Adrian Hui’s Soyboy is a sharp, unsettling, and oddly tender short film that captures the alienation of a generation drowning in convenience. But what makes this surreal meditation on self-image and disconnection truly linger is the performance by Jack Johnstone as Killian, a performance that’s as raw as it is magnetic. Johnstone commands every frame. His Killian is a product of the algorithm: numb, curated, detached, yet there’s an aching vulnerability beneath his blank stare.
Read MoreThy Will Be Done (2025)
Independent films live or die on passion, and Thy Will Be Done wears that passion in every frame. Jazz Securo’s directorial debut is a brooding, atmospheric thriller that mixes faith, morality, and murder into a surprisingly cohesive and gripping story. What begins as a standard police procedural quickly evolves into something darker and more spiritual, a meditation on justice, guilt, and the fragility of belief.
Read MoreThe R.I.P. Man (2025)
“Shut your mouth and get ready to rest in pain.” That tagline sets the tone for The R.I.P. Man, a low-budget British slasher that punches well above its weight in both atmosphere and execution. Director Jamie Langlands and writer Rhys Thompson deliver a polished indie thriller that successfully introduces a memorable new genre villain, one that might just make you double-check that your doors are locked.
Read MoreBackfire (2023)
Gregory Hatanaka’s Backfire is a 67-minute plunge into cult conspiracies, surreal dialogue, and a constant stream of classical music cues. Billed as an action-thriller about an undercover operative infiltrating a doomsday cult, the film is less about plot clarity than it is about creating a strange, fever-dream mood. For better or worse, it succeeds.
Read MoreBaby Cat (2023)
Scott Hillman’s Baby Cat is one of those movies you can’t quite categorize. At 88 minutes, it’s a curious blend of surreal comedy, experimental drama, and a dash of vigilante-thriller — anchored by a premise so out-there you can’t help but be intrigued. Dana moves to Los Angeles after a breakup and finds herself in a strange new apartment complex.
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 MoreDeadly Western (2023)
Gregory Hatanaka and Geno McGahee’s Deadly Western is a low-budget genre oddity that’s hard to pin down. On paper, the premise has plenty of promise: a sheriff in a dusty frontier town confronts a deadly gang and uncovers a secret that could change everything. The concept even flirts with sci-fi themes—Hatanaka seems interested in using the western setting as a sort of moral rehabilitation experiment, a place where memory, identity, and justice collide.
Read MoreFatal Justice (2023)
Geno McGahee’s Fatal Justice sets up a provocative premise: what happens when a grieving family decides to take the law into their own hands? After the murder of their daughter, the Murphy family reels from a justice system that lets the prime suspect walk free. In a rash move, hot-headed Uncle Phil kidnaps the accused man, Dennis, and drags him into a family gathering.
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