Amber T / Contributor 17/08/2023 Amber T / Contributor 17/08/2023

[Film Review] Tokyo Horror Film Festival: Idol Never Dies (2023)

Comedy splatter legend (and the mastermind behind such Criterion classics as Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead and Mutant Girl Squad) Noboru Iguchi’s IDOL NEVER DiES played as the main feature of the inaugural Tokyo Horror Film Festival, which took place on July 1 in Tokyo’s Nakano ward. The festival also featured an exclusive Q&A with director Iguchi himself.

Amber T / Contributor 16/08/2023 Amber T / Contributor 16/08/2023

[Film Review] New York Asian Film Festival: Back Home (2023)

Despite what a particularly vocal subset of haters might crow online, horror has always explored the well-solidified connection between familial trauma and the supernatural. Countless horrors spanning all eras, from Don’t Look Now to Relic, have propounded the idea that far scarier than any ghost, ghoul or demon are the scars your family can leave on you - in the case of Nate Ki’s Back Home, both literally and physically.

Amber T / Contributor 15/08/2023 Amber T / Contributor 15/08/2023

[Film Review] New York Asian Film Festival: The Abandoned (2023)

One of the standout Taiwanese features played at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival was Ying-Ting Tseng’s The Abandoned, a bleak police procedural thriller that shone an uncomfortable spotlight on the harrowing realities faced by a country’s most vulnerable occupants.

Amber T / Contributor 14/08/2023 Amber T / Contributor 14/08/2023

[Film Review] New York Asian Film Festival: Home Sweet Home (2023)

Star of last year’s NYAFF hit Shin Ultraman, actor and filmmaker Takumi Saitoh returned to the fest this year with his second directorial feature Home Sweet Home – a slick and sinister thriller that subverts the image of the haunted house from dusty old mansion to something far more enviable.

Liz DeGregorio / Senior Contributor 13/08/2023 Liz DeGregorio / Senior Contributor 13/08/2023

[Editorial] Top 15 Female-Focused Mind Horror Films

Many of the most effective horror films involve blurring the lines between waking life and a nightmare. When women in horror are emotionally and psychologically manipulated – whether by other people or more malicious supernatural forces – viewers are pulled into their inner worlds, often left with a chilling unease and the question of where reality ends and the horror begins.

Leyla Hamedi / Contributor 11/08/2023 Leyla Hamedi / Contributor 11/08/2023

[Editorial] Interview with Rodrigo Gudiño director of The Breach (2023)

Rodrigo Gudiño is no stranger to horror business. In 1997, he launched Rue Morgue, a leading horror and entertainment resource that has since expanded to include Rue Morgue Magazine, Rue Morgue Digital, as well as a horror expo and TV channel.

Leyla Hamedi / Contributor 10/08/2023 Leyla Hamedi / Contributor 10/08/2023

[Film Review] The Breach (2023)

Isn’t it great that there’s now an almost universally accepted shorthand for spooky, interdimensional stories that play with the fabric of time and often introduce creatures the simple mind cannot fathom? Instead of writing all that out, we just say “Lovecraftian Horror” and the avid viewer can fill in the blanks themselves.

Melanie Moyer / Contributor 09/08/2023 Melanie Moyer / Contributor 09/08/2023

[Film Review] The Empty Space (2023)

Andrew Jara Continues to evolve with The Empty Space (2023). Andrew Jara’s delve into the complexities of grief blends the warnings of Pet Semetary with the discomfort and unease of psychological horror using the good bones of a clearly personal script to weave a tale of trauma, isolation, and self-initiated freedom.

Amber T / Contributor 08/08/2023 Amber T / Contributor 08/08/2023

[Event Review] GASP! Horror Film Festival 2023

The first ever GASP! horror film festival, Manchester’s only horror film festival dedicated entirely to minority filmmakers, took place last month from June 17 - 18 at cult cinema CULTPLEX. Six feature length films and two short film showcases celebrated and elevated the work of female filmmakers, foreign language filmmakers, people with disabilities, people of colour and the LGBTQ+ community.

Elizabeth Bishop / Events (Midlands) & Social Media 08/08/2023 Elizabeth Bishop / Events (Midlands) & Social Media 08/08/2023

[Editorial] Interview with Carter Smith director of The Passenger (2023)

Liz Bishop sat down with Director Carter Smith (The Ruins, Swallowed) to discuss how The Passenger (2023) came to be, and his experience of working on a script more emotionally driven than his previous body-horrors.

Ariel Powers-Schaub / Brand Manager & Admin Assistant 07/08/2023 Ariel Powers-Schaub / Brand Manager & Admin Assistant 07/08/2023

[Event Review] Access: Horror Film Festival (2023)

A two-day event packed full of academic panels, short films, and talks exploring and celebrating the history, impact and future of disability in the horror genre.

Iona Walling-Smith / Events Manager (London) 06/08/2023 Iona Walling-Smith / Events Manager (London) 06/08/2023

[Film Review] Talk to Me (2023)

Granted, Talk to Me, directed by brothers Danny and Michael Phillipou may not be the scariest film of the year, but it is thrilling, shocking and relentless nonetheless, with so many reasons to see it on the big screen.

Amber T / Contributor 05/08/2023 Amber T / Contributor 05/08/2023

[Film Review] New Religion (2022)

Since premiering at last year’s FrightFest, Keishi Kondo’s New Religion has been at the top of every Japanese horror fan’s watchlist. In his directorial debut, Kondo has created less of a straightforward horror movie and more a living, breathing thought experiment, fluttering in the midst of moral philosophy and asking an enraptured audience to reckon with the timeless, unanswerable question: what makes a human? Spine? Collarbone? Ribs? Hair? History?

Zoë Rose Smith / Editor-in-Chief 01/08/2023 Zoë Rose Smith / Editor-in-Chief 01/08/2023

[Ghouls Podcast] Antiviral, Possessor & Infinity Pool with Zoë Rose Smith, Amber T and Iona Smith

In July we have been looking at all things body horror! Which is why for our final episode of the month we visited the films of director Brandon Cronenberg with a look at Antiviral (2012), Possessor (2020) and Infinity Pool (2023).

Melissa Cox / Contributor 31/07/2023 Melissa Cox / Contributor 31/07/2023

[Editorial] 8 Body Horror Short films

Body horror is one of the fundamental pillars of the horror genre and crops up in some form or another in a huge variety of works. There's straightforward gore - the inherent horror of seeing the body mutilated, and also more nuanced fears.

Megan Kenny / Contributor 27/07/2023 Megan Kenny / Contributor 27/07/2023

[Film Review] The Wicker Man (1973)

If you haven’t seen The Wicker Man then drop whatever you’re doing, light your Hand of Glory and fire up the Maypole. Summer is coming, and the land awaits your sacrifice.

Candy Allison / Contributor 25/07/2023 Candy Allison / Contributor 25/07/2023

[Editorial] The Shocking Brilliance of Frankenhooker (1990)

Modern horror cinema has used the Frankenstein theme in various iterations, but none so unique as exploitation director Frank Henenlotter’s Frankenhooker (1990).

Amber T / Contributor 24/07/2023 Amber T / Contributor 24/07/2023

[Editorial] Metal Heart: Body Dysmorphia As A Battle Ground In Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

In the sweaty summer of 1989, emerging like a monochrome migraine from the encroaching shadow of Japan’s economic crash, Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man shocked and disgusted the (very few) audiences originally in attendance.

Kim Morrison / Senior Contributor 23/07/2023 Kim Morrison / Senior Contributor 23/07/2023

[Mother of Fears] How I Love to Love Nadine in The Stand (2020)

The story focuses on a group of survivors after most of the world’s population is wiped out by Captain Trips, a lethal super-flu. And while there are enough horrors to go around in a story like this, the real focus of King’s book is how those who survive react to the changing world around them.

Liz DeGregorio / Senior Contributor 20/07/2023 Liz DeGregorio / Senior Contributor 20/07/2023

[Film Review] Jagged Mind (2023)

As a psychological horror film, Jagged Edge is hard to watch. But there are spots of hope that also make it an emotionally satisfying experience. As Billie grasps for answers, it is the women in her life that help her find herself again.