The Coffee Table (La mesita del comedor)screens at HÕFF – Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival “I guarantee that this table, due to its design and standard, will change your life for the better,” says salesman Cayetano (Eduardo Antuña) to Jésus (David Pareja) and María (Estefanía de los Santos), out shopping with their newborn son…
A Zed & Two Noughts first published by Movie Gazette, 2 December 2004 One evening, a low-flying swan collides with a car driving along Swan(n)’s Way, killing two female passengers instantly. Their husbands, Oliver and Oswald Deuce (Brian and Eric Deacon), biologists working for the same zoo who also happen to be brothers and, as…
Cerebrum had its world première in the First Blood strand at FrightFest 2022 Writer/director Sébastien Blanc’s feature debut Cerebrum opens with a quote from Goethe (“Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes”) and with a creepy dream sequence about the ties that bind. For young William Blackwell (Tobi…
Climbing (Keul-la-i-ming) screens at the London Korean Film Festival, 18 Nov, 2021 In Climbing (Keul-la-i-ming), developed from writer/director Kim Hye-mi’s debut project for the Korean Academy of Film Arts’ feature animation course, Choi Se-hyeon (voiced by Kim Min-ji) is under a lot of pressure. A solo climber absolutely committed to her craft and hoping to…
Slapface has its international Première at FrightFest 2021 “You know why we have to do this?” says young adult Tom (Mike Manning) to his much younger, scared-looking brother Lucas (August Maturo) at the very beginning of Slapface. “Are you ready?” And then, the title of writer/director Jeremiah Kipp’s feature (adapted from his 2018 short of…
The text with which Wander opens offers a dedication to “all indigenous, black, and people of color who are targeted and have been displaced through border control on stolen land”, and expresses a desire to “expose government violences, propel change and honor the voices of those who have been silenced.” Sure enough, the film opens…
Although emphatically a Danish film, Riders Of Justice (Retfærdighedens rytter) opens with an idyllic Yuletide scene in Tallinn, Estonia, as a teenaged girl and her uncle – whose big white beard makes him a deadringer for Santa Claus – go shopping at the markets for the bicycle that she would like for Christmas. Amid the…
Stuck first published by Film4 “Out of sight, out of mind.” So says Rashid (Russell Hornsby), the drug-dealing boyfriend of Brandi Boski (Mena Suvari), as the pair plots to get rid of Thomas Bardo (Stephen Rea) – a homeless man who has become lodged in the windshield of Boski’s car after she accidentally rammed him…
Kursk: The Last Mission first published by Little White Lies As the opening credits – white on a blank black background – roll, we hear watery sounds, and a gasping inhalation. Young Misha (Artemiy Spiridonov) appears in medium close-up, completely underwater, and the arm of Mikhail Averin (Matthias Schoenaerts) moves in front of his face…