BLOOD SECRET

***

Directed by Cameron Francis

Starring Tiana Akers, Garin Jones, Katherine Lozon.  

Slasher, USA, 2026. 1 hour 21 minutes.

Reviewed as part of FrightFest 2026

This succinct thriller/horror revolves around two longterm friends, Madison and Anna. Madison (Tiana Akers), an overworked cop who never travels anywhere without her pills, visits her college buddy Anna (Katherine Lozon) at the latter’s house for dinner. They chat about Anna’s boyfriend Roman who has, according to Anna, left her when he found out she’s pregnant. 

The two mention another college friend, Nadine, who mysteriously died during a beach party back in their student days. As the past starts to unravel, Madison realises someone is trying to warn her everything is not as it seems.  Is it her pills clashing with the girls’-night-in wine, or something more worrying?

Shot almost entirely in Anna’s house and garden, BLOOD SECRET benefits from a taut location which adds to the claustrophobic set up and an effective two-person cast. It is one of the more-kitchen horror themed features you’ll ever see, featuring coffee grounds spilt on kitchen counters forming warnings from beyond the grave. It’s also probably the only horror  this decade to feature a kitchen tap sending messages from beyond the grave. 

Director Cameron Francis needs to keep the pace up to cut to the kills, and the acting can be a bit laboured, and the lighting very flat. The feature could have been better shot at night, as it seems easier to leave a steadily-worsening situation not in broad daylight. 

Despite this, both Akers and Lozon are effective horror heroines and just need dialogue replaced by more action. It’s also good to have a slasher where all leads (plus Nadine, who makes a surprising reappearance in the last few minutes) are female, and male characters are unwitting killer-fodder - instead of the other way round..

Nina Romain