FrightFest: Climbing the walls

Now in its 22nd year, London's FrightFest is one of the top horror film festivals globally, and features a number of world premieres among its lineup, plus filmmaker events. After last year's double virtual edition, this year's event was largely held live in Leicester Square, with a virtual element to help audiences outside London enjoy the fun. I don't usually attend the festival as a journalist, but I try to catch films where possible, and this year I saw more than usual, including a few very good ones...

Knocking
dir Frida Kempff; with Cecilia Milocco, Albin Grenholm 21/Swe ****
Cleverly shot with a focus on thoughts and feelings, this Swedish thriller has a slow-burn quality that inexorably pulls the audience into its web of unnerving fear. Director Frida Kempff, writer Emma Brostrom and actor Cecilia Milocco take us deep into the mind of an unhinged woman who feels that something around her isn't right. And she seems so convinced about it that she pulls us into the mystery... FULL REVIEW >

No Man of God
dir Amber Sealey; with Elijah Wood, Luke Kirby 21/US ***.
Based on transcripts and firsthand reports, this well-made drama explores the early days of criminal profiling in the mid-1980s. It's a brainy, talky film, largely featuring conversations between a killer and a federal agent. This makes it feel like a stage play, spiced up with visual flourishes by director Amber Sealey. It's a darkly intriguing film, expertly assembled and performed, even if the subject matter is a bit well-worn... FULL REVIEW >

Prisoners of the Ghostland
dir Sion Sono; with Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella 21/Jpn ***
Heavily stylised, this bonkers action horror is set in a colourfully dystopian version of Japan crossed with the Wild West and populated by an international cast of quirky characters. Sudden explosions of action, violence and song keep the audience on its toes. Director Sion Sono playfully indulges in outrageously overwrought imagery, sets and costumes, creating a deranged comic book-style atmosphere that feels far too haphazard to fully come together... FULL REVIEW >

John and the Hole
dir Pascual Sisto; with Charlie Shotwell, Michael C Hall 21/US **.
A coming-of-age drama with a sinister twist, this film retains an unnervingly hushed tone throughout its steadily paced narrative. The visuals are eye-catching, and performances are skilfully understated, echoing Michael Haneke in bleak outlook and Yorgos Lantimos in surreal-fable tone. Director Pascual Sisto deploys ominous horror-style elements to crank up the menace, and the script plays with some big ideas, but the minimalistic approach never offers much insight... FULL REVIEW >

The Show
dir Mitch Jenkins; with Tom Burke, Siobhan Hewlett 20/UK **.
With the look of a colourful comic-book, this offbeat British fantasy by Mitch Jenkins and Alan Moore is packed with playful stylistic flourishes. At the centre is a noir-style investigation that refreshingly defies expectations, spiralling through a series of encounters that play with some lurid connections between the real and spirit world. It's sharply well-made, and packed with terrific characters, but there's little going on under the gorgeous surface... FULL REVIEW >

When the Screaming Stops
dir Conor Boru; with Ed Hartland, Jared Rogers 21/UK ***
Dryly hilarious, this British horror comedy is packed with deadpan asides and nutty revelations in the mock-doc style of What We Do in the Shadows. Its entertainingly silly tone jars against the pitch-black premise, as whiplash shifts in tone and some obvious plotting undermine the clever premise. And without much character nuance, the mix of blood-thirsty murder with goofy jokes adds an awkwardness to the mindless fun... FULL REVIEW >

Bloodthirsty
dir Amelia Moses; with Lauren Beatty, Greg Bryk 20/Can ***
With slick visuals and a detailed set-up, this is not your typical werewolf horror. It's also far too serious for its own good, even with twisted touches that add compelling observations about the aggression and sacrifice required for artistic success. It's grisly enough to hold the attention, but some earthy energy in the writing and direction would have allowed the story and characters to resonate much more strongly... FULL REVIEW >

Sweetie, You Won't Believe It
dir Yernar Nurgaliyev; with Asel Kalieyva, Danyar Alshinov 20/Kaz ***.
Loud and abrasive, this jumpy comedy from Kazakhstan has a lot of energy as it mixes Three Stooges-style slapstick with bumbling criminal action and some outrageous grisliness. With six credited writers, the script is a mess, piling random nonsense on top of corny plot points and lots of illogical chaos. But the gleefully gruesome approach and some absurd character touches manage to turn it into an entertaining guilty pleasure... FULL REVIEW >

See Shadows' FRIGHTFEST HOMEPAGE for a full list of films and links to reviews.

For more information, visit FRIGHTFEST

Critical Week: Ray of light

I took thinks a bit easier this week, recovering from last week's intense film festival screening programme. But it's been cinema weather in London, so I've watched films both at home and at press screenings anyway. Two films this week were animated, both far from Hollywood. The Japanese drama Josee, the Tiger and the Fish is actually a remake, but has a fresh visual approach that blends traditional anime with simply gorgeous digital artwork to tell a remarkably grown-up story about friendship and love. And from Germany, Moonbound is also beautifully animated with an eye-catching attention to detail in its wacky space adventure story. But an over-complicated script lets it down.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Pray Away • Sabaya
Never Gonna Snow Again
Ema • The Fever
PERHAPS AVOID:
Playing God • Moonbound
ALL REVIEWS >

As for the blockbusters, Ryan Reynolds is as charming as ever in Free Guy, a wildly entertaining action comedy that packs a nice punch. James Gun reboots The Suicide Squad, bringing back Margot Robbie and Joel Kinnaman plus Idris Elba for a riotously busy, loud, overlong and gleefully grisly caper. The perhaps too hushed coming-of-age thriller John and the Hole stars Charlie Shotwell as a tween who locks his family in an unfinished bunker to get some peace. Michael McKean and Alan Tudyk liven up the far too serious con-artist caper Playing God. And from Brazil, The Fever is a gorgeous observational drama about an indigenous man in an Amazon city facing big changes in his life.

Films I'll be watching this coming week include Benh Zeitlin's riff on Peter Pan with Wendy, Richard Dreyfuss in Crime Story, Kelsey Grammer in Charming the Hearts of Men, the Canadian drama Underground, the Norwegian comedy-drama Ninjababy and the shorts collection Boy Feels: I Love Trouble.