The Final Girl’s Guide to LFF

With the BFI London Film Festival now drawn to a close The Final Girls team are totally exhausted but absolutely thrilled by how many great films will soon be arriving in cinemas. With that in mind we thought we’d recommend our favourite horror and horror-adjacent films from the fest to look out for.

Anna Bogustkaya, Co-Founder

Titane, Julia Ducournau

There is no way to talk about Titane without spoiling it in one way or another. Maybe there is, but I haven't found it yet. I avoided all trailers and reviews, even the headlines, before going into watching it. I'm very glad I did and I recommend this approach. Titane is not so much a body horror as a bodily experience. I kept sliding down into my chair, at some points pulling my head into my shirt, shifting in my seat and gnawing at my knuckles. When the film ended, my entire body was trembling. Not to be dramatic, but it's closer to a mystical experience than a straight-up horror. We know director Julia Ducournau does not like to be called a horror filmmaker, and I agree with her. Pegging a film like Titane into any genre feels reductive for what she's exploring here. But that aside - horror fans, I urge you, do not miss this. It's a film to be felt, not just seen.

Olivia Howe, Co-Founder

Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon. Ana Lily Amirpour

Ana Lily Amirpour is back, and we are here for it. Having stunned us all with the iconic A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), the world’s first ‘”Iranian vampire spaghetti western,” which she followed up dystopian fever-dream, The Bad Batch (2016), Amirpour brings us her latest mind-bending adventure, this time set on the seedy neon-lit streets of New Orleans. Starring the sublime Jeon Jong-Seo (Burning, 2018) as Mona Lisa Lee, a regular girl…with a psychokinetic ability to control the actions of others (who wouldn’t want that, right!?). Amirpour’s latest is a trippy treat for the senses, with a huge heart at its core.

Isaura Barbé-Brown, Bloody Perfect Columist

Dashcam, Rob Savage

There’s not much I can say to prepare you for the experience that is Dashcam (2021), in fact I don’t want to say very much at all… This film is best enjoyed when you discover all the twists and turns and bat shit insane things on your own. If you’ve seen Host (2020), you know Rob Savage is a director who will upend your expectations no matter how prepared you think you are. But I can tell you this: Dashcam is a hell of a lot of fun. See it in a cinema with 10-20 of your rowdiest friends and strap the fuck in.

Poppy Marriot, Digital Marketing Manager

The Tragedy Of Macbeth, Joel Coen

In one of two of A24’s LFF offerings, The Tragedy of Macbeth is a monochromatic masterpiece in what is being dubbed “the best on-screen Shakespeare adaptation ever.” With Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington playing Lady Macbeth and Macbeth respectively, Joel Coen’s directorial debut is nothing short of mesmerizing. We all know the story of Macbeth (the text is 400+ years old after all) but Coen’s reimagining of the tragic tale is genre-defying, mind-bending and simply excellent.

Leila Latif, Blood Women Editor

Spencer, Pablo Larrain

Spencer might not seem like a likely recommendation for The Final Girls, but trust me, Pablo Larrain’s latest has more in common with The Shining than The Crown. Kristen Stewart plays Diana with breathy aplomb but Larrain’s direction brings out the horrifying side of The Royals. An eerie Sandringham at Christmas stands in for our Overlook Hotel and The Royals, and their staff are sinister ghouls, haunting its corridors lined with the portraits or murderous kings. Diana becomes obsessed with her death, her value in the world and her fraying sanity. For arthouse ghost story fans this will connect with our love of the eerie, the unsettling and the devastating. 

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