Sean Hogan has been writing and directing films since 2000 when he made his directorial debut with the surreal expose of racism in the British film industry, This Bastard Business. Since then, he’s largely specialised in horror, directing the features Lie Still (2005) and The Devil’s Business (2011), one segment of the anthology Little Deaths … Continue reading
The worst thing about most Christmas films, particularly those made for US television, is that they tend to pile of the saccharine to an almost unbearable degree. Perhaps that’s why “Killer Santa” and other festive horrors appeal so much, as a corrective to the anodyne homilies and simple-minded moralising we usually get from our Christmas … Continue reading
A. Edward Sutherland’s almost forgotten Yuletide fantasy will test the limits of your tolerance for seasonal schmaltz but it’s not without considerable charm, thanks in no small part to some likeable performances. There’s an undeniable touch of Dickens about the proceedings with its tale of three ghostly visitors changing the lives of mere mortals but … Continue reading
This obscure Yuletide chiller – misleadingly and less evocatively titled Christmas Apparition on streaming services – is a disappointingly lacklustre affair from director Colleen Griffen. It’s not really clear if it’s a ghost story or the tale of a young woman’s psychological breakdown, an ambiguity that could have worked to the film’s advantage had it … Continue reading
Short films are often at their best when they’re at their most basic. A stripped down story, little more than a vignette really, Justin Lee and Matt Thiesen’s Humbug is a good example. It’s really just an extended, seven minute skit but it’s very funny and constantly inventive that it works admirably. The plot, as … Continue reading
Shot over the course of seven years, Christmas on Mars was a pet project for and directorial debut of Wayne Coyne (who co-directed with frequent collaborators Bradley Beesley and George Salisbury), the lead singer with American psychedelic space rock band The Flaming Lips. Despite plenty of surreal interludes, it’s a more mundane and even boring … Continue reading
Ambition in a film-maker is a quality to admire even if sometimes they’re let down by a lack of available resources. Take Stuart W. Bedford’s low budget British Christmas horror Good Tidings (also known as Blood Tidings), the director’s first feature film after a handful of shorts. It doesn’t always work and is let down … Continue reading
