The Severed Sun (UK New Wave of the British Fantastic Film 2025: Dir Dean Puckett)

Puckett's debut feature has been compared to Blood on Satan's Claw, The Handmaid's Tale, The VVitch and even Fanny Lye Deliver'd, which places it in some honorable company.

In a time period which suggests the past but, from some subtle design and narrative hints may in fact be the future, an isolated community eke out the most meagre of livings under the supervision of The Pastor (Toby Stephens). His daughter, the mercurial Magpie (Emma Appleton) is young and married to a human monster, in the shape of Howard (Eoin Slattery); but not for long. Magpie poisons Howard and chops off his hand (presumably the one that beat her).

The act unleashes a Beast (James Swanton) who, like the creature in Blood on Satan's Claw, remains in the background, potentially responsible for the heightening of tension and paranoia that grips the village. The Pastor's community is a prime example of the patriarchy in action; the men lay down the law while exercising the power in spite of it, while the women remain submissive and without agency.

But Magpie's actions rupture any stability within the village; she is shunned but unrepentant (her story is that Howard met his death through the misuse of an axe), hated both by the men and women because of her unwillingness to conform to the role of "dutiful wife", and thus suspected of being in league with the supernatural and widely accused of "heresy".

The paucity of budget available to Puckett has worked in the film's favour; the community in The Severed Sun is small in number, their resources even smaller; the religious panic therefore grips more intensely.  The Pastor tells his flock that they are living in a "fallen world", suggesting a medieval creed; but he also references nature which has "had her revenge", suggesting a past environmental collapse.

Explanations ultimately aren't necessary; the suggestion here is that the controlling dominance of The Pastor, and his negative and violent impact on his congregation, has a more universal application. The film is short (80 minutes), controlled and occasionally very nasty. It's not perfect (the lack of narrative explanation will doubtless annoy some) but the film is blessed with some superb natural cinematography by Ian Forbes and a creepy, immersive (and, apparently, improvised) soundtrack by a trio of musicians calling themselves 'Unknown Horrors'. Library of the Occult records, let me introduce you.

The Severed Sun is on UK and Ireland digital platforms from 6 October. The soundtrack by 'Unknown Horrors' is available to stream/download here.

NEW WAVE OF THE BRITISH FANTASTIC FILM 2025 #1 Reviews of Bogieville (UK 2024), The Drowned (UK 2025), Bambi The Reckoning (UK 2025), The Haunting at Jack the Ripper's House (UK 2025), Get Away (UK 2024) and Leprechaun: The Beginning (UK 2025)

Bogieville (UK 2024: Dir Sean Cronin) Sean Cronin is no stranger to the vampire. As an actor he played the titular Count in last year’s Wrath of Dracula directed by Steve Lawson, and as well as helming this undead drama also finds time to cast himself as head vampire Madison. If nothing else Bogieville is a fascinating recreation of a 1980s US vamp movie, despite being filmed in the UK (on Cronin's own farm), and featuring a British cast.

Ham (Arifin Putra) and his girlfriend Jody (Eloise Lovell Anderson) skip town after Ham loses his job at the local garage and they can’t afford to pay their rent. Driving across country they come across a rather empty trailer park, named ‘Bogieville’, to recognise the owner’s obsession with the famous US actor.

Caretaker Crawford (Jonathan Hansler) looks after things, but after a bit of argy bargy offers Ham a job as a handyman, with the specific instructions that the pair should not leave the camp at night, or let anyone into the accommodation provided for them. But Bogieville is less deserted than originally made out; the site owner, Madison, is one of the undead, and with his acquired ‘family’ rises at night to feast on the living.

The vaguely sleazy setup recalls classic Rob Zombie movies, and the ‘all teeth and angst’ nature of the vampires is reminiscent of the undead characters in 2007’s 30 Days of Night; there’s also something of 1987’s Near Dark in the clandestine nature of the vampires’ existence. And it’s in these examples that is found the biggest problem with Bogieville; outside of the ‘homage to the US’ look of the film, credible for the most part (although some of the UK cast American accents are more successful than others), this film has very little to offer that is original. At 105 minutes it’s also overlong, particularly as the whole middle section drags before we get to the final reel vamp action. 

Cronin is to be congratulated for his attention to detail but he could have paid a little more attention to the story and rather lacklustre script.

(A version of this review was originally published on the Bloody Flicks site).

The Drowned (UK 2025: Dir Samuel Clemens) Best known as the director of a number of Doctor Who podcast spinoffs, Clemens's debut feature was actually made in 2023, and toured festivals under its original title 'The Waterhouse'. 

It's one of those movies which slowly morphs from a fairly prosaic piece into mythological abstraction. Three crims, Eric (Alan Calton), his boyfriend Matt (Dominic Vulliamy) and Paul (Michelangelo Fortuzzi) have pulled off a valuable art theft, and have agreed to meet at an isolated coastal location prior to jetting off for a new life, complete with new identities. A fourth member of their team, Matt’s mother Denice (Corinne Wicks), fails to materialise; disturbingly Eric finds what looks like blood and matter at the water's edge, together with a single earring; maybe Denice's?

Understandably revved up and distraught at Denice's continued absence, their evening gets more problematic when, thinking they are alone, three women enter their world. Pixie (Lily Catalifo), Opal (Lara Lemon) and Noé (Sandrine Salyères) maintain that they have been shipwrecked, and before you can say 'Dionysius' (ok it's the women who mention the mythological figure) they have inserted themselves into the lives of the criminals. But as the shipwreckees begin playing mind games with the three men, there's a more sinister, and deadly, fate in store for the art thieves.

Clemens's movie remains tense throughout, from its opening scenes of a stern, focused Eric driving through country lanes with a gun at his feet, to the arrival of the three strange women and the dynamic of six people - three of whom are possibly supernatural - trapped in a small cottage. It's considerably helped by Edward White's often Philip Glass like score, which builds choral voices and an impending sense of doom, and a spare but effective script, which twists the narrative as the men realise that they're out of their depth. And while The Drowned does finally fall into abstraction (the original title makes sense in the movie's final reveal) it's a taut 90 minutes and well worth a look.

The Drowned will be available on Digital Download from 6th October in the UK, 7th October in the US & 8th October in ANZ

Bambi The Reckoning (UK 2025: Dir Dan Allen) The fourth entry in Jagged Edge’s ‘Twisted Child Universe’ (TCU) sees another dark reimagining of a beloved children’s classic text. In this instance JE house director Allen has plundered the 1923 novel ‘Bambi, A Life in the Woods’, written by Felix Salten and famously adapted, albeit in a modified form, for the big screen by Walt Disney in 1942.

TCU creator Rhys Frake-Waterfield, in response to criticisms that earlier Universe entries had been weak, promised to up his game; Bambi The Reckoning is the result. And compared with early JE productions, and indeed Allen’s previous output, BTR is definitely a step in the right direction.

Opening with an animated sequence which tells of the woods as being both a magical and dangerous place, we see a stag drinking from chemically contaminated water, the driver for Bambi’s murderous impulses. We meet mum Xana (Roxanne McKee), about to ferry her and young son Benji (Tom Mulheron) off to the relatives of absent dad Simon (Alex Cooke). The family are the usual feuding types, whose domestic squabbles move the movie along until mutated Bambi turns up, which to be fair doesn’t take long.

Most of the rest of the film pits the chemically altered deer against the local populace, with some baffling psychic bond existing between beast and Xana’s dementia ridden mother-in-law Mary (Nicola Wright). The setup may be familiar JE territory, and the Bambi references tangential at best, but if you don’t think about the silliness of the whole setup there’s a lot of fun (and gore) to be had, some better than average CGI and impressive nighttime photography by JE regular Vince Knight. The man behind this of course is the company’s head honcho Scott Chambers aka Jeffrey, who once again gets to lever in some Jurassic Park homages. The credits are littered with postproduction VFX crews and there’s a slickness at work here which all suggest a slightly higher budget than the usual fare.

(A version of this review was originally published on the Bloody Flicks site).

The Haunting at Jack the Ripper's House (UK 2025: Dir Stephen Staley, Natasha Tosini) Separately Staley and Tosini have enjoyed diverse roles in many of Scott Jeffrey’s previous productions (including several entries in the Twisted Child Universe ‘franchise’), but this is their first joint directing gig.

Perhaps taking a leaf out of the Steven M. Smith playbook – ie an obsession with ‘live’ paranormal shows (a no longer au courant idea) - The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House focuses on a group of YouTubing ghost hunters. Their show, ‘The Haunt Hunters’, devised by friends Richard (Jack Hyde) and Jake (Jack Hoy), involves a group of influencers travelling to supposedly haunted locations and staging materialisations; the more hits they get, the wilder the hoaxes.

A creative bust up between the creators sends Richard packing, just about the same time as Jake secures the show’s biggest set up yet; Jack the Ripper’s house. OK this needs a bit of explaining; Aaron Kosminski was one of the key suspects in the initial Ripper murder investigations. Ripperolgists have tracked down Kosminski’s UK hideout, the delightfully named ‘Ripper Manor’ (in reality I think it’s a youth hostel, judging by the fire doors), currently owned by a creepy guy called Victor (Robert Hedley). Despite the proprietor’s objections, Jake’s people have managed to secure the property for a night of spook hunting. But they’re about to find out that this is one house that doesn’t need its ghostly activity to be faked.

Apart from the modern social media trappings, this is basically a rerun of the 1969 movie The Haunted House of Horror, where swinging teenagers are picked off one by one by a mysterious presence in a supposedly haunted house.

For most of the film, the ‘Ripper’ element looks tacked on as an audience pull (the title is total crowd bait) but happily things do get rather strange in the movie’s last third. But before we get there we have to go through buckets of indifferent acting, shots filmed in near darkness and, well, lots of wandering around. I was initially thinking that Staley and Tosini may have rushed to finish the film to get it Festival ready (there are some line fluffs and clumsy edits), but no, it was actually made last year. Frankly people it’s just not that good; all power to the director/producers for trying something a little different, but even so…

(A version of this review was originally published on the Bloody Flicks site).

Get Away (UK 2024: Dir Steffen Haars) Richard (Nick Frost), ‘daddy’ to ‘mummy’ Susan (Aisling Bea) has decided to rent a cottage on the remote Swedish island of Svälta; also along for the holidays, somewhat begrudgingly, are their kids Jessie (Maisie Ayers) and Sam (Sebastian Croft).

They’re a funny bunch; Richard and Susan spend the time bickering – couples counselling is mentioned – and Svälta appears a rather inhospitable place, with locals to match, who when they’re not ignoring the family are imploring them to leave. 

The Airbnb is looked after by the creepy Mats (Eero Milonof, last seen in the very weird 2018 movie Border) whose unctuousness and unwillingness to allow the family personal space adds a gritty edge to an already deeply odd setup.

Of course the real reason (well not the real real reason but I can’t explain that because of, well, spoilers) that the family have travelled is to witness the islanders’ annual celebrations, Karantan, all masks, flaming torches and drumbeats; a very The Wicker Man set up. 

Nick Frost, who wrote Get Away, reportedly came up with the idea for the film after experiencing a cold reception from locals when visiting the home of his Swedish ex wife Cristina. All I can deduce from the incredibly bloody final reel of the movie was that his rejection must have run very deep. The whole thing is a bit of an uneven mix; there’s some fun working out why the family seem so weird together, and the islanders are an archly abrasive bunch. But Get Away is a one gag movie which relies on its big plot twist to deliver, and spends quite a lot of time getting to it. Frost and Bea have both been funnier; ultimately although I didn't totally dislike it, this was a bit of a misfire.

(A version of this review was originally published on the Bloody Flicks site).

Leprechaun: The Beginning (UK 2024: Dir Rahul Gandhi) This is the third 'Leprechaun' outing for Champdog Films, Louisa Warren's production company and, sadly, by far the worst. It looks like freelancer Gandhi was hired for this film and heavily guided by producer Warren; whatever happened, even for Champdog, who have offered a fair few cinematic turkeys in recent years, this is a real low.

Dave and Mary (Mark Collier and Mary Eva Sharp) are journeying to the home of Mary's late father where they will be met by Mary's sister Judy (Amanda Jane York) and her bluff husband Colin (Ben Keenan). As a child Mary's dad would regale the family with tales of a gold hoarding Leprechaun who lived near the house; this piques the interest of one of Mary's children, Sky (Julia Quayle) who undertakes a search of the house when they arrive. Her other daughters, Faith (Grace Cundy) and Lisa (French actor Julie Ghallab, whose Gallicness is never explained; chalk it up to blind casting) are less excited.

Once there it's clear that Judy is hell bent on selling the house, which clashes with Mary's sentimentality. But whatever differences must be put aside once the Leprechaun makes itself known and starts despatching those members of the family nosy enough to delve into the house's secrets and go after the creature's gold.

The Leprechaun here is, as in Warren's other films, not height restricted; in fact in this one he seems to be modelling himself on Art the Clown (the actor's name is not disclosed in the credits and therefore is unlikely to be Leprechaun passim Bao Tieu). Alas the excesses of the Terrifier films are conspicuous by their absence here (Warren's films always remain resolutely PG, possibly aiming themselves at a YA audience) and any gore is more of the 'mild peril' type.

Performances range from the adequate to the, well, inadequate, and Alessandro Di Giuseppe's script is the usual Champdog mix of myth and soap opera (Warren's liking for found scrapbooks sees a number of hastily assembled documents paraded here as ancient tomes c/o Rymans). Warren has been better than this; Leprechaun The Beginning is, sadly, a crock.

Piglet (NEW WAVE OF THE BRITISH FANTASTIC FILM UK 2025: Dir Andrea M. Catinella)

On first glance you'd be mistaken for thinking that Piglet was yet another entry in those 'Poohniverse' - or 'Twisted Childhood' movies (you know the ones that take fictional kiddie characters in the public domain and stick them into run of the mill horror films), particularly as the director, Mr Catinella, has some form here.

Well I suppose it is in that, like other movies in that most ridiculous of sub genres, this is little more than someone in a mask chasing frightened 'teens' around a field or youth hostel (delete as necessary).

But Piglet has a little more going for it than many movies of its ilk, with a genuinely grindhouse feel, even if location wise it occupies a bit of a liminal space between the UK countryside and the backwoods of the US of A.

Five girls have motored out to a remote cabin to celebrate the 21st birthday of their friend Katie (Alina Desmond), who's had a bit of a rum time courtesy of her abusive ex. Still traumatised by the whole thing, Katie's tolerance for booze and her general demeanour place her firmly in the party pooper category. But no matter - the rest of the gals are determined to make the weekend swing, despite the presence of creepy cabin owner Mr Hogarth (a rather ripe turn from Jeremy Vinogradov) who spends a little too much time looking the ladies up and down and, later, ogling lesbian partners Diane (Alina Varakuta) and Alex (Lauren Staerck) when they try out the rather unappetising looking outdoor jacuzzi.

But there's trouble afoot; a security detail transporting a hooded prisoner - by van - end up dead when their charge escapes his bonds and mashes up his guards. Apparently this reprobate had been experimented on while in prison and turned into a kind of human/pig hybrid with superhuman strength. Once away from the van the demented convict swaps the bag on his head (we don't see his face) for a handy pig mask - which is sort of overegging the 'Piglet' idea - and lo, a killer is born. The porcine psychopath immediately gets to work, despatching a car full of people en route to joining the birthday get together; first to go are Bruce (Jack Monahan) and his girlfriend Riley (Eva Ray, who seems to have come to the set directly from a Babestation shift). The other passenger, artistic and autistic Courtney (Tais Sholvie) is dragged away and imprisoned for Piglet's later amusement. Happy with his work, Piglet closes in on the camp and the bickering party girls; and it turns out that he's about to get some assistance as well.

Ok so mood and photography are major plus points here; it really does look good and conjures up a backwoods feel. Everything else is, unfortunately, on the other side of the scorecard. Even for low budget fright flicks, the amount of non acting going on here is egregious. Lines are fluffed, stresses are constantly in the wrong place and at times it's impossible to hear what's being said (not that it really matters, even when Catinella jazzes things up by having one of the girls tell a folk horror story that may be about Piglet but also referencing Katie's violent ex Spencer). Some of the cast seem to think they're American (references to 'cellphone coverage' and 'a town five miles north') which just makes things more confusing. It may have been better to have kept dialogue to an absolute minimum as, when the action gets going, it's all quite effective and nasty.

And yet I didn't dislike Piglet - the Texas Chain Saw Massacre messed up family elements work quite well and the gore is rather grungy - but elsewhere there's just too much that gets in the way of enjoyment. Shame.

Piglet is available on Digital Download from 2nd June.

Birdeater (Australia 2023: Dir Jack Clark, Jim Weir)

The mission of some Australian filmmakers, to show the uglier side of the Antipodean male, continues unabated; the Wake in Fright style 'ocker' movie gets a bit of a makeover with a young cast of characters whose surface cultivation soon exposes the same dark heart as their forebears.

Louie (Mackenzie Fearnley) and his British fiancee Irene (Shabana Azeez) are heading towards marriage, but the path is anything but smooth. While there's nothing easily identifiable as a rift, Louie spends a lot of time out at night, ostensibly at work but in reality at the golf range. A nightly ritual involves him providing Irene with a mysterious pill and a glass of water before he makes his excuses. He's clearly up to something.

Louie's stag night (called a 'buck's night' in Australia) is approaching; feeling guilty for his constant absences - at least that's what we think - he invites Irene too, in a real break with tradition. He also asks Grace (Clementine Anderson, the film's co-producer), the girlfriend of his close mate Charlie (Jack Bannister) to join the gang for female support.

The night itself takes place in the outback - where else? Among Louie's rather interchangeable friends, the borderline psychotic Dylan (Ben Hunter) stands out. We've all met a Dylan, the guy who always takes it one step further in the name of fun. Unfazed by the presence of women at the celebration, Dylan wants to keep it old school - if 'old school' also includes ketamine.

This rather awkward setup is the springboard for a night of drug fuelled paranoia, in which secrets are divulged, Louie's ill judged plan is unveiled and nearly everyone shows a side they'd previously kept hidden. Dylan's faux best man speech is a masterclass in cringe, and the wilderness backdrop accentuates the feral behaviour as the tension ratchets up.

The problem is that the film becomes the behaviour - maleness stripped bare - rather than having any narrative arc; the flashbacks have to do the storytelling job, and they're not really enough. Far better is the opening montage between Louie and Irene; the mystery between the two is explained as the film progresses, but the unsettling relationship between the pair is far more beguiling than anything which follows. A scene in which Louie catches a swallow inside the house and releases it into the wild, whether or not knowing that the bird's has nested and the babies will surely die without their mother, is perhaps the most chilling in the movie.

Birdeater is, however, brilliantly edited, and the cast are all believable, if slightly anonymous. The action revolves around Irene for much of the film, and it's her calm and resilience, amidst the male maelstrom, that you remember after the movie's over.

Birdeater is in select cinemas from 9 May and on digital platforms from 26 May.

NEW WAVE OF THE BRITISH FANTASTIC FILM 2024 #4 Witches special! Reviews of Witches of God (UK 2024), Witch (UK 2024), Salem Witch Doll (UK 2024), Inherit the Witch (UK 2024), The House on Mansfield Street: Evil Next Door (UK 2024) and The Whisper Within the Woods (UK 2023)

Witches of God (UK 2024: Dir Daya Dodds) In an unspecified period of history the country has succumbed to a plague named the 'blue sickness', which has decimated the population. Two nuns, Sister Agnes (Amelie Leroy) and Magda (Pippa Caddick) have occupied an abandoned church after having to burn down their abbey, the other nuns having been infected by the plague.

A knock at the church door announces the arrival of Joan (Zoe Carroll), a woman accused of witchcraft and seeking shelter. Magda is reluctant but Agnes is more welcoming, immediately sensing a bond between the two women. The sisters disguise Joan in a nun's habit, despite learning that the escapee is sought in the town, the accuser being Joan's husband who, we learn, did so to distract from his affair with Joan's sister.

The trio's peaceful existence is eventually disrupted to the point that they are forced to leave the church for safety; but the solution to their sanctuary comes, not from external sources, but in the bond discovered between Agnes and Joan.

Exquisitely photographed in black and white (by the director), Witches of God, as the title suggests, is a plea for acceptance; that women can be both healers, forces of power, and yet next to God. It's a quiet film, located in nature and mysticism, with strong performances from Leroy, Caddick and Carroll. Nothing is really explained, which adds to the film's potency; it's a slow burn movie, the director's first feature, but an involving one which does a lot on a very small budget. Dodds' next film, Under the Cover of Darkness, will be worth seeking out.

Witch (UK 2024: Dir Craig Hinde/Mark Zammit) It's England, in 1585; Twyla (Sarah Alexandra Marks) is the wife of Dawnbrook village's blacksmith, William (Ryan Spong), and their quiet lives are about to be turned upside down. Dawnbrook has seen its fair share of witch trials in the past, but is now 'clean', courtesy of Judge Hopkins (Daniel Jordan). But the reign of peace is abruptly shattered when, one night, a girl enters Dawnbrook's market square, covered in blood and carrying the severed heads of her parents. She is Johanna Fletcher (Mims Burton) a girl with no previous crimes to her name.

Fletcher is incarcerated, pending trial. But a local man, Thomas (Russell Shaw), accosts William, accurately predicting the events to follow; at Johanna's trial, the convicted woman will also accuse Twyla of being a witch, events which indeed come to pass. William and Twyla, now also imprisoned, are offered a means of escape by Thomas, but as the three make their way into the woods, evading their captors, he has a story to tell them that will implicate all three in a quest through time.

Witch's big reveal is a mid point lurch into something far less prosaic than the film's first 45 minutes, and for a while, when the timey wimey stuff starts happening, the viewer feels that the first section was constructed rather plainly to contrast with the fantastical second part. The problem here is that, despite the cleverness of the concept, nothing really happens in the second half of the film either; there's a lot of talk and some running around, a few nicely mounted CGI bits and then a modern day end coda suggesting a sequel. I applaud Hinde and Zammit's attempt to do something different, and the 'authentic' (Hungarian) village set looks good; but honestly, it's a bit of a slog despite the narrative sleight of hand.

Salem Witch Doll (UK 2024: Dir Daniel Yates) I'll say something for Louisa Warren's Champdog Films productions (churned out at an alarming rate at the behest of the worldwide ITN Distribution company): they share the love in terms of allowing new directors to take the helm, even if the results are, well, recognisably Champdog films. The rumour that these new talents are merely pseudonyms for Champdog's small but perfectly formed roster of technical staff did not start with me.

For those who haven't seen one of these offerings yet, here's the setup: an opening shot in which someone gets murdered; a series of establishing scenes where the characters are introduced and domestic squabbles aired, normally in a house - or youth hostel - hired for the film; a section where not much happens but the soundtrack suggests impending doom; the final 'reel' where all the exposition occurs, the creature turns up, and the final girl (and it is usually a girl) gets away.

The success of this formula can vary from film to film; in this case it's a misfire. Sarah (Tash Chant) returns from the American university where she's been studying, to attend a family reunion; the student is on medication following mum's death and an incident in which she received unwanted attentions from a tutor. So the last thing she wants to hear is that her father Paul (Mark Collier) is remarrying; the lucky woman is Ariel (Amanda Jane York). Also at the dinner table is Paul's horrible brother Martin (Robin Kirwan), his wife Vicky (Lynne O'Sullivan) and their three kids.

Sarah is prone to nightmares featuring her late mum, a noose and a strange light emanating from the shed in the garden. In fact the action in the last third of the movie takes place almost entirely outside - at night to boot - and, confusingly, includes a sort of life sized wooden animated doll (Jodie Bagnell in a suit). You have to wait until about ten minutes before the end to understand how the elements all tie together (although they don't). As usual with movies made for ITN Productions the acting is a really mixed bag; here Tash Chant is rather bland and can't really pull it off when under duress. It's always good to see older actors in horror films, but they're all pretty wasted in this one, resorting in some cases to pantomimic gurning when things switch up a gear. And in terms of photography, you'll all have heard of 'day for night' as a term - this one does 'night for even more night', such is its impenetrability.

Inherit the Witch (UK 2024: Dir Cradeaux Alexander) Move over (the late) Norman J. Warren, there's a new kid in town! Mr Alexander's first feature drinks deep from the Satan-in-suburbia flick genre, popular in the 1970s, but adds an eccentric twist or two of his own.

Cory (Alexander) is having a bit of a tough time. He's been summoned home following the death of his father, but is uneasy at returning to the family dwelling, mainly because of Pamela (Imogen Smith), a woman who had been living with dad until his death and who now looks likely to inherit his estate.

A flashback to 1985, shot on faux camcorder, shows Cory as a youth in a rather tense family setup, with a younger Pamela (played by Elizabeth Arends) casting spells and generally being a bit witchy.

Cory's rather awkward sister Fiona (Heather Cairns) arrives on her bike for the same reason. She's been undergoing therapy and has been advised to keep a video diary as part of her healing. She's not that welcome, particularly as Cory is back together with old flame Lars following a messy breakup with another guy. 

But back at the house, things are getting weird. An ageing Pamela is dying; she's served by a Grand Witch (Graham Putney) and Cory's half brother Rex (Rohan Quine, who looks a lot like a young David Bailey, only with nail polish). Her only chance of returning to rude health is to ensure that she is reunited with Cory, the last of the line; and she'll use all her power to achieve this.

Many reviewers have been unnecessarily savage when writing about this one; to use the line from 1989's The Abyss, "you have to look with better eyes than that". I may be wrong, but I think this is a perfect homage to 1970s British horror, updated with overtly gay characters but without the gratuitous nudity favoured by those movies. The photography is generally sumptuous, although the split screen effects are a bit random (again an acknowledgement of 1960s/70s cinema?), and veteran composer François Pervirella Evans's score is so brilliantly eccentric it should be formally released now. 

I would have liked Inherit the Witch to be much more full on; it's a bit hesitant, almost afraid to offend, but I loved the central characters (Alexander, almost constantly mildly fucked off, is good value) and the down-in-the-basement end, much as it's telegraphed from way off, is pure Alan Ormsby. Awkward then, but not crap - don't believe the others.

The House on Mansfield Street: Evil Next Door (UK 2024: Dir Richard Mansfield) Mansfield's 'cycle' of found footage movies filmed in Sherwood, Nottingham (the town to which he relocated from London some years ago) continues and, with each instalment, improves. There's little connectivity between this one and Mansfield's previous films, but a growing feeling that Sherwood is the focus of random supernatural activity.

James (David John Field) has moved into the attic room of the house of landlord - and friend - Anthony (Jonathan Cleaver), who was a character in Mansfield's 2023 film 13 Sherwood Avenue. James's parents are abroad and, we assume, a little worried about him; hence the young chap records a video diary of his new accommodations to assure them that he's ok. The area seems friendly; a neighbour, Emma (Kathryn Redwood) introduces herself, as does Laura (Chloe McKiernan) who, Anthony notes, takes a shine to his new lodger.

However the peaceful setup is rather ruined by the sounds of arguments, and possibly violence, coming from the people living next door in the early hours of the morning. Anthony, a deep sleeper, hears nothing, but feels that his lodger must be mistaken, as the adjoining house is empty. James continues to record the disturbances but they remain inaudible to anyone else. After Anthony leaves on business for a few days, alone in the house James concludes that the increasingly malevolent sounds may be supernatural in nature. Laura discloses that she is a witch, and recommends a spell that might help ward off the evil. But is she all that she seems?

Micro budget considerations aside, THoMS: END is a solid addition to the expanding Mansfield universe (hell the local pub even has a cocktail - the Mansfield Martini - named after it). Confidently shot, and with credible reasons why events might be being filmed (including at one point a police bodycam) the film leads to a satisfying conclusion, while all the time remaining within the single house location. It remains to be seen whether there will be some hideous conclusion to the whole Sherwood franchise, but reader I'm here for it.

The Whisper Within the Woods (UK 2023: Dir Mark Adlington) "I know you're in Upminster. Don't do anything stupid." Although this line is lifted from Adlington's debut feature, it must have been uttered on more than one occasion in the Essex border town where his movie is set.

In the film's prologue we meet two foster children, Sarah (Lyla Tolan) and Daniel (George Conway, literally reciting his lines, possibly direct from a script). Daniel's been reading a history of the area, including the story of a 16th century witch, Ann Brown, who was hanged in the vicinity; every 12 years a series of murders occurs locally, the victims all connected by blood to those who killed Brown back in the day. Daniel and Sarah decide to go witch hunting, but instead come across two school bullies. The foster children emerge from the altercation covered in blood, with no memory as to what happened; the bullies are dead.

Twelve years later a grown up Sarah has done her spell in a juvenile centre, accused of the murders but all the time protesting her innocence. She's been released and given a new identity, separated from Daniel; as Sam (Katie Ford) she is now married to Darren (Tim Cummins), a successful artist and step mum to Darren's son Jesse (Alfie Walters). Darren has no idea of Sam/Sarah's dark history until a TV true crime documentary exposes the truth. The revelations lead to Sam's increasingly psychotic behaviour, the breakdown of her marriage and a reunion with her estranged foster brother (Will Conway), and the realisation of her connection with Ann Brown.

TWWtW is a mix of domestic drama, faux local history and perfunctory supernatural elements. It's let down by its overall pedestrian pacing and some truly woeful acting (even by the standards of low budget fantastic films). Story wise it's a laudable effort, and Katie Ford rescues things somewhat with a credible performance, but this is really hard going. A mention should be made of Paul Finney's rather eccentric soundtrack in which he provides not only the music for the film but (I think) the characters' mobile phone ring tones.

It Feeds (Canada 2025: Dir Chad Archibald)

I like Chad Archibald's movies. His last two features, 2017's The Heretics and the following year's I'll Take Your Dead mixed scares and drama increasingly successfully.

Like these films, his latest, It Feeds, is also a movie predicated on trauma. Cynthia Winstone (Ashley Greene) is every regular therapist's worst nightmare. Whereas most shrinks have to work with their clients for years to root out the reason/s for their poor mental health, Cynthia, faux shrink, actual clairvoyant, can simply enter her subject's mind and find out what the problem is. As the movie opens Cynthia is wandering around in the subconscious of a troubled patient, A Nightmare on Elm Street style, correctly identifying the source of his psychiatric woes to be an abusive sports coach from his past. Having cleared that little problem up, with the clues she has, Cynthia tips off the local police to investigate the likely suspect; she's right of course.

Cynthia's gifts are both a blessing and a curse; she lives opulently with 17 year old daughter Jordan (Ellie O'Brien), who acts as a kind of PA/triage for her mother's waiting list, so business is obviously blooming. But Cynthia's talents have come at a huge cost; not only is there the constant danger, again Elm Street style, of the psychic world leaking into the real one, but she also fears that Jordan may inherit the same abilities.

The unannounced arrival of a troubled teen, 14-year-old Riley Harris (Shayelin Martin) ruffles the organised life of mum and daughter. Riley, in significant distress and with scars covering both arms, begs for Cynthia's help, but when the psychic glimpses an entity with its sinewy arms around the girl, she feels unable to treat her; a tense situation that's temporarily resolved when Riley's father, Randall (Shawn Ashmore) arrives to take his daughter home. Jordan feels differently to her mother and is determined to track down the girl and offer support, but when she finds Riley she's drawn into a world of demonic possession in which she becomes enmeshed.

On the plus side this is a tensely mounted film with some excellent, if rather draining performances, particularly from Greene, O'Brien and Martin. Family friend Agatha (Juno Rinaldi) is there for some lighter relief but her ditziness feels somewhat out of place here. Top marks for the creature effects too; the entity is genuinely scary and threatening, and Archibald is wise to resist the overuse of jump scares.

However, 'trauma' as a driving force in contemporary horror films - and there are many recent examples - can be a bit of a polarising experience. While I realise that audiences may enjoy the cathartic effects of watching movies which may reflect their own traumas, and are thus keen to engage with stories like this, there's a danger of such films becoming increasingly homogenous. It Feeds spends most of its time in near darkness and there's very little happiness on display from any of the movie's characters. I'm not denying Archibald's ability to create a mood but I do feel that the tendency for the depiction of horror as psychiatry porn is rather reductive.

It Feeds is available on Digital Platforms from 12 May. Distributed by Signature Entertainment.

Cloud aka Kuraudo (Japan 2024: Dir Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

While Kurosawa's CV has often dwelt in stories of the strange and unusual, for his latest movie he's concerned with more prosaic matters like, er, the state of consumer society.

Ryôsuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda) - plain Yoshii to his friends, and there aren't many of them - is a young, intelligent man, who supplements his tedious factory day job by making money - quite a lot of money - in the shady, borderline legal world of re-selling, under the name 'Ratel' (literally an aggressive badger). As we meet him he's scalping some unfortunate supplier of medical equipment, unable to shift his stock; so Yoshii takes it off his hands for a ludicrously low price and sells the whole stock on line at a staggering markup (quite why the medical supplier couldn't have done the same thing beats me). 

At work Yoshii's boss recognises his talents and urges him to pursue a management career at the factory, but the part time seller, whose clandestine sideline makes him increasingly paranoid, chooses instead to pack in the day job and relocate to the country with his acquisitive girlfriend Akiko (Kotone Furukawa), while at the same time ghosting a re-selling friend Muraoka (Masataka Kubota) who's offered him the chance to get rich quick via a new online sales platform.

At their country house an increasingly bored Akiko hopes that their relocation might offer more glamour, instead of the usual sales cycle involving living among piles of boxed goods. Yoshii takes on an assistant, Sano (Daiken Okudaira), keen to learn and obedient. But Yoshii's paranoia remains intact; a broken window at night suggests a prowler, and an ill advised visit to the police to report the crime results only in drawing the authorities' attention to him, a mistake when he starts trading in counterfeit goods. But it's the further knockdown purchase of a set of collectable dolls, again sold online at considerable markup, that tips things over the edge. Those negatively impacted by Yoshii's activities want revenge, and there's safety in numbers.

Until the last few minutes of Cloud, this felt like a slightly fantastically told moral tale. Kurosawa shows us a world where everyone's on the make, inhabiting a grey market arena which is hard, ruthless but perhaps preferable to a day job and a need to be accountable; although there's nothing glamorous about Yoshii's life. Part of the distaste of what Yoshii is doing, irrespective of how glamorous and exciting he sees it, is the constant exploitation of people in a similar economic situation to him.

That the mentioned revenge takes the form of an (over) extended shootout which occupies roughly half the film is baffling, like two movies sandwiched into one. There's no one to root for here; those with whom one might have sympathy - the men exploited by Yoshii - prove equally capable of random violence. And yet the ending suggests that nothing, even right and wrong, is straightforward in our consumer world. It's an odd film where both exploiter and exploited flail around in a world overstuffed with things, knowing, to coin an old phrase, the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Cloud plays in cinemas from 25 April.