Hannah of the Dead (2026) - Short Horror Film Review

It has been a while since I last heard from Nicholas M. Garofolo (Feeding on the Living, Deranged Foxhole), so was nice to see Manhattan Skyline Films were back with a new short film. The short is dedicated to Dave Sweeney, I've seen a few of his films, so it was sad to hear of his passing.

After being kicked out of her childhood home, teenager Hannah (Amanda LoCoco) is offered a place to stay at a shady Airbnb run by Fred (Garofolo). She soon joins the other guests in prostitution, but her success and arrogance leads to other workers and Fred getting both jealous and suspicious of her actions.

This was a whirlwind of a story, in just 11 minutes a story that could easily fit a feature length movie is told. At times, Hannah of the Dead felt like an abridged version of a longer film, with the protagonists tumultuous journey speeding by at a lightning pace, helped along by a decent cast, especially with Garofolo who is on fine a form as ever. All ending on a most enjoyable and fun sequence.

With minimal special effects of somewhat dubious quality, Hannah of the Dead never took itself too seriously and was all the better for it. This was an enjoyable if dizzying story of a troubled girl, set to the backdrop of many custom Electric Tomb tracks.
Filmed at Cape Cod, Hannah of the Dead won the '2026 Best Thriller Short Film' at Festival De Indie, and is available to watch on the Fawesome App for TV, PC, and mobile devices.

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Horrorbuku (2026) - Horror Film Review

Horrorbuku is the second of two films brought to my attention for review from filmmaker Eric Shapiro (Intrusive). Both this and Intrusive were also watched for review on the same day. This one, written and co-directed by Shapiro alongside Tony Pietra Arjuna (Shadowplay) is a definite film of two halves, with the story in both over-lapping slightly but both very different in style.

The first half's wraparound has struggling author, Anthony (Shapiro) at a therapy session, recounting to his therapist the very odd experiences he has been having lately. Suffering writer's block and with a family to care for, his third novel in a horror trilogy was put on the back-burner, until the discovery of a creepy wooden mask reignited his passion for his fiction trilogy, even if it is a bit troubling that Anthony believes the mask speaks to him. Not long after the mask, he speaks of being visited by another figure, this one being a doppelganger of himself (of course, also Shapiro), albeit it, one that has all the confidence of a jacked-up coke fiend. Anthony finds himself caught in a conflict between the two; the mask wanting him to finish his trilogy, the copy wanting him to scrap it and work on his 'great American novel'.

Initial impressions weren't the strongest, I noticed some distracting background interference in early scenes, and at first the story was a bit hard to follow. This however was a movie that steadily improved, from the first second to the last, it was constantly getting better in quality. What was constant throughout was the amazing score. The music here was sublime, it was great enough that I found myself unconsciously tapping away on the side of my headphones to the low-fi beats. Music really can add so much to a film. So, the first half is an indie odd-ball drama with slight horror elements. The mask was a great looking prop and the sound design for the voices it spoke with were excellent. Shapiro playing both himself and his confident clone also worked well, injecting some humour into these early scenes. It all culminates with a crossover into the second story. Much like with Intrusive, this second story occurs roughly around the halfway point.

That second half moves the setting to Kuala Lumpur (by coincidence I spent several hours in the airport there earlier this year...was very humid!). Horrorbuku transforms into a supernatural Malaysian crime drama of all things! This section was near impossible to look away from, I was captivated by the unfolding story. Teenage siblings, Faris (Gen Darwish) and Dania (Zarith Zalikha) are preparing for a trip, meanwhile their crime-boss father; Amir (Josiah Hogan) is trying to get away from his criminal lifestyle. There was a fun blend of supernatural and crime drama here, I especially liked the look of the entities (gave a real Squid Game guard feeling). There were a couple of exciting and well choreographed fight scenes, and the change in location from America breathed new life into Horrorbuku, even if the change in styles did feel a bit jarring.

Much like with Intrusive, Horrorbuku is at the top of end of good, just missing out on excellent. It starts with humble beginnings as a 6/10, but by the strong finish was a solid 8/10, with the median line bringing it down to the score you see below. Another very interesting film that is a tiny bit arthouse in style, but without the pretentiousness that can come with that subgenre. Horrorbuku is due to come to streaming platforms later this year.

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Intrusive (2024) - Horror Film Review

I recently got contacted by filmmaker Eric Shapiro (Bango) to check out two of his horror films. The first of these I watched was Intrusive; an indie demonic possession film (directed and co-written by him) that while not without its issues, was still a very interesting film.

Sabina (Rhoda Jordan - Bango, Death Factory) arrives at the apartment block home of psychic Kelly (Sherill Quinn - Ted Bunny) for a session with the woman. Obviously afraid and desperate, Sabina tells the psychic that she hears the voice of a mysterious woman in her mind, and needs help to rid herself of this troubling issue. Under hypnosis, Sabina begins to exhibit psychotic tendencies, with Kelly suspecting the woman might be mentally ill rather than actually hearing an unknown voice. However, when she comes to speak to the voice within Sabina, Kelly begins to believe that something hauntingly authentic might be going on.

This felt like an even more indie bedfellow to stunning German demonic possession film, Luz. Both mainly take place in a singular location, both use hypnosis as a means to expose the hidden evil, and at 70 minutes long each, they even share the same length. For the first half of Intrusive, I felt this was going to be a really great movie. The first 35 minutes is one long drawn out scene between Kelly and Sabina/Phentara (the entity's name), with the former slowly realising that there is something supernatural happening. I was on the edge of my seat wandering where the story was going to go; the build-up with Sabina's anxiety created a lot of tension. I thought Quinn was great in her role as Kelly, a professional, but also having that professional mask slip at times to reveal the real Kelly.
At the halfway point, Intrusive changes to a setting I wasn't expecting, moving to a new character; Paul (Richard Caines - Bango), who is out in a park taking his baby for a walk in its pram. His story and the previous one overlap in fascinating ways, with it shown that both plotlines are occurring at the same time.

While the first half was single-room horror drama, the second half did something a bit different and in the process slightly trips over its own feet. In this second part, the protagonist is having a strange day, hearing voices wishing him harm that appear to be coming from the baby. This whole section came across as humorous rather than chilling, with bizarre event after bizarre event making for some comedic scenes. At one point as an example, the baby ends up clinging to a tree branch!, then there is Paul's panicked run scene that plays in slow motion like a running sequence from comedy action film Crank, and his constant falling over didn't help give the character any dignity. This part did add to the overall story, but the more light hearted vibe affected the unsettling first half. There was a fun cameo from the director in this segment that was nice to see.

This indie film didn't require fancy special effects or big set pieces to sell its paranormal events in a grounded setting. Like Luz, the intentions of the antagonist threat are relatively minor at this stage, making for an insular and intimate story with a small cast of characters. While not a great film, Intrusive was still a good film, it did interesting things with how the story was set-out (silly cliff-hanger ending aside), and the back and forth between the two tangentially related stories was well implemented. Intrusion can currently be viewed for free on TubiTV.

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Ted Bunny (2026) - Horror Film Review

From the tasteless title alone (an obvious riff on real life serial killer - Ted Bundy), I fully imagined Ted Bunny would lean heavily into the comedic side of horror. This Michael Fredianelli (Autumn Moon) directed and co-written slasher took itself a bit more seriously than you might expect. That isn't to say there isn't humour here, especially in its meandering second half.

The crew of an online true crime channel have travelled to the rural home of Catherine (Dee Wallace - 3 From Hell, Red Christmas) to interview her for a program they are going to do about Ted Bundy. The director; Sasha (Diana Roman) has discovered that the woman had been allegedly attacked by Bundy prior to him getting infamous, but has never had her story told for fear of not being believed. Accompanying Sasha is her producer Emily (Mia Parco), and two newly hired members; cameraman Tommy (Tammer Girgis) and sound guy, Richie (Dominic Olivo). Interviewing Catherine, the woman tells a story of having been attacked by Bundy, and subsequently discovering she was pregnant with his child. The crew think Catherine is making the story up for attention, and while on a break from filming, Tommy and Richie decide to break into her basement for a laugh. It is here that they encounter Theodore (Trent Avvenire - Bears on a Ship) - her child, now grown up into a hulk of a man, who has a taste for murder, the same as his possible father.

The first act of Ted Bunny was also the best the film had to offer, from here, it was a steady decline in quality for the rest of the 90 minutes. Expectations were subverted as I had figured the whole movie would take place at the rural house location, with the crew tying to survive against the rabbit obsessed woman and her rabbit mask wearing son. This whole section was played relatively straight, I almost got some The Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibes. It felt novel initially when the action moves away from there, but from here, the film became increasingly silly and unbelievable.
Sasha becomes the primary protagonist, and is soon joined by police detective Dante (Brad Satterwhite), who has one of the most wafer-thin reasons ever as to why he doesn't bother telling anyone else at the police station he works at what they have both discovered. As the film progresses, and the body count rises, this flimsy excuse becomes increasingly ridiculous and makes zero sense. Then there is the introduction of two utterly insufferable side characters halfway through the movie. Tommy and Richie were annoying enough, but Sasha's awful friends - Lauren (Sherill Quinn) and Cassie (Jamella Cross) were ten times as bad. Both were pure comedy character with their actions and words so abrasive to the tone of the movie that they stuck out like a sore thumb. Even worse, these two characters served absolutely no purpose whatsoever, if they hadn't even been in the film, it would have made for a better experience.

Theodore (the titular Ted Bunny) is a rabbit obsessed hulk of a killer, with the intellect of a child and a fondness for gnawing on carrots. He features in a bunch of kill scenes, that while not always amazing to see, were at least inventive and reliant on practical effects. Someone having a carrot shoved into their throat, impaled on a tree branch, and a few head stamps are just some of these deaths. The killer had the annoying slasher trope of conveniently being exactly where he needed to be for each scene. It made the protagonist's search for him seem a bit stupid when the killer just happens to be where ever she goes to search at any given point.
The third act continues the downward slide; odd dream sequences, characters reacting to events strangely, and a late film reveal of what Theodore looks like under his mask, sure, sometimes these were entertaining, but they were also in stark contrast to the more serious first act.

Ted Bunny never seemed entirely sure just how comedic it wanted its story to be. Ignoring the silly title, there are a few moments of genuine horror to be found here. The inclusion of insufferable comedy characters, and the painfully stupid actions of the protagonists meant that by the time the end credits rolled, so were my eyes.

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Strawstalker (2026) - Horror Film Review

Strawstalker is a found footage horror, written and directed by George Henry Horton (Dark Obsession), who also co-stars. This takes a look at the falsities of influencer culture, a premise that never became too interesting, despite the horror beginning relatively early on.

The film has a wraparound segment to explain where the found footage that makes up the main story came from. Basically, small-time L.A based social media influencer Sandy (Vincent Ranola - Halloween Immortal) has been inadvertently shown up by two up and coming influencer superstars; Henry (Horton) and his girlfriend Haley (Branika Scott), when his day job as an Uber driver got exposed. As some type of revenge, he then broke into the property they were renting and stole a whole bunch of video recordings he found there. Sandy then edited all the footage he found into a cohesive and chronological 'movie', and so on his next live stream, he announces he is going to play the combined footage for his viewers, and also for himself, as he claims to have been 'black out drunk' when editing the recordings together and so can't recall a single detail that was on them.
The footage story itself charts Henry and Haley's new arrival to L.A, where they hope to cement their reputation and make it into the influencer big-leagues. As their base, they have rented a property in a secluded and private suburb. While there, they discover a creepy scarecrow hidden in the back garden, and this innocuous object begins to unsettle them, with it appearing to have been moved to a slightly different position each time they subsequently spot it.

Strawstalker had a few things going for it. As insufferable as Sandy was, he slightly grew on me. He became almost a proxy for the viewer, with the film occasionally cutting away to him where he gives his reaction to whatever has been going on in the main story. He is also the in-film reason for why the footage being shown has had sound effects and a suitably horror-like film score added to it.
The protagonists proper were even more insufferable, all of this extremely purposeful, as influencers here are never shown in a good light. The couple are constantly filming everything they do, with Henry in particular being very tiresome, constantly acting-up for the camera and goofing around in a clownish way. His catchphrase of "L.A baby!" with his British accent, was so bad, that purely by repetition I came to find it vaguely amusing. Outside of actual cameras being used for the footage, there are additional moments that comes from the couples phones, bodycam footage, and most interestingly, footage that was taken by the antagonist, where they are seen spying on the two. This all flows cohesively, but I found the strange montage that shows all the highlights of the film edited together into a 20 second clump at movie's start an odd choice, as it did kind of ruin some of the more action packed moments.

The horror may start at around fifteen minutes into this 82 minute movie, but it never really progresses to anything that interesting. Sometimes the horror is so well hidden in the background of scenes that I didn't even spot it, when I did spot it, it was always tame. The scarecrow moving around on its own while out of shot was hardly the epitome of terror, I never really understood why the couple found it all so scary. Until the third somewhat wild act, not much of note really happens. There is a slight body count, though being a found footage, I expected it was likely the protagonists wouldn't survive the events. The deaths never looked anything special on screen, and the suggested supernatural element to this was only shown poorly, given a bit of an amateurish feel; set pieces hard to excite. There are no scary moments to be found here, perhaps the point, as the director has stated the film was designed to be campy, and that events while played straight, were not really meant to be taken too seriously.

Strawstalker wasn't all bad. The live-stream segments were done just as well as in other films that use a similar concept, and the wraparound segment at least added something slightly fresh. Overall, there wasn't much entertainment to be found, with it often bordering more on the realm of boredom. Strawstalker can now be rented or brought on Digital HD services in North America, including Amazon Prime.

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The Whistler (2026) - Horror Film Review

Originally, this review for the Diego Velasco directed folk horror; The Whistler (no, not that The Whistler) was intended to go up roughly a week back. Some personal issues led to me being in a bit of a funk, but after an unexpectedly good Friday, I'm back in business, and finally got around to finishing this horror, the first horror I have seen that was filmed in Colombia to my recollection.

After the death of his father, USA based Sebastian (Juan Pablo Raba - Coyote) and his wife, Nicole (Diane Guerrero - Encanto, Orange Is the New Black), head to his family's farmstead back in his home country of Venezuela (while filmed in Colombia, that isn't the setting for the story). They are there both to attend the funeral of the deceased, but also have come to try and convince Sebastian's mother - Isabel (Laura Garcia Marulanda) to sell the family farm and move to America to be with them. Since he has been gone, life on the farm has became increasingly hard for the people who live and work there. First, a group of squatters who practice a strange religion (the real life cult that worships the Goddess Maria Lionza) have created a commune in their woodland, and then soon after there came rumours of an evil spirit known as 'The Whistler' roaming the farm's vast sugarcane fields, bringing death with it.
Mourning the somewhat recent death of their daughter, Nicole becomes increasingly interested in the squatters when she witnesses a ceremony that briefly allows a dead spirit to inhabit the body of a willing host. She hopes that they might perform this ritual so she can once again speak to her dead child. Even though she is warned this might catch the attention of 'The Whistler', Nicole becomes laser focussed on getting the ritual to happen, unaware of the danger this would cause.

Over a week ago I first tried to watch this, only managing twenty minutes before I switched it off. I just wasn't feeling it, it felt like (location aside) another of those generic supernatural horrors like The Bye Bye Man. Picking it back up, I was pleasantly surprised to find this was actually a solidly made folk horror. For those wanting high thrills and ghostly horror this might not be the best choice, with the scenes involving the antagonistic force being some of the weaker parts of the movie. It did however have some great lore, both in the origins of the whistling spirit, but also with how it came to be haunting the land around the farmstead. It never really felt like a cohesive threat, despite it existing by possessing the body of a human, this force was seemingly able to travel vast distances in the blink of an eye, likely for pacing reasons than it literally able to move that quickly. This being features in a whole bunch of death scenes, some more entertaining than others, but usually featuring a victim to be wandering around looking scared, before a barely glimpsed figure leaps out the darkness at them.
I did think that everything around these scenes worked much better. I loved the locations this was filmed at, and the squatter's commune in particular stood out, as did the labyrinthian sugarcane fields bringing a bit of a Children of the Corn feel. The ritual scenes were also a joy to watch, well shot, and very folky.

There was an almost Shakespearean quality to the story, with the film beginning with the squatters and farm-hands already in some type of Cold War type situation, that Sebastian and Nicole just happen to have stumbled into. Sebastian, seeing the actions of The Whistler as being perpetrated by the squatters, is determined to get rid of them by any means. Nicole on the other hand falls more into believing it to be an actual supernatural entity, and that the squatters have wisdom to their beliefs. The epilogue in the last five minutes or so of the movie were not particularly inspiring, leading to a finish that was the film at its most generic. 
As a protagonist, Nicole was ok, a bit of a one note character, only seeming to care about her dead child, and not having much more to her personality. She could have been irritating, but, sure her decisions lead to the horror getting worse, but it was already an ongoing problem, and her selfish desires didn't cause most the events of the movie. I thought Isabel was a perfectly fine side character, more likeable than you may expect, and I thought Indhira Serrano as Petra (someone on the farm side of the conflict who also practices rituals) was useful in providing a lot of the explanation for what had been going on for the viewers benefit.

The Whistler was well made, and I enjoyed the rural setting and the more folk-horror feel it brought with it. The antagonist may not have been amazing, but everything around this character was interesting, I liked the back and forth between Sebastian and Nicole's very different plots going on. Occasionally derivative, slightly slow-burn, but always enjoyable to watch, this was better than it initially seemed it would be. The Whistler had its world premiere at Fantaspoa in Brazil on April 11th, and opened in select theatres on April 17th via Vertical.

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The Other People (2025) - Horror Film Review

I spent much of my time with Nashville based horror The Other People frustratingly confused. I just could not work out what was going on in this very weird and very bleak Chad McClarnon directed and co-written movie (co-written with brother Trey McClarnon). Ultimately, this sure did leave an impression, and with a nights rest between watching it, I have started to piece things together in my mind. I will try and avoid spoilers were possible as this really isn't what it at first seems.

After the death of his wife, William Marsh (Bryce Johnson - Terrifier 3, Oppenheimer) moves to a new town with his young daughter - Abby (Valentina Lucido - iCarly) to begin a new life. At the college where he has been posted to, he encounters dance instructor; Rachel (Lyndie Greenwood - Sleepy Hollow). Fast forward to Abby's eighth year birthday and the two are now married and living together. Abby has recently gotten an apparent imaginary friend, someone she refers to as Eric (Braydon Mohr). Logical William isn't happy with this development, but Rachel sees it as a normal part of growing up, especially with the child being in a new town where she doesn't know anyone. As well as this friend, Abby also has frequent apparent nightmares in which she says a scary man (Hank Quillen - The Nice Guys) tries to abduct her in her bedroom. Are these strange things all coming from a young child's imagination, or is something more sinister at play?

I can't recall the last time I saw a movie as miserable as this one. There are some scenes here that even I found genuinely shocking to see play out; a mid-film flashpoint in particular was so bleak and cruel that for around ten minutes after it happened I assumed I had been mistaken! There are some scenes of strong violence and horror that take place often without really showing anything graphic on screen. The gist of what is happening felt visceral regardless, proving that often the viewers imagination really can fill in the blanks much better than anything that could have been shown to them.
I figured this was a supernatural movie, figuring the imaginary friend and nightmare man were both in fact ghosts. This ghosts are approached in a different way to usual. They look human for one thing even if they do appear to appear and disappear at will. These ghosts also seem to have needs, stealing food and other items from the family, something which sets Rachel on a path of suspicion that something untoward is happening in the house. Initially, I finished the film not really knowing what had gone on, but thinking about it now, it had similarities to Us, the story a commentary on American society, done in a bit of a more grounded way. Some of the ghosts resemblance to the protagonists led to some bewildering scenes that were really hard to parse. Things such as a character seemingly being in two places at once, another time when I had thought a ghost (excellently played by Liz Atwater) was one of the main characters so couldn't understand why she was in the scene she was in and acting so strangely. 

The protagonists were hard characters to get a decent idea of. William was still grieving the death of his first wife, but it was never really explained that well. It led to random scenes of him crying where I was unsure what the matter was with him. Rachel was a more interesting character, taking to the role of step-mother as best as she could. While she did appear to love William, there were odd scenes when it felt like there was a gap of resentment between the two, giving the feel of missing scenes where they had fallen out with each other.  I did like a lot of the minor cast members, maybe the grumpy stereotypical detective (B.D Boudreaux) being my favourite of these. He played a stereotypical detective role sure, but he brought life to it even so. The odd next door neighbour was also a memorable character, the film's one attempt at vaguely alluding to what was actually going on.
There is a purposely off vibe, especially with the night time sequences that take on the feel of a living dream. I'm sure all these similarities between the living and the 'others' was intentional, but on a first viewing it left me often scratching my head in confusion, rather than being immersed in the story. As frustrated as I became, there were some legitimate neat scenes of horror, often with the 'others' hidden in plain sight in the background of shots. There was also some full frontal nudity, something I'm not usually keen on as just seems like needless titillation. Here though, it just about gets a pass within the context of the scenes it is used in.
Some elements of the plot seemed needless, in particular a subplot revolving around William's young assistant, Emily (Quinnlan Ashe), maybe meant to be a red herring, but this sub plot fizzled out and led to nothing of note whatsoever, making me wonder why it was included in the first place. By making the actual plot murky, it did lead to feelings of alienation. It must have done something right though, being tired, I had intended to only watch half the film last night. Instead I found myself unable to stop watching, captivated by the strange two hour film.

The Other People isn't a feel good movie at all, and it can be abrasive with how it tells its story. It did turn into something far different to the generic ghost story I figured it would be; something just as outlandish, but done in an effectively creepy way. I can't say I enjoyed the film, but it was striking and it was memorable. The Other People premiered at Cinequest, screened at FrightFest and Fantaspoa, and was named in the 2026 Popcorn List as one of the best films from the festival circuit. The film has been acquired by The Horror Collective; the genre label of Studio Dome.

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Basic Psych (2025) - Thriller Film Review

Psychological thriller, Basic Psych has taken me almost half of this week to get through. Not because it was dull or in any way hard to watch, but due to me struggling to get over some strange flu-based illness that left me bereft of energy. Hopefully that hasn't affected this review too much, as I do try and get through films in a single sitting nowadays. Anyway, Basic Psych, written by James Tucker (in his debut feature length writing role) and directed by Melissa Martin, has a simple premise, but takes a long while to get to its unexpected conclusion.

Stuart Prince (Michael Cerveris - Gotham, Stake Land), is a psychiatrist who one day is visited by a new patient; a man who introduces himself as Dan (David Conrad - Ghost Whisperer). Straight away he comes across as paranoid - both not wanting Stuart to make any notes about him, and also, only wanting to visit when the receptionist isn't in the office. Dan then reveals that he was the perpetrator of a double homicide in a local park several years back; an unsolved case that became notorious. He states that it was all an accident, and that he is really trying to be a better person now. While alarmed, Stuart doesn't want to break his oath of patient confidentiality, seeing the man's aim to become better as a valid reason not to report him to the authorities, despite his misgivings. This all takes place in the background to a series of murders in the area exclusively focused on psychiatrists, making Stuart increasingly worried that Dan is the person responsible. When Dan begins to integrate himself into Stuart's personal life, he becomes convinced the man is evil and becomes determined to find a way to stop the man and protect his wife and child.

This had a slight 'made-for-TV' vibe to it, especially with regards to the melodramatic and somewhat cheesy score that followed characters around for the entire duration. I though both Cerveris and Conrad were great in their roles, even if I didn't like either of the two characters. The movie is one big cat and mouse chase between the two men, with it never being too clear who is the one being chased. Stuart begins the film the perfect man, successful, with a loving wife and child, but his association with Dan seems to corrupt him, with his actions becoming increasingly more desperate and dark as the story progresses. Dan, (this character actually has a different name, 'Dan' is a fake one he gives to Stuart, but IMDB states the character to be called 'Dan', so that is what he will be called in this review!) is almost the opposite of Stuart, starting off seeming to be very paranoid, but over the course of the film repairing his relationship with his daughter, and becoming increasingly aggressive and smug. I appreciated how similar the two men seemed, despite having lived very different lives, and liked the downfall of Stuart's morality over the course of the 100 minute thriller.
Not so interesting were some of the side characters, with the two child actors both coming across as quite wooden in their acting style. Stuart's wife; Sisi (Siena Goines - Westworld, Flight of the Living Dead) at least had some spunk to her, and the guy who played the cartoonishly villainous hitman was a third act highlight.
I struggled with character motivations and actions for large parts of the movie. One scene that stuck in my mind was a character finding out something terrible about someone they were close to, seeming to get over it within moments of finding this info out with little explanation. Dan appeared so crazy that it made some sort of twisted sense he was the way he was, Stuart though, I couldn't understand why he wouldn't go to the police despite huge evidence that Dan was indeed evil. That last point though, there was a late film twist that punched me in the face out of nowhere, in a fun way.

There were a few scenes of peril, but the drama of the story was more of the focus here. An entertaining prologue of a man being killed by the murderer started things off well, and there were a few other brief, yet effective looking kills throughout, leading up to a finale that popped up out of nowhere. Special effects were not bad, not that there was much need of them. I did like the flashback sequences, used effectively and not over-done. As a whole the film was well shot, but it always felt like it was an indie film, with no surprises to be found with the filmmaking.

Basic Psych subverted my expectations with its big reveal, so kudos to the story for going to unexpected places. Some parts of the overall story led to frustration, especially in the second half when events began to get more convoluted than I felt they needed to be. Still, Cerveris was great as the frustratingly obtuse protagonist, so not all bad. Basic Psych debuted on digital platforms on April 21st, and premiered as the opening night film of the Three Rivers Film Festival.

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Lost Joy (2025) - Horror Film Review

You know what? Lost Joy may be a simple beast that makes little effort to hide what it is all about, but it was also a right blast. Written by Winter Bassett and Jordan Laemmlen, with the later also directing, and both of them starring, this felt like a horror from a bygone era.

Jane (Bassett) has gone on vacation to a remote woodland cabin with boyfriend Jon (Vincent Catalina - Wild Boys) and their dog, Joy (the director's own dog). Something seems off with Jane though, she keeps glimpsing strange things in the woods and constantly hears a banging sound coming from the basement that Jon cannot hear. One night there is a knock at the door, a suspicious man (Laemmlen) introduces himself as Jack. The man states he noticed all the lights were off, and as the cabin belongs to his aunt, offers to help them restore power using the back-up generator. Against Jon's better judgement, Jane invites the man in to help fix the electrical issue, and then later, when his truck won't start, she invites him to spend the night in the guest bedroom. This leads to Jon becoming increasingly hostile towards his girlfriend, obviously jealous of the stranger. Meanwhile, Jack begins to try and turn her against Jon, pointing out how controlling he is, and with a permanent secret smile, appearing to know much more about Jane than he should for someone who has only just met her.

This was a very weird film, with Jane caught between two different but equally odd characters. Jon is obviously used to getting his own way and is controlling, always trying to isolate her. Jack on the other hand may state he wants Jane to become free, but uses his words to try and sway her to seeing him as the guy to trust. They felt like two sides of the same coin, one rigid and stern, the other laid back and free, but both seeking to ultimately control her actions for their own benefit. This leads to a tug of war between the two men, with poor Jane stuck in the middle unsure who to believe. It culminates in a mid-film flash point that actually made me gasp out loud with how sudden the thing happened.

From the very beginning when Jane wakes from a recurring nightmare of being a patient in a mental asylum, you get the feeling that what is being presented to the viewer might not be exactly as it seems. There are overheard conversations that seem to happen out of context of the scene they appear in, the mysterious medication that Jon keeps insisting Jane takes, and brief hallucinations, such as her seeing a bloody hand in the stream. It all felt obvious as to what was going on, even early on. Despite assuming I knew what was up, it was still a heck of a lot of fun getting to the point when the reveal is provided. A late film flashback sequence that showed previous events in a different context was the entertaining cherry on top for this movie.
Special effects worked, decent looking blood, not in huge quantities, but used effectively. There was also a great score that added to the feeling of sustained tension and threat, even in scenes when nothing bad appears to be happening.

Lost Joy was an indie horror that worked fantastically within the limits of its parameters. The twist may have been heavily sign posted, but was still a thrill to see how the plot all plays out. With Jane you have a likeable protagonist, and the character of Jack in particular was great at creating a constant feel of paranoia. Lost Joy is a horror that I know my angst ridden teenage self would have adored, even now, I thought it was a great little horror, which at just 65 minutes long was perfectly paced without any chaff. Lost Joy is due to be released in the third quarter from High Fliers Films.

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Hellbilly Hollow (2026) - Horror Film Review

Written by Bernadette Chapman and directed by Kevin Wayne (Blood Type), who also plays one of the antagonists, Hellbilly Hollow is a horror that is focused around a scare maze. Visually this often looked the part with great set design and inventive kills, but the main story was somewhat lacking. 

Producer Mabel (Hallie Shepherd - Blood Type), her boyfriend James (Trey Miller - Guardian of Mine), and their boom operator are part of an online paranormal investigation team, alongside new member; Ally (Megan Weaver - Impulse Black). They run a YouTube channel that investigates allegedly haunted places. Their latest expedition takes them to a popular rural scare maze, both to highlight the maze for their viewers, but also due to the woods around the maze supposedly haunted due to a fire 40 years previously that wiped out a travelling circus. The maze is run by the eccentric Bull (Kurt Deimer - Halloween), who has given the team permission to spend the night camping on his grounds. They think it is because he wants exposure for his scare maze, but in reality, Bull and his hulking mute brother, Tickles (Wayne) are psychotic killers who delight in torturing and murdering random visitors, and have no intention of letting the team survive the night.

I really wanted to enjoy Hellbilly Hollow, but didn't quite as much as I had hoped to. A scare maze where some of the fake scares are actually real people being killed is a cool idea, as the superior Talon Falls can attest to. This one struggles a lot with its story that felt poorly explained. Ally has some sort of legitimate psychic connection to the dead, but this was never going into too much. Due to little explanation of what is going on and character's changing motivations, the plot become unsatisfying, especially the bizarre epilogue that skips ahead a day in time and barely makes any sense with characters acting strangely. The little scenes that play over the end credits were fun, but the actual ending wasn't so much.
Bull and Tickles gave me a vibe of the Firefly family from House of 1000 Corpses, being entertainingly evil with not an ounce of humanity to them. With the Firefly family, it made sense they could get away with their crimes, due to being remote and hidden away. It was a bit too much to accept that at a popular scare maze where random visitors are being killed on a nightly basis, that there would be zero police investigations going on! It could have mitigated this by having the local police shown to be complicit, but this is shown not to be the case. I liked that this family also used normal staff in the running of their mazes, but again, this made their blatant and very out in the open kills unbelievable, which did pull me out of the film more than once.
The protagonists were fine, bland, but did their roles well. I can't say I cared about anyone, good or bad. Least favourite characters were two very smug ghosts/voodoo witches(?) who seemed to interact with random characters without their sudden appearances in a cloud of artificial looking CG smoke bothering anyone. I couldn't see what these two even brought to the film.

A highlight of Hellbilly Hollow were the kills, especially with how inventive many of them were. Amusingly, many of the kills revolve around twisted versions of fairground games, such as 'whac-a-mole' (gagged victims replacing the 'mole' part), a test of strength gone wrong, and hitting the target to dunk the person in a pool (in this case dunking a victim trapped in a car into a lake to drown!). The favourite one for me was a victim strapped to a spinning board, with death by either acidic, or very hot lawn darts! There were more straight forward kills as well such as an early disembowelling and a throat slash, and all deaths were mainly done with lovely looking practical special effects.
Some scenes throughout the film were ruined by an obnoxiously loud soundtrack. The film's score fitted, but the licenced songs that featured were so loud that they overshadowed the dialogue and sound effects. The music was so loud and overbearing that I spent these scenes trying to work out if the music was meant to be playing in the film world itself. I came to the conclusion that no it wasn't, just odd balancing.

There were some great ideas and moments in Hellbilly Hollow; the location used looked neat and authentic, and the fairground themed kills were entertaining. I may have not liked the character, but Deimer played Bull with gleeful relish. The thing that most put this down for me was the story. Story beats in the second half of the movie increasingly made little sense, especially with characters who shifted allegiances for little to no reason. This left me to ever more baffled, and let the second half down. Hellbilly Hollow is due to be released in the third quarter this year, via High Fliers Films.

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Souls Chapel (2026) - Horror Film Review

Some of what I am going to say in this review may be from my own head-canon, but that is what I had in my mind while watching this. From my perspective, Souls Chapel is a post-apocalyptic supernatural Western. Written by David Daring and directed by Jake C. Young (The Dark Room), it doesn't take the keenest of eyes to see this was made on a shoe-string budget, but this indie flick still had atmosphere in spades.

In an unspecified time after an unspecified disaster (potentially a terrible world war or a biblical apocalypse), a drifter (Young) travels the wastelands of Kentucky. He discover an ancient totem of goodness and while investigating it he is shocked by the sudden appearance of a masked robed figure; Mephistal (Brain Bremer - Society, Pumpkinhead). This being gives the drifter a task; to head to a mysterious church that is nearby and retrieve the totem of goodness' evil counterpart. In exchange he is promised gold. Arriving at the strange church (called Souls Chapel, based on the real life allegedly haunted Soules Chapel), he discovers others have gotten there before him. A priest - Red (Jeremy Boggs - Screature), and his acolytes are there, with Red stating that he has received messages from God telling him that treasure can be found at the site. Not believing that the drifter isn't too searching for this treasure and not wanting to share, it isn't long before he has been knocked out and imprisoned.

My favourite part of this film was the vagueness both as to when it took place, and also what had happened in the world. Characters all dress in an old fashioned way, with their way of speaking matching that. It gave a vibe of sometime in the 1800s. Despite this, there are signs that this may be far more modern, and perhaps even in the future. In contrast to the look of the characters, there are buildings with modern fixtures, and I couldn't help but notice the half peeled printed barcode on one of the wooden bars in the drifters prison cell. Then there are the guns, all of which have a steampunk look to them. Sure it may have not been intentional to have these modern visual signs, but I loved the strange melding of different time periods, it felt old, but the occasional mention of things such as radios and radiation kept me guessing. What wasn't so good were some noticeably cheap looking props, the main one that springs to mind is a very plastic looking skull and bones that keeps appearing and never failed to look like something you would pick up in a shop around Halloween time. Still, these props never pulled me out of the story, so wasn't too much of an issue.

The majority of the film takes place within the titular Souls Chapel and takes the form of a character driven story. The characters were all interesting in their own ways. Red despite not seeming to be the religious man he states himself to be, nonetheless does seem to be getting messages from somewhere. Then there is Agatha (Audri Curtsinger - Unnatural), following the priest in the belief that he has the power to bring her child back from the dead, a comic relief character nicknamed 'School Boy' (Gage Carnes - The Dark Room), and the entertaining Jim Castel (Joseph McDowell). That later was someone who felt like 'the ugly' from the classic Clint Eastwood film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, with the drifter representing 'the good' and Red 'the bad'. I guess that is fitting as it turns out Young is a distant relative of Eastwood! The actors all do a fantastic job of feeling like they belonged in this strange world, with their lines delivered with spirited rather than realistic gusto. The odd way of talking, and no effort to bring the viewer up to speed on the world-state could make parts of the story confusing.
The drifters quest to get the mystical McGuffin was more of an excuse to get the character to the church. That whole aspect was a bit oblique, so the payoff for that plot point was completely lost on me, I didn't really have any idea what was going on with that part of the film, making for a finale that went over my head a bit. Thankfully, the atmosphere of the film world was captivating. Supernatural elements, such as a ghostly woman in white (Molly Gill) and a demonic zombie creature baffled me, but their inclusions were fun.

Souls Chapel at a quick glance could seem like something to skip. Cheap props and an acting style that won't appeal to all could be off-putting. Even from the very start though, this indie film felt like it was doing a decent job of punching above its weight. It was very well put together, and despite my struggles with the intricacies of the plot, this alternate history steampunk apocalyptic Western nightmare had a unique atmosphere all of its own that drew me in. Souls Chapel came to streaming and DVD on April 7th.

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Axes and Os (2024) - Horror Film Review

I very rarely watch horror films at night, not due to fear, but due to being cursed with not being a night owl in the slightest, much more of an early bird. I have been making an effort lately to watch horrors at the optimal time, and so Valentine's Day slasher - Axes and Os was seen after the sun had set to get the full experience. Written and directed by Trent Duncan (Icons of Horror 2), this for much of its runtime is a relatively by the numbers slasher. It does have some more unique and unexpected moments however. 

Olivia (Madison M. Bowman - Children of the Pines) is in a deep depression, not only because she dumped her slimy boyfriend for cheating on her, but because it is approaching Valentine's Day and she has no one to celebrate it with. To try and cheer her up, her loving cousin Leah (Cass Huckabay - Stupid Games), has arranged a special 'Galentine's Day' weekend trip for her and some of their shared friends. Leah is taking Olivia alongside nymphomaniac Dawn (Sara Wimmer - Metamorphosis), and sensible (though possibly alcoholic) Abby (Jamie Bernadette - Cold Blows the Wind, Ash and Bone), to stay at a house on Valentine Lake. Little do they realise that this is the hunting grounds for a deadly killer (Brandon Krum - Wolf Hollow), whose exploits have passed into local legend, and who only comes out to kill around Valentine's Day.

From the start, this all felt very familiar. Having recently watched comedy slasher New Fears Eve, I was in the mood to see a more traditional slasher, and so that was not an issue for me. I did feel this followed the formula a little too rigidly, with its cast of generic characters. Olivia was the most interesting one due to her misery, but to be fair, the other were not entirely bad either, only the promiscuous Dawn of the four main ones who I didn't care for.
Of course, it is all going to end with the girls being targeted by the killer, but this transition into total horror weirdly happened off screen. One moment two of the girls discover they may be in danger, then the next time the film goes to them, the killer has already broken into their house and is pursuing them. Would have been better to show that key point on film I felt.
Parts of the plot points felt a little shallow and convenient. Take the killer for instance, he's been operating in the area for countless years, enough that there is a local legend about the 'Ax Man'. Yet the authorities act like this is the first time they have decided to look into it. Their investigations are comically quick at identifying exactly who this killer is, and how they would be able to find him. I guess you can just put it down to the police being incompetent. More entertaining was a small subplot involving Olivia having nightmares, which suddenly gains massive importance with just ten minutes of film time left to go. This bonkers late film twist totally turns everything on its head, but was a bit too little too late. I'm not saying I didn't find this finale a load of fun to watch, but it did seem to come from nowhere, with only vague clues prior to the crazy reveal. It certainly made for a novel way to end what had been a straight forward slasher though!

Of course, in a film like this the kills need to look good, and these ones don't look bad at all, even if they are lacking a little in variation. Being called the Ax Man, unsurprisingly his weapon of choice are axes, but rather than the typical huge axe, he instead uses more modern, light weight ones, and often kills by throwing them at the victim. There is a decent sized body count, kills often accompanied by what appeared to be CG blood spurts. Having a lot of the victims being scantily clad (taking place around a popular resort) gave more of a feeling of vulnerability to the characters here, a neat touch.
The killer had a decent enough look to him; a kind of grizzled mountain man figure; long hair and beard, and wearing home made hunting camouflage. He doesn't wear a mask, and it was nice to see that rather than a mute homicidal brute, he actually had some intelligence to him and could speak should he so choose to. I will add that his backstory (shown via a flashback sequence) was nothing interesting.

Axes and Os (outside of those final ten minutes) didn't do much to surprise. As a 'switch your brain off' type of horror it served its purpose. This was entertaining, if not likely to leave too much of a lasting impression. The award winning Axes and Os is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Tubi, Screamify, and Relay.

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New Fears Eve (2025) - Comedy Horror Film Review

New Fears Eve is a comedy slasher co-directed by Eric Huskisson and P.J Starks (Hallows Eve: Slaughter on Second Street), the later who also wrote this. Comedy in horror films can be hard to get right, humour is subjective after all. Too much humour and you can dilute the threat of the antagonist force is one such concern. Thankfully, the best thing that this movie does is treat the killer and kills with respect, making them look legit and gnarly on screen, even when comedic elements get mixed in.

There is a serial killer on the loose in the city, someone the media have came to call 'The Doctor' due to their kills indicating medical knowledge, as well as many of the kills being via surgical implements. This madman on the prowl hasn't really affected the employees of Hooper Industries, who are gearing up for a mandatory work-based New Years Eve party. These include three best friends; Leslie (Lily Claire Harvey - Hinsdale House),  Brian (Turner Vaughn) and jokester, Moses (Matthew Tichenor). Little do they all know that the serial killer has chosen their office party as the place to see in the New Year.

So yes, humour can be hard to do as it isn't always going to appeal to everyone. Sadly in this case, for me personally, the majority of the jokes fell flat. I have never been a fan of sex and bodily function jokes and there are plenty of those here. I felt the comical script resulted in many actors saying their lines in an unnatural way. The film didn't go as far as to be a farce, characters and situations can get funny, but they still operate in a relatively normal world, rather than unexpected madness breaking out at any point. Maybe due to this being a comedy horror it was intentional, but characters here never seemed authentic, making it hard to care about them when they don't feel like real people. There were a good amount of notable side characters, such as the ever reliable Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Dave Sheridan (Scary Movie), Jeffrey Reddick (the creator of Final Destination), and Hannah Fierman (V/H/S segment 'Amateur Night') to name a few.
Another element of New Fears Eve was the story, and as may be expected, this was wafer thin. The subplot involving stand-out character; crooked cop, Officer Flanagan (Jay Woolston), suggested a grander plot was happening somewhere deep in the background, but this never came to the forefront. Indeed, the film ends with its story completely unresolved, cutting to credits when it felt like the finale was just hitting its stride, most unsatisfying. I assume this is so a sequel can be made, but it would have been nice to get some closure on the first film's journey.
Back to the comedy; it wasn't all off-putting, there were some humorous moments on occasion. I liked that the protagonists had all previously been terrorised by the Doctor but hadn't bothered to mention it to each other, and a Die Hard gag got a smile out of me at one point. The best of the humour was of the visual kind, mainly popping up in the excellent kill scenes.

The shining star of New Fears Eve were those kill scenes. There is a Hell of a lot of kills throughout the 95 minute runtime, nearly all of which are shown on screen rather than alluded to or suggested. There are comedic deaths, but there are also plenty of violent and brutal kills that have strong horror elements to them. It can be over the top for laughs, such as a victim getting their face ripped off ridiculously easily, a victim getting impaled with a flung dildo(!), someone having their intestines fed into a waste disposal unit, and a trio of victims all getting their throats slashed in the same swipe. Blood is never in short supply, making even these more silly deaths feel visceral. More 'traditional' kills include decapitation, stabbings (usually with scalpels), a drill, and a bone saw to the back of a head. All of these were done with wonderful practical effects that made every single death look fantastic and on occasion pretty horrific!
As to the killer himself, he really looked kind of neat, achieving a perfect balance between sinister and goofy. The Victorian look of top hat, waistcoat, and long coat combined with the plague doctor mask made him look the part, while the glowing red eyes on the mask gave it a little of a cartoon feel.

New Fears Eve may not have appealed to me in terms of its humour, but it is hard to argue that this film doesn't do its kill scenes fantastically well. Varied, inventive, and often over the top, these were all a delight to see. It would just have been better if there had been any characters here to really care about, rather than a whole load of cannon fodder for the Doctor. New Fears Eve was released in December by Cineverse.

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