{"id":49370,"date":"2025-08-26T15:10:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=49370"},"modified":"2025-08-26T15:10:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:10:36","slug":"noseeums-frightfest-london-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/26\/noseeums-frightfest-london-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"NOSEEUMS [FRIGHTFEST LONDON 2025]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A collegiate Black woman visits a friend\u2019s lakehouse, unearthing secret histories and man-eating bugs in Raven Carter\u2019s Noseeums, presented through Frightfest 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get this out of the way. Noseeums is not the film you think it might be. The title, poster, and tagline indicate Noseeums is a people vs. nature flick, the sort where the characters spend their time trying to avoid killer animals: in this case, the little bugs often called noseeums. Unexpectedly violent gnats IS a part of the film, but not the focus. Also on said poster, mixed with all gag-inducing noseeums either going into or out of a person (either way, my throat is reacting), Fangoria likens Noseeums to Get Out and Candyman. Here lies the real focus of Noseeums, approaching racial discussion and histories through the lens of horror.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ember is a college student and needs a getaway. With two rich, White girls, an Asian-American friend (I usually don\u2019t mention the races of characters, but important to the plot of the movie), she does. Arriving at the secluded lake house, it\u2019s not long before she begins seeing visions and feeling spooked. As she tries to figure out what\u2019s happening to her, everyone is forced to confront history, privilege, class, and violence.<\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jason-Michael Anthony and Hendreck Joseph\u2019s pointed script gets right into the matter, introducing Ember at a college lecture on property rights, or the lack of, in generations of Black Americans (has the classroom lecture\/discussion in a film ever not been relevant to the film?). Sure, the script and statements the film makes as it unfolds may be a little blunt, but when working in this sphere, it needs to be. All of the film is racially charged as Ember uncovers the generations of hypocrisy, inequality, and the sheer audacity of the history of White people against minorities. But it extends to now, as the past is the present (to mangle Faulkner). Ghosts of the land haunt and appear to Ember in person in visions and dreams. Ember deals with racism directly and in the internalization of society by the rich White girls as they come to the surface, leading to confrontation. Tessa, the\u00a0 Asian-American roommate, is stuck between them all, providing a different minority experience than Ember\u2019s, but she isn\u2019t faultless either. There\u2019s a lot to explore and is done so as directly as a sledgehammer, starting with some nuance but becoming more on-the-nose and lectured by the end as the characters flatten out and reduce to archetypes. But for a while it works.<\/span><\/p>\n

Noseesums might be light on direct genre work, but it\u2019s solid when it does, outside some dodgy CG (I can give it a pass, as bugs like this would be hard to achieve practically, especially with a no doubt tiny budget). But what is present works. Raven Carter delivers effective scares and tension. Whether it be hallucinations, dreams, visions, or directly, she sets a scene and plays it with deft skill. But just as mentioned above, there aren\u2019t a lot of bugs in a bug movie.<\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Noseeums is a first feature for just about everyone involved, after various shorts. Sometimes it has a first-timer feel, as you work it out and push through. As noted, the script stumbles the longer the film goes, and the non-scary portions have a basic feel; workmanlike in just getting it done. But the passion of the project does shine through the faults. It\u2019s also lead Aleigha Burt\u2019s first go, and she\u2019s very capable, if a bit large with her facial expressions; something could chalk up to the directness of the writing, herself, or a first feature director working all the angles. But she also has a lot on her shoulders of keeping Ember on point as she deals with issues from all sides. For all involved in front of and behind the camera, the talent is notable. Noseeums might have growing pains, but I can see the next feature knocking it out of the park. The ability is there; just have to work out the kinks in trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

Noseeums is a solidly made feature. It\u2019s a little light on the promised horror, but what it has to say is mostly presented well, albeit it falters on occasion. There\u2019s the promise of up-and-coming filmmakers in director Carer and writers Anthony & Joseph. I look forward to where they go from here. Check out Noseeums for good, racially charged horror-drama. Noseeums plays as part of FrightFest London 2025,running August 21st through 25th, 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A collegiate Black woman visits a friend\u2019s lakehouse, unearthing secret histories and man-eating bugs in Raven Carter\u2019s Noseeums, presented through Frightfest 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1284],"tags":[3778,477],"class_list":["post-49370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-festivalsevents","tag-festival","tag-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49374,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49370\/revisions\/49374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}