Crushed – Movie Review | Fantastic Fest (3/5)

CRUSHED is a new psychological thriller with dark horror elements. This is not for the weak of heart – such as myself. A movie that stays with you and can be difficult to forget, which is clearly the point. Screening at Fantastic Fest 2025. Read our full Crushed movie review here!

CRUSHED is a horror-thriller with a psychological driver of a story. One that gets under your skin. Especially if your weak spot is for children or animals. Mine is both, but particularly animals, which is the same for the young girl in the story.

And when I say “young girl”, I do mean a young child. She will also come to play a role that leaves scars on one’s soul. Clearly, this is the intention of the filmmaker, and I respect that. We cannot pretend it doesn’t happen in real life.

Continue reading our Crushed movie review below. Screening at Fantastic Fest 2025.

Your faith in everything will be challenged

Crushed plays out in the suburbs of Bangkok, Thailand. Here, we meet a British pastor, Daniel (Steve Oram), his Thai wife, May (Nattapohn Rawddon), and their ten-year-old daughter, Olivia.

Their lives are seemingly peaceful and idyllic, with Olivia going to school and Daniel caring for his congregation. They discuss scripture at home, and as a pastor, he believes in love and compassion.

Unfortunately, Olivia is about to have her faith in a loving God challenged.

It all begins when a video depicting extreme animal cruelty is circulating. An older boy shows Olivia this video, solely to torment her.

Olivia cannot let go of these disturbing images, and when her beloved new kitten disappears shortly after, nightmares about its fate start haunting her. She sets out to find and rescue her kitten, and instead, she’s captured herself.

Daniel and May struggle to cope with their daughter’s disappearance, which will soon lead them to a world they knew existed, but clearly hoped never to be confronted with.

Now, this is true horror

At its core, Crushed is essentially a true crime horror movie. Everything we see and hear about in the movie happens in the real world. Every single day. Fortunately, most of us are blessed that we’re not confronted with it.

Still, all the more reason to recognize and acknowledge that we are indeed the lucky ones. Also, it probably means you (like myself) live in a part of the world where the rights of children and animals are offered better protection.

Well, in theory, anyway. Surely, we all still acknowledge that abuse of children and animals happens worldwide. And no, I’m not just talking about child labor or the meat industry, but actual abuse for the sake of causing physical harm.

Like I said, Crushed is not for the weak of heart. As someone who cannot stand when animals are hurt or abused, this was a very difficult watch for me. However, this filmmaker never utilizes gratuitous shots.

Instead, he uses sound and implies things, so our own minds fill in the blanks. It’s both brilliant and impacts its viewers even deeper. Well, this viewer, anyway.

Crushed has its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest

Simon Rumley is the writer and director of Crushed. He previously made the movie Red White & Blue (2010). That movie also stayed with me for quite some time after watching it – as will this 2025 movie.

Also, the topic of “crushing”, featured in this movie, has already been explored by Simon Rumley. That happened in the short “P is for Pressure”, which was a segment in The ABCs of Death (2012).

There is usually a physical aspect to the horror in his movies and stories, but somehow, they are still mainly in the psychological horror realm. Not least when the villains of this movie point out certain double standards.

Crushed is not a movie I enjoyed watching, but this is clearly very intentional. Also, it ensures I certainly won’t forget it anytime soon. A raw and relentless look at the darker side of human nature.

Crushed is screening at Fantastic Fest 2025.

Details

Director: Simon Rumley
Writer: Simon Rumley
Stars: Steve Oram, Kevin Lea Davies, May Nattaporn Rawddon, Christian Ferriera, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Nadech Chatwin, Margaux Dietrich