FrightFest – American Badger review by Danielle O’Neill Young

American Badger
FrightFest at Glasgow Film Festival 2021
The overall feeling I have after watching this movie is one of bleakness and I would describe it as pretty grim.
There are various themes running concurrently; sexual exploitation and abuse of women, child abuse, kidnapping, murder, violence and hopelessness.
I found the abuse of women by men and the objectification and violence both physical and sexual quite disturbing, the mood is lightened slightly by the hope of an unlikely love story between the two leads. The ultimate empowerment of the female is the light at the end of the tunnel.
It isn’t all doom and gloom though, the fight scenes are spectacularly slick and brutal and the choreography is fabulous.
I wouldn’t classify this movie as horror in the ‘classic’ sense of the word. It’s not for those of you that deem these themes too intense or indeed if you are looking for a cheery number.
Danielle O’Neill Young, March, 2021
Director: Kirk Caouette.
Cast: Kirk Caouette, Andrea Stefancikova, Michael Kopsa.
Canada 2020. 82 mins. 18.
This section: Cinema, Events, Fairs, Festivals and Fundraisers, Film reviews, Film Reviews, Glasgow Film Festival 2021, Zoom and online events
Related Pages
- Gentle, Angy Women at GFT
- The Lost Bus at GFT
- Glasgow Youth Film Festival 2025
- Take 2: Fantastic Mr Fox at GFT
- Brides at GFT
- The House of Mirth at GFT
- Reality Is Not Enough at GFT
- One Battle After Another
- October 2025 Programme at GFT
- Document Human Rights Film Festival, Glasgow
- Ocean with David Attenborough: Community Screening & Q&A at GFT
- Woodlands Community – Anti Racist Film Club
- Aye Write 2025: Denise Mina and Helen Fields in conversation with Bryan Burnett
- The Glasgow Shanty Festival
- Scotland Loves Anime 2025
- Cottiers – Bar, Restaurant, Theatre, Glasgow West End
- Samizdat: Eastern European Film Festival
- There Will Be Blood at GFT
- Can I Get A Witnss at GFT
- Islands at GFT