Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
A screener at the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), who has earned an unsavory reputation for being the strictest censor of violent films, begins to spiral out of control after viewing a low-budget horror with similarities to the disappearance of her sister.
Censor is a visually distinctive and atmospheric film that makes excellent use of grainy video nasty aesthetics to blur the line between reality and fiction, earning genuine praise for its cinematography and period texture. The concept is compelling—a film censor unraveling while screening violent content—and Niamh Algar delivers a committed central performance. However, the plot struggles to fully deliver on its intriguing premise, becoming muddled in its second half as the psychological unraveling tips into incoherence rather than purposeful ambiguity. The ending is divisive and underwhelming for many, failing to resolve or meaningfully reframe the tension it builds. Novelty is moderate: the video nasty milieu and meta-textual angle are fresh enough but the psychological horror/unreliable narrator framework is well-trodden territory.