Dark Film Review: Apocryphal

Review by Casey Douglass

The way that a message is delivered is crucial to whether we believe it or not. We live in a time when ideas and perspectives are rejected not on the basis of their worth, but on the basis of who said them or dared put them forward. Apocryphal is a new short horror film from Josh Armstrong, one that deals with issues of mental health, drug addiction and marginalisation, depicting what happens when they rub up against extraordinary circumstances and consensus reality.

Apocryphal centres around three friends living on the fringes of society whilst trying to score their next drug fix. The film shifts through time between Oliver (Michael Southgate) trying to convince two detectives about a strange event that he witnessed, and the viewer being shown how said events unfolded. Oliver tries to plot a course through his life, attempting to get a job and to find a way to pay the rent, but the spectre of his addiction looms large. Oliver sometimes sees things that aren’t there, and the only friends who understand him or make time for him seem to be the two people that will keep him mired in the life that he is living.

The “event” in Apocryphal, the thing that causes Oliver to end up being interviewed by the police, is portrayed very well. I won’t spoil it, but it’s creepy, sci-fi and believably filmed. I particularly appreciated the lighting effects. The element that I most enjoyed however, was the questions that the film insinuates in the viewer’s mind, especially with regards to what is real and what Oliver thinks is real. My favourite moment is when the realities seem to bleed into each other, with Oliver seemingly saved by something that I believe was only “real” to him, if that makes sense. I didn’t expect such a lovely blend of reality twisting, and it was a nice surprise.

Apocryphal deals with themes of suffering, addiction, escape and loss, in a way that I felt was layered and nuanced, which was a fantastic thing to see. The opening voice-over says that the thing we all have in common is that we suffer, and that is definitely true. When it comes to my own mental and physical health problems and my urge to escape, I’ve never tried illegal drugs, but I’ve never had access to them either, so who can say how my life might have turned out if I had. When the world turns its back on you, when all the places that you can go to for “help” say that they can’t do anything for you, or worse, mistreat or disbelieve you, I can totally understand why drugs as a way to cope or escape becomes so alluring. Yet even knowing this, I can honestly say that if I knew someone was on drugs, and they told me that they’d seen something similar to what Oliver witnesses, I’d more than likely not believe them either, which is a prickly thought, but one worth being aware of.

Apocryphal was the subject of a successful Kickstarter project, so it’s great to see how a project can go from tentative beginnings to emerging into the world. The film is now being submitted to the film festival circuit, so I can’t give any idea about when and where you can see it just yet. I will embed the trailer below however. Apocryphal is dedicated to the memory of a friend of the director who passed away due to drug addiction, with any profits that the director personally makes going to the mental health charity Mind UK.

***

Film Title: Apocryphal

Themes: Mental Health, Drugs, Addiction, Horror

Director: Josh Armstrong

Main Cast: Michael Southgate, Emily Tucker, Alex Arnold, Kaysha Woollery, Sam Terry.

Music: Reg Length

Distributor: Last Dog Films

Dark Horror Short Review: Last Orders

Review by Casey Douglass

I’ve never been in a pub or a bar when last orders have been called. It’s funny to me that I only realise this as I am drafting this review of a horror short called Last Orders. It’s barely seven in the morning and I already know myself a tiny bit better! Last Orders is set in a pub, and, well, I’m sure you can guess the timing of events too.

Chapter One: “The End” appears on screen. The camera lurks at an empty doorway. There is the flash and the bang of a gun going off. We don’t get to see what happened, just an empty kitchen. In the next chapter, a pub landlord is stacking upended chairs onto tables, eyeing the darkly-dressed stranger who is sitting quietly at the bar. We see a figure sitting outside in a car. The figure pulls out a gun. The landlord tells the man at the bar that it’s time to call it a night, and is then surprised when the stranger informs him that they’ve met before. As he does so, the music playing in the background scratches to a halt, and the landlord looks suddenly chilled to the bone. It turns out that he has a dark past, one that just might be catching up with him. At this point, the viewer has some information to begin their speculations about who is going to be shot, and who is going to do the shooting.

Last Orders reveals what actually happened by way of six chapters, each filling in a little more of the detail as to what is going on and who might be involved. It’s a fun way for the story to unfold, and it makes use of dream-like images and other flashbacks to fill in the more historical doings. For the most part though, it features some lovely prolonged and creepy scenes, where strange noises see the landlord wandering through the darkened pub, flash-light in hand, trying to find out if he is actually alone.

What the film does so well is to make great use of the location. Director Jon James Smith says that Last Orders was made during UK Covid lockdown, with hardly any money, but access to an old pub that couldn’t open due to the lockdown. Even though we only see it lit for a short time, while the two men chat at closing time, the bowels of the pub stand in stark contrast to the cosier upper floor. Downstairs is all bare walls, circuit boxes, pipes, beer kegs and harsh echoes. Then, when the landlord returns to the bar area once the lights are out, upstairs seems to have caught some of the menace of what lies below.

Of course, a stage is nothing without the actors who portray the story, and in this regard, Last Orders also delivers. The conversation between the landlord and the strange man at the bar felt like a meeting between two darknesses. One seems brawny and capable of violence, the other quiet and equally menacing. It felt like an important scene to get right, as so much of the short is set up by the questions it raises and the truths it hints at. The inflections in the quiet stranger’s voice as he says “But actually, we have met... Daniel,” followed by the look on Daniel’s face are probably my favourite moments in the film.

Another thing that stood out for me was the camera work. I enjoyed how it teased and toyed, and didn’t show all. There is one particular moment where it pulls away to one side and I was waiting to hear what happened. The silence stretches, and I realised that I had been tricked into predicting something that wasn’t actually going to happen. Last Orders is comfortable with silence and tension, two things it builds so adeptly. When there are sounds, they are suitably creepy: ominous drones, chants, squeaking floorboards and scraping metal. The sinister voice-over that narrates at certain moments is also well executed, as it not only sounds suitably threatening, but also provides hints as to the identity of the speaker over time.

Last Orders is 21 minutes of quiet, ominous British horror. It’s the sort of thing that seems to nestle lovingly into the darkest hours of the evening, when the mundane world is blanketed by night and the people that are still awake are left alone with their thoughts and fears. Last Orders is currently touring the film festivals so isn’t released as of yet. It picked up an Official Selection at the London Lift-Off Film Festival 2021 and I’d be surprised if that’s the last nod it gets. If you get the chance to watch it at a festival, or later when it is released, I’d say it’s well worth checking out.

I was given review access to the film.

Film Title: Last Orders

Starring: Alastair Parker (The Witcher 3, Mass Effect 3), Steven Elder (The King, Rillington Place), with Charles Edmond.

Written & Directed By: Jon James Smith

Score: Stewart Dugdale

Producer, DoP, Editor & VFX: Jon James Smith

Sound Design: Stewart Dugdale & Jon James Smith

Associate Producer: S. K. Bishop

SFX Supervisor: Eddy Popplewell

SFX Crew: Sophie Bramley

Sound Recordist: Matt Wilkinson

Dark Film Review: The Influencer

Review by Casey Douglass

Social media is the amplifier of our time. Whatever you bring to it, it boosts it and shoots it out to other people who think like you do, while its algorithms feed similar themes from others, back to you. Certain people become very well known, gaining a massive following that businesses with bundles of cash eye greedily as an untapped revenue stream. The Influencer is a dark comedy thriller that follows one such popular person as they grapple with their “brand”, the lucrative contract that comes their way, and the forces that want to use them as a pawn in their own machinations.

Abbie Rose (Kasia Szarek) is a fashion, makeup and lifestyle vlogger, trying to manage her business and her brand. Nutrocon, an exploitative cosmetic company that treats women badly, tests on animals and pollutes the environment, offers her a tasty contract, one which promises to ease her money worries. Abbie signs and a short time later finds herself suffering a home invasion by bickering masked activists. What then unfolds is a manipulative scheme, one with Abbie as the key component, the activists making use of her large following, her image and the power of technology, to try to pull off their aims.

As a thriller, The Influencer does present the viewer with a number of mysteries to ponder, and I felt that it did a decent job of answering these questions as the story ticked along. I did successfully guess what was happening a number of times, but there were certainly moments that I didn’t see coming. One of these happened almost at the ending, where the actions of one of the characters did cause me to reappraise my opinion about them, which was a pleasing and satisfying surprise.

When a film sees its characters make use of technology or the internet, how these actions are portrayed becomes very important if the viewer has any hope of following along. Thankfully, The Influencer does a really good job of mimicking and representing the social-media apps and websites integral to the story, a smooth, clear user-interface sitting comfortably over the live action beneath. Another aspect that I really enjoyed was Thomas Yount’s electronic, retro-feeling score. It felt like just the right kind of soundtrack, both warm and bouncy yet dark and ominous too.

There is humour in The Influencer, but I have to admit that most of it wasn’t really to my own taste. The element that I found most humorous were the jokes that poked fun at the frequent shallowness of social media, particularly the scenes where Abbie’s captives threatened to release her private, “badly lit” pictures to the world if she didn’t play ball. This sees Abbie crumple to the ground in tears, fearing for her image and her brand, something that Kasia Szarek plays wonderfully. There is also a scene early in the film, where a group of dead-eyed interns fail to be roused by Abbie’s enthusiasm, which did tickle me.

The Influencer is a quirky look at the dark side of how some influencers can behave when large financial enticements become a factor in their lives. Sure, it takes things to extremes, but how often do we see someone raving about the latest video-game, headphones or fashion accessory, and then never mention it again? One of the most poignant quotes from the film for me was “It’s crazy the kind of influence you have when no-one knows who you are!” I’d guess that extends to the influencer in question not knowing themselves properly either, which just goes to show how complicated us humans can be.

Look out for The Influencer from 14 September on streaming platforms including iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. It will also be available on DVD and through various cable and satellite TV services.

I was given access to a review copy of this film.

Film Title: The Influencer

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Thriller

Production Company: Daisy Eagle Films, Wizard Cats

Distributor: Breaking Glass Pictures

Written, directed and produced by: Meghan Weinstein

Releases: 14 September 2021

Starring: Kasia Szarek, Shantelle Yasmine Abeydeera, Thea Cantos, Mark Valeriano, Victoria D. Wells, Ian Jones.

Music: Thomas Yount

Dark Film Review: Goodnight, Halloween

Review by Kasey Douglass

Almost two years ago to the day, I posted about a newly released teaser for a horror film kalled Goodnight, Halloween. It was framed as a news report from a world in whikh Halloween kreatures are being persekuted by humans, their rights being torn to shreds and their lives free for anyone who wants to terminate them. Goodnight, Halloween is now komplete, and it was released, free to view, on YouTube at the end of Oktober.

The film plays out on 13^th September 1986. The viewer slowly approakhes a komputer with a kall waiting to be aksepted. Goodnight, Halloween is set in a world where the letter C doesn’t exist. As you kan see, I opted to adopt this idea for this review. Bet you thought I’d gone mad? I must say, it’s an awkward fit for some words, fine for others. Anyway, the film...We see the news reporting the extermination of various kreatures on skreen, and then we see the viewer, a strange plant kreature with big teeth. It is here that we begin to konnekt with the main plot driving tool in the film.

As tekhnology has permeated (infested?) our lives, it’s not unusual to see a narrative play out by way of elektronik messages and video kalls. Goodnight, Halloween uses this tool to great effekt, letting the viewer eavesdrop on earnest konversations between the various Halloween kreatures fighting for their lives. There is fear, suspikion and paranoia, and I must admit that the digital effekts on the video kalls really heightened my enjoyment of these elements. One kall in partikular was so washed out and low resolution that the way it amplified the features of the worried figure it kontained was genuinely very striking.

I won’t say a great amount about how the film klimaxes, but it’s a dark film and it has a dark ending, something that is just fine by me. It kept me guessing until the end, and Monzen Nakacho’s darkwave, retro soundtrakk simmers under the intrigue that plays out on skreen. Yes, I know there is a “c” in the name. There are limits to my meddling. The makeup and effekts all looked suitably sinister, with a kind of grain and murk that I fully approve of. The film is deskribed as a “stylish throwback to the creature films of the VHS 80s era” and I’d say it nails this aesthetik wonderfully.

Goodnight, Halloween was 14 years in the making, and I have to say, I’m pleased to see it and that I found a lot to enjoy in it. I love how it plants the supernatural or otherworldly into a squalid little human reality, and how those things rub up against the other, korrupting and warping the kharakters. When I first saw the news report teaser two years ago, I wouldn’t have expekted it to lead to a film of tense konversation and hastily-made plans falling apart. I’d have bet on a more aktion-based short. I’d have lost some money on that one. The film was better for not being that kind of film, in my opinion. The fakt that it has released during a year of lokk-downs, isolation and bizarre politikal happenings, also makes it seem a fitting time for it to be unleashed. Head over to YouTube now and give it a view and a like.

Film Title: Goodnight, Halloween

Released by: Faster Productions

Length: 13 minutes

Genre: Horror/Fantasy

Written and Directed by: Luther Bhogal-Jones

Starring: Jean-Daniel Byrne, Natasha Lamper, Christopher Dingle, Stewart Barham, Sunita Shroff, Scott Hanley, Rocco Solato, Jim Faulkner, Mike Stoke, Minda Bhogal-Jones. Terence Drew, Alistair Lock.

Soundtrack: Monzen Nakacho

Released: 29 October 2020.

HORROR NEWS: Wicked Witches Are Coming This August

We live in a time where more and more people are going vegetarian or vegan, but the titular characters in Wicked Witches not only fancy a bit of man-flesh but also the soul it houses inside. That's just greedy if you think about it.

The story follows a man ejected from his house for shagging around. He goes back to the farm of his youth, but all is not well there. For one thing, there is the small matter of his friend being possessed by said group of witches. Thus starts the plot to feast on the unsuspecting playboy.

Watching the trailer brought me to thinking that I haven't seen a decent witch film for a long, long time. There's that other shaky-cam found-footage film that I'm sure you've heard of, but I was pretty underwhelmed by that and its more slick sequel. Wicked Witches looks 'proper bleak and gory' in my opinion, and the whole set-up of the possessed friend working for them adds a bit of extra spice to things.

Wicked Witches will be in select theatres and also available on DVD and VOD from August 9th. It comes from The Pickering Brothers by way of Midnight Releasing, and stars Duncan Casey, Justin Marosa, Samantha Schnitzler, Jasmine Clark and Laura Coleman. Visit the official Wicked Witches website, and checkout the trailer below:

Dark Film Review: Bird Box

Dark Film Review: Bird Box

Review by Casey Douglass

I heard about Bird Box in an almost incidental way. I saw a few pictures of Sandra Bullock’s Malorie with her blindfold on, and had a friend recommend it to me as a bit like A Quiet Place, but with blindfolds instead of sign language. I managed to miss the apparent hype that has taken place since its release, but having seen it today, I’m glad I took the time to give it a look.

Strange entities are causing breakouts of mass suicide around the world, and these creatures or beings only seem to trigger this impulse when looked upon by humans. Bird Box follows Malorie and her two young children as they try to get to sanctuary, while also filling in the backstory of what happened by way of jumping forward and back in the timeline. The “current” time-frame is their dangerous blindfolded boat journey along a river. The older time-frame shows the day the outbreak reached Malorie’s city, and the path her survival takes as civilisation grinds to a halt around her. Both have their own challenges.

Bird Box is mostly a siege-type horror, the survivors having to barricade themselves into their houses, blocking windows with newspaper and keeping the doors locked The necessity of venturing out at different times does add a bit of variety to things, even if it’s just a case of exchanging one secure location for another. The “not being able to look” aspect is done very well, the entities being alluded to by shadow, movement and sound, as well as various interactions in the environment, from technology to bird song. It’s interesting to watch the various ways in which the characters try to use what is at hand to work around this peril, and like any decent tale, not everything works out in the way that they hope it might.

Bird Box seems to be a film very much about connection, or the lack of it. In the early flashback scenes, Malorie is painting a picture of lonely people and talks about not having to leave the house. There is also an eerie hospital corridor populated by people wholly engrossed in their phones. Yet once the mass suiciding begins and people find themselves thrust together, there is almost too much connection, especially as it becomes apparent that you have to be wary of who you open the door to. John Malkovich’s Douglas is a good example of someone who straddles this line, but in many ways, trusting an honest arsehole might just be better than putting your faith in a friendly stranger. There is also the literal connection between the blindfolded people holding hands and trying to get to where they want to go, which happens on more than one occasion.

Bird Box is a creepy, rather than scary film, one that taps into the fear of the unknown and unseen, rather than falling into the common trap of showing too much of the threat. The suicides are both varied and realistic, but none felt overly gory or gratuitous, which is a nice surprise. I’m certainly a fan of gore, but when it’s kept on the down low, I can respect that too. The central “not being allowed to look” idea certainly contributed an extra dimension to the tension on screen, especially when people become separated, and the simple act of others looking for them becomes an almost impossible task. There’s that connection theme again.

I enjoyed Bird Box, the two or so hour run time didn’t feel like a drag, and that’s a rare thing for me when watching a film, so it must have had something about it. If you have Netflix and this pops up on your suggestion list, give it a watch.

P.S. I’d love to see a cross-over film where the entities of Bird Box team up with the creatures of A Quiet Place. They would each seem to cover the other’s weaknesses and between them, might actually achieve wiping out humanity, rather than falling prey to stubborn upstarts who don't know when they are licked. A Quiet Box. I like the sound of that.

Film Title: Bird Box

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich.

Director: Susanne Bier

Genre: Horror, Post-apocalyptic

Rating: 15
Released: Dec 2018 on Netflix

Horror Film News: Inhumane

Horror Film News: Inhumane

Although I'm a placid person, I do have a part that likes to see justice served, and when it comes to films, if that's in a particularly bloody way, so much the better. Inhumane sounds like it will be just that kind of film, and one that will see the main female character become empowered along the way.

Lisa (Lindsay Jane) works in a bookstore in Missouri, but is attacked there one day by the town sheriff's son. Reporting the crime results in another assault, leaving her to die alone in the woods. She is bitten by a werewolf, and as she gains superhuman abilities, she takes revenge on her attackers, and dances a fine line between her humanity and her new bestial nature.

"Our film is first and foremost an examination of the psychological issues inherent with losing one’s humanity. It is NOT meant to exploitative in any way. I love grindhouse and exploitation cinema with a passion, and I thought about making our film grindhouse, but I ultimately I decided that wasn’t the right tone to strike. Make no mistake about it, our heroine is a BADASS, and this is a FEMINIST film!" - Eric Winkler - Writer

I can't really think of the last time I saw a good werewolf film. It's been awhile. Inhumane sounds like it will be a film to enjoy on a number of levels, from the animal-unleashed aspects, to the ways it treats the main character's trials and tribulations as she adapts to life as a predator, rather than a victim. According to a tweet from the film's official Twitter feed, filming of the full feature-length film will hopefully begin in July 2019. There is a pre-production teaser trailer available to wet the appetite though:

Visit the Inhumane official website here.

Dark Film Review: Nerve

Dark Film Review: Nerve

Review by Casey Douglass

Nerve is one of those films that has been sitting on my Freeview recorder for a little while now. It sounded interesting, but I was just a bit “meh” about actually watching it. Luckily, the other day, I did finally decide to give it a chance, and I’m happy to report that I liked it far more than I expected to.

The Nerve of the title is an online dare game, one in which the participants have to complete dares for money, unless they “bail” or “fail”. When the participant signs up to be a Player (you can also be a Watcher), the Nerve platform harvests all of the online information about you that it can, which may or may not be used for your dares. If you are afraid of spiders, as an example, and you’ve posted about it, well, expect creepy goodness crawling up your arm at some point. Some dares also seem to be crowd-sourced, with people voting on what someone needs to do. There are also various rules, like it has to be filmed on the player’s own phone to count. Another rule is to keep Nerve secret, because “snitches get stitches”.

Vee (Emma Roberts) is a shy, geeky highschooler who lacks the confidence to make any of the important decisions in her life. Her friend Sydney (Emily Meade), tells her about Nerve and wants her to be one of her Watchers, as the more Watchers someone has, the higher up the ranking table they get. After Vee witnesses Sydney doing her dare, flashing her naked backside as a cheerleader at a football game, the pair have a falling out when Syndey embarrasses Vee with the guy she fancies. So, like any normal person, Vee rides home on her bicycle and decides to opt into a sketchy online dare platform. As you do. Completing her first dare brings her into contact with Ian (Dave Franco), and that’s contact beyond a mere “Howdi!” Their paths are then entwined for the rest of the film, as they both work together to complete the various tasks set them by Nerve.

Nerve is a slick film. From the computer graphics of watching people through see-thru mobiles and computers, to the various message exchanges and video recording that goes on, it all has a nice polished, technological aesthetic. Even Ian’s motorbike and various stretches of street lighting glow in neon colours. It just made the whole film quite “punchy” in the visual sense, and I enjoyed this. I didn’t really enjoy the soundtrack though, and in places I found it quite annoying, but that’s just due to the music not being to my taste.

The narrative flows along nicely, although there were a few scenes in which I questioned how much Vee could change in such a short period of time. I wouldn’t say that it wasn’t feasible, but certain things felt a bit overly contrived, the breakups and make-ups sometimes occurring in such a frictionless way, it just didn't feel real. I did like the interplay between Vee and Ian though, and the way that the dares tended to escalate. Many of the dares featured public embarrassment, and I could feel myself cringing as the characters had to navigate their way through them. The ending was relatively satisfying too, although for a film called Nerve, it felt like it played it a bit too safe for my liking.

In a way, the true star of the film for me was Nerve, the platform. A system that can scrape personal information from your social media profiles and other online activity, crunch it all and then turn it into a twisted dare-based challenge system? How creepy and brilliant at the same time. The topic of fear and daring to do stuff is also something almost anyone will connect with, the anxiety that pushing your comfort zone can bring, and the everyday feelings of “Oh, if I’d just taken that chance to say hello to that person, but I can’t”. Add people filming you as you try to do that very thing, and a whole new level of stress gets added to things. As I said, you’ll probably cringe along to a good few of the dares, and that’s not even mentioning the ones that put people in physical danger.

Nerve was a film that I really enjoyed, and one that fits into stuff that I find really interesting. It aligns with some of the other books and films that I’ve enjoyed, such as The Diceman by Luke Rhinehart, which is a guy basically “self-daring” with dice, and even non-fiction stuff like Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang, a book written by someone who filmed himself getting rejected so that he could challenge himself to overcome it. Add in the technology aspect to Nerve, and I found it to be quite gripping.

If you’ve not seen Nerve, check it out if you get the chance to.

Film Title: Nerve

Starring: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco

Genre: Thriller

Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Released: 2016

Distributor: Lionsgate

Dark Film Review: CAM

Dark Film Review: CAM

Review by Casey Douglass

Personal identity has become a far more complicated thing in the age of the Internet. Not only do we have the usual ideas about who we are, but now we can measure our “worthiness” by the numbers we can generate online. Fun to think about, not so fun if we become defined by it all. CAM makes use of this idea, and spins an interesting tale from it.

CAM is an adult-rated horror thriller that follows the attempts of Lola, a reasonably high-ranking
cam-girl, to increase her Rank on the website that she cams for. It begins with her talking to her viewers, reacting to their crude jokes and suggestions and generally trying to charm them into tipping/bidding coins to get her to do things. Being the Internet, it doesn’t take long for the suggestions to take a turn to the dark side. This pales in comparison however, to when she later finds out that she appears to have a double, one who has taken control of her account and is meddling in her life.

This doppelgänger aspect is what I found most intriguing and enjoyable about CAM. The idea that another “me” could break away and be doing the stuff I do online, but in a more extreme way, is certainly an interesting proposition. As far as the film is concerned, it takes quite awhile for the viewer (and Lola) to find out the nature of what is going on, beyond the “Holy shit that’s me!” element. There’s paranoia about it being a competing cam-girl, or one of her fans, or even the cam site streaming old shows again.

We are kept guessing about the double for what felt like just over half the film's length. The “horror” aspect emerged after Lola’s investigations turned up a surprising thing about another cam-girl. It wasn’t much later that the nature of the doppelgänger was revealed. I quite liked the form it took, and could get on board with how Lola ultimately dealt with things. Even the very end, after things settled a little, proved a surprise as to how she decided to go about life in the aftermath.

CAM was written by Isa Mazzei, a former cam-girl herself, which was something that I had no idea about before writing this review. I think that’s why the film seemed to have interesting terms and details, such as the scenes where Lola talks about finding her “whale” (a wealthy person who spends lots on online currencies for in-app purchases) and also the way that the cam-girls compete with each other. The scene where Lola is watching her biggest rival, trying to learn tips, is a small thing, but in a less thoughtful film, probably wouldn’t have even featured. You also feel for Lola, especially as he secret life clashes with her friends and family against her will.

CAM is sexual but not overly so. The words are the most explicit, and as far as flesh, flashes of breasts and implied nakedness/erotic deeds are about as risqué as things get. There is some bloody gore, but even here, that is quite minimal, and in the context of the narrative, not as it seems. The graphical way that the message room works on-screen is realised very well, the frenzy of messages paced fairly and readable in a comfortable way. The only thing that made me laugh a little was the very specific animated gifs people sent in almost instant response to what was happening with Lola.

If you have Netflix, check it CAM out, I think it's well worth a watch.

Film Title: CAM

Starring: Madeline Brewer, Patch Darragh, Melora Walters

Directed by: Daniel Goldhaber

Written by: Isa Mazzei

Produced by: Netflix

Released: 2018

Dark Film Review: A Dark Song

Dark Film Review: A Dark Song

Review by Casey Douglass

I wrote a news piece about A Dark Song a few years ago, and then promptly forgot all about it. I remembered that it sounded intriguing though, so when I was flicking through the TV guide and saw that it was showing on Film Four, the penny dropped and I might well have gone “Ooooh!” into the bargain. Well, I watched it this afternoon and I’m very pleased that I did. It’s a cracking horror film, in most of the ways that I enjoy.

Sophia (Catherine Walker) begins the film by renting a massive house. She then meets up with Joseph

Solomon (Steve Oram), an occultist that she wants to employ to help her perform a special ritual, one that will give her something that she wants, and she is willing to pay tens of thousands of pounds for the privilege. She isn’t totally honest with the blunt man, but after securing his services, the slow build of the film begins.

This brings me to the first thing that impressed me. Many occult horrors gloss over much of the tedium and legwork needed to perform whichever ritual is needed correctly. Not so A Dark Song. From the diet and food provisions, to the salt circle and purifications needed, the first half of the film is steeped in interesting observances and dogmas. That’s not to say that there aren’t any signs of paranormal entities taking notice. There are, but these are quite subtle, more unnerving than horrific. Strange synchronicities, quiet scratchings, stuff about as far removed from the jumpscare-fests that many horrors turn into as you can get.

The other element that makes the quieter half of the film interesting is the interaction between Sophia

and Joseph, from his grim, sweary manner and humour, to her generally annoying attitude and paranoia. The film made me chuckle out loud in a number of places, usually with Joseph being very blunt, or making semi-frequent use of the C word. Two people stuck in a house together for months on end; the grinding on each other's nerves is a fascinating thing to witness. The house itself is practically another character, the large rooms and creaking wood floors framing the exchanges between the two occupants in a kind of shabby gothic lens.

The second half of the film is when things turn to their darkest, with events not quite going to plan, lies emerging, and the atmosphere thickening so much that you could stir it with a spoon. Even here though, the film is still the less bombastic side of horror, even the moments of mild gore fairly tame by most standards. Things do escalate at the end, but even there, the final scenes did seem to sit nicely at the apex of tension that had been built up. I guess that’s a wordy way of saying that I didn’t think things went too far.

The ending, when it came, felt suitably strange, but also a little disappointing. It wasn’t so much the manner of what happens, but the route Sophia decides to take after. I just didn’t buy it, to go through all that she did, to choose the outcome that she opted for. It felt twee if I’m honest, and I don’t really like twee. I also didn’t feel I’d seen enough changes in her throughout the film to warrant such a direction. It felt like watching someone embark on an epic journey, only to turn back for home inches from the destination, having decided that actually, they would rather be at home. As with most things though, it’s probably a matter of expectation and taste, and I won’t let my disappointment with the ending mar what I thought was a fantastic film.

A Dark Song, taken as a whole, really impressed me. I liked the spiky characters, the occult mystique and the attempt to portray the drudgery that grand magick would entail. The supernatural elements escalate nicely, the slow simmering at the start coming to the boil in a pleasing way at just about the right time. I wasn’t scared during this horror, I don’t remember when a horror last made me feel afraid. I was more a tourist of uneasiness, able to vicariously enjoy the tensions of the characters that the film portrays, and I will take that over cheap jumpscares any day. If you’ve not seen A Dark Song, it’s one to keep an eye open for.

Film Title: A Dark Song

Released: 2017

Starring: Steve Oram, Catherine Walker

Directed and Written by: Liam Gavin

Distributed by: Kaleidoscope Film Distribution

Horror Teaser: Goodnight, Halloween

Horror Teaser: Goodnight, Halloween

I like entertainment that makes use of alternative history, especially when it is used in film. Luther Bhogal-Jones has just released a scene-setter for his upcoming horror short Goodnight, Halloween, a film set in an alternate Detroit in the year 1986.

The world of the film has seen Halloween creatures co-exist with mankind for as along as anyone can remember. But wouldn't you know it, that balance has changed, as a right-wing religious group, KRONA, has pushed the Kreatures Act through the senate, making it legal to kill all creatures on sight. What upset this balance? Only the release of the full film will tell, but I'd bet money on the stupidity of humanity being involved.

I've always half facetiously described Goodnight, Halloween as a mixture of Clive Barker's Nightbreed and The Diary Of Anne Frank - a combination which should hopefully pique some interest in the finished film! - Luther Bhogal-Jones - Writer/Director

The scene-setter is embedded below, and takes the form of a news report delivering footage of a raid, and also the idealism of the head of KRONA, complete with a rippling American flag, with crosses instead of stars... Yup, that sets a pretty interesting scene. One of the idiosyncrasies of the world in which Goodnight, Halloween is set, is that the letter C doesn't exist. Any strange spellings you notice in the video are due to this.


Due to various delays, Goodnight, Halloween has been in production for a long time now, the scene-setter itself shot 12 years ago, and released now as it's positioning in the film became a little problematic in relation to pacing and other issues. I think this is very sensible, and a great way to wet the appetite of the viewers for the finished film, which is due for release soon, all being well.

You can find my thoughts about Luther's previous films Creak and Blackspot by clicking their names.

Horror Film News: The Tattooist

Horror Film News: The Tattooist

I don't have any tattoos, but it's something that I've often pondered. I'm just not sure a tattoo of any kind would suit me, and the thought of having to live with it forever (well, until death) doesn't sit well with me. Mind you, if I visited The Tattooist in the new film by Michael Wong, I don't think I'd have long to wait for death, if I wasn't happy with the tattoo I was given.

‘The Tattooist’ studio is renowned for its remarkably crafted tattoos. But during their visits, the customers have been drugged and imprisoned with other unfortunate victims that bear his prized masterpiece. They must fight their fears and race against time to escape from The Tattooist before ending up as a victim of his morbid obsession!

The trailer embedded below reveals the kind of film you can expect, the jaunty music that begins proceedings soon giving way to gore and sinister scream montages. After hints of people meeting a messy end, the trailer ends with the tattooist dancing to said jaunty music, adding whimsy and craziness to a scene that reveals the truth of what was really happening on the tattooist table.

The Tattooist has already won a number of film festival awards, including Most Terrifying at The Top Indie Film Awards, Best Gore at the Independent Horror Movie Awards, and Official Selection at the Midwest Horror Fest 2018. I wouldn't be surprised it if picks up more accolades as it roams the film festival circuit either, it looks like a cracking film, and one I'd certainly love to watch.

Check out the trailer below, and keep your skin clean in preparation for The Tattooist's needle:

The Tattooist from Michael Wong on Vimeo.

Dark Film Review – Tau

Dark Film Review – Tau

Review by Casey Douglass

Smart speakers and other devices are infesting our homes, giving us the impression that we are even more the masters of our domain than usual. Skynet. Sorry, I just wanted to get that out of the way now. While idly browsing Netflix UK the other day, I saw a new film had been added, one that taps into these notions of meat-based master and techno-servents: Tau.

The main character Julia (Maika Monroe) is abducted from her apartment, fitted with a strange glowing implant in the back of her neck, and thrown into a cell with two other unfortunates. She’s a crafty one though, and soon finds a way to set them all free. Then she meets the titular Tau (Gary Oldman), the artificial intelligence that runs and protects the house that she finds herself in, and things go wrong once again. This house belongs to Alex (Ed Skrein), some kind of tech-entrepreneur who doesn’t let notions of morality get in the way of his research. Julia now has to try to outfox both Alex and Tau, or she will never see the world again.

Tau is a film that spends a lot of its time in one location. At the beginning, we briefly see Julia in dance-clubs and her apartment, but the main bulk of the film is her being trapped in the grey walls of Alex’s bunker-like technology-infused home. I do tend to enjoy films that are set this way as I find that it builds an interesting tension, and also allows the viewer time to get to know one location very well. So this was a positive as far as I was concerned.

Alex comes and goes from the house, going about his daily schedule. This gives Julia time to talk to Tau. It is these conversations that really pique the interest. She begins with getting Tau to understand that she has a name, and things soon flow to the trading of information and mutual education. She wants to know what's behind x door and up y stairs. Tau wants to hear more about the things she knows about. Tau himself is a glowing red triangle that shimmers and fluctuates on the wall, but he can also control a fleet of cute drones and a murderous death-bot. These variations on his embodiment, or lack thereof, certainly add more interest to the film than if he was purely wall-locked.

Maika Monroe is great as Julia. She’s an actress I’ve enjoyed watching since I first saw her in It Follows and The Guest. As Julia, she has to be smart and physical, often knocked around, hurt and apparently subdued, but always eyeing the next opportunity to make a break for it. It’s interesting to see how her relationship with Tau develops, and this even serves to shine a light on Alex and his own apparent areas of lack. There is food for thought about how many different kinds of “prison” exist, to say the least. And of course, with any A.I film there are feelings of 2001 about it at times, but Gary Oldman voices Tau in a fine manner.

Tau was an enjoyable watch and I found the 90 or so minute runtime passed very nicely. I did feel some of the CGI looked a little second rate however, particularly the murder-bot at times. It was decent enough, but there were moments when it didn’t really “sit” in the environment that well. I did enjoy the animations of “Wall Tau” however, and the drones were good fun. 

If you like escape-based films with a splattering of technology and blood, Tau is well worth checking out on Netflix now.

Rating: 4.5/5

Film Review – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Film Review – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Review by Casey Douglass

When the first Jurassic World came out in 2015, it made me remember how much I enjoyed the original Jurassic Park. While it didn’t become my favourite JP film, it nuzzled affectionately into second place, pushing Lost World out of the bed and onto the carpet. When I heard that they were filming another Jurassic World, I had reasonably high hopes for more of the same. While it did deliver the same brand of dino-mayhem however, I do feel that Fallen Kingdom missed the mark.

Set three years after the events of the first Jurassic World, the island on which it all went so horribly wrong, Isla Nublar, has been left to go wild. The thing is, a dormant volcano isn’t dormant any more, and the world looks set to catch the re-run of dinosaurs becoming extinct once again. Some think that this event should be allowed to happen, others campaign against not intervening. The two main characters from the first film, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), find themselves on an expedition back to the island, one that hopes to save as many species as it can.

Things don’t go terribly well. There are machinations afoot, and a bubbling volcano to make things even more perilous. I must admit that the first third of the film almost plays out with as much intensity as the final act in a more traditional film. Sadly, this proves hard for the rest of the film to compete with, the latter acts feeling a little stodgy and constricted by comparison.

The dinosaurs themselves are the real stars of the show, and I wasn’t disappointed with these. The predatory variety were suitably menacing, and the lumbering herbivores suitably lovable. There are a number of scenes in which dinosaurs die, one in particular that really hits in the feels. I think the film does do a very good job of getting the audience to care about these creatures, no matter how alien they can sometimes seem. The film also provides plenty of food for thought about genetic manipulation and the moral issues that arise with it, in more ways than the simply obvious ones.

Fallen Kingdom, for me, roamed the same territory as Lost World, from the “lets go to a wild dinosaur island this time” angle, to the hunter wanting trophies, and the return to civilization aspect in the second half. It did this while holding quite tightly to some of the main plot-points of the first Jurassic World as well. While I was hoping for a film that, at the least, was more of the same, I was kind of hoping it would deliver a little more. Fallen Kingdom is a fun dino film with some interesting set-pieces and moments of humour, but largely, it just made me wish I was re-watching the first Jurassic World film. Also, if this trend continues, I really hope that any third Jurassic World film doesn’t do a rehash of Jurassic Park III, a film that I’ve always felt to be the weakest of the bunch.

Rating: 3/5

Official Film Website.

Dark Film Review: Agatha (2016)

Dark Film Review: Agatha (2016)

Review written by Casey Douglass

Much as short stories strive to tell something interesting in a shorter period than a novel, the task of creating a short film sees the luxury of time thrown out of the window and the creator having to effectively condense key information and emotion into minutes rather than hours. Horror writer and director Timothy Vandenburg has managed to do just this with his 8 minute short horror film Agatha, which debuted at Screamfest a few months ago. I was kindly given the chance to watch it myself, and you can find my thoughts about the film below.

The film description is as follows:

The orphan train comes daily, spilling hundreds of children onto the streets of Pennsylvania in the late 1800’s. Desperate and alone, the penniless 7 year old Sophie, entrusts an older woman who hires her to bring food each night to someone living in her attic. There is just one rule: Do not pass the serving table….EVER. As time passes, the child’s curiosity grows bold; drawing her closer to discovering the truth behind the prisoner.

The first thing that impressed me with Agatha was the soundtrack. Horror films often have soundtracks that appeal to me, and this is probably the reason why, alongside heavy metal, the dark ambient genre is a staple of mine. The opening screens of Agatha feature some truly ominous swells of dark sound design, the kind that actually deepens the scene rather than sounding like something ill-fitting and superfluous. While I’m on the topic of sound in general, Agatha has a genuinely succulent sound-scheme, creaking stairs and toothy crunching sounds all adding heft to the events unfolding in the narrative. There is also some ungodly singing, which is genuinely very creepy.

There is little dialogue in Agatha, and what there is comes quickly after the film’s start as Sophie is questioned, and then lectured, by the woman who is about to employ her. The job is to carry food to the room at the top of the stairs, place it on the table, and leave. This is where the rules are laid down: The order not to speak, not to make a sound, and not to pass the serving table. I’ll admit I had mental visions of the rules being laid down in Gremlins at this point, but only because that is such a “go to” film when you might think about rules and cinema. It definitely left me curious to see what might happen if the rules were broken. A plate of meat is duly placed in Sophie’s hand and her journey to the top of the house begins, accompanied by the aforementioned lovely creaking stairs. When she enters the top room, a wheezing figure is seen laying on a bed behind the serving table, the one that must not be passed. Sophie leaves the food and exits the room, and it is after this that we see that the figure is chained. To say much more would tempt the gods of spoilerville, but suffice it to say that it’s a chore that she carries out again and again, until the film reaches its grim conclusion.

Any gaps in the narrative left by the absence of speech are artfully filled by visual storytelling cues that linger in shot at various intervals in the film. While being a short film no doubt increases the necessity for this kind of storytelling, it is used in Agatha to inform, hint at time passing and provide emotional flavour to the film’s conclusion. It also leaves some questions unanswered, leaving you wondering why this is all happening and who these people really are. Agatha also managed to subvert my expectations on a couple of occasions which also left me appreciating the direction that it had taken.

Agatha is now beginning its fest journey, and efforts are also afoot to turn it in a feature length film. If the feature length version is any bit as interesting and well designed as the short, I very much look forward to seeing it, and I recommend that anyone who finds themselves with the chance to view Agatha in the coming months to take it, it is 8 minutes well spent. I give Agatha 5/5.

Fangoria was exclusively given the trailer for Agatha which is something you can watch from their YouTube channel below:

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