One of the things that Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is famous for is the way it subverts expectations, particularly when it comes to the relationships we forge with its main characters. Writer-director Babak Anvari takes a leaf out of that devilish book for his urban horror-thriller I Came By, and in doing so teases the viewer when it comes to the...
Amidst an ever-concerning heatwave, a cinematic summer of seduction has made itself known to audiences. Larger films like Good Luck To You, Leo Grande have sat side by side with indies like Claire Denis’ forthcoming Both Sides Of The Blade — yet few films to grace our screens this year have captured queer desire. Answering the drought is Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s...
Those familiar with the work of filmmaker Albert Serra may approach news of another feature with some measure of trepidation, knowing of his penchant for extreme content presented in a mode of high-and-dry irony. (Liberté, his last effort, treated viewers to minutes upon minutes of desiccated, geriatric nobles hanging out in the woods and engaging in every act of depravity...
The Safdie Brothers have an affection for losers. From repeat offenders to heroin junkies to degenerate gamblers, their preferred kind seems to be those who are inexorably addicted to trouble; ticking time bombs who get roped into chaotic spirals of self-obliteration over and over again. Having built off a successful career out of spiking the viewer’s heart rate manyfold, it’s...
When we think of music in horror there are plenty of touchstones; stabs of strings, ominously building drones, sing-song voices and maniacal laughter. We think of terrifying, influential scores like Psycho or even modern twists like Midsommar with its sense of unease amplified by its seemingly upbeat score. What’s harder to predict are the pre-existing musical elements that weren’t originally...
Some of the best horror films come from mining threat out of the unthreatening. Be it a little boy in The Omen, foodie Psychologists in The Silence of The Lambs or white liberals in Get Out. Orphan, which had a reasonably reception with critics and audiences back in 2009 played with a villainous 9-year-old girl, adopted by and kind couple...
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