Machination

• Steffi Thake as Maria
• Rambert Attard as Yorgen
• Sean James Sutton as Ian
• Andrew Bonello as Peter
• Mikhail Basmadjian as Father

News of an out of control pandemic has gripped the world and mass panic is pushing humanity into an uncertain future. Maria (Steffi Thake), a sensitive and anxious woman, struggles to cope in self-isolation. With fear mounting and the demands of the world closing in, Maria is forced to confront her past and the monsters that surround her … both without and within.

The film was released to digital on 20 May 2022.[1]

Noel Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote that while the film is "not an easy movie to watch", it is "admirably unflinching in the way it observes Maria’s tics and phobias, showing how even something as seemingly benign and beneficial as hand-washing can become emblematic of a deeper self-loathing."[2]

Fredrico Furzan of MovieBlogger wrote that "the film shows, in a tragic way, how weak we sometimes are when it comes to facing our reality" and closed his review with "This is one of those movies that everyone should see.."[3]

Daniel Tihn of the Times of Malta rated the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote that "after a litany of directionless technical issues", it "ends up being more hollow than haunted."[4]

JP Nunez of the Horror Obsessive called the main character "boring", the plot "mostly meandering and directionless" and the imagery "very random and haphazard".[5]

Mike Haberfelner of Search My Trash wrote this about the directing "a subtle yet empathetic directorial effort" and about the acting he said "a very strong central performance by Steffi Thake really helps make this what it is, a rather fascinating piece of psycho horror with roots in the real world."[6]

• Machination at IMDb
• Machination at Rotten Tomatoes