CategoryForeign
International horror: J-horror, European extremity, Latin American shocks and the films Hollywood keeps remaking.
901 stories
ForeignIndieMoviesParanormal
One rainy eve, Dr. Karen Schumaker (Rebecca Hobbs) arrives at a dilapidated high-security mental institution to begin her assessment of serial killer Simon Cartwright (Paolo Rotondo)… and what an institution it is, ruled over by orderlies that look and act like thugs and watched over by the strange Dr. Marlowe (Roy Ward) who’s odd demeanor, outre fashion sense, and opulent koi pond-surrounded office make him a real stand out among the peeling paint and exposed wires of his stompin’ grounds. Anyway, our heroine goes on a journey through Simon’s troubled past… a past that includes an absolute aversion to being picked on, an abusive mother, and a high body count… which truth be told aren’t unreasonable things to encounter in a serial killer’s past… but what really begins to make Karen’s ears stand up is Simon’s insistence that some outside force whispers in his ears to do all that murder biz! Writer/Director Scott Reynolds delivers a stylish thriller (with a
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
Norway has already mastered the art of the mountain troll and the tunnel collapse; now, it’s coming for the coastline. Kraken, the latest creature feature from the land of the midnight sun, has just dropped its first trailer, proving that some legends are better left at the bottom of a fjord. Something Fishy in the Fjord The trouble starts with the salmon. When wild salmon begin exhibiting “unnatural behavior”—which, in horror movie terms, is the universal signal to move inland—inexplicable deaths begin piling up in Norway’s deepest fjord. The culprit? An ancient, multi-armed nightmare that has decided its centuries-long nap is officially over. This isn’t just a giant squid; it’s a sentient, crushing machine that reacts to movement and sound. If you breathe too loudly, you’re sushi. The Creative Team behind the Chaos Director Pål Øie, who mastered the art of claustrophobia with The Tunnel, shifts his focus from suffocating concrete to the crushing pressure of the abyss. The script
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
In Pinochet’s Chile, silence isn’t just a virtue; it’s a survival tactic.A Yard of Jackals is a claustrophobic masterclass in psychological dread, proving that the most terrifying thing about a dictatorship isn’t just the man at the top—it’s the man living in the apartment next door. The Story: Set during the biting winter of 1978 in Santiago, the film follows Raúl Peralta (Néstor Cantillana). He’s a disabled architectural model maker who builds tiny, perfect worlds to escape a crumbling reality. Raúl’s life is a study in isolation. He cares for his ailing mother, talks to his canary, and keeps his head down. However, his carefully scaled life begins to fracture when new neighbors move in. Their “extracurricular” activities are less about neighborhood potlucks and more about the sinister machinery of the regime. Enter Guillermo, a mysterious man in dark glasses. He drags Raúl from his miniature sanctuary into a nightmare of surveillance, moral rot, and political terror. It’s a film
Continue reading →
DocumentariesForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
After the Franco dictatorship ended ‘round about the mid ‘70s, Spanish cinema found themselves with a new freedom, through which filmmakers could now express themselves via tales of sin n’ Satan (and death… lots of it) all over that silver screen! Recently, Severin boxed up a selection of those fearless flicks (and a doc to bring us all up to speed on the genre)… so why not dip our terror toes into Exorcismo: Defying A Dictator & Raising Hell In Post-Franco Spain! Things kick off with that aforementioned documentary, Exorcismo: The Transgressive Legacy of Clasificada ‘S’ from Director Alberto Sedano. Exorcismo takes the viewer on a journey through just what we can expect from the features contained in this box-set (bet you couldn’t have guessed that one), and gives us both a historical understanding of the heavily censoring of filmmakers work under the regime of Francisco Franco, as well as the unbridled freedom they received after Franco’s death in 1975,
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsShudderStreaming TVTrailers
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 →
DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
More from Foreign
ForeignIndieMoviesParanormal
One rainy eve, Dr. Karen Schumaker (Rebecca Hobbs) arrives at a dilapidated high-security mental institution to begin her assessment of serial killer Simon Cartwright (Paolo Rotondo)… and what an institution it is, ruled over by orderlies that look and act like thugs and watched over by the strange Dr. Marlowe (Roy Ward) who’s odd demeanor, outre fashion sense, and opulent koi pond-surrounded office make him a real stand out among the peeling paint and exposed wires of his stompin’ grounds. Anyway, our heroine goes on a journey through Simon’s troubled past… a past that includes an absolute aversion to being picked on, an abusive mother, and a high body count… which truth be told aren’t unreasonable things to encounter in a serial killer’s past… but what really begins to make Karen’s ears stand up is Simon’s insistence that some outside force whispers in his ears to do all that murder biz! Writer/Director Scott Reynolds delivers a stylish thriller (with a
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
Norway has already mastered the art of the mountain troll and the tunnel collapse; now, it’s coming for the coastline. Kraken, the latest creature feature from the land of the midnight sun, has just dropped its first trailer, proving that some legends are better left at the bottom of a fjord. Something Fishy in the Fjord The trouble starts with the salmon. When wild salmon begin exhibiting “unnatural behavior”—which, in horror movie terms, is the universal signal to move inland—inexplicable deaths begin piling up in Norway’s deepest fjord. The culprit? An ancient, multi-armed nightmare that has decided its centuries-long nap is officially over. This isn’t just a giant squid; it’s a sentient, crushing machine that reacts to movement and sound. If you breathe too loudly, you’re sushi. The Creative Team behind the Chaos Director Pål Øie, who mastered the art of claustrophobia with The Tunnel, shifts his focus from suffocating concrete to the crushing pressure of the abyss. The script
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
In Pinochet’s Chile, silence isn’t just a virtue; it’s a survival tactic.A Yard of Jackals is a claustrophobic masterclass in psychological dread, proving that the most terrifying thing about a dictatorship isn’t just the man at the top—it’s the man living in the apartment next door. The Story: Set during the biting winter of 1978 in Santiago, the film follows Raúl Peralta (Néstor Cantillana). He’s a disabled architectural model maker who builds tiny, perfect worlds to escape a crumbling reality. Raúl’s life is a study in isolation. He cares for his ailing mother, talks to his canary, and keeps his head down. However, his carefully scaled life begins to fracture when new neighbors move in. Their “extracurricular” activities are less about neighborhood potlucks and more about the sinister machinery of the regime. Enter Guillermo, a mysterious man in dark glasses. He drags Raúl from his miniature sanctuary into a nightmare of surveillance, moral rot, and political terror. It’s a film
Continue reading →
DocumentariesForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
After the Franco dictatorship ended ‘round about the mid ‘70s, Spanish cinema found themselves with a new freedom, through which filmmakers could now express themselves via tales of sin n’ Satan (and death… lots of it) all over that silver screen! Recently, Severin boxed up a selection of those fearless flicks (and a doc to bring us all up to speed on the genre)… so why not dip our terror toes into Exorcismo: Defying A Dictator & Raising Hell In Post-Franco Spain! Things kick off with that aforementioned documentary, Exorcismo: The Transgressive Legacy of Clasificada ‘S’ from Director Alberto Sedano. Exorcismo takes the viewer on a journey through just what we can expect from the features contained in this box-set (bet you couldn’t have guessed that one), and gives us both a historical understanding of the heavily censoring of filmmakers work under the regime of Francisco Franco, as well as the unbridled freedom they received after Franco’s death in 1975,
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsShudderStreaming TVTrailers
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 →
DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
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 →
