ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #5 – The Lighthouse Louise Burrell December 29, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Mermaids, one-eyed seagulls, and glimpses of sea monsters; Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse is anything but a mainstream horror. This undeniably weird film landed in the UK in the “normal” part of 2020,...
Why Suspiria Still Has The Perfect Horror Opening Sequence Joseph Bullock December 28, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features Watch the opening sequence of Suspiria here: part 1 & part 2 A masterpiece of the genre, and certainly the most famous Italian example, Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) remains a uniquely haunting...
Ten Unforgettable Films That Have Haunted Us Since Childhood Tom Bond December 23, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 The greatest films linger in your memory long after the credits have rolled, but there’s a particular power to those we watch as children: impressionable young minds latching onto striking images and twisted...
Murder Me, Monster – Review Tom Bond December 4, 2020 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in May 2018 as part of our Cannes Festival coverage. Argentinian writer-director Alejandro Fadel doesn’t pull any punches in his ghoulish and gory horror, Murder Me,...
Relic – Review Rob Salusbury November 1, 2020 Reviews This review was originally published as part of our London Film Festival 2020 coverage. Playing out like a particularly morbid episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, the Australia-set Relic digs into a...
Rose: A Love Story – LFF 2020 Review Fatima Sheriff October 15, 2020 Reviews Vampires are well-loved by storytellers, from Dracula to Twilight to What We Do in the Shadows; each has left their mark. Enter Rose, Sophie Rundle’s titular character, who lives alone with her human husband...
Saint Maud’s Feminist Evolution of Body Horror Rob Salusbury October 9, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion The role of the female within horror cinema has always been a complex and hotly debated topic. Some argue that the frequent depiction of the monstrous female - most commonly realised through the figure of the...
The Unfamiliar – Review Sophie Maxwell September 11, 2020 Reviews In British horror The Unfamiliar, Army doctor Izzy (Jemima West) returns from war bearing battle scars. Her home and family seem not quite right, with spooky events beginning within minutes. The film’s...
Koko-di Koko-da – Review Rob Salusbury September 6, 2020 Reviews Too exploitative to be intelligent, too repetitive to be innovative, Swedish director Johannes Nyholm’s second feature is an ambitious attempt to tackle the long-lasting effects of deep-set trauma that loses...
Detention – Fantasia Festival 2020 Review Alysha Prasad August 25, 2020 Reviews “As long as someone’s alive, there is always hope.” During the Cold War in 1962, Taiwan was under martial law, where those who subverted the government by speaking out about freedom or reading banned...
Fried Barry – Fantasia Festival 2020 Review Alysha Prasad August 22, 2020 Reviews Barry (Gary Green), an abusive drug-addict, is on yet another bender after an argument with his wife. After shooting up, he walks home down fog covered streets that have been overtaken by a haunting red hue,...
Why Takashi Miike’s Films Offer More Than Shock and Controversy Jack Cameron May 12, 2020 Analysis, Features, Spotlight Takashi Miike is a thrilling director who makes films that are nearly impossible to recommend. Many of his releases have been accompanied by stories of mass walkouts; of people fainting in their seats or even...
The Wretched – Review Alysha Prasad May 9, 2020 Reviews The Wretched is an indie horror from writer-directors Brett and Drew T. Pierce that dives into the supernatural events that take place during a summer. Set in a picturesque coastal town, rebellious teenager,...
Get In – Review Rob Salusbury May 2, 2020 Reviews By turns jaw-grindingly tedious and off-puttingly obnoxious, Get In spends so long trying to figure out what story it wants to tell that it's a wonder it even made it onto Netflix. Skittishly jumping between...
Should We be Nostalgic for ‘90s Nihilism? Jack Cameron April 22, 2020 Analysis, Features Cube (1997) and The Platform (2020) are both currently available to stream and make for a very interesting double bill. Both films are set in futuristic prisons, and both have very different approaches to the...