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Shudder Conjures the Supernatural Horror Film ‘Heresy’

Get ready for Shudder’s new horror film Heresy to cast a spell on you. The Dutch film, also known as Witte Wieven, has now made its streaming debut on the genre streaming service. Don’t let the “Dutch” factor scare you off; it does feature English subtitles. The dark tale is set in a medieval Dutch village. It follows a young woman caught in a terrifying struggle. She is trapped between her faith and the fanatic townsfolk. Dark forces lurk within the nearby woods, but they may be her only escape. A Horror Pedigree Didier Konings, who served as a concept artist for “Stranger Things.” His pedigree doesn’t stop there. He has also had a successful career in visual effects, including for The Conjuring 2 and Lights Out. He is now making his feature directorial debut with Heresy. A Haunting Tale The film is set in a suffocatingly puritanical medieval Dutch village where a woman’s worth is measured solely by her

Continue reading →

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Feels Like Home and Black Zombie (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Feels Like Home (Hungary, 2026) Official Synopsis Kidnapped by a family convinced she is their missing daughter, a woman must assume another identity to survive as she seeks a way out of this nightmare. Rita, an ordinary, but lonely woman is kidnapped. Her captors are the Árpáds; they claim she is not called Rita but Szilvi, a runaway from their family. Rita eventually understands that the only way out is in – to escape she must impersonate Szilvi. The more she becomes the lost girl the more she finds out about the family, and understands that her life is on the line. Review Director Gábor Holtai’s Hungarian feature Feels Like Home is a dynamic blend of thriller, mystery, and drama with horror elements, as well. The acting throughout is a master class, led by Rozi Lovas’s bravura performance as Rita, a woman who is kidnapped mere minutes after losing her job at a shoe store. One of the kidnappers claims

Continue reading →
May 1, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Dead Bloom and Don’t Sleep Alone (Panic Fest)

Dead Bloom (U.S., 2026) Official Synopsis A struggling Black family settles on the poisoned land. Decay, madness, and violence follow. Years later, a new family inherits the property, awakening horrors long dormant. Blending parasitic flora, multi-generational trauma with corporate greed perpetuates the dehumanizing of people of color creating a chilling story of rebirth and reckoning, where the past is never dead, only buried. Review Socially charged horror films, including environmentally focused fear fare, can sometimes err on the side of being too on the nose, hammering home a message so hard that it distracts from its genre elements. Dead Bloom cowriters/codirectors Damien Paris and Domonic Paris make no such mistake. The father and son directing team balance the social commentary with the shocks marvelously, with the result being a suspenseful, gore-soaked slice of cinema. Dead Bloom’s look, production values, and special effects belie the microbudget on which it was made. Gorehounds will revel in the highly impressive practical effects, but

Continue reading →
Apr 29, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Hangashore (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Official Synopsis Haunted by nightmares and visions, an artist chases the ghost of her father to the remote coast of Newfoundland. Abandoning all that she knows of her life in Iceland, Vera settles in a remote Canadian fishing village looking for answers. She finds herself drawn to Jack, a seal hunter leaving town with his failing boat and superstitious crew. With a curious romance blossoming, Vera sneaks aboard his fledgling longliner destined for ice floes full of seals. The vessel is choked in a thick fog and there is no bounty on the water. Jack’s scrappy crew is led by Patrick – desperate and plagued by superstition, he blames the mysterious weather on the stowaway. Violence erupts, hurling Jack and Vera into a fit of survival. HANGASHORE is a hypnotic vision of romance glowing in frozen Newfoundland landscapes. Review Because Calgary Underground Film Festival’s official description above sets up the story so well, I’ll dive right into review specifics. Writer/director

Continue reading →
Apr 27, 2026
Horror Fuel

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Creature of the Pines and The Burning of Broken Beak (Panic Fest)

Creature feature devotees, we have reviews of two monsterrific films for you from Panic Fest’s virtual version: Creature of the Pines and The Burning of Broken Beak. Creature of the Pines (U.S., 2026) Official Synopsis A documentary investigation into Pine Hollow disappearances reveals a presence lurking deep within the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Review With Creature of the Pines, cowriters/codirectors Chris Ruppert and Tyler Transue craft a faux documentary/found footage hybrid that cryptozoology devotees should find quite intriguing. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that what lurks in the woods in this feature isn’t the usual hirsute, large-footed suspect, which should make this film even more tempting in the curiosity department. Talking heads interview footage is interspersed between “found” footage of hikers who disappeared in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The experts and others portrayed as interview subjects largely do a solid job of seeming natural in their portrayals, a style that is not

Continue reading →
Apr 27, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: SHED (Screamfest 2025)

Official Synopsis Mia, a courageous 10-year-old girl who is locked in a shed, must survive inconceivable odds whilst trying to discover what happened to her family. Review Writer/director/editor Steven J. Mihaljevich’s Shed (Australia, 2025) is a taut horror thriller boasting a fantastic performance from young Mani Shanks as Mia, a little girl who is locked in the family shed by her little brother during a game. Unbeknownst to her, something awful befalls her family, and after a few days surviving by herself, a maniacal stranger (Jason Robert Lester) discovers her presence. The film starts off as a survival horror in the confinement of the shed before turning into a cat-and-mouse chiller in a wider area. I don’t want to give away too much more than that, as Shed is rich with surprises. Mia is a resourceful youngster who doesn’t give up easily, and her clever ideas for staying alive are more realistic than precocious “superkid”-style elements. Shanks captured Screamfest’s Best

Continue reading →
Oct 18, 2025

Spoiler-Free Reviews: THE DOLLMAKER, A FISHERMAN’S TALE, and PITFALL (Screamfest 2025)

The Dollmaker Official synopsis In a quiet village, a charming young man named Tomás leads a simple life: caring for his mother, working at the video store and town clinic, and collecting dolls. As women start disappearing, newly arrived Inspector Porter investigates. Review Director José María Cicala’s The Dollmaker (Encantador; Argentina, 2025) is an unnerving combination of the weird and the macabre. It’s also a candidate for feel-bad horror film of the year, and a terror tale you are not likely to easily forget. Tomás (Rodrigo Noya) is both socially active and socially awkward, working at a video rental store and helping out with a support group. When a series of disappearances occur in his small Argentinian town, the video store comes under investigation by a new-in-town officer despite the police chief’s lack of concern. The screenplay by Cicala and Griselda Sanchez is full of twists, red herrings, and surprises, keeping even seasoned fright-fare fanatics questioning events and characters until

Continue reading →
Oct 18, 2025

Spoiler Free Reviews: Descendent, The Square, and Heavens: the Boy and His Robot (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025)

Once again, our coverage of Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN) reviews is cowritten by Film Festival Editor Joseph Perry and Guest Contributing Writer Chris Weatherspoon. A man of the world, guest reviewer Chris Weatherspoon has lived in South Korea for “quite a bit.” A huge fan of all cinema, Chris also works locally in the entertainment industry, and knows what he is talking about . . . alright!? Descendent (U.S., 2025); review by Joseph Perry Official BIFAN synopsis from program notes written by Kim Kani: Sean, a school security guard in a small town on the outskirts of Los Angeles, is struggling with the looming reality of fatherhood. Haunted by childhood trauma and weighed down by the pressures of his job, he feels utterly unprepared to become a parent. One night during a routine shift, he witnesses a mysterious, glowing object in the sky. After that encounter, Sean begins to suffer from disturbing visions — strange images, apparitions of alien

Continue reading →
Jul 24, 2025

Spoiler Free Reviews: I Kill U and I, Kill (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025)

Once again, our coverage of Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN) reviews is cowritten by Film Festival Editor Joseph Perry and Guest Contributing Writer Chris Weatherspoon. A man of the world, guest reviewer Chris Weatherspoon has lived in South Korea for “quite a bit.” A huge fan of all cinema, Chris also works locally in the entertainment industry, and knows what he is talking about . . . alright!? I Kill U (South Korea, 2025); review by Chris Weatherspoon Official BIFAN synopsis from program notes written by Kim Kani: Kang Sunwoo, a former promising taekwondo athlete, now lives a life of poverty and exhaustion. One day, while carrying the weight of her painful past, she is suddenly thrust into the spotlight when people notice her uncanny resemblance to a woman named Han Jiyeon. The problem is, Han Jiyeon is the main perpetrator of a ‘drunk driving hit-and-run death case’ and also the heiress of a major conglomerate. As public anger and

Continue reading →
Jul 22, 2025

Spoiler Free Reviews: 100 Liters of Gold and Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025)

Once again, our coverage of Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN) reviews is cowritten by Film Festival Editor Joseph Perry and Guest Contributing Writer Chris Weatherspoon. A man of the world, guest reviewer Chris Weatherspoon has lived in South Korea for “quite a bit.” A huge fan of all cinema, Chris also works locally in the entertainment industry, and knows what he is talking about . . . alright!? 100 Liters of Gold (Finland/Italy, 2025); review by Chris Weatherspoon Official BIFAN synopsis from program notes written by Kim Byeonggyu: 100 Liters of Gold is a comedy of drunkenness and a farce of hangovers. Middle-aged sisters Taina and Pirkko, who live in a small village in southern Finland, are brewers of sahti, a traditional Finnish beer. Tasked with preparing 100 litres of sahti for the wedding of their younger sister Paivi, who has returned to their hometown, they accidentally end up drinking all the beer themselves. With only 48 hours left until

Continue reading →
Jul 21, 2025

More from Foreign

Shudder Conjures the Supernatural Horror Film ‘Heresy’

Get ready for Shudder’s new horror film Heresy to cast a spell on you. The Dutch film, also known as Witte Wieven, has now made its streaming debut on the genre streaming service. Don’t let the “Dutch” factor scare you off; it does feature English subtitles. The dark tale is set in a medieval Dutch village. It follows a young woman caught in a terrifying struggle. She is trapped between her faith and the fanatic townsfolk. Dark forces lurk within the nearby woods, but they may be her only escape. A Horror Pedigree Didier Konings, who served as a concept artist for “Stranger Things.” His pedigree doesn’t stop there. He has also had a successful career in visual effects, including for The Conjuring 2 and Lights Out. He is now making his feature directorial debut with Heresy. A Haunting Tale The film is set in a suffocatingly puritanical medieval Dutch village where a woman’s worth is measured solely by her

Continue reading →

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Feels Like Home and Black Zombie (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Feels Like Home (Hungary, 2026) Official Synopsis Kidnapped by a family convinced she is their missing daughter, a woman must assume another identity to survive as she seeks a way out of this nightmare. Rita, an ordinary, but lonely woman is kidnapped. Her captors are the Árpáds; they claim she is not called Rita but Szilvi, a runaway from their family. Rita eventually understands that the only way out is in – to escape she must impersonate Szilvi. The more she becomes the lost girl the more she finds out about the family, and understands that her life is on the line. Review Director Gábor Holtai’s Hungarian feature Feels Like Home is a dynamic blend of thriller, mystery, and drama with horror elements, as well. The acting throughout is a master class, led by Rozi Lovas’s bravura performance as Rita, a woman who is kidnapped mere minutes after losing her job at a shoe store. One of the kidnappers claims

Continue reading →
May 1, 2026

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Dead Bloom and Don’t Sleep Alone (Panic Fest)

Dead Bloom (U.S., 2026) Official Synopsis A struggling Black family settles on the poisoned land. Decay, madness, and violence follow. Years later, a new family inherits the property, awakening horrors long dormant. Blending parasitic flora, multi-generational trauma with corporate greed perpetuates the dehumanizing of people of color creating a chilling story of rebirth and reckoning, where the past is never dead, only buried. Review Socially charged horror films, including environmentally focused fear fare, can sometimes err on the side of being too on the nose, hammering home a message so hard that it distracts from its genre elements. Dead Bloom cowriters/codirectors Damien Paris and Domonic Paris make no such mistake. The father and son directing team balance the social commentary with the shocks marvelously, with the result being a suspenseful, gore-soaked slice of cinema. Dead Bloom’s look, production values, and special effects belie the microbudget on which it was made. Gorehounds will revel in the highly impressive practical effects, but

Continue reading →
Apr 29, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: Hangashore (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Official Synopsis Haunted by nightmares and visions, an artist chases the ghost of her father to the remote coast of Newfoundland. Abandoning all that she knows of her life in Iceland, Vera settles in a remote Canadian fishing village looking for answers. She finds herself drawn to Jack, a seal hunter leaving town with his failing boat and superstitious crew. With a curious romance blossoming, Vera sneaks aboard his fledgling longliner destined for ice floes full of seals. The vessel is choked in a thick fog and there is no bounty on the water. Jack’s scrappy crew is led by Patrick – desperate and plagued by superstition, he blames the mysterious weather on the stowaway. Violence erupts, hurling Jack and Vera into a fit of survival. HANGASHORE is a hypnotic vision of romance glowing in frozen Newfoundland landscapes. Review Because Calgary Underground Film Festival’s official description above sets up the story so well, I’ll dive right into review specifics. Writer/director

Continue reading →
Apr 27, 2026
Horror Fuel

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Creature of the Pines and The Burning of Broken Beak (Panic Fest)

Creature feature devotees, we have reviews of two monsterrific films for you from Panic Fest’s virtual version: Creature of the Pines and The Burning of Broken Beak. Creature of the Pines (U.S., 2026) Official Synopsis A documentary investigation into Pine Hollow disappearances reveals a presence lurking deep within the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Review With Creature of the Pines, cowriters/codirectors Chris Ruppert and Tyler Transue craft a faux documentary/found footage hybrid that cryptozoology devotees should find quite intriguing. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that what lurks in the woods in this feature isn’t the usual hirsute, large-footed suspect, which should make this film even more tempting in the curiosity department. Talking heads interview footage is interspersed between “found” footage of hikers who disappeared in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The experts and others portrayed as interview subjects largely do a solid job of seeming natural in their portrayals, a style that is not

Continue reading →
Apr 27, 2026

Spoiler-Free Review: SHED (Screamfest 2025)

Official Synopsis Mia, a courageous 10-year-old girl who is locked in a shed, must survive inconceivable odds whilst trying to discover what happened to her family. Review Writer/director/editor Steven J. Mihaljevich’s Shed (Australia, 2025) is a taut horror thriller boasting a fantastic performance from young Mani Shanks as Mia, a little girl who is locked in the family shed by her little brother during a game. Unbeknownst to her, something awful befalls her family, and after a few days surviving by herself, a maniacal stranger (Jason Robert Lester) discovers her presence. The film starts off as a survival horror in the confinement of the shed before turning into a cat-and-mouse chiller in a wider area. I don’t want to give away too much more than that, as Shed is rich with surprises. Mia is a resourceful youngster who doesn’t give up easily, and her clever ideas for staying alive are more realistic than precocious “superkid”-style elements. Shanks captured Screamfest’s Best

Continue reading →
Oct 18, 2025

Spoiler-Free Reviews: THE DOLLMAKER, A FISHERMAN’S TALE, and PITFALL (Screamfest 2025)

The Dollmaker Official synopsis In a quiet village, a charming young man named Tomás leads a simple life: caring for his mother, working at the video store and town clinic, and collecting dolls. As women start disappearing, newly arrived Inspector Porter investigates. Review Director José María Cicala’s The Dollmaker (Encantador; Argentina, 2025) is an unnerving combination of the weird and the macabre. It’s also a candidate for feel-bad horror film of the year, and a terror tale you are not likely to easily forget. Tomás (Rodrigo Noya) is both socially active and socially awkward, working at a video rental store and helping out with a support group. When a series of disappearances occur in his small Argentinian town, the video store comes under investigation by a new-in-town officer despite the police chief’s lack of concern. The screenplay by Cicala and Griselda Sanchez is full of twists, red herrings, and surprises, keeping even seasoned fright-fare fanatics questioning events and characters until

Continue reading →
Oct 18, 2025

Spoiler Free Reviews: Descendent, The Square, and Heavens: the Boy and His Robot (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025)

Once again, our coverage of Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN) reviews is cowritten by Film Festival Editor Joseph Perry and Guest Contributing Writer Chris Weatherspoon. A man of the world, guest reviewer Chris Weatherspoon has lived in South Korea for “quite a bit.” A huge fan of all cinema, Chris also works locally in the entertainment industry, and knows what he is talking about . . . alright!? Descendent (U.S., 2025); review by Joseph Perry Official BIFAN synopsis from program notes written by Kim Kani: Sean, a school security guard in a small town on the outskirts of Los Angeles, is struggling with the looming reality of fatherhood. Haunted by childhood trauma and weighed down by the pressures of his job, he feels utterly unprepared to become a parent. One night during a routine shift, he witnesses a mysterious, glowing object in the sky. After that encounter, Sean begins to suffer from disturbing visions — strange images, apparitions of alien

Continue reading →
Jul 24, 2025

Spoiler Free Reviews: I Kill U and I, Kill (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025)

Once again, our coverage of Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN) reviews is cowritten by Film Festival Editor Joseph Perry and Guest Contributing Writer Chris Weatherspoon. A man of the world, guest reviewer Chris Weatherspoon has lived in South Korea for “quite a bit.” A huge fan of all cinema, Chris also works locally in the entertainment industry, and knows what he is talking about . . . alright!? I Kill U (South Korea, 2025); review by Chris Weatherspoon Official BIFAN synopsis from program notes written by Kim Kani: Kang Sunwoo, a former promising taekwondo athlete, now lives a life of poverty and exhaustion. One day, while carrying the weight of her painful past, she is suddenly thrust into the spotlight when people notice her uncanny resemblance to a woman named Han Jiyeon. The problem is, Han Jiyeon is the main perpetrator of a ‘drunk driving hit-and-run death case’ and also the heiress of a major conglomerate. As public anger and

Continue reading →
Jul 22, 2025

Spoiler Free Reviews: 100 Liters of Gold and Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025)

Once again, our coverage of Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN) reviews is cowritten by Film Festival Editor Joseph Perry and Guest Contributing Writer Chris Weatherspoon. A man of the world, guest reviewer Chris Weatherspoon has lived in South Korea for “quite a bit.” A huge fan of all cinema, Chris also works locally in the entertainment industry, and knows what he is talking about . . . alright!? 100 Liters of Gold (Finland/Italy, 2025); review by Chris Weatherspoon Official BIFAN synopsis from program notes written by Kim Byeonggyu: 100 Liters of Gold is a comedy of drunkenness and a farce of hangovers. Middle-aged sisters Taina and Pirkko, who live in a small village in southern Finland, are brewers of sahti, a traditional Finnish beer. Tasked with preparing 100 litres of sahti for the wedding of their younger sister Paivi, who has returned to their hometown, they accidentally end up drinking all the beer themselves. With only 48 hours left until

Continue reading →
Jul 21, 2025