Censor

Released 2 JULY

ANTICIPATION

The word out of Sundance was very strong. A new horror talent incoming? 4

ENJOYMENT

Sharp social commentary mixed with copious amounts of claret. 4

IN RETROSPECT

RIP my ego. 5

With its claustrophobic, retro-styled opening, Prano Bailey-Bond’s initially brings to mind , Peter Stickland’s-inspired psychological horror from 2012. In this case, however, the immersive, metatextual action occurs not in a recording studio but a private screening room, where Enid (Niamh Algar in a star-making dual role of sorts) routinely watches gruesome low-rent genre flicks in her capacity as a film censor. The organisation she works for is a thinlyveiled proxy for the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) which, despite a public relations rebrand in 1984, historically functioned as a censorship body (the C originally stood for ‘Censors’).