BURIAL ** UK 2022 Dir: Ben Parker. 95 mins Despite a suitably portentous score by Alex Baranowski and effectively eerie woodland camerawork by Rein Kotov, this is a disappointingly dull second feature from writer-director Ben Parker, who made the claustrophobic THE CHAMBER (2016). The framing story initially compels, with the excellent Harriet Walter (who replaced the late Diana Rigg in the role) as a former Soviet translator watching the end of the old Soviet Union on TV news at Christmas, 1991. When her home is invaded by a neo-Nazi (David Alexander), she turns the tables on him and tells the tale…
Author: Steven West
CANDY LAND **** USA 2022 Dir: John Swab. 93 mins Writer-director John Swab’s features to date, including IDA RED, RUN WITH THE HUNTED, BODY BROKERS and LET ME MAKE YOU A MARTYR (all released within the last six years) have gamely dealt with tough subject matter: child abuse, drug addiction, revenge and crime, though his scripts are punctuated with compassionate characterisations and cleverly balanced dark humour. CANDY LAND, which has a fine score by IDA RED’s David Sardy and is strikingly shot by Will Stone, is an assured, sometimes very funny, often harrowing (and always unpatronising) character-driven piece about sex…
PIGGY **** France / Spain 2022 Dir: Carlota Pereda. 99 mins This is writer-director Carlota Pereda’s solo feature directorial debut, adapting her 2018 short CERDITA and bringing back its remarkable star, Laura Galán to expand upon her original performance. The set-up suggests a relatively straight-forward, cathartic, CARRIE-like revenge saga – as does the startling poster image of the bullied protagonist Sara, blood-soaked and alone in the middle of a road. The narrative path cleverly subverts these expectations while telling a wholly empathetic story of Sara’s plight. Superbly shot in the Academy ratio to emphasise the stifling, insular Spanish community and largely…
TERRIFIER 2 **** USA 2022 Dir: Damien Leone. 140 mins Though the first TERRIFIER arrived at the point where it looked like a possible cash-in on the success of IT CHAPTER ONE, it was the first full-length outing for Art the Clown, the antagonist of writer-director Damien Leone’s earlier short films, themselves adapted for the feature portmanteau debut ALL HALLOW’S EVE (2013). TERRIFIER merged the format and old-school gore FX of 1980s slashers with graphic, mean-spirited death sequences closer to the more aggressive trends of early 21st century American horror -notably the bisection of a naked blonde. Originally played by Mike Gianelli,…
DO NOT DISTURB **** USA 2022 Dir: John Ainslie. 92 mins Writer-director John Ainslie, whose most high profile credit to date was the screenplay for the inventive JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER (2007), cleverly subverts expectations with DO NOT DISTURB, which starts out as a potentially typical psycho-drama, evolves into an excruciating (in all the right ways) “toxic relationship” piece and culminates with a feeding frenzy. Canadian newlyweds Kimberly Laferriere and Rogan Christopher (both terrific in tough, emotionally raw roles) are staying at an Adults Only resort for their Miami honeymoon, befriending another, slightly odd couple (Janet Porter, Christian McKenna) along…