Cannibalism, gender wars and satire are what make up the woman-directed horror films I watched this October. Jen (Matilda Lutz) from Revenge It’s been a month of woman-directed horror films, and I feel so happy I’ve managed to watch so many of them, especially in a genre I don’t usually seek out. As a woman myself, women have always been at the heart of my interest in film, as I love watching the world from a woman’s perspective - the female gaze. As I’ve gone through these f

Making my way through a list of female led horror films that have been collecting dust in my watchlist. The Slumber Party Massacre (Amy Holden Jones, 1982) I’ve been writing about women in film since I first downloaded Letterboxd. I started studying film academically from the age of sixteen, at which my first film teacher gifted me ‘The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women’ by Alicia Malone (thank you Deirdre). Last year I wrote my dissertation on the depiction of girl

Samuel Abrahams’ feature debut is outlandishly British, but surprisingly personal. Lady (Abrahams, 2025) follows Lady Isabella, played by Sian Clifford, who takes on a starkly different role from Claire in Fleabag. The film is “dramatic, haunting,” as Lady Isabella describes herself as an artist, but, much like Abrahams’ short Connect (2010), Lady is unusually sincere. The relationship between Isabella and filmmaker Sam (Laurie Kynaston) is serendipitous. Sam arrives at the a

After Spain won the World Cup last week, I found myself wanting to explore Spanish Cinema more. Having thus far only touched the surface with the likes of Pedro Almodóvar and Alejandro González Iñárritu, I decided to watch three films by three Spanish directors I hadn’t heard of before. Jamón Jamón (Bigas Luna, 1992) This still from Jamón Jamón, featuring Javier Bardem, basically sums up the whole film. It’s macho, it’s raunchy, it’s Spanish. Jamón Jamón encapsulates the stag

Images by Theadora Denyer Originally published by The Indiependent on the 18th August 2025. I go to a lot of gigs—at least compared to most of my friends—in Brighton, where I live, and in London. A lot of them are rock or post-punk. Some hip hop, some dance, some at festivals. Some highlights this year for me have been Jamie XX at Primavera Sound and TRAAMS at The Great Escape. Most of the time, I love it, I don’t care too much about waiting in line for the coat check or the

The Smashing Machine (2025) © A24 Originally published by The Indiependent on the 20th November 2025. Since the release of Benny Safdie’s recent film The Smashing Machine (2025) starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, I have been exploring the pattern of a star being reborn in the Safdie Brothers’ films. First, we saw Robert Pattinson in Good Time (2017)—otherwise known for The Twilight Saga (2008-2012), a series of vampire teen romance films—the actor is now renowned to be one o

September and I saw quite an assortment of films. There was body horror in The Substance , Vampire motorbike riders from Psychomania,...