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Dead Northern Festival 2024 Review – The Healing

The Healing makes two things clear: be careful who you trust, and be careful of what you trust. This tense and unnerving descent into chaos is an exercise into the dark underbelly that seedily lies amidst seemingly tranquil and ‘healing’ situations…

The film follows Lyuba (Alyona Mitroshina), who, in a bid to escape from her abusive relationship to Sergey (Vyacheslav Chepurchenko), heads off to a weekend retreat with her friends Sveta (Victoria Skitskaya) and Zoya (Ekaterina Solomatina). The retreat seems warm and welcoming at first, a chance for Lyuba to distance herself from her troubles; however, when she becomes anxious and starts hallucinating and wants to leave the increasingly strange retreat, Lyuba fears that what’s waiting on the outside is far worse. 

Troublesome woes of domesticity are trickled through The Healing with an appropriateness that gives credence to the gravity of the situation. As Lyuba’s experiences with Sergey are revealed, it becomes clear that matters such as unsettling manipulation and loss of autonomy are central to the film’s effectiveness. The Healing joins the likes of Silent House (2011), Midsommar (2019) and The Invisible Man (2020), where scenes showcasing the erosion of reality speak to underlying concepts that arise from traumatic relationships. Whilst the magnetisation of horror and terror play prominent roles in keeping The Healing entertaining, what director Den Hook ensures is a level of sincerity and solemnity in showcasing such an emotionally deep and courageous film. 

Adjacent to the intense core of The Healing is the film’s isolated setting, which is almost a character within itself. The remote destination of the retreat replicates an intense feeling of remoteness, which outwardly represents the serenity that such a supposed haven should have. Yet, the vast openness of untamed woodlands teeming with towering trees and sweeping landscapes exploits the psychological paradox of the film. The seemingly endless spaces of land harness a form of affective, emotional claustrophobia, where despite the purported freedom of the sanctum, there is an evocative sense of inescapable surveillance from both Lyuba’s introspective visions and the followers from the retreat. 

The Healing elevates the already powerful ambience through its parading of subjective reality with the assistance of Lyuba’s intense visions, which she experiences throughout the film. The film often wears a cognisant coat by virtue of Lyuba’s apparitions that embody both a sense of fantasia, alongside startling spells of disorienting horror. The amalgamation of surrealism and unsettling horror lines the film’s double edged sword, with the almost ethereal-like illusions drawing the viewer in, only to stun and disconcert when the reveries quickly become dark, crazed and twisted. 

The combined powerful cerebral knowingness of the narrative and the aesthetically striking nature of The Healing works to create a richly detailed and rigorous end product in its means to engage, alert and disturb.

You can catch the film Saturday 28th September at this years festival, tickets here!

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Dead Northern Festival 2024 Review – Kill Victoria

Drowning in sordid secrets and lies, hellbent on delivering devilish antics and driving tension to a delightfully unbearable peak is Kill Victoria. 

This thrilling rollercoaster follows a group of friends composed of couples Paula (Sara Canning) and Pete (Michael Xavier), Jacky (Gia Sandhu) and Nigel (Robin Dunne), along with the incessantly single Nick (Aaron Poole). The familiar dynamic soon changes when Nick finally becomes engaged to Victoria (Laura Vandervoort). Upon the group’s chemistry changing with Victoria’s arrival, the foursome begin joshing as to how they would kill Victoria in order to get prior-engaged Nick back. However, when the whole group departs on their annual weekend trip, secrets arise and trouble begins as Victoria uncovers a horrifying secret that changes the course of their lives forever. 

This wickedly devious film weaponises an iceberg approach, where the surface level is host to a barrage of entertaining and gripping sequences filled with edgy escapades and enthralling twists and turns. However, diving beneath the exterior reveals various levels of sophisticated plot points that work to meticulously craft a fleshed out, complex piece of cinema. Beginning with the peripheral factors: Kill Victoria equips a vivid visual palette that truly captures director Robin Dunnes (who also stars as Nigel) and cinematographer’s Justin Yaroski’s talents of creating a world that immerses the viewer into the compelling nature of the film.

For instance, throughout Kill Victoria, the camera often shows Individual close up shots of each character in moments of contemplation and understanding, piecing together the gravity of the situation they find themselves in. Not only do these moments of individualism look absolutely stunning with the almost Chiascuro-esque lighting burning a sense of emotional intensity onto the screen, but it also speaks to how the film unveils the uncomfortable reality of self-serving relationships. 

Dunne, also serving as the writer, took inspiration from his own life experiences to write the script, with him brilliantly, boldly, and bravely being open about how his own encounters with past relationships helped form the basis for the film. In Dunne’s director statement, he notes how a partnership in his mid-twenties resulted in his friends and family drawing back from him, not because of disdain, but because he had changed at the hands of his kinship. In a beautiful way that is admirable from Dunne, this film replicates a universal experience that many will appreciate as a life lesson, a plight that touches on themes of personal-centeredness, self-doubt and the lies that we tell ourselves that twist and conform until they resemble the truth. 

Such a dense film relies on the vitality that excellent performances provide. In the case of Kill Victoria, this entirely true. Every single actor thrives in this dramatic character study, employing dimensionality to their on-screen personas and perfectly portraying gutsy yet hearty characters. Coupling this is the film’s applaudable way that it slowly reveals its true colours. Not everything is laid bare and spelled out, alternatively, we are slowly fed information piece by piece, building a slow burning tension that erupts when the real ferocity of the story is revealed. 

Kill Victoria is an intricate and nuanced piece of genre cinema that will continually leave the audience guessing and wanting more, leaving a lingering mark on the lucky viewers. 

You can catch the film Sunday 29th September at this years festival, tickets here!

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Dead Northern Festival 2024 Review – The Stickman’s Hollow

The Stickman’s Hollow resembles a multifaceted labyrinth, feeding its complex story bit by bit, acting like a serpentine. It is the slow feed of a terrifying story, the intricate weaving of eerie details and the intimate mode of filmmaking that make this found footage horror unmissable. 

The film chronicles three connected chapters following a series of people who learn the hard way about the mysterious and horrific truth behind the terrifying ‘Stickman’s Hollow’, a seemingly quaint lake that brings about hell for anyone who dares to trail its path. 

Writer and director Jack Cox is an expeienced filmmaker who began his years behind the camera working on small-budget cinema with New Horizons, the Roger Corman founded company, before moving onto a successful career in animation. Having spent years in the animation field, Cox has traversed back to horror, and with The Stickman’s Hollow, its evident that the horror genre will be all the better for it. 

The film’s ambitious premise of dissecting the lore of ‘The Hollow’ into three parts, is part of what grants the outcome as being a standout piece that thrives in originality. In other words, not at one single moment does the threat of a predictable ending arise. The first of the triptych-like structure follows a young family who venture off camping, settling at the ominous Stickman’s Hollow for some recreational fishing, however, it’s not long before strange whisperings and disturbing events culminate into an almighty finale.

The second entry takes us on the journey of a priest who is tasked with treating the roots of a family whose daughter appears possessed, which ends in a genuinely startling, fierce tragedy, and a series of questions as we begin to piece together the enigma behind the ‘urban-legend-esque’ terror of The Stickman’s Hollow. As the film nears its boiling point, we are delivered the third and final act that boldly connects the three episodes, and offers a gut-punch of an ending that leaves you craving more and more of this striking horror.

Composing the heart of the film is all of the plentiful mystery, mythology and lore, which is made all the more effective due to its detailed backstory. The Stickman’s Hollow is based on a chilling true story from Cox’s childhood of girl who became lost in the local Vancouver woods. And the story goes… the lost child was presumed to be dead, but after a year had passed there were reported sightings of a feral child roaming the forest and eating the remains of animal carcasses. Found near the spotted sightings were strange carvings of male figures, which all point to sinister misdeeds.

Whilst The Stickman’s Hollow is a fictional story, Cox based the tale on the countless, spine-chilling questions that arise when one thinks of a story of such calibre. What happened to the missing girl? How did the carvings come about? And why do missing persons cases in the backwoods go unsolved? Fictional or not, this is nightmare fuel! 

Amplifying the intensity is the fact that the filming location is that of where the backstory occurred, conjuring a level of dread that is often difficult to capture on screen. Adding to the unease felt is the film’s found footage fashion that immediately immerses and stirs a level of uncomfortable immediacy. The suspense brought forth, the anxiety formulated and the foreboding alarm mould together throughout this noteworthy expedition into The Stickman’s Hollow. 

You can catch the film Friday 27th September at this years festival, tickets here!

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Dead Northern Festival 2024 Review – All This Time


All This Time chronicles the infinite time loop that Grace (Emily Rose Holt) has found herself trapped in. Joined by an elusive vampire, Elias (Dan de Bourg), Grace must unravel a string of veiled secrets to escape the treacherously eerie time glitch and return to normality.

Writer and director Rob Worsey delivers a standout, complex and thought-provoking second feature that, alongside his zombie-themed feature debut, Among the Living (2022), proves that Worsey is a talent to be watched. Worsey’s uncanny ability to stir tension and assemble well-crafted scares that linger like a troubling night-terror are at an all-time high throughout All This Time.

The film dabbles in equal amounts of trepidation, theatrical drama, and gothic horror to form an unholy trinity of emotively triggered fear. For instance, as we see Grace come to terms with the disturbed histories that lie in wait, not once does the film become gimmicky in its scares; instead, bouts of unease are stirred, and waves of darkness are weaponised, collectively espousing a film that is as tonally rich as it is visually impactful. 

As teased above, All This Time is steeped in a gothically minded atmosphere where the isolation of grandness meets a shadowy, stunningly designed sense of unmistakable dread. In its iconographical form, All This Time employs its grandiose setting, impressive costume design and haunting, moody lighting to showcase its gothic roots, which all combine to create a film that is worthy of watching with the volume off just to absorb the sheer ‘look’ of it all. 

Matching the mysterious ambience is the film’s brilliant performances from the likes of Rose Holt and de Bourg, alongside the excellent Emma Pallant. Independent cinema has a habit of bringing about the most spiffing of exhibitions of talent, with All This Time being no exception to this rule. Throughout the entire runtime, the executions are all acted out with such compelling authenticity that draws the audience in and has them hanging on to every last word.

Shifting onto the horror elements, All This Time makes use of its groundhog-like narrative to conjure a sting of anxiety that innately wizzes up an unnerving sense of being trapped, contained and unable to make sense of everyone and everything.

On a theoretical plane, this inability to flee has the power to be suffocating and grim, but Worsey boldly propels this notion by infusing a vampiric spin. Fanged fiends, bloodsuckers, ‘The Count’, Dracula – however these immortal creatures have been cinematically developed before, All This Time, decides to take a unique spin on the vampire tale through its utilisation of a character-study based approach to storytelling. Keeping spoilers tightly under wraps – what can be commended is how the film continuously toys with the motives of the characters. Rarely do we know what to believe and who to trust throughout the running enigma of it all.

In total, All This Time will both move and provoke, pervade and resonate. Ultimately, this is not a film to be missed.

You can catch the film Friday 27th September at this years festival, tickets here!

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Dead Northern 2024 Festival Review – Kill Your Lover

Directing duo Alix Austin and Keir Siewert deliver a gnarly, grotesque, and emotionally raw feat of tainted love, where body horror and a cerebral narrativisation collide together to create the must-see ‘Kill Your Lover’. 

Strained couple Axel (Shane Quigley Murphy) and Dakota (Paige Gilmour) have long lost the passion that oozed from their early days together; with Dakota now desperate to break free and put an end to her partner’s controlling hold. However, whilst on the cusp of delivering him the bad news, Axel falls ill with a monstrous infection, one that spews poison, splinters skin and turns its host into a corrosive mess – and worst of all…it’s contagious. 

From the initial setup right up until the credits begin to roll, the entire film is slick with an uncomfortable sense of intimacy. Intimate through its nature of chronicling a toxic relationship. Intimate through its portrayal of up close and personal graphic body horror, and intimate in how it feels as if we have been positioned to voyeuristically gaze like a fly on the wall as Dakota and Axel experience the terrifying motions of their damning monstrosity.

The private, immediate view the audience experiences feels disturbed, as if we are that of a prying eye. It is this precise dark, troubling anxiety that makes Kill Your Lover’s stirring approach so effective. As much as the film is a splattery gore fest, Austin and Siewert manage to penetrate the layers of fleshy horror and create a tone that is ripe with metaphors into destructive, venomous kinship and feeling inescapable dread at the hands of someone you once used to unconditionally love. 

The film’s continuous lashings of affective energy also transfers itself into the sophisticated aesthetic that manages to balance obscure bloodiness whilst not faltering to unwarranted butchery – which for a film of such calibre would take away from the complex emotive aura. For instance, as the film escalates to the point of sheer horror-filled pandemonium as the treacherous infection spreads, an array of brilliant effects come to fruition. The makeup and design is gruesome, ghastly and macabre in the most unique way possible. The gravity of the fearsome visuals is made all the more nightmarish at the hands of the crafty and powerful performances from leads Gilmour and Quigley Murphy, both of whom excel at portraying depthful, intricate and complicated characters. 

Kill Your Lover is a standout feature that speaks to the creator’s exhilarating storytelling talents. From Austin’s incredible short horror ‘Sucker’ (2022), to Siewert and Austin’s team effort on the anthological entry ‘It’s Inside’ in Isolation (2021), it is a sure thing that this duo is one to watch. 

Catch the film Saturday 28th September at the 2024 festival, tickets and details here.

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Mad About Horror at Dead Northern 2024!

We’re thrilled to announce that Mad About Horror will be an official sponsor of our Film Festival event in York  27th – 29th Sep 2024!

Mad About Horror are the leading online retailer in the UK and Europe for specialist horror masks and collectibles. As the largest official European retailer of Trick or Treat Studios, they bring the latest US releases to the UK and Europe, offering a wide array of masks, collector’s items, and replica props.

In addition to their partnership with Trick or Treat Studios, Mad About Horror showcases a vast selection of leading collectible brands including NECA, Mezco and Sideshow as well as niche brands such as Black Heart Models, Pallbearer Press, Infinite Statues. 

They also have a huge range of Halloween animatronics, masks and decorations. Renowned for sourcing the latest Halloween props and animatronics from the US, Mad About Horror pride themselves on retailing items that are rarely available this side of the pond.

With an extensive product range specialising in all thing’s Horror and Halloween, Mad About Horror serves as the ultimate one-stop shop for horror fans. Their passion for the genre is evident in their commitment to staying up to date with latest releases and engaging with the horror community. 

Looking to bring the thrill of the big screen home? Explore their Horror-movie section, featuring a wide array of collectibles, officially licensed masks, and an exclusive selection of Waxwork Records for soundtrack enthusiasts. Whether you’re expanding your horror collection or hunting for the perfect gift, Mad About Horror has everything you need to recreate the cinematic horror experience.

Shop with them now by clicking here

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Review – MaXXXine (2024) – Spoiler Free

Mia Goth, the current apple of horror’s eye, once again excels in her second time taking on the devilishly slick and meticulously deep character of Maxine Minx, an ex-adult film star who, after the deadly massacre in X (2022), takes Hollywood by storm. However, after a string of brutal murders by a mysterious killer strikes ‘the Hills’, Maxine is once again thrust into a world of terror. Ti West’s now completed X trilogy has seen nothing but praise for his take on the dark side of the desire for fame, coupled with a tinge of meta-esque storytelling and a dash of sinister yet tremendously wicked violence.

Just like the previous films, X and the surprisingly dense character study Pearl (2022), MaXXXine has no qualms in showcasing West’s dedication to all things ‘big screen’. The ‘X’ series is akin to that of a love letter regarding filmmaking, performing and what it takes to be a star. In true West fashion, the constant nods to the ‘golden age’ and the sacrificial nature of stardom all collide to create a trilogy that espouses the stunning but dark side of excelling in a cutthroat industry. 

Previous films set aside, how does MaXXXine hold up without its cinematic counterparts? In a nutshell, it seems West intended to utilise Maxine’s dreams of being on the big screen, leading her to star in an upcoming horror movie, The Puritan II, directed by in-movie filmmaker Brit Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki). The result of this sees MaXXXine become a spiritual embodiment of a classic, ultra-nostalgic, kind of sleazy (but in a richly entertaining way) 1980s horror B-movie!

Keeping the spoilers at bay: essentially, the film is evocative of a distinctive hyper-stylised aesthetic, equipped with standard neon lighting, melodramatic acting, campy dialogue, and a sense of independent filmmaking. Top all this off with the brilliant settings featuring elaborate film sets, such as a loaded, cliched video store, then MaXXXine is worthy of its own bingo card to tick off all the retro facets that West crams into every crevice. 


The evidential giallo-esque vibes make the film lush with an air of mystery, reminiscent of lusty noir thrillers that stormed 1970s horror. Alongside the glaringly sensual plot, MaXXXine features many glimpses of phallic, pointed knives and leather gloves, yet all of the flashiness does not completely hide MaXXXine’s fault. The mentionable downfall is the film’s lack of tension; the villain is predictable, the next victim is obvious, and any sense of exciting pacing is lost. It is as if the film is so caught up in its animated styling and almost intoxicatingly graphic, flamboyant ambience that the narrativisation takes the backseat. The major snag here is that all of these factors are forgivable in the grand scheme of what MaXXXine offers, yet, with West’s evidential eye for detail, it is more that the lack of attention is disappointing.

Despite the gripe over the ‘what ifs and buts’ of the plot, MaXXXine is still a rollicking time that manages to surge a pang of exciting boldness into every inch of the screen.

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Review – Longlegs (2024) Spolier Free

Written and directed by Osgood Perkins is Longlegs, the new horror film on the lips of seemingly everyone, following an FBI agent, Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), who has been tasked with solving the mystery behind the ‘Longlegs’ killer before they strike again. 

Perkins understands dread, fear, panic, terror, and alarm, to name a few of the most horrid of feelings that plague the pits of mankind. It feels as if Perkins made a horror film for horror fans – not necessarily to please the masses and tick off a list of jumpscares and monotonous kills but for those desperate to witness a film that really gets under the skin and creates a lasting impression. In a sense, Longlegs does not simply poke the bear and illicit a frightful moment that ends the minute after leaving the theatre; instead, Longlegs’ ability to really rattle the psyche enforces a lingering stain upon the immersed viewer. 

There are varying ways in which Longlegs grafts for this commendation, which is quite the case considering the stellar box office stats and apparent praise beaming from left, right and centre. One of the significant calls to success are the performances from the likes of Blair Underwood, the hardened Agent Carter, Alicia Witt, Christian devotee and mother to Lee, and of course, last but not least, Nic Cage, who provides quite possibly one of the best performance of his career. Immediate applause was granted for Underwood and Witt, yet where the diamond sparkles brightest is from the seriously incredible work from Monroe and Cage, whose portrayals of varying unique souls are sure to be notorious in future horror history lessons. Their joint natural talents and experience handling previous horror films cultivate an electrifyingly intense experience to watch unfold on screen. 

Yet, whilst it is duty bound to owe applaud to the assets that are Monroe and Cage, what catalyses the strong characters is the powerful script from Perkins, who knows precisely how to pluck at the nerve and form an unreal story that is as enigmatic, perplexing and intriguing as it is utterly shocking and to put it mildly downright nightmarish. As with many meritorious feats, Longlegs shines in its spirited visuals, which feature a handful of ugly, shocking images, which many Longleg’s viewers will vouch for as being quite invasive and hard to watch. 

The moody and dread-filled atmosphere speaks to the film’s overt stylisation and thematics towards the Satanic Panic era, detailing an almost infectious-like moral panic that spread like wildfire, particularly throughout the U.S. circa the 1980s – 1990s. Longlegs tackles the layered fears that manifested from the ‘panic’, such as horror within the home, evil infecting the innocent and the inescapable weaving of darkness that has the ability to seep into even the most inconspicuous of circumstances. 

A lot can be said about Longleg’s lengthy, effective and notably successful marketing campaign, which saw an array of strange social media posts infect the screens of every digital platform with an air of unexplained mystery. The team behind Longlegs’ marketing, Neon, used guerrilla techniques, which included randomised advertisements of phone numbers and Zodiac-Killer-like codes with seemingly no outward connection to an upcoming film. Joining this was a series of disturbing clips featured online, which showed the likes of a family picture with strange audio over the top, followed by other images of a lifeless body on a floor covered by sheets.

As evidenced in the marketing, let alone the entire film itself, Longlegs has an eerie, omnipresent aura of genuine creepiness that feels as if the horror has the ability to surpass the screen. This, combined with the moody, dismal, dark layout and beyond-creative character development, make Longlegs a strong, dare it to be said, unbeatable component for the year’s best horror film.

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Review – In a Violent Nature (2024) – Spoiler Free

Although harsh, brutal and bloodied, In a Violent Night is calm, akin to a tranquil stillness that calls upon emotive auras and visual renditions of placid yet frightening terror. The essence of bleak tonality combined with the uniquely compelling story, or almost lack thereof, propels director Chris Nash’s visions of a subdued slasher to be one of 2024’s most standout films. 

In deliberately typical slasher fashion, the film follows a team of friends lazing about by a crumbled fire tower in the woods, where they discover a locket. However, upon removal, they unknowingly awaken the corpse of Johnny (Ry Barrett), the subject of a local urban legend whose tragic backstory has him searching and massacring until the locket is returned and he can rest once again. 

Nash’s direction collages what has become entirely synonymous with the subgenre: a disgruntled yet oddly childlike enemy whose pacing and brutality remain confident and deadly throughout, a dense forestry setting, a foreboding backstory – which embodies some form of tribulation and an array of callous, cold-blooded kills. Throughout the exhibition of calamitous horror, In a Violent Nature manipulates all of the above typicalities to create an exercise in melancholy horror that can be described as a genre spin on the works of Andrei Tarkovsky (Mirror [1975], Stalker [1979]) and Pier Paolo Pasolini (Salò [1975]), or the more contemporary A Ghost Story (2017). The film’s presentation of beloved horror characteristics combined with its cognisance-heavy approach and unhurried pacing enhances In a Violent Nature’s minimalist layout.

The film is void of a soundtrack, with the sound being nearly entirely diegetic and heavy on atmospheric tones reminiscent of the woodsy setting, think twigs snapping, winds cascading through the trees, crisp leaves, chimes of drafts and laps of water flowing. Where scoring is concerned, the film’s limited soundscape speaks to the overall austere proposition that Nash utilises, preferring to cater to a streamlined, bare-bones product of horror. In other words, the dense imagery of thickets, brambles, seemingly endless forest landscapes, and the sparse audio addresses what makes In a Violent Nature so profound. This raw aesthetic, a Spartan approach to showcasing its story, is unique. Indeed, this film rightly so has gained mixed receptions, with many not favouring the quietness, which again is a contentious, bold move from Nash. However, despite varied interpretations, In a Violent Nature is, above all, refreshing. 

Despite the film resonating with a stripped-back perspective, it by no means dampens the ferocity of it all. In seeking a slasher, it is expected and arguably necessary for the film to be violent, gory, and graphic – these are critical components of many horror films, particularly the slasher/splatter subset. Rest assured, In a Violent Nature’s restrained aesthetic does not transfer to the many gory kills throughout, with one memorable incident involving a victim’s back being impaled, with their head pulled through their slashed abdomen until their face is now stuck facing out to where their spine used to be, forming a bloodied, vile and disturbing pinwheel of a human! What is most notable regarding the film’s various vicious occurrences is how they are not performed for laughs or absurd grossness. Instead, these attacks are truly unsettling, ruthless and utterly cruel. 

Comparisons have been made towards the antagonist Johnny’s demeanour against the likes of Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, with the combined three all showcasing a barbarically slow walk that looms and slowly progresses towards their prey like the grim reaper stalking their next catch. However, In a Violent Nature is best described when it is not solely compared to the greats, as Nash’s portrayal of a muted character study is very much its own product, just as the Halloween and Friday the 13th franchises are unique experiences on their own. Whilst resemblance to the beloved genre classics is key in some elements relating to In a Violent Nature, overall, the film deserves its own path and reputation, besides its entry into the slasher ‘Hall of Fame’ lineup.

There are continuous metaphors and analogies peppered within the scenes that directly or indirectly compare Johnny’s characteristics, motives and actions as being a replication of nature and all of its nitty-gritty, inhumane features – it’s cyclical and harsh, rabid and selfish, a kill or be killed, destroy or be destroyed world. Yet, somehow, nature is still beautiful. Ultimately, the same dealings precisely describe the entire diegesis of the fantastic In a Violent Nature.

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Review – A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) Spoiler Free

Picture this: an ordinary day is thrown into pandemonium as gargantuan, near-indestructible creatures descend upon you, waiting to pounce at even the mere whisper of the slightest sound. This is the premise for the previous instalments within The Quiet Place franchise. Whilst this shuddersome concept is by far effective, the novelty of the series’ principles is not far from wearing thin; what else could possibly be thrown into the mix to prolong the film’s lore without becoming tedious? How many times can the same battle come forth? Director Michael Sarnoski might have the answer for that! 

A Quiet Place: Day One is a spin-off within the soon-to-be trilogy within the franchise, with the film focusing on a new set of characters in a setting we have yet to encounter. The film takes us on the terminally ill Sam’s (Lupita Nyong’o) journey across a wrecked New York City in the bid to survive. Joining Sam is Eric (Joseph Quinn), a British law student, and Sam’s cat, Frodo (panic aside, he survives the whole ordeal). 

As the title suggests, the film’s action begins on ‘day one’ of the eventual apocalypse, showcasing the city landscape in a ruckus as humanity grapples with the worst threat mankind has ever seen, whilst simultaneously having to remain as silent as possible to avoid triggering one of these audio-activated beasts. Consequently, the film wrestles with copious intense scenes showcasing Sam and Eric narrowly attempting to avoid making a peep. One brilliantly tense scene calls to mind where the survivors must dislodge a stuck briefcase from a revolving door without creating an almighty crash. These moments of pure muted silence, coupled with the threat of looming and dooming noise, have viewers sitting on the edge of their seats. 

Aside from the narrative structures, Nyong’o and Quinn’s standout performances make Day One’s appeal stand out. They create a powerful duo worthy of their own spin-off cinematic series when shown together. Nyong’o is no stranger to the horror genre with her roles in the Aussie zombie flick Little Monsters (2019) and Jordan Peele’s doppelganger nightmare Us (2019), both laying the grounds for her epic delivery of one of A Quiet Place’s most depthful characters yet. Nyong’o’s performance of Sam is praise-worthy, with her ability to navigate such fragility and horror simultaneously creating a character that is engaging and sensitive but strong enough for the audience to root for the entire time. Adjacent to Nyong’o’s leading portrayal is Quinn’s equally as emotively rich performance of Eric.

Similar to his co-star, Quinn’s talents in the likes of Overlord (2018) and the iconic role of Eddie in season 4 of the hit show Stranger Things (2016-) all set the stage for his appearance of the anxious law student Eric. Throughout the film, the pair of survivors form a unique bond that is empathetically dense as they band together to endure the end of the world, stirring that familiar sense of the emotional impact that has become synonymous with the Quiet Place world without becoming replicative of soap opera dramatics. 

All entries of A Quiet Place have faired well, particularly due to this mention of poignant emotional resonance. Whilst this expressiveness is a key value across the films, particularly Day One, many still value the films ability to raise the stakes and create moments of pure terror – think of the opening scene in the first entry or to be repetitive, the equally as intense opening scene in the sequel. As a horror contender, Day One is bountiful in its scenes of nail-bitingly tense creature sequences. 

Day One is a must-see, well-executed advancement into the mythology of the Quiet Place domain. The film expands our understanding of these creatures while still leaving that sense of disturbed wonderment that makes the sound-sensitive beasts so formidable.

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