The Film Pupil #14
148 x 210 mm, 48 pages
London, UK
Bimonthly
First published in 2024
Editor and illustrator: Oliver Spicer
The Film Pupil is a small but punchy film zine brimming with insightful reflections and commentary on contemporary, cult and classic cinema, communicated through clear and accessible writing and visuals. Each edition boasts five essays, an interview section, insights into film history and industry data, as well as a playfully illustrated cartoon strip.
Issue 14 for October 2026 is a ‘Horror’ themed special edition, arriving just in time for Halloween. The issue opens with a personal essay by Sophie Harrison, delving into the horror films that have influenced her concept of home, from Alex Garland’s ‘Men’ (2022), to Robin Hardy’s ‘The Wicker Man’ (1973). Elsewhere, Jordan O’Shea argues that Orson Welles’ 1962 adaptation of ‘The Trial’ by Franz Kafka slots neatly into the horror genre, doused in the ‘visual grammar of 1920s German Expressionism’ and Edmond Richard’s cinematography; and, a dispatch from the 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival arrives in the form of several profiles, on ‘Abandoned’ director Joby Stephens, ‘Snapshot’ director Joseph Archer and writer Cathy Wippell, and ‘Hungry’ director James Nunn.
Plus, find out whether more horror films are released on Halloween than any other time of year in the data section of this issue.