God's Creatures

 

In a small fishing town, Aileen, spend her days at the canary and evenings at the local pub and in between with her family. Their world is shaken by the return of their wayward son Brian who left years before and has barely kept contact. After the initial joy at his return, Aileen soon finds herself lying for her son. This lie rips apart the family, their friends and even the community and she is left deciding whether she has done the right thing and living with the consequences.

Full review is in the latest issue of Film Stories HERE.

The Five Devils

 

Vicky has an extraordinary sense of smell. She has the ability to recreate the scents of others, sometimes with devastating consequences, particularly when her aunt Julia comes to visit having been gone for many years. The reappearance of Julia disrupts her family’s already fragile dynamic, stirring up past tragedies as well as happier times. Each time Vicky descends into the past lives of her parents and Julia, without realising the lifelong pain she causes, she has to decide whether she uses her powers for good or to get what she wants.

Full review in the latest issue of Film Stories HERE.

Watcher - Final Girls Berlin Film Festivals

 

American couple Julia and Francis move to Bucharest for Francis’ work. Their apartment has wide windows that face the opposite side to the same building where Julia notices there is always a man watching them. Setting off a chain of events where she believes she is being followed by this man, in the city there is a serial killer who decapitating women on the loose, could this be the same person? 

Despite being a simple story on the surface, the atmosphere is intense and mistrustful in Chloe Okuno directorial feature debut. Watcher is both a stalker horror and voyeuristic lowkey thriller that balances the paranoia Julia feels with the mundane but sweet moments she shares Francis.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

She Is Love

 

Just like his previous films, director Jamie Adams uses an improvisational style in his story about Patricia (Haley Bennett) who goes to stay in a hotel, unknowingly run by her ex-husband, Idris (Sam Riley) and his girlfriend Louise (Marisa Abela). Having not seen each other in 10 years, there is a lot to reminisce about as well as a reflection of what their lives are like now.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

Beautiful Beings

 

Following up on his 2016 feature film debut, Heartstone, writer and director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson returns with Beautiful Beings, a story about boyhood and friendship, tilting on the edge of destruction and ultimately a vicious act of revenge. 

After being hospitalised from bullies at school, lonely Balli is tentatively befriended by the understanding Addi, the sarcastic Siggi and the short-tempered Konni. Together they carve out an existence, trying to have fun and escaping their home lives. But after Konni’s temper gets the group into trouble with older and more violent people and with the return of Balli’s abusive stepfather, the boys have to decide if revenge and retaliation is really the way to live.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

Holy Spider

 
Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider caused a stir when it premiered at Cannes 2022, especially being nominated for the Palm d’Or and Zar Amir Ebrahimi winning Best Actress. But the story itself was the main reason the film caught the audiences’ attention. Based on real events surrounding the serial killer Saeed Hanaei who murdered 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.