Review Category: Movie

Opening as a mock documentary focused on a missing YouTuber who hosted a ghost-hunting show, Shelby Oaks surpasses expectations by being an engrossing mystery and, ultimately, a different beast altogether.

Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn) was part of the Paranormal Paranoids, who head off to the deserted town of Shelby Oaks, which boasts a rotting amusement park and dilapidated houses. Riley’s sister, Mia (Camille Sullivan), is helping a film crew make a documentary about the story, the case having been dropped by the police, who consider her dead. After an occurrence while filming an interview, Mia is convinced otherwise and heads off to Shelby Oaks to see if she can find any trace of her sister.

Making his feature debut, Chris Stuckmann, himself a YouTuber with a more than healthy following, has managed to take a familiar horror conceit – the mockumentary – and merge it with a traditional narrative. More impressive is that both parts complement each other perfectly. Camille Sullivan is fantastic as the never-give-up sister, and when things take a turn that’s unfair to reveal, she excels in selling fear and anguish.

The production values on both elements of the film are brilliant. The old video footage looks genuine rather than just passed through a ‘VHS’ filter, and the ghost town of Shelby Oaks makes for a stunning location through the lens of Andrew Scott Baird. While Mia makes some of the typical horror movie mistakes (exploring creepy places alone at night), we could easily read this as Stuckmann playing at giving the audience what they want rather than having the confidence to embrace his own path fully. It doesn’t derail the film, though; by the conclusion, the missteps are forgotten. A very impressive debut.

SHELBY OAKS is in cinemas from October 31st. 

Rupert Russell’s documentary The Last Sacrifice looks at a real-life murder case and discusses the speculation that witchcraft was the reason for the death.

The doc uses footage from various classic folk horror movies to illustrate the story of Charles Walton, who was killed in 1945 in a horrific pitchfork attack – a murder that is still unsolved. The rumours of occult goings-on involved with the murder are discussed, although still inconclusive. The history of pagan worship and Wicca practices in the UK is uncovered in an entertaining and captivating manner. Talking heads such as Jonathan Rigby provide facts and figures about the case that took place in the heart of the Cotswolds.

Another notable aspect of the original investigation was that it was led by Robert Fabian, the well-known detective from Scotland Yard, who would later go on to have his own TV show. However, even this legendary sleuth failed to uncover the truth at the bottom of the case.

The Last Sacrifice explores a number of theories on the murder while also looking at the rise of witchcraft in media and society in general. It’s a fascinating true crime documentary, and its use of familiar visuals, recut to form an unfamiliar narrative, makes it even more compelling.

While we may never know the truth surrounding Walton’s death, the conjecture makes for an unnerving viewing experience. It’s both chilling and entertaining. Stick around to the end to find out how the Teletubbies fit into the macabre situation!

THE LAST SACRIFICE screens in the UK over the Halloween period. See the film at the following screenings:

October 24:      Dublin: The IFI (as part of HORRORTHON)

October 28:      London: The Nickel + Q&A with Rupert Russell

October 30:      Manchester: Home + Q&A with Rupert Russell

October 30:      Edinburgh: The Cameo

October 30:      Epsom Cinema

October 30:      London: Finsbury Park Cinema

October 30:      Liverpool: FACT

October 30:      Liverpool: The Plaza Community Cinema

October 31:      Lewes: Depot cinema + Q&A with Rupert Russell

November 1:     London: Picturehouse Central + Q&A with Rupert Russell

November 1:     Lancaster: The Dukes

Date TBC:         Cardiff Chapter Arts Center

Australian writer-director Luke Sparke is nothing if not both ambitious and prolific. His string of low-budget, high-concept independent sci-fi horror films put many better-budgeted Hollywood releases to shame, visually at least.

His upcoming $10 million dinosaur adventure Primitive War has all the visceral, primeval savagery and spectacle that will forever elude the family-friendly Jurassic films. His alien invasion movies Occupation and Occupation: Rainfall made up for the deficiencies in their scripts by delivering big, bombastic action sequences and hugely imaginative creature designs. 2024’s Scurry dials things down a bit but is no less visually impressive, and Sparke returns to his familiar ‘invasion’ theme with a slightly more nuanced and intimate affair that sees the world coming under attack (largely off-screen) by creatures from below the surface of the planet.

Scurry (not to be confused with the upcoming British horror The Scurry about an attack by killer squirrels… sounds nuts!) is the told-in-real-time story of Mark (Jamie Costa… insert your own coffee-based jokes, please) and Kate (Emalia), two strangers who find themselves trapped underground with little to no resources as something catastrophic unfolds on the surface. Mark is a family man, injured in what at first appears to be an earthquake but is clearly something rather worse.  Kate is a thief with a formidable survival instinct.

This unlikely pair find themselves forced to work together, worming their way through a network of increasingly cramped tunnels in search of a way back to the surface. They soon become aware that they’re not alone; skittering predatory arachnid creatures – part beetle, part spider – are never far away, and the pair endure a number of nail-biting encounters with these monstrosities, most notably in one sequence where a near-rescue turns into a bloody massacre.

Scurry is pretty much a two-hander, and it’s often a big ask to expect audiences to fully invest in a story driven by just two characters, especially when they’re trapped in a dingy, claustrophobic environment. Sparke just about pulls it off though, thanks to a more sympathetic running time than many of his other slightly over-bloated features and by managing to turn the environment itself into a third player in the narrative, a situation that’s bad and challenging enough without throwing rampaging spider-beetles into the mix.

The creatures themselves appear sparingly and fleetingly, which adds to their menace, but despite the potentially gripping scenario, the film’s limitations lead it into some dead-ends. Its third act, where it should become more propulsive and climactic, is a little sluggish and underpowered. Kudos though, for a terrific final scene which reveals the true extent of the horror above ground.

Ultimately, Scurry suggests that Luke Sparke’s career is still a work-in-progress, but when he can marry a really great script to his already extraordinary visual sensibilities, he’s likely to finally be recognised as an exciting and dynamic talent in genre filmmaking.

SCURRY is available digitally in the US and will be available in the UK shortly.

 

Convening at a remote house at the side of the ocean following the heist of a valuable painting, three thieves – Eric (Alan Calton), his partner Matt (Dominic Vulliamy), and Paul (Michelangelo Fortuzzi) face internal conflict and outside malevolence as they try to discover what’s happened to Matt’s mother, Denice (Corrine Wicks), who was meant to meet them there.

Eric, being the first to arrive, finds evidence that she had been there, but a strange, bloody track leading out to sea makes him think the worst. When a trio of women wash ashore in a small boat, the men concoct a story as to why they’re there and why they have no supplies. Meanwhile, each of the men has strange experiences, hearing eerie voices and then suddenly finding themselves on the beach with no clue as to how they got there.

Mixing myth (sirens) and Greek tragedy (Oedipus) with a Reservoir Dogs scenario, The Drowned is a slow-burning, haunting film that is reminiscent of several others but ultimately stands on its own feet. Written and directed by Samuel Clemens (the son of legendary screenwriter Brian Clemens, who wrote for the TV series The Avengers and directed Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter in his time at Hammer), the film’s atmosphere builds as it leaves the relatively safe confines of heist thriller and morphs into a phantasmagorical horror tale. He directs confidently and will certainly be a talent to watch out for in future.

While much of the happenings are ambiguous, the final shots of the stolen painting (the film’s alternate title gives a massive clue as to whose brush the piece of art comes from) serve as a portent as the thieves receive a form of poetic justice. The film’s images and brooding sound design will linger long after the story is over, and the melding of myth and metaphysical will give fans plenty to debate.

THE DROWNED is on digital platforms in the UK from October 6th, October 7th in the US and October 8th in ANZ

Hugo Keijzer’s The Occupant is a striking, visually impressive survivalist genre film powered by an intense and kinetic performance from Ella Balinska, who appears in practically every scene. It’s a haunting, almost poetic movie, magnetically fascinating, and yet occasionally frustrating and confounding as it skirts in, out and around genre conventions but ultimately refuses to pin its colours to any particular mast. But for all its faults and missteps, it’s a film that will make you care about its lead character and draw you into her life, the predicament she finds herself in, and the struggle to survive that she faces.

Balinska plays geologist Abby, whose sister Beth is dying from cancer. Abby refuses to accept that the diagnosis is terminal and, in order to secure funds for a course of treatment that she is convinced will save her, takes a job at a uranium mine in Northern Georgia. The helicopter taking her home crashes in the Caucasus Mountains, and with the crew killed, she finds herself alone in a cold, hostile, remote environment. Fortunately she finds a  functioning radio which connects her with a man named John (Rob Delaney, voice only), who is, he says, stranded just a few miles away.

If she can just make her way across the barren, unforgivingly bleak terrain to reach him, perhaps they can help one another and find their way back to civilisation? But something’s not quite right about John; he’s far too upbeat and snarky considering his apparently precarious situation. Just to add to the sense of weirdness and dislocation,  Abby exhumes a lump of rock from the snow and ice which has some very strange and distinctly unearthly properties…

The Occupant belongs almost entirely to Balinska (previously best known for the 2019 Charlie’s Angels). Her performance is astonishing, as Abby faces the challenge of staying alive in an untamed wilderness, while dealing with the very real likelihood that she won’t be able to save her sister and won’t even be at her side when she passes away. The film ultimately becomes a study of grief and grief management, loss and the survival instinct inherent in us all. As such, it’s powerful and its striking – it’s a hugely good-looking film – but there are times where it asks too many questions it doesn’t feel compelled to answer.

What exactly is the purpose of the strange object Abby finds in the snow? Who or what is John? Is he real or a ghost or some figment or her mind as she tries to cope with the survival ordeal? The Occupant is troubled both with narrative opaqueness and frustrating pacing issues that slow it to a crawl in places. While it offers up an ending that’s both poignant and bittersweet, as the credits roll, you’ll be none the wiser as to exactly what the film is trying to say, even if it’s clear that it’s trying to make points about the human condition and coming to terms with not only our own mortality but the mortality of those around us.

THE OCCUPANT is now available to stream in the UK and USA.

Ben Leonberg’s Good Boy is a unique supernatural horror film in that its main character is a dog called Indy.

The film is also told from the perspective of Indy, who joins his owner Todd (Shane Jensen) as they move into an old family house in the countryside. Todd appears to be unwell, taking calls from his concerned sister Vera (Arielle Friedman), and seemingly desperate for a new start. However, things get worse as Indy begins to sense evil spirits lurking in the dark that Todd cannot see. Throw in a strange room and some old videotape diaries from Todd’s grandfather (Larry Fessenden), and we soon have a battle of dog versus evil with Indy trying to save his best friend.

Despite being a ‘short’ film at barely an hour and a quarter, Good Boy is a slow burner. However, as the film progresses, the tension builds, offering genuinely scary moments and some emotionally heartstring-tugging ones as well. Good Boy is an interesting blend of supernatural horror and dog buddy film that’s definitely worth a watch.