Author: Javiera Vega
There’s something thrilling about watching a seasoned director’s first film. It’s like discovering the blueprint of what’s to come—a raw, unfiltered glimpse into the voice they’ll refine over the years. Sure, it may be rough around the edges, but you start spotting those telltale signs: the themes, the tone, the obsessions that will come to
Did you know Hideaki Anno, best known for Evangelion, has also tackled themes of inner turmoil and depression in live action? If you don’t, no one can blame you. It’s easy to associate Anno with mechas, apocalyptic imagery, and psychological breakdowns. But in his 1998 live-action debut Love & Pop, he trades in the esoteric
In the sun-bleached stillness of Brookehaven, a rural town that feels both timeless and suffocating, two strangers form a fragile but radiant bond. What I Remember is the debut feature of Alex Hera, a writer-director with a distinct sensitivity to the quiet horrors of daily life. Shot in the summer of 2024 with a low-budget,
Tired of the same old popular picks? Ready to challenge yourself with titles that dare to be different? We’ve handpicked eight groundbreaking anime experiences that critics and casuals alike have somehow missed — and it’s time to set the record straight. Prepare for brilliance. Kiss x Sis A bold exploration of love, boundaries, and what
Who knew queer mommy vlog culture could be this unhinged? The Rebrand (2024), written and directed by Kaye Adelaide and with additional writing from Nancy Webb, is a wickedly campy descent into influencer hell—a horror-satire hybrid that gleefully peels back the pastel filter of curated online personas to reveal something grotesquely hilarious underneath. Nicole
Kami No Virusu, directed by Luciano Attino, is a dystopian short film set in a future where a pandemic has ravaged the world. The story follows a shady pharmaceutical company offering free vaccines to the poor in exchange for global control but with a dark twist: the vaccine causes grotesque, vampiric transformations in humans. This
Kuon, developed by FromSoftware, is an atmospheric survival horror game released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004. Set in the Heian period of Japan, the game presents a gripping, eerie narrative revolving around ancient rituals, cursed mansions, and the supernatural. The story is primarily told through the perspectives of Utsuki and Sakuya, two women entangled
Born in 1946, Hideshi Hino stands out as a prominent Japanese horror artist, dedicating the majority of his life to conjuring various nightmares for his audience. Regrettably, in the Western world, his name is frequently associated only with the widely recognized Guinea Pig installments: “Flower of Flesh and Blood” and “Mermaid in the Manhole.” Although
If you ask a Western horror fan, they can probably tell you exactly when they first heard about Hideo Nakata’s cult classic Ringu (1998). Whether it was due to the release of Gore Verbinski’s remake in 2002 or because a rundown copy of the original was passed along between friends, at some point almost all
Leon Tolstoy once wrote, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” While tragic, this notion works wonders in the horror and thriller genre. In fiction, the messier the family, the better the movie. It might not always succeed, but it certainly does in Toshikazu Nagae’s film Saiko! The