Chloe's Not Scared

What a pleasure to attend the Chicago Critics Film Festival at the Music Box Theater these past few days! Even though I’m exhausted and simply can never attend all the movies, I feel rejuvenated by ~the power of cinema~, especially from younger directors. CCFF is basically one big lovefest for movies and therefore, it’s one of my favorite film events of the year. Many of this year’s movies dealt with themes of toxic friendships and coming-of-age in the face of adversaries (did I cry at most films? Yes, yes I did). Two of the best films of the fest, Sorry, Baby (2025) directed by Eva Victor (Rotten Tomatoes Audience Choice Winner) and The Baltimorons (2025) directed by Jay Duplass, are not horror movies but deserve a shoutout as they both made me laugh and cry. But of course, because this is a horror blog and I am a horror fan, I must talk about the fantastic slate of 8 horror and horror-adjacent/speculative films that appeared at the 2025 Chicago Critics Film Festival

Best Wishes to All (2023)- dir. Yuta Shimotsu

In this debut feature, a young woman (Kotone Furukawa) studying for her nursing exam in Tokyo returns to her grandparents’ home in the countryside, only to find a horrifying secret in their creepy spare room. Realizing how much her parents and grandparents sacrificed for their happiness, she must not only grapple with her past but also, her future. I could see people calling this funny and creepy film a “folk horror” because of its ritualistic examination between rural and urban environments, but I think it shares more with M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit and J-horror of the early 2000’s. The twist is both gruesome and profound. I was lucky enough to see Best Wishes to All at a midnight screening and it became one of my absolute favorites, not only of the fest but of this year.

It Ends (2025)- dir. Alexander Ullom

It Ends is going to be your new favorite movie. Full stop. It’s going to gain a cult following like It Follows and then someone else is going to have to make a movie with It in the title to complete the “It _” trilogy. Four friends, James (standout performance by actor Phinehas Yoon), Day (Akira Jackson), Tyler (Mitchell Cole) and Fisher (Noah Toth), jump in their friends’ Jeep to get a bite to eat before moving out of college. They find themselves on a long road with no turn in sight. If they stop the car, horrific things happen. If they stay in the car, here comes the existential dread. First time film director Alexander Ullom manages to make shots of the same road and sounds of the same car appear new and menacing. I really don’t want to give too much away, but It Ends really got under my skin.

40 Acres (2024)- dir. R.T. Thorne

The Freeman family has lived on 40 acres of farmland for generations, even after the fungal pandemic, and subsequent Civil War and famine. The story mainly follows matriarch Hailey (Danielle Deadwyler) and her teenage son Manny (Kataem O’Connor) grappling with their tumultuous mother-son relationship as zombies continuously threaten their family. Zombie flicks are usually done to death (no pun intended) but this BIPOC-led story adds something new in that it examines the history and future of Black farmers and Land Back in North America. Even the critic who introduced this film could not contain his love of Deadwyler and her performance. She truly is a force to be reckoned with. Not a ton of filmgoers showed up for this screening, which puzzled me. I looked into it and found that the production delayed payments to the crew for many months, even after the film premiered at TIFF in 2024. However, according to this CBC article, it seems like they have paid their crew or at least, payment is on the way. I hope the drama in the production of 40 Acres does not deter people from seeking out this tense affective thriller.

Zodiac Killer Project (2025)- dir. Charlie Shackleton

While I think It Ends will be your new favorite movie, my new favorite movie of the festival was Zodiac Killer Project, though it definitely is not for everyone (and it’s not really horror). Documentarian Charlie Shackleton set out to make a film about police officer Lyndon E. Lafferty and his pursuit of a suspect in the Zodiac Killer murders. Well into the planning stages, Lafferty’s family eventually pulled out of the film, forcing Shackleton to make a movie about the documentary that could have been. The result is the most reflective meta-examination of the true crime industry I have ever seen. Filming in desolate Vallejo California, interspersed with Netflix and HBO true crime doc footage and what Shackleton calls “evocative B-roll” (footage of bullet cases, children jumping rope, and shifty eyes), Zodiac Killer Project interrogates itself and is in no way about the actual Zodiac Killer. I highly recommend Zodiac Killer Project to patient filmgoers who don’t mind long static shots and a self-aware critique of true crime. It is an indictment of the true crime industry, but it is also kind of a love letter. I can’t wait to see this one again and write about it more.

Desert Road (2024)- dir. Shannon Triplett

Desert Road was one of the films that closed the festival. Since playing at Sundance, the critics who introduced this film said that they have not stopped thinking about it and needed to find a way to show it. Clare is a young photographer who recently decided to give up on her Los Angeles dreams and head back to her mom’s house in Iowa. When she stops at a creepy gas station on her solo road trip, she becomes stranded. In her writing and directing debut feature, Shannon Triplett knows how to tap into gender specific fears of women traveling alone, using real-life terrors to propel the narrative into the science fiction realm. The shots of the desert at night are equal parts breathtaking and terrifying. In the two time loop road movies that played this year, Desert Road is the one that I related to much more.

Lurker (2025)- dir. Alex Russell

Matty is working at an upscale vintage clothing store when semi-successful musician Oliver walks in with his entourage. While everyone seems to know Oliver, Matty seemingly does not, which intrigues the young musician enough to invite Matty to his show. The two begin a symbiotic relationship: Matty feeds off of Ollie’s stardom and Ollie feeds off of Matty’s obsession. Debut filmmaker Alex Russell, who worked on tv shows like “The Bear” and “Beef,” holds the camera on actors’ faces for a disturbing amount of time, as he plays with the idea of old and new technology. I think that this movie is made for a younger crowd, but fans of Saltburn might enjoy this Michael Haneke-inspired thriller for the Instagram age.

Obex (2025)- dir. Albert Birney

Obex was the one movie on this year’s lineup that I did not get a chance to see, but I look forward to seeking it out as soon as I am able. Game designer and director Albert Birney set his movie against the backdrop of a fictional game OBEX, where our main character Conor gets lost trying to find his trusty dog. Birney, who plays Conor, apparently loved working with his real-life dog during the production. “She always hit her mark,” he said in an interview with Sundance. So cute! I love a haunted video game plotline and cannot wait to check out this lo-fi horror fantasy.

Happyend (2024)- dir. Neo Sora

Calling Happyend “horror” is a huge stretch since the only scary thing about it is that it is set in a speculative near-future version of our world. Five friends, Yuta (Hayato Kurihara), Kou (Yukito Hidaka), Tomu (Arazi), Ata-Chan (Yuta Hayashi) and Ming (Shina Peng), are the troublemaking seniors of their high school. They are also the outcasts: the mixed-race kids, the poor kids, the kids who don’t have any adult support. After a prank goes horribly wrong (and the subsequent installation of a surveillance system), the gang starts to fracture. The world building is especially masterful here as director Neo Sora sets the film in a concrete landscape with advertisements on clouds, protests against corrupt government, and regular earthquakes. The students are intensely relatable and the performances– especially Hayato Kurihara as Yuta– were great.

And there you have it! 8 horror-adjacent movies and 2 non-horror movies equals 10 great films that you need to check out this year. Thanks again to the Music Box Theater and to Erik Childress and Brian Tallerico for organizing, plus the countless critics at CCA for helping. ‘Til next year!