Reviews Archives - Dead Northern | Page 7

The Witch (Directed by Robert Eggers, 2015)  Robert Eggers has become a prodigy in contemporary gothic horror, creating films that ooze a rich, dramatic aura that presents historical, period-based tales of folklore and mythology. One film in particular that kickstarted his now cemented reputation as a historical-fiction director is The Witch (stylised as The VVitch). ...

The Monkey makes an array of promises. It vows to shock at the audacity of its plot, urges a repulsive affective response at some of the more gnarly moments, and most importantly, it demands that every viewer is grinning from ear to ear at the bombastic ludicrousness of it all. Conceived originally as a short ...

Basked in the cruelty of the human nature, blasting deep truths, whilst being equally entrenched in glimmeringly stunning imagery is Drew Hancock’s Companion.  The trending Companion follows an unconventional love story that challenges and startles as we see the likes of Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lucas Gage, Rupert Friend, Megan Suri and Harvey Guillén navigate ...

Serpil Altin’s ‘Once Upon a Time in the Future: 2121’ is an ominous tale with sparks of surreal comedy that acts as a bold and honest take on both the familial regime under pressure and the horror that arises from fears of the future.  In the year 2121, planet Earth has broken down from years ...

Unlike anything many have ever seen before, convolutedly excellent, with a slow burn-like atmosphere is precisely what makes Presence the cinematic enigma that it is. This film is not simply genre bending, it is a complete malformation of categorisation, which has left a slew of mixed reviews in its wake. However, forgoing the ruse stirred ...

Leigh Whannell is somewhat contemporary horror royalty, belonging to projects such as Saw (2004), Dead Silence (2007), Insidious (2010), Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015), Upgrade (2018), The Invisible Man (2020) and now Wolf Man (2025). Regardless of opinion, Whannell is a seasoned horror creator, but is his extensive experience enough to make ...

From the same mind that conjured The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019) is the long-awaited tale of Nosferatu by the brilliant Robert Eggers.  Nosferatu, a remake of the F. W. Murnau silent German Expressionist film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922), follows Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp), who in her youth pledged her devotion to the ...

Presence (Directed by Steven Soderbergh)  Expected release date: 24th January  This upcoming atmospheric chiller comes from the mind of the great Steven Soderbergh, whose previous award-winning credits include hits such as Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989), Erin Brockovich (2000), and more recently, Unsane (2018). Presence takes place from the perspective of a ‘ghost’, as the ...

Abigail (Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett)  Abigail is part heist movie, part monstrous horror. A film of two halves. The first half plays on its own genre stereotypes and known ploys, lulling us into a sense of familiarity, before ripping the curtain back and unveiling an exhilarating ride that ceases to calm right ...

The infinitely popular and highly respected Tales from the Crypt is a cinematic treasure whose history and legacy is a potent example of how horror films can last for generations and still remain as culturally influential as ever. This quintessential British horror is based on the EC comic series of the same name, which ran ...

Bob Clark’s 1974 classic, Black Christmas is undoubtedly one of the most beloved Christmas horrors, a bonafide slasher must-see and more often than not hailed as a true genre forefather, cementing the tropes we all know and love today. To phrase it simply, Black Christmas is an exceptional feat.  The chilling urban legend, often coined ...

The definition of the word ‘heretic’ is as follows; to go against, to reject, to rebel against the standard order. Just as the description entails, directing duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ new horror, ‘Heretic’, rebels against every expectation in favour of being a contemplative, at times challenging and overtly chilling tale of frightful depths. The ...