Panic Fest 2025: Self Driver (2024) Review

Director: Michael Pierro

Notable Cast: Nathanael Chadwick, Reece Presley, Lauren Welchner, Christian Aldo, Harold Tausch

 

I’m not sure that companies like Uber or Lyft would appreciate the terms' Uber Horror” or “Lyft Horror,” but I’m unsure what else would be more fitting for a film like Self Driver. Saturated in a luscious score, lo-fi and drastically intimate camera shots, and a tense build that ends up sucking its viewers in, Michael Pierro’s Self Driver is the kind of indie thriller darlings that always end up cutting through during a film festival. It’s niche enough that it might be a harder sell for distributors if it gets picked up for a more significant release, but it’s the kind of strange and off-kilter film that we strive to find at Blood Brothers Film Reviews. It’s nuanced genre cinema of the best type and will definitely be a highlight of Panic Fest 2025. 

 

Told almost exclusively from the car of the ‘VRMR’ driver—again, think of it as the equivalent of Uber or Lyft—Self Driver is the kind of intimate thriller one only finds in the indie sector. Mostly that’s because Self Driver needs to be ultra-confident to pull off the narrative, and it absolutely is. 

 

Panic Fest 2025: The Only Ones (2024) Review

Director: Jordan Miller

Notable Cast: Tatiana Nya Ford, Emily Classen, Zach Ruchkin, Paul Cottman, Cayla Berejikian, Christopher Inlow, Jeb Aufiero, Nancy Anne Ridder, Jim Krut, Matt Burns

 

First, there was the meta-slasher. Scream and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare took the slasher blueprint, spun it just a smidge, and then let it run for a new era built on an audience - and its characters - knowing how a slasher trope works. But now we’re in a new era that goes beyond self-referencing slashers, like the previously mentioned Craven efforts. We’re in the meta-meta-slasher era. 

 

Although dissecting how the meta-meta-slasher works would reveal some surprises and spoilers for newer films, such as Bodies Bodies Bodies from A24, it's the most apt way to express the experience of The Only Ones. At its core, this indie horror film flirts with dark comedy and other horror subgenres as it progresses, but it owes its soul to the slasher genre through and through. For fans of the slice ‘em and dice ‘em horror genre, The Only Ones ought to carry enough kills and spins to earn a viewing, but it does require some insight into the genre to be fully effective. 

 

Panic Fest 2025: Beyond the Drumlins (2025) Review

 

Director: Daniel W. Bowhers

Notable Cast: Michael Kowalski, Emma Jessop, Dan Titmuss, Goodfella Mike G, Julia Kerr, Braford Selby, Ed Contini, Simone Boone

A few years ago, one of the prominent thematic trends in horror centered on “nature horror” or “earth horror.” Films like Gaia and In the Earth focused on how people caught in rural settings confronted the horrors of nature (sometimes with a slightly supernatural twist). So, when Beyond the Drumlins, the debut feature film from writer/director Daniel W. Bowhers, began down that path, it reminded us just how fleeting that trend was and how effective it can still be.

 

Beyond the Drumlins' conceptual horrors linger with its audience after the film ends. An archaeological professor, Dr. Rust, and his team venture into a rural area deep in the woods to find a spot for his future class to test their skills. Upon reaching their destination, they discover that the area has a sinister effect on them. Surrealist horror unfolds as members fall under the influence of the surrounding forest. Classic.

 

Panic Fest 2025: Stalkers (2025) Review

Director: Paul Thompson

Notable Cast: Olivia Stadler, Scarlett DiCaro, Hannah Mae Beatty, Allisha Pelletier, Same Wexler, Abbas Wahab, Marlo Aquilina

 

Far be it from me to have too many expectations going into a film festival, but I certainly did not expect what I got from Stalkers. On paper, Stalkers sounds like the classic slasher. Littered with exploitative elements, like having the lead character be a porn star, and then powering its horror elements with a whodunnit style narrative, the film felt like it was going to be cheesy, slashery entertaining through and through. Yet, as Stalkers plays out, it often rejects leaning into any exploitation elements and aims for something far more dramatic and, dare I say, better, for its material. 

 

Stalkers has something to say with its themes within the slasher premise, and never truly embraces the genre until its final act. It’s a surprisingly reflective and character-driven drama at its heart that just so happens to end up being a slasher. It’s perhaps one of the biggest surprises at Panic Fest 2025 already.