FrightFest 2026 Part 4: Reviews of Grind (USA 2026), Ghost in the Cell (Indonesia/South Korea 2026), Bad Karaoke (USA 2026), Dracula The Night Around Us (USA 2026), Gator Face (USA 2026) and Compliance (USA 2025)

The last of my four round up posts covering 30 films 'seen' at this year's FrightFest.

Grind (USA 2026: Dir Ed Dougherty, Brea Grant, Chelsea Stardust) All three of the directors of this witty and stylish portmanteau film have form; I’m a particular fan of Stardust’s 2019 movie Satanic Panic, and there’s something of that film’s dark playfulness in this scattergun takedown of big corporations.

DRGN is a sprawling conglomerate, embracing volume sales, home deliveries and more (sound familiar?). Grind’s linking device – always important in anthology films and an element often poorly considered – is to feature the stories of various employees, providing a coherence to the whole feature, even if some of the individual tales remain a little undercooked. 

On the warehouse floor, new recruit Maria (Mercedes Mason) consistently misses her packing targets (she fails to locate ring lights in time, which her colleague Pete (Matt Mercer) informs her are stored in the ‘influencer services’ section) and is transferred to the ‘special gifts’ area. This acts as the springboard for the movie’s individual tales, the first and best being ‘MLM’ in which would be influencer Sarah (Jessika Van) struggles to sell enough ‘LaLa Leggings’ to meet the sales quota set by her mentor (who wears a T Shirt with the words ‘Stop Being Poor’). The penalty for this commercial sin is a series of mini curses, starting with her husband’s penis turning into a bird, then everything she likes to eat transforming to inedible glitter; the final straw is the arrival of ‘The Ax Man’, a huge guy – in LaLa Leggings) - whose murderous intent is the result of Sarah being perceived to have let the brand down.

In ‘Delivery’, a fast food driver, Benny (Vinny Thomas) is given a weird pick up job; to deliver a bag full of squishy stuff to a destination that has all the hallmarks of an escape room, complete with revolving chamber. ‘Content Moderation’, the longest and darkest of the stories, features a new DRGN employee whose role, contrary to what was advertised, is to moderate a series of increasingly sick videos for the ‘Hatchbook’ social media channel (also presumably owned by the company), with predictably mid altering results. And finally ‘Union Movement’ has the staff of a coffee shop franchise visited by a murderous creature when the workers organise union representation.

While none of the stories in Grind totally land – again, a common issue with this genre of film – the whole thing is really well put together and often wryly funny. It also looks pretty slick, and if the object of its humour is pretty obvious, that, and the interconnectedness of the individual stories with the wrapping device, makes this enjoyable satire of the gig economy very watchable.

Ghost in the Cell (Indonesia/South Korea 2026: Dir Joko Anwar) Anwar’s latest is set in a prison in Jakarta (although not an actual location; Anwar created a huge set in which the action is entirely based), the inmates of which follow the usual path of the incarcerated; tribes form, no one trusts each other, the staff are mercilessly cruel and there’s a particularly lascivious specimen, Tokek (Aming Sugandhi) who sees all new prisoners as his own sexual playground.

Into this hellhole (actually it really isn’t; at times I was reminded of the prison in Paddington 2) is placed Dimas (Endy Arfian), a young man unfairly banged up for murder after the boss of the newspaper on which he was working was found gutted and interlaced in a ceiling fan.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Dimas gets to room with the predatory Tokek, which doesn’t last long; a demon, a sort of awful alter ego of the prisoner, turns Tokek – literally – into a human shower. It’s not long before the rest of the prison, helped by a psychic inmate called Six (Yoga Pratama) with the ability to pick up auras of those next for the chop, reasons that an evil entity has entered pokey with the quiet, reserved Dimas, placing the whole establishment in peril.

Anwar, never a director to underdo things, gives us a prison movie at once incredibly gory and broadly funny; sometimes in the same scene. There’s an ongoing send up of Indonesian politics in relation to the justice system – favoured prisoners being given 5 star treatment, the government turning a blind eye to the warders’ sadism – which to be fair you can find in most B movie prison flicks. 

Ghost in the Cell, from the punny title to the artfully executed kills, fires off in all directions, sometimes a little artlessly. I sort of struggled to get the point – maybe being Indonesian may have helped here – but any movie that gives you dance numbers, scares and wildly inappropriate soundtrack music can’t be all bad.

Bad Karaoke (USA 2026: Dir Robert J. Steinmiller Jr, Chris Lightbody) The directors' first feature sees a group of musicians, ‘The Nunu’, who are ‘America’s #1 Party Band’, in a van on their way to play at a wedding. The various group members started off performing original songs, but that didn’t turn a buck, so now they’re reduced to singing and playing classic hits at functions. They’re headed up by the headstrong Hannah (Kat Cunning) whose girlfriend Ava (Jenna Karan) she literally stole away from Ava’s own wedding; she’s that kind of headstrong. Sensible Emily (Lexi Underwood) has paid for a room to put the band up overnight.

On their way to their overnight stay they narrowly avoid hitting a blind woman and, having stopped, find a bar which contains an old karaoke machine. Thinking it might liven their evening up, Emily liberates it with the full blessing of the barman. Of course, we’ve already seen a prologue in which the machine shows its evil side, plucking out the eyes of the woman doing the singing. Turns out that thing is possessed by the anger of a singer songwriter prevented from playing at the bar because the karaoke machine was more successful.

At their rental, the group party in the grand tradition of young people about to meet horrendous ends. The karaoke machine is fired up, a song is chosen, but a poor vocal performance – as decided by the evil box - results in the singer having to choose their own death (from a rather limited menu of creative mutilations). And repeat to fade, with the added annoyance (for the group) that the machine cannot be turned off, and when smashed turns up as an app on the band members’ phones.

All this might be pretty silly – actually it is, and played for sly laughs – but the group members are a likeable bunch, and the frat house gaggery is pretty amusing. It’s gory as hell, and pretty effective to boot. Sadly the prevailing message – that original material is better than covers – feels a bit insipid, as are the songs which pepper the movie. But it’s huge fun, scrappy and slightly anarchic, with some great comic moments. Just don’t expect sophistication.

Dracula The Night Around Us (USA 2026: Dir Chris Schwab) A couple of years ago Chris Schwab made the vampire actioner Fangs Out: Blood Apocalypse. Two years on and he returns to his theme, but with a very different approach.

Ostensibly an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, Schwab brings the story to modern day America and condenses it into a 70 minute feature. Eric Toms is Dr. John Seward, a psychologist at Purfleet hospital (one of a number of casual references to Stoker’s source text in the movie) specialising in mental health trauma; one of his patients is a raving guy, keen on eating flies, called…Renfield (Spencer Weitzel); “It’s coming!”, the lunatic shouts. 

Seward is a rather down on his luck character (“Just remember, who else is going to hire you?” remarks his boss), who lives alone, and forms a friendship with his neighbour Mina (Marlene Mc'Cohen) after he finds her daughter Lucy (Raelan Mackiewicz) wandering alone in the apartment car park.

But outside of their lives, pressing ever closer to Seward, is an evil presence, a vampire who hypnotises and preys on young women, finally closing in on Lucy. Seward slowly learns the nature of the vampiric threat and traces the undead to his lair, a coffin located in the city’s sewer system. 

DtNAU is a pretty bold venture; shot on what looks like degraded film stock, this is far from the straightforward Stoker adaption it might seem. Schwab has done some character shifting; Seward also contains elements of the novel’s Jonathan Harker, and the director has made Mina and Lucy mother and daughter. Most of the cast are Schwab’s friends, which makes the production feel intimate, and there’s a great sotto voce score which thankfully doesn’t over intrude.

Stoker’s novel, written at a time when Britain feared the foreigner (oh how times have changed!) comes through in Schwab’s portrayal of Dracula as a dark skinned Nosferatu like figure whose influence literally decays the society in which he operates; Seward’s final explosion of violence is a direct response to evil having won the day, rendering him far less powerful than the book’s equivalent. This is a complex film which initially feels slight, shot quickly but competently and maintaining a dreamlike haze throughout. Excellent.

Gator Face (USA 2026: Dir Padraig Reynolds) Reynolds has been a little quiet on the horror front of late, after his run of grindhouse-esque features, The Devil’s Dolls, Open 24 Hours and Dark Light, at the tail end of the previous decade.

Obviously it’s an itch he needed to scratch again, because Reynolds has returned with a movie that positively screams 42nd St. Three girlfriends, coming to the end of an idyllic vacation in Miami, get lost in an isolated beach location. Trying to get a handle on where they are, they find a run down house with the curious words ‘3 Dead Inside’ daubed on its side. Before long two of the three are dead, courtesy of a Leatherface type character (the film is very in thrall to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) wearing an alligator mask; oh yeah, and some alligators.

The surviving girl, Jess (Amariah Dionne) manages to escape, seeking refuge with another group of young ‘uns whose truck is on the fritz. Pretty soon this group are taking a pretty dim view of Jess because gator face is now after them. Oh dear.

Gator Face (and there’s a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin title) is the kind of movie where nobody over thirty is to be trusted and the whole town very much practices a ‘the family that prays together, slays together’ credo. It’s all terribly familiar stuff though, and the film’s lurch into folk horror territory after an hour or so of a guy chasing interchangeable youths with an axe is almost a relief. But Reynolds is a very capable filmmaker, and holds on to the grindhouse vibe right the way through (the whole thing was shot in two weeks and preserves a rough and ready feel). I’m amazed that he didn’t ‘fake grade’ the film to complete the look; actually he does over the end credits, together with a coda that strongly hints that 'Gator Face 2' might be coming for your ankles soon.

Compliance (USA 2025: Dir Kyle Mangione-Smith) Quite what this glitchy found footage conspiracy thriller is doing on the FrightFest schedules is beyond me. Calling Mangione-Smith’s debut feature uneven is like saying that Mantovani tunes could do with more drums, but it’s way too long at 105 minutes and its head hurting visuals aren’t nearly coherent enough to give the viewer more than a flavour of what’s going on.

The opening premise is pretty interesting; Sam (Megan Wilcox), a former psychologist with a drink problem and related confidence issues, is employed in a sort of HR capacity at an Air BNB like company called ‘UVisit’; she gets a late night call to attend an incident in one of the rentals, where a young woman, Sarah (Lindsey Normington), has been raped by two men who have forced their way into the apartment. Later it’s found that the woman’s ID is fake and that her fingerprints have been previously burnt off.

Sam’s post attack interview with Sarah is a support one, but in reality a thinly disguised attempt to get the woman to sign an NDA; there’s a sense that this sort of thing has maybe happened before. It’s also bad timing; UVisit owner, the frankly shitty Harry Keenan (Charlie Wood) is on the cusp of signing a deal which will merge the company with a group of businessmen connected to the Democratic party. He wants the incident covered up and, when Sam shows unexpected sympathy to Sarah, he fires her.

From here on in Sam, now free from the clutches of UVisit, finds herself embroiled in a deeper conspiracy, as Compliance visually demonstrates the murkiness of the world she has fallen into. Mangione-Smith’s movie is entirely constructed from CCTV, home security cameras and, in a rather retro fashion, messed up video graphics that strongly suggest the world we experience visually is one big porky pie.

Compliance is well done up to a point; but the conspiracy elements, combined with the rather distancing visuals, make this feel increasingly like a late season episode of The X Files filtered through mid 1990s video cut up technology. Surprisingly Wilcox manages to elicit some sympathy as a woman out of her depth, and Normington is glacially weird as the victim with a secret. OK then, but a little more control may have helped.

FrightFest 2026 Part 3 - NEW WAVE OF THE BRITISH FANTASTIC FILM SPECIAL (#5): Reviews of Heraldry Paranormal (UK 2026), Hoarder (UK 2026), Binding Eva (UK 2026), Spider Island (UK 2026), Welcome to G-Town (UK 2026), Full Moon Rising: The Charles Band Story (UK 2026) and The Peril at Pincer Point (UK 2026)

Heraldry Paranormal (UK 2026: Dir Ashley Nashville) Director Ashley Nashville’s first feature is a spirited return to the ‘first person filmmaking’ (that’s found footage to you, not that the footage is found here) based around a quartet of amateur online ghosthunters named, unsurprisingly and slightly bafflingly, ‘Heraldry Paranormal’.

HP’s head honcho is Finlay McCoy (Jimmy Roberts) whose frustrations over his inability to land a true haunting cause tensions with his team members, namely Seamus (Nashville), Emerson (Tara Buranakul) and Finlay’s sort of girlfriend, their American mentor Blair (Parker Paige). After a potential haunt in a Doncaster Air BnB turns out to be a hoax, Finlay’s problems deepen when he gets into a spat with the property’s owner and a rival paranormal expert, Rosie Watts (Kate Hargrave). He’s almost given up the ghost (pun very much intended) when Finlay gets wind of a couple, Violet and Gemma (Lauren Grendon and Sekki Tabasuares) living in a supposedly haunted house, inherited from a git of a grandfather who disapproved of them being both a same sex couple and married.

But just when it looks like this house might be the real deal, along comes Rosie, and the two ‘experts’ battle for the right to claim the house’s entity for themselves.

For most of its length, Heraldry Paranormal follows the path of many cheaply made camcorder movies wherein a group of admittedly fun characters goof around in a relatively unscripted way, and it’s hard to get excited about the setup. But things change for the better once the team arrive at Violet and Gemma’s house, building to a reasonably exciting (and occasionally quite scary) climax. Nashville does as much as he can with a threadbare budget (a secret room on the first floor of the house which bizarrely leads to a basement is a nice touch) and the ‘diss’ videos which map the ongoing feuds are pretty funny.

It’s a little overlong and you have to like the characters to get on with this; in particular grumpy Finlay can seem like ‘a lot’. But I liked the freewheeling nature of it, and the shift to horror towards the end is well navigated.

Hoarder (UK 2026: Dir James Owen) James Owen’s debut feature, 2022’s Bite, saw a couple of con artists hiding out in the house of an elderly woman, with murderous results. Four years on and arguably Owen reuses the same setup, but in this case the hiders are two health care professionals whose intentions are far more honourable.

Community heath nurse Eric (Paul Casar) and his medical student assistant Melissa (Daisy Jelley) are doing the rounds, administering flu jabs to the housebound or those who otherwise couldn’t get protected. They’re an awkward pair – you get the sense that Eric is uncomfortable around younger women – but they have a job to do. And their next visit is to the home of Doris (Terry Bamberger from this year’s Daggers Inn), living with Alzheimer’s, and her husband/carer Fred (David Sterne).

Arriving at the house, they find it in considerable disarray; the couple are clearly in need of assistance. While his wife seems almost comatose, Fred, resistant to any intervention, is obviously an alcoholic. But when Eric administers the jab, the old woman finds reserves of energy, punching the nurse and shouting “he will return!”. This is the point at which Hoarder changes from a dark social commentary comedy to, well, a dark horror comedy, although the secret of what lies within the house is never fully divulged; the only thing we know is that the ‘hoarder’ of the title may not just refer to the house’s human occupants.

I really liked Owen’s slow burn approach to the horror elements of this movie; indeed little happens for the first hour (although a prologue hints at the nastiness to come) and most of the tension lies in what Eric and Melissa uncover in the course of what they think is a routine house visit. A great set design thoroughly convinces the viewer that Fred and his wife live in deep squalor and our health care professionals are also very believable (Owen is an ex surgeon so I guess the medical details would be accurate). There are a few head scratchy plot points, but I’d advise you to enter into the dark spirit of the movie; there’s a lot to like. 

Binding Eva (UK 2026: Dir Conscian Morgan) The impressively named director’s debut feature starts off as it definitely doesn’t mean to go on: cornered Felix (Ryan Ralph Gerrard), a criminal (and estranged father) mixed up with some bad people, makes his escape by diving into the back seat of a car, driven by mum Katarina (Katherine Deevy) and also occupied by her silent daughter Eva (Darcey Wood). Holding Eva at knife point, he demands that Katarina drive him to Chepstow, but the fraught setup causes her to crash the car.

The three then set out on foot, mother and daughter hostage to Felix, but Katarina’s initial confidence that she can guide them to town fails when they become hopelessly lost. Happening on a cabin in the woods, a hoped for rescue point becomes the start of a nightmare for all three.

Ok if you’ve seen a handful of genre films you’ll know how this one ends, and I’m guessing that Morgan knows you know, because Binding Eva isn’t about the arrival; it’s about the journey. Specifically Mum, daughter and criminal’s journey through the forest, with night turning to day and back again, a trip which feels increasingly divorced from reality. 

I’m not sure I needed some of the more obvious folk horror elements – goats, skulls and a presiding witch figure included – but the changing relationship of Felix and Katarina, a superb performance from Wood as 7 year old Eva, and a growing sense of unease and regret raised this one above standard lost in the woods fare.

Spider Island (UK 2026: Dir Christopher Smith) At some point in the future influencers, or content creators as they now like to be known, will be used in movies for reasons other than ridicule. Christopher Smith’s latest, his first feature since the lukewarm nunsploiter Consecration in 2023, treats them with the disdain which a horror crowd would probably approve (even though the plethora of podcasts and YouTube moments created by that community suggest a popular phrase involving ‘people’ and ‘glass houses’).

Here a boatful of creators and camera hungry young souls, all buff bods in swimsuits talking over the top of each other excitedly, rock up on an island as the freebie guests of hotelier David (Andy Nyman in good moustache twiddling form). David is VP of Infinity Dream International and he’s looking to get some good media coverage of his latest beachside facility, courtesy of his guests. Despite his company’s eco credentials, there’s plans for further hotel expansion into the island.

Undercover reporter Clara (Rose Williams) is looking to run an expose on IDI’s less than ideal eco track record, while at the same time hanging out with her dad, retired actor Curtis (Tim McInnerney) with whom she’s become estranged, and who runs a shabbier hotel (and almost 24/7 bar) on the same piece of land.

Nothing is spared for the guests’ comfort, with the exception of the air conditioning, which is on the fritz because of a blockage (check the movie’s title). While David assures the party guests that none of the island’s flora and fauna are in any way dangerous, this is clearly a fib; and you could trust him about as far as you could throw him, for he’s determined to keep the operation going even after the indigenous arachnid population begin their revenge.

Yes you’ve guessed it, we’re back in Jaws territory, or more precisely Jaws ripoff Piranha (actually make that Alexander Aja’s 2010 re reboot Piranha 3D) but with more legs. Smith’s broad humour, sometimes a bit cloth eared (a comedy character nicknamed mongoose, whose mum shortens his name to ‘mong’ anyone?) generally plays well, and the CGI spiders are very effective; I’m not an arachnophobe, and even I got a bit wigged out at times. As mentioned, Nyman and McInnerney both steal the show here; they get the best lines, and effortlessly upstage most of the rather vapid younger cast. Perhaps that’s the point.

Welcome to G-Town (UK 2026: Dir Ben McQuaid, Nathan McQuaid) Ben and Nathan McQuaid’s debut feature is a fabulously DIY sci fi comedy leaning heavily into Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste for its story of an attempted alien takeover.

The ‘G’ of the title refers to Glasgow, home for three slacker chaps, with little to do except reminisce about their camcorder film making days. Media studies student Bill (Danny McAllen), who’s overqualified for a street cleaning job but seemingly unable to hold down any employment, kicks his heels with his mates Peter (Stan Ross) and Ronnie (Ruben Ross), the former some kind of policeman, about to be posted to London. 

But the three are about to be unsuspectingly launched into an intergalactic adventure; a group of aliens, diverted from their planned invasion of London, have somehow landed in Glasgow. All of their cultural homework is now worth zilch, but the extraterrestrials, headed up by Dazinger (Mark Dallas) and lieutenant Nyah (Annabel Logan) pursue their invasion plans by taking over the bodies of locals (cue lots of regional stereotypes) and setting themselves up in an office block. Bill has his work cut out convincing his mates about the takeover, eventually roping in street corner brochure waving crazy Alistair (Matthew Crawford Russell), whose ranting about aliens turns out to be on the nose. But when required to quiz a captive alien, his interrogation techniques prove less than effective, so it’s down to the three lads to stop Scotland – and maybe the rest of Britain – from being dominated.

While Welcome to G-Town could sure use an edit – the whole mid section meanders way too much – McAllen and the Ross brothers are pretty fun to be with, and the McQuaids have a keen sense of anarchy, with touches of Claymation effects, practical gloop (no generative AI in this one) and the whole cast going for it. Glaswegians don’t get off lightly here (one senses the directors’ ennui seeping into the script) but everything gets pulled together for a rather sweet end. No masterpiece then, a little lengthy, but in parts very, very funny.

Full Moon Rising: The Charles Band Story (UK 2026: Sarah Appleton) Sarah Appleton has successfully established herself as a chronicler of the fantastic genre both on Blu Ray extras and film, with recent documentaries on J horror and found footage movies.

Her latest is a long overdue look at the amazing life of Charles Band, a director and producer of over 400 films whose tenacity, as John Carpenter observes in the film, would enable him to survive a nuclear holocaust; along with the cockroaches.

Full Moon Rising charts Band’s numerous rises and falls, mainly through a series of talking heads (including Band’s own), starting with his influential filmmaking (and acting) mother and father – and yes Band still maintains he was babysat by Marilyn Monroe – to his first steps into directing. This was 1973’s Last Foxtrot in Burbank, a long thought lost satire of Last Tango in Paris (obvs) with Michael Pataki doing his best Marlon Brando, and a movie which gave Carpenter his first paid job in Hollywood.

Band’s hucksterish ways – pre-selling movies, for example, to get the cash to make them, mainly based on a title or poster – was pretty standard behaviour in low budget films. But Charles made a success of it, forming Empire Pictures in 1983 and going on to reap rewards by expanding his operation to Italy.

The documentary recognises Band’s ability to remain ahead of the curve, both in cornering the direct to video market – pretty much unknown in the 1980s – and later adapting his Full Moon production company to streaming services. It’s a career that’s seen its fair share of ups and downs – the shady money men moving in at the end of Empire and Band’s attendant financial problems, and cashflow issues resulting in film crews failing to be paid – but through it all Band has continued; and three wives later, it’s hard to find (on camera anyway) anyone who has a bad word to say about him.

Like all good documentaries, Full Moon Rising makes you want to seek out more of Band’s films, although in terms of his later output that’s an itch you can scratch fairly quickly; but there’s no denying that, under Empire International, he gave us a series of skillfully made, inventive low budget movies easily equaling anything produced by Roger Corman. 

The Peril at Pincer Point (UK 2026: Dir Noah Stratton-Twine, Jake Kuhn) This beautifully crafted fable tips its creative hat to the nitrate shadowed films of Guy Maddin and sometimes appears like a low-budget David Eggers movie. 

The creation of co-director Jake Kuhn and Noah Stratton-Twine (who also wrote the film’s sumptuous score), Jack Redmayne plays Jim Baitte, a movie sound guy whose attempts to make reliable field recordings for a forthcoming feature are failing to impress producers Teddie (Dashiell John Blanchett Upton) and Bill (Jason Hogan). Director P.W. Griffin (Os Leanse) wants to go in a different direction, namely a voiceover on the soundtrack. Impressed with the sound of a girl he heard while he was in a diner in Pincer Point, he tasks Jim to track her down and record her voice.

Jim, who in an earlier scene mysteriously received a bite from a crab at his London flat, travels to Pincer Point and, via the rather odd locals, finds out that the voice in question belongs to Marina Hurley (Alyth Ross) and, courtesy of her brother Hollis (Stratton-Twine) that she is missing. Jim is drawn into a mystery in which he becomes a focus, including talking crabs and a ghost frigate, ‘The Bucken Rider’ and its otherworldly master, Captain Telson.

TPaPP looks amazing. Filmed in academy ratio in luminous black and white, with painted backdrops, models and other technical sleights of hand (no AI was involved, the filmmakers emphatically announce) although filmed in Suffolk it conjures up a distinctly other worldly feel, like a Blighty version of one of Thomas Pynchon's more out there works. It’s a freewheeling piece, largely improvised, and its 'Mighty Boosh' style humour won’t be for everyone; there’s also more than a slight borrow from the ‘Clem Fandango’ recording scenes featured in Toast of London. But if quirky characters (Redmayne is particularly appealing in a scatty way), a shaggy dog narrative and a sense of anarchic fun are your thing, you’ll find a lot to like here. “It was supposed to be a horror,” said Stratton-Twine in interview, “but when we saw it come together we realized it was a comedy.” The dedication to Roger Corman at the end of the movie is spot on; as well as the aforementioned crabs, there’s a Cormanesque sense of getting the thing done with enthusiasm and meagre resources. A sequel is already planned. 

FrightFest 2026 Part 2 - NEW WAVE OF THE BRITISH FANTASTIC FILM SPECIAL (#4): Reviews of Grin (UK 2026), Electric Meat (UK 2025), Wrath of the Gods (UK 2026), Hungry (UK/USA 2026), The Death of Us (UK 2026), The Brook (UK 2026) and Dead Reset (UK 2026)

Part 2 of my coverage of FrightFest 2026 covers some of the UK films shown at the Festival.

Grin (UK 2026: Dir Lawrence Fowler) Fowler has quite the thing for the mythical killer with the potential for a franchise, having already given us three ‘Jack in the Box’ movies.

Clearly sensing another horror character with legs, he now gives us ‘Grin’. ‘Grin’ is the name of a game, later described as a 17th century version of a Ouija board (although it also resembles a 1960s game called ‘Master Robot’, but that may just be me showing my age). A prologue has shown us that the game has murderous properties; in reality it’s a demon summoning device, said creature locking in on those who harbour guilty secrets. 

Flash forward a few years and the game finds its way into the hands of a family courtesy of Lucien (Simon Davies), a toy collector and art dealer with a perpetually unctuous smile, who found the thing on the internet. Lucien’s wife is Agnes (Virginia Gilchrist) whose three grown up children from her first marriage are far from happy, particularly Eva (Gareth Tidball) who moved to the US with her father when she was 10 and now has a daughter of her own. 

Returning to a Welsh family get together she’s reunited with brothers Ben (Luke Rhodri) and Joe (Samuel Lane). No one is that keen to meet again, and for a good reason; they all share a secret so unspoken that even Eva’s husband doesn’t know it.

Bored of the usual rounds of Trivial Pursuit, Lucien brings out ‘Grin’, a complicated gizmo in which people write their names on a board and a skull with horns points to the guilty; the life sized ‘Grin’ which emerges from the game (looking like a left over from Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth) manifests itself and sets about picking off those with guilty secrets; pretty much the whole family then, starting with Joe, who has committed the sin of kicking his wife and child out. 

Well done to Fowler for at least giving us a ‘Grin’ origin story and imbuing the demon with the power to mess with minds as well as flesh ripping talons; a very brief cameo from a paranormal expert brings us up to speed on the arcane science leading to its creation, before disappearing. But all this feels like just so much window dressing to a well trodden story of a family being hunted by a masked creature in a country rental. Grin though, played by Lucas Edwards, remains a pretty effective character; I get the feeling that Fowler will be returning him to our screens soon.

Electric Meat (UK 2025: Dir Dan Schaffer) The cinema of transgression relies, for its effect, on a combination of unusual images, shock, disturbing subtexts and a general visual pummelling. All but the most extreme titles eventually succumb to the adage that ‘the old immorality becomes the new morality’. Dan Schaffer’s Electric Meat, if you’ll pardon the pun, comes preaged; maybe it’s just me being an old git, but if you’re going to trade on the legacy of transgressive cinema, at least make it edgy.

In this 90 minute black and white, near silent barrage of suspenders, legacy technology and pouting close ups, Caspian Faye plays a butcher by trade whose real talent is ‘out there’ photography (his work looks like vintage Paul Raymond to me). Faye lines his rented room with rejection slips and flyers from phone boxes, and indulges in a (n un) healthy fantasy life involving past models.

The butcher happens on the corpse of a girl, who he used to photograph, so he takes her home and re-arranges her from time to time while keeping her in a basket.

Downstairs his landlady, a former model (Emily Booth) waits for her overdue rent and decides to have a nose in her tenant’s room; what she sees sends her on a mind bending recovery of her former self and a pact with the half dead to seek revenge.

Or something. Schaffer’s debut feature, mainly filmed in one location, makes the best of what he has and then repeats until ennui sets in. The main problem with the film, apart from its overall aimlessness and lack of any style or panache, is that it thinks it’s way more dangerous than it is. If Electric Meat were filmed thirty or so years ago it would probably take a few risks, but here we are in 2026 where the clothes (mostly) stay on and the cast’s gyrations seem borrowed from a 'Hot Gossip' dance workout. The director has clearly seen all the cultural touch points (Nekromantik, Repulsion, Eraserhead, Richard Kern’s shorts) and then filtered them into something that may have been bearable as a 20 minute short. Not good.

Wrath of the Gods (UK 2026: Dir Justin Hardy) The untimely death at 61 of director Justin Hardy means that Wrath of the Gods stands as his epitaph.

It’s particularly poignant in that the film completes the ‘Wicker Man’ trilogy, started by his father, the late Robin Hardy back in 1971 with the original The Wicker Man, and Robin’s follow up, The Wicker Tree, in 2011. 

You can argue – as many have – whether both of Hardy pere’s movies could be called ‘horror films’; I think of them more as films about communities attempting to retain their unity and traditions in the face of progress and outsider intervention. Certainly WotG fits into this category.

Anna (Christiane Schaldemose), who is Norwegian, travels with her young daughter Gudron (Martha Robinson) to the remote fictional Scottish island of Hel (in reality the Shetland Islands) after her ex, Ingram (Jamie Rhodes) took his own life there. She’s an unwelcome face in a community which closes ranks to contain its own demons, not least Ingram’s parents, taciturn Tulloch (Francis Magee) and his wife Maeve (Lynsey Rendall) with whom she’s staying.

The disappearance of a local girl sparks suspicion and fingers gently point in Anna’s direction, although the village seems full of characters who could be equally responsible; things change when Gudron disappears too. Anna, whose stresses make her turn to the bottle, forms a friendship with another outsider, Joy (Dawn Jessica Douglas), curator of the local folk museum; she explains the intersection of ancient beliefs between the islanders and those of the next nearest landmass, Norway, suggesting that there might be a supernatural explanation for the disappearance.

Hardy’s film is by its very nature wedded to its antecedents, so a lot of WotG feels thematically familiar. The integration of professional and amateur actors, rugged landscape locations and authentic footage of islander celebrations (Hardy filmed the Shetlands Up Helly Aa firelit procession) give the film a much-needed authenticity. The story itself is both slight and fractured, the elements hanging together a little awkwardly. It’s a more moral end to the trilogy (people who get theirs deserve it) but isn’t quite equal to the sum of its parts.

Hungry (UK/USA 2026 Dir James Nunn) Four years after director James Nunn carted us all off to Mexico (although actually shot in Malta) for the so so predatory shenanigans of 2022’s Shark Bait, he now whisks us away to the Louisiana swamplands (ok it’s Malta again) for his latest creature feature.

Just fired Sistine (Madison Davenport) and her bestie Hannah (Olivia Bernstone) are partying in a bar when hunky Rodrigo (Michel Curiel) encourages them onto a swamp tour where they’re guaranteed to see some gators.

The following morning the hungover girls join a tiny boat full of the usual disaster movie types, including stuffily dressed entitled businesswoman Dionne (Tracey Bonner) hoping to capture a glimpse of the swamp’s resident bad boy gator Big Ben; there’s also bored young Mike (River Codack), his doting mum Sally (Samantha Coughlan), and her father Tim (Jim Meskimen).

The boat heads off into the swamp but away from the agreed route; a backhander has been given to the inexperienced Rodrigo for a better look at the gator, which results in the the craft being miles away from civilisation, at which point a) the remains of Big Ben are seen, its huge body gutted by something even bigger and b) the group eventually learn that there’s a hungry hippo abroad (and yes that is a reference to the game; I think this is a sly entry in some universe or other). Some handy exposition tells us that the hippos are veggies but prone to attack perceived predators (ie the cast) and that they were originally introduced to the area as gator food but have evolved as a dominant species. 

And that’s all you need to know as the boat party get capsized, hang out in the trees for safety, and face their own personal demons (interestingly it’s only the women that have traumatic back stories); oh and predictably fuckup Sistine comes good for the final reel.

Nunn cleverly interlaces stock shots from the Louisiana swamps with the Malta filmed footage to provide a convincing sense of location (even if the - pretty convincing - hippo action is minimal) and there’s a lot of character drama among the stranded gator watchers, the cast providing good value. This is a fun flick that might not stand up to regular rewatching, but Nunn knows what he’s doing and, more importantly, not to exceed limitations.

The Death of Us (UK 2026 Dir Annabella Rich) It was only a few years ago that Annabella Rich began appearing in independent British ‘Fantastic’ film productions, usually in small roles, so it feels almost generational to watch her directing debut, in which she stars with real life partner Chris Mills, himself no stranger to the independent movie scene.

Rich plays Casey Harper, an artist and mother of 2 year old Tommy, who when we meet her has been left with a friend, Jess (Francesca Louise White) so Casey can attend the launch of a book written by her husband Danny (Mills). Danny is an ambitious soul, in negotiations with TV and movie companies for a new book; it’s clear that life is moving a little too fast for Casey.

But when the couple return home, tragedy strikes; two men have broken into their home. Jess and Tommy are both dead, and although Danny manages to fight back, Casey sustains serious knife injuries; boldly most of this scene plays under the film’s opening titles.

Casey survives the attack despite having a near death experience in hospital, but the murder of their son and the trauma of the night hospitalises her. When she’s discharged, eight months later, Danny has moved them to a large country residence (afforded by the TV deal) to attempt a new start. But the couple remain raw; the film uneasily settles down to a succession of scenes where the couple talk about their sorrow, negotiate therapy and the way forward. Trauma and grief are staples of the contemporary filmic horror tradition, but they’re rarely as raw as this (as a self-confessed neurodivergent filmmaker, Rich is clearly exorcising some things here).

But while Danny tries to remain practical, even signing up for the vicar’s talking therapy sessions (where he meets the brusque Joe, a great turn from genre regular Johnny Vivash), Casey succumbs to frightening visions (including one with a demonic Danny, the movie’s most disturbing scene), and becomes interested in the conspiracy theorists and ‘experts’ who have proliferated since the murders happened. Danny acquiesces and invites Reynolds (Nicholas Vince), a self-styled occult specialist, who offers the theory that Casey’s temporary death on the operating table may have violated some kind of devilish bargain.

As one might expect from debut features, The Death of Us is far from perfect, but Rich and Mills give it everything they’ve got as grieving parents trying to pull themselves out of the cycle of despair. It’s a slow burner; boldly Rich is happy to show the repetition of actions that can surround grief recovery. When the film moves into Kill List territory it’s almost a relief. Tonally a little uneven and with a few clunky support performances, The Death of Us nevertheless nails its core emotions and is an uncomfortable account of the mechanics of grief.

The Brook (UK 2026: Dir Paul Stainthorpe) Paul Stainthorpe’s first fiction feature, after several years of shorts and documentaries, takes place on an unspecified housing estate in the fictional town of Elmbrook, into which Jacob (Connor Lawson) and his mum Michelle (Jill Dellow) move; specifically into Michelle’s father’s house, following his death. As well as the usual small town boredom and drugs problems, Elmbrook also boasts of a legendary ‘Elmbrook Puma’ and an accompanying rash of disappearances.

Jacob, a talented artist, has to adjust to a new school, making friends with a group which includes Erin (Helen Chong) and trying to avoid the class bullies. Meanwhile back at home, with his mum having a tough time of it, partly because of her rather awful neighbour Mrs Walker (Meryl Griffiths), Jacob finds an old video camera while rummaging through his grandad’s things. Although it doesn’t work in the usual sense, via a video recorded by grandad he finds that the camera views events precisely one hour back. 

Somehow Stainthorpe weaves all these story strands together; the result is a baffling mix of teen drama, murder mystery and science fiction. Without the swearing and bloodshed, it would have made a perfect Children’s Film Foundation movie forty years ago.

It’s a strangely watchable piece, mainly because the viewer is never really sure where the film is headed next. The young cast are good value and do excellent bickering although, as mentioned, the whole thing becomes increasingly wayward. Stainthorpe’s hope, in nicking a motif from George Pal’s 1960 movie The Time Machine, is, I think, to make at least one sequel. While I’d be happy to see Jacob, Erin and the gang again, a less rambling story would be advisable.

Dead Reset (UK 2026: Dir Stewart Sparke) When I was a lad, filmed adaptations of computer games saw actors bringing CGI created content to life. Flash forward to 2025, and here we have Dead Reset, which is a version of a full-motion video (FMV) game developed by Dark Rift Horror and Wales Interactive and directed by Stewart Sparke; basically a movie based game where the player has to make ‘choose your own adventure’ style choices as the story progresses.

The central character here is Cole Mason (David Tennant lookielikie Daniel Thrace), a surgeon who has been brought into a research lab by bossy Magson (Adrina Carroll) to operate on a patient who has a parasitic growth in her lower abdomen, which needs to be removed. His anxious crew mates are trigger happy Slade (Dennis Rasaq), Fearne (Lyndsey Craine) and Cooper (Michaela Longden).

Confusingly in a crimson saturated prologue we’ve already seen the disastrous results of the parasite’s extraction; death to everyone, including Cole. But Mason gets another chance to carry out the operation which also ends fatally; and another, and another, for he’s locked in a time loop where his death, either via creature or other team member, triggers a reset.

This, along with a multiverse setup, is becoming a popular narrative choice for ‘fantastic’ filmmakers; it’s cheap, can be done using one set, and relies on the audience gradually understanding what’s happening to the person in the loop, and how they can get out of it. 

The problem here is that Dead Reset is basically a re-edit of 'Dead Reset' the video game, where Sparke has removed the player options (obviously) and set out a version of the game as decided by him; so it’s like a greatest hits of the FMV. 

Now in a game format the elements are undoubtedly impressive; there’s some practical gore, a big take no prisoners creature, and a set which may be cramped but allows the action to open out, particularly towards the end. But on screen this has some major limitations, chiefly that a lot of the film is a small cast chatting to – or shouting at – each other, with not much else going on.

Sparke is a talented director; his most recent two films, 2018’s Book of Monsters and its 2023 follow up How to Kill Monsters were both hugely enjoyable, and many of the cast members in those movies turn up here. But despite the impressive practical effects and on a budget set design, Dead Reset rather drags, which is a shame. And if you’ve already played the video game, to be honest you don’t really need to see this.

FrightFest 2026 Part 1: Reviews of Big Baby (USA 2025), Blood Secret (USA 2026), Slay (USA 2026), The Latcher (Australia 2025), Our Effed Up World (Australia 2026), Dead Eyes (Australia 2026), Ponderosa (USA 2026), Faces of Death (USA 2026), The Fright Stuff (USA 2026) and Ghostkeeper (Canada 1981)

So this year I got the opportunity to attend London's FrightFest from the comfort of my own home, and in this and the next three posts I'll cover the 30 movies I managed to watch and, in some cases, suffer through (Parts 2 and 3 will assemble all the UK entries). Many of these reviews have also appeared on the Bloody Flicks website, in slightly different versions.

Big Baby (USA 2025: Dir Spider One) Poor Adam (Brandon Scott) has hit a bit of a wall. A reasonably successful horror script writer, his latest, for a film called ‘The Blackest Moon’, has just been ripped apart on a movie podcast, and he despairs both for what he terms “unchecked, uninformed criticism” and for a creative spark. His partner Kate (Krsy Fox), who one senses supports them both financially, is sympathetic.

But things change when Adam has a vision of Kate being knifed to death in her bed by a sinister guy with a baby mask; mercifully it’s just a dream, but he feels there might be some mileage in working up the ‘Big Baby’ serial killer idea, although he’s never written a slasher script before. More disturbingly, the morning after the dream he finds their bed sheets ripped by what looks like a large blade.

This is the jumping off point for the curiously named Spider One’s latest horror film (real name Michael David Cummings and brother of Rob Zombie) following his well-received chiller Little Bites from a year earlier. Arguably Big Baby is stronger as a relationship in peril drama than a slasher, partly because the bond between Adam and his creation remains unfocussed. The writer’s vision crosses over from the page to the real world with a mission; Adam needs to script the murder of all those responsible for making BB what he has become, and even though Adam has supposedly created the killer’s origin story, people start dying in real life, following the pattern of the script.

Scott and Fox are initially believable as the couple whose relationship flounders, less so as things move to a climax; this is also one movie where less gore might have been favourable to preserve the mystery of the piece, although the carnage does at least underline that Adam had one great slasher script in him.

Blood Secret (USA 2026: Dir Cameron Francis) A $3,500 budgeted micro murder drama featuring a tiny cast set in a Florida bungalow doesn’t promise much. But Cameron Francis’s two (ish) hander surprises with some deft wit and narrative rug pulls.

Anti-depressant chugging Madison (Tiana Akers) hasn’t picked the best day to patch things up with her close friend Anna (Katherine Lozon). It’s their mutual and late friend Nadine’s birthday, and Maddie is harbouring a lot of guilt about her death (an accident at the beach while Nadine was drunk).

Arriving at Anna’s, Maddie’s pills (she’s taken more than usual) and a shared bottle of wine have a rather disorienting effect. Things aren’t improved by the fact that Anna has found out that Maddie and her husband Roman (Cory Stark) had an illicit lunch appointment; Roman has since argued with Anna and left on an extended fishing trip.

Anna and Madison’s friendship goes back to University, and there’s clearly some low level aspirational issues on the part of the former. But any reconciliation is marred by news that Anna is now pregnant, some problems with lunch necessitating a takeout, and Maddie’s increasing strungoutness, including some rather disturbing visions.

With such a small cast it ain’t difficult to work out what’s happening, but it’s a fun ride and Francis handles the darkness of his comedy/drama well, setting it anonymously on an estate of identikit tract housing, ensuring that attention is focused on the two friends as their lives – and minds – unravel. Good fun.

Slay (USA 2026: Dir Kyra Elise Gardner) Chloe (Zoe Luna, whose control of the project extends to doing her own makeup) is a trans girl navigating – and currently living her best - life, with a supportive mother but a father who doesn’t recognise her as a daughter. On her online show ‘So Chloe’ she’s a big hit, a self-confessed film fan, from fright flicks to Clueless: “sometimes it’s videos, sometimes it’s clothes, sometimes it’s horror movies” is how she summarises her content.

But Chloe is not without haters, and her outspoken ways can get her into trouble; like when she’s on a chat show with her trans friend Harmony (Reise Alexander) baiting a non progressive interviewer Jenna (Shawnee Smith) to the point where Harmony throws a make up compact at the host. Jenna would disown her own son if he as much as wore makeup, she tells them.

As a result of this, and without consulting any of the friends who support her ventures, Chloe decides to step away from the limelight, desiring to be “famous more for what she does than who she is,” landing on her feet by securing a part in a forthcoming horror movie. To celebrate her mother rents a cabin in the woods; when Harmony is cruelly murdered at home, it looks like the trip may be off, but Chloe and her friends choose vacation over mourning.

The cabin is, predictably, delightful, all wooden beams and hot tubs; later a game of truth or dare will end up with Jordi (Sean Giambrone), an odd chap with a couple of crushes and a sideline in dressing up, supposedly dead from an axe to the chest. But later his body disappears; as the party guests learn that they can’t trust each other and the red herrings pile up, it’s every self absorbed person for themselves.

Kyra Gardner’s first feature, after her 2022 documentary Living with Chucky, scores its biggest hit in not centring trans issues (although tensions are definitely there) but choosing instead to look at Chloe’s friendship circle; and a convincing group of mates they make too. As a comedy Slay doesn’t always hit the right notes; a humorous stoner (Ruby McCollister) grates rather than amuses, but some of the smaller roles, particularly Jimmi Simpson’s general store owner, are funnier. The movie messes with slasher cliches too, albeit with Scary Movie subtlety. 

The biggest issue of Slay is the overall tone. The transition from friendship comedy to slasher is well handled, but the subsequent plot twists are unconvincing and a little baffling. It may be aiming for Scream, but it fires off in too many directions, and the denouement (“If you lived through it, you better monetise it!”) underlines a cynicism which I didn’t really need.

The Latcher (Australia 2025: Dir James Hunter) When we first meet Alice (Lucy Lovegrove), a midwife by profession, she’s being let down lightly, being described as good at her job and committed to her patients, despite what she’s been through. “You just need time”, she’s told.

Alice is about as low as you can go. At some point after losing a baby in childbirth, her partner Jason also departs, presumably because of Alice’s inability to move on from the loss. But the hallmark of Hunter’s debut feature is that nothing is explained; all is filtered through Alice’s distracted mind, as she sits among unneeded baby clothes, which, boxed up, later hatch moths. Alice now lives remotely somewhere in Australia; no geographic pointers are given as to how isolated she is.

Jason’s sister, who’s pregnant, comes to check on Alice (a photograph shows that the pair were with child at the same time). She wants to help, clumsily offering to take away some of Jason’s things; it is assumed that his departure was unplanned.

Lost in her cycle of grief, Alice still wants to work, applying for a midwife job she is clearly in no position to take; she falls apart when the heavily pregnant interviewer asks whether Alice is a mother. She also goes on a date, which predictably does not end well. “I want a family,” she tells him on their first night.

While scrolling through the job links online, she reads an item about the ‘Mystery of the Midwife Witch’, a 19th Century American folk healer named Ada Landrake who moves to Australia, successfully prospects for gold and is subsequently hanged as a witch when babies start dying. Alice has felt a presence in the house with her and begins to imagine that she is being haunted by the witch; a way to try and find justification for the cruelty visited on her.

The Latcher is a dreamy - actually make that woozy - look at grief and its effect on those who suffer. Early scenes of Alice’s disassociation in her sparse, untidy home and her later obsession with its occupying force, reminded me of Polanski’s Repulsion; the movie remains a little formless, although affecting, and filtered to within an inch of its life. But Lovegrove is distractedly convincing and there are some effective touches; the horror is there but at arms length, or barely glimpsed, which works in its favour.

Our Effed Up World (Australia 2026: Dir Alice Maio Mackay) At a mere 22 years old Mackay has, in the last ten years, directed fifteen shorts, features and items for TV; maths fans will have worked out that her CV amounts to one or two projects a year.

Her films often feature great ensemble playing with a focus on gender issues, usually framed within a horror setup. And Our Effed Up World is no exception. Sheri (Shara Thompson) lives with the ongoing grief caused by the death by suicide of her cancer ridden grandmother Grace (Kerry Armstrong), a surrogate mother in that Sheri’s own mum was not around for her growing up. 

Sheri’s dad Hank (Scott Major) is a keen astronomer, moving the family out to a remote location to pursue his passion. He’s a practical sort, at one point explaining to his meteor fearing daughter that the green brightness she sees is only the effect of magnesium and nickel combining; but he’s also indecisive, not something his daughter needs.

Sheri’s own life is uneventful, balancing school and a dead end job, her only social connection being the local video shop. Well it’s sort of a shop, having been bequeathed to its young owner Finn (Jess MacLeod, also this year to be seen in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma) by an uncle, but it’s mainly a place for her, Sheri and her workmate Poppy (Annapurna Sriramheri). Sheri’s wise enough to know that her relationship with loser boyfriend Henry (Jordan Dulieu) is going nowhere, preferring the company of her female friends.

Into this amiable slacker setup, a meteor lands near home and disgorges an alien creature, which has the power to impersonate those whom it consumes; starting with Henry. Mackay uses the alien as just one more problematic bloke (it’s male in appearance) with whom she has to deal, and which ruins the quality time she wants with her besties.

The creature itself, which seems to have strayed in from a cheesy 1980s sci fic pic, fits in with the video shop environment in which the girls hang out. Sheri’s grandmother, whose life was spent in activism, recognises a similar fire in the eyes of her granddaughter and, sure enough, it’s that resourcefulness which comes in useful; although not without sacrifice.

Others have commented that the ‘fantastic’ elements introduced into Mackay’s films feel forced, but I’d disagree; Our Effed Up World, from its great title onwards, sees everything, terrestrial or otherwise, as a massive pain in the arse, just something else for the characters to overcome in their aimless lives.

Dead Eyes (Australia 2026: Dir Richard Williams) After the mixed reviews of Richard Williams’s 2023 suicide pact drama White Blood, the Australian director returns with that most divisive of vehicles, the POV feature; not ‘found footage’ but a whole movie filmed from the perspective of the lead character.

The POV subject in this case is Sean (Rijen Laine) who, when we first meet him – ok we never actually meet him but you know what I mean – is recovering from some kind of fainting spell while out in the woods. With him are his trainee nurse fiancée Grace (Ana Thu Nguyen), annoying friend Eric (Charles Cottier) and Eric’s med student girlfriend Kate (Alea O’Shea). The reason for the camping trip, in part, is for Sean to track down his missing geneticist father Paul (Stephen Phillips) but also to drink and have a lot of sex with Kate. Practical Grace, who one assumes is saving herself for marriage, disapproves of all this; she is a fixer by profession and inclination, unafraid to face challenges and obstacles. And as the movie progresses, this will be useful.

For Sean is a chap with stuff going on. Still recovering from the death of his younger sister Lily (Mischa Heywood), he’s prone to blackouts and vivid dreams in which he sees sis in various dead and deformed states. It becomes more and more difficult for Sean – and therefore the audience – to work out what’s real and what’s nightmare in his visual world. Eric’s offer of weapons grade shrooms, ostensibly to try and lift his friend’s demeanour, only makes things worse. But the discovery of an isolated cabin, potentially the location of Sean’s father’s experiments, is the cue for some serious next level WTFery.

William’s film is ambitious – not just because of the POV aspect but also the small cast (for the most part it’s a three hander) – and increasingly abstract. It’s a movie to experience rather than understand, although its themes of cloning and illicit experimentation have been done many times, but some of the photographic effects are genuinely trippy, there’s some surprising gore and a couple of jump scares I didn’t see coming.

Ponderosa (USA 2026: Dir Rob Rice) There’s something rotten in the state of America – well certainly in Illinois, the state in which Ponderosa is located. The name reaches back into history but, for the purposes of Rob Rice’s satirical movie, is one given to a chain of family buffet restaurants. 

Young Zeke (Jack Dylan Grazer) lives with his often ill mother Sandra (Alexis Bledel), who works at the restaurant and has raised her son alone; it’s a fact that hasn’t escaped the rather creepy attention of George (Bill Camp), a Ponderosa regular. Although Sandra and Zeke’s blue collar existence doesn’t allow for many frills – and mum is often exhausted at the end of her shift – the pair get along ok. That is until they receive news that the restaurant is to close. George sees an opportunity to inveigle himself into their lives, offering Zeke employment (which he can scarce afford to refuse) and generally playing the missing dad role. But George’s motivations aren’t entirely philanthropic; there are players behind the scenes (and in plain sight) looking to influence events, while Zeke benignly leads himself into George’s world.

On the plus side, Ponderosa’s biggest success is its sustained atmosphere of polite malaise. Filmed in a clean static style that emphasises vast skies and isolated housing estates, the Illinois of the film is as soulless as the inhabitants in front of us. These days most films made in the US are examined for ‘Trumpian’ elements, and the role of (Republican) men in 21st Century is clearly under the microscope here; and Rice clearly feels his country wanting, judging by the movie’s confusing end coda.

Unfortunately the atmosphere is compromised by a too slight script and a 45 minute idea stretched just that bit too long. It’s all pleasantly wonky – and occasionally sinister and plain weird – but there’s not enough to get hold of to sustain interest, despite a standout performance by Camp which ups the cringe to almost unbearable levels.

Faces of Death (USA 2026: Dir Daniel Goldhaber) “The algorithm loves remakes”, states the Faces of Death obsessed killer in this not-quite-a-do-over of the infamous mondo shockumentary. 

Margot (Barbie Ferreira) is a content moderator for online company Kino; her job is to watch reported online videos and decide whether they should stay up on the platform. Ironically anything advocating drug use is immediately taken down, whereas decisions on violent content tend to be based on what encourages clicks: “DIY horror is trafficking”, concludes Josh (Jermaine Fowler), Margot’s boss.

Clicking on through a seemingly endless clip collection of suicides, animal abuse and all round prankery, Margot comes across a video of what looks like someone being beheaded. Another moderating session throws up a guy being electrocuted and another scalped. Querying the veracity of the clips, Margot breaks a house rule and shares them with an online community full of experts on this kind of thing, the general response being that they seem ‘real’ and maybe copycat versions of scenes which occurred in the original Faces of Death movie. Courtesy of her 70s/80s obsessed apartment mate Arthur (Dacre Montgomery) Margot accesses a tape of FoD and confirms the similarity; someone is out there killing people in the style of the mondo movie’s on screen deaths, but before she knows it, Margot gets added to the killer’s list.

The overall self-reflexiveness of Goldhaber’s movie can seem a little dizzying, but if you are going to mount a remake of one of the most notorious documentaries ever, which wound up on the UK’s ‘video nasty’ list back in the early 1980s, then it’s really only possible to do it this way ie as a self referential story rather than a straight remake; I mean we have computer world for that, right?

The movie’s metaness extends to Margot’s own back story; her sister was killed in the pair’s self-filmed train dodging video which went fatally wrong and was subsequently shared virally, leading to survivor Margot gaining a reputation as ‘train girl’. Her choice of job as moderator, in part to deal with the aftermath of the whole thing, brings to mind Niamh Algar as Enid in 2021’s Censor. But where Enid operated in the pre internet age, similarly the notoriety of the original Faces of Death has effectively been supplanted by the proliferation of similar content on the world wide web.

Goldhaber’s movie is arguably less interesting in the second half, which becomes an admittedly tense cat and mouse game between killer (who models himself on Tom Noonan’s Dollarhyde from 1986’s Manhunter) and victim, but this is overall a cleverly constructed thriller which tidily summarises the much repeated quote about the old immorality becoming the new morality. 

The Fright Stuff (USA 2026: Dir Mike Meyer) Meyer’s fabulous high speed look at the US ‘haunt’ phenomenon may suggest that this is a uniquely American phenomenon, so it’s good to see the documentary acknowledging that the first such attraction, all the way back in 1915, was based in Hampshire, England!

The Fright Stuff charts the development of the haunt from the original ‘dark rides’ (often utilising and re-purposing abandoned mines which already had supplies of passenger cars) to the rise of home haunts and eventually professional haunted houses, an industry that remains incredibly popular but economically precarious, and which was at one point co-opted by the charitable sector and even Christian organisations!

Eschewing the oft-held belief that the people who run these things are just, as one interviewee comments, “carnies that make money” the documentary is keen to emphasise the often family run nature of haunt outfits and the camaraderie enjoyed by those working in them. Such attractions are now an almost year-round business, employing scores of people now relishing the ability to let their freak flag fly in a country now more accepting of geekdom.

The Fright Stuff also focuses on the ‘haunt’ industry, complete with ‘haunted house’ trade shows and the need for installations to constantly up the ante to attract crowds who may, because of social media, be more cynical about being scared. 

Although home haunts are still a thing in the US (a subject covered in a very good 2012 documentary The American Scream) it’s clear that the big attractions are where it’s at, and Meyer’s film is an excellent homage to the crazy people who often invest all of their savings to realise childhood dreams, while roping in their entire families – willingly or otherwise – to make it happen.

Ghostkeeper (Canada 1981: Dir Jim Makichuk) Writer/director Makichuk’s debut - and only -theatrical feature was the second time a Canadian movie had utilised the ‘wendigo’, the first being an obscure 1978 flick by Rodger Darbonne called, appropriately, The Wendigo. In legend the creature is depicted as a malevolent, cannibalistic spirit; Ghostkeeper introduces the beast as “a ghost who lives on human flesh”. 

It’s New Year’s eve in the Canadian Rockies (Makichuk’s movie is impressively filmed in and around Lake Louise); the snow is abundant and three partygoers equip themselves with a couple of snowmobiles and head out from their friends at the lodge for a bit of sightseeing.

Geological engineer Marty (Murray Ord), his girlfriend Jenny (Riva Spier) and their friend Chrissy (Sherri McFadden) are the partygoers in question; Jenny and Marty’s relationship appears to be in trouble, possibly because Jenny harbours fears that she may have inherited her mother’s insanity, while Marty seems unusually attentive to the flirtatious Chrissy, who will later regale her friends with a prostitution fantasy. The trio predictably end up lost in a blizzard after ignoring a ‘Private Property – Keep Out’ sign and, due to an accident, find themselves down a snowmobile, when they happen across a possibly abandoned facility, the Deer Lodge motel (which still exists, now much expanded) in which they seek shelter.

Inside they find an older woman, referred to in the credits as ‘Ghostkeeper’ (Georgie Collins) who agrees to put them up for the night; the hotel is largely closed because of a lack of business and they are the only guests. Later, while taking a bath, Chrissy is abducted and murdered by the Ghostkeeper’s son (Billy Grove) and fed to a misshapen beast, the aforementioned wendigo (John MacMillan). Jenny and Marty work out that their lives are in danger, a position not helped by Jenny’s fears about her unstable mental health becoming true.

Not a lot happens in Ghostkeeper. Made in a golden period of independent horror filmmaking where, because of low budgets, movies were usually about atmosphere and mild grotesquerie rather than thrills and fast pacing, the authentically intense winter weather does a lot of the heavy lifting here, coupled with the creepy confines of the motel. A decidedly odd conclusion, creepy old Georgie Collins running around (and the aforementioned white stuff) have drawn comparisons between this and the previous year’s The Shining, although Ghostkeeper at least authentically locates its action in the Rockies rather than Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire.

Babystar (Germany 2025: Dir Joscha Bongard)

"Can't we just be normal for one day?" asks 16 year old Luca (Maja Bons) of her parents, Stella (Bea Brocks) and Chris (Liliom Lewald). While it may be getting pretty hard to work out exactly what is 'normal' these days, Luca and her family's life is definitely not.

For Stella, Chris and their daughter lead an 'always on' life, live streaming to social media platforms each and every aspect of their existence via their 'Our Bright Life' channel. From Luca's filmed birth and podcasted discussions with her mother (including one excruciating clip where Stella explains periods to her daughter in front of a huge online audience), the brand sponsored family monetise at every opportunity, unashamedly pimping Luca's youth for likes; Chris is on a life mission to look good for the cameras, and their home, an immaculate sterile environment, is custom built for all camera access. "We're being paid for just being ourselves", explains Luca. But who exactly are their real selves?

As we meet the family they are introduced to a group of very young fans who have been bussed out to their country retreat, just a small handful of their 4 plus million subscribers. The childrens' questions alarmingly focus on Luca's body, age and partner status, and it's clear from the start to team handler Julie (Joy Ewulu) that the object of their attention is not entirely happy.

Nevertheless, as Stella and Chris remind her, without their online influencing lives the family would have nothing; they are, clearly, comfortably rich. But even while Luca is seemingly locked into this lifestyle - "your Mercedes Benz doesn't pay for itself" says dad about his daughter's luxury car - it doesn't stop her wanting to achieve her own agency via branded videos. At other times she seems hopelessly infantilised, occasionally still sleeping in her parents' bed after having nightmares.

But Stella and Chris want another child, information which disturbs Luca; whether this is natural sibling anxiety or concern over lost business opportunities is initially difficult to tell, but for whatever reason the news (broken to her in a streamed restaurant scene where Luca is given a cake with the words 'only child' struck through) forces her to leave her family and set up shop in a hotel, a disastrous form of independent living which just makes her even unhappier, as she watches - online, natch - her parents prepare for the birth of their second child.

Billed as a satirical comedy, Bongard's beautifully mounted, glacially observed film is just too prescient to promote laughter; this reviewer watched in quiet dread as Luca's parents, clearly aware of their daughter's antipathy to the new arrival, constantly sought to film her reactions. As the centre of this film Maja Bons is excellent, her character oscillating between child and woman, needy but confident, pulled in different ways by her frankly awful parents and Julie, initially a friend but later just one more manipulator. 

I have a feeling - or make that a fear - that the 'futureshock' aspect of Babystar's setup may soon become a reality, in the same way that Spike Jonze's 2013 movie Her anticipated the arrival of Alexa by less than a year. While I'm pleased that the director gave us a slightly redemptive ending, it's the cold hard reality of commerce and technology that you'll remember here.