THE MOST DISTURBING SEAT IN THE HOUSE: INCOMPLETE CHAIRS STREAMS EXCLUSIVELY ON BLOODSTREAM OCTOBER 15

Stay home. Sit down. Squirm. The award-winning Japanese horror film arrives to BloodStream for Halloween.

This Halloween, you may want to think twice before getting comfortable. BloodStream will exclusively premiere Japanese filmmaker Kenichi Ugana’s Incomplete Chairs on October 15, bringing a blood-soaked tale of obsession, murder, and designer furniture straight into your living room. Viewers can experience the film in its original Japanese language or with an English dub.

Set in Tokyo, Incomplete Chairs stars Ryu Ichinose (The Gesuidouz, Ghost Killer) as Shinsuke Kujo, a craftsman whose pursuit of the perfect chair requires some decidedly unconventional materials: human bones and skin. After luring job applicants to his studio, Kujo turns murder into part of his creative process. But when chair buyer Natsuko Kato (Ryoka Oshima) takes an interest in his work, questions about his designs lead her and bar owner Masaki Uchida (Akito Fujii) toward a horrifying discovery.

Blending pitch-black humor with unflinching body horror, Incomplete Chairs takes aim at consumerism, status, and the pursuit of artistic perfection. With echoes of American Psycho and the brutality of New French Extremity, Ugana delivers a twisted Halloween treat for viewers who like their horror unsettling, outrageous, and far beyond the familiar.

“Incomplete Chairs is the most extreme horror film I’ve ever seen which also caused me to laugh out loud,” said Clark Collis, lead programmer of BloodStream. “Kenichi Ugana has created a must-see movie that will have viewers on the edge of their, yes, seats until the very end”

Incomplete Chairs made its world premiere at the 2025 SLASH Film Festival and went on to screen at Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinéma, Brooklyn Horror, and Grimmfest, where it won Best SFX and earned Ichinose a Special Mention for Best Actor in a Male Role.

The film comes from prolific Japanese filmmaker Kenichi Ugana, whose The Gesuidouz was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness program in 2024. His credits also include Visitors: Complete Edition, Love Will Tear Us Apart, and The Curse.

Pull up a chair, if you dare. Incomplete Chairs streams exclusively on BloodStream beginning October 15 in North America, UK, Australia/New Zealand, available both dubbed in English and in its original Japanese language. A wider release through The Horror Collective will follow, with additional dates to be announced.

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Lizzie Borden Returns in Supernatural Horror — The Lizzie Borden Game

Renewed Interest in Lizzie Borden Brings New Attention to Breaking Glass Pictures’ The Lizzie Borden Game

As Netflix’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story introduces a new generation to one of America’s most enduring true-crime legends, audiences can discover a supernatural horror take on the infamous name in The Lizzie Borden Game

More than 130 years after the Borden murders shocked the nation, the story of Lizzie Borden continues to fascinate audiences — and renewed interest surrounding Netflix’s newly released Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is once again putting the infamous case at the center of popular culture.

Netflix released Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story on September 17 as the fourth installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monster anthology series, starring Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden.

For viewers searching for more Lizzie Borden stories, Breaking Glass Pictures invites horror fans to discover The Lizzie Borden Game, a supernatural horror thriller that takes the enduring legend in a very different direction.

In The Lizzie Borden Game, the legend of Lizzie Borden comes back to life when a group of friends gathers for a secluded Friendsgiving getaway and discovers an unsettling ritual known as “The Lizzie Borden Game.” What begins as a dare quickly turns deadly when the game summons Lizzie Borden’s ghost from beyond the grave. The friends must uncover the truth behind the legend and close the portal before they all get axed.

Rather than dramatizing the historical Borden case, The Lizzie Borden Game uses Lizzie Borden’s place in American folklore as the foundation for a contemporary supernatural horror story.

“Lizzie Borden remains one of those names that immediately captures people’s attention,” said Rich Wolff of Breaking Glass Pictures. “With audiences once again talking about the case and searching for Lizzie Borden stories, this is a great moment for horror fans to discover The Lizzie Borden Game and see a completely different interpretation of the legend.”

The film is directed by Calvin Morie McCarthy and produced by Calvin Morie McCarthy, Chynna Rae Shorts and Rich Wolff. The cast includes Airisa Durand, Jason Brooks, Laura Wilson, Chynna Rae Shurts, Jessica Noel Thompson and Steve Larkin.

Netflix’s new series approaches Borden as a historical true-crime figure, while The Lizzie Borden Game embraces the supernatural possibilities that have grown around her name over generations. The two productions are entirely separate and unaffiliated, but the renewed cultural interest demonstrates the continuing fascination surrounding one of America’s most recognizable murder mysteries.

Watch The Trailer

Watch The Lizzie Borden Game

Learn more about The Lizzie Borden Game, view the film information and find available viewing options at:

Breaking Glass Pictures:

https://www.bgpics.com/movies/the-lizzie-borden-game

The Breaking Glass Pictures page currently links viewers to Amazon, Fandango at Home and Vimeo viewing options.

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JEFFREY DAHMER’S SPIRIT POSSESSES A KILLER DOLL IN WILD NEW HORROR FILM COMING NOVEMBER 3

The killer doll genre is getting a notorious new addition this November. Uncork’d Entertainment has set a November 3 Digital and On Demand release for JEFFREY DOLLMER, a new horror/slasher that imagines the spirit of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer unleashed inside a murderous doll.

Watch the Trailer

Synopsis: Dahmer finds a doll in 1991 and performs a ritual in an attempt to transfer his spirit into it but is captured before he can finish his evil plans. For decades, the doll remains locked away in police evidence — until it is finally discarded and finds its way back into the world. In the present day, the doll’s spirit is accidentally summoned and quickly latches onto a young model who bears a resemblance to its former owner. When the model travels to a remote photo shoot, the possessed doll follows, turning the isolated set into a killing ground as it begins stalking fellow competitors and co-workers.

Mark Savage (Purgatory Road) directed the film from a screenplay by John Doolan (Popeye the Slayer Man, Remains) and Jeff Miller (Clowntown, Ouija House), based on a story by Miller, who also serves as producer. JEFFREY DOLLMER stars Charlie Trepany, Chey Crieger, Juliana Destefano, Adam Huss, Eva Hamilton, Tom Parnell, and Brian Joseph Mange as Jeffrey Dahmer, with a cameo appearance by Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick.

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DEAD HOWLING | Celebrates its UK Premiere at Tubi FrightFest Halloween 2026 Ahead of 2nd November Home Entertainment Release

Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment is thrilled to announce that Dead Howling will make its UK premiere at Tubi FrightFest Halloween 2026 on 31st October, ahead of its release on DVD, Blu-ray and digital platforms from 2nd November.

Combining brutal action, nightmarish monsters and a bleak, lawless wasteland, Dead Howling is a ferocious new addition to the post-apocalyptic horror genre, unleashing an all-out zombie vs. werewolf showdown where the dead and the damned collide.

From the producers of cult hits Dog Soldiers & Terrifier 3, Dead Howling stars an incredible cast including Joel Jackson (Jungle), Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, Dead Silence), Temuera Morrison (The Mandalorian, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom), and Tom Burlinson (The Man From Snowy River, Flesh+Blood).

Chosen as part of Tubi FrightFest Halloween 2026’s official selection, the film will screen twice during the event’s Halloween Day celebrations, giving audiences two opportunities to experience Dead Howling on the big screen before its home entertainment release.

In a world devastated by a zombie virus, Carter lives a solitary existence, spending his nights hunting down the living dead for sport with the help of a tremendous power. However, he finds new purpose after saving the lives of two siblings, Megan and Billy, who are seeking a rumoured safe zone. Reluctantly agreeing to protect them on their journey, the trio must outrun the next evolution of their undead enemy, and even their fellow survivors, who all pose unimaginable danger.

Watch trailer here:

Dead Howling will celebrate its UK premiere at Tubi FrightFest Halloween 2026 on 31st October; the film will be available on Digital, DVD and Blu-ray from 2nd November

Pre-order your copy here

UK Premiere:
Tubi FrightFest Halloween 2026
DATE: Saturday 31st October
TIME: 10.20pm & 10.45pm
LOCATION: ODEON Luxe West End

www.frightfest.co.uk

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Tubi FrightFest announces line-up for Halloween 2026

Hot on the hellish heels of its spectacular 27th year August five-day event, the UK’s most vibrant genre film festival returns to the ODEON Luxe West End in Leicester Square to present its annual 2-day Halloween event. Taking over both screens on Friday 30th October and Saturday 31st October, the spine-chilling line-up heralds nine premieres from five countries, spanning Europe, North and South America and Australia/Oceania. Each film will be screened twice.

So, hold on tight as Tubi Frightfest takes you on a spooky, carnage-crammed journey featuring powerful mutants, seasonal spooks, psychotic neighbours, venomous spiders, vengeful werewolves, and shocking Christmas tales where it’s not just the turkey that is carved up.

FREAKS PART II

Opening the gates to ‘Helloween’ is the UK premiere of FREAKS PART II, which sees Final Destination Bloodlines co-directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein return to the mutant roots of their sleeper 2018 cult hit Freaks and this time the Canadian sci-fi horror thriller is even more tense and gory. Zach and Adam will both be in attendance.

Next, we travel to the dark woodlands of Cornwall as Friday’s line-up continues with the World premiere of J.P. Davidson’s haunting and gritty Halloween Folk horror THE CULL, starring Craig Russell, who FrightFest audiences will remember from his cannibalistic turn in Protein.

Some of the cast and crew will be joining us.

The first day closes with the UK premiere of the ‘meanest slasher of the year’ AMERICAN DOLLHOUSE, a modern take on Psycho and Black Christmas, boasting, in unhinged neighbour Sandy, one of creepiest horror antagonists to hit screens in a long time.

Saturday kicks off with the UK premiere of TALKING TO A STRANGER, a supernatural thriller directed by genre visionary and FrightFest favourite Adrián García Bogliano and starring acclaimed filmmaker Gigi Saul Guerrero in her first leading role.

Then it’s time to bring early holiday cheer and gross-out queasiness to Central London with the UK premiere of Canadian director Michael Gabriele’s UNHOLY NIGHT, an Xmas season’s slay ride reminiscent of a lost chapter of The Evil Dead franchise.

This is followed by the World premiere of Sean Hogan’s THE DARK GETS IN. FrightFest has a long history with writer/director Sean Hogan. From The Devil’s Business to Isle of Dogs and Daddy’s Girl. Now comes his latest innovative shocker – an audacious mix of Found Footage, faux documentary and edge-of-the-seat chiller. Sean will be joining us, alongside some of the cast and crew.

Next up, from Marcel Walz, the king of ‘splatterific’ gore, comes the World premiere of BRUTE 1986, the ultra-violent sequel to Brute 1976. Marcel, known for FrightFest hits Blood Feast, Blind, and Pretty Boy will be attending.

The penultimate presentation is a special screening of CRAWLERS. which follows the tenants of an apartment complex fighting to survive a catastrophic, fast-multiplying infestation of venomous spiders. Matilda Lutz’s commanding lead performance grounds this ultra-claustrophobic body horror thriller.

Completing the line-up is the UK premiere of DEAD HOWLING, an action-packed, post-apocalyptic Werewolf vs Zombies horror from the producer of cult genre hit Dog Soldiers. Cast incudes Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, Dead Silence) and Temuera Morrison (The Mandalorian, Aquaman).

Ryan Gillett, Tubi’s Marketing Director, International, commentated: “Following an incredible five days in August, we are thrilled to keep the screams going as the headline sponsor for FrightFest’s Halloween event. Horror isn’t simply a genre to us, it’s one of the biggest, most passionate communities on our platform. Bringing the UK’s premier horror festival together with our permanent ‘Terror on Tubi’ hub allows us to give dedicated genre fans exactly what they crave this spooky season, completely for free.”

Greg Day, FrightFest co-director, added: “This is our 20th edition of the Halloween event, and it remains an unmissable highlight for genre cinema lovers, bringing an exceptional lineup of new horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films to London’s ODEON Luxe West End. We know this year’s selection goes some way into capturing the spirit of the Halloween weekend.”

Passes and tickets go on sale at noon on Saturday 3rd October.

Prices: Two-day pass – £85 | Friday 30 Oct Day pass – £36 | Saturday 31 Oct Day pass – £65 | Single tickets – £14.99

All tickets costs may incur booking fee.

PROGRAMME

FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER

OPENING FILM: FREAKS PART II (UK Premiere)
(Times: Screen 1: 5.45pm, Screen 2: 6.15pm)
Directors: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein. Cast: Amanda Crew, Lorelei Olivia Mote, Lili Taylor, Stephen Toblowsky. Canada 2026. 114 mins.
Synopsis: Mary and her daughter Chloe are now living on the road, hiding their powers and identities, and being hunted by the Abnormal Defence Force, paramilitary police that specialise in ruthless extermination. Mary is fuelled by revenge: to find ADF officer Erica Lang who killed her first child while trying to control Chloe, now a precocious and powerful tween whose longing for a friend causes chaos and carnage.

THE CULL (World Premiere)
(Times: Screen 1: 8.30pm, Screen 2: 9.00pm)
Director: J.P. Davidson. Cast: Craig Russell, Sarah Bowden, Ollie McFarlane, Rory Wilton. UK 2026. 88 mins.
Synopsis: Wrongly imprisoned for his mother’s murder, Niall is finally released having found God and renounced a life of violence and addiction. Retreating to a remote woodland cabin seeking the truth behind her death, he finds a hostile community ruled by a ruthless family, where every encounter deepens the mystery surrounding his mother’s past. As brutal violence erupts and terrifying visions blur the line between nightmare and reality, Niall uncovers a sinister legacy of witchcraft, blood sacrifice and forbidden ritual.

AMERICAN DOLLHOUSE (UK Premiere)
(Times: Screen 1: 10.50pm, Screen 2: 11.05pm)
Director: John Valley. Cast: Hailley Lauren, Kelsey Pribilski, Richard C. Jones, Tinus Seaux. USA 2026. 87 mins.
Synopsis: Sarah inherits her childhood home, seeking solace from a chaotic city life marked by addiction and debt. But Sandy, a psychotic neighbour becomes disturbingly obsessed with her due to a haunting resemblance to Sandy’s deceased mother. As the fixation turns violent, Sarah’s friends begin disappearing, drawing her into a perverted, blood-soaked Christmas nightmare she may not survive.

SATURDAY 31 OCTOBER

TALKING TO A STRANGER (UK Premiere)
(Times: Screen 1: 11.00am, Screen 2: 11.30am)
Director: Adrian Garcia Bogliano. Cast: Gigi Saul Guerrero, Eugenio Rubio, Yago, Andreu Sandoval, Tatiana de Real. Mexico 2026. 90 mins.
Synopsis: Tortured by grief and guilt after seeing her young son burn to death in front of her, Patricia is unconsolable, her depression deepening with heavy medication. The pills keep her in a constant numb state and in this cloudy twilight she is confronted by an uncanny presence that wears the face of her lost child. Should we look towards darkness rather than away from it for consolation?

UNHOLY NIGHT (UK Premiere)
(Times: Screen 1: 1.20pm, Screen 2: 1.50pm)
Director: Michael Gabriele. Cast: Alissa Mahar, Al Sapienza, Celia Own, Cristina Rosato. Canada 2026. 91 mins.
Synopsis: Gino’s traditional family Christmas Eve turns into a bloody battle for survival when his long-dead grandma drops by and goes on a murderous rampage. Amid the chaos, Gino reunites with his ex, and the dysfunctional duo must avoid his dead Italian relatives popping up all around the neighbourhood as they search for a way to get rid of these Yuletide revenants and survive his family’s Noel celebrations.

THE DARK GETS IN (World Premiere)
(Times: Screen 1: 3.40pm, Screen 2: 4.10pm)
Director: Sean Hogan. Cast: Charlotte Pyke, Cameron Lewis, Scott Burchell, Kezia Cotterell. UK 2026. 91 mins.
Synopsis: When a documentary team set out to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young girl, events soon take an unexpected turn, leading the filmmakers down an increasingly dark and horrifying path. Prepare for the worst as Hogan explores the outer limits of the genre

BRUTE 1986 (World Premiere)
(Times: Screen 1: 6.00pm, Screen 2: 6.30pm)
Director: Marcel Walz. Cast: Bill Kaulitz, Lew Temple, Gigi Gustin, Sarah French. USA 2026. 80 mins.
Synopsis: Leather Kobra, a glam metal band, decide to film their new music video in an abandoned Western town. Ignoring the ‘No Trespassing’ signs, the rebellious group have no idea they are being watched by the notorious Birdy family. And when their paths do finally cross, let the onslaught of brutal bloodshed begin! Stars Bill Kaulitz, Tokio Hotel frontman, whose band is among Germany’s most successful music acts.

CRAWLERS (London Preview)
(Times: Screen 1: 8.10pm, Screen 2: 8.40pm)
Director: Ángel Gómez Hernández. Cast: Matilda Lutz, Gregg Sulkin, Melina Matthews, William Miller. USA 2026. 86 mins.
Synopsis: Serena, the overworked manager of the Paradiso Palms apartment complex, discovers a mysterious death. But what begins as a suspected viral outbreak quickly spirals into something far more terrifying: a catastrophic infestation of venomous spiders spreading rapidly through the building. Armed only with her intimate knowledge of the building, Serena may be the only one of the residents who can keep everyone alive — if she can confront her deepest fear.

DEAD HOWLING (UK Premiere)
(Times: Screen 1: 10.20pm, Screen 2: 10.45pm)
Director: John V. Soto. Cast: Ryan Kwanten, Temeura Morrison, Tom Burlinson, Tea Heathcote-Marks. Australia 2026. 103 mins.
Synopsis: Carter is a lone werewolf fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies. Taking vengeance for his murdered family, he spends his days hunting down the living dead, until he finds new purpose after saving the lives of two humans seeking a rumoured sanctuary for survivors. However, despite Carter now joining them on their journey, the group faces new and unimaginable dangers when they discover that their undead enemy is beginning to evolve.

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Dead End Drive-In (1986)

Kicking off with a typically trashy, generic and instantly forgettable Eighties score, and littering the screen with images of shockingly attired youngsters loitering outside video shops — including an advertisement for Rambo 8: Rambo Takes Russia — Dead End Drive-In initially looks as though it might develop into one of those guilty pleasures from the decade that fashion forgot. Unfortunately, despite an intriguing concept and the occasional bout of titillation, there’s very little plot, character development or interesting subtext to secure it a place in the collection.

Set in Nineties Australia — which, when the film was made, was still the future — the film presents a world where the economy has collapsed, unemployment is rife and crime is spiralling. Enter Crabs (yes, really, that’s our hero’s name), who borrows his elder brother’s ’57 Chevy and heads to the local drive-in with his date, Carmen (Natalie McCurry).

As is usually the case when you take someone else’s car out without permission, trouble soon follows. At the drive-in, Crabs is given a choice of two admission prices: one for the employed and a cheaper rate for the unemployed. He opts for the latter, inadvertently condemning himself and Carmen to permanent imprisonment inside the drive-in, effectively turning the place into a concentration camp populated by those who have taken advantage of the cheaper admission.

There’s an immediate problem with this premise. What happens to those who pay the higher price? More importantly, why would anyone pay more when they could simply claim to be unemployed and gain entry at the cheaper rate? Unless the management has some miraculous system for checking employment status, it seems rather too easy to cheat the system. Most people, employed or otherwise, would presumably opt for the cheaper fare.

Once inside, Crabs and Carmen discover that their new home comes complete with fast-food vouchers, drugs, alcohol, New Wave music and a film on the giant screen every evening. Most of the occupants seem perfectly happy with this arrangement, embracing their new existence within the confines of the drive-in. Crabs, however, wants out and is determined not to spend the rest of his life imprisoned there.

The film does eventually attempt to spice things up with the arrival of a couple of busloads of Asians, which causes discontent among the few hundred punk youngsters who have already made the drive-in their home. It’s here that the film’s potentially interesting racism subplot could have given the story some much-needed depth, but instead very little actually comes of it. For a film that is supposedly intended as social satire, everything remains remarkably one-note.

The distributors’ decision to label Dead End Drive-In a “cult movie” is certainly no guarantee of quality or must-see status. Nor does Quentin Tarantino’s claim that it is his favourite Brian Trenchard-Smith film necessarily make it so. Let’s face it: this is a turkey. Made for a relatively modest $2.5 million, Dead End Drive-In spectacularly failed to find an audience, taking a paltry $68,000 at the Australian box office and effectively killing off Trenchard-Smith’s plans for a sequel.

Trenchard-Smith has described the drive-in as an allegory for the junk values of the Eighties, which is an appropriate interpretation given that he even includes footage from his own Turkey Shoot (1982) among the films being screened there. Unfortunately, knowing what the director intended doesn’t necessarily make what appears on screen any more effective.

The film also seems to take for granted that we understand the sinister reason why the occupants are being kept permanently inside the drive-in. It is vaguely alluded to rather than properly explained, and had I not read the accompanying press material, I doubt I would have understood what was supposed to be going on. Worse still, instead of allowing the viewer to switch off and enjoy the exploitation nonsense unfolding before them, the film leaves you pondering the holes in its own premise.

It never really convinces as a vision of the future either. Everything looks unmistakably Eighties, from the fashions to the cars to the general aesthetic. It is also difficult to believe that hundreds of people would genuinely regard this lifestyle as preferable to their previous existence, particularly when they are effectively imprisoned and have no meaningful future beyond the drive-in’s walls.

There is potential here, but Dead End Drive-In never manages to capitalise on it. The premise requires an awful lot of swallowing, while the supposed exploitation elements are surprisingly restrained. The nudity is minimal, the fistfights are few and far between, and much of the running time consists of Crabs wandering around trying to work out how to escape.

If car stunts are enough to make you pee a little with excitement, however, you’ll probably get a considerable thrill from the spectacular stunt at the end. Performed by stuntman Guy Norris, the truck jump covered 163 feet and held a world record at the time. It’s an impressive piece of stunt work, although rather more exciting than most of what precedes it.

Trenchard-Smith was brought in as a last-minute replacement to direct Dead End Drive-In and claims he was unfamiliar with Peter Carey’s short story Crabs, on which the film was based. The lack of preparation time may well explain some of the film’s problems, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that what could have been an interesting piece of social satire instead becomes a rather aimless tale about a bloke searching for replacement tyres while irritating a bunch of largely non-threatening punks who spend their time chatting in the gents’ toilets.

A film about a dystopian future, social division and the disposable values of the Eighties could have been considerably more interesting than this. Instead, Dead End Drive-In is a missed opportunity dressed up in fluorescent Eighties clothing. Dumb, occasionally amusing and boasting one hell of a truck jump — but hardly the cult classic its reputation would have you believe.

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Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) Review

Or Part IV, as it was known in some territories. According to the tagline, it’s the third time we’ve felt the terror, known the madness and lived the horror. Whoever came up with that little one-liner clearly had no idea just how right they were, especially when it came to sitting through the third instalment.

Thankfully, The Final Chapter is an improvement on Friday the 13th Part III, with more likeable characters, better dialogue than this franchise is normally known for, and some wonderful gore effects from Tom Savini. Savini agreed to work on the film after being assured that Jason would finally be killed off, having previously taken credit for creating the character’s now-iconic appearance. Of course, people still get killed for little more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Take the tubby hitchhiker, for example, whose sole purpose seems to be providing Jason with another victim. Still, aside from an annoying opening sequence in a hospital, this is a perfectly passable horror flick.

Directed by Joseph Zito, The Final Chapter also delivers its fair share of nudity, apparently recognising that audiences expect a little more than gratuitous violence from their summer-camp slasher entertainment. The film opens with a pointless recap of the previous three instalments, presumably for viewers who might otherwise confuse the series with Halloween (1978), or who simply need everything spelled out for them. Once we get past this unnecessary hand-holding and the small matter of Jason ending up in a hospital, supposedly dead, it’s business as usual. Jason soon springs back into action, dispatching anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path with an assortment of implements and absolutely no discernible motive beyond their mere existence.

This time, however, Jason may have finally met his match in young Tommy Jarvis, played by Corey Feldman, who was everywhere in the mid-eighties, appearing in Gremlins (1984) and The Goonies (1985) before going on to The Lost Boys (1987) and The ’Burbs (1989). Tommy proves to be quite the resourceful youngster, shaving his head to resemble a younger version of the killer. Apparently, the idea is to confuse Jason, although quite how a quick haircut is supposed to fool a relentless, machete-wielding murderer is anyone’s guess. One can only imagine Jason’s reaction: “What the fuck has that boy done to his hair?”

Whatever Jason is thinking, the plan proves to be his temporary undoing, as he is hacked to pieces by the pint-sized version of himself. Tommy then stares menacingly into the camera, leaving us with the suggestion that, even if Jason is finally dead, there may be another little monster waiting in the wings. It’s an ending that manages to be both unsettling and faintly ridiculous, which is perhaps rather fitting for the franchise.

The Final Chapter is also worth a look for Crispin Glover, who would later make a career out of playing eccentric oddballs in everything from Back to the Future (1985) to the big-screen Charlie’s Angels films (2000 and 2003). Here, he delivers a surprisingly normal performance, although his decidedly questionable dancing provides one of the film’s more memorable moments.

With the film grossing around $33 million in the United States, it was hardly surprising that this supposedly definitive chapter failed to bring Jason’s killing spree to a permanent end. Despite the promise of its title, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter turned out to be anything but final. Still, as far as sequels go, this is a welcome improvement on its immediate predecessor, offering enough gore, nudity, eccentric characters and dark humour to keep fans entertained. It may not be high art, but at least this time the body count comes with a little more personality.

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Heresy aka Witte Wieven (2024) Review

Salvation can be found in the darkest of places in Heresy, Didier Konings’ (Thor: Love and Thunder, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) lauded folk horror fable, that’s steeped in religious terror and repression and has drawn comparisons to Robert Eggers’ The Witch. Garnering praise galore on its festival run Heresy is now set to make its highly anticipated UK digital debut on 28 September, courtesy of GrimmVision.

At just sixty-one minutes, Heresy certainly does not outstay its welcome. It is a solid piece of filmmaking, boasting some terrific imagery and an assured visual style. However, while it is accomplished and undeniably looks great, I was left with the feeling that I wasn’t seeing anything particularly new.

The story follows Frieda (Anneke Sluiters), a young, red-haired woman ostracised by her peers in a deeply superstitious medieval community. There are clear echoes of Stephen King’s Carrie here, albeit transplanted into a Dutch folk-horror setting. And, much like Carrie, Frieda’s eventual revenge is bloody and devastating.

Debut feature director Didier Konings clearly has a strong eye for visual storytelling. Heresy received its international premiere at Fantastic Fest a couple of years ago and has subsequently gone on to impress critics and festival audiences alike. Konings captures the medieval period convincingly, from its deeply ingrained superstitions and attitudes towards women to the excellent production design. The thatched cottages, livestock and surrounding landscapes all contribute to a convincing sense of time and place, while the performances are equally strong.

Frieda is unable to bear her husband a child, a circumstance that leaves her vulnerable in a society where women are often judged harshly for failing to fulfil expectations placed upon them. Following a nighttime walk into the woods, she encounters a demonic monstrosity and subsequently discovers that she is pregnant. Naturally, this only serves to heighten the suspicions of the villagers.

It is a world in which women are largely portrayed as either victims or sinners, and Heresy makes effective use of this oppressive environment to establish its atmosphere. There is a genuine sense of menace lurking beneath the surface, even if the narrative itself ultimately feels familiar.

Konings comes from a background in music-video production, while his other credits include working as a visual and concept artist on Hollywood blockbusters. That experience perhaps explains the confidence and assurance with which he presents the film’s fantastical elements. There is a clear understanding of how to create striking imagery, and the film certainly benefits from his visual sensibilities.

Interestingly, Heresy was originally commissioned as part of a six-episode Dutch television anthology series presented by acclaimed Dutch filmmaker Martin Koolhoven, designed to showcase emerging filmmaking talent. Considering that the film was produced on a television budget — and therefore with comparatively limited financial resources — what Konings and his team have achieved is particularly impressive.

The production design and visual presentation frequently look far more expensive than the budget would suggest, and the film demonstrates that a strong creative vision can go a long way.

Ultimately, Heresy is an accomplished and visually impressive piece of folk horror. It is atmospheric, well performed and beautifully realised, but for me its familiarity prevents it from becoming something truly memorable. There is plenty here to admire, particularly given its modest origins, but I was left wishing that its considerable technical strengths had been matched by a more original story.

Heresy is on UK digital 28 September from GrimmVision

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The Final Conflict: Omen III (1981)

By the time The Final Conflict arrives, the Omen mythology has reached the point where the audience is expected to accept rather more than a little creative licence. Only a couple of years have passed since the theatrical release of Damien: Omen II, yet Damien Thorn has somehow gone from a thirteen-year-old boy to a man in his thirties. Yes, I am being literal.

The world around him doesn’t appear to have changed dramatically during those intervening years, which makes the sudden transformation all the more conspicuous. It is a minor irritation, perhaps, but one worth mentioning because the original The Omen (1976) derived much of its power from grounding its supernatural premise in an otherwise recognisably real world. The more the series stretches its own chronology, the more that sense of plausibility begins to disappear.

Fortunately, Sam Neill’s casting goes some way towards restoring the film’s credibility. The late, great actor makes a convincing Damien, delivering the character’s increasingly sinister presence with just enough theatricality to make him threatening without tipping completely into self-parody. Neill has the difficult task of playing a character who is, by this stage, essentially the Antichrist in a business suit, and he manages to give Damien a degree of human presence beneath all the apocalyptic posturing.

Damien’s ambitions have, naturally, expanded considerably. Having spent the previous film discovering his true identity, he is now intent on inheriting the world and bringing about the apocalypse. His path to global domination, however, suffers an unexpected setback when the Christ-child is born again. Because apparently one Second Coming wasn’t enough.

The new Christ-child has the rather inconvenient effect of weakening Damien’s power the longer he remains alive, giving our antagonist something of a deadline. Unfortunately for Damien, this isn’t his only problem. A group of monks are also determined to eliminate him using the sacred daggers introduced in the first film.

There is something rather amusing about the sheer amount of trouble Damien has to contend with. Here is the Antichrist, supposedly the supreme embodiment of evil, attempting to secure his dominion over the planet while simultaneously dealing with a handful of monks who have apparently been keeping the same weapons in storage since 1976. And Damien isn’t exactly spending all his time contemplating the end of civilisation.

He finds time to have an affair with a female journalist, attend fox hunts and dispatch various unfortunate monks who have the temerity to announce that they are confronting the supreme force of evil before proceeding to demonstrate remarkably little tactical intelligence.

The deaths remain one of the franchise’s principal attractions, and The Final Conflict benefits considerably from not repeating the mistake of Damien: Omen II, where the sequence of increasingly obvious victims could become rather predictable. Here, there is considerably less certainty about who will survive, which helps maintain some of the suspense. Unfortunately, suspense alone cannot disguise the fact that the film never quite gels.

There are some solid ideas here, and the writing is often considerably better than the finished film might suggest. The central concept — Damien’s powers being gradually weakened by the continued existence of the Christ-child while both sides race towards an inevitable confrontation — gives the story a potentially strong dramatic framework. Yet the execution feels oddly uneven.

The film spends considerable time establishing its various strands before seemingly deciding that it has run out of time. The final forty-five minutes in particular feel rushed, with developments that might have benefited from greater space being hurried towards their conclusion. What should feel like the culmination of a trilogy instead has the occasional sensation of a production attempting to tie up several loose ends before the credits roll.

That is particularly unfortunate because the first Omen remains such an effective piece of supernatural horror precisely because of its restraint. Richard Donner’s direction gave that film an atmosphere of creeping dread, allowing the increasingly extraordinary events to emerge from a world that initially felt entirely believable. The Final Conflict has inherited the mythology but not quite the same sense of grounded terror.

It is also tempting to wonder what Donner might have made of the material. Legal problems prevented him from returning to direct, and given the strengths of the original, his absence is noticeable. Whether he could have transformed the sequel into a genuinely worthy conclusion to the trilogy is impossible to know, but his particular combination of restraint, atmosphere and visual confidence would certainly have been interesting to see applied to Damien’s final battle.

What remains is an uneven but watchable conclusion to the original Omen trilogy. Sam Neill is the principal reason to stay with it, bringing an appropriately sinister charisma to Damien, while the film’s refusal to make every death completely predictable provides some welcome tension.

But the series has gradually moved away from the grounded supernatural horror of the original and towards increasingly elaborate apocalyptic mythology. The Final Conflict never quite manages to make that transition feel entirely convincing. It isn’t a disaster, but neither does it deliver the grand finale the premise promises. Damien may be the Antichrist, but even he can’t escape the problem of a trilogy that has simply run out of steam.

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The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 (1985)

There are bad films, there are disastrously bad films, and then there is The Hills Have Eyes Part 2. Even Wes Craven, the late, great genre filmmaker who directed and co-wrote it, was hardly an advocate for his own creation. Reflecting on the film years later, Craven offered the wonderfully candid admission: “I’m sorry about The Hills Have Eyes, Part 2. The reason I did that film was that I was dead broke and needed to do any film. I would have done Godzilla Goes to Paris.”

It is difficult to disagree with him.

Following the considerable success of The Hills Have Eyes (1977) in the UK, particularly on video, a sequel was conceived largely as a commercial opportunity. A British video label was keen to capitalise on the original’s continuing popularity and provided a budget of approximately $1 million — substantially more than Craven had been given for the first film. Persuaded to return, the director nevertheless found himself working under difficult circumstances, with a rushed production and extensive interference with his finished film.

The result was sufficiently problematic that the film was shelved rather than released theatrically, eventually emerging only after the phenomenal success of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) had transformed Craven’s commercial standing.

The circumstances surrounding the production are certainly interesting, but they don’t excuse what eventually appeared on screen. If the original The Hills Have Eyes was a lean, brutal and surprisingly effective piece of survival horror, its sequel is an incoherent, derivative mess that resembles nothing so much as a second-rate Friday the 13th sequel wearing the skin of a Wes Craven movie.

The opening at least attempts to establish continuity. Bobby Carter, one of the survivors of the first film, recounts his traumatic experiences to a therapist and explains his reluctance to join his friends on a motocross trip through the desert where he suffered his ordeal. It is a perfectly serviceable premise: a traumatised survivor forced to confront the landscape of his nightmare.

Except that Bobby promptly disappears from the film. Completely.

The screenplay never even bothers to exploit the potentially interesting psychological conflict it has established. Instead, Bobby’s absence becomes an early indication that this sequel has little interest in character, logic or narrative consequence.

The returning characters fare little better. Ruby, now renamed Rachel and married to Bobby, has somehow gone from being a member of the cannibalistic family in the original to a respectable member of society. She joins the motocross group on their desert expedition and, despite knowing precisely what horrors might await them, is unable to prevent them from taking a convenient shortcut into danger.

The film’s continuity becomes even more questionable with the return of Michael Berryman’s Pluto. Didn’t Beast kill him in the original? Apparently not.

One of the sequel’s interminable flashbacks reveals that the attack by Beast wasn’t quite as fatal as it appeared, allowing Pluto to return and continue his desert activities. The number of flashbacks is extraordinary. At times, The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 seems less like a sequel than an extended retrospective of the first film with a handful of new scenes bolted onto it. And yes, even Beast gets a flashback.

The implication seems to be that if the audience had somehow forgotten the considerably better movie they had already seen, the sequel would be happy to remind them. Repeatedly.

The new addition to the mutant ranks is Reaper, Pluto’s accomplice, whose appearance is perhaps the most unintentionally comic element in a film desperately trying to maintain an atmosphere of menace. His prosthetic make-up resembles Oddbod from Carry On Screaming! (1966), only considerably less convincing. In several shots, the appliance appears perilously close to detaching itself from the actor’s head.

Reaper’s principal talent appears to be hiding in the darkness and whispering the names of his intended victims. Unfortunately, when the moment arrives for him to become genuinely threatening, he struggles to deliver. The character’s supposed ferocity is undermined by both the performance and the laughable make-up, leaving one to wonder how such a creature has managed to survive in the desert for any length of time.

The film’s problems extend into almost every technical department.

Harry Manfredini provides the score, and given the film’s increasingly obvious attempt to imitate the Friday the 13th formula, his presence is entirely appropriate. The music frequently sounds as though it has been lifted from his work on that franchise, albeit without the familiar “ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma” equivalent to punctuate proceedings.

Even the sound design seems to belong to another film. Some of the effects are so exaggerated and cartoonish that they wouldn’t feel out of place in a Three Stooges comedy.

The screenplay is perhaps the biggest offender. Characters behave according to whatever the next scene requires rather than anything resembling human logic. The dialogue is frequently expository, clumsy and painfully obvious, while the blind heroine is subjected to an almost comical amount of verbal reminders concerning her blindness.

This would be less irritating if her heightened senses were handled consistently. At various points she appears capable of detecting things from an extraordinary distance through sound or smell, yet somehow fails to hear someone being attacked practically beside her.

It isn’t suspense. It isn’t irony. It is simply inconsistent writing.

And therein lies the fundamental problem with The Hills Have Eyes Part 2. The original film worked because Craven understood the value of simplicity. Its premise was brutally straightforward: a family becomes stranded in an isolated desert and discovers that they are being hunted by another family far more dangerous than themselves. The tension came from the claustrophobia of the environment, the vulnerability of the characters and the sheer unpredictability of their attackers.

The sequel replaces that simplicity with contrivance.

There is little sense of genuine danger, virtually no character development and almost no atmosphere. The desert, which was practically a character in the original, becomes little more than an inconvenient stretch of sand through which a group of increasingly irritating people wander while waiting to be dispatched.

The irony is that Craven was still capable of considerably better work. A Nightmare on Elm Street, released the previous year, had demonstrated just how inventive he could be when given the opportunity. The Hills Have Eyes Part 2, by comparison, feels like the work of a filmmaker who has simply turned up to complete an obligation. Craven himself essentially confirmed as much.

And perhaps that is the most interesting thing about the film. The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 isn’t particularly revealing about Craven’s abilities as a filmmaker; it is revealing about what happens when a filmmaker’s name, a successful property and commercial expectations collide without a worthwhile story to justify the reunion.

There are fleeting moments of the visceral energy that made the original so effective, and the canine star remains considerably more appealing than most of the human cast. Beast, in fact, may well be the most convincing character in the entire production. But even a handsome dog cannot rescue this.

The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 is a sequel that misunderstands almost everything that made its predecessor work. It substitutes imitation for invention, exposition for characterisation and gore for genuine suspense. Its continuity is questionable, its dialogue frequently atrocious and its attempts at horror are repeatedly undermined by inept execution.

It isn’t merely a disappointing sequel. It is a film that occasionally feels embarrassed to be one. Given the choice between watching The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 again and spending ninety minutes listening to Wes Craven explain why he made it, I’d take the interview.

At least Craven would probably be more entertaining.

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