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Joseph Perry

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Screamfest Horror Film Festival Reveals Tremendous 2026 Lineup

Los Angeles-based Screamfest Horror Film Festival today announced its 2026 lineup, and as always, it’s a doozy! Masked slashers, supernatural entities, and other fear-fare favorites are in abundance. Following is the official press announcement.  Screamfest Horror Film Festival, the largest and longest-running horror festival in the United States, today unveiled the first wave of competitive features and shorts for its 26th edition. Screamfest 2026 will launch with the World Premiere of Jeremy Weiss’ THE NIGHT DRIVER, starring Josh Lucas, David Arquette, and Alyssa Milano. This gripping, twist-filled thriller takes audiences on a terrifying journey where one fateful night on a lonely stretch of highway becomes a relentless fight for survival. Taking place October 6-15, 2026, at the TCL Chinese Theatre, the festival invites horror fans to experience twisted tales and terrifying films on the big screen. Festival badges are now on sale. Tickets will be on sale soon. screamfestla.com.   For 26 years, Screamfest has been where the next generation

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 16, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Crazy Lips and Gore from Outer Space

Crazy Lips (Japan, 2000) Official synopsis Satomi and her family are hounded by the press when her brother is accused of a vicious killing spree. Desperate to prove his innocence, Satomi goes to a psychic for help. The price the psychic asks is far more than she expected, and the answers they give her are nothing she could ever have imagined.    Review I feel that it’s important to note up front that director Hirohisa Sasaki’s Crazy Lips has no less than four rape scenes, with one involving necrophilia. And that’s not all of the depravity on display, by a longshot. If you are still reading, you may well be either desensitized or curious enough to give this film a watch. The screenplay was written by Hiroshi Takahashi, who also penned Ringu and Ringu sequels, and recently wrote and directed The House of the Serpent (2023). As great and influential as Ringu is, Crazy Lips feels like Takahashi just wanted to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 16, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Gator Face

Official synopsis Gator Face follows a group of friends whose sun-soaked Florida vacation takes a dark turn when they become prey to a sinister cult that sacrifices its victims to an alligator god. Far from the carefree escape they had planned, the friends are drawn deeper into an isolated world governed by ritual and violence, forcing them into a desperate fight to survive both the cult and the deadly creature at the center of its beliefs. Review Writer/director Padraig Reynolds’ Gator Face combines masked slasher mayhem with creature feature carnage. Fear-fare fanatics who love their horror brutal and at a relentless pace are going to have a field day, but many viewers will ultimately feel like they got kicked where it hurts most. The editing on alligator attacks is great, with live gators acting menacing and the graphic kills with practical effects blending impressively. Some of the more nerve-wracking moments of the film involve cast members actually interacting with these

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 15, 2026

U.K.’s Dead And SudBuried Horrorthon Unveils Its Droolworthy 2026 Lineup

Whether fear-fare fanatics are in the mood for classics or cutting-edge new features,  Dead And SudBuried Horror Film Festival (Sudbury, Suffolk, U.K.) has pretty much everyone covered. This year’s edition runs from October 22–25, 2026. Following is the official press announcement.  The Dead And SudBuried Horror Film Festival returns to the sleepy market town of Sudbury, Suffolk for its 10th Anniversary edition, expanding to four days and welcoming movies from all over the world, celebrating new and classic horror movies! The terrifying event returns over from Thursday 22nd October to 25th October with another horror packed schedule featuring 11 brand new festival circuit features, 11 classic movies and 22 new horror shorts alongside Director/Cast Q&A’s, food trucks, merchandise and much more over four long, scary days. The Dead And SudBuried Horrorthon began life in 2016 in Suffolk in the small market town of Sudbury as a celebration of classic horror movies, screening seven classics over a single day in the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 15, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: You Are the Film and Welcome to G-Town (Tubi FrightFest 2026)

You Are the Film (Japan, 2026) Official Tubi FrightFest Synopsis from https://frightfest.co.uk/LondoN2026/you-are-the-film.html The long-awaited directorial debut of Makoto Ueda, writer of BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES and RIVER. THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO goes wacky Sci-Fi as Shimokitazawa native playwright Madoka and Sangenjaya-based band member Kazuma separately go and see a movie at the Tollywood independent cinema. But in the film, they each see the other person on screen — Madoka is in the film Kazuma is watching, and vice versa. In this impossible multiverse, incidents occur within each other’s stories as both communicate through the screen and work hard to solve the problems that arise in each other’s narratives.  Review You Are the Film writer/director Makoto Ueda wrote the screenplays for the excellent time loop science-fiction comedies Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and River. If you have seen either of those films, you can expect that you will be in for a humorous, touching treat of a genre feature

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 11, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: The Spirit Lock

Official synopsis Desperate to save their possessed son, a fractured couple turns to a cursed Pagan device—unleashing a greater evil that threatens their sanity, their marriage, and their souls.  Review Director Steven Fierberg’s The Spirit Lock (U.K., 2026) combines folk horror and possession horror with the battling of personal demons in an impressive slice of cinematic fear fare. The screenplay by Justin Stanley and Mark Jonathan Stanley is wonderfully crafted, and the cast members all check in with fine performances. Karl Mellor (Joe Anderson) is desperate enough to save his son Kit (Stefanos Paraskevopoulus) from what he fears is a demonic possession that he takes on the heavy responsibility of acquiring the titular pagan object. This being a horror film, obviously that will prove to have consequences. He tries to keep his tactics away from his wife Vanessa (Yasmin Al-Khudhairi), but naturally that can only last so long.  Karl is frustrated that professionals such as man of the cloth Father

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 10, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Do You Want to Play? (Tubi FrightFest 2026)

Official synopsis At a Halloween party inside a notorious murder house, fifteen-year-old Emily opens a digital spirit board and invites an ancient entity into her body. To save her, her boyfriend Tommy must join forces with Owen — the app’s creator and his former best friend — before possession becomes permanent. Review Writer/director Nick Lyon’s Do You Want to Play? Has an odd feel to it. The drama, including a love triangle between three Christian private high school students, along with many plot elements have a gateway horror flavor to them, but the carnage and gore is much stronger than I would imagine many preteen viewers might be ready for. More seasoned fright-fare viewers would find the gruesome elements more to their liking but find the other proceedings to be better suited for a juvenile audience. Still, the film offers some interesting updating of spirit board movie chills to the digital world of today’s teens. Lyons does an admirable job

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 9, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Spider Island (Tubi FrightFest 2026)

Official Synopsis A bunch of young men and women just want to have some fun in the sun. What could go wrong? Review Spider Island sees the trope of unlikable influencers getting theirs move from the more often used location of a single type of bode to an entire resort island. Influencers are certainly an easy target, but that type of character is becoming low hanging fruit with each new fear flick. Here, director Christopher Smith’s horror comedy at least gives viewers a more sympathetic “creator” and adds a young woman named Clara (Rose Williams) who is not a part of that group and is concerned with ecoactivism rather than joining the hedonistic partying provided courtesy of pompous corporate resort employee David (Andy Nyman). David wants the influencers to spread the good word about the resort but poisonous arachnids won’t give up their home turf so easily. Clara’s estranged father Curtis (Tim McInnerny) was a famous stage actor who gave

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 9, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Still Ohio and Get That Dick (GenreBlast 2026)

Still Ohio Official synopsis In a misguided attempt to save her relationship, Ana (Fernanda Lopez) transfers from Boston College to Tulane to be with her boyfriend, Doug. Doug arranges for Ana to carpool with three of his rambunctious friends, Henry (Michael Zapesotsky), Julia (Sofia Angelopoulos), and Johnny (Jake Melamed). However, along the way, Ana discovers Doug does not know these strangers nearly as well as she was led to believe.  Review I’m rather a hard sell on genre films involving time loops, but writer/director Kaylin Allshouse’s Still Ohio is a well crafted exception to my usual stance. The characters and circumstances are nicely fleshed out, the direction is strong, and the performances from the four leads are all impressive.  Without giving too much away, the road trip that the four protagonists find themselves on involves a gas station that at first seems eerily similar to the first one where they stopped. As incidents proceed, that location and the other people

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 9, 2026

York, U.K.’s Dead Northern Horror Film Festival Announces Shock-Filled 2026 Edition

From classics such as Aliens and Aswang to cutting edge new fear fare like Wrath of the Gods and Free Buffet,  Dead Northern Horror Film Festival has features and shorts galore for horror devotees of all stripes. Taking place 25-27 September, 2026 in York, U.K., the fest also boasts a Dead by Daylight-inspired immersive experience […]

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 3, 2026

More from Joseph Perry

Screamfest Horror Film Festival Reveals Tremendous 2026 Lineup

Los Angeles-based Screamfest Horror Film Festival today announced its 2026 lineup, and as always, it’s a doozy! Masked slashers, supernatural entities, and other fear-fare favorites are in abundance. Following is the official press announcement.  Screamfest Horror Film Festival, the largest and longest-running horror festival in the United States, today unveiled the first wave of competitive features and shorts for its 26th edition. Screamfest 2026 will launch with the World Premiere of Jeremy Weiss’ THE NIGHT DRIVER, starring Josh Lucas, David Arquette, and Alyssa Milano. This gripping, twist-filled thriller takes audiences on a terrifying journey where one fateful night on a lonely stretch of highway becomes a relentless fight for survival. Taking place October 6-15, 2026, at the TCL Chinese Theatre, the festival invites horror fans to experience twisted tales and terrifying films on the big screen. Festival badges are now on sale. Tickets will be on sale soon. screamfestla.com.   For 26 years, Screamfest has been where the next generation

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 16, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Crazy Lips and Gore from Outer Space

Crazy Lips (Japan, 2000) Official synopsis Satomi and her family are hounded by the press when her brother is accused of a vicious killing spree. Desperate to prove his innocence, Satomi goes to a psychic for help. The price the psychic asks is far more than she expected, and the answers they give her are nothing she could ever have imagined.    Review I feel that it’s important to note up front that director Hirohisa Sasaki’s Crazy Lips has no less than four rape scenes, with one involving necrophilia. And that’s not all of the depravity on display, by a longshot. If you are still reading, you may well be either desensitized or curious enough to give this film a watch. The screenplay was written by Hiroshi Takahashi, who also penned Ringu and Ringu sequels, and recently wrote and directed The House of the Serpent (2023). As great and influential as Ringu is, Crazy Lips feels like Takahashi just wanted to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 16, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Gator Face

Official synopsis Gator Face follows a group of friends whose sun-soaked Florida vacation takes a dark turn when they become prey to a sinister cult that sacrifices its victims to an alligator god. Far from the carefree escape they had planned, the friends are drawn deeper into an isolated world governed by ritual and violence, forcing them into a desperate fight to survive both the cult and the deadly creature at the center of its beliefs. Review Writer/director Padraig Reynolds’ Gator Face combines masked slasher mayhem with creature feature carnage. Fear-fare fanatics who love their horror brutal and at a relentless pace are going to have a field day, but many viewers will ultimately feel like they got kicked where it hurts most. The editing on alligator attacks is great, with live gators acting menacing and the graphic kills with practical effects blending impressively. Some of the more nerve-wracking moments of the film involve cast members actually interacting with these

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 15, 2026

U.K.’s Dead And SudBuried Horrorthon Unveils Its Droolworthy 2026 Lineup

Whether fear-fare fanatics are in the mood for classics or cutting-edge new features,  Dead And SudBuried Horror Film Festival (Sudbury, Suffolk, U.K.) has pretty much everyone covered. This year’s edition runs from October 22–25, 2026. Following is the official press announcement.  The Dead And SudBuried Horror Film Festival returns to the sleepy market town of Sudbury, Suffolk for its 10th Anniversary edition, expanding to four days and welcoming movies from all over the world, celebrating new and classic horror movies! The terrifying event returns over from Thursday 22nd October to 25th October with another horror packed schedule featuring 11 brand new festival circuit features, 11 classic movies and 22 new horror shorts alongside Director/Cast Q&A’s, food trucks, merchandise and much more over four long, scary days. The Dead And SudBuried Horrorthon began life in 2016 in Suffolk in the small market town of Sudbury as a celebration of classic horror movies, screening seven classics over a single day in the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 15, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: You Are the Film and Welcome to G-Town (Tubi FrightFest 2026)

You Are the Film (Japan, 2026) Official Tubi FrightFest Synopsis from https://frightfest.co.uk/LondoN2026/you-are-the-film.html The long-awaited directorial debut of Makoto Ueda, writer of BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES and RIVER. THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO goes wacky Sci-Fi as Shimokitazawa native playwright Madoka and Sangenjaya-based band member Kazuma separately go and see a movie at the Tollywood independent cinema. But in the film, they each see the other person on screen — Madoka is in the film Kazuma is watching, and vice versa. In this impossible multiverse, incidents occur within each other’s stories as both communicate through the screen and work hard to solve the problems that arise in each other’s narratives.  Review You Are the Film writer/director Makoto Ueda wrote the screenplays for the excellent time loop science-fiction comedies Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and River. If you have seen either of those films, you can expect that you will be in for a humorous, touching treat of a genre feature

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 11, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: The Spirit Lock

Official synopsis Desperate to save their possessed son, a fractured couple turns to a cursed Pagan device—unleashing a greater evil that threatens their sanity, their marriage, and their souls.  Review Director Steven Fierberg’s The Spirit Lock (U.K., 2026) combines folk horror and possession horror with the battling of personal demons in an impressive slice of cinematic fear fare. The screenplay by Justin Stanley and Mark Jonathan Stanley is wonderfully crafted, and the cast members all check in with fine performances. Karl Mellor (Joe Anderson) is desperate enough to save his son Kit (Stefanos Paraskevopoulus) from what he fears is a demonic possession that he takes on the heavy responsibility of acquiring the titular pagan object. This being a horror film, obviously that will prove to have consequences. He tries to keep his tactics away from his wife Vanessa (Yasmin Al-Khudhairi), but naturally that can only last so long.  Karl is frustrated that professionals such as man of the cloth Father

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 10, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Do You Want to Play? (Tubi FrightFest 2026)

Official synopsis At a Halloween party inside a notorious murder house, fifteen-year-old Emily opens a digital spirit board and invites an ancient entity into her body. To save her, her boyfriend Tommy must join forces with Owen — the app’s creator and his former best friend — before possession becomes permanent. Review Writer/director Nick Lyon’s Do You Want to Play? Has an odd feel to it. The drama, including a love triangle between three Christian private high school students, along with many plot elements have a gateway horror flavor to them, but the carnage and gore is much stronger than I would imagine many preteen viewers might be ready for. More seasoned fright-fare viewers would find the gruesome elements more to their liking but find the other proceedings to be better suited for a juvenile audience. Still, the film offers some interesting updating of spirit board movie chills to the digital world of today’s teens. Lyons does an admirable job

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 9, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Spider Island (Tubi FrightFest 2026)

Official Synopsis A bunch of young men and women just want to have some fun in the sun. What could go wrong? Review Spider Island sees the trope of unlikable influencers getting theirs move from the more often used location of a single type of bode to an entire resort island. Influencers are certainly an easy target, but that type of character is becoming low hanging fruit with each new fear flick. Here, director Christopher Smith’s horror comedy at least gives viewers a more sympathetic “creator” and adds a young woman named Clara (Rose Williams) who is not a part of that group and is concerned with ecoactivism rather than joining the hedonistic partying provided courtesy of pompous corporate resort employee David (Andy Nyman). David wants the influencers to spread the good word about the resort but poisonous arachnids won’t give up their home turf so easily. Clara’s estranged father Curtis (Tim McInnerny) was a famous stage actor who gave

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 9, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Still Ohio and Get That Dick (GenreBlast 2026)

Still Ohio Official synopsis In a misguided attempt to save her relationship, Ana (Fernanda Lopez) transfers from Boston College to Tulane to be with her boyfriend, Doug. Doug arranges for Ana to carpool with three of his rambunctious friends, Henry (Michael Zapesotsky), Julia (Sofia Angelopoulos), and Johnny (Jake Melamed). However, along the way, Ana discovers Doug does not know these strangers nearly as well as she was led to believe.  Review I’m rather a hard sell on genre films involving time loops, but writer/director Kaylin Allshouse’s Still Ohio is a well crafted exception to my usual stance. The characters and circumstances are nicely fleshed out, the direction is strong, and the performances from the four leads are all impressive.  Without giving too much away, the road trip that the four protagonists find themselves on involves a gas station that at first seems eerily similar to the first one where they stopped. As incidents proceed, that location and the other people

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 9, 2026

York, U.K.’s Dead Northern Horror Film Festival Announces Shock-Filled 2026 Edition

From classics such as Aliens and Aswang to cutting edge new fear fare like Wrath of the Gods and Free Buffet,  Dead Northern Horror Film Festival has features and shorts galore for horror devotees of all stripes. Taking place 25-27 September, 2026 in York, U.K., the fest also boasts a Dead by Daylight-inspired immersive experience […]

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 3, 2026
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