His 2007 feature debut may have been titled Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, but writer/director Jon Knautz has become a filmmaker notable for movies providing women with complex, meaty roles. Sure, the films he directs and co-writes swim in the more shadowy side of the lake, but works such as The Shrine, Girlhouse and Goddess of Love are notable for their compelling female leads and character driven stories.
This also applies to The Cleaning Lady, Knautz’s latest movie, co-created with regular collaborator Alexis Kendra. As well as performing co-writing and producing duties, Kendra also stars as Alice, a “love addict” feeling trapped in a joyless affair with a married man. To distract herself from this, Alice befriends Rachel Alig’s shy Shelley, the cleaning lady in her building...
Read More
Director: Tom de Ville
Writer: Tom de Ville
Cast: Maisie Williams, Jamie Davis, Archie Duffy, Joe Wolstenholme, Edward Wallace
Cert: 12
Running time: 11mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Young ornithophile Jay (Williams) attempts to nurse a crow, injured by local boys. Those boys then set their sights on Jay.
What’s the verdict: No matter how long it takes, some directors must get their story told. Writer/director Tom de Ville fits nicely into that bracket; his memorable, unusual Corvidae spent six years reaching the screen.
The bulk of principal shooting occurred back in December 2012, with editing, scoring, reshoots and FX work filling out the rest of the time (with crowdfunding assistance, presumably for the visual effects shots).
Happily, the result was worth both time and effor...
Read More
Director: Sonny Laguna, Tommy Wiklund
Writer: S. Craig Zahler (script), Charles Band, Kenneth J. Hall (characters created by)
Cast: Thomas Lennon, Barbara Crampton, Michael Paré, Jenny Pellicer, Nelson Franklin, Udo Kier, Charlyne Yi, Skeeta Jenkins
Cert: 18 (TBC)
Running time: 90mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Edgar (Lennon) and friends travel to a small town to auction a puppet belonging to a serial killer murdered there decades before. But, in the hotel Edgar and other puppet bearing guests discover some toys bite back.
What’s the verdict: A bargain bin horror franchise since inception back in 1989, audiences are likely to be drawn to this soft Puppet Master reboot chiefly because it’s scripted by Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99 creator S. Craig Zahler.
Yet, wherea...
Read More
Director: Demián Rugna
Writer: Demián Rugna
Cast: Maximiliano Ghione, George L. Lewis, Elvira Onetto
Cert: 15 (TBC)
Running time: 87mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: When supernatural occurrences on a quiet suburban street lead to death, a police detective enlists the help of parapsychologists.
What’s the verdict: Reportedly Argentina’s first foray into paranormal horror, Demián Rugna’s Terrified lives up to its mission-statement title. Exploring territory previously charted by Ju-on, Insidious, Paranormal Activity and dozens of other supernatural shockers, writer/director Rugna nevertheless mines fresh jumps and jolts out of his fiendish little tale.
On a suburban street in a nondescript town something odd is happening...
Read More
Director: Kristian A. Söderström
Writer: Kristian A. Söderström
Cast: Stefan Sauk, Lena Nilsson, Amanda Ooms, Martin Wallström, Sven Wollter, Carolin Stoltz
Cert: 18 (TBC)
Running time: 93mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Former video store owner Ennio (Sauk) begins to doubt his friends when a valuable VHS that could solve his money problems is stolen.
What’s the verdict: A surprisingly touching examination of late middle-age regret, Videoman is a slippery debut from Swedish writer/director Kristian A. Söderström. Part Ken Loach or Aki Kaurismäki social drama, part giallo thriller, it takes a sensitive look at curdled nostalgia and obsession.
Ennio lives in the basement of a snowy Gothenburg apartment block...
Read More
Director: Abiel Bruhn, John Rocco
Writers: Abiel Bruhn, John Rocco
Cast: Elyse Dufour, Jack Champion, Bailey Campbell, Joe Walz
Cert: 15 (TBC)
Running time: 88mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Christmas time. Amber (Dufour) is hired to babysit Kevin (Champion), the nervy son of wannabe paranormal TV host Ted (Walz). Along with her friends, Amber plans to rob Ted’s house. But, their plans go awry when three vengeful witches are accidentally summoned.
What’s the verdict: Horror film babysitters typically endure a rough ride to the end credits. If they reach them at all.
The Night Sitter’s Amber, spiritedly played by Elyse Dufour, also must run a gauntlet of mayhem and bloodshed. But, she faces her tormentors with the punk sass of someone who begins the film believing they are the...
Read More
Director: Takeshi Sone
Writer: Etsuo Hiratani
Cast: Yurika Akane, Lee Yuha, Yurisa, Choi Yona, Miya Sakimoto, Lee Eun-woo, Sou Hirosawa
Cert: 18 (TBC)
Running time: 81mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Japanese woman Miyu (Akane) travels to Seoul to find her sister and right a past wrong. While in Seoul she meets brilliant plastic surgeon Hana and her female lover Hyoshin.
What’s the verdict: Director Takeshi Sone acted as cinematographer on Shinichiro Ueda’s wild Japanese horror-comedy One Cut of the Dead, and is his own cinematographer on Ghost Mask – Scar.
But, the rough n’ tumble hand-held visuals of Ueda’s movie are here replaced with a restrained style that coolly records the tragi-horror events of Etsuo Hiratani’s script.
Taking its cue from Takashi Miike’s classi...
Read More
Director: Pascal Laugier
Writer: Pascal Laugier
Cast: Crystal Reed, Anastasia Phillips, Mylène Farmer, Emilia Jones, Taylor Hickson, Kevin Power, Rob Archer
Cert: 18
Running time: 91mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Years after a violent home invasion, successful horror writer Beth returns to the house where her mother and traumatised sister still live. But, the pain and horror lingers on.
What’s the verdict: Six years have past since Pascal Laugier’s criminally underseen The Tall Man snuck out straight-to-DVD. With Incident in a Ghostland he returns to the themes and screams of his brutal sophomore feature Martyrs for another astonishing five-star experience.
As with Martyrs this centers on two young women, here sisters Beth and Vera, trapped in a large mysterious house with ...
Read More
Director: Mike Mort
Writer: Mike Mort
Cast: Mike Mort, Jennifer Saunders, Paul Whitehouse
Cert: 15 (TBC)
Running time: 85mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Maverick cop Chuck Steel, haunted by the death of his wife, finds himself protecting the city from wino vampires… or trampires!
What’s the verdict: Cinematic success or failure often boils down to timing. With the current obsession for 80s nostalgia, Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires arrives right on time to crest that wave.
Yet, this infectiously fun mash-up of 80s action clichés and horror tropes has been a pet-project years in the making. Chuck Steel himself (imagine Dirty Harry without the sensitivity training) has been percolating with Welsh writer/director Mike Mort since his teens.
14-minute short Chuck Steel: Raging ...
Read More
