The lovely Javid Rezai and Stella Talpo, Director and Producer and star of new “psycho-glitter” short The Belladonna joined me for a chat. We talked about Javid and Stella making movies together from the age of 7, a shared love of Paris Hilton (HONESTLY, the venn diagram of horror fans and Paris lovers is wild!) and ensuring a production remains authentic.
A female-led, queer, indie horror film will always get my attention and it’s a genuinely beautiful, moving short. Keep an eye out for it at a film festival near you!
It’s the second week of January and, somehow, I’ve only watched four movies so far this year. 2025 had a bloody brilliant start, with me going to see Nosferatu on New Year’s Day – 2026 hasn’t started with as majestic a bang! (Although seeing 28 Years Later and The Bone Temple as movies 3 and 4 has helped!)
Last year was absolutely brilliant for horror cinema and I thought I’d write a round-up of my year in horror. I fully planned to do this last January, wrapping up 2024’s movies. I mapped it out, got as far as February or March, got overwhelmed and ditched it. So this year, I’m eating the elephant in chunks (or whatever that weird phrase is) and breaking it down. I want to challenge myself to write more regularly and forcing myself into a 12 month retrospective is hardly the best place to start!
I am relying on love of my life, Letterboxd, to go through my year otherwise I won’t bloody remember anything. As I go month by month, I’ll link to various reviews and videos to mix it up a bit, in an attempt to make this somewhat digestible. I logged 311 films in 2025 (god knows how many I forgot to log…), covered 7 film festivals as press and got so many brilliant review opportunities. I’m a bit proud of myself, even if I don’t know what to do with that feeling.
New movies
Nosferatu was a wonderful way to start the year and I fell in love with how beautiful it was. The cinematography, costumes, score, performances and Orlok himself were all exquisite. In typical me fashion, I’d planned to write or record a full review but after I left this hilarious Letterboxd note I left it as it was. Nosferatu was also my second movie of the year – I went back to watch it again, this time on IMAX which really allowed me to see the glorious depths of the darkness.
After the excitement of Nosferatu, I was really excited for the rest of the year ahead. The first horror festival of the year was Horror on Sea (which is running as I write) which, for me, was a mixed bag of films. A few were awful, but don’t want to name names as I always feel terrible being negative about indie films. Plus, it may just not be my taste and someone else may love it. But there were also some pretty good and some absolutely great films.
My favourites of the festival were The Mill Killers (2024) and Protein (2024), two Welsh movies that I think were just brilliant. Both perfectly captured the feeling of small Welsh towns and I will always love seeing Wales portrayed on film. I’d definitely recommend both – The Mill Killers is available to watch for free on Prime and you can rent Protein on Prime too.
Marginalia (2025) was an absolutely gloriously absurd movie, which I’d really love to see again. It doesn’t seem to have been released in the UK yet, but I’m hopeful for a physical media release.
The other new watches for the month were Books of Blood (2020),A Bay of Blood (1971), Room 6 (2006), Funeral Home/Cries in the Night (1980) and Swamp Thing (1982). I don’t recall any of them particularly standing out to me, as I didn’t rate or review any of them. But I’m always pushing myself to watch new-to-me movies, instead of rewatching, so I think that was pretty good going. I also watched Bottoms (2023) – not a horror movie, but I love queer movies and I’m definitely trying to watch more non-horror movies and push myself out of my comfort zone a little.
Talking of my comfort zone, though, I rewatched Hereditary (2018) and The Monster Squad (1987). Two movies I will always go back to for a dose of comfort and familiarity – just on opposite ends of the wholesome scale!
Podcasts
I put out two podcast episodes in January 2025, both with very different themes. For Horror Hyperfixations, I waxed lyrical about my love of Ghost Stories and talked to myself about my favourite play for over 3 hours. SPOILER – I ended up going to see Ghost Stories 4 times in 2025. Not that I’m obsessed, or anything…
And furthering my attempt to watch movies outside of the horror genre, I watched Transformers the Movie with my friend Kev for Speshul Features. I’ve never been a Transformers girlie, but the soundtrack slapped and there was a dinosaur robot. Sold!
Books
I go into most years with the goals of reading more, writing more, watching more, so reading Schrader’s Chord by Scott Leeds was a good start to inspire me to keep reading in 2025. When you’re late for work because you can’t put your book down, you know it’s good! (Spoiler: I didn’t read anywhere near enough last year, but at least I read!)
Rabbit Trap is an incredibly beautiful folk horror from Bryn Chainey and Spectrevision and I absolutely loved it. I still feel under its spell, even after it’s finished.
Set in Wales, Rabbit Trap follows a married couple who are recording an album in a remote house. Daphne is a musician, Darcy is a sound engineer and Darcy happens upon a neighbour, while out recording in nature. Credited as “the child”, the neighbour seems to be a genderless, ageless being who knows a lot about the area and the local folklore. The tiny, but perfect, cast of Dev Patel, Rosy McEwen and Jade Croot really grounded the fantastical story.
While it was filmed in Yorkshire, Rabbit Trap really captures the magic and beauty of Wales. The scenery, the language and the rich history of myths and legends. I felt very emotional hearing Welsh words and Welsh song in a film that’s been produced outside of Wales (by Spectrevision, no less!) And to hear “be there now in a minute” in a film that will be seen all around the world (starting at bloody Sundance!) was magical in itself.
Sound is so integral to this film and by a happy accident, I watched it with headphones on. The sound design is absolutely incredible and so engrossing. While the plot of film is entirely different, the soundscape reminded me a lot of In the Earth by Ben Wheatley – capturing something ancient, otherworldly and unknowable. For the first time in ages (I know, for shame!) I sat through the entirety of the credits at home, so I could bask in the sound for as long as possible. I really need to see Rabbit Trap on the big screen, not only for the visuals, but to appreciate the sound on huge speakers.
Rabbit Trap is just a glorious film and it’s especially impressive that this is Bryn Chainey’s debut feature. I truly hope that this gets a wide release so I can see it again and more people can experience a little bit of Welsh magic.
Rabbit Trap had it’s European premiere at Grimmfest on 11th October and a UK release date has not yet been announced. Rabbit Trap is available to watch online in the US.
