Dan

Disappointed but not surprised by how insensitive this film is. Visually, it’s great and the performances are a highlight. Unfortunately, it ends up being a bit of a disaster; stereotypes, fat phobia, and the use of fat suits undermine whatever message it’s trying to convey. The subject matter is a sensitive one for me. As someone who has struggled with body dysmorphia for most of my life and has a difficult relationship with food, it sucks to see that stories about larger bodies are still so often framed through shame, disgust, and fear. The biggest issue is that I never felt sure whether the film was genuinely empathetic towards people with body image issues or whether it was reinforcing the very ideas it was trying to criticise, especially when it turns a larger-bodied woman into a horrifying, grotesque figure.

Nice to see Nick Robinson ♡ As a ’90s baby who grew up watching a lot of rom-coms, I keep having the feeling that these newer ones are missing something. But what do I know? I rewatch While You Were Sleeping as if it were the greatest rom-com ever made  🤷🏻‍♀️ Anyway, I think Voicemails for Isabelle works perfectly for its target audience. It keeps appearing on my ig fyp and people seem to be loving it. The performances are genuinely good, but the whole voicemail premise never really worked for me. It feels oddly outdated for a story set in the present day. Maybe audio messages would have made more sense? Do people actually leave voicemails nowadays? 😅

It Follows but make it gay 😌🏳️‍🌈✨ I love it, I love it, I love it!! I love my gays and I love horror, so I’m over the moon that we have such a brilliant queer horror flick. Leviticus dives into crucial topics like religious homophobia and conversion therapy through a genuinely frightening supernatural lens. It perfectly captures the fear of growing up believing your feelings and desires are somehow sinful simply because society tells you they are. At its essence, this is a deeply moving story about queer love, vulnerability, and the damage caused by shame and repression. The monster may be terrifying, but the real nightmare lies in the people and institutions that make these boys feel broken for simply being who they are. Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen are both fantastic, delivering performances that make it impossible not to become invested. Their chemistry gives the film so much emotional weight that by the end I was completely attached to them. I seriously didn’t want it to end! I didn’t shed any tears, but that ending is going to live rent-free in my head for a very long time because all I wanted to do was protect them. And that Frank Ocean song was the cherry on top 🖤

I need more queer psychological thrillers like this one. Dark, atmospheric, suspenseful, and although some of the plot twists are fairly predictable, it’s still a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging watch. You can really feel the chemistry between Lee Williams and Marc Warren from the moment they share the screen. That scene in the lift is chef’s kiss. The film does a great job of balancing romance, obsession, desire, and paranoia, creating an unsettling atmosphere. Not the most shocking thriller ever made, but it’s stylish, gripping, and exactly the kind of dark queer drama I wish there were more of.