Anton Bitel

@antbit

Feckless freelance film critic and neurotic apanthrope. The #Horror, the #Horror Programmer for the London Korean Film Festival. London Film Critics' Circle, Online Film Critics Society. ProjectedFigures.com

2267 Siguiendo4082 Seguidores10.668 Publicaciones

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Anton Bitel@antbit· 25d

Our tom, seven years ago, characteristically occupying two chairs at once (one green, one blue), and looking mildly put out that anyone should be surprised at this.

Anton Bitel@antbit· 25d

Asher Perlman cartoon: a bearded man who has been captured by two mobsters pleads, "Just make it fast," adding, "oh god", as he sees a fedora'd sloth approaching him with a switchblade.

Anton Bitel@antbit· 26d

Honoured to have a booklet essay ("The search for a happy ending: a writer's disability in Mike Flanagan's HUSH") in this superb two-disc Limited Edition 4K UHD release @arrowvideo.bsky.social

The package elements for Arrow's Limited Edition 4K UHD release of Mike Flanagan's HUSH (2016): the sleeve (with a picture of the Man turned away to face a cabin while holding a crossbow), the case, the booklet and the two discs)

Front page of my essay ("The search for a happy ending: a writer's disability in Mike Flanagan's HUSH"), showing Maddie (Kate Siegel) staring to camera in medium close-up

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jul 13

(Un)sympathetic magic: Kenichi Ugana’s satirical J-horror THE CURSE (2025) "updates familiar possession tropes to the online age of the smart phone". On digital platforms in UK/Ireland/Australia/New Zealand from today via Blue Finch Film Releasing. projectedfigures.com/2025/09/19/t...

A woman whose face is covered in blood smiles broadly as she checks her smartphone

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jul 10

Turn on, tune in, cutout: the offworld anthropology of René Laloux's trippily animated sci-fi allegory FANTASTIC PLANET (1973) combines cruelty and transcendence. Re-screens 4.30pm today at 부천국제판타스틱영화제 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. projectedfigures.com/2020/12/22/f...

A giant young blue-skinned 'Draag' holds a pet 'Om' (i.e. human) child in the palm of her hand.

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jul 5

It has finally happened! The main character in the film that I am currently watching is wearing black Crocs, and I find myself fully represented on screen.

Still of the lower legs and feet of two work colleagues standing side-by-side waiting for a bus late at night. She is wearing white trainers, he is wearing black Crocs. Both have umbrellas.

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jul 3

Donald Trump, embodying 'unsexy' like a (bullying, boorish) boss

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jul 2

Heatwave red: Graham Humphreys' poster has been revealed for this year's @frightfest.bsky.social (27th -31st August). The full programme will be announced 2pm, 16th July.

A green monster towers over Odeon Leicester Square, manipulating a skeleton puppet above the heads of the crowd who seem variously awestruck and terrified.

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jul 1

"the werewolf myth allows traditional notions of family ties and maternal instincts to be stretched to their outer limits": the Blu-ray of Marco Dutra & @julianarojas.bsky.social's GOOD MANNERS (2017) can now be pre-ordered via @vinsyn.bsky.social. Review for BFI. www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-gre...

a human hand holds a hairy, clawed, not-so-human hand

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jul 1

Honoured to have contributed an essay ("Fantasy, fate and ferality in Fabián Bielinsky’s The Aura") to this home release from @umbrellaent.bsky.social, announced today. An eccentric, epileptic thriller, both underseen and must-see - and soon seeable. Order now.

A display of all the elements (sleeve, slipcase, disc, postcards, book, reversible poster) of Umbrella Entertainments home release of Fabián Bielinsky’s THE AURA, 2005)

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 30

From tomorrow, Umbrella Entertainment spawns UNIVERSAL HORROR: MONSTERS & CURIOSITIES, a gargantuan pack of 45 studio genre titles. Honoured to have contributed an essay ("Horror to scale: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN in the monstrous age of the atom") to its 100-page hardback booklet.

Front cover of the boxset depicting a colourful collage of Universal monsters

Front cover of the boxset's booklet: a b&w still showing Elsa Lanchester, in full Bride of Frankenstein makeup, applying makeup before a purse mirror

Title page for my essay, "Horror to scale: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN in the monstrous age of the atom", with a modernist mixed-media image showing a man on a step brandishing a sewing needle to fend off a giant spider below.

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 30

Honoured to have a piece ("Family film: alienation, abjection and errant desire in Todd Solondz's HAPPINESS (1998)") in Vol. 6 of Radiance Films' DIRTY ARTHOUSE magazine, alongside riches from @mdconterio.bsky.social, Kat Ellinger, @horrornonna.com and @joshnelsonfilm.bsky.social

The black-on-red front cover of Dirty Arthouse vol. 6, depicting Harmony Korine

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 25

Guy Venables cartoon

As a man in a T-shirt and shorts gulps from a bottle of water, a suited businessman with briefcase tells him: "Take it easy buddy. Think of the data centres."

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 23

"finds something monstrous and murderous emerging into a neighbourhood’s surface calm": William Bagley’s surreal suburban satire HOLD THE FORT (2025) streams from today on digital HD in North America via Sunrise Films. Review for @scifinow.bsky.social www.scifinow.co.uk/reviews/hold...

In a bourgeois suburban domestic interior, a blood-drenched, knife-wielding Lucas (Chris Mayers) and beige-cardiganed Ted (Levi Burdick) stand to either side facing a werewolf which occupies the centre of the shot with its back to the camera.

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 19

Girls just want to have fun: Donnie Hobbie’s 70s/90s-inflected feature debut JUMP SCARE (2025) "sees a heavy metal band drawn into a cannibalised horror scenario". Screens 3.45pm (and virtually) at @chattfilmfest.org, and 11.30pm at @danceswithfilms.bsky.social projectedfigures.com/2026/04/12/j...

wide shot of a woman standing in the dark by a parked police car, facing a misty desert cabin

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 16

Cartoon by Vaughan Tomlinson:
one of two canine defendants says to the other, "This isn't good", as their judge - a cat - enters the courtroom.

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 15

"a strange, ambiguous blend of cosmic awe and grounded humanism": it is disclosure day for Jonathan Sobol's SIGNAL ONE (2026), now on DVD via @signatureuk.bsky.social. Capsule for @scifinow.bsky.social. www.scifinow.co.uk/events/sci-f...

Medium close-up of computer scientist Annika (Isabelle Fuhrman) seated in a white recliner chair and dressed in a white T-shirt, with a sensor helmet on her head.

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 14

Four-panel cartoon by Theresa Scovil.
Panel 1, In my childhood: girl asks "Am I weird?"
Panel 2, In my teens: girl: "Oh no! I'm definitely weird! How do I stop being weird?"
Panel 3, In my 20s: young woman: "I need to stop being weird! It's the only way I'll succeed in life!"
Panel 4, In my 30s: woman with arms outstretched: "Out of my way! I'm weird!"

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 8

Our tom makes a good pillow for his sister

A queen uses her tom brother as a pillow

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 4

"three characters crossing boundaries, switching languages and breaking laws while finding agreeable compromise": Johannes Vang’s comic short film PÅ GRENSA (RÁJIIN | RAJALLA | BORDERLINE) (2026) has its N. American première, 8.30pm tonight at @imaginenative.org projectedfigures.com/2026/06/02/p...

Wide shot of a man (Sverre Porsanger) fishing by the Three-Country Cairn that marks the border between Norway, Sweden and Finnland. In the sky above is the short film's multilingual title "PÅ GRENSA | Rájiin | Rajalla | Borderline"

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 1

Cartoon by Will Santino: under a sign reading 'Cat Cafe', a feline barista behind the counter says to a woman, "Here's your matcha" - and knocks the drink over.

Anton Bitel@antbit· Jun 1

Sleepy cat bundle

Brother and sister cats wrapped up in each other in sleep

Anton Bitel@antbit· May 27

Honoured to have a booklet essay in @secondsightfilms.bsky.social's Ltd Edn 4K/Blu set of Sean Byrne's THE DEVIL'S CANDY (2015), alongside contributions from Reyna Cervantes, Becca Johnson, @joelipsett.bsky.social, @mbmcandrews.bsky.social and Zoë Rose Smith. secondsightfilms.co.uk/collections/...

Packshot of box set, booklet and postcards from THE DEVIL'S CANDY Ltd Edn 4K and Blu-ray

Front cover of booklet shows an inverted Gibson Flying V Red guitar against a flaming pentagram

Title page of my essay: "'Find what you love and let it kill you': Satanic Muses and Faustian Pacts in Sean Byrne's THE DEVIL'S CANDY"

First page of my essay. Under the subtitle 'A Tale of Two Families', the text reads: "Sean Byrne’s second feature The Devil’s Candy begins with the image of a domestic space shrouded in darkness. This is a beautiful if somewhat isolated turn-of-the-century farmhouse outside of Austin, Texas, displaying a prominent red cross in the stained glass window of its front door to greet anyone who arrives with the bloody iconography of faith and sacrifice. It is a house of God - and of the Devil - and it is the haunted seat of past, present and future horrors, even as it plays host to two different and unrelated families whose storylines will become tangled and knotted by devilry within."

Anton Bitel@antbit· May 25

Outstanding!

Temporary chalked signs in a college’s private garden describing plants to look out for, and warning not to disturb birds currently nesting there

Anton Bitel@antbit· May 22

It's the hottest day of the year

Anton Bitel@antbit· May 22

It’s biblically hot chez Bitel

Long tom cat reaching out to sister cat on bed

Michelangelo’s painting of Adam touching the hand of G-d

Anton Bitel@antbit· May 22

Hot lazy day at home

She-cat awake, he-cat asleep and cuddling, both in their favourite basket

Anton Bitel@antbit· May 18

"an urban western/chanbara/noir that comes with existential doom and flashes of lysergic surrealism": Toshiaki Toyoda's PORNOSTAR (Poruno sutâ, 1998) screens 6pm today at @thenickelcinema.bsky.social, London. projectedfigures.com/2017/03/08/t...

a determined man (Koji Chihara) walks across a crowded Tokyo street. No one around him realises that he is intent on murder and his bag is full of knives...

Anton Bitel@antbit· May 17

Have a short review of Ben Wheatley's experimental 'reality quake' BULK (2025) in this month's print edition Sight and Sound, and a different, longer review for them online. Now available on 4K UHD + Bu-ray from Anti-Worlds. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...

Screenshot of the top section of the in-magazine review (S&S June 2026), with a still of Anton Chambers (Mark Monero) holding a hand in front of his face.

Anton Bitel@antbit· May 15