Frontier Crucible (2025)

This is a low-budget Western rather than a major studio feature and certainly a slow-burner for most of its two-hour runtime. Apparently, the film was an indie project made during an 18-day shoot! It feels far too long for me, with the middle section being padded out painfully. But watch it for Maxime Alexandre’s cinematography, using Monument Valley locations, and you're in for a treat.

The location speaks for itself - and staging a story from around 150 years ago in Arizona, nothing much needs to be changed, as the landscape remains the same as it is now. Watch out for aircraft in the sky and you're away! Our story centres on Merrick Beckford, played as if he were Clint Eastwood himself by Myles Clohessy. He's a quiet, traumatised former Union soldier haunted by the violent death of his wife. He is attempting to make an honest living delivering medicines down south, where there is an outbreak of an illness that remains largely undefined.

He's charged with the task by Major O'Rourke, played fleetingly by William H. Macy (Fargo), who is clearly out for a very quick payday! So off Merrick goes with two lumbering, slow horses and a wagon painted with a Red Cross, hoping to be given a wide berth by bitter Apache warriors, as his path crosses their territory. Along the trail, he comes across a stranded, broken-down and burning wagon containing a man who has been shot - Jeff, played by Eli Brown (Pretty Little Liars) - and his deeply distressed, young and pretty wife, Valerie, played by Mary Stickley. They are accompanied by an outlaw gang of sorts - three, made up of Billy McKee, his dad Charlie and the unstable, unpredictable Edmund Fisher, played respectively by Ryan Masson (The Last Stop in Yuma County), Thomas Jane and Armie Hammer (The Social Network).

Merrick reluctantly agrees to help them and as he has at least had some medical experience, so treats Jeff's bullet wound. Valerie is hugely grateful and it's clear from that moment on that there is a chemistry building between the two. She doesn't really expect her husband to live, after all! The outlaws want to head north, though, not south - for reasons disclosed later in the film - and have no transport, living under constant risk from Apache attacks. So the tension builds, as Merrick is totally intent on going south to help those people with medicines.

Stand-offs and threats take place between them as they try to negotiate with Merrick and his wagon, bribing him with money (and immorally, even more at one point), of which they seem to have plenty. When it comes to outright aggression and ultimatums, Merrick turns even more into our Clint Eastwood character, retaining the upper hand through his gun-handling skill, swift action and experience. Still morally upstanding, he doesn't want to abandon his 'patient' or his vulnerable wife, so he wrestles everyone's weapons away to make them comply and let him get on with his task - by now, wishing he'd never stopped to help in the first place! This is the middle section of the film, to which I referred, which slows to walking pace.

The tension grows, however, as the characters show their true colours and Merrick gets closer to Valerie. He tells her about his murdered wife and brother, and she kindly sympathises, as everyone struggles to survive in this inhospitable time and terrain. Eventually, they sense an Apache warrior, who turns out to be a scout. The impetuous young Billy, looking to impress his dad and make his mark as a fearless outlaw, makes a terrible mistake that sets up the film's 20-minute finale and feeds into the title.

The finale is worth waiting for as it turns into a brutal, violent siege, with Merrick all the while trying to be the calm negotiator with the Apache warriors. It turns out he is known by some of them, making him the only real bargaining tool in the box. So the questions are: will his efforts save the group, will the outlaws get their comeuppance, will Merrick 'get the girl' and will he be able to complete his assigned task for the Major?

You can probably imagine who survives and who doesn't in this stilted, formulaic Western. It sometimes comes across as a made-for-TV film, with dubious-looking close-up sets (as opposed to the splendour of the wide shots previously mentioned). The script is OK, though very talky for little reason (except to pad out the long runtime). The Merrick character is clearly set up to be - as I say for a third time - Clint Eastwood in tone and style. Yet even the unhinged, irrational characters in the mix don't seem particularly threatening or frightening up against him. At least the characters in those old Spaghetti Westerns had balls. And spunk!

I discovered through research that the reason the ending suddenly erupts is down to an uncredited writer on the script: S. Craig Zahler (the writer/director behind Bone Tomahawk and Dragged Across Concrete). The brutal, tense final act really saves the film and it looks like that might well be down to him. Largely due to that and the gorgeously shot scenery, it's a good-looking film - but as noted above, flawed and overly slow with too much dialogue. It would have been much better as a 90-minute outing. Still, it's held together by a strong-enough supporting cast and a violent, effective final act.

The Lie (2018)

This rather predictable thriller was written and directed by Veena Sud, creator of the hit American remake of the Scandinavian series The Killing. The Lie marks a mini-reunion, as Mireille Enos (who plays the mother, Rebecca) starred in The Killing under Sud's direction. The film is also an American remake of the 2015 German film Wir Monster (We Monsters), written and directed by Sebastian Ko and Marcus Seibert.

Divorced father Jay, played by Peter Sarsgaard (Presumed Innocent, The Bride) is driving his 15-year-old daughter Kayla, played by Joey King (the first time I've seen her since Fargo, where she played Colin Hanks' character's spunky daughter), to a weekend ballet retreat. En route, they spot Kayla's friend Britney, played by Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs), waiting at a snowy bus stop and offer her a lift. During the short trip, we see Britney briefly flirting with Jay while Kayla looks on disapprovingly in isolated rejection.

During a break for a pee in a remote, snow-covered forest, Jay hears Kayla scream. He runs over to find Kayla sitting distraught on the ledge of a bridge above a rushing river. Kayla tearfully confesses that she pushed Britney off the bridge into the water after an argument. Unable to find Britney’s body in the icy river, Jay panics. Rather than calling the police, he takes Kayla and Britney’s left-behind purse straight to his ex-wife Rebecca, played by Mireille Enos (who we have recently seen in For All Mankind), an attorney.

Desperate to protect Kayla from prison, Jay and Rebecca attempt to hide the crime. They decide to frame Britney’s father, Sam, played by Cas Anvar (The Expanse). Sam phones the police because he gets the distinct impression, quite rightly, that the three of them are covering something up! They falsely tell police detectives that Sam was abusive towards Britney (Jay had earlier seen a scar on her face while in the car) and when quizzed, Kayla also confirmed that her friend had told her that her dad hit her sometimes. Later, when Sam confronts the family, demanding to talk to Kayla, Jay and Rebecca try to bury Britney’s phone on Sam's property to frame him.

At this point, things go from bad to worse, largely because Sam's interference with their plan forces them to regroup and rethink what to do. It turns out that Jay also lost his phone in the river that day, which adds to the potential mayhem! Jay and Rebecca really get stuck into the cover-up at this point and make even more irrational decisions, leading to catastrophic actions to protect their daughter - which I'll leave for you to discover as the story unfolds. As I said at the outset, you won't need much brainpower to work out the twists and turns, nor what is really behind it all in the end, which is doled out during the emotional finale.

The film was shot in and around Toronto (doubling for New York state) by cinematographer Peter Wunstorf and the film makes great use of the landscape in a Fargo-esque way! It all feels like a 'cold' tale and there is often tight interior framing and focusing that adds to the tension and suspense. Not bucketloads, but some of the scenes are a little edgy for sure as the realisation of what is going on closes in tightly on the characters involved!

Peter Sarsgaard, Mireille Enos and Joey King perform their parts admirably well, particularly in those later emotional scenes during the reveals. The rest of the players do their bit too, adding to that sometimes chilly, tense atmosphere. A tidy little thriller on Amazon Prime Video, a few years old now, so you should have no trouble tracking it down.

Calvaire (2004)

Directed by Belgian filmmaker Fabrice Du Welz, this film is completely bonkers - just as we have come to expect, at least occasionally, from content on the Shudder channel. In a good way! It's clearly a horror of sorts, centred around a French travelling entertainer who breaks down one rainy night. Unluckily for him, it is in the middle of a rural community of complete fruit-loops who inflict a nightmare experience upon him!

We join the film during a relatively sane event staged by Marc Stevens, a decidedly mediocre performer played by Laurent Lucas, as he entertains a grateful crowd at a local nursing home. As the show winds down and he is back in his dressing room, eager elderly fans throw themselves at him, hoping for a bit more than what he delivered on stage! He quickly jumps into his van and heads off towards his next gig down south.

Driving through the heavily forested Ardennes region in torrential rain, Marc's van breaks down. He encounters Boris (Jean-Luc Couchard), a mentally unstable man wandering the woods looking for his lost dog, Bella. Boris leads Marc to an isolated, dilapidated inn owned by Paul Bartel (Jackie Berroyer). Bartel seems welcoming and reveals that he is a former stage comedian whose wife, Gloria, abandoned him years ago, causing him to retire into obscurity.

Bartel promises to fix Marc’s van, but secretly sabotages it, steals Marc's belongings and slashes his tyres! Bit by bit, we witness Bartel sinking further into insanity as he purposely blocks any attempts Marc makes to leave - masking it all with kindness, meals and home comforts while Marc awaits his repaired van. However, Bartel comes to believe that Marc is actually his missing wife, Gloria, and uses social pressure to get him to sing for him. During the daytime, Marc goes off for a walk at one point and stumbles across a bunch of locals doing unspeakable things to various animals!

This is the point at which things go properly pear-shaped for Marc. Boris becomes even more bizarre in his behaviour and Bartel effectively captures and detains Marc - eventually moving from persuasion to force and abuse. Marc attempts to escape into the surrounding countryside, only to realise the entire local male population is just as deeply unhinged as Bartel. In the village bar, a local (Stan le Pianiste) plays a discordant, frantic tune while all the men in town break into a hypnotic, aggressive, trance-like dance - which is actually comic, bizarre and hilarious - the highlight of the film for me!

Lots of gore follows at this point, with the local butcher in the mix. They are all enraged by Bartel and Boris, sexually frustrated and convinced that Gloria has returned and there is a woman in their midst. They fail to realise that it is actually poor Marc - by this stage dressed up in Gloria's clothes and completely unrecognisable! The finale plays out in the mist of the local marsh, where the ground is soft and treacherous, leading us towards the resolution, a few more reveals, and even more loopy goings-on!

What's interesting is that, apart from that opening scene in the nursing home, there are no women in the film - just the three lead men and the broader pack of males in the village. It's strongly implied that Gloria was the last one to have fled (or died) and that this bunch of crackpots has driven all females away, causing any chance of normal relationships, intimacy, and social structure to dissolve. The men seem to project their suppressed desire, loneliness, and basic instincts onto whatever is available - animal, vegetable or mineral!

This was Fabrice Du Welz's first film and forms the first entry in his unofficial "Ardennes Trilogy" (followed years later by Alleluia in 2014 and Adoration in 2019), all exploring obsessive, destructive love - set around the same dark forests. The cinematography is great, the visuals are striking and it was all shot on Super 16mm film apparently for a raw, grainy, sickly texture filled with dreary winter light and oppressive muddy tones! The sound design is interesting too - often simply the eerie wind rushing through the marsh and in and around the buildings. It's certainly worth seeing the film, if for no other reason than that wacky dance scene in the bar representing the collective madness of the locals! Great fun and, yes, one more time - bonkers!

Nightborn (2026)

Known natively as Yön lapsi and now streaming on Shudder, this is a body-horror film directed by Finnish filmmaker Hanna Bergholm (Hatching) and co-written with Ilja Rautsi. The film uses ancient Nordic troll and changeling folklore as an allegory for the isolating realities of early motherhood and post-natal mental health issues.

The film stars Seidi Haarla (Compartment No. 6) as Saga and Rupert Grint as Jon. We join them as a happy couple relocating from London to her late grandmother's house in rural Finland. She is Finnish, while he is British and unable to speak the language. Throughout the film, Jon finds himself isolated from those around the couple when they slide into Finnish without considering his presence.

They are an optimistic young couple with grand plans to have three children and build a wonderful, secluded life together surrounded by deep woodland, far from the hustle and bustle of city life. However, they are gobsmacked when they see the house, which needs a lot of work to make it even habitable. There are even trees growing up through the floorboards in one room!

While exploring the surrounding ancient forest, Saga recalls her grandmother’s warning: "The forest takes its own". Driven by nostalgia and excitement, the couple have passionate sex in a clearing beneath the trees whose bark and trunks resemble distorted faces and reaching hands. Unbeknownst to them, the forest itself appears to listen and react!

Nine months later, Saga gives birth to a boy whom she unilaterally names Kuura. Immediately, Saga senses that something is drastically wrong with her baby. He is covered in thick, dark, matted hair with a small sprout-like tail. He cries incessantly in an aggressive tone and recoils violently when his abdomen is touched. While breastfeeding, Kuura bites Saga's nipples so hard that she bleeds profusely.

Despite Saga’s growing terror, everyone around her dismisses her concerns. Jon views Kuura as just a quirky 'ugly duckling' baby who needs patient parenting, constantly reassuring Saga that everything is totally normal. Medical professionals label her distress as standard post-natal depression or exhaustion. Saga's mother and sister (Pirkko Saisio and Pamela Tola) accuse her of being an unloving drama queen, noting that Saga was also a difficult baby herself. Saga notices Kuura refuses milk and normal baby food. When Jon tries to feed the baby while making aeroplane noises and fails completely, Saga slaps a chunk of raw, bloody meat on the table - which Kuura instantly devours. She soon realises the newborn requires raw meat and blood to survive!

As Saga’s body and mental state deteriorate into gaunt, dark-circled exhaustion, she stops trying to force Kuura into human norms. She realises her late grandmother wasn't crazy - the old woman had actually hoarded rusty tractors, scrap metal and wire around the property because legendary forest spirits and trolls cannot stand cold iron.

From here, the story heads straight into the supernatural, leaving the family at the mercy of the forest and its hold on the house and whoever lives there. Jon tries hard to resist this folklore claptrap, but eventually it becomes clear to him, too, that something is terribly wrong. The rest of the film dives deep into blood, gore, guts, cannibalism, death and body horror aplenty, with the creepy child at the centre sending shivers through anyone who hears his weird noises! We don't actually see the child's face until the final scene. The finale reveals all, dictating the outcome for everyone involved, in a chaotic crescendo that is great fun and quite eye-opening.

Seidi Haarla’s central performance is quite brilliant as she shifts from the happy-go-lucky, optimistic woman at the outset into a physical, animalistic wreck dealing with her baby, the spooky chaos and the grim realisation of what is happening. Rupert Grint keeps up with her admirably, continuing his impressive run in horror (Servant, Knock at the Cabin, Cabinet of Curiosities). His polite, well-meaning British sincerity serves as an ideal foil whose insistence on normality unwittingly antagonises his wife.

Director Hanna Bergholm clearly relied heavily on animatronics, dark silhouettes and puppet effects rather than full CGI to render baby Kuura, giving the body horror a tangible, tactile weight. The interior of the house - where most of the film is staged - transforms several times, ensuring the set designers had plenty of fun, too. Finally, I loved the music - a dark, brooding, cello-heavy score composed by Eicca Toppinen, founding member of the Finnish cello-metal band Apocalyptica.

There is something for everyone here, and once again Shudder has pulled out a cracking beauty of a film. Highly recommended.

Neighborhood Watch (2025)

This crime thriller by director Duncan Skiles (The Clovehitch Killer) is fairly mellow really and decidedly short on thrills! The focus is very much more about the two leads, how they got to be together, the quest for solving a mystery whilst steering clear of trouble from crooks and authorities, and how both of them manage all that while negotiating the mental health problems from which one of them suffers.

Jack Quaid (Companion, The Hunger Games) plays the latter as Simon McNally, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead, The Postcard Killings) as his reluctant (at first) helper, Ed Deerman. Simon struggles with paranoid schizophrenia and has recently been discharged from a psychiatric institution after a decade of treatment. He often hallucinates - both visually and auditorily - mostly relating to his abusive, deceased father. Ed lives next door to Simon and is an ex-security guard from a local college campus, now unemployed. Ed lives alone, but Simon lives with his sister, DeeDee, played by Malin Akerman (Watchmen), who works hard to support them both financially while Simon tries to re-enter society.

While out in the neighbourhood one day, Simon witnesses an incident in which a young woman is abducted by a man in a white van, who forces her inside. The audience is, of course, encouraged throughout a lot of this to question whether or not Simon is hallucinating, and this forms much of the backdrop to the resulting incidents and adventures in this somewhat comedy/drama-turned-(kind of) Buddy Cop film. Buddy Cop because, after much persuasion, the life-embittered Ed next door is convinced that in order to keep Simon from badgering him, he'll play along and 'investigate' the claim for him.

It turns out that Simon has remembered the number plate of the van, but we see him seeing the man's face with no eyes - blurred out. At this point, I did wonder if we were heading into some alien/sci-fi story, but no - if the incident occurred, the blurred face was down to what Simon was seeing (and sharing with us). Simon heads to the police station to report the incident, but they soon find out about his background, so they politely palm him off, not believing him. It turns out that the number plate he remembered belonged to a vehicle hundreds of miles away - which didn't help Simon's cause.

So Ed picks up the cause instead, and they start a series of adventures as they try to piece together what they can from any clues they can find. Ed, still not believing Simon but with nothing better to do than play poker on his computer, tags along, becoming more interested in the potential mystery as he goes. He likes to flash his badge (which he seems to have kept from his old job) and play out a detective role, heavily implying to people that he's a cop.

We end up in a scrapyard full of cars, at Ed's old workplace office pulling in favours, and even in the company of sex workers based on Simon’s memory of the victim's clothing - resulting in Ed's car getting vandalised by a local pimp and them being warned off. It's beginning to look like there is substance to what Simon has seen and the pair of them start to uncover stuff as they go. As the film moves forward, violence is further introduced, Simon's frustration often comes out in verbal aggression (tamed by Ed) and angst galore grows as still nobody will believe the pair.

So that's the setup. Yes, it does sometimes play out like a comedy, sometimes a serious crime drama and other times a commentary on life, people's mental health issues, and how those issues impact not only how they navigate their way through life, but also how other people treat them - particularly when it comes to something that relies solely on them having been the single witness to an event that may or may not have happened. If you've read this far, you will have by now realised that there is, at least, some truth to what Simon saw, but I'll leave you to find out what that is and how it fits in.

The two leads are excellent throughout - I particularly enjoyed watching Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who reminded me somewhat of Javier Bardem in looks and style. Everyone else around them also pulled their weight, so there are no poor performances in sight, and it's an interesting bit of light entertainment really. It's sometimes slow and sometimes gets bogged down in terms of where it's going, but the director pulls it back, re-establishing the pace. Nicely shot, some action, but mostly it hangs on the mystery. A nice little film - recommended, as it's now just arriving on streaming in the UK.

PodHubUK Podcasts for the Month of July 2026

       

...a roundup of our month of podcasting. Links to the team, communities and podcast homes on the net at the foot, so scroll down!

Whatever Works

Episode 243 - The Fat Actor's Skive!
Wednesday 1st July

Aidan and I are back once more to taunt you with an hour of tomfoolery as we dabble with ponds and urinals, attack eyebrows that glow in the dark, realise that AC has gone AWOL, flap around with Pandora's dragon and loaf around in Spanish cinemas! Loads more, as always, so do join us if you have nothing better to do!

Projector Room

Episode 213 - Affection for the Vampire
Wednesday 1st July

Gareth and I are here with another look at film, cinema and TV. This time we're serving up a bloody good mix of cinematic highs and medical lows! Pour yourself a glass of something O-negative as I sink my teeth into Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, Only Lovers Left Alive and the 'modern bite' of Affection and Alpha! Because we can’t stay in the dark forever, Gareth drags us into the sterile chaos of hospital drama with a review of Article 99, triggering a wild spiral through Scrubs, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Coma and more. Whether you're a creature of the night or a fan of cinematic malpractice, hit play now. It’s alive, spectacular and available from the usual places!

The Phones Show Chat Podcast

Episode 901 - Bumper Fold Time!

Monday 6th July

Joe and I are joined this time by Dan Carter who gives us a catchup on what devices he's been trying lately for his reviews, how his health is now and we get his views on the state of the mobile phone world via various bits of news. Plenty to chat about, particularly the pending 'passport' fold influx round the corner, 3D printing, Pebble Watches and loads more. Now available from the usual places, so do jump in. Apologies if you detect any audio issues - AC units and fans were on - hoping MSTeams got rid of it!

Projector Room

Episode 214 - Hungry Hippos!
Wednesday 15th July

Gareth and I are here again to bring you our thoughts on what we've been watching lately as we look forward to the cooler weekend! When Saturday Comes, however, we shall Escape to Victory fighting off our Obsession over at Widow's Bay as we tuck into our Porridge in The Dish. Always a Normal kind of experience and great to have you with us. Coming Soon is packed and stick with to the end when Gareth has a moving tribute to, the now late, Mr Nice Guy, Sam Neill.

The Phones Show Chat Podcast

Episode 902 - PSC Drop-In V - Developer Delight

Monday 20th July

Malcolm Bryant joins Joe and I for the latest drop-in show and we natter for an hour about all things mobile phone including a heart-warming tale about a developer (or two), a generous group member here (or two), we Watch development for the wrist(!), get the initial low-down on the new SidePhone, catch up with some news - including a Gboard cracker from Google for Accessibility - and oodles more.

Whatever Works

Episode 244 - Wet Snap Rat Trap!
Tuesday 21st July

Aidan and I are back again for one of our hugely anticipated round-ups of all things dull and meaningless. Today, we find out what it's like to eat chips with a toothpick, why driving instructors have one sunburned arm, what the smallest book in the world is, how to get cheese into a Grandfather Clock and who holds the world record for the stupidest bottom burp! Loads more, as always, so do join us for some heated fun via the usual routes. Toodle snips for now!

PSC Photography

Episode 24 - Two Pods for the Price of One

Thursday 23rd July

Yes - 2 ways to consume - the 'usual' way, via your podcatcher or our website (follow along in the Google Photos Shared Album), or now on YouTube as a video in which we try to show you what we’re talking about on-the-fly! Talking of which, we take a look at the photos Joe, Ian, Chris and Chad Dixon have been taking recently (and on the Video Pod version, how they got some of them), some news of upcoming cameras and lenses and our PSC Photo of the Month Winner, shamelessly turning up to record to collect his trophy! All the links you need will be on our website at phonesshowchat.uk - Let us know what you think please and final kudos to Ian for getting this whole video thing going!

The Phones Show Chat Podcast

Episode 903 - Sammy's Wide Sound Flow!

Wednesday 29th July

Joe and I are back with a catchup show to natter largely about the recent Samsung event and resulting new devices, including, primarily, 'the wide one'! Aside from that, Joe's been reviewing the Honor 600 Pro at Wingfest(!) and I've been putting a pair of Moto Sound Flow speakers throught their paces. Plenty more, as always, so do join us for an hour, now available in the usual places.

Projector Room

Episode 215 - A Star Cituy Odyssey
Wednesday 27th July

Gareth and I bring you our thoughts about another bunch of stuff we've been watching. Isolation and Seclusion brings us The Martian Inside a Cast Away - Right at Your Door. True Grit gives us Blindness while Robin and Marian hang out at the Little House on the Prairie! There's a Devil in Ohio and an Odyssey in Star City along with plenty of Adult TV Animation. Coming Soon and the Final Curtain round things up and it's all available via your usual routes now, so do join us!

The Podcasts

Phones Show Chat (PSC) - Whatever Works - Projector Room - Tech Addicts - PSC Photography

The MeWe Community Groups (follow the links to join up)

Phones Show Chat (PSC) - Whatever Works - Projector Room - PSC Photos - PSC Camera Creations - Tech Addicts

The Team
Ted Salmon - Aidan Bell - Gareth Myles - Joe Hickey - Chris Clayton - Ian Bundey - Charlie Winston

The Call (2013) - A Guest Review by Chad Dixon

This is a compact thriller from 2013 which is now available to watch on Netflix UK. Set in a contemporary Los Angeles, Jordan Turner (Halle Berry), is a confident 911 dispatcher working at LAPD's main call centre. One night a call comes in on a landline from what sounds like a teenage girl who's says she's home alone and is reporting a prowler breaking into her house. Turner advises her to hide behind any locked door but the best the frantic teen can find is under her bed. 

The intruder initially does not find her, but the call suddenly disconnects and without thinking, Turner rings back and the sound of the incoming call alerts the male Prowler in the house. There is a shrill scream and the last thing heard at the call centre is a man's voice saying "It's already done"! Jordan is stunned and removes herself from her desk. Soon, her Supervisor advises her to go home to decompress. The next day, when Turner is back on shift, she sees on the big TV, the worst possible news that a blonde teenage girl's dead body is found in a shallow grave outside the city.

It's now Six Months Later. We see a couple of blonde high school age girls enjoying a fun day at the mall. Even though they both have smartphones, one girl suddenly takes a call on a burner style phone that she says her boyfriend got her so that they can talk privately, as it's deliberately hard to trace. Meanwhile we see Jordan taking an inductee class of potential new recruits at the same 911 call centre.

She begins a tour of the facility with them as she's now designated as a teacher there. Later at the mall's food court, the taller girl gets a text on her main device and says to her friend that she has to leave immediately and rushes away with her shopping, without finishing her meal. Annoyed, the shorter girl eats up and starts clearing away their food cartons and discovers that her friend has left her burner phone behind. She pockets it and making her way home through the mall's multi-story car park, she's nearly run down, and then grabbed, by a white male in a baseball cap and sunglasses as he smashes her smartphone and uses morphine to render her unconscious. 

Back at the call centre complex, the induction tour has reached the shop floor where Jordan is describing to the group the process of an incoming call with one of the newer dispatchers. Cut to the dark interior of the boot of a moving car where the shorter girl begins to wake. She remembers the little burner phone in her jeans pocket and calls 911. That call comes into the very dispatcher Jordan is standing next to and soon it becomes very clear there are similarities to the traumatic call she herself took six months previous. As the totally frantic screaming audio of the young girl's voice continues, the rookie dispatcher quickly seems out of her depth and Jordan takes over the desk and call. Suppressing her own latent PTSD, she quickly calms the caller down and establishes the teenager's name is Casey.

This concise, claustrophobic thriller keeps you on the edge of your seat as the quickly-unfolding events become progressively frenetic. The (15) rating is justified as the graphic violence, from the get go, starts ramping up. There are very strong performances from both Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin as Casey - and I felt that the growing connection between dispatcher and abductee genuine, as the epic 911 call plays out. The fact that the burner phone is hard to trace is key to the plot here as the dramatic situation plays out across the City.

One other notable character is LAPD Officer, Paul Phillips played by Morris Chestnut - who is Turner's Boyfriend - together with his cop partner, are part of the police contingent following the continuing trail of the ruthless and determined kidnapper. At just over 90 minutes, this should easily be a gripping one-hit watch on the sofa with your favourite snacks!

Calibre (2018)

Directed and written by Matt Palmer, this is a Brit thriller somewhat in the style and tone of Shallow Grave (1994). It's a story about a couple of young men in Edinburgh who decide to drop everything for the weekend and head off to the Highlands for a spot of deer-stalking. During the trip, something goes horribly wrong and the pair have to face the consequences!

But first, the setup. Vaughn, played by Jack Lowden (Dunkirk, Slow Horses), is the more passive of the two men. He has a pregnant fiancée at home, who has agreed to this trip away with his old friend Marcus, played by Martin McCann (The Survivalist). Marcus is single and more inclined towards a hedonistic lifestyle: drinking, picking up women and impulsively seeking a good time. Vaughn plays along and tries to keep up, but it's clear that Marcus is frequently pushing him beyond his comfort zone.

The pair arrive at the hotel where they're booked in; all is going well and they head down to the local village pub for drinks in the evening. It's clearly a pub mostly frequented by locals, mainly farmers, most of whom appear suspicious of incomers - especially at this time, as there doesn't appear to be anyone else around doing what our pair are doing - the town is struggling with falling tourism and investment. So it's a bit of a Slaughtered Lamb moment (ref: An American Werewolf in London), but during the course of the evening, some of the locals turn out to be welcoming.

They both get very drunk and Marcus ends up sleeping with one of the local girls, who has been flirting with him all evening and with whom he shares drugs. Some of the locals had warned him away from her, but he ignored them. Vaughn chats with the girl's friend and, although they leave the pub together as well, he tells her about his fiancée and they spend the rest of the evening just talking, rather than leaping into bed!

The next morning, then - the pair of them are horribly hungover, but drive off deep into the woods to hunt. Vaughn realises when they get to their parking spot that he has forgotten his ammunition, so Marcus lends him a high-calibre rifle - thus violating strict gun safety laws. Marcus is the experienced hunter, so he takes the lead and coaches Vaughn as they go. When they spot a deer, Marcus encourages the hesitant Vaughn to take the shot. Just as Vaughn pulls the trigger, the deer moves - and this is the point at which the film takes a dark and nasty turn, which I won't spoil for you!

We then enter a stage of the film where the two men, given the nature of what has happened, have differing opinions on what they should do about the incident. Marcus overpowers Vaughn in terms of decision-making and ultimately, by his actions, makes matters worse. It all gets very dark from here on in as the pair return to the hotel and are even invited to dinner with a couple of the local men as they talk about what they do for a living and their hunting backgrounds. However, later in the night, they incur the wrath of the locals - partly because it is discovered that Marcus had given drugs to and slept with one of their sisters, but more so because the details of the event come out, leaving them to deal with the fallout on multiple fronts! It's very difficult to say any more here without giving away spoilers, so I'll leave it there!

The film ends up being a story about escalating events, moral dilemmas, survival, self-preservation and people faced with unthinkable choices. It shows how fear can transform an ordinary, decent, passive person into someone who acts completely out of character in order to make the best of an impossible situation. The film turns violent, ruthless and brutal as the tale unfolds while everyone tries to find their own way out.

It's very nicely shot - a lot of it is dark, menacing, rainy and under the cover of night. The atmosphere uses that to build tension as we're right alongside the two friends, sharing their plight. The pair act their parts superbly well, and the rest of the cast are not far behind. It's a really good little thriller - fairly low-budget in terms of feel, but they have made the most of it, focusing on taut, claustrophobic chills. It's currently available via various streaming services. Recommended.

Colony (2026)

Directed by Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan, Hellbound), Colony (Korean title: Gunche, meaning "Hive" or "Colony") twists the traditional zombie genre by introducing a fungal hive-mind network rather than standard isolated monsters. I have to admit that the Koreans do love to do this disaster/zombie thing - and tend to do it interestingly well! The plotline feels somewhat complicated to me, maybe because 'the infected' in Colony don’t follow standard zombie rules.

They operate on biological and computing principles. I had to look this one up! The outbreak is caused by a bio-engineered strain of slime mould designed for cell regeneration. The infected connect via microscopic airborne fungal networks and chemical pheromones. Sensory data (vision, sound, scent) is shared in real time across the entire horde—so if one zombie learns how a door latch works or sees a survivor, the entire group instantly knows too. A bit like Plur1bus (2026), I guess! As more people are infected, the "network" gains more processing power, allowing the horde to perform complex tasks like typing on keyboards, mimicking voices, and executing group tactics. Strong chemical scents (like perfume or antifreeze) mask human presence. Water disrupts the airborne network, temporarily stunning or paralysing the horde, and the network relies on a central host/controller strain. If the core controller is killed, the biological signal snaps, causing all connected infected to instantly freeze into a catatonic state. Confused? So was I, which is why I needed help to unpick all that. But then, no doubt, I'm thick! (Gemma.)

To the storyline then, rather than the science - we join a rogue scientist, Seo Young-chul (Koo Kyo-hwan), who tips off the police about an impending bio-terror attack before injecting himself with what he claims is a vaccine to his mutated slime mould bioweapon. Inside the high-rise Dongwoo-ri Building, Chains Bio CEO Kang Woo-chul is demonstrating the revolutionary cell regeneration capabilities of the mould. Kwon Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun), a disgraced and unemployed biotechnology PhD, attends the event hoping to secure employment. Young-chul confronts the CEO, accusing him of stealing and plagiarising his life's work. Young-chul forcefully injects Woo-chul with the active mould, triggering a violent mutation. The virus rapidly spreads through the executive floor, prompting automated security lockdown procedures. Counter-terrorism squad leader Lee Bong-seok (Ji Chang-wook) and his team respond but end up trapped inside with the civilians.

So now we get alongside a small group of survivors and the nub of the human interest element of the film - including Se-jeong, Bong-seok, and civilians - who retreat to the building's central shopping centre area. Using her background in cellular biology, Se-jeong deduces how the infected communicate through mycelial sensory links. To move through infected zones, they douse themselves in perfume and antifreeze to blind the horde's chemical tracking and trigger fire sprinklers to saturate the air, disrupting the fungal signals and temporarily freezing the infected!

Learning that Young-chul carries the cure/vaccine in his blood, the group makes a push for the upper floors to capture him. However, because Young-chul injected himself with the original control strain, he possesses a direct neural link to the horde - he can literally see through the eyes of any infected individual. He uses this link to ambush the survivors on their way to the evacuation helipad, resulting in severe casualties.

Outside the locked-down building, researcher Gong Seol-hee (Shin Hyun-been) raids Young-chul’s hidden off-site lab. Her team is ambushed by a horde of infected experimental monkeys. When a soldier shoots the alpha monkey labelled #1, the entire monkey horde instantly stops moving and turns completely rigid. Aha! This discovery proves knowledge of the biological mechanism - the infected cannot function independently if the primary host/node dies.

So that's pretty much the complicated backdrop as to what's going on, and the rest of the film is very much a chaotic chase against the now-controlled zombies - who, as I say, can learn quickly, unlike most zombies out there! As the core team of survivors tries to apprehend Young-chul, with the eventual help of the authorities and a SWAT team, being the antidote, they need him alive. Or so they think. Lots of fighting, killing, maiming, heroics, lateral thinking, adventure and puzzle-breaking ensues as we head towards the, as you might expect, even more chaotic and bonkers finale!

It's all great fun - and funny often - with tension blathered on in bucketfuls as we leap from perilous scene to nail-biting evasion tactics in makeshift hiding places while our survivors try to find a way out of the now locked-down building, avoiding ever-smarter zombies with the authorities doing what they can to not let the "virus" escape into the general public. It's pretty well acted by the leads, no question - and the rest of the extras are clearly having a right old laugh doing the comic and chaotic zombie thing. It really is fun and worth a watch, even if it's a bit too complicated for its own good! A great romp!

The Smartwatch Cable Chaos: Why Is It Time for a Universal Standard?

In late 2024, the European Union implemented a landmark directive mandating USB Type-C as the universal charging standard for portable electronic devices. Designed to curb electronic waste and spare consumers the financial burden of proprietary accessories, the legislation successfully streamlined mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, and digital cameras under a single cable standard. Yet, if you look at your bedside table or travel bag, one glaring exception remains: smartwatches.

Anyone who has owned a succession of wearables—or even multiple devices from a single brand like Motorola, Fitbit, or Samsung—will be familiar with the frustration. A drawer filled with ten visually similar yet functionally incompatible magnetic pucks, multi-pin cradles, and proprietary docks is an all-too-common reality. Even within the same manufacturer’s portfolio, successive generations often abandon previous charging designs. Why, then, were smartwatches excluded from the EU’s universal charging mandate, and isn't it high time regulatory frameworks addressed this oversight?

The exclusion of smartwatches from early regulatory drafts stems largely from physical and technological constraints. Under EU Directive 2022/2380, devices were required to incorporate a physical USB-C female port if their dimensions permitted. Given the compact chassis of a typical wrist-worn device, embedding a standard USB-C port presents significant design challenges. It compromises ingress protection against water and dust, demands precious internal space that would otherwise house battery capacity or health sensors, and introduces ergonomic issues on a surface meant to sit flush against human skin.

However, exempting wearables from a physical USB-C port should not mean granting tech manufacturers carte blanche to proliferate proprietary cables indefinitely. The core philosophy of the EU’s mandate was environmental sustainability and consumer convenience. By allowing every smartwatch generation to ship with a bespoke charging cradle, the industry continues to generate thousands of tonnes of redundant plastic and copper wire—defeating the very spirit of anti-e-waste legislation.

A sensible solution exists, and it does not require forcing a bulky USB-C port onto delicate watch cases. Regulators ought to turn their attention towards standardising the wireless or magnetic interface itself. Qi wireless charging is already an open, international standard used widely across smartphones and earbud cases. While traditional Qi coils can be large, refined micro-Qi standards or unified magnetic alignment protocols could easily be mandated for wrist-worn tech. Alternatively, enforcing cross-brand compatibility for the charger-to-watch interface would mark a massive step forward.

As wearable technology matures from a novelty into an essential daily utility, the current status quo is simply unacceptable. Consumers should not be forced to buy a new proprietary cable every time they upgrade their watch, nor should the environment pay the price for corporate stubbornness. It is undeniably time for lawmakers to extend universal charging regulations to smartwatches, ending the cable chaos once and for all.