Burning The fire no one put out
An acidic critique of Lee Chang-dong's masterpiece, where suspense is brewed amidst coffee smoke and uncomfortable silences.
All our archived movie autopsies and reviews categorized under Festivals.
An acidic critique of Lee Chang-dong's masterpiece, where suspense is brewed amidst coffee smoke and uncomfortable silences.
*"Bad Haircut" takes home Best Film at the third edition of the Valladolid International Fantastic and Horror Film Festival, while the jury and critics remain deeply divided over the film’s quality.*
Paco Campano serves us a cocktail of cheap psychedelia and rusted robotics in 'Quantum Rave.' Art or cosmic vomit? Claqueta Ácida decides with boxing gloves on.
A scathing, gut-punching critique of 2026’s most disturbing horror—if you dare to look
A scathing critique of *Horror and Love*, the film that blends terror and romance like a drunk chef mixing bleach and tequila—equally toxic, equally unforgettable.
**Rhys Frake-Waterfield turns the childhood classic into a gore-soaked nightmare starring Robert Englund and a Pinocchio that’d make Chucky weep. Art? No. Fun? Even less.**
A recap of the festival’s second day, featuring *Horror and Love*, *Quantum Rave*, *Pinocchio Unstrung*, and *Frankie, Maniac Woman*—a night packed with terror, madness, and enough emotional whiplash to make a rollercoaster jealous.
A scathing review of the movie Janur Ireng: Sewu Dino the Prequel, with irony and dark humor
The sixth day of the **Valladolid International Fantasy and Horror Film Festival (PUFA)** offered a mix of premieres and screenings, including *Lenore*, *The Waiting Man*, and *Janur Ireng*, exploring psychological horror, black magic, and artificial intelligence.
Chris Marrs Piliero attempts to exorcise the demons of tech addiction with a script that reads like it was spat out by a TikTok algorithm. The result? A visual hangover more painful than a thousand fake likes.
A psychological horror film that will make you question reality—if you can stomach the stench of its decay.
The fifth day of PUFA 2026 was defined by mind-bending films, existential labyrinths, and the wildest black comedy, featuring titles like *Yesterday Island*, *The Red Mask*, *IAI*, and *Buffet Libre*.
**Claqueta Ácida’s evisceration of *The Red Mask*: A film that throbs with terror**
Sam Voutas gifts us a desert-island getaway engineered by a Netflix algorithm: predictable, dull, and starring actors plucked straight from a TikTok casting call.
A Japanese supernatural drama that reeks of cheap incense and telenovela tears. A masterpiece of intimate terror or a kimono-clad exercise in self-indulgence?
Kyle Misak gifts us a 'hood thriller' with more dandruff than suspense and more clichés than hair in a brush. Dr. Cynicism dissects this disaster with a barber’s scalpel.
Zoe Berriatúa serves up a grotesque buffet of social gore and pitch-black humor in this all-you-can-eat orgy of bodies, guilt, and egg fried rice. Is it too raw, or just perfectly decomposed?
Bruce Wemple gifts us 85 minutes of amateur horror with actors lost in a script that reeks of 90s mothballs. Claqueta Ácida dissects this cinematic corpse.
Al Kalyk serves up an Australian boxing drama with more sweat than technique. Mavournee Hazel shines, but the script stays in the gym and never steps into the ring. Is the fight worth it?
A devastating critique of Grand Ciel, the film that’ll leave you parched
The fourth day of PUFA 2026 delivered an intense mix of horror, suspense, and mysticism with films like *Grand Ciel*, *El llanto del perro*, *Cruel Hands*, and *Samakdo*. Each brought a unique—if uniquely painful—experience for festivalgoers.
Geno Marx serves up a platter of rotten ribs in 'Babybacks,' a gore-laden disaster with more fat than script. Art? Not even in your wildest nightmares. Fun? Only if you enjoy pain.
A dark fable by Jang Joon-yeop that dances between the poetic and the pretentious. A choreography of shadows and silences, but it lacks the teeth to bite.
The third day of the **Valladolid Fantastic Gateway (PUFA 2026)** was less a film marathon and more a *social experiment*—a rollercoaster where the festival, like a hoarder Frankenstein, stitched together scraps of marginal genius, digital autopsies, and Freudian nightmares to serve up a four-course tasting menu that, as a whole, tasted like *cheap whiskey and expired Xanax*. From the **FUNDOS Auditorium**—a cinema temple reeking of spilled beer and screenwriters’ shattered dreams—to the **Broadway Cinemas**, where the Official Selection tried (and failed) to convince us that psychological horror is still a noble genre, July 6th was a masterclass in how contemporary cinema can be *simultaneously mesmerizing and nauseating*. And no, that’s not a compliment.
The kickoff of the third edition of **PUFA** (*Pucela Fantástica*) at **Broadway Cinemas** proved that horror isn’t just on the screen. From the initial chaos in the lobby to the revelations and ironies of the speeches, the opening day was a rollercoaster of emotions, bottled guts, and pure Spanish fantasy cinema history.
The second day of PUFA 2026, Valladolid’s genre film festival, brought together unsettling classics like *Who Can Kill a Child?* and exciting newcomers like *Went Up the Hill*—though "exciting" might be a stretch.
Chicho Ibáñez Serrador crafts this Spanish nightmare where children are the monsters. Corrupted innocence or pure evil? Claqueta Ácida dissects this cursed classic.
An Australian mystery with more holes than a Swiss cheese and less tension than a telenovela episode. Claqueta Ácida dissects this suspense fiasco with a scalpel and a side of sarcasm.
Natalie Erika James serves up a chilling dish: a gothic nightmare about dysmorphia and ravenous ghosts. Too pretentious or just macabre enough?