Phoenix FearCon at the 2025 Albuquerque Film Festival

The UFO’s of Soesterberg (2023)

Rating: B

Dir: Bram Roza

It often seems that the UFO phenomenon is an American-centric one. Most of the most famous cases and locales come out of the US, from Roswell through Betty and Barney Hill to Pascagoula and Area 51. But other countries have had their share of events which are difficult to explain – they just haven’t received quite the same degree of coverage. In Britain, there was the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident, where soldiers reported encountering something in the woods outside RAF Woodbridge. This Dutch documentary discusses a series of encounters in that country, about which I hadn’t heard. The situation is somewhat similar to Rendlesham, in that the events experienced often involved military personnel, sometimes with multiple witnesses, and took place around an air-force facility. But the reports here cover a period of several decades.

It’s a very down-to-earth, often prosaic approach, and that’s the film’s greatest strength. A good part of it is simply people retelling their experiences, without embellishment, beyond some simple animations and graphics (top). There are no abductions, encounters with aliens, medical experiments or implants. No ongoing contact, or messages from advanced civilizations. Just everyday Dutch folk, describing encounters with unusual craft, of triangular or oval shape, behaving in ways incompatible with conventional technology. The most extreme things get, is an effect on the witnesses’ vehicles, making for a close encounter of the second kind. None appear to have profited from books or lectures; many seem to have been reticent about their experience, from a fear of ridicule. It all adds up to create impressive credibility.

The triangle shaped object was particularly interesting, as it paralleled what Chris saw during the famous Phoenix Lights of 1997. There were two events that night: the famous hovering orbs, but before that and less heralded (but, to me, more interesting), a dark, triangular craft was reported seen travelling across much Arizona. It appears some of the observers in Soesterberg got a closer look at a similar vehicle. But the film carefully avoids coming to any conclusions on what might have been seen. Advanced US military tech? Surveillance by the Soviets? Or something not of this Earth? No claims are made, more extreme than that Soesterberg might have been used as a storage facility for nuclear weapons. Which could perhaps explain interest, from both Russia and beyond. 

I note that, despite the status of many witnesses, and official reports being made, the authorities largely deny all knowledge in regard to these incidents. Blasé government apathy? Or something more sinister??? Sorry. Got carried away for a moment there. Inevitably, there’s no particular conclusions reached, and with the amount of time since many of these events, it’s unlikely there ever will be. However, it appears the area continues to be a hot-spot for activity, the last report featured being from 2018. It certainly feels as if the area deserves further investigation. You will likely end this with no fewer questions than at the start. Yet this is a really solid documentary, which should give the most sceptical pause for thought, providing they’re open-minded enough. 

Screened on Phoenix FearCon night at the Albuquerque Film Festival

Catch a Killer (2024)

Rating: B

Dir: Teddy Grennan
Star: Sam Brooks, Tu Morrow, Michael Weaver, Tommi Rose

This is probably one of those movies where, the less you know going in, the better. Part of the joy is in seeing how the various pieces fit together, and how what seems an irrelevance at the time, becomes significant later on. To give one relatively benign example: a lecture on Greek mythology will become important, after you’ve completely forgotten about it. I must admit, I did notice some things as early as the opening credits. But, again, I discarded these as nothing more than a cute in-joke by the director. It was then kinda cool when it became key to the main narrative. Please excuse the high degree of vagueness in this paragraph. 

More helpfully: Otto (Brooks) wanted to be a homicide detective, but an incident with a fellow officer, led to this career going on hold. He’s now working clean-up on some spectacularly bloody death scenes, in his down time smoking weed and indulging his fondness for horror movies. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Lex (Morrow) is expecting their first child, and they’re preparing to move in together. Otto discovers what he believes to be a connection between some of the crimes, though his former boss, Detective Cobain (Weaver), is far from convinced. He’s not the only one: to be fair, it’s a spectacularly weird connection. It doesn’t get any less bizarre, the more Otto digs into events, believing it can give him a way off the janitorial squad, and back onto the force. 

This may not sound a particularly good fit for a horror festival. Because it’s mostly the stuff I can’t talk about, which puts it undeniably in our wheelhouse. Any horror fan will get a kick out of Otto’s fandom, and how it informs his investigation. Once you see what’s happening, you’ll start to get ahead of the plot. Yet the tone becomes progressively bleaker, with an almost relentless progression. Grennan finally takes his foot off our throat with the very last shot; I kinda wish he hadn’t. Until then, it has been getting into Se7en territory, combining a killer with an imagination and an agenda, and an investigator who doesn’t realize when his single-minded dedication is putting those close to him at risk. 

It takes a little while for the pieces to be laid out, and for the overall picture to become clear. At one early point, I thought Otto and Lex were the killers. Um. No. Definitely stick with it. Brooks gives a winning performance, that reminded me of someone, though I’m damned if I could work out who. It’s all enough to make me willing to overlook some of the more implausible elements (let’s just say, I open packages on their arrival). Grennan delivers a film that definitely is darker than I thought it might be. It reels you in, while also paying tribute to some classics of the genre, then reminds you real-life horror is very different to the cinematic kind.

Screened on Phoenix FearCon night at the Albuquerque Film Festival

Bawla (2025)

Rating: B-

Dir: Vishesh Mankal
Star: Jhinal Belani, Aniket Tank, Jayka Yagnik, Abhiijeit Chitre
a.k.a. Batty

This is likely the first Indian giallo I’ve seen. Indeed, Indian horror in general tends to be how I like my steak: medium-rare, and not well-done. It  isn’t a genre which appears popular in the country, though there have been exceptions: Tumbbad is on my list to watch, and is highly-regarded. But generally, the ones I’ve seen tend to reflect that the main tropes of popular Bollywood cinema are an ill fit in the horror genre, e.g. musical numbers and romantic comedy. This, mercifully, does not go for either. But given a budget of less than twenty thousand dollars, it was more technically solid than most at the price. While there’s nothing new here, and few surprises, it’s an entertaining watch.

I think its simplicity may be part of its strength. Outside the opening, there are only five characters, which offers little scope for irrelevancies. Everything that happens here is part of the plot. It’s about Jheel Khatri (Belani), whose sister was part of a YouTube channel, whose three members went missing shortly after interviewing film star Amit Malhotra (Tank). The audience knows, but she doesn’t, that the trio were murdered by a masked killer. But Jheel wants to find the truth, and if she can’t find it, will use herself as bait. Who is responsible? Paleontologist with anger issues, Kailash Dwarkadas (Chitre)? Writer with a drinking problem, Tahira Bhatt (Yagnik)? Weird artist, Soham Khare? Or maybe it’s Amit, taking method acting to new levels.

The identity of the killer, however, doesn’t feel very important. There’s one character in particular, who is either the most obvious killer in horror history, or the most obvious red herring. And it’s not long before the limited cast of suspects is getting whittled down further, as the psycho stalks and slashes through just about everyone else. There is certainly some giallo-esque sexual tension, with Tahira being a big dan of Amit. Though naturally, don’t expect anything graphic. But it’s all quite fun. For some reason, Tahira is fond of an exclamation the subs translate as “Buffalo blimey!” I don’t know if it’s intentionally meaningless, or something got lost in translation. Either way, that’s going to become my go-to expression of surprise in future.

In line with giallo requirements, the plot has moments which are maybe… a little loose in the logic department. Not least, Jheel taking about an hour longer than the audience to figure out who killed her sister. She still makes for a decent heroine, generally smart and certainly brave: she seems to be a soldier of some kind, which is a useful back-story for a final girl. Well, finalish. I’ll say no more there. Given I’ve never been a particular fan of the slasher genre, this did a better job of holding my attention than many. It’s helped by occasional visual flourishes, such as making use of Amit’s fondness for mirrors, plus characters which are considerably more than horny teens.

Chainsaws Were Singing (2024)

Rating: B

Dir: Sander Maran
Star: Karl Ilves, Laura Niils, Martin Ruus, Rita Rätsepp

“What the fuck was that?” So proclaims one of the characters here, but it works equally well as meta commentary about the movie itself. For context, the line comes as our hero, Tom (Ilves), and his sidekick escape from a lost tribe in the Estonian woods. Every Wednesday, they must provide a sacrifice to their god, the Enlightener, a giant fridge which… Well, let’s just say, they’re called the Bukkake Tribe for a reason. And this is just a minor side-plot. The main story has Tom seeking Killer (Ruus), the chainsaw-wielding maniac who abducted Maria (Niils). She’s the love of Tom’s life, who saved him from suicide, but is now having a really bad day of her own.

Oh, and it’s a musical.

I hope you are beginning to see why it’s difficult to describe this in a way that adequately conveys the truly bizarre nature of this experience. It reportedly spent ten years in post-production, and I’m willing to bet nine and a half were just the director staring at the footage, then closing his laptop with a sigh, and going to do something else. But the final result is often amusing, and occasionally wonderful. It’s certainly one of a kind, albeit not quite as original as, say, Hundreds of Beavers, with which it shares DNA. In the splat-stick here, you can see the influence of Peter Jackson, Monty Python, the South Park guys and Sam Raimi. Surprisingly, there’s also the raw horror of Tobe Hooper.

Like Beavers, it is clearly also a labour of love for its maker. There are points where that love probably blinds Maran a bit. This does not need to be almost two hours long, and would definitely be sharper at ninety minutes, trimming stuff that maybe only plays to a local audience. Yet the ratio of hits to misses is definitely in favour of the former. An unexpected treat is the songs, which I was kinda dreading. They range from tongue-in-cheek to genuine and heartfelt, and are a continent better than those in Sophie and the Serial Killers. Having subtitles which manfully do their best to rhyme, is a definite plus.

The Killer’s backstory, with a domineering mother (Rätsepp), is also a nicely constructed plus, and adds to the horror quotient. The effects are mostly practical, save for a running joke about vehicles exploding in digital fire, though they are more “enthusiastically amateur” in nature than anything. However, this arguably fits the tone of the whole thing, other elements of which could be called enthusiastically amateur as well. It is a case where the viewer definitely needs to be on the same frequency as the film. The first ten minutes are a good guide as to whether that’s the case. If not, then I strongly advise cutting your losses, because the 107 which follow are not likely to change your mind. Me, though? I would have been singing along, if only I knew Estonian. 

The Damnation (2024)

Rating: B-

Dir: Christopher Darton, Seb Godin
Star: Norma-Sue Hill, Osawa Muskwa, Ryan Lunn, Sayla de Goede

Originally titled The Damnation of Dracula, the link to Vlad Tepes got dropped during the three-year production process. What is left is a quirky indie horror, full of heart, which helps counter some occasionally obvious limited resources. Things unfold in the small Canadian town of Serpent River, where the largely indigenous population are so neglected, they don’t even have a casino. Shocking, I know. They do, however, have the usual native problems, by which I mean vanishing residents, and toxic waste dumping, accompanied by federal authorities who barely reach the bare minimum of pretending to give a damn. These issues may be related to the monsters that are roaming town, slaughtering the locals and draining their blood. 

Lined up against them are a rag-tag bunch of heroes, led by teenager Sarah Blackice (Hill), and talk radio host Remi Gates (Lunn), who has a show about things that go bump in the night (you may recognize some of the voices that call in, belonging to cult favourites like Vernon Wells and Kevin VanHentenryck). With the town sealed off from the outside world, and absolutely no help coming, they and their allies have to figure out what’s going on, and more importantly, how it can be stopped. Which is harder than it sounds, because these creatures are remarkably hard to damage. It turns out to be part of a long-term plot to “cleanse the world”, with the villain being closer to home than is comfortable.

You will need to overlook monsters that don’t go much past the “rubber mask” level; although what do you want, on a $32,000 budget? It’s the characters here that let us do so. For instance, Remi originally intended to be a weatherman, and his knowledge of the paranormal largely comes, as he freely admits, from Googling stuff. Everyone here has similar foibles, which lift them off the screen. Particular praise goes to Sayla de Goede as local bad-ass Jack Martel, who captures one of the creatures and demonstrates their tenacity… with a chainsaw. She deserves a feature all her own. The approach to gore is similarly energetic, the first entrails appearing during the opening credits – though, again, we’re taking more enthusiasm than art.

While there is some element of social commentary, it’s done with a lighter touch than, say, Gift of Fear, which whacked you over the head with its indigenous issues. Here, we have something that puts the horse before the cart, where it should be. This delivers an entertaining monster movie first, with only occasionally clunky dialogue that feels more like a lecture. The rest of the time, Sarah and the rest of the cast are simply people, trying to cope with a bloody and incredible situation. They are informed by their DNA and heritage, rather than being defined by them. The mix of Western and native folklore – there’s a wendigo subplot – feels like one we don’t see a lot and, allowing for the small budget, this was enjoyably above its weight class.

They Are Watching (2024)

Rating: B-

Dir: Iman Tahsin
Star: Ekim Magden, Buket Kurtez, Gokce Ozyol, Burcu Almeman
a.k.a. Izliyorlar

Be careful what you wish for. If there’s an overall message in this Turkish horror anthology, it’s probably that. For all three installments unfold, to some extent, as the result of a decision with unexpected consequences. In contrast to the previous Turkish franchisee we’ve covered, such as Dabbe and Siccin, this is more secular, with little in the way of an overt religious theme. Maybe because the director here is Iranian? However, there is still a strong morality present. There are some things with which mankind should not meddle: just leave things alone, rather than trying to change them. Oh, and Tahsin does not appear to be a cat person, to put it mildly.

The first feels like a riff on The Monkey’s Paw, with Orhan (Magden), seeking to bring back his dead mother. There’s a company, very much operating under the radar, that will do so for a price, and Mom duly shows up. Never mind the weird smell, which he has been assured will go away in time. This, however, is only the start, because the resurrection goes as well as such things usually do in horror movies. There’s a Stephen King vibe here, with a sense of black humour that’s very appealing. For instance, when he finds his mother hiding in a closet, Orhan wonders is she’s suffering from “grave separation anxiety.” While there are no real surprises, it’s enjoyably nasty, in an EC Comics way.

If that one was more feline-adjacent, the cat is central to the narrative of the next part. Ayse (Kurtez) gets a new pet for her young daughter, but it comes with unwanted baggage. It’s not long before weird noises and incidents start taking place around the apartment, and the daughter starts talking about “Kathy”. Initially, Ayse thinks this is the cat, but when the little girl mentions Kathy’s shoes… Yeah, perhaps there was a reason the previous owner was so enthusiastic about getting rid of the animal. Although it feels somewhat as if this back story was more interesting than the main one, it all comes together nicely.

In the final part, it’s explicitly about wishes, with Dr. Oktay (Ozyoi) coming into possession of a powder which grants them. His wife makes the frankly ill-advised decision to wish for their cat to turn into the real child she has always wanted, and the next morning, that’s exactly what has happened. Of course, such things are never granted quite how the wisher wants. In this case, though the child is physically human, he still has the mind of a cat. I did feel this left a lot of potential on the table, i.e. the kid needed to behave considerably more catlike, leaving it the weakest entry. However, every anthology has a weakest entry, and two out of three ain’t bad. Even Chris, not typically a fan of Turkish horror, admitted to liking this overall, and its appeal should be capable of crossing borders.