Cheryl Hall has died, aged 76

Cheryl Georgette Hall (23rd July 1950 – 9th August 2026) was best known for playing Shirley in Citizen Smith (1977–1979) and had been in The Bill (1984–1988). I also remember her in On the Buses in 1971 as Eileen the 'clippie' in the episode The Epidemic, which, like most of them, was a complete scream!

She was also in Dear Mother...Love Albert (1969–1972) as Rodney Bewes' girlfriend and as Sid Abbott's (Sid James) secretary in Bless This House (1974)! She jumped in and out of many 1970s TV episodes, often as a one-off, for example Sykes (1972), Within These Walls (1974) and as David Jason's love interest in the ITV sitcom Lucky Feller (1976). But the role that most of us will remember her for was as the apparently 'dappy' girlfriend (of her then real-life husband Robert Lindsay) in Citizen Smith (1977).

Her film appearances included the Avarice segment of The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971), the farce comedy No Sex Please, We're British (1973) and the all-star pop comedy Three for All (1975). In the 1980s, she popped in and out of the police drama series The Bill, working right up until 2007, and even had a guest role in EastEnders! The list goes on though and includes Casualty (1995), Grange Hill (1994), Inspector Morse (1992), London's Burning (1992), Get Some In! (1977), the excellent Survivors (1977), The Sweeney (1975), The Fenn Street Gang (1971) and loads more – right back to her debut on British TV in 1969. If ever there was an actress who had landed a part in so many TV shows in the 60s, 70s and even 80s, she would be that!

Before she played Shirna in Doctor Who (Carnival of Monsters, 1973), she was actually on the final shortlist of three actresses to play the Third Doctor’s iconic companion, Jo Grant, back in 1970. Katy Manning got the part, but producer/director Barry Letts liked Cheryl so much that he specifically brought her back for Carnival of Monsters a couple of years later.

It is worth noting that she left Citizen Smith after Series 2 because she wanted more 'meat' in her comic roles rather than just playing the reaction-face 'straight man' to the male leads. John Sullivan later admitted she was completely right about the lack of depth given to female characters in sitcoms back then – a realisation that inspired him to write proper, fully fleshed-out female leads like Penny in Just Good Friends!

Before her marriage to Robert Lindsay, she spent the early 70s as the partner of 'Confessions' star Robin Askwith, who fondly remembered her as a fiercely talented, charismatic working-class force when news of her passing broke. A really fascinating turn in her later life that many TV fans don't know is that she moved away from full-time acting into public service. She was a deeply committed Labour activist, served as a Kent County Councillor (eventually becoming Leader of the Labour Group) and even stood as the Labour Parliamentary candidate for Canterbury in the 1997 General Election.

Ricky Gervais' Alley Cats (2026)

A TV show on Netflix with 6 very short episodes (15 minutes each) in which Gervais and his usual bunch of mates (think the After Life/The Office/Derek crew) sit and chew over life's absurdities.

But rather than do it just sat around a lounge as themselves, they're voicing cartoon cats. And so injecting quite a lot of cat-based puns and observations into the mix. But it's so obvious that it's just the team, chewing the cud.

Of course, you have to be a Gervais fan and appreciate his sledgehammer wit, delivery, language and life-view, but I do. So have found it great fun. In fact, the funnniest thing that I've seen for ages. I caught myself laughing out loud. A lot. The neighbours must've thought me bonkers! Recommended!

The Devil's Mouth (2026)

Directed by Jeff Wadlow (Truth or Dare, Fantasy Island) under the Amazon MGM Studios banner, this creature-feature sharkathon is littered with young B-movie actors and actresses who are generally annoying - irritating pretty much anyone likely to spend an evening digesting this tripe! The most annoying of the lot was Max, played by Lana Condor, of whom she later said that she played the character as written. She mentioned that Max was supposed to be an overbearing, controlling friend whose toxic dynamic with Sara collapses under pressure. So I guess that’s good acting, then - and the irritation actually lies with the writer(s)!

If there is a saving grace in terms of a reduction in annoyance, it probably lies with Kathryn Newton (Freaky, Abigail), who plays Max’s friend Sara. She’s clearly the best actress here (though don't get too excited, as the bar is set exceptionally low)! Nico Hiraga (James, Max's boyfriend), Tommi Rose (Adrienne), Gavin Casalegno (Greg) and Tayme Thapthimthong (Wat) make up the rest of the troupe.

The first thing to say is that you really, really can skip the first 30 minutes of this film (unless you want to look at babes in bikinis and muscular young men for kicks). We get a group of five American college grads controlled by the aforementioned bossy Max and her submissive friend Sara (who has paid for the trip for everyone). One exception to the "skip-the-first-half-hour" rule is a scene in which one of them gets attacked by jellyfish and left behind to suffer as the boat speeds off - only for it to be ruthlessly edited to her suddenly being rescued and back in the group!

Local diver Wat warns them about a recent storm surge that has disrupted the waterways, but brave (at this stage) Max insists the group venture into 'The Devil's Mouth' - a flooded, unmapped subterranean cave network. Under-equipped and wearing little more than swimwear, the group heads deep into the dark tunnels. Once deep inside the claustrophobic chambers, the group discovers that the recent storm washed marine wildlife inland. While most saltwater life died off, a massive, highly aggressive bull shark survived and claims the freshwater cavern as its hunting ground!

Panic quickly erupts as the shark starts eating them (or parts of them) one by one while they try to regroup and work out an escape route. As oxygen runs low and daylight fades, the surviving members of the group are forced into narrow, flooded squeeze-tunnels to find a way out. Wedged, trapped, and relying on Sara's newfound level-headedness, adventure, scares and potential drownings set the tone for much of the rest of the film as she leads the attempt to escape the attention of the shark. I'll leave you to discover who (if anyone) survives and what happens (if anything) to the shark!

The real star of the film is the subterranean setting, with its claustrophobic tunnels and fairly well-done fake rock sets - generating far more tension than the poorly rendered CGI shark. The film gives plenty of nods to The Descent, 47 Meters Down, Jaws (though it feels like an embarrassment to mention that fine work in the company of this), and more. It's been done so many times before - often very similarly.

This is certainly a 'Friday night after the pub' film where you can chat with your mates while it plays. No real attention is needed; just look over during the action-based parts and the gore (of which there isn't much, keeping the age rating down for a broader audience). For the kind of film it is, I guess it could have been worse - just not by much! Whatever you do, don't pay extra to watch it - wait until it's streaming as included on Prime Video if you fancy the challenge (and/or have had enough Friday beers)!

The Corpse of Anna Fritz (2015)

This tight little 76-minute Spanish indie thriller wastes no time plunging us into dark, uncomfortable territory. Set primarily within the cold, sterile confines of a hospital morgue, director Hèctor Hernández Vicens delivers an intense, claustrophobic thriller built around bad decisions and the catastrophic aftermath that follows.

When famous actress Anna Fritz suddenly dies, her body is brought to a city morgue awaiting an autopsy the following morning. Because she is so famous, nobody is supposed to know where the body is being kept, but word slips out - at least locally. That includes Javi and Ivan, two mates of Pau, the orderly working the late shift. Under the influence of recreational drugs, the pair talk Pau into letting them see her body.

Things then get out of hand. Encouraged by one of the friends in particular, they begin to wonder what else they can get away with - determined not to miss a 'golden opportunity' with someone so beautiful and famous. What starts as touching her body and marveling at the sheer absurdity of the situation quickly turns far darker as their impulses escalate.

Having made their choices and acted on them, a huge, unexpected turn of events completely upends the story. What began as a disturbing breach of privacy immediately spirals into the appalling fallout of their actions. Without giving away the central twist that arrives mid-film, this narrative pivot fundamentally reshapes the stakes. What follows is a relentless, edge-of-your-seat struggle where every attempted solution only deepens the characters' predicament. The film shifts gears seamlessly from a dark tale of moral decay into a tense, high-anxiety pressure cooker.

Despite the limited cast and single location, the performances carry the full weight of the suspense. Alba Ribas brings incredible vulnerability to the role of Anna the corpse, while the three male leads - Cristian Valencia, Bernat Saumell and Albert Carbó - are uncomfortably believable in their portrayals of mounting panic, paranoia and desperation. Their growing dread as they realise they cannot undo what they have done drives much of the film's frightening momentum.

While the narrative path following the twist occasionally treads familiar thriller territory, the brief runtime works entirely in its favour. There is no bloat - every scene makes things tighter and tighter!

Extremely dark in tone and unwavering in tension, The Corpse of Anna Fritz is a grim, absorbing and surprisingly effective indie thriller that makes every minute count. On the other hand, one could argue that the whole premise is a bit daft and ludicrously unlikely. But that's the joy of storytelling and cinema - escapism, tension and in this case, macabre fun! Highly recommended if you can track it down. If all else fails, there's BloodStreamTV - check it out - it's a bit like Shudder!

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8: Samsung Nailed It! - A Guest Review by AJ Santos

Where to start? It’s my first Fold. I always had my doubts about the durability of these devices. Years ago in John Lewis, I saw one of those mechanical display units opening and closing a Fold several times a minute, and the top layer of the inner screen was peeling off. “I'll never buy one of those!” I thought to myself. Fast forward to the present and here I am with one, thanks to generous workplace discounts - but more importantly, thanks to the form factor and what it represents.

For a long time, I always had my eyes on top-tier flagship mobile phones. From the old days of the Siemens SX1 through to the Nokia N95, Communicator, Lumia 1020, Oppo’s Find X Pro and Samsung's S23 Ultra. That is where it stopped. It took me some time to figure out what I actually want out of a mobile phone. It doesn’t have to be top-of-the-range with the highest specs across the board - just the ones that matter to me, which happens to save some money in the process. Right? Well, yes and no - for reasons we’ve all discussed in our Phones Show Chat MeWe Group.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 has completely changed my day-to-day experience with a smartphone. Instead of feeling like a niche tech experiment requiring compromises on basic usability, living with this device feels remarkably natural. By moving to a passport-like shape, Samsung has built a phone that seamlessly adapts to the rhythms of daily life - from quick, single-handed checks during a morning routine, to productivity sessions at work, to relaxing on the sofa at home in the evening as a great media assistant.

When out running errands, grabbing a coffee or commuting, I rarely want to open the main inner display. This is where the Fold8's closed shape makes its biggest daily impact, and I am surprised by how much I use it - far more than I thought I would. Because the cover screen is wider and shorter than past models, my small hands can easily span the entire keyboard. I can reply to a quick message, deal with an urgent work email or control music on the go with great balance and without fear of dropping the phone.

It slips into a pair of jeans or a light jacket pocket without dragging clothes down or feeling like a brick. It feels just like carrying a standard, slightly thicker phone - especially with a case on. If I stop for breakfast or sit on a train, I can set the phone down on a table folded into a 'tent' position so it acts as its own kickstand, making it effortless to watch a video or catch up on the news hands-free. And trust me, that 5.5" screen is not as small as it looks. Video content is perfectly watchable - no complaints whatsoever. It’s a genuine head-turner, too; I've been asked about the phone on the train and in coffee shops more than once.

At work, the moment I sit down to focus, popping the Fold8 open transforms how I handle daily tasks. Opening the screen gives a broad canvas that makes running two apps at once feel truly practical. I can have a reference spreadsheet open on the left while drafting a message on the right, or keep a live map open next to an itinerary without constantly switching between apps. The wide main screen feels closer to a small digital book or pocket notebook than a phone. Flowing through long PDFs, reading articles or using the Kindle app feels far less tiring on the eyes compared to endless vertical scrolling on a standard smartphone. Using Auto Trader on the inner screen is actually better than on a laptop, I dare say!

The inner screen layout is flat enough that the central crease disappears from view during direct light-mode reading. However, because the hinge snaps open with real purpose, you can’t prop the phone half-open like a mini laptop on a desk - it prefers to be fully open or fully shut. When the workday ends, that inner screen becomes a dedicated personal entertainment hub. Opening YouTube or streaming apps gives a significantly larger picture than any traditional smartphone. Classic content, podcasts and video clips fill out the display nicely. Holding the open phone vertically turns app feeds into an immersive experience. Photos pop, text is crisp, and far more information fits on the screen at once.

Because the speakers line up on the sides when the phone is held vertically, rotating the open screen for landscape videos shifts both speakers to one side. For movie nights or travelling on a train or plane, I pair it with Sammy’s Pro4 earbuds anyway - which is still the most immersive way to watch, regardless of whether the phone's physical speakers are in the 'right place' or not. When travelling, I'm not wanting to disturb people around me anyway, so earbuds are my default choice. At home, any decent Bluetooth device will always give a better sound experience than smartphone speakers, which for me are strictly for hands-free calls and the occasional podcast. I did try using the built-in speakers to watch content and, unless you are actively listening for it, you won’t notice the sound coming from one side. The only exception is if the phone is held relatively close to your face - and who does that? It’s a bit like the crease: you'll only notice it if you go looking for it.

The camera system focuses on convenience rather than long-reach. The best camera feature isn't a complex setting - it’s unfolding the phone, using the cover screen as a live preview mirror, and taking high-quality family photos or group shots using the main rear cameras. You get vastly better clarity than any standard front-facing selfie camera can deliver. For candid selfies, pets, meals or weekend walks, pictures come out crisp and vibrant. If you like zooming in on distant subjects - like sitting at the back of a concert or shooting distant wildlife - you will notice that long-range shots rely on digital cropping rather than a dedicated telephoto lens. The cameras are not the absolute best on the market, but they are perfectly fine - they really are.

I don't have to constantly monitor the battery percentage throughout the day. Even with frequent use of the large internal display for reading and multi-app multitasking, the phone easily makes it from the morning alarm to bedtime with power to spare. If I've been heavily using the inner screen all afternoon, dropping the phone on a fast charger for 20 minutes while getting ready for dinner gives more than enough power to last through the night.

Microsoft tried with the Surface Duo but quickly abandoned the idea - goodness knows where we would be with a bit more commitment on their part. The original 2023 Google Pixel Fold was also a solid attempt, though it fell short due to the lack of a powerful chipset - and, like Microsoft, Google abandoned that specific form factor to return to the crowded space with the rest of the competition.

So, what do we currently have on the market as a credible alternative? With the Fold8, you are buying more than just a phone - you’re buying an experience. Someone rightly mentioned in our Phones Show Chat MeWe Group that no one is going to buy a £2,000 phone with limited specs in certain areas. That’s fair enough. But with discount codes and trade-in offers, the cost can be brought down by 50% - or even 60% if you’re savvy! That changes the scenario completely. Even more discounts will likely appear once Apple launches its own folding phone. At that price point, it becomes very competitive for what’s on offer.

Still, considering current hardware prices are through the roof, should a device at this price point have balanced speaker placement? Yes. Should it have better cameras? Yes. People often mention that the likes of Oppo, Motorola and Honor have superior camera setups. But try fitting that onto the Fold8 without adding a massive camera bump to the back of such a slim form factor! I suspect the lack of a dedicated telephoto lens and larger sensors comes down to physical space limitations and battery constraints more than anything else.

Come on, people - this is Samsung’s first real attempt at this specific form factor; give them some slack! The sequel - that difficult 'second album' - will be the real challenge where Samsung has to address those two shortfalls. Looking at the pre-order figures, though, consumers clearly don't mind that much right now! The 8th generation of Folds from Samsung has seen its most successful pre-sale run ever, largely thanks to the Fold8 selling out in South Korea and across most of the USA. Even with a hefty RRP, stock availability at some retailers is already being pushed back to September.

For what I paid and what I want to get out of it - including the overall experience - this feels like the right phone for me. Other phones may have better cameras, take outstanding photos, or offer superior speaker audio, but as a total package, I’m not sure any of them would suit me better. I think Samsung nailed it this time.

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.