Fantastic Film Festival Australia is back in town, promising cinema without restraints.

We've gotten particularly nasty Ghostfaces two years in a row, but since their creator's passing, the actual films seem trapped in a creative rut, doomed to sacrifice the slick edge that the series was once celebrated for in service of broad appeal.

Do you remember that feeling you'd get when you were a child, trying to go to the toilet but terrified of the dark hallway that led from your bedroom to the bathroom?

A symphony of cinema, bubbling with dark and subtly thrilling emotions, elevated by an incredible lead performance and anchored by adept direction.

However blunt its approach may be (and perhaps that obtuseness is key to something like this working for many audiences), The Whale succeeds on its emotional front, conveying a broader message of understanding and sympathy before judgement.

Say it with me: M3GAN is hip. M3GAN is happening. M3GAN is the moment.

While detractors of the first film will likely not be persuaded by Avatar 2: Aquatic Boogaloo's flashy 3D gimmicks, those on the fence or otherwise still in love with the first film […] will be pleasantly surprised to hear that not only was The Way of Water worth the wait, but it also surpasses the heights of the first film.

While some viewers may appreciate All Jacked Up and Full of Worms' feverish blend of influences spanning Henenlotter, Cronenberg and Waters, unfortunately it winds up much like its protagonists, lost in the primordial ooze; buried while attempting to become one with the dirt.

Offering a slice of pulpy, moralistic sci-fi that feels like a throwback to before 2D animation had died, Strange World is good, lighthearted fun, gesturing gently at the hard-headed nature of father-son relationships.

Playing like an emotional middle ground between Badlands and the Twilight saga, Luca Guadagnino's new Timothee Chalamet-starrer Bones and All is a romantic cannibal road movie, presenting a tale of both the impossibility and inevitability of love; how even in the bleakest of circumstances, when we least expect, or even want it, romance can blossom like a weed in the desert.

Halloween may have come and gone, but I have one last spooky movie to talk about - director/special effects extraordinaire Damien Leone's 138-minute splatterfest epic Terrifier 2, a film that came with reports of people fainting and vomiting due to its incredibly vile and gratuitous violence.

Who are we, the audience, to deny the wishes of such a charismatic hunk of a star, with such incredible eyebrow posture? Grab your tickets folks, 'cos the Dwayne train is about to leave the station.

Barbarian is a wild ride full of twists and turns, sure to light a fire under the butt of hardened horror fans and would-be screenwriters alike.

Whether The Way of Water sinks or swims come its release in December, I remain an apologist for the original Avatar.

Director Scott Mann creates some dizzying heights, but fails to lay the groundwork necessary for its committed actresses to really plant their feet on, resulting in a flick that's fun to gawk at for a while, but ultimately tires itself out trying to keep pace.

Considering the film's lofty, existential ambitions, You Won't Be Alone ends up a surprisingly resounding success, thanks in no small part to adept direction and incredible performances from the cast all round.

Martyrs is up there as a formative film of its time period. Just don’t dive deeper into its writer-director’s filmography looking for a similar level of quality.

While its visual and budgetary limitations may mean I can't exactly say Orphan: First Kill is a must-see on the big screen, it is well worth checking out for anyone who even mildly enjoyed the first movie.

Bold and breathtaking in its awe-inspiring images of nature at its most fierce, Fire of Love does what any great nature doco should - not just fascinate, but entertain.

Pain is gone. Surgery is the new sex. Body is reality.