FrightFest — A–Z of films

Its anti-colonial, culturally sensitive perspective feels distinctly modern, and Val Guest’s direction has ensured that it remains tense viewing.

Scott wrings out every last drop of suspense from the film.

It’s an unusual piece of cinema which slips between genres with impressive agility.

It’s Gerrard who really carries the film, presenting us with a young man whose conflicted thinking is never well concealed despite his efforts to seem in control, but who has real emotional depths beneath it.

The production values here are a cut above what one would normally expect for something with this theme and these characters.

Branson dispenses with those tired old survivor narratives and casts humanity’s future in a different light.

Throughout, Yeon’s directorial skill and Byun Bong-sun’s stylish cinematography grip viewers’ attention.

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

It’s a monster movie by the numbers and yet its creators have a good understanding of how to give viewers what they really don’t want.

The Cull is well suited to an experienced horror audience ready to engage with [its] ambiguities.

There is plenty of mystery for those who enjoy such things, and it’s well put together, but it’s only one aspect of a film which is really interested in what people choose not to consider and in how people allow themselves to be misdirected.

If this film has one thing to distinguish it, it’s its werewolf concept.

Schwab invests heavily in atmosphere.

It’s rare to find a character this well developed in a slasher film, but Goldhaber pays equal attention to the smaller roles.

The thesis behind it doesn’t really emerge until the end, when we get the suggestion that if Band’s work is less visible these days, that’s at least in part because of what has happened to everything else.

It’s edge of your seat stuff. It’s also unabashedly exploitation cinema.

We move from one subject and set of characters to another, but the pacing, energy, horror and humour are perfectly in key, and the whole is a perfect delight.

A great deal of care and attention has gone into the design of the house.

The darkness in the film is balanced by humorous observations about the way that kids in general tend to take their support frameworks for granted.

Ninaber makes cautious, conscious choices throughout.

Made in close consultation with the people whose ancient lore it borrows, this is a film rich in detail, so solidly grounded and astute in its observation of real world horrors that viewers will find it easy to accept its more fantastical aspects.

Lulu Wilson’s impatient energy and Wexler’s panache are perfectly matched.

It...contains one of the most ruthless break-ups in recent cinematic history.

Joseph Field Eccles and Nick Smyth’s sound design...is magnificent from start to finish, and full of playful touches.

Though its subject may be technical, this is essentially a rock n’ roll story.

One of the strongest zombie films for years.

Le Coroller’s horror is at its best when it focuses on Margot’s psychological meltdown as she works against the clock.

Although it follows the standard script in terms of its basic outline, Spider Island is more than usually likeable and more than usually fun.

Concerned with exploring what ordinary people might do in extremis, Terrestrial is one of those films that turns on a single line.

As befits a film set on a rapid commuter train, the pace rarely lets up.

Characters who belong to a fairy tale or folkloric world struggle to contain themselves in flesh, edged out by the existence of mere mortals who, despite their vulnerability, forever push them to the edges of the narrative.

For a zombie film, it is remarkably sanguine.

Ignatius and Psinakis know what they want and most of the time, they get it.

Underscoring everything here is the can-do spirit to be found in the film’s heroes and in its creators.

There are moments when things come together and the fierce weather generates a powerful mood.