PEARL **** Canada / New Zealand / USA 2022 Dir: Ti West. 103 mins Ti West strikes again with his prequel to X (2022) which saw a young group of filmmakers setting out to make an adult film on farm property owned by Pearl. PEARL (2022) focuses on it’s namesake when she was a young girl in 1918, during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Mia Goth has another chance to display her superb acting talents as Pearl during her desperate attempt to escape isolation and her controlling mother. As she feels increasingly stifled, she descends into insanity realising her dreams may…
Author: Poppy Blundell
WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY ** UK 2023 Dir: Rhys Frake-Waterfield. 84 mins With Winnie the Pooh entering the public domain, it was only a matter of time before someone turned our pleasant childhood memories of the Hundred Acre Wood into horrific nightmares. With a mixture of animation and live action, the opening scenes really engage the audience as we hear all about our favourite characters from the Hundred Acre Wood. Sadly, this is probably the most interesting part of the film as we just go downhill from here. This is mostly down to a weak plot, as Christopher…
INFINITY POOL **** Canada / Croatia / Hungary 2023 Dir: Brandon Cronenberg. 117 mins A film that evidences Brandon Cronenberg’s excellent filmmaking skills. Brandon, like his father, manages to create a sense of dread so severe that the film isn’t an easy watch. It appears that Brandon has a moral ability to imagine some extreme shocks, to the point I found this more extreme and enjoyable than Crimes Of The Future (2022). I know Brandon probably dislikes the constant comparison to his father but it is hard not to compare two of the best sci-fi horror creators around. Infinity Pool…
RIPPER’S REVENGE **** UK 2023 Dir: Steve Lawson. 85 mins The sequel to Ripper Untold (2021), Ripper’s Revenge follows newspaper reporter Sebastian Stubb (Chris Bell) as he receives letters from someone reporting to be Jack the Ripper, one year on from the infamous murders. Writer / Director Steve Lawson creates a great fictitious story, centred around the real-life serial killer Jack the Ripper. This link is one of the reasons I wanted to watch the film as I’ve always been interested in the Jack the Ripper case. For me, it made the storyline far more engaging. Another reason for my…
SONAR **** UK 2022 Dir: James Hughes. 7 mins Having seen behind the scenes photos, I knew this was going to be good. I was shocked to discover that this was made with zero budget as part of a competition. The ambitious director James Hughes succeeded in creating a beautifully shot drama short with some superb horror elements. The film follows a late night swimmer who follows an unusual sound coming from under the water. The cinematography plays a key role as the audience are drawn into the deep. David Cawley and Jan Vaceanu-Staicov are clearly highly talented enough that…