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Director profile – Rob Savage

British horror cinema continuously delivers fantastic films and filmmakers alike, with countless classics rising from home soil; whether that’s folkloric nightmares, Hammer Horrors, gritty zombie fests, satiric parodies or creature features, Britain is a motherland of talent. One of these standout contributors to the genre is director Rob Savage. In the past couple of years, Savage’s work has traversed the land of short films, indie features, and major Hollywood debuts, with each picture delivering a unique, distinctive slice of terror for audiences to devour. 

Savage’s efforts to captivate his audiences can be traced back to his pure passion for filmmaking, which began early in the award-winning director’s journey when he made his first short film at the young age of 13. For a budding teen, his debut short, Sex Scene (2009), tackled quite the earnest storyline of two young individuals trying to navigate the world of intimacy. Following his first taste of creation, Savage continued to wield a camera and direct, edit and write a bundle of independent short stories such as Act (2010), Sit in Silence (2011), and I Am (2012).  

By the time Savage hit the later years of adolescence, it was clear that the young man with a movie camera would be bound to a career within the industry. Throughout the following years, Savage’s hard graft and drive for creation would yield significant results, being a testament to contemporary horror cinema.  

Strings (2012) 

Savage’s first feature-length film was a pure grassroots venture, and the filmmaker has since expressed the opportune nature of its production. Straight out of school, Savage used all his university savings to create a film, which he made off a borrowed camera and was filmed at his college. However, just like many great directors, Savage did not need the expensive thrills to produce a standout debut. 

String’s warm reception is mainly owed to Savage’s emotive take on a tender yet dramatic coming-of-age story following four teenagers who vow to spend their last summer together before venturing into adulthood. The film is thematically reminiscent of the series Skins (2007) and visually remindful of the likes of Fish Tank(2009), with the film’s microbudget adding to the close, personal feel where the narrative is given the chance to hone in on the character dynamics. 

The film went on to win the Raindance Award at the British Independent Film Awards before being procured by Vertigo Films for distribution. Upon this triumph, Savage went on to create a streak of short films, one of which, Dawn of the Deaf (2016), co-written by Jed Shepherd, would foreshadow the pair’s success in the horror genre. 

Host (2020) 

Savage’s second feature is the sensational Host, an unforgettable film that not only catered to many horror hounds’ frightful tastes but also invited an influx of new fans to the genre due to its rapid, viral success. Much of Host’s achievements come from how the film weaponizes its desktop setting to initially familiarize, drag the viewer in, and then torment them for long after watching. Its authentic coding also spoke to the film’s timely release. 

Filmed and distributed during lockdown was Savage’s full-length version of a prank gone array. Savage revealed in an exclusive interview with Dead Northern that he kept up with social outings during lockdown via Zoom meetings to catch up with friends; however, when he began hearing strange noises in his attic, he knew that he could play the ultimate joke on the unsuspecting crowd. With the idea of a laugh in mind, Savage arranged a call with pals to provide emotional support as he scoped out his supposedly haunted attic, only for him to edit the live call and insert a jumpscare of a zombie lurching out from the dark from the Spanish found footage movie Rec (2007). The subsequent screams and panics got the viral treatment from the internet, making studios desperate for Savage to extend his one-minute idea into a feature-length desktop horror. 

With Shudder eventually pinning the release, Host became the most talked about film of 2020, and to this day, Host still holds a 99% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes against a whopping 99 reviews! 

Host’s stellar outcome is largely owed to its gritty natural tone, where the character’s actions do not feel forced but genuine, forcing the fear to become palpable. The film’s immersive structural format is a consequence of how the entire cast and crew knew each other prior to filming and were only given loose scripts and action commands by Savage, along with co-writers Shepherd and Gemma Hurley. Host is far from rigid. It feels as if the footage from this haunted Zoom meeting really was just happened upon. It would be easy to compare Host to the likes of fellow desktop features such as Unfriended (2014) and Searching (2018), but instead, Host is a film unlike any other. 

Dashcam (2021) 

After the victory that was Host, the rumour mill reported that Savage had entered into a deal with Blumhouse Productions to create three features under their wing. The first entry to stem from this exciting collaboration was Dashcam, a screen-life horror surrounding the contentious musician Annie (Annie Hardy) as she treks through one hell of a wild night. The found footage boom is undoubtedly alive and well throughout the film, with the firsthand footage originating from dashcams, live streams and phones. 

What ensues for the next 76 minutes is a bundle of mania, including but not limited to MAGA-endorsing protagonists, lockdown conspiracies, possessed elderly women, abandoned amusement parks, car wrecks, chase scenes, occult symbols, stabbings, and an oddly entertaining but rather vulgar spew of songs carolled from Annie as she goes about this disastrous night. 

The rambunctious expedition, joyously accompanied by all of the conundrums and quirks is what makes Dashcam feel like a hazardous fever dream, where you will most definitely be left thinking ‘what on earth have I just witnessed?’ But nevertheless, in the best way possible. Dashcam is a valiant film from Savage and returning co-writers Shepherd and Hurley. It is not a movie that has been previously accomplished, and it is unlikely that cinema will get a film as provocative and brilliantly feral any time soon. 

The Boogeyman (2023) 

Savage’s latest film, The Boogeyman, saw the director take an alternative approach to horror than his previous feats, with the film taking a more traditional filming approach and swaying away from found footage altogether.

The Boogeyman comes from a 1973 short story of the same name from the one and only Stephen King, which chronicles a grieving family tormented by the Boogeyman. The film’s primary forte is the deadening atmosphere that trickles through every ounce of the film, covering the screen in a dreary, raw, and authentic mood where the sombre emotions of grief washes over every moment, alongside the peaks of haunting scares provided by the titular antagonising force. 

The film wields a commendable balance of brief ‘got ya!’ scares amidst its layers of more sincere horror which comes from both the stunning performances from Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, and Vivien Lyra Blair and the film’s aesthetics. The final act is brimming with these scenes of great visual capacity, where giallo-esque lighting and colourful hues fuse with the horrific imagery and the omnipresent vibe, providing a feeling that urges you to believe that evil really does lurk. 

The cinematic cherry on top, if you will, is The Boogeyman’s official seal of approval from the King of Horror, with Savage describing that King had openly praised the film and stated how it lingered with him after watching, just as a horror film should. 

Savage’s next move in his booming career is a further step into the land of horror, with it being confirmed that he is to adapt the graphic horror novel Night of the Ghoul, which follows a father and son duo as they search for the truth surrounding a long-lost horror film. However, as they unearth the secrets, they discover that this cursed film was left hidden away from the masses for good reason. What propels Savage to be one of the contemporary greats is how his love for the genre is palpable within his filmography. Horror fans make the best horror movies, and Savage’s works precisely proves this time and time again.

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Imaginary (2024) review

Imaginary is Jeff Wadlow’s latest collaboration with Blumhouse Productions, following from their previous combined projects, Fantasy Island (2020) and Truth or Dare (2018). Like every production house, there are filmic expectations, whether that be the dizzyingly raucous films from Troma Entertainment or the moody existentialist slow-burners from A24. And whilst Blumhouse has produced some utterly fantastic horrors such as The Bay (2012), Creep (2014), Get Out (2018), and Soft and Quiet (2022), the studio has more often than not come under fire for spewing out banal, cliched movies that lack any air of originality. Unfortunately, their latest venture, Imaginary, has hit screens with an overwhelmingly negative response thanks to its underdeveloped, muddled storyline and humdrum attempts to scare. 

Generically, Imaginary follows Jessica (DeWanda Wise), a children’s author who returns to her childhood home with her stepdaughters, Alice (Pyper Braun) and Taylor (Taegen Burns). However, chaos ensues when Alice discovers a stuffed teddy bear named Chauncey. 

With this in mind, the narrative has ample potential to be something eerie and dark, a tale of childhood frights and how they seep into the psyche. Yet, one of the film’s significant downfalls is how the ‘could-be-great’ capabilities are lost in all of the hullabaloo. In a nutshell, Jessica’s repressed childhood has unknowingly clouded most of her life and affected her more than she could have ever imagined; there is an unnecessary backstory surrounding Alice and Taylor’s troubled mother, which is joined by yet another subplot of this underground-like world called the ‘Never Ever’ that Chauncey unleashes. The story is further complicated by the fact that Chauncey’s physical materiality is a fabrication of Jessica and Alice’s minds, making frequent appearances to others somewhat confusing. Imaginary really outdoes itself because it cannot make up its mind, with underplots, lore, secondary storylines and tangled conclusions all fighting for attention for the entire film. 

The oversaturation is not offbeat or theatrical, where the excessiveness plays off as humorous or loveable enough to create a fanbase, as seen in the likes of 2023’s M3gan. Alternatively, Imaginary’s capacity to grasp its gratuitous plot and develop any sense of charm is completely missed. 

Furthering the vapidness is the almost nonsensical dialogue that features throughout. The lead actors, particularly Wise, are equipped with all the tools to make the film excel, yet the robotic script dulls any sparkle and makes not just the character’s physical actions confusing but also makes every monologue and essential piece of exposition fail. Take the character of Gloria (Betty Buckley), Jessica’s neighbour, whose sole purpose is to be an exposition provider. It is not uncommon for films to dedicate a scene for the lead to decipher the origins that are plaguing their situation. However, Gloria’s delivery of the backstory is akin to that of a wiki article. It’s a monotonous speech that reels off a PowerPoint presentation to Chauncey’s motives.

The singular hook that barely keeps Imaginary in the loop is the creature design of Chauncey when he enters beast-mode. His small teddy bear frame becomes towering, with his eyes shedding the shiny plastic beads, becoming bright red, and his sewn-shut mouth ripping open to reveal gnarly fangs. What makes this all the more impressive is that Chauncey’s form was created mainly using practical effects and animatronic tricks. These effects were created by none other than Spectral Motion, an effects design team that is known for their brilliant work on the likes of Stranger Things (2016-). If Imaginary had featured more of Chauncey’s dark side and beastly form, then the film’s overall themeatics would have had the opportunity to materialise. 

The film could have utilised its undertones and portrayed the manipulation of reality, how psychological illusions and repression lead to the destruction of the self. Chauncey’s villainy could have propelled the film away from its continuous jumpscare tactics and led the way with a more piercing take on the human condition if the script had been stripped back and allowed the effectiveness of its story beats and antagonist to shine.

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Horror in the High Desert is the ultimate found footage film – review

Bumps in the dark and strange creatures are brilliant devices used by many filmmakers. Nevertheless, it is often rare that there comes about a film that employs these facets with such power that it will leave you not just fully engrossed in the on-screen magic but also enthralled by the sheer capacity to frighten. Dutch Marich’s Horror in the High Desert (2021) and its equally haunting sequel Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva (2023) is an exercise in visceral found footage cinema that deserves to be registered as one of the greats. 

The first entry chronicles the disappearance of hiker Gary Hinge (Eric Mencis), who went missing in the summer of 2017 after hiking in the Great Basin Desert, Nevada. For the first time since the tragedy, family and friends are interviewed, recalling the horrific events and the terrifying conclusion of what happened in the high desert. 

At first glance, Horror in the High Desert’s stylistic choices may seem to emulate the found footage storytelling device as seen countless times before. However, the complexity Marich exerts throughout propels the aspect of the first-hand camera into new and exciting territory that imposes an awfully stringent omnipotent force. The film takes inspiration from the authenticity of documentary filmmaking, featuring interviews and archival footage, and presents its facts on screen as if learnt in real-time whilst editing a supposedly real documentary on a genuine case. It is an intoxicatingly fascinating approach to horror that has been excellently handed in the likes of The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Lake Mungo (2008), with the product having an undictated tonality, where the events unravel in real time, making the finished content much more authentically coded and therefore tenfolds more terrifying. 

With all these hyperrealist intentions, exploring the film’s visual aesthetics is crucial. Night vision is a potent aspect that Marich amalgamates to extradite a deeply intrinsic fear held within us. What we can’t see is always scarier; the dark figures hiding behind pillars and the whispers of entities are more often than not more startling than the constant exposure of the antagonising force. Marich heavily enlists this ‘less is more approach’ during the film’s final act, which shows the last footage from Gary shoots on his camcorder. Supposedly alone in the dark heights of the isolated desert, Gary captures a deserted cabin surrounded by sparse trees, all washed in total darkness, naked to the human eye, except for the camera’s night vision capabilities. 

Fear is survival. It is a preservation instinct that keeps us alive. We become near defenceless when we are denied light and are steeped in the darkness, unable to see the predatory threats. Horror in the High Desert, throughout its conclusion, calls upon this evolutionary cycle to enhance our senses and thus force us to look at the screen, taking in every frame to see where the monstrousness lies, pay audible attention to every branch stepped on to determine how close menace is to our surroundings and ultimately force us to watch on as the gruelling events unfold. In tandem, the close bond developed by the first-hand diegetic camera thrusts our perspective to be at one with Gary, fully and brutally immersing us in his position throughout this bone-chilling sequence. 

Identifying an immersed spectatorial experience and the discharge of all-consuming darkness that entices a haptic touch towards the film translates to Horror in the High Desert’s corpus that stimulates folkloric-based rhetoric. This idea of lore and mystery is presented heavily throughout the sequel, Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva. Featuring a similar outline and based in the same context, is a secondary disappearance story focusing on the geological researcher Minerva Sound (Solveig Helene), who relocated to a rural trailer amidst the desert where she documented a string of strange occurrences. Accompanying this are various subplots of other people’s experiences with the ominous area, including the case of the young mother, Ameliana Brasher (Brooke Bradshaw), who goes missing along Highway 50. This is followed by the bodycam footage of Luke Wells (David Nichols Jr.), an EMT who was part of the initial search party for Ameliana. 

Minerva’s story unravels slowly, featuring video calls between herself and loved ones concerning the discoveries she has made inside the trailer, such as discarded home video tapes featuring chilling visuals that play out as stalker-like footage, reminiscent of the recordings in The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007), but with a more covert, suspenseful tone. However, the most macabre discovery is of an unidentified person creeping around the trailer, breathing sluggishly and grunting, “he’s comin’ in..” and “I got one for ya”. It is an eerie sequence enough on its own, yet the true bite comes from its suggestion that whatever wreaks havoc among the high desert is something that is far more sinister than a lone wolf, a night stalker, but instead, an uncanny force that is bigger than us all. 

Deepening this are the performances above from the likes of Ameliana and Luke, whose experiences with the land are both utterly perplexing and strikingly frightening. After driving from Las Vegas, Ameliana’s car breaks down, but not to fear; her family has a strategy for this long abandoned stretch of highway; if they do not get home at the specified time, the stranded must wait outside the car until rescue appears. Marich makes brilliant use of the surveillance style of found footage by inserting clips from Ameliana’s dashcam. Details will be spared to avoid spoiling the unforgettable (and frankly nightmare-fueled) surprise. What can be noted is how Marich bravely takes the time not to rush the sequence of Ameliana’s fate. It’s a torturous slow burn that makes the viewer wait in pure fear and trepidation, knowing that Ameliana’s blisteringly gruesome fate will occur at any given moment. 

One final punch to the gut is Luke’s bodycam footage, which is an extract that horror filmmakers spend their entire careers learning how to craft, as Marich has done. Again, specifics will be spared in a bid to ‘keep mum’ on the finale. By this process, take heed of this: Luke enters a stranded mining facility in the pitch darkness, having broken his flashlight, unable to see that he is always nearly mere feet away from bumping into a disfigured, unexplainable figure capable of ungodly terror. 


Marich has discussed Horror in the High Desert becoming a multi-entried horror series, with the film’s official website confirming that the third edition, Horror in the High Desert 3: Firewatch, is coming soon. Given the excellence of the original and its equally distinctive sequel, Marich is certainly becoming a signature figure in the found footage world, causing waves and creating overwhelmingly smashing cinema.

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Curiosity Corner Reviews Top Horror

Top ten mind-boggling horror movies

1- The Wolf House (Cristobal León and Joaquin Cociña, 2018)

Kicking off this mind-twisting list is the Chilean stop-motion film The Wolf House. Directed by Cristobal León and Joaquin Cociña and co-written by Alejandra Moffat, is the animated, surreal fairytale that takes the viewer through a mirage of labyrinth-like settings and worlds in a desolate house. The film’s visual incoherence is a guise that shelters and replicates the intense and complex meaning behind the story—inspired by the troubling Colonia Dignidad, a colony established in Chile post WW2 where various acts of torture were committed. The Wolf House’s myriad of madness is captivatingly gruesome, with each scene being near impossible to decode at first glance; for instance, as the meaning behind the house unravels within the story, the bones of its foundations experience a metamorphosis where objects become people and people become animals. 

2- Possum (Matthew Holness, 2018)

Akin to the backwards world of British TV series The League of Gentlemen (1999-2002) and infused with a touch of Ben Wheatley’s Neo-folk filmmaking style is the utterly fantastic and incredibly dark Possum. From the mind of director Matthew Holness is the story of a child puppeteer, Philip (Sean Harris), who returns home where he is confronted with his past trauma. The film was adapted from Holness’s short story of the same name that was influenced by the works of Sigmund Freud. Considering this, Possum is brimming with the uncanny, whether that be through the offensively disturbed arachnid puppet that features throughout, or the cold, dismal world that the film takes place in. Possum is one of those films that may be watched a dozen times before one can truly get to grips with every single detail of great emotional significance that seeps throughout every frame. 

3- House (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977)

House is a kaleidoscopic fever dream that emulates psychedelia with a pungent extremity, with its ethereal quality coming off as both haunting and unreasonably excessive. The hallucinatory facets within House derive from director Nobuhiko Obayashi’s wanting to create a film that goes beyond human understanding, or more accurately, adults’ understanding of the logical world. In creating the script, Obayashi enlisted his daughter’s help where he observed that a child’s imagination conjures the most fascinating of concepts that traverses far beyond the mundanity of what the mature mind summons. With this, House takes aspects of childhood nightmares of colourful monsters and nonsensical scenarios to create a film that is wildly ambitious and genuinely startling. 

4- Begotten (E. Elias Merhige, 1989)

Back in the mid 1980s E. Elias Merhige developed an idea for a piece of experimental theatre where live music and dance would be performed against a story of mythology, religion and the disgrace of humanity. Whilst traction was aligned with the project and the concept blossomed, Merhige realised that the production as a live piece of theatre would be too costly, leading to his concept becoming a film. With the knowledge that Begotten’s corpus derived from experimental theatre, it becomes easier to mentally digest the final product, which is by all intents and purposes a complete deluge that resembles a total exodus of reality. The  hellish imagery consists of the self-disembowelment of God whose mutilated remains gives birth to Mother Earth before conceiving the ‘Son of Earth’ and going on a surreal, nauseating path of destruction and discovery. Take this rambunctious idea and now imagine it paired with the film’s obtrusive score that runs throughout which features nothing but insect-like squirming noises over a ‘thu-dum’ heartbeat sound. Begotten obliterates normality and acts a sporadic experience from beginning to end. 

5- Koko-di Koko-da (Johannes Nyholm, 2019)

Koko-di Koko-da is another Groundhog Day story that chronicles a grieving couple that are stuck in a time loop by nursery rhyme characters. The complex and structurally intricate storyline deliberately never makes sense or fully acknowledges its strangeness, it is just accepted by the cinematic universe, making every confused and disjointed emotion extracted from the viewers all the more disturbing. Paired with the absurdity of the events, there is an overall aggravation towards the antagonising characters. The beings terrorising the couple strive through with a morbid happiness that seems whimsical until we are reminded that this is very much a horrific story. 

6- Uzumaki (Higuchinsky, 2000) 

Based on the Junji Ito manga of the same name is Uzumaki, a film where atmosphere, aura and an unhinged narrative take over to create a boggling adaption. Uzumaki has received a decent share of criticism over time, partially due to its off-kilter humour that sporadically features throughout, which seems quite out of place. However, it is this strange placement of slapstick comedy that pierces the tension and makes the film an untamed watch where the entire direction of the film is consistently unprecedented. Adding to the peculiarity is the film’s central focus surrounding the spiral pattern and how it essentially drives the characters to the brinks of their psyche. The Fibonacci spiral hysteria twists and turns the story in the most unexpected of ways, leaving for the most memorable of watches.

7- Society (Brian Yuzna, 1989)

The magnificence of body horror is forever in debt to Brian Yuzna’s Society. Yuzna’s epic exploration into the potentials of depravity is an exercise in the brilliance of cinema that doesn’t take itself too seriously, with plenty of amalgamated bodies that fuse flesh to flesh and limb to limb to create a gigantic creature formed by body parts. The aspect of anthropomorphism plays a large role in Society with the monstrosity of the final act being a repulsive feast for the senses. For fans of excessive gore and stomach churning terror, this film is not to be missed! 

8- Resurrection (Andrew Semans, 2022)

Despite the brilliance of the leads, Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth, Andrew Semans Resurrection is criminally underrated. Whilst many absurd films tackle obscene comedy to further the surreal nightmarish quality of mind-boggling horror, Resurrection takes a much more gloom-ridden route where the calamitous nature of the film shines alongside the unearthly and bizarre plot points. Whilst the story is best left as an enigma for first time watchers, what can be revealed is that Resurrection follows the disciplined business woman Maggie (Hall), whose life implodes when a strange figure (Roth) from her past comes back to haunt her. The words brutal and cold rings strong throughout this relentless shocker. 

9- Visitor Q (Takashi Miike, 2001)

Hmm… where to begin with horror legend Takashi Miike’s Visitor Q? Not for the faint hearted and certainly not a family film is this utterly barbaric and gut-wrenchingly twisted tale of nihilistic dread following the perverted Yamazaki family as they fall apart at the hands of their own lewdness. Themes of incest, voyeurism, sadio-masochism, torture, necrophilia, coprophilia, lactophilia (and copius other ‘philia’ related terms) all take centre stage throughout the film, leaving any seasoned viewer affected, let alone an unsuspecting spectator. However, whilst there is a lot to be said about its extremity, Visitor Q is a fascinating watch, particularly due to its stylistic output. The film mimics documentary footage with the camera acting as a fly on the wall for most scenes, creeping up where you’d least expect it and bringing us uncomfortably close to the experimental action. 

10- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)

German expressionism roots its origins within Berlin circa 1920s as a reflection of the turmoil during that era. Notable films from the period include the likes of Nosferatu (1922), Faust (1926) and most importantly in this case, Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The film is renowned for its graphic style and striking aura that is straight from the dark underbelly of horror thematics. The set’s were purposefully built to create a dizzying effect where the walls were angled and floors were tilted, where featured trees would appear diagonal and staircases would be spiralized messes. It was a radical decision to portray such a frenzy that still pays off over 100 years later. 

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Retrospectives Reviews

40 years on – Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Friday the 13th – genre-defining, monumental, and dare it be said, ‘totally iconic’. These are just some of the descriptors denoted to this mammoth of a horror franchise. With 12 entries to the series name, it can be challenging to define all of the films; however, amongst all of the slasherific and certainly unique films, there does seem to be an entry that repeatedly stands out. Joseph Zito’s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984). 

A group of teens travel to Camp Crystal Lake for a weekend of debaucheries, but things soon go array when Jason Voorhees shows up to his stomping grounds to cause chaos. With this traditional storyline comes a shed of archetypal bloodshed where graphic kills and splatter-filled jumpscares dominate the screen. The Final Chapter is a bonafide classic, but it very nearly ceased to exist as Friday the 13th Part III (1982) was due to complete the Jason trilogy. That was until producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. became hellbent on killing off Jason once and for all. Mancuso worked on both Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) and Part III, where it was widely reported that he felt his complex and crucial inputs as a production assistant and then producer were not taken seriously enough. In response to this, he recruited Zito, director of the 1981 slasher The Prowler to end the series under his terms. With this, Zito along with Manuso’s backing ended up conjuring one of Friday the 13th’s best films. 

Complicit in this reputation is the film’s exceptional imagery that was made at the hands of legendary effects artist, Tom Savini. In The Final Chapter, Savini (known within the Friday the 13th universe for his visceral creation of Jason in the first film), tackled the likes of macheted necks, head twisting, pitchfork stabbings, crucifixion, meat-cleaver hackings and smashed faces. All of these were done with such vivid brutality that elevates the chaotic wildness of it all into genuinely intense, skin-crawling displays of pure depravity that show the brutish capabilities of Jason. Interestingly enough, the film’s evidential flare for the creativity of these depictions goes far beyond the surface, with the film’s primary protagonist having a spiritual tie to Savini. 

Although The Final Chapter chronicles the aforementioned quintessential motley crew of youngsters dying at the hands of slasher’s favourite boogeyman, the film has an interwoven secondary line of narrative following the Jarvis family. Residing next door to the teens is Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman), his sister Trish (Kimberly Beck), and their mother (Joan Freeman), all of whom must face the wrath of Jason. Tommy’s ability to think on the spot and get inside the mind of Jason has allowed him to become somewhat of a staple member of the franchise, with his character starring in a total of three Friday the 13th films. Throughout his first appearance, Tommy makes quite the impression thanks to his eclectic personality. Tommy has an affinity for all things practical effects, making masks and prosthetics out of anything he could get his hands on, just as it is documented Savini did during his younger years. 

Tommy’s blossoming artistry and innovation is what beckons the film’s applauded conclusion. After copious events unfold, a hammer wielding Jason breaks into the Jarvis’, but just as he’s about to land a fatal blow on the terrified Trish, Tommy saves the day. It transpires that Tommy has found old newspaper clippings detailing Jason’s disfigured face and the horrid past that led to his vengeance. In a quick attempt to stir the psyche of the beast, Tommy hastily shaves his head, resembling a young Jason. Despite the grave risk, his plan roars triumphantly as Jason is captured and almost immediately gravitates with a childlike innocence towards Tommy, seeing his younger self alive and well. However, Jason’s fever dream is quickly interrupted as Trish brings down the machete to his head, knocking off his infamous hockey mask to reveal a horribly warped face before he stumbles to the ground as Tommy seemingly reaches madness and further pummels him into oblivion.

Tommy undergoes a terribly traumatic transformation to save the day. Essentially, he becomes one with the monster, which is only exaggerated by his rampant attack, overkill even, on Jason after the villain’s lifeless body flops to the floor. Prior to this scene Tommy discovers the tragic backstory that catalysed Jason’s descent; seeing this paired with his transformation of embodying the monster and then relishing in the demise all unleashes a beast hidden deep within Tommy that may have otherwise remained locked up. 

The film’s finale sees Tommy stare blankly into the camera with a chilling coldness that mirrors Jason’s exact dispassion for human existence. The figurative expression towards Jason and Tommy’s symbiosis opens the film up to a world of possibilities that rings familiar to the first Friday the 13th’s retrospective analysis with all of its discussion about the horrors of maternal devotion. The Final Chapter is steeped in a seriousness that is not easy to craft as efficiently and naturally Zito has. The film still has that primitive nastiness to it that has horror hounds howling at the screen, yet the film is not one long novelty act that aims to solely appease the senses. It does not over extend its analytical gravity to the point of pretentiousness, but it is not afraid of baring its teeth and taking a bite into the critical details.

Even from a retrospective point of view, the film exercises a balance that is notoriously difficult to achieve; it creates a world of lore and backstory without over complicating and propelling the film away from its slasher roots that everyone has come to know and love. As of this year, The Final Chapter completes its 40th year around the sun, and yet, the film seems to have only gotten better. It has been a solid 15 years since the last Friday the 13th film was released. Considering that the next entry would be the ‘13th’ number, a possibly brilliant jumping step would be taking inspiration from the absolute fan favourite classic that is Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter…

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Curiosity Corner Reviews Top Horror

The Worst Monster of Them All – Top Ten Mortal Villains

1-  Patrick and Karin (Speak No Evil, 2022) 

A harmless weekend turns deadly when a Danish couple, Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) and their daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) meet up with Patrick (Fedja van Huêt), Karin (Karina Smulders) and Abel (Marius Damslev), a family they met on holiday. 

Yelling at the screen and simmering in frustration are common occurrences whilst watching Speak No Evil. But it is this exact vexation that the film thrives in as we are forced to watch deliberate, misinformed choices taking place, all for the characters to fall victim to one of modern horror’s most irrefutably evil couples. Patrick and Karin maliciously play this running game of ‘coincidences’ to play off their subtle, cruel jibes, disorientating the innocent family and forcing them to fall into the true horrific pits of their sinister intentions. Patrick and Karin employ a cold callousness that teases the viewer throughout, where we find ourselves constantly second-guessing whether the pair are building up to an act of violence or whether we are just being paranoid. 

2- Henry (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, 1986) 

Following his release from prison, Henry (Michael Rooker) carries on his murderous antics as he goes on a wild and vicious killing spree.

The contentious reputation of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is an ode to the pure brutality of the titular character’s actions throughout the film. Acts of depravity from murder, torture and assault all take centre stage throughout the brutish movie; however, whilst these homages to brutalism are entirely shocking, what makes the film so powerful and significant is the nonchalant carele​ssness that Henry displays. There is no regard given to his devastations, not a thought behind his eyes whilst dicing his way through victims and most importantly, there is no stopping him whatsoever. Henry states that he just moves on from state to state, killing with no particular modus operandi, implying that his limits are unfounded and that he will never be caught. 

3- La Tenia (Irréversible, 2002)

Told in reverse order, Irréversible follows the acts of revenge two men commit after the torture and attack of the woman they love. 

It would be hard to come by a spectator who was not left feeling emotionally torn after watching Irréversible. The film has become known as one of the more severe mainstream depictions of graphic violence, with the focus of terror being the infamous ‘tunnel scene’ showcasing an abhorrent pimp known as La Tenia (Jo Prestia) pinning down and sodomising Alex (Monica Bellucci), a young woman who was innocently walking past him, minding her own business. Emotions from fury to sickness and then back to anger all flood through us as we see La Tenia spew venomous sentiments at Alex whilst she is laid cold and battered on a dirty Parisian underpass. The camera statically lingers for a dreaded nine whole minutes as La Tenia exercises sheer immorality. Many movie villains are praised and held up as deviant icons within film; however, La Tenia is far from praise, becoming one of cinema’s most abominable monsters ever. 

4- Patrick Bateman (American Psycho, 2000)

Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a successful investment banker by day and a murderous psychopath by night whose grip on reality loosens as his habits become increasingly violent. 

Patrick Bateman is the personification of arrogance. He views people not as humans but as toys in a treasure chest for him to do whatever he pleases with, whether that be to ridicule their class status or to savagely murder and dismember them. Whichever method of evisceration Bateman chooses, he will do it with a unique poise that ensures he is the most powerful and controlling person in the room. It is this assuredness that makes him overwhelmingly intimidating. Remaining both calm and manic, ruthless and serene, is a quality that makes Bateman stand out amongst the rest. 

5- Troubled youth  (Eden Lake, 2008) 

Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve’s (Michael Fassbender) romantic weekend away is cut short when they cross paths with an enraged group of local teens. 

Eden Lake’s state of antagonism is wrapped up with the idea of generational horror. Although the force of horror mainly comes from the terror enforced by the teenagers, the film reveals that the gang’s thirst for trauma is rooted deep within their habitat. Eden Lake concludes with Jenny seeking rescue in a seemingly warming, normal family home, however, it is revealed that the house is occupied by the relatives of the gang she barely escaped from. The manner of the more mature members of the families are worse than that of the youth, exemplifying how nurtured, damaged behaviour is a terrifying cyclic practise. 

6- Esther (Ophan, 2009)

A couple gets more than what they bargained for when they adopt Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), a sweet ‘young’ orphan looking for a new family.  

Esther has become synonymous with contemporary horror villainy, with her flawless infiltration system being savagely creative and cruel. As it happens, Esther is not a child but a woman in her thirties with an appetite for destruction. Her caring demeanour and her tragic orphaned backstory make the people in her life fall into her trap, only to ensnare them viscerally. Esther’s story is one that is scarily plausible and unique within the genre, making for a gnarly, fearful watch. 

7- Kyung-chul (I Saw the Devil, 2010)

A cat and mouse game ensues after Soo-hyeon’s (Lee Byung-hun) wife and unborn child are found dead at the hands of serial killer, Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik). 

The antagonism exercised by the character Kyung-chul is utterly barbaric and reprehensible. Nothing, no one and no act is off limits for this despicable man. The film depicts each killing with such ferocity that it is nearly impossible not to feel some form of hatred for his character. Accompanying Kyung-chul’s beastliness is the film’s melancholy tones, a quintessential facet of South Korea’s fantastic filmmaking style, with each scene juxtaposing Kyung-chul’s inhuman actions with the audience’s evidential empathy towards his victims. 

8- The Poughkeepsie killer (The Poughkeepsie Tapes, 2007)

A serial killer’s life’s work is unleashed as New York detectives find thousands of home videos depicting countless acts of murder, dismemberment and torture. 

Although relatively infamous amongst many found footage fans, The Poughkeepsie Tape’s central antagonist (whose identity is never revealed) is rarely discussed regarding their atrocity. The film discloses that their victim count reaches far into the hundreds. Each tape screened revels in the killer’s gratuitous displays of punishment and abuse, with the perpetrator additionally employing disturbing fetishism throughout his inflictions of pain. 

9- Mum and Dad (Mum & Dad, 2008) 

Lone airport worker Lena (Olga Fedori) is held hostage by a sick and twisted family. 

Head of the sadistic family are Mum (Dido Miles) and Dad (Perry Benson), who encompass the epitome of all things grotesque and macabre. Their incestuous attitudes and gleeful will to traumatise leave for an incredibly uncomfortable watch as we see the pair exude delight whilst tormenting the innocent. Adding to the pair’s awfully horrid actions is the film’s bleak and dreary flair that embodies a sense of misanthropic unease, forcing the viewer to wallow away within all of its overarching angst. 

10- Chris Cleek (The Woman, 2011) 

Whilst out hunting, Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers) captures an uncivilised woman and brings her to his family home, keeping her tied up in an old out-shack for him to keep as a trophy, doing what he pleases. 

Immediately there is a strong sense of banality seeping through Chris’s motives and actions, but what is the real nail in the coffin is how his actions are mimicked by those around him. He nurtures his teenage son to also treat the woman as an object for his desire, with the father son duo feeding from each other’s willingness to harm. Master manipulation and evil toxicity truly is the bread and butter of supposed ‘family-man’ Chris Cleek’s persona.

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Madame Frankenstein – Exploring Monstrosity in Female Frankenstein Films

In Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), author Mary Shelley once wrote, “There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand”. It is an undeniably beautiful quote reminiscent of the delicate nature of the soul that speaks to the fragileness within humanity; it paints pictures of pale pinks and cotton with its sweetness. However, just as nature pins the human form as sensitive and innocent, there is equally a brutality, a malevolence that seeps through the soft belly and permeates the soul with an air of monstrousness that is impossible to precisely identify – it is, as Shelley details, something which we do not understand. 

This odd polarity has often been used in horror to analyse the female. She is mellow yet ferocious, harmless yet venomous. This dissection of the monstrous speaks to countless films from Carrie (1976) to Raw (2016), where the likes of female witches, vampires, aliens, possessed creatures and werewolves are ignited on their path of abjection. However, one entity has somewhat escaped the line of fire – the feminine mediation of Frankenstein. 

Monsters represent what we can fantastically be and are most certainly not, almost akin to the folkloric nature of haunting mythology surrounding culturally specific warnings like the La Llorona tale originating from Latin America. It is the knowing that otherness is a potent potential that we simultaneously want to hide from whilst devouring its unique alienness. Regarding feminising Frankenstein, the focal topic is the female body and its all-controlling, all-consuming traits and how it affects otherness and others.

Tyler MacIntyre’s Patchwork (2015) follows three women, Jennifer (Tory Stopler), Ellie (Tracey Fairaway) and Madeleine (Maria Blasucci), who, after spending the night partying, find themselves butchered and reattached together. Similarly, Frank Henenlotter’s Frankenhooker (1990) sees widowed scientist Jeffrey (James Lorinz) bring his wife back to life by attaching the few remnants left of her corpse with random body parts from prostitutes that he murdered. Within both of these films, the unwillingly and unknowingly spliced and diced female corpse represents the act of objection, particularly concerning the womanly form being a commodity for desire. 

Whilst Jeffrey’s motives seem slightly touching at first, the film makes a point of showing his self-fulfilling prophecies; for example, during one of his grief-ridden rambles where he has the lightbulb moment of Frankenstein-ing his wife Elizabeth (Patty Mullen), he comments that he will give her the best figure possible. Adding to this is his nonchalant attitude to the several sex workers he kills to compose the new body, as well as his frustration over Elizabeth seeking agency over her new form (which she never even asked for). Jeffrey is frustrated over his lack of control, with this anger slipping into pure vexation when the film ends with Elizabeth performing the same body reassembly on Jeffrey. 

Here, Elizabeth is a vessel in which to be fascinated and fearful. There is no conforming to the norm. The ‘new’ Elizabeth was biologically constructed to be an object of desire for Jeffrey, something to stare at and admire. But, she becomes a source of fear and allure when she begins to reject and sway from her presumed destined stature. Within this corruption, a tie is formed between the spectacle and the feminised monster. We internalise the knowledge of Elizabeth being undead, a reanimated dead, rotting corpse and internalise this grotesqueness along with her refusal to comply and see her as the epitome of the monstrous feminine. 

The physical threat of decay paired with the fragility of female morals is additionally explored in Patchwork. The triptych-like Frankenstein creature goes on a path of vengeance within the narrative. When looking at the prospect of monstrosity and revenge, an immediate connection is made, exhibiting a cathartic purge of vehemence and revolt. Like Elizabeth, the characters experience a bodily rebirth regarding their new forced physical form and spirituality. They reluctantly take on their flesh with a sense of fury, shedding their skin and disengaging from the agency of their mutilator. With this, they create a new identity. 

Further elaborating this facet of new autonomy is the secondary strain of the female Frankenstein – the ‘actual’ Frankenstein. Of course, when the term ‘Frankenstein’ is correctly used, it refers to the creator of the monster (known as Dr. Victor Frankenstein in the book and original media), with his creation being deemed as ‘Frankenstein’s monster’. Nevertheless, it is precisely this idea of Frankenstein’s creator that we are going to explore next. 

Womanly, mad scientists taking discarded corpses and creating their own twisted, semi-living sapient beings has been a significant area that the horror and thriller world has traversed. Films such as Lady Frankenstein (Mel Welles, 1971), Birth/Rebirth (Laura Moss, 2023), The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (Bomani Story, 2023) and the upcoming Lisa Frankenstein (Zelda Williams, 2024) all employ the use of a female scientist. Although under different strains, these creators of monsters all act as makers of individuals, albeit not necessarily ‘traditional’ cognisant beings. They are motherly architects of horror. 

In horror, the maternal figure is continuously seen as monstrous because of her perceived transgressions that defy social normalities, with the focus being on all of the bodily changes experienced during pregnancy, childbirth and the aftermath of rearing the child. As seen in The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979) and the more contemporary film Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2021), horror cinema utilises these themes of the motherly body, castration anxiety and the threat of maternal domination to create apprehension and dread. The female Dr. Frankenstein spends their blood, sweat and tears creating, nurturing, and training their creations before unleashing them. These creatures are motherly-esque creations made in a symbolic womb (improvised labs). Herein lies the possibility that the femme creator of the beast is the catalyst for all things monstrous. 

In essence, the trajectory of femininity within the concept of the female Frankenstein reveals a nuanced portrait of monstrosity that has the ability to be explored in an extremely wide capacity. Going back to the beginning, Shelley’s timeless quote, “There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand”, condenses the intricate web of the female experience, oscillating between fragility and fury, purity and wickedness. Through the likes of Frankenhooker and Patchwork, the female form is moulded to form a site of manipulation perpetuated by their cruel creators, with the films showing their journey to take back the power over their bodies. The barbaric transformations the women go through speak to the rejection of their prescribed roles, ultimately leading to an uproar. 

On the other hand, we have the portrayal of the mother monster that blurs the complicated line between motherhood and monstrosity. Despite their nurturing intentions, these figures challenge and invoke fear through insubordination towards their traditional role. The female Frankenstein underscores the duality of beauty and brutality. It serves as a stringent cue of the complex and innate struggle to gain autonomy and agency in a world that seeks to confine. 

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Top ten formidable extraterrestrial creatures

1- Thing – The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982) 

‘Thing’: the detailed, unearthly, alien-like conundrum of a creature is not simply one of the horror genre’s most iconic beings, but one of cinema’s itself. Instantly recognisable and synonymous with John Carpenter’s grandiose auteurism is this hybrid, shapeshifting brute whose physical capacities include mutating into an array of phobia-inducing monsters including mutated huskies and gargantuan arachnids with talking heads (props to the Kafkaesque composition). The Thing’s stellar reputation is largely owed to special effects artist Rob Bottin who primarily conjured the horrid creatures throughout the entire film. It can confidently be stated that Bottin’s originality and sheer ingenuity have created the ultimate blueprint for movie monsters.

2- The Monsters – Feast (John Gulager, 2005) 

Whilst the Feast trilogy establishes that these apex predators are indeed deadly carnivores with an appetite for pure destruction to accompany their fleshy cravings, what is left undecided is their exact alien-like origin. However, forgoing whether they are innate earthly dwellers or not, what is noteworthy is how savage, beastly and ultimately gnarly these cosmic creatures truly are. Feast’s resident critters are responsible for some extremely gruesome antics such as eye gouging, head smashing, throat slashing and plenty of glimpses of archetypal sci-fi green goo and generous close-up shots of an array of slimy fluids. Further tearing into the response system of the viewer is the creature’s cruel, grotesquely evil actions that include assaulting their female victims in the most violent of manners. Feast certainly dares to shock the audience in every way possible.

3- The classic green Martian – Signs (M. Night Shyamalan, 2002)

One particular scene in M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs has garnered quite a reputation over the years, and for a very good reason as this single moment manages to conjure such a  spine-tingling, nail-biting, pure burst of alarming fright. Of course, the scene in question is the ‘birthday party scene’. Supporting lead, Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) is shown watching the news, trying to seek out the strange alien happenings going on in the world. However, during the broadcast, a clip is aired of a birthday party that is suddenly interrupted by a gangly green alien striding across the screen. It’s a moment of such simplicity and plainness that somehow manages to reach out from the fictional world of Signs and physically affect the viewer. The graininess of the shot paired with the sudden startle aids in the ‘realness’ of that moment, giving a raw, realist agency to the scene that is usually difficult to achieve amongst all the fantasticality displayed within the sci-fi genre.

4- Jean Jacket – Nope (Jordan Peele, 2022) 

Briefly steering away from the visceral excess of horror beasts is a slightly more subtle take on extraterrestrial life that still manages to dedicate its screentime to amplifying the fear factor. Nope’s antagonist is known as ‘Jean Jacket’, a colossal UFO that takes on the shape of a biblically accurate angel with its expanding, curtained edges that flutter during its consumption and round off afterwards revealing a design that can only be described as a smoothed cowboy hat… Specific descriptions aside, what allows Jean Jacket a spot on this list is its omnipotent vibe that exemplifies mystery to harbour intense fears of the unknown and the uncanny. However, amidst all of Jean Jacket’s subtle ways, what would be a dishonour to not give credit is that scene involving Jean practically inhaling a sea of people, inducing intense feelings of brutal claustrophobia that is sure to stay with the viewer for long after watching.

5- The Long One – Slither (James Gunn, 2006) 

Known as The Long One is Slither’s force of destruction. The Long One’s parasitic origins are responsible for its multitude of transfigurations across the film. Director James Gunn inventively displays these evolutions in the most absurd yet gorily creative ways possible. For instance, one of the more memorable parasitic forms exhibited in the film is when the leech-like creatures inhabit the body of Brenda (Brenda James), making her body expand into a mammoth fleshy sphere complete with protruding veins and puddled in a pit of merlot-tinted rot that emphasises the abnormally stretched beyond belief skin.

6- Xenomorph – Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) 

No extraterrestrial list would be complete without the undeniably infamous Alien. Ridley Scott’s 1979 tale on the powerful forces that exceed Earth is responsible for the one and only Xenomorph, an endoparasitoid species complete with a spiny tale, tubular skull and a hive mentality that makes for optimum domination over its prey. What makes the Xenomorph incredibly celebrated in the genre is its utter ruthlessness and its invasive potential. In the presence of Xenomorphs, no one is safe. 

7- Shapeshifting parasites – The Faculty (Robert Rodriguez, 1998) 

This late 1990s teen scream takes inspiration from the horror classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 [and its 1978 remake]) by placing the terror of the alien creature in its ability to shapeshift into a human, disguising and conniving before unleashing hell in its true form. Whilst The Faculty does an excellent job in the effects department when showing the creature in its full innate form, what remains the most foreboding aspect of the film is how these beasts transform into everyday people. It’s the fear of evil hiding where you’d least expect it, waiting and lurking in the shadows. 

8- Death Angels – A Quiet Place (John Krasinski, 2018) 

Hyper-evolved beings that possess the power of super hearing to the point that a loud breath is perceived as a scream is an utterly terrifying premise. These creatures, officially known in their world as ‘Death Angels’ are horror reincarnated, prepared to rip you into a million tiny pieces within seconds – as wickedly revealed during the film’s bitterly harsh opening sequence. These immense monsters are entirely blind, solely relying on their hearing to catch prey. And as discovered in the film’s sequel (A Quiet Place Part II [2020]), the Death Angels managed to achieve world domination – apocalypse style – within hours. 

9- The ‘gorilla-wolf’ aliens – Attack the Block (Joe Cornish, 2011) 

Described in the film as “big alien gorilla wolf motherf*****” are Attack the Block’s resident predators. This laugh-out-loud horror comedy may be equipped with a joke-a-minute coat, but underneath the humour are some pretty gruesome beasts that have the capability to instil enormous heaps of fright as the fuzzy, glowing creatures rapidly swarm down dark halls in their furry squads. 

10-  ‘PG’: Psycho Goreman – Psycho Goreman (Steven Kostanski, 2020) 

Psycho Goreman, also known as ‘PG’, is a self-proclaimed deadly, ferocious warrior who becomes trapped on planet Earth. PG’s death-lord ways see him destroy nearly everything in his path from murdering civilians to wrecking whole towns. However, PG does have an off-kilter charm that infuses the narrative and his persona with a warmth that can only be explained if one has seen the brilliantly wild and weird film itself. Throughout PG’s various rampages, his character becomes so emboldened with personality that it can be easy to overlook his barbarity. But one aspect that is impossible to escape is how exhaustively detailed the alien design is throughout the film. PG’s mottled skin with its constant crimson glow, coupled with a mountainous structure is a visual behemoth that both commands attention and adds to the horrifically majestical overarching tone of the entire film.

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2024 horror film releases

1- MaXXXine (Directed by T.I. West)

Completing T.I. West’s zealous ‘X’ trilogy is MaXXXine, a cinematic epilogue following massacre survivor Maxine’s (Mia Goth) journey to stardom in the early 1980s. With West’s signature homage to gritty nostalgia-driven thematics and Goth’s ability to immersive herself into her characters with visceral ease, MaXXXine will certainly be an unmissable slasher. 


2- Shelby Oaks (Directed by Chris Stuckmann)

Youtuber Chris Stuckmann’s directorial debut has already made waves across the independent film industry, with its Kickstarter campaign breaking records as the upcoming found footage inspired horror crossed the $1 million point early last year. Shelby Oaks tackles the story of a missing paranormal investigative team and the pandora’s box of hell that their disappearance unleashes.

3- Late Night with the Devil (Directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes)

This highly anticipated Australian horror burst onto the scene with nothing but rave reviews after its premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival. Taking centre stage is David Dastmalchian as Jack Delroy, a smooth-talking late-night talk show host whose show quickly goes south one fateful night after he interviews a survivor of a satanic mass suicide. 

4- Lisa Frankenstein (Directed by Zelda Williams)

One of horror’s favourite writers, Diablo Cody (creator of Jennifer’s Body [2009]), is back with the 1980s set Lisa Frankenstein, a morbid, fresh and ghastly take on the classic Frankenstein monster’s tale. Kathryn Newton plays the role of enigmatic teenager Lisa Swallows, who falls head over heels with a living corpse (Cole Sprouse). Dressed with bubblegum pink aesthetics and a ghoulish love story, Lisa Frankenstin makes for a perfect spooky Valentine’s watch as it hits screens on the 9th of February. 

5- Saw XI (Director TBC) 

A new entry into the neverending, blood-filled, gore-ridden Saw franchise is heading to theatres in late September. However, this is all that is known about the latest cog in Jigsaw’s grand plan so far. Despite its acclaim, writers of the warmly received Saw X (2023), Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg, will not be returning to carry on the Saw legacy. Although the mystery is strong surrounding this upcoming release, one thing is for certain: Jigsaw’s game is far from over!

6- Longlegs (Directed by Oz Perkins)

The chilling teaser trailer for Oz Perkins ‘Longlegs’ has been haunting the internet since the new year, with small snippets of malevolent stills and unnerving clips of tense, unfamiliar symbols appearing all over social media. This sure-to-be hit follows FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she is assigned to an unsolved case of a serial killer linked to the occult. 

7- Hell of a Summer (Directed by Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk)

Hell of a Summer follows the structure of a classic (and unbeatable) summer camp slasher, complete with a mysterious masked killer who lurks the grounds looking for prey. Whilst a strong sense of familiarity rings true, what Hell of a Summer does promise is an extremely gory, wild and savage take on a genre favourite. 

8- Terrifier 3 (Directed by Damien Leone) 

Horror’s residential terrifying clown – ‘Art’ (David Howard Thornton) has been scaring the wits out of people since his first appearance in Damien Leone’s short film The 9th Circle (2008), and now he’s back yet again for the highly anticipated Terrifier 3. With its first look trailer already rapidly making the rounds, this upcoming Christmas-based slasher will certainly be making some noise when it gets released come 25th October. 

9- The Toxic Avenger (Directed by Macon Blair) 

It takes a bold crew to tackle Troma Entertainment’s bold cult classic, The Toxic Avenger (1984). However, from the looks of the fiery trailer and the talented cast including none other than Peter Dinklage and Elijah Wood, the fifth entry into the ‘Toxie’ franchise is set to be an offbeat, untamed, maverick-like beast of a film. Catch the latest Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz produced flick later this year. 

10- Baghead (Directed by Alberto Corredor) 

Hitting theatres on the 26th of January is Baghead, a paranormal horror following Iris Lark (Freya Allan), who inherits a broken-down pub she soon discovers a sinister presence lurking underneath the premises. Baghead’s corpus of dread surrounds the rhetoric of loss, decay and the dwellings of mortality.

11- Abigail (Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) 

From the creators of Ready or Not (2019), Scream V (2022) and Scream VI (2023) is the upcoming creature feature Abigail. Based on Dracula’s Daughter (1936), Abigail takes on vampirism with a vicious twist as the enthralling plot follows a group of kidnappers who abduct the daughter of an influential figure for ransom, only to discover their victim’s bloody appetite…

12- The Strangers: Chapter 1 (Directed by Renny Harlin) 

Despite the rumours, The Strangers: Chapter 1 is not a sequel nor a remake of the 2008 contemporary classic, The Strangers (Bryan Bertino). Alternatively, this Renny Harlin feature is the first of a standalone trilogy that occurs simultaneously with the original ‘08 timeline. With this being said, in Chapter 1 expect plenty of home invasion thrills, intense frights and most notably, some of the scariest masks horror has to offer. 

13- Nosferatu (Directed by Robert Eggars) 

Robert Eggars may just be the perfect choice to bring the infamous Count Orlok back to life, with his ability to convey macabre yet beautiful narratives, alongside his brilliant stylistic techniques that consistently utilise the likes of dramatic chiaroscuro lighting. Joining Eggars in bringing Nosferatu to old and new audiences to the screen are performers Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin and Willem Dafoe. 


14- Your Monster (Directed by Caroline Lindy) 

Based on Caroline Lindy’s 2019 short film of the same name is Your Monster, a horror comedy with a heartwarming dash of morbid romance. The film follows Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera), a young woman simultaneously dealing with a breakup and a cancer diagnosis. However, her world is about to get increasingly stranger as she uncovers a petrifying but oddly endearing monster (Tommy Dewey) residing in her closet. 

15- The First Omen (Directed by Arkasha Stevenson) 

The Omen (1976) still lives on 48 years later as Arkasha Stevenson introduces The First Omen, a prequel to the original Richard Donner directed tale of horror’s deadliest child. The film chronicles Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), a young American nun sent to a church in Rome. However, she soon discovers a conspiracy within the Lord’s house as they attempt to bring about the birth of an evil incarnate. The 6th entry into the all-mighty franchise is set to be theatrically released on April 5th. 

16- In a Violent Nature (Directed by Chris Nash) 

This indie horror follows a masked silent man as he makes his way through a secluded forest (and a sea of bodies). In a Violent Nature proves that slashers are alive and well, with this slick yet dauntingly raw and seriously creative horror forgoing cliches and putting an original twist on the beloved subgenre with the film following the perspective of the antagonist. 

15- Dust Bunny (Directed by Bryan Fuller) 

Mads Mikkelsen and Sigourney Weaver star in Bryan Fuller’s (Hannibal [2013-15] developer) feature debut film about an eight-year-old girl who pleads with her neighbour to kill the monster hiding under her bed who massacred her family. The seemingly outlandish but entertaining concept of Dust Bunny is said to be rife with a throwback vibe, reminiscent of dark yet oddly comedic and heartwarming horrors from the 1980s such as The Lost Boys (1987).

16- The Watchers (Directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan) 

M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Ishana makes her directorial debut with The Watchers, an eerie creature feature that amalgamates with a secluded forest horror setting as we follow young artist Mina (Dakota Fanning) who finds herself trapped alongside three strangers in an isolated forest in Ireland surrounded by sinister beasts. 

17- Handling the Dead (Directed by Thea Hvistendahl)

Adapted from the 2005 John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In [2004]) novel of the same name is Handling the Dead, a Norweigan zombie film that tells the tale of three families whose lives are plunged into madness when their deceased loved ones are reanimated. The film strips back the hecticness of the archetypal zombie territory and opts for a muted, haunting atmosphere where the emotional anti becomes the driving force. 

18- The Home (Directed by James DeMonaco) 

After troubled retirement home worker Max (Pete Davidson), discovers that his patients are harbouring a menacing secret, he begins to reveal connections between his upbringing in a foster care setting and the ominous happenings at the ill-omened home. The Home sees James DeMonaco back with another horror following on from his work with The Purge franchise.

19- Imaginary (Directed by Jeff Wadlow) 

Joining the likes of the Chucky TV series (2021-), Megan (2023) and Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023) is Jeff Wadlow’s ‘Imaginary‘ which is set to hit theatres on March 8th. Imaginary’s ‘evil toy comes to life’ is a stuffed bear named Chauncey who was the beloved childhood companion of Jessica (DeWanda Wise). However, when Jessica’s stepdaughter Alice (Pyper Braun) gets hold of Chauncey and her once innocent behaviour turns vicious, Jessica realises that Chauncey holds a wicked secret.

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Review – The Royal Hotel (2023)

(RTE, 2023)

After running down their funds from their wild and party oriented travels through Australia, backpackers Hannah (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) accept a desolate bar job located in a mining town in the Outback. Once they arrive however, an uneasy atmosphere settles in and follows the girls as they try to navigate an unknown, strange environment devoid of any means of escape. The Royal Hotel provides an excruciating commentary on the pros and cons of travelling around the world; specifically the dangers of travelling as a woman. Director Kitty Green severs her characters’ contact with the world they know and thrusts them into a society with different rules, rules they would have to adhere to in order to survive.

The driving force of the film is the relationship between Hannah and Liv. The two portray a friendship in which one friend is reckless and impulsive and the other is sensible and paranoid. It is Liv who encourages Hannah to accept the bar job despite its isolated location, convincing her that it’s a necessary task given their financial situation. However, after one night of working the bar Hannah begins to feel on edge and senses that she and Liv might not be safe. Liv on the other hand brushes past these signs and even encourages Hannah to be more spontaneous – for example, spending time with Matty (Toby Wallace) whom they had only just met and experienced unwanted attention from the night before.

The relationship between the girls highlights the somewhat universal experience in friendships where one friend feels they are being forced into uncomfortable situations and the other feels they are being held back or not allowed to have fun. Coupled with an unfamiliar environment, the cracks begin to show in Hannah and Liv’s relationship and we gain an insight into how people can feel alone even amongst friends. Despite their rocky journey however, Hannah and Liv pull together when their situation elevates. The Royal Hotel illustrates how difficult it can be to travel with a friend who has a different level of awareness than yourself. Furthermore, Hannah and Liv emphasise the importance of banding together despite differences and emphasise the power of women who stand as one.

(Discussing Film, 2023)

Reinforcing the idea of sticking together, The Royal Hotel supplies an honest and at times difficult to watch criticism of the systemic misogyny present in bar culture. When they are first offered the job, Hannah and Liv are warned that they should expect unwanted male attention, especially because they will be based in a mining town. Moreover, after a few nights Hannah is told by Billy (Hugo Weaving) – the owner of the bar – that her attitude and lack of smiling is bad for business and drives his customers away.

This demonstrates the expectation of both bar staff and customers for the female employees to be part of the service the bar is providing. For example, Dolly (Daniel Henshall) is a regular who expects Hannah’s company as well as her bartending service when he hangs around after hours and tries to buy her drinks. He insists that he is just being nice despite elevating the situation with aggression when she declines and he subsequently doesn’t get his way.

There are several narrative piques similar to this in the film where one of the male characters becomes problematic by suggesting they are going to act violently towards one of the girls. These situations are always diffused however meaning that the film never comes to a clear climax. This choice works from a social commentary perspective as it highlights that female travellers can always feel an air of vulnerability even if they are never directly threatened or put into an obviously dangerous situation. From an entertainment perspective however the narrative falls flat without building to a satisfactory crescendo and cannot end with an adequate equilibrium as the story didn’t deviate from one to begin with.

(In Review, 2023)

The choice to use the landscape of the Australian Outback as the setting for The Royal Hotel is a metaphor for the loneliness and isolation that many people feel whilst travelling. We experience this isolation predominantly through the eyes of Hannah. As aforementioned Hannah and Liv exhibit significant differences and desires meaning that whilst Hannah for example feels threatened by the persistent and overly familiar male clientele, Liv sees them as harmless and cannot empathise with Hannah’s plight.

Throughout the film the walls begin to close in on the girls when they realise – as personified by the location of the Outback – they have nowhere to run to. Subsequently when Hannah stops a susceptible Liv from leaving the bar with Dolly they have nowhere but the bar to barricade themselves into. The Royal Hotel utilises the small building stood alone amongst a vast desert to convey the feeling of being trapped; a feeling familiar to many travellers who experience loneliness or homesickness when spending too much time isolated in unfamiliar environments.

(Indie Wire, 2023)

The Royal Hotel at times provides an excellent observation on the experience of travelling and working as a woman using Liv and Hannah to paint a picture of how even the closest of friends can feel alone in each others’ company, especially when you are away from home. The film also dives into the problematic system of many service industries who rely on the sexualisation and submission of women in order to entice customers and maximise sales. Having said this however, it feels that many desirable elements for a good film narrative are sacrificed in order for the social commentary to be made. Other than our central protagonists many of the secondary characters feel one dimensional and have no other purpose than to act as devices for the plot.

The Royal Hotel drives home the dangers of exploitation that many female travellers are confronted with and encourages awareness of foreign surroundings in order to avoid being taken advantage of as everyone deserves to feel safe when exploring new places.

Hope Lelliott Stevens

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