Film Reviews by NP

A group of typically beautiful young people are holidaying in Mexico. Amy (Jena Malone) seems to be the butt of the others' meanness due to her fragile nature. Catwalk models can be so cruel! Anyway, the group are persuaded by a German tourist Mathius (Joe Anderson) to visit some local ruins. That's when the perfect holiday becomes something less savoury.

Their teen tales of adolescent mino-drama may not be enthralling, or put another way, mind-numbingly tedious, but they're not really a bad bunch. Certainly, the viewer is not baying for their death as in any 'Wrong Turn' sequels, and when they begin to suffer some nicely imaginative horror punishment, it's hard not to feel for them.

The sun-stroked Mayan locations are gorgeous, and strangely very 'right' for the story. Away from home, away from the familiar trappings of your ordinary life, there is a real sense of displacement here - even if it is a kind of paradise. Things become more desperate and nasty as time goes on. This does not disappoint. Stick with it. My score is 8 out of 10.

Prolific director Jess Franco follows up his previous very successful Orloff films with this stylish black and white chiller. As is often the case with Franco, this production has been distributed around the world under several titles. Some refer to the title character as Orloff, and some as Jekyll. But who cares when we're having this much fun? The weakest link is the main man himself - whatever his name is! With Howard Vernon unavailable, Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui steps in; he's avuncular, cuddly and friendly-faced, the polar opposite of Vernon.

Everything else is much as it often is in monochrome Jess Franco films. Stylish, arty, stark, polished, creepy and ever so slightly dull. The magnificent monster is far too handsome to warrant all the shrieking that greets his every appearance. Hugo Blancoplays zombie henchman Andros very well, and he's aided by sinister lighting and spooky music, but really, his 'hideousness' amounts to nothing more to bad acne.

This is an enjoyable ride, though, and a million miles away from the gleeful bargain-basement fetish-romps that Franco would soon be producing. Some seeds of his future obsessions are sown here, in what would become familiar character names (Andros, Melissa for example) and a lengthy exotic jazzy cabaret sequence.

Perhaps not quite up there with the earlier 'The Awful Doctor Orlof', this is nonetheless unsettling, riotous early picture from the notorious Uncle Jess.

Ten years after his successful stint as Tarzan, Lex Barker is still in hero mode. At the end of the '50s, he found work surprisingly hard to come by and so travelled further afield than his native America where he still received top billing. He's a bit wooden in this, to be honest, but then he isn't required to do an awful lot other than to look smouldering and get involved in a few scraps - which he does with aplomb.

There are echoes of Dracula here, with blood providing life (long) after death, and Christopher Lee as Count Regula. Dripping corridors, a doomy atmosphere and plenty a heaving bosom, all heartily directed by Harald Reinl, ensure a thickly sliced slab of gothic splendour.

Edgar Allen Poe had barely begun to write his final work, on which this film is based before he passed away. Here, the talented Benjamin Cooper takes hold of the bare bones of the story and turns it into a sedately paced 88-minute film. Although achieved on a modest budget, the results are far from impoverished, and prove to be highly enjoyable - more than I expected.

JP (Matt O’Neill) finds himself washed up on an island, where he sees the apparition of a young woman. He's looked after by gruff lighthouse keeper Walsh (Vernon Wells). "I'll always keep a light burning during the night," he promises.

From here on in, we're treated to secrets, wraiths, apparitions, mysterious fever dreams, and a finale that only tells us what it wants us to know. This is a carefully made horror pot-boiler which may lack spectacle but tells a richly atmospheric tale very well. My score is 9 out of 10.

As with many modestly budgeted monster films, our views of the titular creature are fleeting and often obfuscated - at least until the end. This shouldn't be any kind of deterrent to anyone seeking out 'Night of the Wolf': it's great fun. A shaggy killer wages terror over a gentle, picturesque retirement community, and that's all you really need to know.

The story is imaginative and never run-of-the-mill. As we get to see more of the antagonists, it's good to see a lack of CGI, which for me, robs a production of its essential sense of 'place' - unless there's millions of pounds or dollars being spent. Much better that, for their flaws, these creatures are of the physical variety. Nice transformation too.

Directed effectively by Adrián García Bogliano and wonderfully scored by Wojciech Golczewski, 'Night of the Wolf' gets an 8 out of 10 from me.

Two's company, and all that. Alex and Jenn, embarking on a backpacking trek through the Canadian forests, are such good company that when Brad joins them, he spoils the balance, no matter how much he ingratiates himself. Jeff Roop and Missy Peregrym play the couple, and Eric Balfour is Brad, and the further he is on screen, the less likeable he seems. The Canadian Ranger, played by Nicholas Campbell, completes the modest main cast list. They're all so well played, it doesn't matter that we have to wait a long time for any of the expected attacks to come.

When they do, they don't disappoint. Director and writer Adam MacDonald, in his debut feature, ensures that tensions are ratcheted up a few notches as the film goes on, with many scenes full of perfectly judged jeopardy that also prove to be surprisingly gory. Only the finale seems a little anti-climactic. My score is 8 out of 10.

Amber (Courtney Hope) is surrounded by failing parents and appalling friends. You know the type - alleged teens who are horny/stoned/drunk at all times, with the kind of pack personality you'd expect from such a lowbrow designer catwalk crew. When they end up in the kind of trouble a film with a title like 'Prowl' couldn't exist without, it's difficult to care for such preening twits. They attempt to ditch their former unfulfilling lives by hitching a ride which unexpectedly leads them to no-nonsense Veronica (Saxon Trainor), and her delightfully bloody slaughterhouse. From here, things get progressively more messy and tense.

'Prowl' is good once it gets going and we get past the lazily drawn 'hero' types. It staggers me how obvious it seems to me to make your characters likeable, but that so many directors - Patrik Syversen, here, is one - seem to think that's too easy. Better to make them edgy in the belief that makes them interesting. It doesn't! Or perhaps we are supposed to be aching for them to get dispatched in as gory a way as possible. If that's the aim, then it succeeds.

Possibly the biggest challenge in watching this Spanish/French horror extravaganza is the dubbing. As is sometimes the case, less than a scrupulous translation of the dialogue can produce unintentionally hilarious results. Some would say that adds to the charm. Perhaps they are right.

You may be led to believe this is a Jess Franco production. I was. It is in fact directed by Pierre Chevalier who delivers a comparatively accessible yarn filled with genre cliches used to fairly good effect. Once again playing Orloff is the mighty Howard Verson (who had played the character for Franco before, and would do so again in the future), the hero-type is Dr. Garondet (Frances Valladares), and the vampy young lady of the piece is Cécile (Brigitte Carva). If you're ready, there's also an invisible ape who gets up to all sorts of nasty business - again, some of his vile antics do unintentionally (I presume) raise a smile.

The story seems to have bits and pieces from most of the horror classics thrown in. You might recognise elements from Dracula, and Frankenstein, and there are dark tunnels and a hero who delights in wearing a red-lined cloak. It's all here and is delightfully unconventional in places and darn right ridiculous in others.

Based on a horrifying true story, the promotional material tells us. A slasher film set in Scotland where a group of friends are commemorating the legendary Redwood Massacre by camping out in the locations of the murders. As you might imagine, the Scottish locations are gorgeous, a real highlight of the film.

This is a very enjoyable, fast-moving directing/writing horror film from David Ryan Keith who has rightfully won a series of awards. Ryan has made a run of genre films, including 2020's sequel, 'Redwood Massacre: Annihilation' (which I fully intend to see). Ghostly apparitions, missing bodies, well-drawn characters you actually care about, and most impressively a killer scarecrow. Scarecrows seem tailor-made for horror films - lonesome, soulless mannequins who stand in solitary splendour - but are often used so ineffectively. Luckily that isn't the case here. My score is 8 out of 10.

David Schofield is brilliant at broken, sozzled teacher Mr Anderson, or Robert to his co-workers (I hesitate to say friends). He has a precocious daughter called Kate (Eliza Bennett) and bows to the reprimands of the headmistress Sarah Balhan (Ruth Gemmell). These three main characters are nicely written and convincingly played.

Anderson is flawed and shunned for it. A pupil accuses him of marking him down for an exam (the 'F' of the title) and knocks him to the floor; the student's parents then go about suing him for his alleged victimisation. When the beleaguered teacher warns of something being 'wrong' at the school, he is laughed at. When his words turn out to be true, the laughter abruptly stops.

'F' is excellent. Apart from being a frightening story (that is mainly so effective because it is set very much in the real world), it has comments to make about the system in general. Writer and director Johannes Roberts has turned in a well-rounded tale that appeals on several levels. More than just a slasher movie, the open-ended nature of some story elements indicates that such a situation is never a million miles away from happening again. I mean, why not?

My score is 9 out of 10. Or A+, if you prefer.

Serafina (Shauna Waldron) and Marsden (Edward Furlong) have recently lost their daughter. They hit upon a clearly unadvisable way of cleansing themselves of their abject misery by travelling to an isolated mansion in the middle of a desert and indulging in a ceremony designed to 'confront' death. You may think this won't end well. You may be right.

The director, known as Ajai, crams his film with as many images and ideas as 91 minutes will allow. Some might think it's saturated with too much incident; I rather liked the fast-moving nature of the ensuing horror. The thin budget makes itself apparent by some effects shortcomings and occasional lapses with the sound levels, and yet the ambition seems undiminished. I admire Ajai for this and, despite the shortcomings, 'Stitch Face' is an enjoyably gruesome experience. Hopefully, the director will continue for a long time to come.

It must be a fine balance to write a screenplay that consistently wrong-foots the audience, makes them smile occasionally while delivering a fairly grim and creepy story, and ensures that it all makes sense too. Nick Simon, who directs and co-writes achieves this very nicely. There's an irresistible grim strand of humour running through this, although the main character Cole has little to be cheerful about. Mark Kelly is very good as the flawed central character, fighting several of his own personal demons, as well as the manipulations of those around him. Even Oz Perkins as the the unpleasant Henry Sharpe has a dry line in humour.

That the twists and turns pay off is a bonus - it isn't always the case, and while there's nothing wrong with open-ended stories, it's good to have things tied up here. Morte than that I won't reveal.

As a chiller about a put-upon industrial cleaner, Removal works very well indeed. My score is 9 out of 10.

Making a horror film based on real-life tragedies is a tricky manoeuvre - the subject of this slow-burning, low-key chiller is Arthur, played by Bayly. Arthur suffers from Alzheimer's, although the condition is woefully under-diagnosed. As such, his new live-in nurse Emily (Sophie Stevens) has her work cut out for her, especially when the erratic nature of events drifts into the supernatural.

Nothing happens quickly, which won't sit well with some. Don't expect a multi-million pounds Hollywood-style spectacle here - indeed, such a style would rob 'The Haunted' of its dread and dark closeness, and poor Emma's experience wouldn't be anywhere near as effective. Only the finale picks up speed, and that is to its detriment. A host of information assails the viewer, which is not in keeping with the carefully layered storyline before it. This is a shame, but such rashness doesn't undo the effective scares that make up the majority of this film's running time. My score is 9 out of 10.

'Redwood' is a character-based horror chiller that relies on the two main players Mike Beckingham and Tatjana Nardone (as Josh and Beth respectively. Happily, we're in good company with nice performances and interesting characters, who are responding to some fairly horrific news. They decide to go on a camping trip, and it would be naive indeed to hope that things go smoothly.

There's a twist towards the end of the 78-minute film, and as is the way of such things, some will guess it, and some won't. I didn't. I was enjoying the journey too much. Director and writer Tom Paton has created an immersive, effective horror that goes into some interesting places. To say more would spoil it. My score is 8 out of 10.

Written by Director David Cronenberg whilst his recent divorce was still in his mind, 'The Brood' is grim and at times, deeply unpleasant, and works extremely well as a horror film. The central character of Nola (Samantha Eggar) was based to a certain extent, on his ex-wife. Eggar plays her role to perfection, hinting that something is not quite right, but in no way preparing us for the revelations to come.

Among the impressive cast is Oliver Reed, restrainedly playing D. Raglan, who also imbues his character with such layers, we're not quite sure whether he acts for good or evil. A lot of the characters are similarly opaque. Teacher Ruth Mayer (Susan Hogan), briefly seen, is possibly the story's most wholesome; her role is memorable, particularly for a bloody, horrifying scene in a classroom, where some of the children are not what they seem.

Ah yes, the children. The true monsters of the piece, are horrifyingly filmed, sometimes obscured by shadow. Their role in the story is as imaginative as it is shocking.

Plenty to see here, albeit behind the hands and through the fingers. All filmed in crisp, cold colours. To me, this is Cronenberg's wincing, graphic triumph. My score is 8 out of 10.