Author Archives
UNC Charlotte '18 graduate | Film Intern at CLTure | North Carolina Film Critics Association member | Lover of bad teen horror movies and 90s pop music
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“Beau is Afraid” and I am perplexed.
Perhaps my favorite movie-going story is how right after graduating college I went on a long-awaited trip to Europe with my mother and, at the same time, Ari Aster’s debut film, Hereditary (2018) was released into theaters. My Twitter timeline… Read More ›
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“Renfield:” DOA and Hating It.
Few villains in any medium of storytelling are quite as iconic as Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula, also known as The Prince of Darkness, also known as Vlad the Impaler, also known as The Dark One, etc. (he has an Erykah… Read More ›
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2021’s “Cube” lands on the pile of unnecessary remakes.
There was a viral tweet going around recently of a meme account getting roasted for implying that high school in 2002 was “so chill,” leading millennials of that age to share their horror stories of attending high school in a… Read More ›
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“Air” takes it to the hole with great performances and a well-balanced script.
Growing up as the designated Family Homosexual™, I wasn’t particularly privy to watching sports, and especially not playing them (I was a chorus/theatre kid, big shock). The little about sports I did know as a child of a family from… Read More ›
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Shake hands with Anna Zlokovic’s feature debut “Appendage.” [SXSW]
As I get older, I am finding more things about my body that make me feel genuinely decrepit and gross. Whether it’s my newfound back pain, a new mole somewhere unexpected, or simply coming to the conclusion that my acne… Read More ›
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Synapse Films offers up Dario Argento’s “Phenomena” in a special edition 2-Disc 4K UHD edition.
When it comes to Dario Argento, the highs are high and the lows are cavernous pits leading straight to hell. The Italian filmmaker, known for helping further define the later era of the giallo film, has made some of the… Read More ›
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“Brooklyn 45” is a wonderful hybrid-genre film that brings war and trauma full circle. [SXSW]
The shadow of war, from the prehistoric days to the ultra-modern, technologically-advanced warfare of the present, has loomed large over the entirety of humanity. One could argue that war is the one thing seen consistently throughout history, seemingly touching every… Read More ›
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Radio Silence’s “Scream VI” moves the thrills and bodybags away from Woodsboro and onto an exciting new path.
Caution: I will obviously not be discussing spoilers to this film, because I’m not cruel and the whole point of these films is the fun “whodunnit” of it all, but I am somewhat forced to discuss some spoilers from Scream… Read More ›
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Director Elizabeth Banks’s “Cocaine Bear” is high on its own supply in this animal attack horror entry.
If I were a basic gay, I would start this review with “A Cocaine Bear? You just mean West Hollywood at 3 a.m.?” and move on with my day…but I’m not, and I won’t…but you get the picture. Despite my… Read More ›
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Restoration of extreme film “Calvaire” offers little more than access to the film.
Fabrice du Welz’s Calvaire (titled The Ordeal in some English-speaking regions, but not here), premiering at Cannes in 2004, is a strange, but valid entry into the canon of “New French Extremity” that gripped French-language horror/thrillers from the mid-‘90s to… Read More ›
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See Gaspar Noé’s “Irreversible (Irréversible)” restored in 2K and recut in chronological order in the brand-new “Straight Cut (Inversion Intégrale).”
Content warning: Irreversible contains extreme depictions of violence, rape, racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, strobe effects, disorienting cinematography and soundtrack, and whatever else you can think of. If you could be negatively affected by something, it’s most likely on full display… Read More ›
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Come for the blood, stay for the sinister humor in “Consecration.”
Consecration is following in the footsteps of Watcher, Resurrection, and Skinamarink with IFC Films’s and Shudder’s distribution partnership, putting indie horror that would usually not get a chance for theatrical distribution out to the masses. Particularly with Skinamarink’s recent success… Read More ›
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M. Night Shyamalan’s “Knock at the Cabin” is one you’ll want to answer.
Right before the pandemic really kicked off, I read Paul Tremblay’s The Cabin at the End of the World. It had been the hot new horror novel on the block a little while back and I figured it to be… Read More ›
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The home release supplemental materials may underwhelm, but feature “Bones and All” remains a meal.
I have a complicated relationship with Luca Guadagnino. I love his work, sans one film of his, and even consider his 2018 remake of Suspiria to be in my top 5 films of all time (sidenote: someone please take the… Read More ›
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In honor of the 15th anniversary of Matt Reeves’s “Cloverfield,” Paramount Pictures releases a commemorative 4K Steelbook into the wild.
I remember seeing Transformers with my father during summer 2007, and while my memories of the film itself have faded away, I will never forget the silence of the theater as a shaky, bombastic, horrifying teaser played before it, showing… Read More ›
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Meet “M3GAN”: a wonderfully fresh addition to the collection of iconic horror villains.
If you aren’t a part of the community as I am, the world of Gay Twitter™ went absolutely hog wild when the trailer for M3GAN dropped back in October. Within mere minutes, drag queens all across the world were dropping… Read More ›
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It’s a “Violent Night” and all the creatures are screaming.
For every smart little one-liner I wanted to inject into this intro about Santa Claus to describe this film, I realized it was already covered by Violent Night’s catchphrase-heavy screenplay, rendering my job nearly useless, as one can imagine the… Read More ›
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Despite its weaknesses, there’s no part of “Saint Omer” which won’t linger after credits roll. [Film Fest 919]
As I type this intro, the verdict to the Darrell Brooks trial has just been read, ending a weeks-long shitshow of an abuse of a public system of representation for someone who was clearly guilty (I can say that now,… Read More ›
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Writer/director Elegance Bratton’s “The Inspection” signals a talent to keep an eye on. [Film Fest 919]
A lot of (not all, don’t swarm me) these new kids like to think everything is peachy keen and hunky dory in the world of queerness in the modern world. Unlike so many generations before them, there are actual chances… Read More ›
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Sam Mendes’s “Empire of Light” is a love letter to theaters themselves and the significance they hold. [Film Fest 919]
Empire of Light immediately had me on its side because I too work at an independent, two-screen cinema that features grand Beaux Arts architecture, an eclectic group of regulars, and perhaps an even more eclectic staff. Operating as a sort… Read More ›