Dundead: Castration Movie Chapter iii. Junior Ghosts—Premorphic Drift; a fragmentary passage 

Castration Movie is a labyrinthine post-modern epic about gender from filmmaker Louise Weard. After two monolithic instalments (each of the first two parts ran over 4hrs apiece), Weard has fashioned this comparatively thrifty new instalment (just over 2hrs) as a perfect jumping-on point for the uninitiated.

Bristling with underground energy and shot entirely on handheld camcorder, Weard’s voice ably joins the ranks of such pioneers of underground queer cinema as Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin, The Doom Generation) and John Waters. 

It is also fair to say that Weard is part of the vanguard of bold new queer cinema firmly shaking up the established modes of filmmaking. This instalment in the Castration Movie saga features an appearance by filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun (director of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and I Saw the TV Glow) and a central performance from director Avalon Fast, who also appeared in Camp Miasma, and whose film Camp had its UK premiere as the opening film of Dundead festival 2026. 

Previous instalments have featured Jack Haven, Cricket Arrison (Dundead audiences may recognise the name from her short film Chomp), director Alice Maio McKay (T-Blockers) and Vera Drew, (director of the People’s Joker) among others. Made with Weard’s friends and contemporaries, Castration Movie is a thrilling example of the “create the art you want to see in the world” philosophy. 

In this instalment, a young woman (Avalon Fast) seeks out everything in her power to stop her partner (Henri Gillespi) from transitioning. Weard is absolutely fearless in her scouring of the outer ranges of human behaviour and has no qualms about asking questions which leave the audience in discomfort. 

If you’re a gorehound, it may be pertinent to mention that while undeniably a difficult watch, the film does not feature any actual scenes of castration. It can be hard to pin down this film’s genre; there is one disturbing scene of violence, while most of the film is built of conversations. But the film lives up to its title in its provocativeness, and it should absolutely be on your radar if you are a fan of underground cinema, and of bold new voices pushing at the edges of cinematic propriety.