Review Category: Movie

Make note, Avalon Fast is a filmmaker to keep an eye on, because Camp is a film that will attach itself to your soul. It’s a horror that is drenched in pure girl power, trauma, and witchy auras. Boasting some incredible cinematography, Camp is not just a pretty film but it explores themes about grief, growth, choosing to let it all go, the fear of returning to a place where you don’t belong anymore, and the desire to stay in a place where you finally feel safe. It looks at these themes in a way not often seen before which leaves you with such a profound sense of reason.

Utilising animation gives the film a depth and atmosphere that feels drenched in moonlight, yet hides a fire ready to consume you. Every shot feels carefully planned out to add to the eerie, almost Lynchian aura the film needs – making it dreamy yet incredibly disorientating at the same time. The aesthetics of Camp lends itself to the developing story and the witchy feel it needs to demonstrate the importance of sisterhood, feminine power, and the need to belong. The performances feel real and relatable; these girls have shared experiences steeped in trauma and it is how they found each other and set up this coven of healing.

Camp is an incredibly intimate film and feels like a window to the soul. Its themes of grief, growth, sisterhood and belonging will strike a chord with those who have battled with similar issues – it will make you feel a part of this world. Camp is a film that will open up old wounds, and yet close them by the end, leaving you in a sense of awe.

CAMP screened as part of The Final Girls Berlin Film Festival.

The co-writer of one of the most notorious horror films of all time returns with a story about a heavily pregnant woman and her unborn child. Remembering what we remember about A Serbian Film and its version of post-natal childcare? Suffice to say we approached this one with caution.

Yelena (Jelena Đokić) is the mother-to-be, excitedly preparing for imminent childbirth when she receives a phone call from a mysterious stranger. Claiming to be a god, this voice (a suitably deific Sergej Trifunović) issues a terrible ultimatum – murder a pre-selected list of individuals, or lose the child. After witnessing a brutal demonstration of his power, Yelena quickly comes to realise that her cold caller means business. Arming up for the sake of her unborn child, Yelena finds herself drawn into an increasingly dangerous odyssey into the Serbian criminal underworld.

Those still shell-shocked by Aleksander Radivojević’s previous work will be relieved to hear that Karmadonna – his directorial debut – doesn’t attempt to replicate the soul-destroying traumas of A Serbian Film. It’s not exactly pleasant viewing, but this follow-up feature is more on the metaphysical end of the genre spectrum than its grimy predecessor. Still, with an infant’s life hanging in the balance, you’re never quite sure whether Radivojević has something awful planned for the endgame.

If his most famous work was a political allegory about the fortunes of post-war Serbia, then Karmadonna is the writer-director’s polemic about our terminally plugged-in age. And so, spurred on by the voice on her phone, Yelena sets out in pursuit of her hit list, proving surprisingly competent as she takes on the likes of a sleazy taxi driver, predatory social media influencer, and corrupt cop in her bloody swathe through modern society.

A surrealist action thriller with a meaty performance from its leading lady, Karmadonna is an unexpected delight. Yes, it’s uncomfortable and unpleasant at times, but it’s also very funny (!) and surprisingly playful. A very different kind of Serbian film.

KARMADONNA premieres at FrightFest Glasgow on March 7, 2026.

No, not another entry in the Twisted Childhood Cinematic Universe (or Pooh-niverse, if you’d rather). Instead, director Craig Conway’s Red Riding is a gritty thriller about a young woman who finds herself caught in a twisted web of horrors when her addict mother suffers a fatal overdose. Sent to live with her grandma in the Scottish Highlands, Redele Riding (Victoria Tait) is initially wowed by her aristocratic relative’s ostentatious estate. Oh, what a nice house you have, grandma.

But between the stories of missing children and tales of a bloodthirsty wolf roaming the woods, it soon becomes clear that there’s something sinister going on in the shadows of her granny’s remote property. And, as Redele (you see what they did there) digs deeper into her dark family legacy, the more danger she finds herself in.

Billed as a horror retelling of the childhood tale, Red Riding is the feature debut of Conway, and was executive produced by Neil Marshall – who previously directed him as an actor in Doomsday, The Descent and Dog Soldiers. As such, Marshall’s influence is deeply felt on this atmospheric Brit flick, although Conway is by no means left to languish in his shadow. It’s a slow burn, but Conway and screenwriter Peter Stylianou efficiently build up a sense of dread which simmers along nicely throughout.

Making her feature debut, Tait is a solid presence as Red’ – ably supported by seasoned actors Bill Fellows (Coronation Street) and Robert Cavanah (Emmerdale), and Rumpelstiltskin‘s Ayvianna Snow. Its central mystery is engaging, but there’s little here which will surprise horror fans. Still, it’s a well-made, if slightly dog-eared work of homespun gothic horror.

RED RIDING premiered at FrightFest Glasgow on March 7, 2026.

Based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name, this supernatural horror story is a uniquely banal haunted house story, following hard-working college student Tazuru (Kotona Minami) as she takes on a job at an all-night convenience store.

Those who have ever been forced to work retail should understand Tazuru’s plight immediately – even if we’ve not had to put up with ghosts, customer service is an absolute nightmare. The terrors she’s forced to endure range from creepy customers to a door that won’t stop opening and closing of its own volition.

Meanwhile, in the present day, Tazuru explains to the police how her manager came to be found dead on the premises with his eyes plucked out. It’s a story that not even skeptical Inspector Saruwatari (Terunosuke Tazkezai) can discount as evidence mounts that something is amiss at the local corner shop.

Directed by Jirô Nagae, The Convenience Store is a relatively faithful adaptation of the video game, updating its more low-key chills with a variety of effective jump scares. Like the game, it’s a simple setup – think Five Nights at Freddy’s without the edgelord teddy bears – and one which Nagae wrings plenty of tension from. If it loses some steam, it’s when Saruwatari’s investigation picks up pace, taking us away from Kotona Minami’s wonderfully vulnerable performance as Tazuru.

Those with more than a passing familiarity with the haunted house subgenre and J-horror history will find little here that’s not been done before, but The Convenience Store makes light work of old genre tropes.

THE CONVENIENCE STORE premiered at FrightFest Glasgow on March 7 2026.

The name’s Violence. Henry Violence. In a dystopian world of violent street punks and bloodthirsty gangs, Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends; The Monkey; Silent Night, Deadly Night) plays the titular antihero, adding another feather to the actor’s already impressive cap. Campbell’s one of the most exciting faces working in horror today, and Violence is just as unpredictable as his previous work.

Don’t let the name fool you though, there’s a boyish vulnerability to his Henry Violence, and the film has no compunction about holding his feet (quite literally) over the coals. Violence is a man with a dark past who left the criminal underworld in an attempt to get clean, returning to the city for his former lover, Charlotte (Sarah Grey). He’s keen to extricate her from this world, even if she’s not so enamoured with his new outlook on life. He’s ‘straight edge’ now, and if ever you forget, the screenplay by Devin Myler and William Woods will remind you every five minutes.

Violence has a compelling antihero and a vividly drawn world, reminiscent of The Warriors, Robocop and Hobo with a Shotgun in its punk attitude. Like the best of them, Violence comes with an attempt on social commentary too – in this case, a message about the useful application of violence in revolution. It’s a timely message, given the state of our own world, and one which director Connor Marsden commits to without hesitation. Suitably enough, given the film’s title, it’s full of outbursts of gore and brutality, just like the gritty exploitation movies it was inspired by. The visuals remain creative throughout – even invoking the 2002 film Irreversible in one memorable (but thankfully not nearly as horrible) alleyway sequence.

Letting the side down somewhat is the clunky pacing, which betrays Violence as Marsden’s feature debut. Campbell is a powerful lead, but he’s let down by some of the weaker supporting performances and lack of focus distract from what should have been his film. Instead, it trips up over its many moving parts, heading into a calamitous finale.

Violence is a brave throwback to the urban thriller movie, with a commanding leading performance from its star. Its impressive worldbuilding may be muddied thanks to its unfocused approach, but it packs a punch regardless.

VIOLENCE premiered at FrightFest Glasgow on March 7, 2026.

 

As technology continues to evolve, so horror cinema has its work cut out keeping up with the times. As cursed books were transferred to audio recordings, so raven-haired dead women went on to possess VHS tapes and e-mail. J-horror went ‘viral’ in that sense of the word years ago, but director Kenichi Ugana’s The Curse commits to the cause as though it’s making The Ring or The Grudge for the very first time.

Growing concerned after her friend begins sharing a series of alarming posts online, beauty salon receptionist Riko (Yukino Kaizu) attempts to intervene. However, her involvement comes too late, and Riko is left traumatised when her pal suffers a particularly grisly death thanks to the influence of a jet-haired, alabaster-skinned spirit. More than that though, Riko has fallen victim to the same terrible curse which afflicted her friend. Hoping to dig deeper into this mystery, she travels to Tawian, where the chilling truth awaits.

This satirical take on the J-horror film is packed with familiar elements, from a terrifying death curse to the uniquely grisly deaths its characters suffer. It opens in spectacularly hard fashion, with a brutal kill sequence Ugana struggles to top for the next 90-odd minutes. It’s unfortunate that The Curse comes so soon after Yuriyan Retriever’s Mag Mag, which told a similar story in a much more subversive fashion.

Still, it has fun trying, and some of the imagery conjured will stick with the viewer long after the end credits roll. Any qualms about its clunky pacing and more wooden performances will be forgotten once the film gets into its bonkers final act, where it’s at its most brutal and most original. The Curse might spend more time buffering around than it does delivering the actual goods, but it’s a fun modernisation of J-horror tropes.

THE CURSE premiered at FrightFest Glasgow on March 6, 2026.

Hedonistic pianist Boyd (Chris Colfer) constantly makes a point of pissing off his mother, the acid-tongued Jacqueline (Alice Krige). When she discovers his latest same-sex one night stand, he announces he’s leaving the mansion and opulence he’s been living in, much to his mother’s annoyance, as she’s determined to keep the Grayson lineage going. Then his hands are severed in a freak accident, and Jacqueline brings in a surgeon to restore her son’s missing mitts.

A mix of Gothic drama, The Hands of Orlac, and savage black comedy with a touch of Saltburn energy, The Restoration at Grayson Manor is a fast-talking nightmare that might not necessarily be scary, but certainly has its fair share of horror. It’s populated with outrageously over-the-top characters, all of whom are completely unlikable but somehow so sympathetic that we can’t help rooting for them while not picking sides.

Director (and co-writer alongside Clay McLeod Chapman) Glenn McQuaid’s first movie in over a decade is an assured affair that features amazing performances from Krige and Colfer and layers the madness as it goes along. The sharply written vitriolic exchanges are delivered with gusto, and once things progress into murderous territory, the balance of gore and humour lands perfectly. Everything is delightfully camp, from the Addams Family-esque sight of the disembodied hands roaming the mansion to the acidic bickering of the matriarch and her son, regardless of who’s around; an early sequence hilariously has Jacqueline scolding Boyd in front of his naked conquest, whose increasing embarrassment becomes painstakingly cringeworthy.

Ultimately, McQuaid has delivered a superb satire on self-obsessed, privileged life and heritage mixed with old-school mad scientist horror. It’s one destined to gain a cult following.

THE RESTORATION AT GRAYSON MANOR screened at FrightFest Glasgow 2026. 

A group of intrepid explorers descend into an ancient cave system seeking answers in this horror film by writer and director Howard J. Ford. Searching for her mother – who, in turn, was lost during a quest to find her own father – Olivia (Sarah Alexander Marks) packs up for an expedition to the deep underground, strong-arming her best pals into the journey. Along for the ride is an influencer known as the ‘Bitch-hiker,’ looking to boost her followers by streaming her latest adventure.

And what lurks in the depths? Professor Harisson (John Rhys-Davies) warns that the group would be best served staying away, but Olivia won’t be deterred. Down there, she and her friends will encounter an ancient subterranean evil – one which might just claim their lives and bodies as its own.

Bone Keeper veers wildly from exceptionally well-shot indie horror to amateurish creature feature. Its setting – all shot on location with no green screen – looks great, dripping with a sense of authenticity and menace that even Neil Marshall‘s The Descent lacked at times (that early sequence with the bats, for instance). Where it does come up lacking is where The Descent excelled – the writing and performances. Thankfully, there’s Lord of the Rings star Rhys-Davies, giving the film a sense of thespian respectability, to distract from some of the weaker line deliveries. His is a glorified cameo, but Ford utilises him well enough, and in a way which keeps him around longer than you might have expected.

What also sets Bone Keeper apart from the other no-budget films out there is its striking visuals. Once inside the cave, there’s a genuinely nightmarish look to what Olivia and her friends encounter. The creature design by visual effects artists Giordano Aita and Rafael Emido truly is the stuff of Lovecraftian nightmare, and pack a satisfying heft despite – or perhaps due to – feeling as though they’ve been ported over from an entirely different film. Meanwhile, fans of a certain subgenre of anime should get a kick from all the tentacles being shoved down (or up) various orifices as the creatures take out their prey, one by one.

Part adventure film, part grisly horror story, Bone Keeper is a palpably clammy B-movie, brimming with the terrors of the unknown.

BONE KEEPER premiered at FrightFest Glasgow on March 6, 2026.

A single-take horror film from director Adam O’Brien, Bury the Devil is a bold cross between demonic possession and home invasion movie. Caught in the middle of this unholy blend is hospice nurse Julia (Emanuelle Lussier Martinez), whose cosy night in with an elderly dementia patient (Dawn Ford) takes an unexpected turn when a set of late night visitors arrive on their doorstep, late at night. What follows is somewhere at the demented intersection of Evil Dead and Mother! as Julia finds herself facing a desperate battle to survive the night.

Where many single-take films can feel exhausting, Bury the Devil feels surprisingly smooth. It’s a rollercoaster, to be sure, but one with well-oiled tracks. Indeed, it’s so coherent and efficient that one tends to forget about the storytelling device, giving a fully immersive experience which puts the viewer right there in Julia’s shoes. Its 86-minute runtime flies by, throwing the poor nurse into the thick of the action without wasting much time. It reaches boiling point quickly, and doesn’t let up from there. Along with director O’Brien (who previously helmed 2024 FrightFest darling Mom), co-writers Brad Hodson and Philip Kalin-Hajdu stir the pot with a firm hand. Martinez does great work as unlucky nurse Julia, ably taking everything thrown in her stride. She’s up against Ford as her patient, who turns on a dime from vulnerable, confused all the way through to utterly terrifying.

The first in a planned trilogy, Bury the Devil does a great job of setting up its fascinating mythology, cleverly teasing the planned prequel and sequel films. It more than stands on its own two feet as it is though – an unforgettable one-take horror film which never feels at risk of coming off the tracks, in spite of its many moving parts.

BURY THE DEVIL premiered at FrightFest Glasgow on March 6, 2026.

The Benefactress (An Exposure of Cinematic Freedom), directed by Guerrilla Metropolitana, is an uncompromising piece of underground horror that deliberately blurs the lines between cinema, performance art, and provocation. Running at just over an hour, the film operates less like a conventional narrative and more like a confrontational experiment that challenges the viewer’s tolerance and expectations of what a film can be.

The premise is deceptively simple. A controversial filmmaker is funded by a mysterious overseas patron; an unseen benefactor (played by Elektra McBride, who also funded The Benefactress) who insists on observing and influencing the production remotely. What unfolds is not just a film within a film, but a disturbing examination of power, voyeurism, and the darker side of artistic freedom. The project quickly descends into a claustrophobic scenario in which the filmmaker and performers push moral and creative boundaries in pursuit of raw ‘art’.

One of the film’s most striking qualities is its stark aesthetic. Shot with a raw, minimalist style combining grainy black and white with scratchy Super 8, and set largely in a single location, the film creates an atmosphere that feels documentary-like. The lack of polish enhances the sense that the audience is witnessing something illicit or forbidden rather than a carefully staged production. This voyeuristic tone is reinforced by the film’s meta-cinematic structure, with Gasper Noe-type flash cards between scenes, which constantly remind viewers that they are watching both a film and the making of one.

The performances, particularly from Juicy X and McBride, contribute to the unsettling tone. Their roles feel less like traditional characters and more like participants in a very bleak experiment. This approach may intrigue viewers interested in experimental cinema, though it also contributes to the film’s divisive reception. Some people will turn off quickly, and those who stay will find the experience a gruelling one.

Yes, The Benefactress is far from an easy watch. Its graphic themes and confrontational imagery have sparked considerable controversy and led many cinemas to refuse screening it. For some, the film’s extreme content overshadows any artistic intentions. For others, that very extremity is the point – forcing audiences to question the relationship between art, exploitation, and the viewer’s complicity.

But then, The Benefactress is not designed to entertain in the traditional sense. Instead, it functions as a provocative statement about cinematic freedom and the limits of artistic expression. Whether one views it as daring experimental art or excessive shock cinema will depend largely on personal tolerance and interpretation. Either way, it is a film that refuses to be ignored.

THE BENEFACTRESS is available now to stream on Fawesome.