Penelopebabs
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penelopebabs.bsky.social
Penelopebabs
@penelopebabs.bsky.social
120 followers 320 following 46 posts
Work in geoscience. Studying for my master's in international relations and global communications at Manchester Met. Interested in feminist expression in horror films, cats, travel and food.
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penelopebabs.bsky.social
Of course I've missed loads of other great films out (shout out Astron-6 who need their own thread, and the shorts, which similarly I could never include because that would take me many years).

Needless to say, I love Mayhem and can't wait for tonight 😍 See you there?
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
Phew, that took a lot longer than expected (sorry, uni work!). But there you are, my top films from each year of @mayhemfilmfestival.bsky.social. Happy to talk about any or all of them.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2024! Another brilliant year, another three picks!

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Louis-Seize) What a way to start the fest! So sweet & widely loved

Mads (David Moreau) Psychedelic French zombies

Confession (Jong-seok Yoon) Gorgeous, twisty, locked box thrillier
The Humanist Vampire... cover, which shows the main character looking out towards the audience. The image has a red hue over it. Text is in blue. A terrifying image of someone covered in blood and gore looking skyward. The image is skewed so the eyes are in triple exposure. The title MADS sits in the middle of the image, and again, dropping off the bottom of the image. The Korean poster, the title of which is JaBek. It shows the main actors across and into the distance from each side of the image. They do not look to each other. Both are in black and the background is grey.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2023

The Animal Kingdom (Thomas Cailley) Another film to make me cry - & this is the true horror of Mayhem, you just don't know what emotion will hit you next. A family saga that's halfway between body horror and fantasy. Beautiful

Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik) Beavers, mate. Hundreds of 'em
The poster for The Anmial Kingdom, which shows a boy standing in the middle of a lush forest with the shadow of what looks like an angel above him. He looks up towards the creature. A film poster for Hundreds of Beavers, showing a trapper in a dead beaver hat run away from - surprisingly - hundreds of beavers.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2022

Unicorn Wars (Alberto Vazquez) What to say about this one? A HORRIFYING, psychedelic vision of war but also cute

Watcher (Chloe Okuno) Brilliant and should be more popular. It's a twisty psychological thriller about gaslighting. We must believe women
The Unicorn Wars film poster, where three teddies stand in the jungle. Two wear hats, two hold bows and arrows. The arrow tips are hearts. The teddy in the centre has badly stitched cuts on his face. "A bone-chilling paranoid thriller" is the quote from Dead Central on this poster for the watcher, with the tagline 'evil wants to be seen'. Maika Monroe is seen looking out from a window, next to a curtain, as a man in shadow in the distance - we can presume a block of flats across the way' looks back at her.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2021

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (Junta Yamaguchi) One take J-weird 2 minutes into the future, & again, & again

Alien on Stage (Lucy Harvey/Danielle Kummer) Did I think I'd cry a Mayhem film (other than from laughter)? No. Did I cry? Yes. A group of Dorset bus drivers take Alien to the stage
The Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes poster, which shows a man in an apron holding a computer monitor. Behind him is a whirly mix of green and yellow squares, with random additions, like a clock and a leg. An alien takes a bow to a clapping crowd in silhouette. A bus hovers in the background. The tagline is 'In Dorset no one can hear you scream'.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2020

Sadly, this year there was only the skeleton session, and I could only make it to the shorts. However, I've seen Psycho Goreman and The Boys from County Hell since and both of them are well worth a watch.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2019

Why Don’t You Just Die! (Kirill Sokolov) My god, it's so frustrating! But very, very funny and incredibly well shot

Vivarium (Lorcan Finnegan) Immogen Poots and Jesse Eisenburg get stuck in their suburban life, quite literally. An uncomfy psychological thriller
The Why Don't You Just Die! poster, with the name written in Russian at the front. A family stands together in the background, with the father covered in blood. Imogen Poots to the left, and Jesse Eisenberg to the right, circles upon circles show them getting smaller, into a central image of a young boy.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2018 - my favourite year yet

Number 37 (Nosipho Dumisa) A South African Rear Window. Tense & wildly underrated

One Cut of the Dead (Shin'inchiro Ueda) Incredibly smart filmmaking, another classic J-weird. Everyone enjoyed this

Anna and the Apocalypse (John McPail) My favourite Christmas musical
The Number 37 poster. A man holds bincoluars while also holding a burning cigarette. He looks into the far right. Three other characters are protrayed just below his face. The One Cut of the Dead poster, which showcases all of the films' many, many awards and nominations. In the foreground stands the main character, holding a film camera. The Anna and the Apocalypse film poster. Anna stands at the front, wearing a bloodsoaked school uniform and holding a huge candy cane with a pointed end. Zombies try to get thorugh a light festooned door in the background. Two other main characters stand in the mid-ground.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2017

Tag (Sion Sono) It starts with a murderous wind, and then gets weirder. A feminist time-hopping Groundhog Day

M.F.A (Natalia Leite) A trigger-warning for this brutal, underappreciated rape revenge film. Francesca Eastwood gives an icredible performance
The Tag film poster, which shows the three main characters in the foreground, with classmates also fleeing in the background. The main character, Mitsuko stands in the middle looking shocked. The M.F.A poster, which shows a woman in a pink wig stabbing a man. The picture is close up, so we can only see their faces and the knife handle. It's intimate, but frightening. M.F.A is scrawled in bright pink.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2016 - another classic year, with so many great films spanning sci-fi, horror and comedy

Raw (Julia Ducournau) A cannibal film with a lot to say about women's bodies. Utterly gripping

The Greasy Strangler (Jim Hosking) Stupid, hilarious, gross and endlessly quoteable. A must-see
The movie poster for Raw,where a young girl is pictured to the right, looking to the left. There is a yellow-wash over the poster. A very busy cover, with all of the main characters in The Greasy Strangler. Featuring a quote from the Guardian: "A playful oasis of filth and depravity" and from Empire: "Insanely compelling and funny, one of the best movies of 2016"
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2015 - an absolutely vintage year! Another 3 pic(k)s.

Crumbs (Miguel Llansó) devisive but I thought it was so smart and fun. A guy travereses a post-apocalyptic wasteland to board a spaceship

Nina Forever (Ben Blaine) she's yours... always

The Invitation (Karyn Kusama) So slick. That last scene!
The Crumbs movie poster, which says 'Crumbs' in large, script font. In the background is an empty, but interesting landscape. The poster for Nina Forever. In it, a naked Nina sits in reverse on a chair, waving to you. There are rose petals around her, and splashes of blood. One of her legs is broken. The poster for The Invitation. A man looks to the camera. He is standing behind a wine glass but the aspect trickery makes it look like he is within the glass. It is full of what could be red wine, or blood.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2014

What We Do in the Shadows (Jermaine Clement / Taika Waititi) Needs no intro. "We're werewolves, not swearwolves"

The Town that Dreaded Sundown (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon) A fun slasher & meta-sequel to the 1976 film itself based on the Phantom Killer murders. Produced by Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy
The What We Do in the Shadows poster, featuring the three main vampires, each in coffins. The picture is black and white, with neon highlights. Poster for The Town that Dreaded Sundown. A killer with a cloth covering his head stands with his back to the camera, looking over his shoulder. He holds a knift. In the background the trees and sundown form an image of a skull.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2013

The Borderlands (Elliot Goldner) Folklore, found footage, ghosts. These are a few of my favourite things, all in one film

The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears (Bruno Forzani, Hélène Cattet) Utterly stunning, weird and sensual. I think this film cemented my love of Mayhem
The Borderlands poster, featuring a twisted church. The poster has been blue-washed. The poster for Strange Colour, in French L'etrange Couleur des Larmes de ton Cords. A woman holds a man in her hand and looks at him. In the background is a circle of stained glass, around which the title sits. The background is black.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
2012 - vintage year. I might have to pick 3.

Chained (Jennifer Chambers-Lynch) Still haunts my dreams

Dead Sushi (Noburu Iguchi) Killer sushi Hilarious fun, a classic J-weird (is that a sub-genre? It is now) that Mayhem delights in

Sightseers (Ben Wheatley) Classic Ben Wheatley, beloved by all
The film poster for Chained, which shows a man standing next to a taxi looking down. The taxi, a yellow New York style one has a bloody hand pressed to the window. The film cover. A blood covered sushi chef looks down at an illustration of a salmon nigiri with teeth, which has just bitten a hand. At the bottom is text which reads 'the sushi bites back' A poster for Sightseers, with the tagline 'horror has a knitted jumper'. Alice Lowe stands in the front of the image, wearing a knitted jumper. In the background Steve Oram stands next to a caravan in front of a viaduct.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
So here we go. My first year, 2011. I do miss the experimental elements of the first years - Thrill Lab was always fun, as was the quiz

Sint (Dick Maas) Old St Nick gets murdery

Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju) A plastic surgeon murders women to make a new face for his daughter
The poster for Sint, which says 'het originele filmscript'. A zombie St Nick rides a giant white horse and holds a staff. A full moon is in the background and it is snowing. The Eyes Without a Face film poster. A young girl lies prone on the floor wearing a mask. In the background is a big image of her face in the mask. It is an illustrated cover.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
I've left out the oldies, some of which I'd seen and some of which became new favourites

Society / Stagefright / Suspiria / Vampire’s Kiss / Viy / Phantom of the Paradise / Door

Special mention: Don't Look Now, which seeing at St. Mary's church with intro from Nicolas Roeg was pretty damn cool
Poster of Viy, with Viy written in Russian. A candle takes centre stage, and a young witch is in the background. A priest reads from a text in between the other two images. The cover for Stagefright. A man with the head of an owl holds a chainsaw. The cover for Phantom of the Paradise featuring all of the main characters. The cover for Don't Look Now, with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland both sides of an illustration of a long passageway.
October 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
penelopebabs.bsky.social
I shall look forward to that. If you do see me climbing the walls on Sunday, please point me to the nearest chair.
July 30, 2025 at 2:53 PM