Film
Fantasia Festival Review: Minor Premise
Hollywood loves a science fiction film, with an emphasis on the latter and little adult thought given to the former. These films are almost always loud, brash and more than a little ridiculous, but even LA will struggle to surpass Will Smith punching an alien. However, there are a small cohort of intelligent independent sci-fi …
Fantasia Festival Review: Undergods
In the current climate in Europe, it almost already feels like we’re living in some sort of dystopian future. Politics has taken a seemingly uncertifiable lurch to the right. Societies have never been more polarised. Governments practice divide and rule. Everything has to be black and white. Global pandemic, Brexit, climate crisis, freak weather conditions, …
Film Review: Two Heads Creek
Australia’s rugged terrain and host of dangerous and deadly wildlife has inspired numerous stories of survival and terror. For someone who lives in a temperate climate the sheer heat, barrenness and isolation of much of the country is a little overwhelming. Not to mention the propensity of the animal population towards murder. However, as Wake …
Fantasia Festival Review: Sanzaru
Asia is full of ghosts. Of spirits and demons of centuries past and unhappiness long forgotten. Migration has, in some ways, spread these myths, legends and traditions far from those shores. These often wash-up on the coast of America. The New World has its own spectres, most of which were created by the ‘colonisation’ of …
Fantasia Festival Review: The Dark & The Wicked
Whilst, until recently, mainstream genre cinema has been dominated by bloated franchises and recognisable characters, there has always been room for a certain amount of imagination; hovering just below these studio behemoths. Independent horror is perennially a fertile and innovative area of film-making. There are so many great movies which you may never have heard …
Fantasia Festival Review: The Block Island Sound
One of the most powerful elements of superior genre cinema is that of mystery. It’s hard to process or categorise the unknown. That which cannot be explained by science or which sends your senses into overload. Admittedly, as The Happening so notoriously demonstrated, it doesn’t always guarantee a good film. Especially when the temptation to …
Fantasia Festival Review: A Mermaid in Paris
Depictions of mermaids on the big screen tend to be one of two things. They’re either the mythical terror of the deep who lure men to their deaths or they’re a perfectly tractable partner for a leading man. It’s safe to say that most roles are written by men! There’s normally very little imagination involved. …
Film Review: Children of the Sea
Ninety-seven percent of the water on the Earth is in our oceans whilst seventy-one percent of the planet is covered in water. It is surprising then that our knowledge of the seas is so limited, at best, with eighty percent remaining unmapped. There are the obvious difficulties connected with marine exploration, but as a species …
Fantasia Festival Review: Lapsis
Whilst the gap between rich and poor continues to grow wider with each passing year, a new unwelcome industry sector has gained prominence within the western world. The gig economy and zero-hour contracts are just the latest blights on society. They allow employers to get richer, by offering commitment-free employment, but afford workers little or …
Fantasia Festival Review: Bleed with Me
The film industry has traditionally been a bit of a boy’s club. Whilst diversity has gradually seeped into film-making, with huge advances made over the last few years, there’s still a long way to go. Although this improvement has been across the board, genre cinema has generally lagged behind the curve. As a result, we’ve …