Anton Bitel

All articles by Anton Bitel

Festivals

Faith in horror: 6 features testing credulity at FrightFest 2025

Taking a punt on a brand new horror film can be leap of faith, but here are six for the true believers at this year’s Frightfest.

By Anton Bitel

Faith in horror: 6 features testing credulity at FrightFest 2025

Reviews

Bulk: Ben Wheatley creates a thrilling experimental film about a failed experiment

By Anton Bitel

Bulk: Ben Wheatley creates a thrilling experimental film about a failed experiment

10 great

10 great Irish horror films

By Anton Bitel

10 great Irish horror films

Features

20 years on from the Cannes walkouts, a new look at The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael

By Anton Bitel

20 years on from the Cannes walkouts, a new look at The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael

Reviews

Final Destination Bloodlines: death just keeps on trucking in this enjoyably grisly horror

By Anton Bitel

Final Destination Bloodlines: death just keeps on trucking in this enjoyably grisly horror

Reviews

A Minecraft Movie: videogame block-buster has moments of cross-generational joy

By Anton Bitel

A Minecraft Movie: videogame block-buster has moments of cross-generational joy

Festivals

Restless: a surprising nightmare neighbour thriller

By Anton Bitel

Restless: a surprising nightmare neighbour thriller

Reviews

Wolf Man: creature feature sinks its fangs into toxic patriarchy

By Anton Bitel

Wolf Man: creature feature sinks its fangs into toxic patriarchy

10 great

10 great Mexican horror films

By Anton Bitel

10 great Mexican horror films

Lists

A great action film for every year, 1924 to now

By Henry Barnes, Anton Bitel and others

A great action film for every year, 1924 to now

10 great

10 great horror films of the decade so far

By Anton Bitel

10 great horror films of the decade so far

Terrifier 3: the murderous clown returns for a mean-spirited Santa slasher

By Anton Bitel

Terrifier 3: the murderous clown returns for a mean-spirited Santa slasher

10 great

10 great comedy horror films

By Anton Bitel

10 great comedy horror films

Lists

Body horror and the beauty myth: 6 influences and intertexts for The Substance

By Anton Bitel

Body horror and the beauty myth: 6 influences and intertexts for The Substance

Reviews

Starve Acre: English folk traditions take root in this disturbing horror set in 1970s Yorkshire

By Anton Bitel

Starve Acre: English folk traditions take root in this disturbing horror set in 1970s Yorkshire

Reviews

Cuckoo: Hunter Schafer gives a game performance in this unapologetically berserk horror

By Anton Bitel

Cuckoo: Hunter Schafer gives a game performance in this unapologetically berserk horror

Festivals

Horror’s female gaze: 6 features directed by women at FrightFest 2024

By Anton Bitel

Horror’s female gaze: 6 features directed by women at FrightFest 2024

Reviews

Trap: M. Night Shyamalan tests our morality in this twisted family thriller

By Anton Bitel

Trap: M. Night Shyamalan tests our morality in this twisted family thriller

Reviews

MaXXXine: a gory, self-consciously derivative exposé of the Hollywood machine

By Anton Bitel

MaXXXine: a gory, self-consciously derivative exposé of the Hollywood machine

Reviews

The Exorcism: a sophisticated, metacinematic take on genre

By Anton Bitel

The Exorcism: a sophisticated, metacinematic take on genre

Reviews

Immaculate: Rosemary’s Baby reimagined as a giallo in a convent

By Anton Bitel

Immaculate: Rosemary’s Baby reimagined as a giallo in a convent

Reviews

Exhuma: Korean occult horror excavates multiple layers of weirdness

By Anton Bitel

Exhuma: Korean occult horror excavates multiple layers of weirdness

Festivals

The Dead Don’t Hurt: a ruminative state-of-the-nation western

By Anton Bitel

The Dead Don’t Hurt: a ruminative state-of-the-nation western

Reviews

Lisa Frankenstein: patchy zombie teen horror goes gravedigging in 1980s pop culture

By Anton Bitel

Lisa Frankenstein: patchy zombie teen horror goes gravedigging in 1980s pop culture

Reviews

Baghead: a trickster witch communes with the dead from a pub in Alberto Corredor’s assured horror

By Anton Bitel

Baghead: a trickster witch communes with the dead from a pub in Alberto Corredor’s assured horror

Festivals

Krazy House: 1990s sitcom spoof is startlingly unfunny

By Anton Bitel

Krazy House: 1990s sitcom spoof is startlingly unfunny

Reviews

Dream Scenario: Nic Cage is the man of everyone’s dreams in this surreal satire of online exposure

By Anton Bitel

Dream Scenario: Nic Cage is the man of everyone’s dreams in this surreal satire of online exposure

Features

LFF Cult 2023: the freaky and the wrong at this year’s festival

By Anton Bitel

LFF Cult 2023: the freaky and the wrong at this year’s festival

Festivals

Horror gets weird: 6 oddities from FrightFest 2023

By Anton Bitel

Horror gets weird: 6 oddities from FrightFest 2023

Reviews

T.I.M.: an unnerving AI thriller

By Anton Bitel

T.I.M.: an unnerving AI thriller