REVIEW: Late Night with the Devil

A year on from its debut at the South by Southwest Film Festival, with accolades including a rapturous review from horror maestro Stephen King, Late Night with the Devil finally arrives on the public stage.

A found-footage-style horror film with a twist, Late Night with the Devil presents itself as a recently rediscovered episode of a fictional second-tier talk show from the 1970s.…

REVIEW: Skinamarink

We’re immersed in wormy, swimmy static; an impenetrable, buzzy, blue-brown alphabet soup of meaningless hieroglyphics. It obscures the depths of already-darkened rooms, masking spaces where monsters might hide.

An experimental horror rom first-time director Kyle Edward Ball, Skinamarink is a film of perception, or imperception.…

PODCAST: Scream (2022) [Movie Robcast]

Time for another episode of meta-movie, and in episode 138 after all these years we go back to where it all started, back to Woodsboro.

Yep, the latest instalment of Scream leans into Hollywood’s current passion for self-reflexive “requels.”

Which is fitting for a movie that made meta mainstream back in 1996.…

REVIEW: Halloween Kills

The only thing shocking in Halloween Kills is that it came from same creative team behind Halloween (2018).

It’s Halloween night, 2018, and Laurie Strode’s home is ablaze. She (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter Alison (Andi Matichak) are blooded and traumatised, but alive.…

PODCAST: FrightFest 2021 [Movie RobCast]

Episode 124 of The Movie Robcast delves deep into the dark heart of FrightFest 2021.

The UK’s biggest horror film festival was back in the cinema this August Bank Holiday weekend, with a gorenucopia of sinister cinematic treats to entertain fans.…

PODCAST: The Silence of the Lambs & Manhunter [Movie RobCast]

SPOILER WARNING: This episode contains numerous spoilers about The Silence of the Lambs and Manhunter. It also references strong language featured in The Silence of the Lambs’ dialogue.

Episode 115 of The Movie Robcast conducts a full investigation into two classic movies, both of which celebrate anniversaries this year.…

REVIEW: Willy’s Wonderland

For most actors, the switch to straight-to-VOD still feels like a step down. Even now, there’s something about the big screen that seems to promise a sort of immortality not guaranteed by the vagaries of streaming service algorithms.

Not so with Nicolas Cage, for whom acting seems to be an endearing mix of day-job professionalism and performative insanity.…

RETROSPECTIVE: Link

Did you ever watch that episode of Malcolm in the Middle with the monkey butler and think, “This, but a feature version with General Zod as an anthropology professor and a young Elisabeth Shue”?

If so, I firstly applaud the specificity of your tastes and, secondly, boy, have I got some news for you.…

REVIEW: Synchronic

With Lovecraftian time-trap horror The Endless, filmmakers Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson proved their ability to craft ambitious sci-fi on a limited budget.

Synchronic tells in some ways a more of a conventional narrative, but one that plays into many of the same themes of regret and feeling trapped.…

REVIEW: Host

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, but it’s some relation to the tried-and-tested, too.

With most of the global population on lockdown for some portion of the last six months, we’ve all got used to seeing our friends virtually.…