“I tried to avoid it as much as I could.” Ari Aster’s remark, made shortly before the 2019 release of his acclaimed horror film Midsommar, acknowledged the shadow cast by Robin Hardy’s 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man. Both films helped define the modern folk horror landscape. While Aster may have tried to steer clear … Read more

Rose: A Love Story (2020) Director: Jennifer Sheridan Screenwriter: Matt Stokoe Starring: Sophie Rundle, Matt Stokoe, Olive Gray Rose (Sophie Rundle, known from Peaky Blinders) and her husband Sam (Matt Stokoe) live a deliberately isolated life in a remote cabin on the windswept moors of northern England. Rose is confined by a chronic illness that … Read more

This article was written exclusively for The Film Magazine by Kristina Murkett. Requiem for a Dream: A Requiem for the American Dream When Requiem for a Dream first played in U.S. cinemas twenty years ago, critics framed it as the definitive cautionary tale about addiction. Reviews called it a journey into hell, a gruelling depiction … Read more

Ultraviolence (2020) Director: Ken Fero Screenwriter: Tariq Mehmood Ultraviolence is a potent and uncompromising documentary that examines deaths in police custody in the UK between 1995 and 2005. Through interviews with family members, archival CCTV footage from inside police stations, and animated reconstructions where footage does not exist, the film constructs a careful, devastating portrait … Read more

Wildfire (2020) — Film Review This article was written exclusively for The Film Magazine by Jack Cameron. Wildfire (2020) Director: Cathy Brady Screenwriter: Cathy Brady Starring: Nika McGuigan, Nora-Jane Noone, Kate Dickie, Martin McCann Opening with a montage of archival-style footage—soldiers on Belfast streets, bombs, arrests, incarceration and family tragedy—Wildfire quickly situates itself in the … Read more

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) Director: Aaron Sorkin Screenwriter: Aaron Sorkin Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alex Sharp, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, John Carroll Lynch, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Rylance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Frank Langella Aaron Sorkin is a writer and director whose work tends to arrive sparingly but with impact. After landmark screenplays such … Read more

One Night In Miami (2020) Director: Regina King Screenwriter: Kemp Powers Starring: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr., Lance Reddick, Christian Magby If you could choose any four people in the world and put them in a room together, who would they be? In her assured directorial debut, Regina King imagines a … Read more

Zombieland (2009) Director: Ruben Fleischer Screenwriters: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin Imagine, for a moment, that the world has collapsed into a full-scale zombie apocalypse. Streets are deserted, internet access is unreliable if it exists at all, and the people you once trusted could turn on you … Read more

Cicada (2020) Directors: Matthew Fifer, Kieran Mulcare Screenwriter: Matthew Fifer Starring: Matthew Fifer, Sheldon D. Brown, Cobie Smulders, David Burtka, Bowen Yang, Scott Adsit Cicada is an unusually quiet New York film. Instead of the typical urban noise, the soundscape leans toward birdsong and distant seaside ambience, and many scenes unfold in unexpectedly empty spaces. … Read more

Wolfwalkers (2020) Director: Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart Screenwriter: Will Collins Starring: Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whittaker, Sean Bean, Simon McBurney Cartoon Saloon returns with Wolfwalkers, a 2020 animated folk fantasy that deepens the studio’s reputation for blending mythic storytelling with arresting hand-drawn visuals. Set in Kilkenny, Ireland, during the English conquest under Oliver Cromwell, the film … Read more