Overlook Film Festival — A–Z of films

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.

Landis keeps the humour dry, the speech naturalistic, yet his keen sense of the absurd provides for some laugh-out-loud moments.

What emerges is thoughtful and deeply humane, whilst retaining that sense of otherness essential to folkloric tales.

Boorman has an extraordinary openness about him which would make him a compelling subject even if he’d never made a film in his life.

Just like those familiar experiences of watching late night ads, Buffet Infinity casts a spell over the viewer.

The film’s general campiness does not diminish the points it’s making.

At the centre of the film, Breaux is superb, not only capturing the pathos vital to the monster but carrying him through the long, slow process of cognitive development and emotional realisation without ever striking a false note.

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

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

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.

Likely to put a smile on the faces of horror fans who favour the dissection of ideas over dismemberment.

One of the most impressive films of the year to date.

Like all the best supernatural tales, it keeps the rules simple but still manages to wrongfoot viewers.

Obsession is not just a real indicator of talent but an absolute treat.

Director/co-writer Glenn McQuaid uses larger than life cinematic tropes as a means of getting at his subject effectively.

The complex interaction of desire and disgust is expressed through the textures of indulgent, luxurious foods juxtaposed with similarly textured body parts in a way that is both sensual and grotesque.

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.