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FrightFest · 2018

FrightFest 2018

Features

Programme

63 films · 39 reviews

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Anna And The Apocalypse

Review preview for Anna And The Apocalypse

Any film that has both a fight director and a dance choreographer is probably doing something right.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
When the zombie apocalypse hits the sleepy town of Little Haven - at Christmas - teenager Anna and her high school friends have to fight, sing and dance to survive, with the undead horde all around them.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2017; Director: John McPhail; Writer: Alan McDonald, Ryan McHenry; Stars: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Sarah Swire, Christopher Leveaux, Ben Wiggins, Marli Siu, Mark Benton, Paul Kaye, Ella Jarvis, Calum Cormack, Euan Bennet, Sean Connor, Janet Lawson, Janet Lawson, Kirsty Strain)

Full review

Await Further Instructions

Review preview for Await Further Instructions

Await Further Instructions succeeds on all counts.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
It's Christmas Day and the Milgram family wake to find a mysterious black substance surrounding their house.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Johnny Kevorkian; Writer: Gavin Williams; Stars: David Bradley, Abigail Cruttenden, Holly Weston, Sam Gittins)

Full review

Bad Samaritan

Review preview for Bad Samaritan

Dean Devlin's thriller is well structured and features cleverly thought out action sequences that maximise the potential in simple shifts of power.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A pair of burglars stumble upon a woman being held captive in a home they intended to rob.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Dean Devlin; Writer: Brandon Boyce; Stars: David Tennant, Kerry Condon, Robert Sheehan)

Full review

Blood Fest

Review preview for Blood Fest

It's not that it's bad - it's certainly entertaining in places - but genre-aware meta-commentary can all too easily feel like the kind of parody where the 'joke' is in the relief of recognition.

Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
Fans flock to a festival celebrating the most iconic horror movies, only to discover that the charismatic showman behind the event has a diabolical agenda.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Owen Egerton; Writer: Owen Egerton; Stars: Zachary Levi, Jacob Batalon, Tate Donovan, Seychelle Gabriel, Robbie Kay, Barbara Dunkelman, Olivia Grace Applegate, Nicholas Rutherford, Paul Ogola, Lynn Andrews III, Isla Cervelli, Samantha Ireland, Chris Doubek, Owen Egerton, Tristan Riggs)

Full review

A Bluebird In My Heart

Attempting to lead a quiet reformed life, an ex-con finds refuge in a motel run by a single mother and her daughter, but when the daughter is assaulted, his old demons return.

(Country: France; Year: 2018; Director: Jérémie Guez; Writer: Jérémie Guez, based on the book by Dannie M Martin; Stars: Lubna Azabal, Veerle Baetens, Lola Le Lann, Roland Møller)

Boar

In the harsh, yet beautiful Australian outback lives a beast, an animal of staggering size, with a ruthless, driving need for blood and destruction.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2017; Director: Chris Sun; Writer: Kirsty Dallas, Chris Sun; Stars: Nathan Jones, Bill Moseley, John Jarratt, Steve Bisley)

Book Of Monsters

Review preview for Book Of Monsters

Craine puts a lot of passion into her performance, making for a gutsy lead we can keep rooting for even when other aspects of the film are weak.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
Six kickass women must fight off a horde of terrifying monsters at an 18th birthday party.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Stewart Sparke; Writer: Paul Butler; Stars: Lyndsey Craine, Michaela Longden, Lizzie Stanton, Anna Dawson, Rose Muirhead, Steph Mossman)

Full review See: Interview with Stewart Sparke about Book Of Monsters

Braid (Nobody Leaves)

Review preview for Braid

The iconography of the feminine is twisted into something deadly.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Two drug dealers on the lam seek refuge inside their mentally unstable friend’s mansion. But in order to stay, they have to participate in her elaborate, and increasingly dangerous, game of permanent make-believe.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Mitzi Peirone; Writer: Mitzi Peirone; Stars: Madeline Brewer, Sarah Hay, Scott Cohen, Imogen Waterhouse, Jill Dalton, Brad Calcaterra, Mauricio Ovalle, Mary Looram, Nancy Ozelli, Dhoni Middleton, Tai Lyn Sandhu, Ethel Fisher, Lenore Wolf, Zoe Feigelson, Zack Calhoon)

Full review

Bodied

A graduate student's interest in battle rap as a subject for a thesis becomes an obsession.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Joseph Kahn; Writer: Joseph Kahn, Alex Larsen; Stars: Calum Worthy, Jackie Long, Rory Uphold, Jonathan Park, Walter Perez, Shoniqua Shandai, Charlamagne Tha God, Dizaster, Debra Wilson, Anthony Michael Hall, Lisa Maley, Eddie Perino, Eric Allen Smith, Candice Renee, Daniel Rashid)

Chuck Steel: Night Of The Trampires

When the streets of Los Angeles are swarmed by vampire hobos, only Chuck Steel can save the day.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Mike Mort; Writer: Mike Mort; Stars: Jennifer Saunders, Paul Whitehouse)

The Cleaning Lady

Review preview for The Cleaning Lady

What begins with shrewd character observation and a good deal of bitter humour gradually sheds its skins and becomes something more blatantly horrific.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
As a means to distract herself from an affair, a love-addicted woman befriends a cleaning lady, badly scarred by burns. She soon learns, these scars run much deeper than the surface.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Jon Knautz; Writer: Alexis Kendra, Jon Knautz; Stars: Alexis Kendra, Stelio Savante, Rachel Alig, Elizabeth Sandy)

Full review See: Interview with Jon Knautz about The Cleaning Lady

Climax

(Country: France; Year: 2018; Director: Gaspar Noé; Writer: Gaspar Noé)

Crystal Eyes (Mirada De Cristal)

Review preview for Crystal Eyes

If you're a fan of gleefully executed giallo-style carnage, you'll struggle to find a film that features quite as many murders as this one.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
On the anniversary of a model being set alight on the runway, models preparing for a show in her honour start disappearing.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2017; Director: Ezequiel Endelman, Leandro Montejano; Writer: Ezequiel Endelman, Leandro Montejano; Stars: Silvia Montanari, Anahí Politi, Erika Boveri, Claudio Armesto, Valeria Giorcelli)

Full review See: Interview with Ezequiel Endelman about Crystal Eyes

Cult Of Terror (Culto Al Terror)

A documentary exploring the global horror festival circuit and the community around it.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2017; Director: Gustavo Mendoza; Writer: Gustavo Mendoza; Stars: Dario Argento, Barbara Crampton, Robert Englund)

The Dark

Review preview for The Dark

There's a lot packed into Justin P Lange's downbeat horror fable.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Undead and hating it, young flesh-eater Mina haunts the woods surrounding her childhood home. When she befriends a physically abused boy, she must figure out why, for once, she isn’t feeling homicidal.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2018; Director: Justin P Lange; Writer: Justin P Lange; Stars: Nadia Alexander, Toby Nichols, Karl Markovics, Margarete Tiesel, Dylan Trowbridge, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Scott Beaudin, Chris Farquhar, Nadia Alexander, Toby Nichols, Karl Markovics, Margarete Tiesel, Dylan Trowbridge, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Scott Beaudin)

Full review See: Interview with Toby Nichols about The Dark, Desolation, Iron Fist, Trumbo and Underground

Dead Night

Review preview for Dead Night

Ellery Bute and Todd Jeffrey's art direction presents us with picture postcard settings which conceal much darker things.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A family planning a quiet weekend away at a cabin in the woods get more than they bargained for when they find a mysterious woman unconscious in the snow outside.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Bradford Baruh; Writer: Irving Walker; Stars: Brea Grant, Barbara Crampton, AJ Bowen, Sophie Dalah, Elise Luthman, Joshua Hoffman, Daniel Roebuck)

Full review

The Devil's Doorway

Review preview for The Devil's Doorway

It's worth suspending disbelief for a tale that grips where it matters and, through its superb performances, serves as a potent reminder that there were real human beings at the heart of all the real life horrors.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
In the autumn of 1960, Father Thomas Riley and Father John Thornton were sent by the Vatican to investigate a miraculous event in an Irish home for 'fallen women', only to uncover something much more horrific.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Aislinn Clarke; Writer: Martin Brennan, Aislinn Clarke; Stars: Lalor Roddy, Ciaran Flynn, Helena Bereen, Lauren Coe)

Full review

The Field Guide To Evil

An anthology of supernatural horror stories.

(Country: US, Austria, India, Greece; Year: 2018; Director: Ashim Ahluwalia, Can Evrenol, Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz, Katrin Gebbe, Calvin Reeder, Agnieszka Smoczynska, Peter Strickland, Yannis Veslemes; Writer: Robert Bolesto, Elif Domanic, Can Evrenol, Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz, Katrin Gebbe, Calvin Reeder, Peter Strickland, Silvia Wolkan; Stars: Birgit Minichmayr, Sarah Navratil, Jilon VanOver)

Frankenstein's Creature

Frankenstein's creature delivers a monologue telling the story of Frankenstein from his perspective.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Sam Ashurst; Writer: James Swanton; Stars: James Swanton)

FrightFest: Beneath The Dark Heart Of Cinema

Review preview for FrightFest: Beneath The Dark Heart Of Cinema

Collier has created a portrait of the festival that will delight its longstanding fans yet which is thorough and insightful enough to be of interest to outsiders too.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary about the FrightFest festival and its contribution to supporting horror, science fiction and fantasy cinema.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Chris Collier; Writer: Chris Collier; Stars: Greg Day, Alan Jones, Paul McEvoy, Ian Rattray)

Full review

Ghost Mask: Scar

Review preview for Ghost Mask: Scar

Though there's a soap opera character to the overarching drama, it's in subtle moments that the film excels.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A young woman searching for her missing sister meets a mysterious plastic surgeon.

(Country: South Korea, Japan; Year: 2018; Director: Takeshi Sone; Writer: Etsuo Hiratani; Stars: Yurika Akane, Sô Hirosawa, Sayuri Itô, Kim Jerok, Ryô Katayama)

Full review

Ghost Stories

Review preview for Ghost Stories

When it's not busy trying to impress, the film conjures up a lot of atmosphere and succeeds in disturbing.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A trio of spooky tales.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman; Writer: Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman; Stars: Martin Freeman, Alex Lawther, Andy Nyman, Nicholas Burns, Paul Whitehouse, Daniel Hill, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Ryan Oliva, Samuel Bottomley, Lesley Harcourt, Jake Davies, Oliver Woollford, Maggie McCarthy, Paul Warren, Louise Atkins)

Full review

The Golem

Review preview for The Golem

The story itself is simple but the presentation makes this an unusual and intriguing piece of work.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A woman in a besieged medieval Jewish community looks for a solution in forbidden magic.

(Country: Israel, US; Year: 2018; Director: Doron Paz, Yoav Paz; Writer: Ariel Cohen; Stars: Hani Furstenberg, Ishai Golan, Brynie Furstenberg, Adi Kvetner)

Full review See: Interview with Doron Paz about The Golem

The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle

A documentary about the Sex Pistols as seen from the point of view of their manager, Malcom MacLaren.

(Country: UK; Year: 1980; Director: Julien Temple; Writer: Julien Temple; Stars: Malcolm McLaren, Sid Vicious, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, John Lydon, Ronald Biggs)

Halloween

Review preview for Halloween

It's too brainless and uncomplicated to make us think twice about the plot.

Gator MacReady · 3 out of 5
Slasher shocker about a crazy guy who kills teenagers in a sleepy suburban town. On Halloween re-issue.

(Country: USA; Year: 1978; Director: John Carpenter; Writer: John Carpenter, Debra Hill; Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Loomis, Donald Pleasance, Nick Castle, PJ Soles)

Full review

Hell Is Where The Home Is

Two dysfunctional couples are terrorised by a group of violent individuals during a vacation at a modern desert home.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Orson Oblowitz; Writer: Corey Deshon; Stars: Angela Trimbur, Zach Avery, Janel Parrish, Jonathan Howard, Carlo Rota)

Heretiks

During the 17th Century a young woman is saved from execution and led to a priory to repent her sins but discovers a greater evil lies within.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Paul Hyett; Writer: Gregory Blair, Paul Hyett; Stars: Hannah Arterton, Michael Ironside, Rosie Day)

He's Out There

On vacation at a remote lake house, a mother and her two young daughters must fight for survival after falling into a terrifying and bizarre nightmare conceived by a psychopath.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Quinn Lasher; Writer: Mike Scannell; Stars: Yvonne Strahovski, Justin Bruening, Abigail Pniowsky, Anna Pniowsky, Stephanie Costa, Julian Bailey)

Incident In A Ghostland

Review preview for Incident In A Ghostland

What Laugier lacks as a writer he makes up for as a director, aided by some high quality costuming and set design.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
A mother of two who inherits a house is confronted with murderous intruders on the first night in their new home and fights for her daughters' lives. Sixteen years later when the daughters reunite at the house, things get really strange.

(Country: France, Canada; Year: 2018; Director: Pascal Laugier; Writer: Pascal Laugier; Stars: Crystal Reed, Mylène Farmer, Anastasia Phillips, Emilia Jones, Taylor Hickson)

Full review

Killing God (Matar A Dios)

A stranger claiming to be God tells a family that all humans will die the next day except two - and they must choose who.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2017; Director: Caye Casas, Albert Pintó; Writer: Caye Casas, Albert Pintó; Stars: Eduardo Antuña, Itziar Castro, Emilio Gavira, Frances Orella)

The Laplace's Demon

Review preview for The Laplace's Demon

Played out as a grand, Fifties style Italian melodrama, the film is anything but dry.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A team of scientists find themselves caught up in a deadly game of chance - in which they may have no chance.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2017; Director: Giordano Giulivi; Writer: Silvano Bertolin, Ferdinando D'Urbano, Duccio Giulivi, Duccio Giulivi, Giordano Giulivi, Giordano Giulivi; Stars: Ferdinando D'Urbano, Walter Smorti, Alessandro Zonfrilli, Carlotta Mazzoncini, Silvano Bertolin, Simone Moscato, Duccio Giulivi, Simone Valeri)

Full review

Lasso

Review preview for Lasso

Director Evan Cecil delivers all the grisly scenes you would expect from this scenario, but they play out in ways that might surprise you.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A group of people, including a senior citizens' club, fall foul of the vicious owners of a rodeo.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Evan Cecil; Writer: Roberto Marinas; Stars: Sean Patrick Flanery, Lindsey Morgan, Andrew Jacobs, Karen Grassle, Thomas Cokenias)

Full review See: Interview with Evan Cecil about Lasso

Lifechanger

Review preview for Lifechanger

The whole thing is beautifully shot in far higher resolution than most viewers are likely to get the benefit of.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A man with an unusual talent tries to get back to the woman he once lived with, who has no idea what he is.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2018; Director: Justin McConnell; Writer: Justin McConnell; Stars: Lora Burke, Jack Foley, Elitsa Bako, Rachel VanDuzer, Steve Kasan, Sam Whitew, Bill Oberst Jr)

Full review See: Interview with Lora Burke about Lifechanger

Life After Flash

Review preview for Life After Flash

The presence of completists and super-fans is helpful, because you do not need to be either to enjoy Life After Flash.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
A look at the life of Sam J Jones, who played Flash Gordon in the 1980 version of the fantasy classic.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2017; Director: Lisa Downs; Stars: Sam J Jones, Melody Anderson, Brian Blessed, Topol, Peter Wyngarde, Richard O'Brien, Deep Roy, Brian May, Peter Duncan, Howard Blake, Jaime Alba, John Altman, Martin Ballantyne, Ian Beattie, Manu Bennett)

Full review

Luciferina

Review preview for Luciferina

Gonzalo Calzada's vividly atmospheric film is itself a space in which reality and dreams overlap, in which formal narrative structures break down as our heroine strives to gain control of her identity and destiny.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Natalia is a 19-year-old novice who reluctantly returns home to say goodbye to her dying father. However, when she meets up with her sister and her friends, she decides instead to travel the jungle and explore the spiritual world through ayahuasca.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2018; Director: Gonzalo Calzada; Writer: Gonzalo Calzada; Stars: Victoria Carreras, Gastón Cocchiarale, Agustin Daulte, Sofia Del Tuffo)

Full review

The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot

Review preview for The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot

There are the makings of a great film here but too much time is spent telling the story and not enough showing it.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A legendary American war veteran is recruited to hunt a mythical creature.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Robert D Krzykowski; Writer: Robert D Krzykowski; Stars: Aidan Turner, Sam Elliott, Ron Livingston, Caitlin FitzGerald)

Full review

Mega Time Squad

Review preview for Mega Time Squad

Van Dammen has bitten off much more than he can chew and lacks the experience to spit some of it out, but it's largely his ambition that makes things interesting.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A petty drug dealer with a once in a lifetime opportunity to pull off a big score unexpectedly gains the ability to bend time.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2018; Director: Tim Van Dammen; Writer: Tim Van Dammen; Stars: Anton Tennet, Arlo Gibson, Johnny Brugh, Milo Cawthrone)

Full review

The Most Assassinated Woman In The World

Review preview for The Most Assassinated Woman In The World

There's some excellent effects work to recreate stage-blood and mummery, some real moments of tension and fright, but with four credited writers I wonder if it's trying in too many directions.

Andrew Robertson · 2.5 out of 5
A young journalist becomes convinced the Grand Guinol theatre is linked to a series of murders

(Country: Belgium, UK, US; Year: 2018; Director: Franck Ribière; Writer: James Charkow, Vérane Frédiani, David Murdoch, David Murdoch, Franck Ribière; Stars: Anna Mouglalis, Niels Schneider, Eric Godon, André Wilms, Sissi Duparc, Constance Dollé, Jean-Michel Balthazar, Michel Fau, Vérane Frédiani, Michel Ferracci, Jean-Jacques Rausin, Renaud Rutten, Christian Crahay, Bruno Blairet, Julie Recoing)

Full review

The Night Eats The World

Review preview for The Night Eats The World

Expanding on the notion of loneliness and the importance of familiar places in our lives, Rocher brings in themes about emotional dependency, possessiveness and the ways we define our identities in relation to others.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Following one hell of a party, Sam wakes up to the worst-ever morning after — blood-stained walls, an empty apartment building, and Parisian streets filled with the living dead. Even worse, he’s all alone.

(Country: France; Year: 2018; Director: Dominique Rocher; Writer: Pit Agarmen, Jérémie Guez, Guillaume Lemans, Dominique Rocher; Stars: Anders Danielsen Lie, Golshifteh Farahani, Denis Lavant, Sigrid Bouaziz, David Kammenos, Jean-Yves Cylly, Nancy Murillo, Lina-Rose Djedje, Victor Van Der Woerd, Léo Poulet, Déborah Marique, Tess Osscini Boudebesse Bejjani, Fabien Houssaye, Jean-Louis Priou, Marie-Thérèse Priou)

Full review

The Night Sitter

Review preview for The Night Sitter

Good chemistry between Dufour and Champion means that their bond feels real and keeps us caring for them even during the silliest parts of the story.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A con artist poses as a babysitter to steal from a wealthy occult enthusiast, arriving just as his son accidentally summons a trio of witches.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Abiel Bruhn, John Rocco; Writer: Abiel Bruhn, John Rocco; Stars: Amber Neukum, Elyse Dufour, Jack Champion, Jermaine Rivers)

Full review

One Cut Of The Dead (Camera wo Tomeru na!)

Review preview for One Cut Of The Dead

A film that understands its audience exceptionally well.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Shooting a zombie movie in one take is harder than you think...

(Country: Japan; Year: 2017; Director: Shin'ichirô Ueda; Writer: Shin'ichirô Ueda; Stars: Yuzuki Akiyama, Takuya Fujimura, Ayana Gôda, Takayuki Hamatsu, Manabu Hosoi, Hiroshi Ichihara, Satoshi Iwagô, Sakina Iwaji, Mao, Kazuaki Nagaya, Harumi Shuhama, Kyôko Takahashi, Yoshiko Takehara, Tomokazu Yamaguchi, Shuntarô Yamazaki)

Full review

Open 24 Hours

Review preview for Open 24 Hours

Much of what follows is routine horror movie stuff but it's given additional weight by writer/director Padraig Reynolds' understanding of the after-effects of trauma.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
After setting her serial killer boyfriend on fire, a paranoid, delusional woman gets a job at an all-night gas station.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Padraig Reynolds; Writer: Padraig Reynolds; Stars: Emily Tennant, Brendan Fletcher, Vanessa Grasse, Cole Vigue)

Full review

Our House

Review preview for Our House

Director Anthony Scott Burns delivers some real chills but it's the positive aspect of the film, the sense that there's still room for joy in these difficult lives, that makes them so potent.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A young physicist experimenting with the principle of wireless electricity accidentally makes way for something from elsewhere to interact with our world - but is it a force for good or for evil?

(Country: Canada, Germany, US; Year: 2018; Director: Anthony Scott Burns; Writer: Matt Osterman, Nathan Parker; Stars: Thomas Mann, Kate Moyer, Percy Hynes White, Nicola Peltz, Robert B Kennedy, Xavier de Guzman)

Full review

Perfect Skin

A contemporary chiller movie set in the worlds of tattooing and body modification.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Kevin Chicken; Writer: Kevin Chicken, Dusan Tolmac; Stars: Richard Brake, Natalia Kostrzewa, Jo Woodcock)

Piercing

Review preview for Piercing

Without a doubt, Pesce is one of the most exciting young directors to emerge in recent years.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A man seeks out an unsuspecting stranger to help him purge the dark torments of his past. His plan goes awry when he encounters a woman with plans of her own. A playful psycho-thriller game of cat-and-mouse.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Nicolas Pesce; Writer: Nicolas Pesce, based on the novel by Ryû Murakami; Stars: Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska, Laia Costa, Wendell Pierce, Marin Ireland, Maria Dizzia, Dakota Lustick, Olivia Bond)

Full review See: Interview with Nicolas Pesce about Piercing, Mia Wasikowska, Christopher Abbott, Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch

Pimped

Two twisted housemates lure an unbalanced woman into a sexual trap, with murderous results.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2018; Director: David Barker; Writer: David Barker, Lou Mentor; Stars: Ella Scott Lynch, Benedict Samuel, Heather Mitchell, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Robin Goldsworthy)

Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich

The deceased Puppet Master's deadly dolls start killing on their own initiative.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Sonny Laguna, Tommy Wiklund; Writer: S Craig Zahler; Stars: Alex Beh, Barbara Crampton, Nelson Franklin, Skeeta Jenkins, Udo Kier, Thomas Lennon, Michael Paré, Jenny Pellicer, Charlyne Yi)

The Ranger

Review preview for The Ranger

Horror has taken us to cabins in the woods many times before, but it has rarely done so with such spirit.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A gang of young punks on the run from the cops encounter something nasty in the woods.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Jenn Wexler; Writer: Giaco Furino, Jenn Wexler; Stars: Chloe Levine, Larry Fessenden, Amanda Grace Benitez, Jeremy Holm, Granit Lahu, Jeremy Pope, Bubba Weiler)

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

Ravers

When a contaminated energy drink turns an illegal rave into a nightmare, a germaphobic journalist has to overcome her deepest fears to get her friends out alive.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Bernhard Pucher; Writer: Luke Foster; Stars: Natasha Henstridge, Georgia Hirst, Manpreet Bambra, Orson Chaplin)

Secret Santa

Review preview for Secret Santa

A natural crowd movie.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
The Pope family’s Christmas Eve dinner goes horribly and hilariously wrong when someone puts something in the party punch causing everyone to tell the unvarnished truth at the already dysfunctional holiday reunion.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Adam Marcus; Writer: Adam Marcus, Debra Sullivan; Stars: Michelle Renee Allaire, Petra Areskoug, Scott Burkett, Melissa Corkern)

Full review

Seeds

When his increasingly depraved behaviour spirals out of control, Marcus retreats to his family home along the New England coast. But instead of finding solace, Marcus is haunted by his darkest fears and deepest desires.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Owen Long; Writer: Owen Long, Steven Weisman; Stars: Trevor Long, Andrea Chen, Garr Long, Kevin Brezanen)

St. Agatha

A pregnant con woman on the run seeks refuge in a small-town Georgia convent, but finds deadly secrets within.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Darren Lynn Bousman; Writer: Andy Demetrio, Shaun Fletcher; Stars: Sabrina Kern, Carolyn Hennesy, Courtney Halverson, Seth Michaels, Trin Miller, Lindsay Seim)

Summer of '84

Summer, 1984: a perfect time to be a carefree 15-year-old. But when neighbourhood conspiracy theorist Davey Armstrong begins to suspect his police officer neighbour might be the serial killer all over the local news, he and his three best friends begin an investigation that soon turns dangerous.

(Country: US, Canada; Year: 2018; Director: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell; Writer: Matt Leslie, Stephen J Smith; Stars: Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery, Cory Gruter-Andrew, Tiera Skovbye, Rich Sommer, Shauna Johannesen, Jason Gray-Stanford, Mark Brandon, Aren Buchholz, Susie Castillo, J. Alex Brinson, Harrison Houde, William MacDonald, Patrick Lubczyk)

Terrified (Aterrados)

Following a series of mysterious deaths, paranormal experts are brought in to investigate what at first appear to be haunted houses.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2017; Director: Demián Rugna; Writer: Demián Rugna; Stars: Ariel Chavarría, Maximiliano Ghione, Norberto Gonzalo, Elvira Onetto)

Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven)

Review preview for Tigers Are Not Afraid

The performances that director Issa López gets out of the children, most of whom are new to acting, are extraordinary.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
A dark fairy tale about a gang of five children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by the drug war.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2017; Director: Issa López; Writer: Issa López; Stars: Paola Lara, Hanssel Casillas, Rodrigo Cortes, Tenoch Huerta, Juan Ramón López)

Full review

The Tokoloshe

A destitute young woman with dangerously repressed emotions, lands a job as a cleaner at a rundown hospital, where she meets an abandoned child who may face supernatural peril.

(Country: South Africa; Year: 2018; Director: Richard Kunzmann; Writer: Richard Kunzmann, Jerome Pikwane; Stars: Petronella Tshuma, Kwande Nkosi, Dawid Minnaar, Harriet Manamela, Manndla Shongwe, Yule Masiteng)

Upgrade

Review preview for Upgrade

I went with the expectation that I'd see some good old-fashioned cyberpunk-inflected kicky-punch and was not disappointed.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
Set in the near-future, technology controls nearly all aspects of life. But when Grey, a self-identified technophobe, has his world turned upside down, his only hope for revenge is an experimental computer chip implant called Stem.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2018; Director: Leigh Whannell; Writer: Leigh Whannell; Stars: Logan Marshall-Green, Harrison Gilberton, Benedict Hardie, Richard Cawthorne, Linda Cropper, Christopher Kirby, Betty Gabriel, Melanie Vallejo, Michael M Foster, voice of Simon Maiden)

Full review

Videoman (Videomannen)

Review preview for Videoman

A consciously downbeat film in which there can never be any guarantee of salvation.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
An obsessive video collector finds a tape that could solve all his money problems, only to find himself in desperate straits when it disappears.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2018; Director: Kristian A Söderström; Writer: Kristian A Söderström; Stars: Stefan Sauk, Lena Nilsson, Morgan Alling)

Full review See: Interview with Kristian A Söderström about Videoman

What Keeps You Alive

Review preview for What Keeps You Alive

There's an alertness here to the dynamics of domestic abuse that gives the film depth.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A couple's wedding anniversary celebrations take an unexpected turn when one tries to kill the other. Far from help, can the fleeing woman figure out what's going on in time to ensure her survival?

(Country: Canada; Year: 2018; Director: Colin Minihan; Writer: Colin Minihan; Stars: Brittany Allen, Hannah Emily Anderson)

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White Chamber

Review preview for White Chamber

Just as you begin to worry that the conceit might not last the running time, things move in a different and unexpected direction.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A woman wakes in an interrogation room in a future Britain.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Paul Raschid; Writer: Paul Raschid; Stars: Shauna Macdonald, Oded Fehr, Amrita Acharia, Sharon Maughan, Nicholas Farrell, Candis Nergaard, Adrianna Edwards, Shauna Macdonald, Oded Fehr, Amrita Acharia, Sharon Maughan, Nicholas Farrell, Candis Nergaard, Adrianna Edwards)

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The Witch In The Window

When a father and son head far into rural Vermont to renovate an old house, they discover that they're not alone.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Andy Mitton; Writer: Andy Mitton; Stars: Arija Bareikis, Alex Draper, Greg Naughton, Carol Stanzione, Charlie Tacker)

Wolfman's Got Nards

A documentary exploring the power of cult film told through the lens of the 1987 classic The Monster Squad and the impact it has on fans, cast and crew, and the industry.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: André Gower; Writer: André Gower, Henry Darrow McComas; Stars: Shane Black, Fred Dekker, Seth Green, Adam F Goldberg, Heather Lngenkamp, Adam Green)

A Young Man With High Potential

Review preview for A Young Man With High Potential

De Paoli uses a bagful of cinematic tricks to make viewers identify with Piet at his worst.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
After being rejected by the woman he has a crush on, a young computer scientist tries to ease his pain with sleep medication, with unexpected consequences.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Linus de Paoli; Writer: Anna de Paoli, Linus de Paoli; Stars: Adam Ild Rohweder, Paulina Galazka, Pit Bukowski)

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