Never After Dark
Dave Boyle brings SXSW 2026 audiences one of the most surprising films of the entire year with Never After Dark. The film follows Airi, a medium whose latest job assisting a spirit to cross the veil feels darker than usual. Airi arrives at an inn awaiting renovation. The new owner has seen an apparition and heard that Airi was the best of the best. What should be a routine case for our protagonist begins to confound her, as circumstances from years past haunt her and her new clients.
The film’s opening shot is startling, setting the tone for the madness to come. Boyle uses a classic trope of what the audience assumes will be the film’s ending and works backward. But, Never After Dark uses time as a clever bait and switch in a script that boggles the mind and absolutely terrifies.
Airi’s ghostly sister playfully accompanies her, calmly popping in and out of reflective surfaces to have a chat and act as a sidekick of sorts. It’s such an intriguing device. Think of her presence as a friendlier version of The Sixth Sense. The editing is spectacular. The unnatural speed dynamics between Airi and her entity are immensely jarring.
Audio creates a lingering tension, but it is the anticipation of seeing that horrific face in focus that makes your jaw clench. Airi’s nonchalant demeanor perfectly counters that discomforting hum in her first encounter with the spirit. But as she gets deeper into her usual flow, something is heavier about this particular case. Moeka Hoshi gives a tour de force performance, bringing unresolved baggage, quietly destructive behavior, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and a lived-in complexity that is nothing less than award-worthy.
There’s something about horror in broad daylight that subverts your expectations of the genre. Never After Dark dives headfirst with its title and continuously, and quite successfully, delivers simmering discomfort. You may have to remind yourself to breathe. The tropes are so smartly utilized. Boyle ups the ante by the minute. The writing is simply excellent. Never After Dark would give The Shining a run for its money. Inarguably one of the best films of the year.
Never After Dark
Director:Dave Boyle
Executive Producer:Todd Brown, Aram Tertzakian, Nate Bolotin, Maxime Cottray, Toshiyuki Suzuki
Producer:Dave Boyle, Kento Kaku, Kosuke Tsutsumi
Screenwriter:Dave Boyle
Cinematographer:Patrick Ouziel
Editor:Chieko Suzaki
Production Designer:Yuji Hayashida
Sound:Natsuko Inoue
Music:Jonathan Snipes
Cast:Moeka Hoshi, Kento Kaku, Kurumi Inagaki, Mutsuo Yoshioka, Bokuzo Masana, Tae Kimura
Crew:Lighting Director: Hidenori Nagata, Costume Designer: Arata Kobayashi, Supervising Sound Editor/Re-Recording Mixer: Carlos Sanches, C.A.S.
Filmmaker Patrick Dickinson brings audiences a nuanced tale of loss and love in COTTONTAIL. Following the death of his wife, Kenzaburo travels with his son and his young family to fulfill his late wife’s last wish, to scatter her ashes at Lake Windemere in England. The film flashes back in time, giving us intimate details of the love story between Kenzaburo and Akiko. 
Tae Kimura gives an award-worthy performance as Akiko. The depth is mesmerizing. You will remember it. Lily Franky delivers a stunning complexity in Kenzaburo. Dickinson skillfully draws out the rift between him and his son Toshi (a fantastic Ryo Nishikido). The built-up guilt and regret flow off the screen as Franky moves from scene to scene. So, too, does the fierce adoration for his wife. 
Dickinson places the audience in a precarious emotional state once we witness the hardships of Akiko’s progressing condition and Kenzaburo’s increasing frustrations with losing the wife he vowed to love through thick and thin. The discussion of the impact of acting as a primary caregiver hangs above the film like a dark cloud, allowing the redemption narrative to hold your heart. COTTONTAIL is about the individuality of grief, keeping secrets, and human connection. It is an undeniably beautiful and affecting film.
Starring Academy Award® Nominee 
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