All We Have Left by Emily Paxman - Book Reivew

 

'The world might not have ended all at once. But end it did. Kayla Hollins is a survivor. Living in the fragmented wasteland of the Canadian Pacific Northwest, she's outlived a colony, a cult, a paramilitary group, and most of her family. So when her younger sister April falls seriously ill, Kayla will do anything to save her. They trek to Salt Spring Island, a beacon of hope in their otherwise brutalized world, which is rumoured to still have a hospital. But Salt Spring's utopia comes with a price. Not just anyone can enter paradise or access their medical care, and Kayla's past is chequered.

'Desperate, Kayla makes a deal with Sid Charles, an aspiring politician with whom she had a chance encounter before arriving on Salt Spring. If Kayla and Sid get married, it will boost Sid's chances of election, and grant April automatic access to the medical treatment she desperately needs. And in two years, when Kayla is eligible for citizenship herself, they can get a divorce. Simple, right?

'Sid is distant and cranky, but Kayla comes to learn he is also shockingly kind. The more time she spends with him and his ragtag group of rescued boys, the more she comes to admire him. But with April's treatment and Sid's election on the line—and the constant terror of her past being discovered—Kayla isn't sure she can risk trying to change their arrangement. Trapped together in the closest thing left to paradise, Kayla and Sid both know what it means for the world to end. But as they try to rebuild with the people of Salt Spring Island, there may be time left to save—if not the world—themselves.'

I'm not much of a romance reader. This is largely down to not really enjoying genres and settings where it's real-life. The closest I'll come to reading a book that could be set in the real world is a murder mystery type story, otherwise I want fantastical things that I could never get to live myself, such as monsters, aliens, magic and the like. When I do get to read stories with romance in them they tend to be secondary to other events, a little sprinkling of romance in a story that's main focus is elsewhere. All We Have Left, despite being a post-apocalypse survival story, manages to do something of a switcheroo on me where I suddenly realised that the post-apocalypse setting was mere window dressing for a romance story; and I was shocked that I was absolutely loving the book despite of this trickery. 

All We Have Left begins in the Canadian wilderness decades after the world has been ravaged by intense global climate shifts and massive earthquakes that brought civilisation as we're used to to an end. It's here that we meet two sisters, Kayla and April. Kayla is almost a decade older than her teenage sister, and has been her sole caregiver for years now since their mother was killed by other survivors. However, since April has been getting sicker and sicker Kayla has been left with no choice but to do the one thing that she never wanted to do, trust one of the communities of survivors for help.

Travelling to the island community of Salt Spring Island, Kayla and April are taken in as refugees; a process made a little bit harder by Kayla's trauma inspired panic when confronted by their armed border guards that results in her injuring one of them. On the island Kayla learns that April has diabetes, and her plan to get some quick treatment and leave falls apart as she realises that April will have to live on the island for the rest of her life. To make matters worse, Kayla doesn't know how she's going to pay for many future treatments after selling most of her possessions.

As a refugee, Kayla and April are placed with a family on the island as their sponsors, and they end up having to stay with Sid, the man that Kayla injured, after he steps forward to care for them when their future on the island is put at risk because of the injury Kayla gave him. The two sisters move into the huge farmhouse where Sid lives with several younger men and boys, all of whom came to Salt Spring with him and made a life there. As April settles into island life, going to school for the first time and dreaming of a future as a scientist, Kayla struggles to overcome past trauma, as well as a way for her to keep custody of her sister and pay for her medical bills. 

Thankfully, Sid comes up with a plan that can help them and him, if Kayla marries Sid they will get citizenship, and April's treatment will be covered; and Sid gets a wife to help his public image as he attempts to enter the world of politics. With little choice left to her, Kayla enters into a sham marriage with Sid, with the understanding between the two of them that nothing has to happen between them, and after a few years time they can just divorce. However, as time goes on it becomes clear that the two of them have feelings for each other, and now must navigate the complex web of these new emotions, island politics, and past trauma.

All We Have Left drops the reader into a post-apocalypse world, one where these two young sisters are scavenging for food to survive, and the fear of raiders and thieves is always present. However, this is something that soon changes, as Kayla discovers the small community on Salt Spring Island, one that has spent decades rebuilding itself as best it can. It has a government, a hospital, a library, a busy market, and even restaurants; all things that Kayla thought lost to the end of the world. From here the book becomes almost a twisted reflection of the world we know. Instead of fighting for survival in a ravaged world we're seeing Kayla have to deal with political deals, bureaucracy, and perhaps the worst scourge of all, capitalism.

Because we see this shift through Kayla's eyes it took me a while to realise that in many ways I wasn't really reading a post-apocalypse story anymore, and Salt Spring Island and the community there could fit into almost any kind of setting with a few tweaks. The promise of reading a story set in the post-apocalypse was pretty much gone after the first couple of chapters. Luckily, I had become invested in Kayla as a character that I didn't really mind this shift, though it could have been the kind of change that would have ruined the book for me if not written as well as Emily Paxman does here.

The main draw for All We Have Left is the characters and their relationships, even beyond the central romance plot. The several boys that Sid lives with are fun and engaging characters, and seeing how they relate to each other, learning about their past, and seeing how they handle the sudden change of having two women living with them makes for an interesting premise. There's also the subplot of seeing Sid, a former outsider to the community himself, navigate the world of politics to try to change the island for the better and create a bigger, more hopeful community that could have been the focus of an entire book itself.

The romance plot is the main drive of the book, and it's handled pretty well for the most part, relying on a slow burn approach to keep the reader invested and maintain a steady amount of tension as you wonder if Sid and Kayla will wind up together or not. There are times when things don't go well for the two of them in ways that could easily be resolved by simply sitting down and talking to each other, something the characters fail to do, but this is a fairly common trope across a lot of media, so I can't really blame to book for falling into this trap at times. There does come a point where the romance suddenly speeds up, with the two of them declaring their love and talking about babies and their future together that felt way too fast; but then the book does talk about how relationships evolve pretty fast in the post-apocalypse world due in large part because people don't know how long they're going to get.

However, this sudden change of pace does play into my biggest problem with the book; it resolves too fast. Towards the back end of the book a character from Kayla's past appears on the island, someone connected to the weird cult she and her family had to escape when she was a child. This kicks off a whole new subplot about how one of Salt Spring's allies is secretly a cult, and how they've hid this from the island whilst also keeping their own people in the dark so that only those on the top can benefit. This is a big plot, one that could have huge rammifications not just for Kayla, but the entire community. This gets resolved in about two chapters, and mostly off page with the reader being told how it all worked out in an epilogue scene. We also find out how Sid's political apsiratipns go in this scene in a similar way.

The ending feels so rushed because of this. With the amount of different plots going on, the number of relationships that were being explored, the story could have easily been told across two books, with perhaps the second book exploring Kayla and Sid's relationship once they admitted their feelings, whilst also dealing with the more intense parts of Sid's desire to be in politics, and the cult. Instead it's all done very fast and given as a 'oh and this happened between chapters' info drop. I couldn't help but feel somewhat cheated by this, and I think that if Paxman wasn't going to take the time to actually explore some of these things fully then perhaps just not including the sudden cult involvement in the final few chapters would have been better as then the resolution would have simply felt fast instead of very rushed.

Despite these issues with the ending, I still really liked the book. It wasn't perfect by any means, and Salt Spring island was perhaps not the setting I was imagining it would be (I don't know why it was capitalist and that a main plot point in the post-apocalypse was April dying because Kayla couldn't pay for medical bills) but the main relationships managed to make it a really engaging read, one that I kept wanting to come back to. I came out of the book feeling like I'd been tricked into reading a book that was pretty much just all romance, but I didn't mind it at all.

All We Have Left is available now from Titan Books.

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Shadows of Willow Cabin - Film Review

 

The horror genre is a vast and expansive one, one that allows filmmakers and audiences the opportunity to explore through themes than run the gamut of human experience. Horror can be used to explore trauma, personal fears, societal ills, and questions about the future. The genre is a perfect outlet for the marginalised too, for those more often unrepresented groups to tell their stories in ways that elevate the genre. The queer community is one that is often present in horror, though not always in the best ways, with expressions of sexuality and gender outside the accepted norm being given over to serial killers and monsters in ways that further other and dehumanise the queer community.

In more recent years, however, this community has been able to advocate for itself more, and has been gaining more of a positive voice in horror, with our stories slowly seeping into films. Even if the casual audience is unaware they're watching a queer narrative, gay, lesbian, trans, and other filmmakers have been making their voices hears; a recent example would be I Saw the TV Glow, a film that disturbed cisgender and heterosexual viewers for reasons they couldn't quite identify, but in which the trans community immediately saw themselves and their stories represented.

Shadows of Willow Cabin feels similar in this regard, a film that viewers outside the LGBTQ+ community will certainly get less from than it's queer viewers; but a film that is telling an important and very personal narrative.

The film centres on Albert (Bryan Bellomo), an older teacher who has travelled up to his old family cabin, affectionately named Willow Cabin despite the lack of willow trees, so that he can meet the much younger Devon (John Brodsky), who he met online and has been chatting with. Albert is still in the closet, and lacks any real experience with men, and so has turned to the openly gay, confident Devon to experience what it could be like to be his true self. Over the course of the next few days the two men drink, tell stories, lounge in the hot tub, and find a great deal of tenderness between the two of them. Albert gets to experience emotional and physical intimacy with a man, something that he's denied himself for decades.

However, we soon learn that Albert isn't only closeted, but also married with a son. He's snuck off to the cabin for the week under false pretence, and is cheating on his wife. This causes friction between the two men, and son the film also gets to explore some of the less savoury sides of intimacy. The film shows a rather truthful portrayal of a queer relationship, albeit in a very fast, condensed state as the two men experience attraction, lust, comfort, unease, anger, jealousy, and desperation over the course of their time together. But, Shadows of Willow Cabin is a horror film, and as such this slice of normalcy can't last forever.

When the two of them attempt to leave the cabin they find themselves unable to, with the forest around the building bringing them straight back no matter what they do. Not only that, but their food has gone rotten, the water is shut off, and the spectre of Albert's uncle is stalking them. As the two men desperately search for a way to escape this twisted nightmare they end up having to face their demons.

On the whole, despite the fact that ghosts and twisting reality exist within Shadows of Willow Cabin the film hardly felt like a horror film, and much of the movie is a very realistic, honest portrayal of a queer relationship involving two very different men. There's an age gap, one that comes into play as we see how childhood experiences and societal shifts resulted in very different experiences for them growing up gay. They have different positions in society, different expectations placed upon them because of their work and home lives. In some ways the film feels more like an examination of generational differences in the queer community than anything else.

As the film progresses and the paranormal elements are introduced it becomes clear that the titular 'shadows' deal with trauma, repression, and the fears that members of the queer community have, and even continue to go through. In a world where so many of us are forced into the closet, made to repress who we are and who we love, to live a live, it's not hard to see how such trauma can be present in so many of us. And whilst Shadows of Willow Cabin speaks to a more specific part of the LGBTQ+ community, the gay part, I think any one who is queer who watches it will be able to identify with it in some way.

The film, written and directed by Joe Fria, is decently made, and a good portion of it could be lifted out and presented as a drama about a closeted man dealing with his feelings and trying to figure out how to navigate his life. The shift into horror comes somewhat suddenly, and it jolts you into remembering that this is a horror film; yet manages to do so in a way that doesn't throw you out of the narrative. It's two leads, pretty much the only people in the film, bring a great deal of humanity to their roles, and despite the revelation that they're knowingly engaging in an affair that completely destroys the trust Albert's wife has put in him, you still manage to feel something for them even if you should hate them for this choice.

Shadows of Willow Cabin is a carefully crafted queer horror, one that may play a little too light on the horror elements for some, but will win others other thanks to its honesty and attempt to present a realistic representation of queer love and self discovery.

Shadows of Willow Cabin is available digitally in the UK from GrimmVision now.

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Lesbian Space Princess - Film Review

 

Queer media, depending on where you get your media news from, is either woefully underrepresented, or it's everywhere 'taking over normal TV' (the second one is usually the kind of complaint you hear from a boomer who sees one queer couple for three seconds of an advert and makes being angry about it their personality for the next six weeks). I definitely think that whilst there's more representation happening now than there ever has been it's still not at all even considering the size of the queer community, and the range of experiences that we have. It's also important that queer stories from queer creators get given attention over less personal depictions and throwaway representation from cisgender and heterosexual creators.

Lesbian Space Princess is a new queer led animation project from Australia, featuring first time writer/directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese. It also has the honour of being the first animated feature film made in South Australia. With queer creators, a queer (mostly) main cast, and it's weirdly Australian sense of humour, Lesbian Space Princess is a fun animated adventure that will appeal to younger adults, as well as those who want a queer story focused on queer joy.

The film centres on Princess Saira (Shabana Azeez) from the planet of Clitopolis, the main planet for lesbians in sector of the galaxy known as Safe Space; even if it can sometimes be hard to find Clitopolis. The daughters of two beloved queens, Saira has had a difficult time finding herself, and being accepted by the citizens of Clitopolis, in part due to her shy and fearful nature, her love of up-close magic tricks, and her inability to find or keep a girlfriend. As Saira's 22nd birthday looms she's sure that this is going to be her year thanks to her new girlfriend, the sexy space adventurer Kiki (Bernie Van Tiel). Unfortunately, Kiki breaks off the relationship, leaving Saira alone on her birthday once again, where she's publicly humiliated by Kiki dumping her, and her continued inability to summon her magical lesbian princess weapon, her cosmic labrys. 

Saira thinks that her world has fallen down around her, and that she'll never be able to win Kiki back thanks to her personal demons and self doubt. However, when she receives a message from the Straight White Malians (voiced by Mark Bonanno, Zachary Ruane, and Broden Kelly), who have taken Kiki hostage in exchange for Saira's labrys, she becomes determined to save her ex; and hopefully win her back in the process. Stealing an old, impounded spaceship from the royal hanger, Saira sets off into the universe. Along her journey she'll meet new allies and enemies, including non-binary singer/songwriter Willow (Gemma Chua-Tran), drag performer/club owner Blade (Kween Kong), and her ships slightly misogynistic AI (Richard Roxburgh).

The plot for Lesbian Space Princess is pretty simple, a girl gets dumped, doubts herself, goes off to save her ex to try and win her back, but learns about herself and gets the chance to grow along the way. At it's most boiled down aspect it's a coming of age story, one where the lead character is forced to deal with life-long trauma and self doubt, and must step out of the shadows to become the person she's always meant to be. This is a fairly common kind of arc for queer fiction, as a lot of queer stories feature characters discovering their queerness and coming out. But Lesbian Space Princess gets to play with this dynamic by having it be a queer story where the character's queerness isn't the driving force, isn't the thing they have to learn to deal with and figure out. Instead, it's feelings of inadequacy and self doubt that anyone can experience; and because of this I think that the film has a big change to connect with a wider audience than just the queer community.

Thanks to the film's bright and weird animation style, akin to things such as Rick and Morty or Adventure Time, and the often absurd nature of the humour used, Lesbian Space Princess is less likely to appeal to a more conservative, stuffy audience, but with younger generations, especially those around the same age as Saira, I think that it'll find a strong audience who love the weirdness. Whilst not every joke landed with me, it was still a great deal of fun, and had some laugh out loud moments. My favourite part of the film, however, wasn't the humorous bits, but a sequence in which Saira had to confront her inner fears and the darkness that had been looming over her the whole film. These moments really stood out against the rest of the film, and helped to connect me with the character in a way that was really missing before.

Lesbian Space Princess is sure to find an audience with younger queer folks, especially those who are into popularised queer media and culture. With a cast that includes queer comedians and performers from Drag Race, it at times does feel like the movie is both trying to appeal to a very queer focused audience (the kind of younger queer people who make queerness a big part of their personality) whilst at other times it feels like it's poking fun at that same audience and the stereotypes around them. As a middle-aged, stay at home disabled queer person who was unable to be openly queer most of my life the film is at times a little too over-the-top to really win me over, but the love that's been poured into it, and the fact that it's putting a queer spin on a genre where it's not usually found ended up getting me on it's side. 

Lesbian Space Princess is out in UK cinema's now.

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Aoashi by Yugo Kobayashi (3-in-1 Edition) Volume 1 - Manga Blog Tour

 

'Volume 1 of the Aoashi Omnibus from Titan Manga collects and translates Volumes 1-3 of the original award-winning Japanese manga series.

'To the world stage! Glory and ambition lie ahead of young Ashito Aoi as he takes the first steps to becoming a pro soccer player. But after being catapulted into a new harsh environment, can he hold onto his spider’s thread and climb his way to the top? A fateful encounter on Futami Beach in Ehime, Japan leads to the meeting between Fukuda Tatsuya; once a rising star and a player on the cusp of greatness whose career ended all too soon, and Aoi Ashito; a brash and hot-headed striker who loves soccer despite his selfish tendencies. 

'After being selected to try out for the Tokyo City Esperion Youth club, Ashito Aoi stakes his future on the chance to create a better life for his single mother and older brother, all while realizing his own shortcomings and dealing with the highly competitive world of J-Youth Soccer. With a mix of competitive high school soccer and a true-to-life representation of soccer and youth academies, Aoashi volume 1 starts the journey of the award-winning manga series.'

I'm not big into sports. Even before the option of being physically able to play sports was taken off the table for me it was never something that really interested me. I was drawn towards the world of fiction and art, preferring to lose myself to the unpredictability of a TV show or book over that of watching or playing a sports game that would give the same kind of thrill. As such, I've never really given much attention to stories about sports, other than the occasional film like Cool Runnings, or Blitzball segments in Final Fantasy X. When I was offered a copy of Aoshi's new 3-in-1 edition I felt like I was taking something of a gamble, having no real world interest in football; however, after spending some time reading through this hefty 600 page volume I'm happy that I took that chance and got to discover a really lovely new series.

Aoashi tells the story of Ashito Aoi, a teenager from the small prefecture of Ehime, where he's the star player on the local school soccer team. He's something of a hot-head, believing he's the best player the team has; a view that the other players tend to support as their main tactic tends to be 'get the ball to Ashito and let him score'. Despite his talent, he loses the opportunity to be picked by a high school scout watching from the stands thanks to his short temper. However, it does grab the attention of Fukuda Tatsuya, the manger of the Tokyo City Esperion youth team, who spends the night teaching Ashito a complex technique to gauge his abilities. 

Fukuda invites Ashito to come to try outs in Tokyo to see if he has what it takes to join the best youth team in the country. This sets Ashito on a path that will test his abilities, his dedication, and his drive to achieve his dreams to the very limit.

One of the things that immediately struck me about Aoashi is that whilst the series is about sports, the focus on football felt somewhat secondary to that of the lead character. After looking into the series a little I learned that Yugo Kobayashi was approached to create the series, and originally didn't want to because he had no interest in making a sports manga. I think that this is perhaps one of the main reasons why Aoashi reads in such a way that someone like myself, who has no interest in sports manga, can come away really enjoying it.

In a lot of ways the sport feels like the element that was needed to justify the events of the book, whilst the main focus is Ashito. The early chapters where we're seeing this young hothead who thinks he's the best find out he's far from perfect give us a fantastic grounding for a character that has a ton of room to grow, and who desperately needs to. Despite this need, Ashito never feels like a jerk, and you can see the decent kid inside him shining through even then. However, as the story progresses and we see him travel to Tokyo and he realises there are people more skilled, and more dedicated than him, he's forced to grow-up somewhat, realising that if he doesn't change he's not going to make it as a football player.

Part of this journey heavily involves the people he meets along the way, whether that's the coaches at Tokyo City Esperion FC, the other kids on the tryout, or the players on the other teams already there, they all either push him to go further than he has before, or give him a valuable lesson such as the importance of making friends and trying to find new ways to express himself. Football might be the reason for all of this, but the story is about this young teen discovering the kind of person he wants to grow up to be, and the struggles he faces along the way; and because of that, I think that it's going to appeal to a much wider audience. 

One of the things that I really appreciated about this first volume is that it's also incredibly grounded. This isn't a series where the characters unlock superhuman abilities, they don't kick the ball and send it flying at high speed wreathed in flames, and there's no ridiculous high stakes and drama such as players trying to kill each other mid-game. It's just teenagers playing football. Whilst I don't know a huge amount about football there's nothing I saw in the book that looked beyond the abilities of a real person, and nothing that happens on pitch that would end up with you getting arrested. This realism really helped to keep the focus on the characters and their very real experiences.

The art on the book is really impressive too, and the moments where we have action and drama on the pitch look fantastic. Kobayashi manages to convey movement and energy incredibly well, and some of the panels where characters pull off a particularly impressive or difficult move stand out as some of the best in the book. It also seems like a lot of care and attention are put into the times when a lot of characters are on the page together, whether running around the pitch or standing in a big group, and you can clearly see who everyone is and pick the important characters out from background characters without any issue. Considering how some big name manga series can sometimes cut corners in these moments, rushing the art and giving readers something of a disappointing experience, Aoashi never failed to impress in its visuals.

Character designs are pretty decent, and whilst none of the characters are too outlandish or unusual, each of them has something that sets them apart from others, whether than be hairstyles or facial structure, that you're never left wondering who's on the page, and can instantly recognise the important people. The only criticism I have with the art is on the pages between the chapters where Kobayashi will sometimes do pin-up style pieces with the books lead female character, Hana. There's one where she's posing in a small bikini with most of her body on display, and another where she's posing in nothing but a football shirt on top of the goal, and the picture is angles in a way to look up the shirt. She's never exploited or treated weirdly in the main book itself, but these pages come away as somewhat creepy and exploitative; especially as she's supposed to be around the same age as Ashito, making her about 15.

With this edition being a 3-in-1 the book is quite big, and covers a really decent amount of set-up for the series that I think makes it a lot easier to get into. The book does show you where each of the three individual three volumes would have ended, and whilst I would have enjoyed reading the smaller editions I don't think that I would have enjoyed it as much because I needed a bit longer to get into the story than other manga I've read. This is likely down to not being a sports fan, but I also think that readers wouldn't get enough insight into the characters in the smaller volumes to really become invested in Ashito and his journey. As it is, by the time this volume came to a close I was wanting to read more, and would have happily jumped into the next book.

Despite not being a sports fan Yugo Kobayashi manages to get me into Aoashi in relatively short time, getting me invested in the central character, his family life, his dreams, and the journey that he was starting. With some great art and a ton of heart, Aoashi will appeal to a ton of readers, whether you're a football fan or not.

Aoashi 3-in-1 Edition Volume 1 is available now from Titan Manga.

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Slither - Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD Review

 

Slither is regarded as something of a cult classic. Horror was in something of a rough patch when Slither was first released, and if we're looking at all time great horror films there aren't a huge number of them coming from the early 2000's, especially in comparison to the 1980s, or even the resurgence in truly well crafted horror that we've seen in the last several years. However, Slither managed to make a mark for itself despite a first-time director, one lead best known for a cancelled TV series and another who was still on the rise, and being a commercial failure. Now, 20 years later it's become a beloved horror film, and is receiving a new Limited Edition 4K UHD release.

Slither tells the story of Wheelsy, a small South Carolina town where residents live quite lives, where the chief of police naps in his car and helps school kids cross the road outside of school. This peace is shattered, however, when a meteorite crashes in the forest outside of town, bringing with it a malevolent parasitic alien lifeform. The parasite soon infects wealthy local resident Grant (Michael Rooker), who begins a terrifying metamorphosis, devouring raw meat as his body changes from the inside out. 

When Grant abducts a woman in town it launches a manhunt for him that sees his wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks) helping police chief Bill (Nathan Fillion) to track down her mutated husband. However, when Grant unleashes hundreds of parasitic slugs upon the town that infect the residents, turning them into monstrous zombie-like creatures, Bill and Starla must find a way of stopping the infection before it leaves Wheelsy and takes over the entire world.

I haven't watched Slither since it first came out, but always remembers it fondly, liking the way the film combined the horror genre with comedy, and managing to deliver a film that felt somewhat original and interesting at a time when the genre was failing to do so. Re-watching Slither for this release, I realised that whilst I remembered the core story and the flavour of the film I'd forgotten a great deal of it, and it was almost like watching it for the first time all over again. 

I was somewhat surprised with how short the film is, and it's a movie that uses it's runtime well, moving from plot point to plot point with little waste. The downside to this, however, is that the film felt like it came to a conclusion pretty fast, and I'd have been happy with another half hour of runtime if it meant a slightly slower pace, more chance to get to know the characters, and a few more set pieces once the alien slugs entered the story.

Despite the brevity of the film it managed to still be very entertaining, and I feel that it's aged pretty well for a film of the era. The effects work is mostly practical, and the CGI that's used is done so in a way that it doesn't stand out at particularly bad; I've seen much more recent films that have worse effects work than this. I also don't remember it including any particularly awful early 2000's 'humour' that would be considered badly aged by todays standards, such as including ableist or homophobic slurs. This might seem like a strange detail to mention, but going back and watching older film and television today does on occasion end up with particularly awful moments like that.

When I first watched Slither I was only really aware of the work of Nathan Fillion out of the main cast, and whilst I was a fan of his work my appreciation of his acting has definitely increased over the years, and it was lovely to go back and see an earlier starring role of his. Since first seeing the film I've also come to enjoy Elizabeth Banks' work, really like Michael Rooker, and now recognise Jenna Fischer from her time on The Office and got excited to see her in a small role here.

Unfortunately, I wasn't given access to the full release version, and was only able to watch the new HD version of the film, and as such cannot speak to the quality of the extra features that are included. The new release comes with brand new interviews with Director of Photography Gregory Middleton, Editor John Axelrad, Special Make-up Effects Designer Todd Masters, and Composer Tyler. There's also an older interview with Director James Gunn, some behind the scenes featurettes, a blooper reel, a set tour with Nathan Fillion, and deleted scenes. 

Despite my hazy memory of Slither it was fun to get the chance to see it again. I found it to be a pretty short but sweet movie, one that manages to combine body horror and comedy in such a way that you never know what's coming next, and whether you should laugh or be frightened. Having followed the careers of the cast and director over the years and coming to like their work it does feel strange to go back and see an early project with them, but you can definitely see how they would go on to become hugely popular names. Whether you're rediscovering Slither like me, have been a long time fan, or are experiencing it for the first time, this new release is a great watch.

Slither 20th Anniversary Limited Edition 4K UHD Steelbook is available now.

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Insomnia - Limited Edition 4K/UHD & Blu-ray Review

 

Stellan Skarsgård is an actor that has found critical acclaim around the world, and has delighted audiences by camping it up in the musical Mamma Mia!, by helping to ground the god Thor into the MCU, and by inspiring people to stand against fascism and hate in an awards worthy role in Andor. There are dozens of amazing roles in his catalogue that you'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite from; but one that may have slipped by your notice is the 1997 Norwegian neo-noir thriller Insomnia. Thankfully, Second Sight Films are offering audiences the chance to catch this unique piece in a new Limited Edition 4K/UHD and Blu-ray release.

Insomnia begins with a series of disturbing images filmed on an old handheld camera, showing a young woman alive one moment, then dead the next, a hidden figure carefully cleaning her body before putting her inside black plastic bags. From here we join police officers Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård) and Erik Vik (Sverre Anker Ousdal), who are flying to the city of Tromsø, which is located in Norwegian Arctic, where summer is in full swing and the sun won't set for months. 

Arriving in Tromsø to investigate the murder of teenager Tanja Lorentzen (Maria Mathiesen) the two detectives find themselves tested by this surprisingly harsh environment, a place where the blaring white light of day never gives a moments rest. Jonas has trouble sleeping, his nerves pushed to their limit, whilst Erik has trouble remembering things; though this is more likely due to his age than Tromsø itself. When a key piece of evidence is discovered at a remote shack, the police decide to use it as bait, hoping to find the killer returning to the scene to remove anything incriminating. As the arctic fog moves in the police spot their suspect and give chase. In the chaos that ensues one cop is shot and injured. As Jonas tries to find the killer he opens fire on the suspect, but accidentally kills Erik.

Choosing to hide his actions from the other police, telling them that the suspect was the one who killed Erik, Jonas must alter evidence into the investigation to ensure that he's not found to be responsible. Unfortunately for him, there is one witness to the event, Tanja's killer. Jonas finds himself in a complex game of cat and mouse as he tries to keep his freedom, and deals with his ever decreasing sanity in the relentless glare of the never ending sun.

At first I was wondering if Insomnia was going to be kind of Twin Peaks type mystery as it opens with an investigator travelling somewhere strange to find answers about a murdered teen wrapped in plastic; but Insomnia is it's own animal completely, instead taking us on a journey with a desperate, morally grey protagonist. It's not going to surprise anyone that Skarsgård delivers an exceptional performance, as I don't think he does anything else, but the way that he depicts Jonas' descent into sleep deprived, guilt-induced madness is simply sublime in how it elicits both sympathy for him, and disgust at what he does.

This was one of the most surprising parts of the film for me, Skarsgård is a nasty piece of work throughout. We learn that he had to leave a previous position for ruining a case by sleeping with a witness, we watch him murder a dog, kill his partner and cover it up, molest a teenager whilst driving. He's not a character that you'd normally want to spend time watching, other than perhaps in a villain role; yet here he is, our protagonist and 'hero' of the film. Insomnia does a wonderful job at always keeping you unsure what you should be feeling, and you end up feeling conflicted and on edge throughout.

I was also impressed how the usual crime noir visuals were completely inverted for Insomnia. So many films in the genre rely on darkness, for atmosphere, for keeping things hidden, for reflecting the heroes inner turmoil or journey. Insomnia blasts you with a bright light instead, every scene almost uncomfortably so. It's not the warm light of a regular sunny day, it's an invading, insistent glow that drains you rather than invigorates. The constant sun manages to feel more oppressive than darkness, and the never ending day almost becomes a character itself during the course of the film, the entity that has driven Jonas to breaking point. 

The new 4K restoration of the movie enhances those feelings of oppressive brightness thanks to the wonderfully crisp image quality. Alongside the film, which is presented in its original language with English subtitles, comes with an English Language audio commentary from Director Erik Skjoldbjærg and Co-writer Nikolaj Frobenius that offers some great insight into the film. Skjoldbjærg also appears in a brand new interview; as does Producer Petter J. Borgli. There's also a short video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and a trio of short films from Skjoldbjærg. The limited edition also comes with a 120-page booklet filled with essays and writing about the film, and six art cards.

As someone who's only known Stellan Skarsgård from his English language work it was an absolute delight to get to see him much earlier in his career. Insomnia showed me a very different side to the actor, and offered an unsettling, twisted narrative that entertained throughout. 

Insomnia is available on Limited Edition 4K/UHD & Blu-ray from Second Sight Films on Monday 25th May 2026.

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Tribe - Film Review

 

Tribe, by Director Dan Asama, tells the story of a university lecturer who travels into the mountains to investigate a strange religious sect that may be connected to the abusive past of an old friend who killed himself. However, what starts as a simple investigation begins to shift and twist into a strange narrative involving Mormon offshoots, interdimensional underground humans, body horror, and AI galore. 

As soon as I saw the first trailer for Tribe I felt alarm bells going off. There were parts of the effects work that felt somewhat strange, and I wasn't sure if this was going to be a film worth my time. Whilst the first twenty minutes or so of the movie were pretty decent, and set up for an interesting story with some competent acting, I wish that I'd listened more to those early suspicions as everything that is good about the early segments gets lost in ever increasing amounts of AI, and a plot that seems to lose its way. 

There comes a point in watching Tribe where any doubts over whether you're looking at AI produced effects get put to bed as you get a five minute scene in which it basically becomes a slideshow of 'creepy' AI images that someone likely churned out five minutes before slipping them into the edit. The scene in question is one where the lead is being told about the contents of a creepy old book that reveals the history of this religious sect. Rather than simply having the actor convey this information, Tribe instead gives us awful looking images of mutated people, strange landscapes, and fake drawings. The problem is that none of it looks real, it all has the AI fake, rubbery quality to it, and none of it looks even believably real or plausible. 

Almost any interest I had in Tribe died in that scene, with only the barest of desire to keep watching hanging on by a thread because I'd agreed to give the film a fair review, and because I thought that things couldn't possibly get any worse. However, the film not only continues to throw AI in throughout, but even abandons it own conceit just to create some kind of weird twist ending. Up until the final part of the movie the film is entirely found footage, trying to attempt a somewhat realistic approach to the story with the cameras sometimes capturing the paranormal (AI) as its lead character investigates strange caves and desolate mountains. 

This all falls away in the final act as we leave behind found footage and simply enter the dreams of the lead character. Or possibly a liminal space between time and space where super evolved underground humans from the distant past outline all of the plot to the audience. With lashings more AI. It felt like the movie wanted to be one thing to begin with, but part way through making it the choice to become some Lynchian surrealist piece took over. There's no reason why you couldn't marry a found footage film with that kind of style, but Tribe never really attempts to combine them that way, instead simply switching format in a way that's incredibly jarring when watching it.

I feel a little bad about this review, as it's easily one of my most scathing ones, and it probably just comes across as somewhat meanspirited. But if the film's creators can't care enough to put in actual effort into making the film, into crafting real art why should I give it any real appreciation? AI 'art' is theft. It's created off the back of real artists whose work is often taken as 'inspiration' without their permission to create awful looking knock-offs. We've seen thousands of artists across the world speak out against AI art, pointing out how their work is being taken as 'inspiration' without their permission, and how people are losing work and money because no one thinks they need real artists and craftspeople anymore when they can do it for free on their phone. And then there's also the environmental impact of producing AI images and videos. I can't help but wonder how much water was wasted in creating Tribe, how much toxic emissions were churned out, how much electricity was poured into it. 

There's a decent seed of an idea at the centre of Tribe, and the film starts with promise because of that, but in the end the film, just like the water and electricity used to create the AI throughout, becomes a waste. Some of the best regarded films of all time ran up against limitations because of their resources and had to find work arounds. This often ended up with someone coming up with a better idea to service the story, new filmmaking techniques, or even pioneering new effects work because they couldn't just type a prompt into a computer and take the first thing it churned out. Art is about passion, of the desire to create something, but where was that with Tribe?

As someone who loves art, who has fallen in love with so many works of fiction, who has had my life changed for the better by them, who's been helped through trauma and loss, who's found shared love in art, who's been inspired to create myself, seeing a film filled with AI isn't just disappointing, it feels insulting. 

Tribe is available on digital in the UK on25th May 2026 from GrimmVision.

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The Ginger Snaps Trilogy - Blu-ray Review

 

I remember watching the original Ginger Snaps soon after its VHS release in the UK. I was still a teen, and this was before I came out as a trans woman. I remember being enraptured by the movie. I adored Ginger and Brigitte, with their strength, their independent nature, and the journey they went on through the movie. Guys I knew who liked the movie would always default to some gross reason, usually their attraction to Katherine Isabelle, and never talked about the movies messages or themes beyond the most surface level male gaze interpretation of 'weird girl got hot because of a werewolf'. I didn't understand it at the time, but it was because the movie was talking to me on a feminist level as a closeted trans woman. It was a powerfully defiant movie, one that bucked the trends of the time, put women in the forefront, and handled topics that other movies would have ran from. Even though it had been many years since I watched it I still cited it as one of the best werewolf films ever made; and so when Second Sight announced that a new Blu-ray release of the entire trilogy was coming out and offered me the opportunity to review it I knew that I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by.

The first Ginger Snaps film begins in the quiet, boring suburb of Bailey Downs in Ontario, where a series of dog killings have been taking place. Despite these brutal attacks, the community remains somewhat insular, unwilling to care for the plight of their neighbours. It's here that we meet sister Ginger (Katherina Isabelle) and Brigitte Fitzgerald (Emily Perkins), two social outcasts struggling to find their place in the world. They insist on living in their homes unfinished basement, they create a slideshow of death images of the two of them for their school project on 'life in Bailey Downs', and they don't really have any friends in their lives. They're isolated and alone, unsure of who they want to be, or even if they want to be.

One night when out to pull a prank on one of the school bullies the two of them are attacked by some kind of large dog, with the creature seemingly focused in on Ginger as she suddenly experiences her first period; the blood apparently drawing its attention. The two of them manage to escape, but Ginger is badly wounded in the attack. However, her wounds begin to heal quickly, much to the worry of Brigitte. As the days go on Ginger begins to change, both in personality and her body, and Brigitte becomes convinced that she's losing her sister to a monstrous transformation. With only a handful of days before the next full moon Brigitte sets out to try and save her sister.

For a genre that's usually dominated by male leads, Ginger Snaps bucked trends and gained international acclaim by putting it's two female leads in the centre stage. Werewolf stories focus on transformation, of the physical changes that twist the human body into something monstrous. With Ginger Snaps, however, the film makes the wonderfully bold choice to link lycanthropy with menstruation and puberty, and doesn't shy away from the horrors that can often come with that experience. There's some very surface level take aways from this linking, the monthly cycle, your body being wracked with pain and aches, the shedding of blood; but for those with a keener eye and the willingness to explore further the film offers a lot more. Ginger Snaps is as much a movie about the female experience of your body's physical transformation, exaggerated her with monstrous effect. We get to watch as Ginger rejects the changes she's going to, wanting to hold onto the life she had before. She's embarrassed by the new attention her mother gives her. She fights through the new rush of desires she begins to experience for the boys around her and the hunger she feels. Ginger Snaps is a monster movie, but the monster is menstruation, not the werewolf.

It was this narrative choice that set Ginger Snaps apart when it first came out, but it was the performances from its two young leads that cemented the film as an all-time great in both the annals of horror and genre of female rage. Katherine Isabelle is much of the focus of the film as the titular Ginger, the young woman who's living through the nightmare of the curse she's fallen under. Isabelle plays the older of the two sisters, the one who believes she must protect her sister, and who holds the most power in their relationship. Over the course of the film you begin to see a somewhat toxic co-dependence pushed by Ginger, one that she's probably not even aware she's creating. She drives so much of Brigitte's life, her choices, and forces her into situations she's not comfortable with, yet never feels obviously manipulative and cruel. If anything Isabelle makes you see the love that drives this toxic pairing, the love that makes Ginger somewhat dangerous, and blind to her own twisted nature. Isabelle is also able to wonderfully capture both sides to Ginger, from the quiet, 'weird' kid who just wants to be left alone, to the girl who suddenly begins to feel confident and sexy in her body; a change that's ironically captured in her hallway walk scene.

It's easy to see why Katherine Isabelle gets her laurels for her performance in Ginger Snaps, but Emily Perkins delivers just as strong a performance as Brigitte. Where Ginger goes through a huge outward change Brigitte experiences a more subtle one. Watching as her sister begins to change around her, Brigitte must go from the meek follower to someone willing to take risks, to stand up to her overbearing older sister, and who puts her life on the line to set things right. Brigitte has just as important an empowerment story, yet often gets forgotten about when people discuss the film, focusing instead on Ginger. But when you watch through the film focusing instead on Brigitte (the real man protagonist) you begin to see how amazing Perkins is in the role. She builds this quiet power over the course of the film, you start to see the defiance build behind her meek facade, and where Katherine Isabelle uses her body and her confidence to show Gingers strengths Perkins does this with her eyes, with the subtle shift in how she holds herself, and ultimately with a truly powerhouse performance come the final act. 

Ginger Snaps was something of a low budget monster movie made in the early 2000's, and as such I was expecting the film to have aged somewhat poorly. But I was still surprised with how well the film looked on screen. Director John Fawcett manages to capture a dreariness in the film, a sense of grey, empty everyday life that teenagers of the time wanted to escape from. The film looks dull in many ways, the lack of colour and the boring normalness of it may not have been a conscious choice, perhaps one driven by lack of any other option, but the end result is a film that despite two and a half decades of age feels just as fresh and interesting as when it first came out. It has a low budget feel to it, but one that feels intentional, and one that perfectly suits the tone of the film. A flashier, more Hollywood version of Ginger Snaps not only wouldn't work, but would ruin the entire flavour of the film, and it wouldn't hold up anywhere near as well as it has managed to do.

Alongside the movie Ginger Snaps comes with a trio of audio commentary tracks. There's an audio commentary with Director John Fawcett, and another with Writer Karen Walton that have been on previous releases of the film and offer some wonderful insight into the creative process that went into the movie, as well as the impact the film had. The third commentary track is new for the Second Sight release, and features May Beth McAndrews and Terry Mesnard from the Scarred For Life podcast, who offer insight into the film from the perspective of expert fans of the genre, and people who grew up with the film shaping their experiences of horror. There's also a short video essay, some new interviews with crew members such as Director John Fawcett, Producer Steve Hoban, and Storyboard Artist Vincenzo Natali. Some behind the scenes featurettes that go into the making of movie, the creation of the monster effects, and rehearsals accompany deleted scenes and trailers. There's a lot of special features included, and even without the commentary tracks there's enough here to take hours to go through; giving any fan of the movie a load to sink their teeth into.

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed is the first of the concurrently produced sequel films, and directly picks up where the first film left off (spoilers ahead for the end of Ginger Snaps). With Brigitte having been forced to kill her sister following her monstrous transformation at the end of the first film, and now dealing with her own growing infection, we find Brigitte on the run, tracking the progress of the 'cure' from the first film that has turned out to be a temporary solution, only slowing the transformation instead of preventing it. Haunted by the spectre of her sister (and our way of featuring Katherine Isabelle in the film still), Brigitte is trying to stay one step ahead of a male werewolf that's on her trail, hoping to mate with her. When the male wolf catches up with her, killing a library worker looking to help her, it leaves Brigitte injured, waking up in a youth drug rehab centre as authorities believe her werewolf serum and needles point to her being a drug addict.

Locked inside the facility, and with no access to the to the drug that will slow her transformation, Brigitte is desperate to find a way to escape. She soon finds herself teaming up with the young Ghost (Tatiana Maslany), a girl who's there awaiting a foster care placement after her grandmother was injured in a fire, and who quickly recognises Brigitte's condition from her horror comics and love of monsters. Together the two of them must find a way to escape the facility and prevent the pursuing male werewolf from taking Brigitte as his mate.

I never saw Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed when it was first released, and knew nothing about it before watching it other than the previous films two leads were in it. I didn't even know how Katherine Isabelle featured, and if they would somehow bring Ginger back from the dead. This would have been the easier approach, the one that a lesser film would have made, somehow undoing the ending of the previous movie and removing the impact it had just to get one of its stars back. However, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed made the more impressive choice of sticking to their guns. Ginger is dead, and now it's impossible to deny that Brigitte is the real star of the series as she's forced into the role of the one fighting the werewolf infection.

Despite only being set a few weeks after the first movie it's impressive how much Brigitte has changed. She's outwardly assertive now, the quiet, almost nervous energy of the first film having been shed to make way for a young woman fighting for power, to be recognised as someone who knows what she's doing, as respected enough that others allow her to advocate for herself. Despite this change, it's fully believable with her journey, and whilst the Brigitte of the first movie wouldn't be threatening bullies with violence, or sternly talking down to counsellors, she has more than earned that strength now. This is a Brigitte without Gingers shadow, and she could easily stand beside other horror icons like Sarah Connor or Ellen Ripley as a woman coming into her own and finding the strength to fight against overwhelming odds.

Emily Perkins also gets the chance to invert the sister role from the first film, as she steps into the protective elder role with the inclusion of Ghost. Ghost gives Brigitte the excuse to become the protector, to become more like Ginger; and there are moments in the film that mirror scenes from the first one where Brigitte is now the one angrily telling the younger girl to leave her alone as she tries to deal with her transformation alone whilst the younger girl keeps trying to help her. It's a great inversion, and you can almost see the hesitancy from Brigitte as this dynamic starts to form, likely not wanting things to end the way they did for her and Ginger with this new friend. It also helps that Ghost is played wonderfully by a young Tatiana Maslany, who manages to inject warmth, comedy, and kindness into Ghost, whilst also bringing a level of darkness that makes her a character you're never quite sure of, who keeps you guessing right up until the end of the film.

I can see why people might not have liked the second film as much when it first came out, as it's a very different kind of film. Despite her prominent inclusion on the cover and name in the title, Ginger is barely in the film, and when she is she's clearly a manifestation of Brigitte's own internal thoughts and fears instead of her actual sister. Katherine Isabelle received perhaps too much of the praise of the original film, with male audience members focusing on her over her sister, and so I can understand a feeling of disappointment that she wasn't really a part of the follow-up. However, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed manages to be just as good as the first film, because of how different they are. Perhaps it helped that I got to watch them pretty much back to back over two days, instead of waiting four years to see it, but I found it to be a well thought out and brilliantly put together follow-up. The first film had a very definitive ending, so any sequel would have been hard pressed to make its existence feel earned, and the second Ginger Snaps not only did this, it also managed to stand on its own as a great piece of feminist film.

The second film comes with an audio commentary with Director Brett Sullivan, as well as a brand new interview with him that goes into the creation of the film. Writer Megan Martin also receives a new interview, and offers her perspective on the movie, as well as going into the difficult creation process. There are also some behind the scenes special features, audition tapes, and deleted scenes that offer more insight into the movie. 

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning is the most unusual piece of the trilogy, and the movie that I was most interested to finally see. A prequel film set in the harsh wilderness of the Canadian frontier, it sees two sisters, Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald, seeking out help as the only survivors of their family party. The film begins with the two of them travelling through the brutal winter conditions on horseback, searching for any kind of help, when they come across a ruined Cree camp. Here they encounter an elderly seer (Edna Rain), who delivers them a cryptic warning that they must 'kill the boy' to prevent one of the sisters from killing the other. The sisters then discover a Cree hunter, simply named The Hunter (Nathaniel Arcand), who leads the two of them to a fort manned by a ragtag group of soldiers and fur-trappers. 

The sisters learn that the fort is under siege by monsters that come in the dark, that kill without mercy, or infect you and slowly transform you into one of them. Monsters that the locals call wendigo. With supplies having been cut off for months, no sign of help coming, and losses mounting, the fort inhabitants may be as dangerous to the two sisters and the creatures lurking just beyond the walls. However, when Ginger becomes infected the two sisters must try to figure out a way for them to survive not just the danger that surrounds them, but the prophecy from the Cree elder.

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning is a hugely bold move from the creators. The sequels were both greenlight at the same time, and they were given free reign to take the series in whatever direction they wanted, as long as the two leads were in them. Rather than making two films that follow on, which would have limited their options and perhaps locked them into the 'sequel hell' trope, they chose to conclude Brigitte's story at the end of Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed in a wonderfully dark ending, and decided to have some fun with the third movie by giving audiences something so completely different. And this wild departure is perhaps the reason why a lot of people find it to be the weakest film in the series; and whilst I will say that I prefer the first two I did absolutely love the third one.

I'm a sucker for historical horror. I love it when a horror story, whether that be a book, film, or game, decides to go for a setting that enhances the horror experience. It's bad enough dealing with werewolves in a time where we know the legends, where you have modern weapons, vehicles you can escape in, or the ability to call for help at any moment; but imagine you've got no idea what these things are, you have only candlelight at night, guns are few and far between and only fire a single shot, and you have no way to get help. The added isolation and danger that comes with a historical setting only enhances the themes of being overwhelmed, of danger and powerlessness that most horror stories rely on.

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning does this well, putting a handful of characters in a remote, isolate location. They're running out of supplies, their walls are weakening, and they have only the myths and whispered legends of the native people they look down upon to guide them towards an answer. It feels like the most dangerous film of the three, especially as there are multiple werewolves to deal with, alongside violent men. One of the main drawbacks, however, is that I feel the film loses much of the feminist messaging of the previous two. Ginger and Brigitte are meeker in this film, their attitudes and actions restricted by the expectations and roles of the era. Yes, we do see that they're independent women, surviving on their own, but they still become subservient to the men around them, looked down on as weak, lusted over and seen as temptations. Despite the names and the actresses being the same, the Ginger and Brigitte in this film are pretty far from the Ginger and Brigitte we know and love.

For me, the film does manage to stay entertaining thanks to how different it was, but trying to do some new things, and because I have a soft spot for that particular sub-genre, but I certainly understand how it's the black sheep of the trilogy and the most divisive one. As with the other films, the third comes with an audio commentary to accompany it, featuring Director Grant Harvey. Harvey also gets a new interview, in which he goes into the making of the third film, as well as shedding some light on how it and the second were made at the same time and the creative process that led to them. There's also an interview with Producer Paula Devonshire, a making of special feature, deleted scenes, and a video diary.

The new trilogy boxset is an impressive release. It not only gives fans of the series some great new features, but for those like myself who loved the original film when it first came out but struggled to get access to the sequels it's a wonderful way to do so. Ginger Snaps remains as one of the important horror films of recent decades, one that helped to push women into the spotlight as more than just a final girl, and made women's stories and their struggles the main focus. It's wonderful to see the film getting the recognition and attention it deserves with this new set, and hopefully it will give whole new audiences the chance to discover it.

The Ginger Snaps Trilogy is available on Blu-ray from Second Sight Films from 25th May 2026.

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Woken - Film Review

 

Pregnancy is a serious time for anyone going through it, the immense changes and strains that your body is going through are so awful at times that not everyone is able to cope with the experience. So imagine how bad pregnancy is when you wake up with no memory of yourself, your unborn child, the people around you, or the isolated home you find yourself in. This is the reality that Anna (Erin Kellyman) finds herself in in writer/director Alan Friel's latest film, Woken.

Woken begins as something of a mystery film, as we the audience are dropped into this situation alongside Anna with no extra information, and learn of things along with her. Anna finds herself on a cold and bleak looking island with three other people, her husband James (Ivanno Jeremiah), and 'neighbours' Helen (Maxine Peak) and Peter (Corrado Invernizzi) who live on the other side of the island. These three people seem light on answers as to how Anna lost her memory, and the quiet looks they make, and whispered words they exchange when they think she's not looking make them seem less than completely trustworthy.

Anna and the audience are forced to question everything, to doubt the authenticity of this strange situation. However, it's not long before the tone of Woken shift when Anna encounters two people on the beach. A man and woman arrive on their remote island, having travelled there in a pedalo. Stranger than the manner of their arrival, however, is their appearance. Covered in strange, bone-like growth, the two of them are clearly infected with some strange condition. When James and Helen arrive on the scene and kill the two strangers, burning them and their belongings, Anna realises that even more sinister things are happening, and that despite the dangers she suspects are already around her even worse things await beyond the shores of their tiny island.

There's not much more that I can say about Woken that wouldn't give too much away, and perhaps I've already said too much about the plot, but the film does this wonderful trick part-way through when you realise that this isn't just some mystery thriller about a woman trapped in a possibly dangerous environment, but that it may have more of a horror of science-fiction bent to it that opens it up to some truly interesting new directions. 

The film is told from Anna's point of view, and as such Erin Kellyman is taking us through every single scene of the film. We learn things as she does, we get taken by surprise with her, and the audience will very quickly come to care about her as her survival means our continued exploration of the world that Friel has created. Kellyman does a phenomenal job throughout, essentially carrying us along through the film with her. It would be easy to have Anna's character fall into some kind of damsel-like stereotype, running and panicking in order to survive. Instead, Kellyman plays her with a fierce determination and a cunning nature that shines through as she tries to figure out the mystery of her memory loss, and ultimately through the earth-shattering answers she receives.

Maxine Peak makes for a brilliant supporting actor, bringing the usual warmth and kindness that you expect from her other roles, yet managing to inject just enough of a sinister edge that it makes for a quite unnerving performance. I found myself wanting to trust the character of Helen because she seemed so normal and kind, but the situation that Anna was in made that presentation somewhat twisted. It was wonderful to see Peak in this position, and I think this might be a brilliant role for her so that people realise she has much more range than the projects she's usually cast in. 

Woken is a fairly short film, but thanks to its twisting, unexpected narrative, and strong performances from its lead cast it ends up delivering a really satisfactory experience. It has some darkly claustrophobic moments that make you fear for Anna, it has some deeper lore that makes you super interested in the wider world outside of the island and the hope for more movies in this setting, and it borrows from some interesting genres to create a film that will leave viewers happy. 

With Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple showcasing Erin Kellyman in more overtly action oriented roles it's lovely to see her doing that whilst also bringing in other aspects such as vulnerability and a sense of fear. Kellyman has managed to impress me in everything I've seen her in, and whilst I think that Woken is likely to fly under most people's radars compared to those big name projects, it further showcases that she's an actor to keep an eye on.

Woken is available on digital release in the UK from 25th May 2026.

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