Reviews

I saw this film premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival. The film relates the story of a clinical trial that goes terribly wrong when the drug being tested produces horrific side effects. It's so refreshing so see a horror film firmly based on reality with a totally plausible story and no zombies, vampires, extraterrestrials, paranormal activity or monsters of any kind. The atmosphere and tensions in the isolated medical centre are well realised and the film shows little sign of its "micro-budget". Imaginative cinematography and sound design coupled with a very fast edit all help create an uneasy and claustrophobic world. There are slight flaws – not all the characters are full realised and the script is occasionally too verbose – but the team of NFTS graduates, who introduced Saturday's screening, have produced a very well crafted, disturbing and exciting film.

I saw this film at the 2012 Edinburgh Film Festival. The film focuses on the story of Nicholas Barclay who disappeared from his Texas home in 1994. Three years later he's found in France and then re-united with his parents. But it's obvious he cannot be there son. He's an impostor; a 23 year old con-artist. The film explores the unravelling of this story through interviews and very well realised reconstructions of the events. Documentary recreations don't always work and can detract from the interviews but here they work very well.It makes for a strange and compelling film. A deliberation on the nature of truth and lies that had me completely gripped.