Tag: film review
After stepping away from filmmaking since 2019’s charming musical comedy Dance with Me, director Shinobu Yaguchi makes his return with Dollhouse (2025), a horror tale centered on a cursed doll, of all things. Those who are only mildly familiar with Yaguchi-san’s filmography may find this genre jump to be rather jarring, but I assure you
*I feel the need to add to this article the fact that I was engaged as a freelance contributor to the film’s post-production team, specifically responsible for creating the end credits. While this does make me part of the film’s crew, this fact has not influenced my thoughts on the film in any way.* Human
Why are horror and exploitation films so popular? Why do fans willingly submit themselves to the gruelling, torturous experiences that these genres provide? The simple answer is it feels good to be scared. Movies like Night of the Living Dead (1968) or Faster Pussy Cat, Kill Kill! (1965) allow fans to experience unique, unusual and
Cory Pratt’s Hide (2025) is a perfect mix of graphic imagery and careful restraint. In just a short runtime (less than 20 minutes), it manages to say more than many full-length feature films do, delivering tension, unease, and pointed social commentary without ever tipping into excess. The film shows just enough without feeling overly gratuitous
Just when you thought Phallacies broke the final taboo in art, filmmakers Domiziano Christopharo and Jon Devlin have returned with another horror anthology film, ready to push the boundaries of art with their “back-door” approach to cinema. This time, their gaze is focused solely on the final frontier of the human body in an unflinching,
Premiering at Grimmfest’s annual horror film festival, Frankie, Maniac Woman (2025), directed and co-written by Pierre Tsigaridis, director of Traumatika (2024), arrives with the promise of a searing indictment of the music industry’s relentless objectification of women, yet ultimately becomes complicit in the very misogyny it purports to critique. Following Frankie (Dina Silva), an aspiring
Is there a job that’s actually worth dying for? Director Jake Myers takes on the modern grind culture with this darkly humorous body horror about a mind-altering drink that makes employees work themselves to death. Early on in the film, a young woman is seen working overtime at a mysterious office when she gets a
The manner in which mainstream Bengali cinema sidesteps serious horror, almost as though it were a contagious disease, is a phenomenon deserving scrutiny. Bengali culture, from its expansive literary canon and oral storytelling to its everyday chatter in the 21st century, has never lacked horror elements. It overflows with supernatural entities, some benevolent and absent-minded,
Meiruko-chan is a 2025 Japanese supernatural horror/slice of life film written and directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura. Beginning his career with the horror film series Honto ni Atta! Noroi no Video, Yoshihiro Nakamura would proceed to write and direct the first seven films in the series–later returning to the series to narrate films eleven through to
Bodycam is a 2025 Canadian found footage horror film written and directed by Brandon Christensen, with additional writing from Ryan Christensen. Brandon is best known as the writer/director behind films such as Still/Born (2017), Superhost (2021), as well as The Puppetman (2023), and Night of the Reaper (2025), with Ryan attached as a writer. Two