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Spoiler-Free Reviews: AnyMart and A Weapon in My Heart (Jeonju International Film Festival 2026)

AnyMart (Japan, 2026) Official Synopsis Sakai, the protagonist, works as an assistant manager at a local convenience store. Outside of work, he lives a quiet, routine life — playing online games and using dating apps — having spent most of his twenties tied to the store. The store is his entire world. And yet, beyond its doors, the world itself seems to be coming to an end. Review Shõta Sometani as Sakai, a clerk at the convenience store owned by his gruff, stick-to-corporate-rules father, gives a fine performance. His character is all but dead on the inside at work, and not much motivated socially or otherwise outside of his job, although he attempts romantic connections, awkward though they may be. Sometani nails this everyman character as writer/director Yusuke Iwasaki uses the konbini and his protagonist as a representation of the frustrations of twentysomething life in modern Japan. The kills are sudden and often shocking, the gore is impressive, and the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jul 3, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Oscillation (Jeonju International Film Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis In the house where a father and daughter live together, a heavy silence lingers, and an unbridgeable distance remains. The father toils at an inexplicable task, while the daughter goes through her days in a quiet routine. But soon, a strange change overtakes his body. Review Kenichi Ugana has earned the title of auteur. He has been crafting independent genre features and shorts since 2010 that range from bizarre shockers (Visitors; Extraneous Matter: Complete Edition; Love Will Tear Us Apart) to a heartwarming rom-com ode to filmmaking (I Fell In Love With A Z-Grade Director In Brooklyn), some decidedly more accessible than others. His latest film Oscillation looks at the strained relationship between a man (Haruki Itabashi) and his adult daughter (Reika Matsubara) and treads in both existential and body horror. The theme of distance and lack of connection runs throughout Oscillation. Not only do the father and daughter rarely speak, communicating through notes to each other almost

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jul 3, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Rose of Nevada (2025)

Official synopsis Three decades ago, the Rose of Nevada vanished at sea, along with its crew. Now, it has returned. In a remote fishing village, its reappearance is embraced as an auspicious sign, with the local citizens convinced the luck of their economically devastated community may turn, if only the ship sails again. Joining the crew is Nick (George MacKay), desperate to provide for his young family, and Liam (Callum Turner), a mysterious drifter eager to escape his past. After a successful voyage, they return to harbor, only to find that nothing is as they remember it. Review Filmmaker Mark Jenkin is masterful at crafting haunting dramas with eerie genre-film elements shot and set in and around England’s coastal Cornwall area. He follows up his 2022 psychological horror Enys Men (reviewed here) with the gripping time-slip mindbender Rose of Nevada. As mentioned in the official synopsis above, the unexplained sudden reappearance of a fishing boat that was presumed lost in

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 23, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: MARGINALIA and BURNT FLOWERS (GenreBlast 2025) 

MARGINALIA (U.S., 2025) Official synopsis: Summoned to Karnstein Abbey to serve as a mourner at the funeral of their recently deceased abbess, Sister Trista discovers a dark secret involving demons, witchcraft and killer rabbits. But Sister Trista has a secret of her own. Nunsploitation, a Hammer Films’ horror vibe, and the retro charm and surreal qualities of filmmaker Guy Maddin’s work: Writer/director/editor/cinematographer Mark Beal’s beautifully bizarre Marginalia has all this and more. This black-and-white supernatural feature will win cinephiles over with its atmosphere to spare, which includes impressive practical effects work, cool stop-motion creatures, and wonderful medieval set design, costumes, and illustrations. Composer Alexander Hellonious’s evocative score fits the proceedings perfectly. Beal kicks things off right away with one of the most imaginative demises you’re likely to see this year. The cast members do a fine job with their committed performances, led by Jessica Bell as Sister Trista. Beal does assured work at the helm, and as he did with

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 18, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Turn It Up! (Tribeca Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis An indie rock band struggling to make its mark finds a possible meal ticket in an infectious new guitar riff. Unfortunately, it’s also a cursed melody that just so happens to open a portal to another, much scarier dimension. Review Writer/director Sam Scott mashes up horror elements, weird science, and razor-sharp comedy in the Canadian feature Turn It Up!. The result is a fun, frenetic film that boasts some cool rock numbers to accompany its frenzied goings-on. Alternative rock group members AC (Justine Nelson), Berg (Jonathan Craig), Court (Gwenlyn Cumyn), and Russ (Xavier Lopez) are doing the unsigned band grind when a song that may or may not be called “The Odyssey” — depending on which member you talk to — catches the attention of famous manager Miss Vee (Liv Collins). She promises them their way to a big break, but this being a genre film, naturally she has ulterior motives. Scott delivers a nice twist on the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 8, 2026

Movie Review: Helter Skelter (2012) – 88 Films Blu-ray

Lilico (Erika Sawajiri, a real-life model with her own troubled history who plays the role to perfection) has the modeling world by the short n’ curlies. Every woman wants to be her, every man wants to fuck her (good luck on that one unless you are a vacuous status-seeking pretty boy star or producer that can advance her career)… and while she rules the glamour world, her success may be fleeting… Controlled by an alcoholic “stage mom”, Lilico’s enduring flawless beauty is the result of experimental medical techniques that must be maintained regularly or else things begin to go shockingly south… and those rapidly spreading bruises are going to take a toll on her already fractured mental state! Brought to the screen by former fashion photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa (working from a screenplay by Arisa Kaneko adapting the manga from Kyôko Okazaki), Helter Skelter does the whole beauty and fame are fleeting bag and takes things to dynamic extremes.

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 7, 2026

Movie Review: Picture of a Nymph (1987) – 88 Films Blu-ray

Seemingly mute Taoist ghost-buster in training Sap Yee (frequent Jackie Chan flick regular Biao Yuen, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain) takes in a kindly scholar, Chui Hung-Chien (Lawrence Ng, Sex and Zen) after he inadvertently burns his pad to the ground fighting a ghost that takes the form of an old man with sentient hair! Eventually, Sappy’s curmudgeonly master Wu Men-Chu (Wu Ma, A Chinese Ghost Story… he also directed and co-wrote this film) returns home after a ghostly encounter with the bewitching King Ghost (Elizabeth Lee in her debut) and it’s umbrella wielding minions. Speaking of ol’ King G, a young princess named Mok Sau (Joey Wang, again with the A Chinese Ghost Story) has recently offed herself to avoid it’s clutches and has in turn become a ghost… a ghost that Chui falls in love with! Will our heroes be able to defeat King Ghost and friends and bring peace to Mok Sau… or will they soon

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 7, 2026

Movie Review: Watch Me Sleep (2023) – Wild Eye DVD

Our pal Sean (Darren McAree) has a lot on his plate… he’s a recovering alcoholic who’s abusive mother has just kicked the bucket… though on that last one our hero isn’t quite sure. To that end he signs up for a service that sticks a camera in a loved one’s coffin so family members can grieve longer… usually for a period of four weeks… but Sean is desperate for a longer look-see (by like eleven more months) so he throws money at the problem which ensures that will go down without a hitch. While initially quite gung-fucking-ho over spying on Mommy Deadest, Sean can’t bring himself to log in for the longest, but eventually a confrontational AA meeting gives him the courage to smash that button… and before long mum’s postmortem movement is becoming ever more obvious! Writer/Director John Williams (Creatures of the Night, Crispy’s Curse) delivers a rather skin-crawling premise with Watch Me Sleep… watching a family member decay

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Fantasia International Film Festival Unleashes Its Second Wave for 2026

Montréal’s Fantasia International Film Festival serves up an eye-popping amount of genre-film features with its second wave announcement for its 30th edition, scheduled for July 16 through August 2, 2026. Following is the official press announcement. The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 30th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 16 through August 2, 2026, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screenings and events at Montréal’s Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced in early July but in the meantime, Fantasia is excited to reveal a select second wave of its 2026 titles. CAPE FEAR IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE IN CHILLING APPLE TV ADAPTATION In this reimagining of CAPE FEAR, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Amy Adams, ARRIVAL, NIGHTBITCH) and Tom Bowden (Patrick Wilson, THE CONJURING, INSIDIOUS) when Max Cady (Javier Bardem, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 5, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Nesting (2025)

Official synopsis A deeply unsettling portrait of grief and psychological unraveling, Nesting follows Pénélope (Rose-Marie Perreault), a new mother struggling with postpartum depression and the lingering trauma of her sister’s death. As sleep deprivation takes hold, the boundary between dream and reality begins to collapse, pulling her into a paranoid and increasingly dangerous spiral. Review With Nesting (Peau à Peau; Switzerland/Canada, 2025), writer/director Chloé Cinq-Mars crafts an absolutely harrowing character study of new mother Pénélope (Rose-Marie Perreault) and how being held at gunpoint during a store robbery worsens her postpartum depression into a downward spiral of full-fledged madness. Cinq-Mars deftly balances the dramatic elements that drive the first two acts documenting Pénélope’s worsening conditions and the horror elements that truly kick in for the third act. Perreault gives an incredible performance as Pénélope, which is no easy feat as the character goes through sudden emotional and psychological changes. The robbery incident triggers memories of her sister Charlotte’s (Marie Bélanger) death,

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 29, 2026

More from Foreign

Spoiler-Free Reviews: AnyMart and A Weapon in My Heart (Jeonju International Film Festival 2026)

AnyMart (Japan, 2026) Official Synopsis Sakai, the protagonist, works as an assistant manager at a local convenience store. Outside of work, he lives a quiet, routine life — playing online games and using dating apps — having spent most of his twenties tied to the store. The store is his entire world. And yet, beyond its doors, the world itself seems to be coming to an end. Review Shõta Sometani as Sakai, a clerk at the convenience store owned by his gruff, stick-to-corporate-rules father, gives a fine performance. His character is all but dead on the inside at work, and not much motivated socially or otherwise outside of his job, although he attempts romantic connections, awkward though they may be. Sometani nails this everyman character as writer/director Yusuke Iwasaki uses the konbini and his protagonist as a representation of the frustrations of twentysomething life in modern Japan. The kills are sudden and often shocking, the gore is impressive, and the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jul 3, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Oscillation (Jeonju International Film Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis In the house where a father and daughter live together, a heavy silence lingers, and an unbridgeable distance remains. The father toils at an inexplicable task, while the daughter goes through her days in a quiet routine. But soon, a strange change overtakes his body. Review Kenichi Ugana has earned the title of auteur. He has been crafting independent genre features and shorts since 2010 that range from bizarre shockers (Visitors; Extraneous Matter: Complete Edition; Love Will Tear Us Apart) to a heartwarming rom-com ode to filmmaking (I Fell In Love With A Z-Grade Director In Brooklyn), some decidedly more accessible than others. His latest film Oscillation looks at the strained relationship between a man (Haruki Itabashi) and his adult daughter (Reika Matsubara) and treads in both existential and body horror. The theme of distance and lack of connection runs throughout Oscillation. Not only do the father and daughter rarely speak, communicating through notes to each other almost

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jul 3, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Rose of Nevada (2025)

Official synopsis Three decades ago, the Rose of Nevada vanished at sea, along with its crew. Now, it has returned. In a remote fishing village, its reappearance is embraced as an auspicious sign, with the local citizens convinced the luck of their economically devastated community may turn, if only the ship sails again. Joining the crew is Nick (George MacKay), desperate to provide for his young family, and Liam (Callum Turner), a mysterious drifter eager to escape his past. After a successful voyage, they return to harbor, only to find that nothing is as they remember it. Review Filmmaker Mark Jenkin is masterful at crafting haunting dramas with eerie genre-film elements shot and set in and around England’s coastal Cornwall area. He follows up his 2022 psychological horror Enys Men (reviewed here) with the gripping time-slip mindbender Rose of Nevada. As mentioned in the official synopsis above, the unexplained sudden reappearance of a fishing boat that was presumed lost in

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 23, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: MARGINALIA and BURNT FLOWERS (GenreBlast 2025) 

MARGINALIA (U.S., 2025) Official synopsis: Summoned to Karnstein Abbey to serve as a mourner at the funeral of their recently deceased abbess, Sister Trista discovers a dark secret involving demons, witchcraft and killer rabbits. But Sister Trista has a secret of her own. Nunsploitation, a Hammer Films’ horror vibe, and the retro charm and surreal qualities of filmmaker Guy Maddin’s work: Writer/director/editor/cinematographer Mark Beal’s beautifully bizarre Marginalia has all this and more. This black-and-white supernatural feature will win cinephiles over with its atmosphere to spare, which includes impressive practical effects work, cool stop-motion creatures, and wonderful medieval set design, costumes, and illustrations. Composer Alexander Hellonious’s evocative score fits the proceedings perfectly. Beal kicks things off right away with one of the most imaginative demises you’re likely to see this year. The cast members do a fine job with their committed performances, led by Jessica Bell as Sister Trista. Beal does assured work at the helm, and as he did with

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 18, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Turn It Up! (Tribeca Festival 2026)

Official Synopsis An indie rock band struggling to make its mark finds a possible meal ticket in an infectious new guitar riff. Unfortunately, it’s also a cursed melody that just so happens to open a portal to another, much scarier dimension. Review Writer/director Sam Scott mashes up horror elements, weird science, and razor-sharp comedy in the Canadian feature Turn It Up!. The result is a fun, frenetic film that boasts some cool rock numbers to accompany its frenzied goings-on. Alternative rock group members AC (Justine Nelson), Berg (Jonathan Craig), Court (Gwenlyn Cumyn), and Russ (Xavier Lopez) are doing the unsigned band grind when a song that may or may not be called “The Odyssey” — depending on which member you talk to — catches the attention of famous manager Miss Vee (Liv Collins). She promises them their way to a big break, but this being a genre film, naturally she has ulterior motives. Scott delivers a nice twist on the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 8, 2026

Movie Review: Helter Skelter (2012) – 88 Films Blu-ray

Lilico (Erika Sawajiri, a real-life model with her own troubled history who plays the role to perfection) has the modeling world by the short n’ curlies. Every woman wants to be her, every man wants to fuck her (good luck on that one unless you are a vacuous status-seeking pretty boy star or producer that can advance her career)… and while she rules the glamour world, her success may be fleeting… Controlled by an alcoholic “stage mom”, Lilico’s enduring flawless beauty is the result of experimental medical techniques that must be maintained regularly or else things begin to go shockingly south… and those rapidly spreading bruises are going to take a toll on her already fractured mental state! Brought to the screen by former fashion photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa (working from a screenplay by Arisa Kaneko adapting the manga from Kyôko Okazaki), Helter Skelter does the whole beauty and fame are fleeting bag and takes things to dynamic extremes.

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 7, 2026

Movie Review: Picture of a Nymph (1987) – 88 Films Blu-ray

Seemingly mute Taoist ghost-buster in training Sap Yee (frequent Jackie Chan flick regular Biao Yuen, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain) takes in a kindly scholar, Chui Hung-Chien (Lawrence Ng, Sex and Zen) after he inadvertently burns his pad to the ground fighting a ghost that takes the form of an old man with sentient hair! Eventually, Sappy’s curmudgeonly master Wu Men-Chu (Wu Ma, A Chinese Ghost Story… he also directed and co-wrote this film) returns home after a ghostly encounter with the bewitching King Ghost (Elizabeth Lee in her debut) and it’s umbrella wielding minions. Speaking of ol’ King G, a young princess named Mok Sau (Joey Wang, again with the A Chinese Ghost Story) has recently offed herself to avoid it’s clutches and has in turn become a ghost… a ghost that Chui falls in love with! Will our heroes be able to defeat King Ghost and friends and bring peace to Mok Sau… or will they soon

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 7, 2026

Movie Review: Watch Me Sleep (2023) – Wild Eye DVD

Our pal Sean (Darren McAree) has a lot on his plate… he’s a recovering alcoholic who’s abusive mother has just kicked the bucket… though on that last one our hero isn’t quite sure. To that end he signs up for a service that sticks a camera in a loved one’s coffin so family members can grieve longer… usually for a period of four weeks… but Sean is desperate for a longer look-see (by like eleven more months) so he throws money at the problem which ensures that will go down without a hitch. While initially quite gung-fucking-ho over spying on Mommy Deadest, Sean can’t bring himself to log in for the longest, but eventually a confrontational AA meeting gives him the courage to smash that button… and before long mum’s postmortem movement is becoming ever more obvious! Writer/Director John Williams (Creatures of the Night, Crispy’s Curse) delivers a rather skin-crawling premise with Watch Me Sleep… watching a family member decay

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Jun 6, 2026

Fantasia International Film Festival Unleashes Its Second Wave for 2026

Montréal’s Fantasia International Film Festival serves up an eye-popping amount of genre-film features with its second wave announcement for its 30th edition, scheduled for July 16 through August 2, 2026. Following is the official press announcement. The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 30th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 16 through August 2, 2026, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screenings and events at Montréal’s Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced in early July but in the meantime, Fantasia is excited to reveal a select second wave of its 2026 titles. CAPE FEAR IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE IN CHILLING APPLE TV ADAPTATION In this reimagining of CAPE FEAR, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Amy Adams, ARRIVAL, NIGHTBITCH) and Tom Bowden (Patrick Wilson, THE CONJURING, INSIDIOUS) when Max Cady (Javier Bardem, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 5, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Nesting (2025)

Official synopsis A deeply unsettling portrait of grief and psychological unraveling, Nesting follows Pénélope (Rose-Marie Perreault), a new mother struggling with postpartum depression and the lingering trauma of her sister’s death. As sleep deprivation takes hold, the boundary between dream and reality begins to collapse, pulling her into a paranoid and increasingly dangerous spiral. Review With Nesting (Peau à Peau; Switzerland/Canada, 2025), writer/director Chloé Cinq-Mars crafts an absolutely harrowing character study of new mother Pénélope (Rose-Marie Perreault) and how being held at gunpoint during a store robbery worsens her postpartum depression into a downward spiral of full-fledged madness. Cinq-Mars deftly balances the dramatic elements that drive the first two acts documenting Pénélope’s worsening conditions and the horror elements that truly kick in for the third act. Perreault gives an incredible performance as Pénélope, which is no easy feat as the character goes through sudden emotional and psychological changes. The robbery incident triggers memories of her sister Charlotte’s (Marie Bélanger) death,

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 29, 2026
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