Noah Segan – a welcome surprise in a Dude-esque role in Rian Johnson’s mystery romp Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – embodies quite a different character for another new release, Blood Relatives.

Segan writes, directs and stars as well, upending the traditional coming-of-age perspective as a vampire learning of a teenage daughter and figuring out how to become a parent. It’s a darkly comedic road trip toward mundanity.

Segan’s screenplay is loose but knowing. It never feels overly scripted but offers enough backstory to ground the tale. And though moments feel familiar – maybe a bit of Near Dark and Stakeland with far more humor and far less dystopia – there is something pleasantly new afoot in this film.

Francis (Segan) is a loner in a muscle car, making his way hither and yon across dusty old by-ways and trying not to draw attention to himself. It’s a lonesome road, but what are you going to do? Jane (Victoria Moroles, Plan B) is a 15-year-old: sarcastic, hostile – you know, normal. Only she’s not normal and now that her mom’s gone, she intends to find out who she is.

That’s the simple success of Segan’s story. It’s about two people figuring out who they are, as we all must. Without feeling preachy or pretentious, Blood Relatives offers some real insight into what parenting ought to be. Even when the only thing you really have in common is the desire to suck the life out of people.

Moroles excels in the role of an angsty teen who recognizes the symbolism of turning into a monster as you hit adolescence. She’s slyly funny but moments of tenderness humanize her Jane. Likewise, Segan finds an arc that suits a man-turned-killer trying to turn back into a man.

Supporting turns, while small, all add a nice spark to the proceedings. Josh Rubin, in particular, is a creepy delight in a Renfield-esque role.
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The film’s greatest weakness is its final act, which is enjoyable but unsatisfying. Still, the entertaining Blood Relatives delivers a savvy family comedy.

Hope Madden is a writer and award-winning filmmaker living with her husband George and cat Velma in Columbus, Ohio. She writes what scares her, which worked out fine until she became a filmmaker and had to live what scared her for the duration of a shoot. Terrible decision. Her novella, Roost, was published in 2022 by Off Limits Press and her first feature film releases in late 2022.


Check out Hope's Podcast here : https://soundcloud.com/frightclub

Growing up is tough, especially once adolescence rears its ugly head. Your body gets weird, emotions are all over the map, and you don’t know shit despite thinking you do. Now imagine growing up amidst a global catastrophe with an overbearing mother and not being able to step foot into the daylight. In Shadows, this scenario ends up being a recipe for disaster.

Alma (Mia Threapleton) and her sister Alex (Lola Petticrew) live in total isolation with their mother (Saskia Reeves). The girls remember nothing of their lives before a catastrophic event drove the family deep into the woods. By day, the family stays indoors hiding from mysterious entities known as “Shadows” – beings that live in the daylight and fully inhabit the land beyond the river. As the sisters’ rebellious curiosity takes hold, they begin to wonder about the world beyond the river, especially as their mother’s grip on reality becomes more and more tenuous. 

Director Carlo Lavagna makes the close bond between Alma and Alex the focal point of Shadows. The mother almost exists on the periphery of their lives – appearing to reprimand them or scare them back into obedience. Even though they are teens, there’s a stunted immaturity to the sisters that’s hard to ignore and makes their situation all the sadder. Threapleton, daughter of actress Kate Winslett, walks a tightrope between inner strength and debilitating reliance on her emotionally distant mother. Many times Threapleton does both within the same scene.

The depiction of Mother is another bright spot. Mother appears sparingly – keeping the audience at arm’s length just as she does with Alma and Alex. Her coldness is rivaled only by her calculated survival instincts and desire to keep the sisters confined and “safe.” The mysterious nature of Mother helps keep us in the same shoes as the constantly confused and fearful sisters. 

For a film that spends so much time in the same location, the cinematography is a standout. Cinematographer James Mather (Frank, Extra Ordinary) has an incredible eye for space and makes the world the family lives in feel spacious, yet closed in and emotionally walled off. The daytime threat of the Shadows themselves is visualized through a harshness in the few daylight scenes that is contrasted perfectly by beautiful nighttime photography.

Where Shadows stumbles is on its way to the finish line. Most viewers will see the “surprise” ending telegraphed a mile away and feel a bit underwhelmed at its perceived cleverness. The climax – while not wholly original – doesn’t retroactively make the rest of the film feel lesser. 
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Shadows doesn’t break any new ground on a narrative level, but it does feature three captivating performances by an entirely female cast.

Brandon Thomas works in Central Ohio’s prolific library industry.
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When not worrying about circulation related matters, Brandon is usually re-watching John Carpenter’s filmography for the 100th time or musing about Star Wars. He once tried to care about French new wave, but it didn’t stick. Brandon is also a Central Ohio Film Critics Association member.

Some very mild plot spoilers for Motherly follow.

Kate and her daughter Beth (Tessa Kozma) have a strained relationship. We are introduced to the pair on Beth’s birthday, and she isn’t happy. She doesn’t like her presents, she doesn’t want her cake, and her mum won’t play hide and seek with her. There is no sign of her father, and it soon becomes clear that they are on their own, in witness protection, while he languishes in jail for killing one of Beth’s friends during a game of hide and seek.

No wonder Kate doesn’t want to play it.

With Beth’s frustrating behaviour and a local cop sniffing around, it is unsurprising that Kate’s nerves are shredded, and she is on the edge emotionally. So, when odd things start happening and she begins to see mysterious figures around the property, we know her life is going to get a lot worse very quickly.

And they do when the parents of the murdered child, Mary (Kristen MacCulloch) and Lewis (Nick Smyth) invade Kate’s home seeking revenge for their dead daughter.


The hatred that drives Mary is matched by the protective instincts of Kate and we get a tense game of cat and mouse where the upper hand changes back and forth. Kate works hard to save herself and protect Beth who is hunted through the house by Lewis, while Mary fights to get a confession out of Kate and get justice for her daughter. It’s all about family and how far you would go for yours. Cop, Hal (Colin Paradine) is also thrown into the mix and offers a potential life-line, although if the appalling response time of his back-up is anything to go by, justice isn’t coming for anyone anytime soon. The whole situation is a mess and, as the story unravels, it is clear that there are unlikely to be any winners in this confrontation.

It’s a promising set-up and, while not necessarily original, there are a couple of twists in Motherly that should have made it a better film than it is.

The film wants to be twisty and turny, obfuscating events and relegating the truth to snippets of information revealed slowly in flashbacks scattered throughout the film. However, Motherly screws itself over. For a film that has two quite substantial twists in its tail, they are pretty obvious and signposted early on in the film. While the flashbacks slowly reveal what happened on the fateful day of the murder, saving the final reveal for the very end, a single line of dialogue early on gives the game away and all potential for surprise was lost for me.

Which is soooo frustrating because the rest of the film is great. It is a solid thriller, and the cast all do a fantastic job, wringing plenty of emotion from their performances as the pain of past events fuels their anger and behaviour. Kate is a mother fighting for her life and for her daughter as Mary and Lewis ooze despair, their entire world having collapsed around them; they are singularly focussed on their desire for revenge. Every character has believable motivation.
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And Beth is a standout. Tessa Kozma plays a troubled pre-teen to perfection. At times she is angry, other times sarcastic, but all the time she gives an impressive performance as she butts up against her mother, the pair of them clearly suffering from the trauma of moving away from home and husband/dad being in prison. All the time, you feel there is something not quite right with her and she seems wise beyond her years; there is definitely something going on behind the eyes.


The direction is great, making the best of the cast and using the confusing architecture of the house to good measure. Motherly has some effective creepy moments in the first act that help build the sense of dread as the film gets into its stride. I don’t know what the budget for Motherly was, but I don’t think it was large. However, Craig David Wallace has produced a film that belies its low budget origins.
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Overall Motherly is a decent home-invasion, revenge thriller with a good cast, it is just let down by signposting the twists so heavily. The ending saves it a little and, while the main story is wrapped up, there is fun to be had thinking about where it might go next as we fade out from the final images. Despite the fairly big fumble in relation to the plot twists, I still had fun with Motherly and would happily recommend it to anyone who enjoys a home invasion/revenge thriller. At just 80 minutes, what have you got to lose? (Apart from 80 minutes, smart arse.)

Mandrake

A probation officer, Cathy Madden, is tasked with rehabilitating a notorious killer named 'Bloody' Mary Laidlaw back into society following a two-decade sentence.

A Horror Movie Review by Hope Madden

I have about six different cousins named Cathy Madden, but Lynne Davison’s Mandrake is not about any of them. I hope.

Davison’s tale follows probation officer Cathy Madden (Dierdre Mullins), whose recently assigned client, Mary Laidlaw (Derbhle Crotty), has the county in a tizzy. Old “Bloody” Mary is thought to be a witch, you see, and no one’s too keen on her being let out after what she did to her husband in those woods. Twenty years wasn’t long enough.

It’s tough to do something surprising within the witch genre. These films generally fall into two categories: she’s evil and in league with Satan, or she’s misunderstood and being wronged by hateful townfolk. Davison blurs that line. Her handling of Matt Harvey’s script treads a provocative path of moral ambiguity that requires constant guesswork and generates real dread.

Connor Rotherham’s cinematography draws out the best in Vanessa O’Connor’s production design to give Bloody Mary’s environment a primal, organic and dizzying feel. Everything is draped in moss and knotted with roots. You can almost smell the rotting leaves. It’s gorgeous and dense, simultaneously lovely and terrifying.

Crotty, all wild hair and knowing eyes, blends effortlessly into this primordial world. Mullins perfectly complements that performance with her own complex take on Madden. Straightforward with no time for nonsense, the parole officer still weakens, and Mullins finds depth here. The two performers play on their opposing look and vibe not to illustrate differences but to unveil sympathies.
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Mandrake never falls back on one-dimensionality. Characters are messy. They do the wrong thing, then the right thing, behave monstrously and also with kindness. The film is also mercifully light on religion, instead pitting the scientific world against something older. Whether that world and its options are more sinister is in the eye of the beholder.

Hope Madden is a writer and award-winning filmmaker living with her husband George and cat Velma in Columbus, Ohio. She writes what scares her, which worked out fine until she became a filmmaker and had to live what scared her for the duration of a shoot. Terrible decision. Her novella, Roost, was published in 2022 by Off Limits Press and her first feature film releases in late 2022.

​Check out Hope's Podcast here : https://soundcloud.com/frightclub

And for more film reviews from Hope check out 

Maddwolf 
https://maddwolf.com/

Slash/Back

Maika and her ragtag group of friends discover an alien invasion in their tiny arctic hamlet, and it's up to them to fight back using makeshift weapons and horror movie knowledge.

Initial release: 13 March 2022
Director: Nyla Innuksuk
Distributed by: Mongrel Media

A Horror Movie Review by Hope Madden

Nyla Innuksuk’s sci-fi horror Slash/Back opens with a likable, snow-suited scientist gathering permafrost samples in a breathtaking Northern Canadian snowscape.
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Researchers on the Arctic Circle don’t have a great track record for surviving horror movies. Don’t you love the way blood pops on snow? The tentacled menace that cuts the scientist’s research short is soon to terrorize a remote fishing village called Pangnitung, or as Maika (Tasiana Shirley) and her buddies call it, Pang.
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Innuksuk has a lot of fun reconsidering John Carpenter’s The Thing – the tale of an invasive species and the terrifying havoc it can wreak – from the perspective of four indigenous teens. And in case the point is lost on you, Maika has a badass jacket to wear when killing invasive species that may help to clarify things.

None of the performances suggest a superstar in the making, although Nalajoss Ellsworth impresses as instigator, malcontent and comic relief Uki. Still, the buddies – who include Chelsea Prusky as Lee Lee and Alexis Wolfe as Jesse – share a rapport that feels honest and relatable. Innuksuk mines this to enrich the fantasy elements with realism.

The filmmaker’s greatest collaborator is cinematographer Guy Godfree (Maudie, Let Him Go). The two contrast the ramshackle buildings of Pang with the glorious natural landscape around it. The effect not only conveys what could be lost to these bloodthirsty outsiders, but what was lost the last time.

Creature design is sometimes inspired, sometimes a little weak, but Innuksuk embraces these limitations. Production value is high, even when the images and performances on the screen seem a bit amateurish. Somehow the two fit together in this world at the edge of the world, where that adolescent urge to pretend to be someone you’re not feels like a real betrayal and those seal hunting trips you took with your dad finally pay off.

Hope Madden is a writer and award-winning filmmaker living with her husband George and cat Velma in Columbus, Ohio. She writes what scares her, which worked out fine until she became a filmmaker and had to live what scared her for the duration of a shoot. Terrible decision. Her novella, Roost, was published in 2022 by Off Limits Press and her first feature film releases in late 2022.

Director/narrator George Popov and writer Jonathan Russell return to England’s shadowy past for the third installment of their documentary series, Sideworld: Damnation Village. We leave the forests and seas behind to peek inside the cottages, inns and public houses beset by residents unwilling or unable to leave.

The sixty-minute doc benefits again from the collaboration of a team that’s clearly on the same page. Russell and Popov have worked together, not only on both previous installments in this series (The Haunted Forests of England and Terrors of the Sea) but also the narrative features Hex and The Droving.

Cinematographer Richard Suckling once again helps Popov fill the screen with spooky but beautiful scenes, while composer Matthew Laming again breathes eerie life to the imagery with his whispering, whistling score.

Their focus this go-round are the tiny clusters of cottages dotting the English countryside, villages that have withstood centuries of war, pestilence and trauma that have left their marks. We begin, of course, in Pluckley – Guinness’s “most haunted village”.

The film moves on to Prestbury and the tale of, among others, the Black Abbott. Visits to the mostly empty villages are accompanied by Popov’s associated tale of the macabre. The filmmakers enlist actors Helen O’Connor and William Poulter to give voice to letters, articles and witness accounts.

As intriguing as the tales of lost love and criminal retribution are, it’s the mournful story of Eyam that stays with you. Perhaps it’s the connection to modern tragedy – Eyam voluntarily quarantined during the Plague, saving all the communities around it from infection but dooming themselves in the process.

As the series progresses, an interest in connecting the spectral with the scientific has become one of Sideworld’s prominent elements. In this case, Popov and company explore British archeologist/author T.C. Lethbridge’s Stone Tape theory to help explain recurring, looping paranormal phenomena.
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Perhaps what best sets this series apart from other spooky folklore entertainment is its reverence for the subject – not just the scary stories, but the actual human lives behind them. Mingled with the solid storytelling – visual and aural – the heady concoction delivers another solid look at the unexplainable.

Hope Madden is a writer and award-winning filmmaker living with her husband George and cat Velma in Columbus, Ohio. She writes what scares her, which worked out fine until she became a filmmaker and had to live what scared her for the duration of a shoot. Terrible decision. Her novella, Roost, was published in 2022 by Off Limits Press and her first feature film releases in late 2022.

Soft & Quiet

An elementary school teacher organizes a mixer of like-minded women where an encounter with someone from her past spirals into a volatile chain of events.

Release date: 4 November 2022 (USA)
Director: Beth de Araujo
Distributed by: Momentum Pictures
Production companies: Blumhouse Productions

A Horror Movie Review by Rachel Willis

The idea that the kindergarten teacher at your child’s school might be a member of an Aryan group is terrifying enough, but writer/director Beth de Araújo takes that idea even further in her first full-length feature, Soft & Quiet.
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The kindergarten teacher, Emily (Stefanie Estes), is our focus as we watch her leave school one afternoon to attend a meeting of like-minded women. Right from the beginning, it’s clear Stefanie is unlikeable. She coerces a young boy into confronting a janitor over mopping the floor, painting it to the child’s mom as teaching him to be empowered.

From this uncomfortable moment, the movie takes us further into discomfort as we follow Emily in real time as her evening progresses. Giving away anything more would remove the tension that is slowly built as the movie moves from unsettling to disturbing to terrifying.

Telling a story in real time takes a truly talented editor, and Lindsay Armstrong nails it. Her cut is seamless, and it helps deepen the tension. The editing work keeps you in the moment, showing how quickly mob mentality can take over – especially if the group in question feels threatened (even when the threat actually comes from the group in question).

Most of the time, the cinematography complements the writing and editing. But on occasion, it feels like we’re watching a found footage film, which detracts slightly from the tension. While there are many moments filmed to unsettle, at other times it removes us from the moment. However, these minor faults are easily overlooked.
The acting throughout is perfect. Every woman feels like someone you might know. From the pregnant Stormfront member to the woman living paycheck-to-paycheck, each actor brings a realism that lends to the dread we feel as we follow the group.

Though we follow Emily, it’s impossible to feel any sympathy for her. She is at times coerced into action and other times the leader of the pack. What she chooses to do is horrifying, and her responses to the events don’t evoke understanding.

There are several themes running in the film, but all of them work together to paint a picture that isn’t hard to envision.   It’s easy to imagine women like these among us. That’s the scariest part of all.

Rachel Willis is a freelance writer living and working in Columbus, Ohio.
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She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Rachel has written for both Screenrelish and MaddWolf and is currently working on her first novel. Aside from being and active writer, Rachel is an avid film watcher with a soft spot for horror movies. Rachel is also a member of the Central Ohio Film Critics Association.

Some very mild spoilers for Mandrake follow


Mandrake follows probation officer, Cathy (Deirdre Mullins) after she takes on newly-released killer, ‘Bloody’ Mary (Derbhle Crotty) as her new ward. Mary was put away for killing her husband 20 years previously, but old wounds run deep and, as well as having to deal with Mary’s strange behaviour, Cathy finds herself facing the wrath of the locals who don’t want Mary, who they believe is a witch, anywhere near them.

The community’s fears are realised when two kids go missing, and Mary becomes the obvious target of the pitchfork (shotgun) wielding locals. As the tension increases, Cathy finds herself caught between her duty, the locals, and the law in the shape of her ex-husband, Jason (Paul Kennedy)


When the children’s bodies are discovered, posed with paganistic wooden trinkets, things just go from bad to worse and Cathy becomes embroiled in a situation that puts her and her family at risk. 

On the surface, Mandrake is a competently made folk-horror with all the requisite elements; a close community, tragedy, a suspicious loner, foreboding landscapes and brooding locals who live in fear of things they don’t understand. As the story evolves, we discover more about Mary and what her plans are; was she responsible for the murdered children? Who or what is the strange figure wandering the woodlands and is it related to Mary?

However, dig a little deeper and Mandrake is also a story about family and what you might do to protect yours. Following her divorce, Cathy’s life is in turmoil now her son lives with her ex and his new partner, who he has begun to refer to as “mummy.” Cathy’s inability to have any more children is an underlying issue that fuels her love for her son, but which is also used against her by Mary, whose own pain Is reflected in Cathy’s, as her son was taken from her when she was arrested.

Five films in, have Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead cornered the market on low-fi sci-fi nerd horror?

It’s a niche, but the directors/actors (both) and writer (Benson) carved it out well with Resolution, Spring, The Endless, and Synchronic. Something in the Dirt continues the winning streak, landing as an offbeat mindbender with even more of their wry humor.

Benson and Moorhead are also back to taking the lead roles. Levi (Benson) has just moved into a new apartment in L.A., where he meets neighbor John (Moorhead). The two hit it off well, especially after they witness some possible supernatural activity in Levi’s new place.

What else can they do but get some cosmic proof on camera, and then ride a paranormal wave to fame and fortune?

But as an apartment doorway begins to resemble a portal to some twilighty zone place, the two men start to learn things about each other – and about their surroundings – that plant a seed of suspicion. The addition of interview footage from after the spectral adventure creates a quasi-documentary (even mockumentary) feel.

Things did not go accordingly to plan, which only piques our interest in finding out why.

A spare number of players in (mainly) one building recalls Resolution, Benson and Moorhead’s stellar debut. But the ten years since then have seen a worldwide pandemic and the rise of conspiracy-laden rabbit holes, and Something in the Dirt shows the guys revisiting the past with the benefit of their own hindsight.

What has made us so susceptible to exploiting and to being exploited, and to eagerly delight in ignorance and foolishness?

The mix of paranoia, nervous excitement and deadpan silliness is the vibe these guys revel in – as writers, directors and actors. 2019’s Synchronic brought a bigger budget and bigger name stars but felt a bit like an ill-fitting suit.

Here, the scale is smaller but the film breathes easier, as if Benson and Moorhead felt free to scratch the creative itches that make them unique. Something in the Dirt digs into all of them, digging up something ready to be filed under “low-budget nerdy sci-fi horror satire.”
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Catchy!

Satan’s Slaves: Communion

Several years after a terrible incident cost their mother and youngest sibling their lives, Rini and her siblings Toni and Bondi live with their father in flats. They believe living in flats with many people is safe, but they soon realize this might be dangerous if they don't know their neighbors. On a night full of terror, Rini and her family must save themselves.

Director: Joko Anwar
Producers: Gope T. Samtani, Tia Hasibuan
Cinematography: Ical Tanjung

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A Horror Movie Review by Hope Madden

In what may be Joko Anwar’s most assured and consistently spooky effort, Satan’s Slaves: Communion evokes effective, building horror.

Building, like a towering apartment building. It’s not an image you expect to find in horror, but it has been used to fantastic effect a number of times. Obviously, Rosemary’s Baby and The Sentinel delivered urban terror via creepy architecture. More recently, Rec and the action classic The Raid took advantage of layer upon layer of floors and doors for bloody mayhem.

Anwar blends the supernatural of the earlier films and the pandemonium of the latter with the looming presence of the structure itself, a bit like what you’ll find in Eskil Vogt’s The Innocents and Ciaran Foy’s 2012 horror, Citadel.

The mish-mash works wonders to conjure a dark, dreary, dangerous trap with supernatural evil waiting down every hall. And don’t even look in the laundry chute.
A sequel to his 2017 Satan’s Slaves (itself a riff on Norman J. Warren’s ’76 cult horror Satan’s Slave), Communion picks up in 1985, just a few years since Rini (Anwar favorite Tara Basro) and her brothers Toni (Endy Arfian) and Bondi (Nasar Annuz) lost their mother and little brother to something very sinister. Their dad moved them to this building in Jakarta, and as long as they can survive the big storm that’s coming, Rini will finally leave the nest and pursue her education.
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Sure. Just don’t take the elevator.

The first Indonesian film to be shot in IMAX, Satan’s Slaves: Communion looks as grimy and shadowy as any Anwar film – as it should. He uses shadows and distance, cramped spaces and lighting to set a stage that unnerves. Both sound design and practical FX complete that picture. Yes, the ideas and even some images are pulled from other films, but the final concoction is utterly Anwar.

Hope Madden is a writer and award-winning filmmaker living with her husband George and cat Velma in Columbus, Ohio. She writes what scares her, which worked out fine until she became a filmmaker and had to live what scared her for the duration of a shoot. Terrible decision. Her novella, Roost, was published in 2022 by Off Limits Press and her first feature film releases in late 2022.