Rituals and cycles of grief: 10 picks from FrightFest 2021 first published as a preview piece for BFI Includes capsules of: Post Mortem, Slapface, Offseason, Nocturna: Side A – The Great Old Man’s Night, Hotel Poseidon, Dawn Breaks Behind The Eyes, The Unburied, Coming Home In The Dark, Ultrasound, Broadcast Signal Intrusion Grief is an…
OffSeason first published by Movies On Weekends Aside from an attention-grabbing prologue and the occasional flashback, OffSeason is set entirely on the coastal island of Lone Palm just as the last summer tourists leave. The key word here is ‘off’ – for although this is a pleasure resort whose blue-skied beaches are for half the…
Psychopaths first published by SciFiNow Sanity and insanity are not absolutes, but belong to a dynamic spectrum. In the world of cinema, a film’s sanity is measured in terms of its narrative coherence, its clear exposition, and its stable visual style. The more you strip these away, the madder the finished product – although, of…
Pod first published by Little White Lies Featuring, like Ted Geoghegan’s We Are Still Here, a basement and Larry Fessenden is Pod, written and directed by Mickey Keating (Ultra Violence, Ritual). While lacking anything like the budget or scale of The Cabin In The Woods, it is mostly set in one, and similarly challenges viewers to a knowing…