Pactum (2026)
Directed by Pablo Otero
Screenplay by Otero & Norma Tremblay
Starring Piedad Cuartero, Marta Gavilán, Eva Gay, Loles Gutiérrez, & Almudena Ruiz.
Horror
★★★★1/2 (out of ★★★★★)
Pablo Otero’s Pactum is a period piece about a group of women who gather at a luxurious mansion to meet with a man and a group of monstrous figures. A pact was made between the women and the man. But someone has broken that pact, and along with breaking it comes consequences. Who’s the traitor amongst the women? Or, does it really matter in the end?
Pactum is a lovely and properly hideous Gothic work. While the pact made is said to be unbreakable, the bond between women certainly doesn’t operate under the same rules in the story, as one woman “from a brothel” becomes an easy target for a few of the others who want to blame her; a touch of clear class division and sexual politics, each at home in a Gothic story. Otero uses incredible Gothic imagery via the Uncanny as the women are confronted with the monstrous figures who are like copies of them. Pactum does fast, efficient work to create a Gothic world and whisk us away with its terror.
Never Seen (2026)
Directed & Written by Morgan Ermter
Starring Marissa Barrie, Aela Herbert, Darian Holiday, & Lily Willcocks.
Thriller
★★★1/2 (out of ★★★★★)
Morgan Ermter’s Never Seen centres on two girls, urged by a mysterious message, seeking out an old computer in an abandoned house. When they get there, they realise not all is as it seems. Suddenly they can’t leave the house. When they try, they simply wind back up inside the house, as if caught in a loop. How will they manage to escape?
Never Seen is a Tech Gothic tale that feels like a creepypasta from an old message board brought to life. It also, for me, resonates with the way I feel about nostalgia. Some people adore nostalgia and find comfort in it. I do only to a certain limited extent, after which nostalgia feels like a trap to me. In Never Seen, we see this in metaphor as one of the girls is literally trapped within a form of nostalgia, the old computer, and it hollows her out from the inside. This short is a quick, creepy dose of Tech Gothic that doesn’t wear out its welcome and leaves its events open wide for interpretation.
