Murder Before Evensong arrives as a charmingly atmospheric new mystery series, blending gentle humour, small-village intrigue, and a classic whodunit structure that feels right at home in the long tradition of British cozy crime. Adapted from Reverend Richard Coles’ Sunday Times bestselling novel, the six-part series leans into picturesque 1980s rural England, complete with gossiping parishioners, simmering scandals, and a church at the centre of more trouble than anyone in Champton ever expected. It’s always fun to see a familiar face doing something new, and Harry Potter alumnus Matthew Lewis makes a genuinely engaging pivot here as Canon Daniel Clement, a kind-hearted, slightly beleaguered clergyman who unexpectedly finds himself in detective mode.
Read MoreJoe Finds Grace (2017)
Anthony Harrison’s Joe Finds Grace is the kind of indie oddity that feels like it washed ashore from a different decade and then stumbled into 2017 almost by accident. Shot primarily in black and white and punctuated with sudden bursts of color, TikTok-style needle drops, and occasional rotoscoped animation that recalls A Scanner Darkly, it is a micro-budget comic tragedy that does not follow rules so much as wander around them. That is both the film’s charm and sometimes its limitation.
Read MoreDark Deeds (2022)
Gregory Hatanaka’s Dark Deeds is a sleek, intoxicating thriller that blends drama and mystery with his signature exploration of passion. The film follows a veteran detective, played with grounded gravitas by Nino Cimino, who finds himself drawn into a web of desire and intrigue when a woman—portrayed compellingly by Cassandra Schwiebert—becomes a suspect in a string of murders. Hatanaka’s strength has always been his ability to capture raw, human passion, and here it shines.
Read MoreCall Me Emanuelle (2022)
Call Me Emanuelle is a daring, if uneven, exploration of sexual self-discovery and personal liberation. Directed by Gregory Hatanaka, the film follows Emmy, a woman trapped in a high-stress job and a loveless marriage, as she awakens to a new sense of desire and begins to embrace the Emmanuelle inside her. Shoko Rice delivers a quietly compelling performance, supported by a diverse cast including Chris Spinelli, Shane Ryan-Reid, and Saint Heart, who bring subtle depth to the film’s dreamlike and often surreal atmosphere.
Read MoreDead Again (2017)
Having been on a Korean film bender lately, I went into Dead Again expecting something in line with the layered storytelling and inventive genre blending that’s made South Korean cinema so exciting in recent years. What surprised me right off the bat, however, was discovering that this supposed Korean mystery-thriller was in fact written and directed by an American, Dave Silberman, who had only a handful of shorts under his belt before jumping into this feature project. That’s not a flaw in itself—cinema is global, after all—but unfortunately, the film doesn’t quite measure up to the high bar set by its Korean contemporaries.
Read MoreGirl Upstairs (2024)
Kevin Van Stevenson’s Girl Upstairs is a haunting, slow-burn thriller that blurs the line between fantasy, trauma, and isolation. Written by John Gee, the film introduces us to Dulce, a reclusive artist who has shut herself away in an apartment above a movie theater. What begins as a quiet portrait of agoraphobia soon spirals into a surreal meditation on creation, obsession, and the fragile boundary between safety and danger.
Read MoreWayward: Season 1 (2025)
Netflix’s Wayward, created by and starring Mae Martin, arrives as one of the most intriguing new series of the year, a surreal and unsettling blend of mystery, dark humor, and coming-of-age unease. It constantly shifts beneath your feet, drawing from cult dramas, psychological thrillers, and nostalgic teen adventures while telling a story uniquely its own. From the first episode, Wayward establishes itself as a visual and sonic experience.
Read MoreWitchboard (2024)
Chuck Russell makes a triumphant and gloriously over-the-top return to the horror genre with Witchboard, a deliriously fun reimagining of the 1986 cult classic. The filmmaker behind A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob is clearly in his element, blending practical effects, camp, and chaos into a film that feels like a 1990s VHS treasure, rewound and reborn in a high-def 2024 package. Set in the voodoo-rich atmosphere of New Orleans, Witchboard introduces us to Emily and Christian, a couple opening an organic café in the French Quarter.
Read More