Handheld horror: Dany and Michael Philippou's TALK TO ME (2022) "mediates adolescent angst and alienation through a terrifying rite of passage." Essential horror, on #BFIPlayer from today. Full review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/cinema/talk-to-me-review-one-hell-of-a-strong-calling-card/

"Seventies-set school invasion horror lets Manson-esque cultists and abandoned pupils raise some hell together": Jenn Wexler's THE SACRIFICE GAME was the #FrightFest closer. Full review at #SciFiNow. See you next year! https://www.scifinow.co.uk/reviews/the-sacrifice-game-review-at-fantasia-a-whole-world-of-diabolical-desire/

"a contemporary tale – with retrospective stylings – of American tourists entrapped in local ritual": Austin Jennings's 'heady love letter to 70s exploitation cinema' EIGHT EYES at #FrightFest. Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/eight-eyes-review-at-fantasia-a-heady-love-letter-to-70s-exploitation-cinema/

Cage and Kinnaman drive angry: in Yuval Adler’s noirish road movie SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, "a father-to-be is taken for a wild night ride by a ghost from his past". Screened at #FrightFest. Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/cinema/sympathy-for-the-devil-review-joel-kinnaman-and-nicolas-cage-star-in-stylish-backroads-noir

In Paris Zarcilla's modern gothic feature debut RAGING GRACE (2023), "a Filipino carer tries to make a home for herself and her daughter in her employers’ dysfunctional houses": screened at #FrightFest . Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/raging-grace-review-at-fantasia-2023-creepy-portrait-of-family-and-class-divides/

“Lower Saxony-set modern fairytale confounds the psychological and the supernatural while disinterring an old legend”: Anthony Waller’s PIPER world prem at #FrightFest Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/piper-review-at-frightfest-an-uncanny-intersection-of-fantasy-and-reality

Woman of the (American) dunes: Barnaby Clay’s feature debut THE SEEDING "cruelly allegorises humanity’s place in a ritualised Darwinian cycle that is also a Teshigaharan trap". Just screened at #FrightFest Review for #SciFiNow

https://www.scifinow.co.uk/reviews/the-seeding-review-sowing-seeds-that-will-take-root-in-your-mind/

"multimediated metamovie switches between different nighttime TV programmes all telling the same apocalyptic story": Michael Hurst’s TRANSMISSION had its world première at #FrightFest. Review for #SciFiNow
https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/transmission-review-at-frightfest-seeking-answers-in-the-void/

“found-footage multiverse mystery sends documentarians on a quest to find a missing woman and a better world”: Graham Hughes’ HOSTILE DIMENSIONS had its world première at #FrightFest Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/reviews/hostile-dimensions-review-at-frightfest-scary-funny-sci-fi-on-a-budget/

Daniel is an anagram of denial: Quarxx’s “dark and grotesque (divine) comedy” PANDEMONIUM at #FrightFest Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/reviews/pandemonium-review-at-fantasia-a-dark-and-grotesque-divine-comedy/

"a young boy’s perspective on the troubles and trauma stirring beneath a family’s surface": Samuel Bodin’s criss-crossing, twisty psychothriller COBWEB (2023) at #FrightFest . Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/cinema/cobweb-review-criss-crossing-twisty-psychothriller/

"In Junta Yamaguchi’s second looping SF feature, an inn’s staff and residents, frozen in a recurring two minutes, desperately seek a future": RIVER (2023) at
#FrightFest Full review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/river-review-at-fantasia-2023-looping-sci-fi-adventure/

Joe Stephenson’s campy gothic adaptation DOCTOR JEKYLL "is equally class- and self-conscious, transitioning from social drama to possession horror". World première at F#rightFest Review for #SciFiNow
https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/doctor-jekyll-review-social-drama-and-possession-horror

"a carnivalesque tale of a clan sticking – and stitching – together in Depression-Era America": the Adams/Poser’s latest family outing WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS (2023) at #FrightFest
Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/where-the-devil-roams-review-at-fantasia-a-grotesque-carnivalesque-tale/

"cross-cultural documentary traces the origins and influences of a Japanese horror genre": Sarah Appleton & Jasper Sharp's THE J-HORROR VIRUS had its world prem at #FrightFest. Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/the-j-horror-virus-review-delving-into-a-cultural-phenomenon/

"an adolescent Indian-American risks losing her own soul to cultural conformity":
Bishal Dutta]'s horror hybrid IT LIVES INSIDE has its European première at #FrightFest. Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/it-lives-inside-review-at-fantasia-cross-cultural-identity-assimilation-and-absorption/

"breathless thriller traps an experienced diver under water, with her estranged sister her only lifeline": Maximilian Erlenwein's THE DIVE is in UK cinemas from today, via #VertigoReleasing. Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/the-dive-review-a-deep-dive-story-of-survival-in-extremis/

"breathless thriller traps an experienced diver under water, with her estranged sister her only lifeline": Maximilian Erlenwein's THE DIVE just screened at #FrightFest, in UK cinemas tomorrow, via
#Vertigo. Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/the-dive-review-a-deep-dive-story-of-survival-in-extremis/

"breathless thriller traps an experienced diver under water, with her estranged sister her only lifeline."
Maximilian Erlenwein's THE DIVE, in UK cinemas from next Friday, via #Vertigo (after a preview the night before at #FrightFest). Review for #SciFiNow
https://www.scifinow.co.uk/events/the-dive-review-a-deep-dive-story-of-survival-in-extremis

Strangers in a trailer: Indianna Bell & Josiah Allen’s confident, claustrophobic YOU'LL NEVER FIND ME (one of my favourite genre films of 2023) screens 9pm tonight at #MelbourneInternationalFilmFestival, with a directors' Q&A moderated by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.
Review for #SciFiNow https://www.scifinow.co.uk/reviews/youll-never-find-me-review-a-tour-de-force-of-minimalist-filmmaking/