Two parts BBC Children's teatime serial and one part BEAST IN THE CELLAR (I'm not giving anything away that the poster up there isn't) COBWEB is really very good until it suddenly isn't. A little bullied boy lives with his mad parents (good performances from Antony Starr and especially Lizzy Caplan) in a creepy old house. One night he hears knocking behind a wall, followed by whispering. After a good atmospheric buildup, if you want to get the best effect out of this one leave / switch it off once the boy unlocks the tiny door and you get the first, subtle, terrifying glimpse of what's behind it. Then leave, because then it all goes a bit disappointingly generic US mainstream horror.
There aren't enough Sean Hogan films in the world and even if TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST is only 43 minutes long it's still better than us having nothing from him at all. There's a strong sense of both the BBC's Ghost Stories for Christmas and other fine TV adaptations to this story of four men carrying the coffin of the local Squire's son to his final resting place. Shot in black in white, this one starts off with brooding shots of the landscape before funnelling down into increasingly claustrophobic terror. The monochrome photography also contributes immensely to a standout performance from James Swanton whose face would have perfectly suited the kind of 1940s Monogram Gothic the actor John Carradine was such a highlight of.
Herd
Couple-in-relationship-trouble Jamie and Alex go on a canoeing holiday to hopefully sort out their problems. While there Alex sustains an injury so minor that when she's revealed to have sustained a compound fracture of the tibia the main thing anyone should be wondering is if she has brittle bone disease. She also exhibits remarkable levels of pain tolerance and is able to hobble around on a completely fractured lower limb and engage in serious deep meaningful discussions with her partner as if all she has suffered is a small gnat bite. Meanwhile there's a zombie plague going on. HERD is a sloppy, awkward mixture of shouty relationship drama and low-budget zombie flick that obviously has aspirations to be thought of as more than 'just another zombie film'. Unfortunately there's just not the skill here to make any of this work, coupled with a lack of attention to detail that is initially distracting but swiftly becomes irritating.
HERD will be released on Digital by High Fliers on Monday 23rd October 2023
Transmission
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