Finally we have reached the episode named after the novel from which the TV show Murderbot is adapted, although it’s only the penultimate one. The ways in which the differing plot strands twist together is incredibly impressive, not least in the amount of damage Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård) suffers: the face …
It feels like every movie I’ve seen at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival turns into an instant favorite, from A Grand Mockery, a hypnotic Super 8mm avant-garde trip from Sam Dixon and Adam C. Briggs, to Anything That Moves, an inventively transgressive Giallo/Bomba picture courtesy of Alex Phillips. Every …
Brothers Chris and Paul Weitz are maintaining the breakneck pacing of this show with what seems like the greatest of ease. As the mysterious enemy finally becomes clearer, there is at least enough respite to allow Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski) to operate on Gurathin (David Dastmalchian), and for the throuple subplot …
There’s something curious – and even a bit uncomfortable – about seeing one of the names responsible for creating some of the most iconic Cartoon Network series – and, consequently, a big part of my childhood – heading down such an… adult path. Fixed, written by Genndy Tartakovsky (Hotel Transylvania) …
Over the last few years, my relationship with Ari Aster’s filmography could best be described as a rollercoaster ride. Hereditary is one of the defining works of modern horror and among my favorite films of the century. In 2019, Midsommar captivated me with its fusion of visual beauty and psychological …
Another action-packed episode, and packed with more than one kind of action, if you know what I mean. It’s Arada the biologist (Tattiawna Jones) who realises quicker than the others what the two creatures are doing on top of the hopper, which has glass panels in its roof. Murderbot (Alexander …
Some filmmakers only need their very first feature film to leave an indelible mark. For Zach Cregger, it was his second movie that achieved just that: Barbarian, one of the most refreshing and unpredictable surprises in recent horror cinema. Cregger showed willingness to take creative risks, even if it meant …
I am the oldest of three sisters, so movies about sisters always catch my eye. Sibling relationships are always fascinating because these are people with whom you share a history, but may not have a lot in common beyond that. In her directorial debut, My Mother’s Wedding (originally titled North Star), Kristin Scott …
In a year full of forgettable productions and releases that fly under the radar, The Pickup arrives as just another film filling a slot on the calendar. With virtually nonexistent marketing and extremely low expectations – especially considering the names involved – this heist flick, written by Kevin Burrows & …
Jenna Ortega’s psychic teen detective returns for the first part of Wednesday’s second season. Splitting the part into two seasons will likely leave fans wanting more than just four episodes. Although our time with Wednesday Addams is fleeting, we still get time for macabre balls, gory mysteries that need resolving, …
This mid-series run of Murderbot is some of the tightest episodes of television in a while. This episode also contains a great deal of humour, backrubs, some awfully graphic surgery, and then some even more graphic violence. The tonal shifts flow more naturally than that description sounds, which is especially …
Dui Shaw, courtesy of Bangladeshi writer-director Nuhash Humayun – who made history as the first filmmaker from Bangladesh to cop an Oscar nomination for the post-apocalyptic short film Moshari (2022), executive produced by horror master Jordan Peele and Sound of Metal star Riz Ahmed – locates grimy, cyclic folklores in …
Every Heavy Thing, the latest feature from prolific indie auteur Mickey Reece which just had its world premiere at Fantasia 2025, is a pulsing technothriller propelled by daring Lynchian experimentations. Essentially, it feels like a standalone Black Mirror episode reckoning with the threat of Big Tech in American suburbs. Mounted …
Touch Me is the sophomore effort by Addison Heimann. The director premiered with Hypochondriac, a 2022 release. His new film is another addition to the tendency of contemporary horror films to use genre conventions to tackle trauma and abuse. In his latest film, Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) is a traumatized …
My kids never experienced a school shooting, but one year, there was a credible threat of a weapon at their high school. My youngest caught wind of the danger and left before the school went on lockdown, walking a couple of miles home because they had no intention of dying …
Japanese director Takashi Miike is one of the most prolific directors alive. In 2025, he released three films: Shin Abarenbo Shogun, Sham, and Blazing Fists. He is known for his signature in his work, which usually merges genres. In Blazing Fists, Miike crafts a martial arts film that combines fighting, …
Brock Bodell’s feature directorial debut, Hellcat, which made its world premiere at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival, is a chamber survival horror-thriller that manages to be effectively tense and visceral despite a premise that we’ve come across a few too many times before. Produced and shot entirely in Nashville, …
$POSITIONS is the debut feature by Brandon Daley, after his three short films: Savasana (2015), Chicken Tuesdays (2017), and Technology Lake: Meditations on Death and Sex (2019). In his first feature directorial effort, the director explores the world of cryptocurrencies and the allure of making easy money online. He sets …
The American indie director Albert Birney has had a prolific career in the last few years. He is releasing his sixth feature film, OBEX. Birney released before Strawberry Mansion, Tux and Fanny, Sylvio, Eyeballs in the Darkness, and The Beast Pageant. The director uses the 1980s setting to tell his …
A horror-comedy that perfectly evokes the schlocky charm and madness of B-movies has been a rare sight since the last decade, save of course for Shin’ichirō Ueda’s 2017 low-budget film-within-a-film comedy, One Cut of the Dead, the last ingenious and delightfully funny effort I could name and recommend. Something you …