recently, i found myself looking for a certain kind of movie. i wanted horror--but not the paranormal, ghost-hunting, exorcism, slasher, kind. i wanted a psychological horror, yet one that kept me glued to the screen. while searching, i stumbled upon "like minds" (2006) by gregory j. read. i did not recognize the director so i then searched him up on letterboxd to find that he actually hasnt directed anything but this movie and a small film made in 2019. i knew after discovering this that the film was bound to be either the best thing ive seen in a while or the worst.

im the type of person to go into a film completely blind--no trailer, description, etc. so i had no idea what i would be getting myself into. i was immediately captivated by the setting of the story. the film takes place partically in the interrogation room of a local police station, with the main character alex being questioned a criminal psychologist to try and get him to confess to the murder of nigel colbie. whereas the rest of the film takes place in the past, following the events that lead up to nigel's murder.

the setting is in an all-boys catholic boarding school located somewhere in yorkshire. its dark and gloomy, and the second main character--nigel--is seemed to have "a morbid fascination with all things dead" described by alex, his roommate. nigel is such an interesting character, he easily made it on my list of favorites. the characters discuss medieval themes, one of my other interests, and i honestly felt like someone made this movie just for me haha.

im not going to get into any spoilers since i want the person reading this to go check it out for themselves, and i doubt many people have seen it; but if youre looking for a gothic psychological horror with themes of the twelfth and thirteenth century this film is definitely for you. it scratched an itch ive had for quite a while now, and im currently trying to find more films like it.

i was finally able to watch "leviticus" by adrian chiarella following its digital release this past tuesday. this film was brought to my attention by being one of the trailers shown before a showing of "obsession" by curry barker i watched this past month. as a huge fan of horror films especially set in rural areas, it instantly caught my attention. i noticed that i have not watched many films set in australia which also intruiged me; im always looking to broaden my horizons.

with what budget he had, adrian chiarella was able to create a beautiful, horrifying, experience. without spoiling, some of my favorite moments were the more violent ones. when the main character naim thinks the entity is the boy hes attracted to, ryan, letting him close just for the entity to instead turn on him in a split second trying to kill him. the film didn't rely on jumpscares, but the ones that were there really did get me jumping in my seat haha! which is rare, i'm not usually affected by jumpscares. overall, it was a very well done film and i hope to see more like them in the future. this year has been a great run for horror so far!