PopHorror Let's Get Scared
CUSTOM is the first feature film from award-winning Brazilian-born, UK-based filmmaker Tiago Teixeira. Premiering in March 2024 as part of the FrightFest strand at the Glasgow Film Festival, it has since screened at several other genre showcases.
The film follows a pair of struggling arthouse pornographers who encounter a mysterious client offering life-changing money in exchange for performing strange rituals on videotape. Starring Abigail Hardingham (Nina Forever, 2015), Rowan Polonski (Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2014), and Brad Moore (Gloves Off, 2017), CUSTOM offers up a premise ripe for paranoia and descent into madness.
While the setup promises an appetizing unspooling of secrets, the story never fully delivers. The horror always seems just out of reach, with the plot leaning heavily on atmosphere and ambiguity rather than escalation or payoff. The result is a film that’s well shot, well-acted, and confidently directed — yet never ignites into the disturbing experience its concept suggests.
In the end, CUSTOM feels like a promising idea trapped inside a half-finished story. It flirts with greatness in its moody, slow-burn setup, only to retreat from delivering the insanity that could have made it memorable. For horror fans seeking a slow-burn that rewards their patience, this will likely frustrate more than frighten.
CUSTOM arrives on VOD and Digital in North America and the UK on August 19th.
