Tag Archives: Horror

Tension That Kept You On The Edge Of Your Seat In 2024!

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Well, we have looked at Action, then Emotion and swung wildly across the spectrum to Fun, and now we are completing that trifecta by looking at Tension. Tension is one of the most challenging facets of filmmaking because it requires the script, direction, acting, and editing to all work in tandem to evoke the perfect pace. If just one part of that group misses, then an essential part of the film falls apart.

In 2024, we continued to see some excellent use of tension to build mystery, to be the harbinger of the coming dread, or even to tick the clock of inevitability.   

Our Highly Commended Films in 2024 are: Abigail, Force of Nature, Kill, The Moogai & Turtles All the Way Down
Our Highly Commended TV in 2024 are: Black Doves, The Diplomat, Dune Prophecy & The Lord of the Rings

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Nosferatu (2025) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that is both deeply compelling but also profoundly unsettling. You want to look away, but something keeps drawing you back in.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Ellen screams.

Nosferatu Review –

Few films have the legacy of Nosferatu. This story has been foundational to the horror genre generally and vampire films specifically. Nearly every movie in this genre either references the original Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens or consciously does not reference that film. But when you are working in a space shared by Bram Stoker, F. W. Murnau & Werner Herzog, you must bring your a-game, and I think Robert Eggers did.

So, to set the scene, Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) has newly married the love of his life, Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp), but his finances mean that he has to live under the kindness of his friend Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Wanting to give the world to his new love, Thomas takes up a job as a real estate agent in his town of Wisborg under the auspices of Herr Knock (Simon McBurney). It is here that he is given the job to travel all the way to Transylvania to meet with a reclusive Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) to sign a property deed. Everyone advises that he should not go, but go he does, not knowing he has fallen into a dastardly trap.  

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Latency (Hana’s Game) Review: A Missed Opportunity in Sci-Fi

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TL;DR – Latency is a film that explores an exciting topic but feels more defined by its limitations than what it was trying to achieve.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Aliens converge on Hana.

Latency Review –

Today, we are looking at a film that explores the interface between biology and technology, which is probably one of the significant issues that will impact people in the not-so-distant future. This is the kind of science fiction that we have seen a lot of in the last couple of years but with more of a video game lean to it. Which I always find fascinating.

So, to set the scene, we open with Hana (Sasha Luss) hearing something crashing against her door when it crashes open and aggressive aliens storm in. She takes out her gun and despatches wave after wave on them until she notices one of them glitching through a wall. She likes QA work because she has agoraphobia and struggles to leave her unit with only her friend Jen (Alexis Ren) able to come inside without Hana having a breakdown. But when Hana gets a surprise package of the next Omnia headset, she has to try it out. But it is more than just a game. It is a brain-computer interface that can interface with every device in your life and learn from your brain patterns. It should give zero latency to gaming. It is revolutionary, but it also has the stink of a corporation messing where it shouldn’t.

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Piper (The Piper) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While Piper has a solid premise, it does not have the narrative to hold you for the runtime.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The Piper on a roof top.

Piper Review –

Today we are looking at an interesting film, in that I think we have something with an interesting premise, is conceptionally quite sound, yet ended up feeling more lacklustre than anything else. It is an odd disconnect that I hope to explore.

So, to set the scene, Liz (Elizabeth Hurley) and her daughter Amy (Mia Jenkins) have moved across the world to a small town in Germany. The town is so quiet and charming that they didn’t need their local prison so they turned it into a school where Liz will now work. Just don’t ask about the wi-fi. But beyond the charm, this is a city with a dark secret, but secrets are everywhere, and these secrets could kill.

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The Moogai – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A truly emotional ride through a new mother’s hell realised when no one trusts her that something is coming for her son.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

A tree ringed with fire.

The Moogai Review –

Today, we are looking at a fascinating film that, like Cargo, started life as a short film and then was expanded into a feature. Also, much like Cargo, I have never watched a short film, so I am coming into this world without any preconceived notions about where it would go. Indeed, I only knew that it was a horror film and that the production behind it is Indigenous, a combination I had not seen much of since Cleverman, and I am glad that I made the trek to BIFF to watch this, even if it meant I did not sleep well that night.   

So, to set the scene, it is the 1970s and officers from the government were snooping around the missions, hoping to take away the kids as their fathers were away for work. Agnes (Precious Ann) and her sister (Aisha Alma) run into the bush to escape, but Agnes hides in the one cave she should not have gone into. In 2024, Sarah (Shari Sebbens) has just closed a deal at her law firm and is enjoying the highlife with her husband Fergus (Meyne Wyatt) when suddenly her baby comes without warning, and both almost lose their lives in the process. Sarah is trying to adapt to the trauma and is not helped by her birth mother, Ruth (Tessa Rose), nosing in. But as she tries to sleep, she sees white-eyed children warning her that ‘he’ is coming ‘to take her baby away’.

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Speak No Evil (2024) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Unnerving, unsettling, uncomfortable, and unpleasant, but given that was the intention of the film, I then have to say that it achieved what it set out to do.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Louise tries to smother a scream.

Speak No Evil Review –

Well … phew … wow … today we look at a challenging film to review because I don’t think I have ever been this stressed watching a movie before. I am sorry for anyone next to me at the screening from the constant clicking of my pen. However, this stress was not a by-product of the film but the full intent of the filmmakers, which is what we will explore today.  

So, to set the scene, Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis), Ben Dalton (Scoot McNairy), and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) are all on a slightly stressful trip to the Italian countryside. Ben ripped his family from their lives for a new opportunity in London, only to lose his job when his company closed. Agnes has struggled with attachment issues, and it is clear that the parent’s relationship is under immense strain. However, one day, they meet up with Paddy (James McAvoy), his partner Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and child Ant (Dan Hough). The two families have a completely different vibe, but they bond in the face of Danish snobbery. At the end of the trip, Paddy invites the Daltons to visit them in the West Country, and they take them up on the offer. One long drive into the deep countryside, they come across a house full of possibilities, but it is also clear that something is not right.

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While it does not hit nearly as hard 40-years later, it was still a fun ride from start to finish, if you can get through all the mess.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit sequence.

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film.

Beetlejuice appears from the mist.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review –

While you should never say Beetlejuice’s name three times, today we are in luck because we are looking at the sequel which is just Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. However, delving back into the past and trying to find a sequel after 40-odd years since the first outing is a potentially fraught endeavour. Can you capture what made the first Beetlejuice a hit all those years ago? Well, that is what we will look at today.

So, to set the scene, in the many years since Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) helped the Maitland ghost’s out she has become a mother, and a host of a very popular ghost show called Ghost House with Lydia Deetz. However, every now and again, out of the corner of her eye she sees a man with green hair and striped suit. Lydia was in the middle of taping one of her shows with her producer Rory (Justin Theroux) when she gets an urgent call from her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara). Her father has been killed and the whole family is going back to Winter River for the funeral, including Lydia’s mostly estranged daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who does not believe that her mother can commune with the dead. Mourning for the dead can be a difficult process, but when mysterious woman called Delores (Monica Bellucci) appears in the afterlife killing souls and sending Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) into hiding. Well, a fortunate timed funeral could be just what he needs to connect with his almost wife from all those years ago.

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Beetlejuice (1988) Review – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR – Delightfully odd in a way I am not sure you could capture today. 

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Stan service that viewed this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The Handbook for the Recently Deceased.

Beetlejuice Review –

When I was invited to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, I was intrigued, given just how much social legacy the first film Beetlejuice had. But then, as I sat there thinking about the original movie, it dawned on me: I had watched it, right? But for the life of me, I could not remember if I had actually watched it? Or was it one of those films that you have just absorbed through the osmosis of the decades? Well, there is only one way to fix a dilemma like that, and that is to remove all doubt.

So, to set the scene, we open as Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) plays with his model town as he and his wife Barbara (Geena Davis) holiday at their holiday home. It is a beautiful time for all, right up until they swerve to miss a dog and are killed in the crash, not that they know they are dead for a while. They try to find purpose in the afterlife, but that is shattered when a new family, Charles (Jeffrey Jones), Delia (Catherine O’Hara), and Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), arrives. They want to change everything, but there might be hope when the daughter catches a glimpse of the couple looking from a window. But when they can’t get anyone to leave, they do something everyone was warned against: they say “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” (Michael Keaton).     

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Alien: Romulus – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Beware of Weyland-Yutani Corp representatives bearing gifts.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Jackob's Star Planet.

Alien: Romulus Review –

I have always had an interesting relationship with the Alien films. When I was a kid, a snippet of people crawling through an air vent and a life sign catching up with them scared the life out of me. It goes without saying that Aliens have the legacy it has for a reason. However, recent entries have always pulled me in different directions. For example, Alien: Covenant was a stunningly beautiful film filled with people acting like they had no sense. However, there is a core of these films that can work, and that was what I was looking for today.

So, to set the scene, life is hard in Jackson’s Star Mining Colony, 60-odd light years from Earth. While the mines are rich, the storms constantly rain, the clouds block out the sun, and the mine continually kills people through collapse or disease. Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) has worked hard to get her quota done so she and her brother Andy (David Jonsson) can get off and go live in an independent farming colony when they discover that The Company has doubled their quota. They must stay for six more years. Rain is distraught, but her old friend Tyler (Archie Renaux) may have found an out. He and his crew, Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Navarro (Aileen Wu), have discovered an old ship left in orbit that has an intact hypersleep chamber. If they can steal it, they could get off-planet. The only problem is why the ship is abandoned.

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Beneath Us All – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While there was a lot of promise with this scenario, you can tell that there were factors like the budget that held it back.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Left overs from a mauling.

Beneath Us All Review –

Today, we dive back into the world of Vampires, a world of shadows and screams. I have quite liked vampire films in the past because they are this blend of bloody action with profound lore. There are many versions of vampires, and I am interested to see where we will land in today’s film.

So, to set the scene, it is Scandinavia back in 912 AD when a child is ripped apart by a monster that appeared from the woods. The Monster (Yan Birch) was captured, but they could not kill him, so he was buried in a coffin, taken across the seas and then dumped in Vinland. In the modern day, Vinland is now North America and is full of rural Americans. Some of them are Todd (Sean Whalen) and Janelle Gibbs (Maria Olsen), who foster several kids and are not the nicest people in the world. But one day, their foster daughter Julie (Angelina Danielle Cama) is walking in the woods when a perceived noise impacts her head after she touches an amulet, which leads her to something buried in the ground.    

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