Functioning as a sort of ICYMI month in review, the Knotfest editorial team has again compiled their list of some of the highlights from the month - spanning all media, art and culture.
Making the monthly shortlist is mixed bag ranging from streaming essentials, theatric releases, punk rock icons and even the small screen adaptation of Junji Ito's manga, Uzumaki.
Here is the rundown of some of the memorable entries that landed last month taht are worth revisiting.
UNTO OTHERS - NEVER, NEVERLAND
The third album from the still rising, defining gothic metal band of the 2020s, on Never, Neverland Unto Others lay down perhaps their slickest and most commercial songs with the help of producer de jour Tom Dalgety, but still overflow with their own character. It’s an interesting sideways step that broadens the kinds of songs the band have put their name to, from the tongue-in-cheek punk horror of Momma Likes the Door Closed to a straight slow jam in Cold World, best of all being earnestly anti-suicide yet still dryly morbid in humour Suicide Today which is an earworm of pure emotional release. - Perran Helyes
THE SUBSTANCE
Probably the must-see horror theatre experience for the latter half of 2024 in packing a mass of people into seats and showering a majority of them in probably the grossest things they’ve ever seen. Coralie Fargeat, director of the absolutely incendiary Revenge, is an immensely visceral and physical filmmaker and in The Substance draws on that same well of female rage to eviscerate the kind of societally ingrained beauty standards that lead to the kind of immense inadequacy and internalised misogyny depicted through outlandish body horror fairytale here.
The lengths that it goes to are absolutely buckwild extreme, and yet also extremely sad in the self-hatred and resentment between Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley as the older and younger parts of the same warring psyche, making something that is simultaneously a grotesque cackling cartoon and a violent spraying back in the faces of the culture that made it this way. - Perran Helyes
SEX PISTOLS WITH FRANK CARTER 'NEVERMIND THE BOLLOCKS' UK TOUR
Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and Glen Matlock of the most famous English punk band of its most famous boom coming together to perform those songs for the first time since 2008 was seriously unexpected news, not least in being joined on vocals by Frank Carter of The Rattlesnakes and Gallows fame. Replacing an iconic voice risks absolute rejection but the result was an incredibly gratifying celebration of one of popular music’s most foundational albums, the songs of Never Mind the Bollocks given a new jolt of animated energy between the old hands on stand and the younger yet also highly experienced frontman stirring up mayhem from within the crowd itself. - Perran Helyes
LINKIN PARK - THE EMPTINESS MACHINE
One of the biggest bands on the planet finally returned after a seven-year absence in a big way, launching into a new era with a new lineup, new concerts, and new music. “The Emptiness Machine” is Linkin Park’s first single off their upcoming comeback album, From Zero, and their first to feature the band’s new members: vocalist Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain. The track has that classic, sleek, and polished Linkin Park sound, with Armstrong coming in hot on the second verse and showcasing how well she fits their unique style. It’s one scorcher of a song that’s truly helped mark a fresh start for Linkin Park and their fanbase. - Nick Delgadillo
REBEL RIDGE
Filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier returns with his first movie in six years - a tight and tense action thriller that just might be his best work yet. Best known for the punks vs Nazis flick Green Room, Saulnier delivers an amazingly sharp thrill ride with Rebel Ridge, bolstered by a powerful and focused lead performance from Aaron Pierre (Old). Pierre plays Terry Richmond, a rational and reserved former Marine who runs afoul of a corrupt police department. When all of Terry’s options to be civil are exhausted, he’s forced to go the physical route, and it makes for a masterclass in tension and excitement that never outplays itself. Don’t miss out on one of the best streaming debuts of this year. - Nick Delgadillo
UZUMAKI
I haven't actually watched this anime adaptation of Junji Ito's manga about a town overrun by spirals yet, as the first episode only just came out over the weekend. But the horrifying source material is well worth reading, plunging you into an increasingly disturbing Lovecraft-informed universe. The glee and craft that goes into the differing spiral scenarios makes it really special. Also how it weaves what could be a series of short stories based on the same conceit into an ever-widening whirlpool of madness. Plus, Colin Stetson, the avant-garde saxophonist and metalhead, has done the soundtrack to the new series. Get sucked in! - Dan Franklin
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros.
Some 36 years after the original made its theatrical debut, the imaginative filmmaking of Tim Burton is again on full display with the sequel no one thought would happen. Even more impressive of the corralling of the original cast menmbers in Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara along with contemporaries like Jenna Ortega, which bring the franchise into the modern era. The wonderfully morbid universe of the afterlife is celebrated in the resurrection of Beetlejuice and bolstered by slick writing, dazzling visuals and all the dark humor that made the first film both a blockbuster hit and a cult classic at the same time. Nostalgia aside, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice underscores how and why the theatric release can still be a hugely anticipated event. - Ramon Gonzales
WILL & HARPER
The Netflix documentary frames the more than three decade-long friendship between actor/comedian Will Farrell and television writer Harper Steele as the two navigate their changing dynamic following Harper's transition from Andrew Steele. Trekking cross country on a classic American road trip, Steele confronts her insecurities about whether the world dive bars and small town Americana she always loved would in fact, love her back. Along for the ride as moral support, Will Farrell grasps the gravity of such an life affirming decision as he rides shotgun as Steele finds true comfort in her own skin. The film is funny, poignant and magnificently human. - Ramon Gonzales
