STALKER *** UK 2022 Dir: Steve Johnson. 93 mins Elevators became ostensible no-go areas, cable-controlled coffins during the Covid pandemic and have, logically enough, long been a potent backdrop for horrific individual set pieces (DEEP RED / FINAL DESTINATION 2 / DAMIEN: OMEN II) and entire films (Dick Maas’ THE LIFT, DEVIL). This effective one (tiny) room, two-handed chiller – an ideal format for a picture shot in said pandemic – opens with stats reminding us that, while one in two women will be stalked in their lifetime, one in nineteen men face the same ordeal. It’s a good scene-setter…
Author: Steven West
CONTROL ** Canada 2022 Dir: James Mark. 90 mins Another in the growing army of perfect-Covid era movies: a stripped down, one-room (save for beach-based flashbacks), mostly two-character containment piece. Sadly, it’s also yet another entry in the over-crowded cycle of “Sadistic KRYPTON FACTOR” movies spun off from Canada’s CUBE series, in which a small group of characters are at the mercy of a seen-but-not-heard puppet master for reasons that only become clear during the climactic exposition-o-rama plot twist. The SAW franchise has always owed as much to that series as it does to SE7EN, and since then, we’ve seen a…
ORCHESTRATOR OF STORMS: THE FANTASTIQUE WORLD OF JEAN ROLLIN **** USA 2022 Dir: Kat Ellinger, Dima Ballin. 113 mins Narrated by Ayvianna Snow and with Benoit Carry voicing the words of the late filmmaker himself, this enthralling feature documentary adeptly captures the influences, passion and struggles of beloved French director Jean Rollin, while attempting to convey the unique facets that have garnered him a sizable following over the decades. Co-directors Ellinger and Ballin paint a vivid picture of “one of the few authentic independent filmmakers”, who made cinematic poems about dreams and memories existing in some netherworld between horror and…
EVERYONE FORGOT *** UK 2022 Dir: Theo Kai Marlow. 18 mins Editor / producer / writer / director Theo Kai Marlow follows his 2018, April Fools’ Day-based short THE MOST SAVAGE WEDDING EVER with this effective meld of dark humour and pathos. It opens with a microcosm of loneliness and desperation in our social media dominated world: first seen in a dressing gown dragging on a fag, Lily (Anwen Bull) has turned 40 but only has a self-made chocolate cake (“I’m 40 bitches” it screams) and zero “happy birthday” notifications to show for it. Resigning herself to an unsatisfying “People…
INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE **** France / Belgium 2022 Dir: Quentin Dupieux. 74 mins Here’s the 11th feature film from electronic musician Mr. Ozio, a.k.a. writer-director-cinematographer-editor Quentin Dupieux, who makes high-concept sort-of sci-fi / horror comedies about murderous tyres (RUBBER, 2010), malevolent jackets (DEERSKIN, 2019) and giant flies (MANDIBLES, 2020). These, and his latest, are an acquired taste for sure – but never dull and, at his typically brief running time (under an hour and a quarter), seldom outstay their welcome. This one is a characteristically strange hybrid of quirky time-travel story hook, absurdist sub-plots, observational humour and pathos. Alain Chabat…