Jimmy and Stiggs (USA 2025: Dir Joe Begos)

Joe Begos's world turned dayglow around 2019 when, following his first two rather sedate features (Almost Human and The Mind's Eye from 2013 and 2015 respectively), he leapt onto the stage at London's FrightFest with a battle cry to "watch this movie, motherfuckers!" and gave the world the vampire/art movie Bliss. Awash with bright colours, neon drenching and a lot of grunge, Begos set the tone for his movies to come. VFW, from the same year, was a more sedate but equally colour rich tale of veterans under siege in a bar; and the bright blues and greens lighting up his seasonal robo Santa movie Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022) were entirely in keeping with that movie's general er, excess.

Dayglow is present and correct in Jimmy and Stiggs, but sadly it's the only thing going for it. Like most of the director's films, the premise is brief. Jimmy (Begos, who also had a part in his last movie) is an unpleasant, unhinged film director whose latest project has fallen through (I'm guessing nobody wanted to work with him) and decides to snort and drink everything in sight to compensate for the bad news, ignoring his prospective date in the process. The result is a blackout, where 12 hours of his life go missing - but not entirely. His morning after recollections suggest that there may have been an attempt at alien abduction (and at this early point the audience are probably thinking that they're welcome to him).

Jimmy, who lives in an apartment littered with half empty bottles (I'm guessing he would never see them as half full), pills and powders, invites his friend and sometime filmmaking partner Stiggs (Matt Mercer, go to indieweird actor) round to help him figure what the hell's going on. On the TV Jimmy's hoovering up programmes about alien probes, but in case people are jumping to conclude that it's all in the guy's head, there are visiting aliens; and Jimmy and Stiggs must go to war with them.

The hyperbolic dialogue between the wretched pair is matched by attention deficit editing and a colour scheme which outdoes all his other movies; the best comparator here would be the insufferable characters in Ryan Kruger's 2020 movie Fried Barry crossed with the dayglow VHS nightmares created by Cassandra Sechler and Craig Jacobson. The practical FX, which look like they might be impressive, are lost in the oversaturated look, and there's only so long you want to spend in company of a couple of bums, one of whom has a death wish booze and drugs habit. Sure it's anarchic, over the top and relentlessly gloopy, but so's a custard pie fight, and I stopped finding them good value a long time ago. 

Jimmy and Stiggs is available on UK and Ireland digital platforms from 16 February 2026  

Missing Child Videotape (Japan 2024: Dir Ryota Kondo)

Keita Kodama (Sugita Rairu) divides his time between working in a grocery shop, sharing his small flat with psychically gifted room mate Tsukasa Amano (Hirai Amon) and devoting time to assisting in the location of missing persons. When we first meet Keita he's managed to track down a young boy, previously presumed vanished. "Big brother," whispers the rescued child, enigmatically.

The motives for the young man's extra curricular duties are disclosed via a journalist, Mikoto Kuzumi (Kokoro Morita), seeking an interview with Keita via Tsukasa; she enlightens him that thirteen years previously Keita's young brother Hinata had gone missing while the pair were exploring the same area. Keita's guilt over the still absent sibling is not helped by his mother sending him various possessions of his late father, including a video tape, shot by Keita at the point where Hinata disappeared, showing a mysterious and possibly haunted building which had subsequently also vanished.

Kuzumi, who is supposedly writing a positive piece about Keita and the recovered boy, digs deeper and, in classic J-horror fashion, discovers that the area in which the disappearances took place - Mt. Mashiro - has a history of similar incidents. The journalist, Keita and Tsukasa realise that if they are to discover the truth they must journey to the mountain and face their fears.

This is director Kondo Ryota's first feature, developed from a short film of the same name. Ryota's overall production steer comes via Takashi Shimizu, a name that should mean far more to fans of fantastic film than it may do; much of Shimizu's work as a director, outside of his Ju-On: the Grudge movies and 2004's excellent Marebito has failed to achieve a UK theatrical or even physical release.

In summary MCV could be seen as a 'greatest hits' of J-Horror; 'haunted' videotape; isolated rural location; spooky if unresolved narrative. But Kondo takes those elements and inserts them in a film less 'slow' than 'stop' burn; almost score-less, most of the film's scenes progress in near silence, a mood of gloom and despair prevailing throughout. There is a climax of sorts but anyone seeking tidy resolution will be left wanting. If there's a criticism it's that the performances are a little too underplayed to truly take hold, and the film's themes aren't fully developed, but there's no doubting the director's ability to create a mood of ratcheted up creepiness.

Missing Child Videotape plays as part of the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026 which takes place in cinemas around the UK from 6 February to 31 March 2026. You can watch the trailer here.

NEW WAVE OF THE BRITISH FANTASTIC FILM 2022 #7: Reviews of Writers' Retreat (UK 2022), Ghost Crew (UK 2022), The Mothman Tapes (UK 2022), When the Earth Gives Up the Dead (UK 2022), Tales of the Creeping Death (UK 2022) and York Witches Society (UK 2022)

Writers' Retreat (UK 2022: Dir Mishaal Memon) This 30 minute short film, produced via the University of Westminster Film School, truly earns its 'esoteric' category.

Under the tutelage of Mrs Winters (Bernadette Moran) two maids, Nancy (Rosie Gray) and Flora (Lizzie Back) are, as the title suggests, employees in a writers' retreat; but one with a difference. Those on it are required to go back in time, almost literally, dressing in period costume and immersing themselves in the classics ('Take a step back in time and learn to write like the Greats' suggests one of the guides). The writer providing the intellectual stimulus in one J.T. Redford.

As we join the party in a suitably aged setting (Bore Place House in Kent, actually used as a retreat) a third maid, Jemima, is dead. Although Mrs Winters encourages the others to rise above the incident, Nancy feels that something odd is going on, and that the spirit of the dead writer may be exerting his influence over them. After Nancy discovers notebooks containing (incorrect) psychological observations about the employees, she is determined to leave, taking Flora with her. But leaving isn't so easy.

Within its short running time, Memon's three hander film immerses the viewer in its period setting, such that the sight of a packet of cigarettes or a contemporary vehicle are the piece's biggest shocks. As suggested by including this in the 'esoteric' category nothing is explained; indeed the film seems to submerge itself in layers of artifice. Which is all the better; here's one short film I wouldn't want extended into a feature.

You can watch Writers' Retreat here.

Ghost Crew (UK 2022: Dir Lawrie Brewster) A departure from Brewster's previous feature, 2022's fantasy pic Dragon Knight, Ghost Crew is a stripped back exercise reminiscent of a home counties homage to The X Files.

Tom Staunton steps from behind the camera for his first acting role as, er, Tom, shambling host of a paranormal show which shares its title with this movie (Staunton also wrote the piece and was originally scheduled to direct according to early online mentions of the project); Brewster plays camera person Michael. Content wise he's rather down on his luck; an early scene shows him tracking down a ghost monk, which turns out to be a gobby teen wearing a hoodie. To make matters worse Tom's US backer is threatening to pull the plug unless he comes up with something.

And that 'something' turns up in the shape of 16 year old Sandy (Brewster's muse Megan Tremethick), suffering from amnesia following her incarceration in nearby Stonehaven psychiatric hospital. Sensing that here, at last, might be the road to an authentic haunting, Tom and Michael use the girl to delve into the history of the hospital, constructing the story by piecing together witness reports; and the truth is stranger than either of them were expecting.

Despite its rather slight set up - a lot of wandering around in an abandoned and wrecked location standing in for the hospital - Ghost Crew is all about the script, peeling away the layers of narrative to uncover a story of murder and abuse, and watching Tom become increasingly unmoored as he amasses information. It's pretty slow stuff but it's well acted, and a decision to lose the comedy elements early on in the film is a wise one.

The Mothman Tapes (UK 2022: Dir Philip Mearns) This 'found footage' three - and occasionally four - hander finds us in the wilds of Kent; the real life Dering Woods in fact. The location is being visited by a trio of YouTubers, headed by the excitable, fame hungry Dan (Ryan Hill) and his more taciturn colleagues Kev (Chris Roughley) and Rob (Mearns). Based on a blurry picture that they've seen online they're on the hunt for the infamous 'Mothman' of legend, who seems to have forsaken its American homeland and taken up residence in 'the garden of England'. 

As they scout the area they encounter Paranormal Pete (Ben Shockley), an altogether more professional paranormal hunter who was responsible for the photograph that drew the trio to the area; Pete knows his moths.

Soon enough the three - now four - arrive at an electricity pylon, the site of the photograph, and it's not long before the Mothman - in broad daylight - makes its deadly presence felt.

While The Mothman Tapes very much does things by the FF book - lighthearted first section, darker second part, lots of running about towards the end - there is something quite endearing about the various members of the Mearns clan helping out behind the camera and the not too shabby FX work, courtesy of the 'Lunar Fantasy Arts' company (which, I would suggest, is yet another Mearns family member giving themselves airs and graces). The makers also take a leaf out of the 'Blair Witch Project' playbook and provide a rather arresting audio design. Cheap as chips this may be, but at 52 minutes it doesn't outstay its welcome and is far better than about 90% of its FF genre mates.

You can watch The Mothman Tapes here.

When the Earth Gives Up the Dead (UK 2022: Dir Matthew Cooper) Following from Markham (2020) and At the Mountains of Madness (2021) Cooper brings us the third in the HP Lovecraft themed Sekurig trilogy, and while both of those movies were reasonably straightforward, WtEGutD is another beast entirely.

As far as I can ascertain, a spy (Gary Geeson) is appointed to tail a Professor, Nathan Pickman (Ashe Russell), whose perambulations over a 3 plus day period, charted on a map, spell out 'Sekurig'.

When the Spook questions Pickman about recent events (basically the key moments from the previous two films) and the mysterious 'Bob' (which could be a person or a drug), he is also drugged and taken to the village of Dunwich, site of the last exorcism in England in 1947.

From here the film descends - and becomes significantly lighter in tone, almost comedic - into a fever dream which includes a zombie summoning priest (Tony Coughlan), Lovecraftian references galore, like a monstrous baby from the Whateley family, a Necronomibomb, and of course The Old Ones; Cooper also includes a kind of 'Apocalypse Now/Cthulhu' mashup.

None of this makes much sense but it doesn't matter - images are overlaid, the soundtrack comes thick and fast (good of Magazine, The Doors and Elmore James to have granted use of their material in the film), and honestly it's best if you go with it. It even has an uplifting ending (I think) featuring Leeds United football ground and a winning Lottery ticket.

You can watch this and all of Matthew Cooper's films on his YouTube channel here.

Tales of the Creeping Death (UK 2022: Dir John Williams) Since his 2015 feature debut The Slayers Stoke based Williams has built a small but loyal fanbase who eat up his micro budget fright flicks, which are full of inventiveness and humour; and TotCD is no exception.

In thrall to the anthology, or portmanteau films of yore (and actually the present, as the format has experienced a resurgence in recent years) TotCD's wraparound story has a hitman, codename 'Goose' (Michael Socha) employed to provide protection to an eccentric older guy 'Harold'; in exchange for staying with him until 3am - and keeping him alive - Goose will net £20K.

To keep the pair entertained Harold digs deep into his scrapbook of press clippings culled from the more salacious organs, his theory being that it's necessary to look behind the headlines to seek out the real stories. Keen to while away the hours until he collects the readies, Goose listens to four tales spun by Harold. In the first a trio of Halloween partygoers crash a posh gathering, looking conspicuous in their fright gear amongst the black tie guests, despite being welcomed by them. 'Zombie' Billy (Billy Cook) gets drunk, loses his friends and becomes the real - and deadly - focus of the toffs. The second and most obviously funny story has Kevin (Dean Ackerman) a body harvester who carries home the bodies of those who've taken their own life and, well, modifies them; the third tale revolves around three workers en route to an employer away weekend, who detour into some local caves thereby missing out on an alien invasion (with some nice nods to Close Encounters of the Third Kind); and the fourth story has bingo calling Shane (a great comic turn from Darren McAree) left to fend for himself after his mum and stepdad were both attacked and killed by a werewolf while on a camping trip, only to find that the lycanthrope that offed them may have infected him!

Like all great anthology films, don't worry if one of the stories isn't to your taste as there'll be another along in about twenty minutes. Luckily all four of William's segments have something to offer, and there's a wealth of local (and unashamedly working class) talent to bring his script to life. Added to this are some very clever-on-a-budget practical FX and the whole thing is directed with pace, humour and affection for the genre.

York Witches Society (UK 2022: Dir Liza Bolton) Bolton's second feature is a YA movie with a female-centred witchcraft theme, familiar from movies like 1996's The Craft (and its 2020 follow up) and the 2004 TV show Hex.

Amber (Georgia Lock) is the distant descendant of a 17th century witch, Heather Gray (Rachel Warren), burned at the stake by the witchfinder general Matthias Alastair (Finbar Lynch) and managing to curse everyone before she snuffs it. Socially awkward and keen to study, Amber is enrolled in a girl's college on the site of her relative's demise, where she rooms with her emotional opposite, keen as mustard Kirsten (Sydney Craven). Kirsten's enthusiasm to join every group available provides Amber's introduction to the 'York Witches Society', a group of influential cosplaying Wiccans.

Undergoing one of the Society's initiation ceremonies, Heather is dared to sound a bell in the grounds of the school and shout her name. This action disturbs the grave of the witchfinder; in demon form Alastair returns to stalk the last descendant of the Grays, sparing no one in his quest.

Or something. To be honest it's probably not a good idea to concentrate too much on the scant detail that makes up the barest thread of story here. YWS starts well; Lock and Craven are an appealing odd couple, and the Society itself has some intrigue. But as soon as the movie gets going it kind of grinds to a halt, unrescued by some very polite gore (a beheading and a disembowelment if you're interested) and the last reel appearance of the risen witchfinder. A shame really as the Norfolk locations are very atmospheric (until industrial amounts of smog masks pretty much everything) and the cast would probably be good, if only they were given something to do. Nice to see a stalwart of 1970s TV drama, Deborah Grant, still getting work as Amber's (briefly seen) mum, though.