FILE NOT FOUND **** UK 2022 Dir: Lindsay Bennett-Thompson. 17 mins In a dystopian future in which the AIs control everything, even memory, Jenny (Lucie Browne) learns that something sinister may have killed her partner Maggy (Lindsay Bennett-Thompson), even though her death had been ruled a suicide. Bennett-Thompson creates a beautiful story, blending grief with technology and traditional horror with surprising results. Initially, my thoughts went to how visually striking the setting was. A modern minimalistic look was perfect for how we imagine 2035 to be. The light was also used to great effect to show the mood of the…
Author: Poppy Blundell
MY AUTOPSY *** USA 2020 Dir: Holly Mollohan. 111 mins MY AUTOPSY is an excellent drama following Rachel (Gareth Tidball) as she rids herself of abusive boyfriend Vince (Dave Stishan). For a low-budget indie film, I felt this was really well put together, although some scenes did begin to drag slightly. A little editing could easily solve this issue. Main actress Gareth Tidball is superb, as always. Her brilliant display of emotion carried the storyline through the almost two hour runtime. She was able to express a variety of different emotions and was respectful of the hard-hitting storyline that focuses…
HATCHING *** Finland / Sweden 2022 Dir: Hanna Bergholm. 91 mins Having heard that a lot of people had walked out of screen unseen showings, I was a little worried about seeing this. Then it appeared on the listings for Dark Dukes at The Dukes Lancaster and I couldn’t resist the screening to see for myself. I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the concept. Of course, if you’re not a fan of subtitled foreign language film, this won’t be for you. The film was well acted and Siiri Solalinna was absolutely brilliant, especially for such a young actress playing…
RUN SWEETHEART RUN ** USA 2020 Dir: Shana Feste. 104 mins Cherie (Ella Balinska) does her boss a favour and takes their client, Ethan (Pilou Asbæk) to dinner. Afterwards, she finds herself on the run, trying to evade him and his horrifying ways. Run Sweetheart Run is more a film about sending a message on society’s issues than it is a horror film. Shana Feste aims for an overtly feminist approach, taking the suspense with it. Had this remained the simplistic cat and mouse chase I thought it was going to be, I would have enjoyed it far more than…
LET’S SCARE JULIE * USA 2019 Dir: Jud Cremata. 83 mins A group of teen girls are at a sleepover when they decide to scare the new neighbour that they’ve never met. The poster sold this one to me with the dark and neon clashing, making it look so good that I wanted to experience this film for myself. It seemed that the film was too ambitious and needed far more of a budget than it had. We don’t really see much of anything. We just see a group of girls running scared as they all begin to disappear after…