CategoryForeign
International horror: J-horror, European extremity, Latin American shocks and the films Hollywood keeps remaking.
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Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Official synopsis A family is terrorised by a dark presence after they move into a quaint cottage, and discover it lies on the site of a medieval prison which once housed women accused of witchcraft. Review Writer/director Jeffrey Scott Collins’ supernatural shocker The Caged (U.K., 2026) may follow some tropes with which seasoned fright-fare devotees will be familiar, but there are plenty of original spins on those expected elements to have it rise above the pack. Fine performances and impressive work at the helm are also on display. In the late 1980s, recovering alcoholic fiction writer Robert (Edmund Kingsley), his wife Emily (Tamzin Merchant), teen stepdaughter Isabella (Raffiella Chapman), and young son Liam (Callen Carter) move into a remote mansion-sized abode in the English rural countryside. It had gone unsold and vacant for at least a decade so Robert and Emily got it dirt cheap, which we know means that there is a dark history behind it. As events ranging
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films
Sydney, Australia’s Dark Nights Film Fest takes place on Saturday, October 10, 2026. We reviewed some of the Australian shorts screening there, and now we’ll take a look at the feature The Turkish Coffee Table and some more of the short films featured there. Synopses are from the festival’s official website. For more information, visit https://www.darknightsfilmfest.com/. First, I reviewed The Turkish Coffee Table for a previous film festival, but I’ll present that review again here. It’s spoiler free, so no worries about reading it before watching. THE TURKISH COFFEE TABLE (Turkey, 2025) Official synopsis A couple’s argument over a coffee table spirals into chaos when a simple mistake turns into a desperate web of lies, panic, deception, and the terrifying consequences of trying to cover up the truth. Time to remind you of the darkness underlying everything, one that forces you to look into the void with elegance, wit and sympathy. Review Director Caye Casas gave cinephiles perhaps the strongest
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films
Sydney, Australia’s Dark Nights Film Fest presents fear fare from around the globe on Saturday, October 10, 2026. Among its many selections are some terrific homegrown shorts. Here are capsule reviews of some of the Australian short films screening at the festival, all of which come recommended. For more information, visit https://www.darknightsfilmfest.com/. They Kill By Night One of the many things seasoned fright-fare fanatics have learned is to be leery of fellow motel guest. Cowriters/codirectors Grace Uther and Sam Uther deliver an excellent example of this in the shocker They Kill By Night. Jodie (Arnijka Larcombe-Weate) and Aiden (Christopher James Baker) check into a motel room, but will they check out safely? Jodie meets next-room neighbor Jack (Mitchell Bourke) in the parking lot, and They Kill By Night is off to the races with plenty of surprises, action, and the red stuff. This is a fantastic short with super performances, direction, and production values that deserves to get the feature-length
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Official synopsis In a remote village, Nawojka grapples with dark urges she believes stem from an ancestral curse. Her world shifts when Sandra moves in next door, offering a glimpse of freedom from her family’s rigid control. Review Director Julia Kowalski’s Her Will Be Done (Que ma volonté soit faite; France/Poland, 2026) is a scathing look at the dominance of males — most of them poorly behaved and some outright dangerous — in a rural French village, and the desire of two young women to break free from that society. At least one of them has occult powers that may make that possible. Nawojka (Maria Wrobel) is a young woman whose Polish family has moved to a rural French village. Though she expresses her wish to go to veterinary school on a scholarship, her father Henryk (Wilciech Skibinski) wants her to stay home and take care of him and her rude brothers Tomek (Przemyslaw Przestrzelski) and Bogdan (Kubya Dyniewicz). Nawojka’s
Continue reading →
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ForeignMoviesReviews
Official synopsis Follows Sophie, who is admitted to an elite tennis academy hidden in the South of Europe, where she must contend with fierce competition and the school’s increasingly sinister undercurrents. Review Writer/director Nikias Chryssos’s Bloody Tennis (Germany, 2026) feels far closer to pastiche of Suspiria than mere homage. This is obvious as soon as American tennis player Sophie (Sandra Guldberg Kampp) steps foot on the European tennis school campus for elite players and meets school director Mary (Elina Löwensohn). Mary gives off “evil leader” vibes right off the bat, and the Suspiria parallels have only just begun. Suspiria isn’t the only fear-fare film that Bloody Tennis apes. The film also borrows heavily and frequently from Eurohorror of the seventies and eighties, with Hostel-like vibes from early 2000s torture shockers also thrown in for good measure. A big problem here is that viewers are not given anyone to root for. Sophie is the protagonist — at least for a while
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Official synopsis To save their dying son, a father follows his wife into a mysterious journey where the promise of life slowly reveals the monstrous depths of a parent’s love. Review Avoid spoilers, dear readers, and go into director Cyrus Neshvad’s chilling Child (Luxembourg, 2026) as cold as possible. This thriller with horror elements had me captivated the entire time, building from tense, dramatic suspense from the outset to a jaw-dropping third act full of unexpected shocks. Anne (Brigitte Urhausen) and her physician husband Greg (Mailk Zidi) are a highly troubled couple whose young son is hours away from dying if he doesn’t get an organ transplant. Anne blames Greg for their son’s situation, making their drive from their home city in Luxembourg to a remote rural location in another country to pick up the needed organ a dreadful one. Once they arrive at the destination, matters become ugly and dangerous right away. But this is only the first act,
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignIndieMoviesNewsThriller
London’s TubiFrightFest Halloween has just revealed its 2026 lineup, and whether you prefer slashers, spiders, stalkers, or the supernatural, the festival has something for horror cinephiles of all stripes. Following is the official press announcement. 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. Opening the gates to ‘Helloween’ is the UK premiere of FREAKS PART II, which
Continue reading →
DocumentariesEventsFilm FestivalsForeignIndieMoviesNewsShort FilmsThriller
Columbus, Ohio’s Nightmares Film Festival enters its second decade with a mouth-watering selection of fabulous fear fare from October 15–18, 2026. From occult terror to home invasion horror to intriguing documentaries and beyond, the fest has something for horror fans of all stripes. Following is the official press release. Nightmares Film Festival (Oct. 15 to 18) today revealed its 2026 program, opening its second decade with a celebration of the boldest, freshest and most surprising work keeping genre dangerous. “It’s our eleventh year, but we’re thinking of this as year one of a new decade of Nightmares,” said co-founders Jason Tostevin. “We’re celebrating the innovation, imagination and camaraderie that fuel the best of genre film.” Dubbed the “Cannes of horror” (iHorror), Nightmares is part summer camp for horror lovers, part annual reunion for some of the world’s top genre creators. Taking over the world-renowned Gateway Film Center, the festival will bring fans, filmmakers, screenwriters, press and industry reps together for
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
Official synopsis Never After Dark follows Airi (Hoshi), a wandering medium who spends her life guiding restless spirits out of the world of the living. Summoned to an isolated country house, she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy Airi’s experience. As she digs deeper into the house’s past, a secret comes to light — and Airi finds herself hunted by a far more unpredictable force. For the first time, her greatest adversary is not the supernatural, but the living. Review I’ve been waiting to see writer/director Dave Boyle’s Never After Dark since its film festival debut. Alas, my festival viewing dates and the film never matched up, but now that it is on its wide release, I finally had the opportunity to watch . . . and the wait was more than worth it. Never After Dark is the type of fear-fare feature that I don’t want to spoil in any way, because going
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Welcome to Dolly’s House (Taiwan, 2026) Official synopsis Maria stumbles into a surreal trap after she finds a video of a girl running from a mysterious woman and is drawn to an eerie, mind bending mansion. Fantasy-horror animation inspired by the classic literary anthology Taiping Guanji. Review Codirectors Rady Fu, Tree Muta, and Seven Ych have crafted an intriguing rotoscoped fear-fare animation feature in Welcome to Dolly’s House. The story follows young online influencer Maria as she and her deceitful boyfriend try to uncover the mystery of the woman named Dolly who appears in a video where a young girl suddenly vanishes into thin air. The animation is absolutely gorgeous and is reason enough to recommend this supernatural offering, but the third act is also a strong reason to seek out this film, as it goes into quite unexpected territory. Aficionados of creepy-doll horror should especially find Welcome to Dolly’s House an engaging watch. It’s a colorful, trippy, eye-popping experience.
Continue reading →
More from Foreign
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Official synopsis A family is terrorised by a dark presence after they move into a quaint cottage, and discover it lies on the site of a medieval prison which once housed women accused of witchcraft. Review Writer/director Jeffrey Scott Collins’ supernatural shocker The Caged (U.K., 2026) may follow some tropes with which seasoned fright-fare devotees will be familiar, but there are plenty of original spins on those expected elements to have it rise above the pack. Fine performances and impressive work at the helm are also on display. In the late 1980s, recovering alcoholic fiction writer Robert (Edmund Kingsley), his wife Emily (Tamzin Merchant), teen stepdaughter Isabella (Raffiella Chapman), and young son Liam (Callen Carter) move into a remote mansion-sized abode in the English rural countryside. It had gone unsold and vacant for at least a decade so Robert and Emily got it dirt cheap, which we know means that there is a dark history behind it. As events ranging
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films
Sydney, Australia’s Dark Nights Film Fest takes place on Saturday, October 10, 2026. We reviewed some of the Australian shorts screening there, and now we’ll take a look at the feature The Turkish Coffee Table and some more of the short films featured there. Synopses are from the festival’s official website. For more information, visit https://www.darknightsfilmfest.com/. First, I reviewed The Turkish Coffee Table for a previous film festival, but I’ll present that review again here. It’s spoiler free, so no worries about reading it before watching. THE TURKISH COFFEE TABLE (Turkey, 2025) Official synopsis A couple’s argument over a coffee table spirals into chaos when a simple mistake turns into a desperate web of lies, panic, deception, and the terrifying consequences of trying to cover up the truth. Time to remind you of the darkness underlying everything, one that forces you to look into the void with elegance, wit and sympathy. Review Director Caye Casas gave cinephiles perhaps the strongest
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films
Sydney, Australia’s Dark Nights Film Fest presents fear fare from around the globe on Saturday, October 10, 2026. Among its many selections are some terrific homegrown shorts. Here are capsule reviews of some of the Australian short films screening at the festival, all of which come recommended. For more information, visit https://www.darknightsfilmfest.com/. They Kill By Night One of the many things seasoned fright-fare fanatics have learned is to be leery of fellow motel guest. Cowriters/codirectors Grace Uther and Sam Uther deliver an excellent example of this in the shocker They Kill By Night. Jodie (Arnijka Larcombe-Weate) and Aiden (Christopher James Baker) check into a motel room, but will they check out safely? Jodie meets next-room neighbor Jack (Mitchell Bourke) in the parking lot, and They Kill By Night is off to the races with plenty of surprises, action, and the red stuff. This is a fantastic short with super performances, direction, and production values that deserves to get the feature-length
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Official synopsis In a remote village, Nawojka grapples with dark urges she believes stem from an ancestral curse. Her world shifts when Sandra moves in next door, offering a glimpse of freedom from her family’s rigid control. Review Director Julia Kowalski’s Her Will Be Done (Que ma volonté soit faite; France/Poland, 2026) is a scathing look at the dominance of males — most of them poorly behaved and some outright dangerous — in a rural French village, and the desire of two young women to break free from that society. At least one of them has occult powers that may make that possible. Nawojka (Maria Wrobel) is a young woman whose Polish family has moved to a rural French village. Though she expresses her wish to go to veterinary school on a scholarship, her father Henryk (Wilciech Skibinski) wants her to stay home and take care of him and her rude brothers Tomek (Przemyslaw Przestrzelski) and Bogdan (Kubya Dyniewicz). Nawojka’s
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Official synopsis Follows Sophie, who is admitted to an elite tennis academy hidden in the South of Europe, where she must contend with fierce competition and the school’s increasingly sinister undercurrents. Review Writer/director Nikias Chryssos’s Bloody Tennis (Germany, 2026) feels far closer to pastiche of Suspiria than mere homage. This is obvious as soon as American tennis player Sophie (Sandra Guldberg Kampp) steps foot on the European tennis school campus for elite players and meets school director Mary (Elina Löwensohn). Mary gives off “evil leader” vibes right off the bat, and the Suspiria parallels have only just begun. Suspiria isn’t the only fear-fare film that Bloody Tennis apes. The film also borrows heavily and frequently from Eurohorror of the seventies and eighties, with Hostel-like vibes from early 2000s torture shockers also thrown in for good measure. A big problem here is that viewers are not given anyone to root for. Sophie is the protagonist — at least for a while
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Official synopsis To save their dying son, a father follows his wife into a mysterious journey where the promise of life slowly reveals the monstrous depths of a parent’s love. Review Avoid spoilers, dear readers, and go into director Cyrus Neshvad’s chilling Child (Luxembourg, 2026) as cold as possible. This thriller with horror elements had me captivated the entire time, building from tense, dramatic suspense from the outset to a jaw-dropping third act full of unexpected shocks. Anne (Brigitte Urhausen) and her physician husband Greg (Mailk Zidi) are a highly troubled couple whose young son is hours away from dying if he doesn’t get an organ transplant. Anne blames Greg for their son’s situation, making their drive from their home city in Luxembourg to a remote rural location in another country to pick up the needed organ a dreadful one. Once they arrive at the destination, matters become ugly and dangerous right away. But this is only the first act,
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignIndieMoviesNewsThriller
London’s TubiFrightFest Halloween has just revealed its 2026 lineup, and whether you prefer slashers, spiders, stalkers, or the supernatural, the festival has something for horror cinephiles of all stripes. Following is the official press announcement. 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. Opening the gates to ‘Helloween’ is the UK premiere of FREAKS PART II, which
Continue reading →
DocumentariesEventsFilm FestivalsForeignIndieMoviesNewsShort FilmsThriller
Columbus, Ohio’s Nightmares Film Festival enters its second decade with a mouth-watering selection of fabulous fear fare from October 15–18, 2026. From occult terror to home invasion horror to intriguing documentaries and beyond, the fest has something for horror fans of all stripes. Following is the official press release. Nightmares Film Festival (Oct. 15 to 18) today revealed its 2026 program, opening its second decade with a celebration of the boldest, freshest and most surprising work keeping genre dangerous. “It’s our eleventh year, but we’re thinking of this as year one of a new decade of Nightmares,” said co-founders Jason Tostevin. “We’re celebrating the innovation, imagination and camaraderie that fuel the best of genre film.” Dubbed the “Cannes of horror” (iHorror), Nightmares is part summer camp for horror lovers, part annual reunion for some of the world’s top genre creators. Taking over the world-renowned Gateway Film Center, the festival will bring fans, filmmakers, screenwriters, press and industry reps together for
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
Official synopsis Never After Dark follows Airi (Hoshi), a wandering medium who spends her life guiding restless spirits out of the world of the living. Summoned to an isolated country house, she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy Airi’s experience. As she digs deeper into the house’s past, a secret comes to light — and Airi finds herself hunted by a far more unpredictable force. For the first time, her greatest adversary is not the supernatural, but the living. Review I’ve been waiting to see writer/director Dave Boyle’s Never After Dark since its film festival debut. Alas, my festival viewing dates and the film never matched up, but now that it is on its wide release, I finally had the opportunity to watch . . . and the wait was more than worth it. Never After Dark is the type of fear-fare feature that I don’t want to spoil in any way, because going
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Welcome to Dolly’s House (Taiwan, 2026) Official synopsis Maria stumbles into a surreal trap after she finds a video of a girl running from a mysterious woman and is drawn to an eerie, mind bending mansion. Fantasy-horror animation inspired by the classic literary anthology Taiping Guanji. Review Codirectors Rady Fu, Tree Muta, and Seven Ych have crafted an intriguing rotoscoped fear-fare animation feature in Welcome to Dolly’s House. The story follows young online influencer Maria as she and her deceitful boyfriend try to uncover the mystery of the woman named Dolly who appears in a video where a young girl suddenly vanishes into thin air. The animation is absolutely gorgeous and is reason enough to recommend this supernatural offering, but the third act is also a strong reason to seek out this film, as it goes into quite unexpected territory. Aficionados of creepy-doll horror should especially find Welcome to Dolly’s House an engaging watch. It’s a colorful, trippy, eye-popping experience.
Continue reading →
