a different kind of urban war after a young woman seeks his protection from a corrupt police death squad working for one of the most brutal drug cartels.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2023; Director: Richard Somes; Stars: Arjo Atayde, Julia Montes, Sid Lucero, Kokoy De Santos)

UFO Sweden

A rebellious teen placed in foster care suspects her father is not dead but has been abducted. She is determined to find out the truth with help from a UFO association.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2022; Director: Victor Danell; Writer: Victor Danell, Jimmy Nivrén Olsson; Stars: Inez Dahl Torhaug, Jesper Barkselius, Eva Melander, Sara Shirpey)

The Uncle (Stric)

Yugoslavia, late 1980s. Parents and son are hastily making the final preparations for Christmas Eve dinner. Their beloved uncle will be turning up from Germany any minute now. But, hang on, are things really as they seem?

(Country: Croatia, Serbia; Year: 2022; Director: David Kapac, Andrija Mardešić)

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

Visitors

Review preview for Visitors

The line between horror and humour is at least as thin as that veil between the worlds, and crossing it can bring all sorts of things back. This is one of them.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
Haruka, Nana, and Takanori visit the house of Souta, a band member who has lost contact with them. But when they arrive, they find Souta's behavior a little strange.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Ken'ichi Ugana)

Full review

The Wait (La Espera)

Review preview for The Wait

Clavijo’s tightly wound performance keeps the story feeling taut and personal as its larger themes develop.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A gamekeeper seeks revenge on the rich man who persuaded him to agree to a compromise on hunting safety rules which had devastating consequences.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2023; Director: F Javier Gutiérrez; Writer: F Javier Gutiérrez; Stars: Luis Callejo, Pedro Casablanc, Víctor Clavijo)

Full review

Wake Up

Incensed by the environmental destruction wrought by a fictitious minimalist Swedish furniture store, the band of six sneaks into the big-box store after hours to wreak havoc of their own, gleefully destroying displays and smearing animal blood on bathroom fixtures, but an angry night watchman is ready to bring them to justice.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell, François Simard)

We Are Zombies

Zombies with no interest in eating brains or human flesh wander aimlessly.

(Country: Canada, France; Year: 2023; Director: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell; Writer: Jerry Frissen, François Simard, Anouk Whissell; Stars: Megan Peta Hill, Benz Antoine, Vincent Leclerc, Carlo Mestroni, Alexandre Nachi, Derek Johns, Teneisha Collins)

What You Wish For

Review preview for What You Wish For

Elegantly styled and smoothly delivered, the film takes a hard look at corporate culture.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A chef with gambling problems flees to a Latin American villa where he assumes another man's identity.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Nicholas Tomnay; Writer: Nicholas Tomnay; Stars: Nick Stahl, Tamsin Topolski, Randy Vasquez, Penelope Mitchell, Juan Carlos Messier, Brian Groh, Ariel Sierra)

Full review See: Interview with Nicholas Tomnay about What You Wish For

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

Where The Devil Roams

Review preview for Where The Devil Roams

A beautifully crafted piece of period Gothic.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A family of murderous sideshow performers travels around the world on the dying carnival circuit.

(Year: 2023; Director: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser; Writer: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser; Stars: Zelda Adams, Toby Poser, John Adams)

Full review See: Interview with Zelda Adams, John Adams, Lulu Adams and Toby Poser about Where The Devil Roams

You'll Never Find Me

Review preview for You'll Never Find Me

The film keeps us guessing for quite some time, despite delivering a number of unsettling hints

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Patrick, a strange and lonely resident, lives in a mobile home at the back of an isolated caravan park. After a violent thunderstorm erupts, a mysterious young woman appears at his door, seeking shelter from the weather. The longer the night wears on and the more the young woman discovers about Patrick, the more difficult she finds it to leave.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2023; Director: Josiah Allen, Indianna Bell; Writer: Indianna Bell; Stars: Brendan Rock, Jordan Cowan, Elena Carapetis, Angela Korng, Luca Trimboli, Finn Watson)

Full review

You're Not Me (Tú No Eres Yo)

Aitana returns home for Christmas, the first time after three years, to find that her parents have replaced her with an unknown woman who is being treated like their daughter. She discovers a disturbing and bloody truth.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2023; Director: Marisa Crespo, Moisés Romera; Writer: Marisa Crespo, Moisés Romera; Stars: Jorge Motos, Roser Tapias, Álvaro Báguena, Pilar Martínez)

Your Lucky Day

On Christmas Eve in a small convenience store near the bottom of the socioeconomic food chain, a hostage situation breaks out over a $156 million lottery ticket.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Dan Brown; Writer: Dan Brown; Stars: Angus Cloud, Jason O'Mara, Jason Wiles, Spencer Garrett, Sterling Beaumon, Elliot Knight, Jessica Garza)