Together first published by SciFiNow, 15 August 2025 “We love each other,” Millie (Alison Brie) tells her ‘boy partner’ Tim (Dave Franco, in fact Brie’s real-life husband) some way into Michael Shanks’ feature debut Together, “but if we don’t split now it will be much harder later.” Millie and Tim have been together for ten…
White Guilt first published by Dirty Movies, for its world première at Raindance 2025 A group of eleven young white millennials, all strangers, travel together on a coach, their eerie silence strictly enforced by Adam (David Ajayi), a black man sitting at the front in dark glasses and military fatigues. One of the travellers, Timothy…
A Sip of Hell (Un Trago de Infierno) first published by Dirty Movies, timed with its world première at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2024 Pilar Boyle and Mariano Asseff’s A Sip of Hell (Un Trago de Infierno) begins with BDSM. A riding crop lands repeatedly on the raw-red buttocks of Niko (Boyle, excellent),…
The Benefactress (an exposure of cinematic freedom) comes with four introductions. The first is a text-form content warning (“The following film contains material that may be harmful or traumatising to some audiences – VIEWER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED”), and while the horror genre (in particular) is full of such warnings as a kind of conventionalised…
Strange Darling first published by SciFiNow, for its international première at FrightFest, 24 August, 20204 “Are you a serial killer?” says a woman credited only as The Lady (Willa Fitzgerald) to the man credited only as The Demon (Kyle Gallner). This may be how Strange Darling opens, but then time moves in mysterious ways here. After…
El Instinto (Instinct)had its UK première at FrightFest, 3.30pm Saturday 23rd August “It’s important to remember that dog training always involves a certain degree of coercion, and positive reinforcement,” says the chipper narrator (voiced by José María del Río) on the educational video which opens, and regularly reappears in, writer/director Juan Albarracìn’s feature debut El…
Don’t Let The Cat Out had its UK première at FrightFest, 3.15pm Friday 22nd August “Oh the wifi is ‘catpeople’ – all one word, lower case,” says Rodney Davis (Jordan James Smith) near the beginning of Tim Cruz’s Don’t Let The Cat Out, as he heads out with his wife Evelyn (Cerina Vincent), leaving their…
Custom had its world première at the Glasgow FrightFest 2024. “Hi, I’m Snake”, says a young man (Rowan Polonski) direct to camera at the beginning of writer/director Tiago Teixeira’s feature debut Custom. “And I’m Flower,” says the young woman (Abigail Hardingham) sat next to him. ‘Snake’ and ‘Flower’ are not their real names – for…
Good Boy (aka Me, You & Frank) screens at HÕFF – Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival “If you have a pulse and two legs, then we’re well on our way,” reads the Tinder bio of Sigrid (Katrine Lovise Øpstad Fredriksen) seen near the beginning of Good Boy (aka Me, You & Frank). While this…
Piaffe screened at the London Film Festival 2022 When her trans sibling Zara (Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau), a foley artist, is suddenly institutionalised, nervous, near mute film archivist Eva (Simone Bucio) takes over Zara’s commission reproducing equine sounds on an advertisement for a pharmaceutical ‘mood stabiliser’ punningly named Equilibri. Yet even as the ad’s director insists…
Blind Beast (Mōjū) first published by Little White Lies, as the 134th entry in my Cinema Psychotronicum column “My name is Aki Shima,” Aki (Mako Midori) says in voiceover at the beginning of Blind Beast (Mōjū). “I was never very popular as a fashion model.” This narration is accompanied by black-and-white images of Aki taken…