Rent Phantasmagoria (2017)

The Contaminated, Creepy Crepax (spoilers) ... - Phantasmagoria review by NP

This independent production contains much that is good about low-budget, independent films. Every film trick in the book is thrown at the beautifully macabre, grainy locations to make this journey as unsettling as possible. It's clear the narrative isn't hugely important. The acting is often eccentric, accentuating the unreality of the mood - the staple observer, Rachel Audrey (as Cooper) turns in an often self-conscious performance, whose early bizarre grinning 'to camera' is accompanied briefly by a laughter track! Very strange.

Cooper meets up with a frightened, sick local girl played by Mari K. She speaks fearfully of The Beast. It may be the demonic force within her to which she is referring, which gives cause to a disturbing, even erotic, exhumation.

Director Cosmotropia de Xam throws everything at the audience to unnerve them, and the result is a moody, melancholy tour of some truly breathtaking locations: a study of decay.

The DVD of this art-house horror also contains 'The Contaminated Photos of Valentina Crepax' which is exactly that - a selection of images from 'Phantasmagoria' treated with all kinds of effects that blur, fracture, disintegrate, explode, evaporate and unfurl into one another. It is all grotesque and very effective.