I Blame Society
This at times excruciating feminist satire is propelled forward by Gillian Wallace Horvat’s delightfully deadpan delivery.
Do You Trust Me?
Roger Spottiswoode’s Terror Train is an effective comment on social order, teaching that trust in our hierarchy is a dangerous assumption.
Rift
Ambiguous and beautifully insidious as result, Rift is an impressive sophomore effort from Icelandic filmmaker Erlingur Thoroddsen.
A Dark Song
An astonishing and brave feature debut that marks director-writer Liam Gavin as one to watch. Highly recommended.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Arrow present a limited 4K restoration of Dario Argento's startlingly assured directorial debut.
Halfworlds Season One
Halfworlds brings a strong aesthetic via excellent concept but is ultimately let down by poor pacing and a bad cast.
Santa Clarita Diet
Drew Barrymore shines in a stylised affair that revels in a refreshing juxtaposition of viscera with middle-class suburbia.
Blair Witch
Dream team Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett bring an unusually hit-and-miss affair that nevertheless delivers in a frenetic final act.
Lucifer (TV Series)
Featuring the Devil in his most vanilla of forms, horror fans will be left wanting; Lucifer is disappointingly sparse on strong imagery.
Wolf Creek (TV Series)
Australian outback killer Mick Taylor returns in Wolf Creek the series, an addictively unsettling watch that comes highly recommended.
Holidays
As is generally the case for an anthology, Holidays is a mixed bag, touching all bases between effectively chillsome and irritating.
Observance
Presented as more a thought piece than coherent story, Observance is a truly psychological film and effectively unsettling.
Bachelor Games
Ultimately, Bachelor Games falls flat due to lacking commitment to its ideas, but the comedy stitches it together, albeit loosely.
The Sand
There is nothing to recommend here; as a creature feature (mostly) missing its creature, The Sand is an arduous watch.
Backtrack
With a tenuously linked story that lacks supernatural finesse, Backtrack is confused, and a tiresome experience.
The Messenger
A missed opportunity for exploration of the relationship between mental illness and the supernatural.
Bait
Burrows beneath your skin from the off, with a sly edit that ekes out the tension to unbearable levels.
Cub
For a first-time feature, Cub is a multi-faceted approach that proves too ambitious, let down by incomplete narrative.
100 Bloody Acres
100 Bloody Acres is an excellent example of comedy-horror that gets the balance just right, delivering a thoughtfully layered story.
Killer Mermaids
Coming from a confused premise, Killer Mermaids is an empty affair that lacks subplot and character arc.
Burying the Ex
Populated by stock types, the story is backed by little in the way of characterisation, and missing a necessary campiness.
Afterimages
Serves as a neat, interesting introduction to Asian folklore that allows some playing with storytelling techniques.
Blood Ransom
A slow-burn approach with a dreamlike quality that is at times hypnotic indicates a filmmaker to watch in director-writer Francis dela Torre.
Shrew’s Nest
Begins as a fairly run-of-the-mill supernatural story but unpredictably gives way to a wickedly funny and bloody romp.
The ‘Burbs
For a film not well received at the time, The 'Burbs has dated very well. There is nothing a hard-core fan could want for in this package.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
An absurd, one-gag pony, but these alien clowns look incredible even now.
White Settlers
Pollyanna McIntosh singlehandedly carries the film, but all good work is undone with a crude final act, leading to a laughable climax.
Fun for the Family
From the archives, an interview with the jovial Joko Anwar, writer-director of The Forbidden Door.
FrightFest: Housebound
It is not just in its writing and direction that Housebound excels; the production design is a feast for the eyes.
FrightFest: The Last Showing
With frustratingly little to sink one's teeth into, the film is just as forgettable as the formulaic films it seeks to mock.
FrightFest: Late Phases
The inevitable showdown is a hoot, but overall, a throwaway experience that should have spent more time in development.
The Quiet Ones
A script crying for a horror backbone is frustratingly weak for the most part, its tedious jump-scares no substitute.
Ghost Stories
The promised 'extreme shock and tension' is a baffling assurance; what we have here is far from a true horror production.
Devil in the Woods
Delivers a number of tired tropes amidst a bland screenplay that largely consists of tedious, drawn-out padding.
We Are What We Are (2013)
Carefully conceals the cannibalism at its heart in favour of the examination of familial roles, rites of passage and ritualism.
Shackled
A wonderful beginning to a story that promises surreal, and what follows calls to mind David Lynch in its dreamlike quality.
FrightFest: Big Bad Wolves
Deftly balancing genres, it's a remarkable script that never misses a beat, truly belying the writers' inexperience.
FrightFest: In Fear
A smart screenplay delivers an effective psychological thriller that wastes no time in initiating a tension that remains taut.
FrightFest: No One Lives
Ryûhei Kitamura's second US venture is a riot; revelling in its throwaway nonsense, it's fun from the get-go and knows it.
FrightFest: The Paranormal Diaries – Clophill
One hell of a dull time, with nothing other than repetitive speculation to lull one to sleep.
FrightFest: Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman
Crams in every bit of exploitation style it can into the first 10 minutes alone.
FrightFest: Haunter
Showcases a great deal of devil in its detail, with a tight-knit, metaphysical framework that may require multiple viewings.
FrightFest: The Dyatlov Pass Incident
The final act crosses the line between fantastical to slightly amusing ridiculousness.
Possession
Stark, exhilarating and utterly lacking in compromise, Andrzej Zulawski's film is an emotionally brutal watch.
Infection Z
Flounders between drafts, as confused as its one-dimensional characters. A jarring edit does nothing to help matters.
Konga
A hoot from beginning to end, this is sheer B-movie lunacy of remarkably bad proportions, and all the more essential for it.
Slice & Dice: The Slasher Film Forever
Enjoyable enough, but is more fond nostalgia as opposed to a true study of the subgenre.
Evil Dead
Overall, what the film does, which is torture porn, it does well. But Evil Dead does not do The Evil Dead well.
Evil Dead 2
The extras on offer here earn this release its entitlement to the term 'special edition', where so many others fail.