Fantastic Fest — A–Z of films

The five-minute nature of the loop is perfect for escalating humour.

There’s an astute understanding of trauma underlying the comedy here, and it informs every aspect of the larger narrative.

Director Bob Colaers shows us the strain in the way that Boumazoughe fights, which is its own kind of impressive.

Mangione-Smith...is particularly successful at telling the story dynamically without compromising the found footage approach.

Much more tightly structured than its style might suggest, and much, much darker.

That sense of human frailty – in mind as well as body – which haunts much of European colonial literature is strongly in evidence here.

Though the film is laden with tragedy, it speaks to the growing awareness of the self as part of a larger whole.

The latter part of the film rapidly devolves into a no-holds-barred celebration of gluttony and mutation, in all the best ways.

As with many Dupieux films, beneath the laughter there’s a fair bit of insight into the absurdity of human relationships.

There's still lots to appreciate here beyond its status as a historical artefact.

Does a good job of carrying the general viewer from laughter to sympathy and concern – maintaining a healthy awareness of how ludicrous many of these ideas are, yet reminding us of the vulnerability of many believers.

Meticulously styled, Girl in The Night uses a blend of absurdity and deadpan humour to charm and delight its audience.

Overall the film is finished to a very high standard.

I Have Proof asks how we can navigate in a world in which less and less of what we are surrounded with can be considered reliable.

Although the film is pretty formulaic, it’s warm-hearted, it has enough different things going on to remain entertaining, and it rattles along at a fair old pace.

When you see that term ‘grisly abyss’, you’d better believe it.

Littermates is a film full of kindness, blending real sweetness with the unutterably bleak, equally at ease with the comic and the tragic.

Answers are as thin on the ground as they are beside the point.

Jacob Møller’s cinematography brings out the mystery and danger of fog; the bright urgency of summer days, green grass and sparkling water on pale bodies; and the weight of darkness with equal surety.

In an age of monstrous men, Frément’s creation stands out.

The film is slow and its horror elements become less effective as more of the mystery is resolved, but the characters and the damage they carry feel real.

Holding all of this together is the tremendous atmosphere that Baizhan generates out of shadows, cramped locations and unsettling sounds.

The age rating with its warnings of gore and language doesn't quite cover the extent to which filth and fury are scattered.

Whilst it’s thematically concerned with the blurring of boundaries, its own shifting structure and blending of genres contributes to the underlying unease.

Up until the end laced with cheap pseudo-biblical references, this horror-drama serves as a fun and thrilling ride.

Wigon’s film is arch as a proscenium from the start

Simon confidently marries the investigative and horrific aspects of the story, and very effectively combines sudden scares with the gruelling horror of a problem that won’t go away.