FrightFest — A–Z of films

Although Jonas describes his leg as rotting, we get only the briefest hints of what this looks like to him. For the most part, it just looks like an ordinary leg, and our understanding of his position comes from Singh’s performance.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff to explore here and it’s a shame that we don’t get into it in more depth.

The characters are larger than life, each with a distinctive look, to make it easier to keep track. The effect is rather like being at a drunken fancy dress party.

Cinematographer Fransisco Bulgarelli captures the angles perfectly: the theatrical glides, the lingering gaze, the suddenly intimate close-ups on faces when we don’t know whether to expect comedy or violence.

There is visceral violence in Bennett and Brooks’ film, an explicit study of some of the dynamics of self harm, at times eroticised, and a lot of blood. Still, it is essentially a character-driven piece.

Director Mercedes Bryce Morgan plies her trade with a style and verve which elevate this far above the 1980s straight-to-VHS erotic thrillers that it superficially resembles.

The sense that the characters have accidentally wandered into the wrong film is exacerbated by the fact that we see very little direct interaction.

What is interesting here is that Olivia is never objectified.

The story is told more through symbols, the expressionist, the surreal, rather that through the harsh binary abstractions of language.

The original film was derided by critics for being crude, exploitative and immature. Fans will be pleased to know that this one delivers more of the same.

Effective and brilliantly crafted...

Sin, heresy and sexual ecstasy intertwine in a story which lacks theological depth but probably approximates fairly well the understanding of most peasants and low status clergy at the time.

It’s hard to describe the plot without it sounding laughable, but as a viewing experience it is, at times, riveting.

Most of Reece’s works are first and foremost character studies, so it’s not surprising that his adherence to plot doesn’t last; the film is better for it.

What does deserve attention here is Harvey Davis’ score, which skillfully balances Lifestyle motifs with horror ones to great comic effect.

Set almost entirely within a single toilet stall, this is low budget filmmaking par excellence.

An astute portrait of an experience still underexplored onscreen.

Consistently above the quality of the average genre film, and always visually interesting..

The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House feels more like a high speed soap opera than a properly creepy ghost story.

Cleverer than it looks, and not altogether as cynical, Healing Andy may not always succeed in its tricky balancing act but it deserves praise for doing something so different.

Hellcat is an unforgettable ride.

It’s a bit of lightweight fluff, but it has no pretensions, and its heroes are easy to like.

Pereira and Cayo could probably carry a “two-hander” – which The Instinct is – with no trouble, but only if they had something real in their characters to work with

The pace is so manic, the action so intense, that it’s easy to be fully immersed in Jimmy’s experience.

If there were any justice in the world, Toby Poser would be in the running for major awards for her performance.

Some of this is a bit heavy-handed, as the film attempts to communicate to a mixed audience, but the capable Burt keeps it feeling real.

Maberly herself is unforgettable in a gem of a role.

Ultimately. McClarnon’s biggest advantage lies in his cast.

If you’re in it for the gore and grotesquerie...you’ll find a good deal to satisfy you, but it does give the impression of wanting to deliver in more sophisticated ways as well.

With an eye of the colonial history of the Philippines, Red pieces together the story of several generations of a family whose lives have been inextricably wound up with the country’s developing film industry

I didn't go in with high expectations but I was thrilled.

It’s refreshing to encounter a multiverse film that doesn’t mess about.

There’s smart staging, structural and visual misdirection, and a number of sharp twists.

Zerr’s documentary has its own rough edges and suits the spirit of Rocky Horror.

Bloomquist invites us to think again about the type of people who are drawn into cults, and to reflect on what is missing that they need to replace in this way.

Alice Maio Mackay’s...most accessible film to date.

Seward invests heavily in her character. Despite everything Jen does, one keeps hoping for the world to give her a break.

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.

There are enough details here to spawn a lot of conspiracy theories.