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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Expertly crafted in pieces, Korean mystery “Me and Me (사라진 시간)” does not combine to a satisfying whole. [Fantasia Film Festival]
When it comes to modern Korean horror (Parasite doesn’t count), there’s really a “before The Wailing” and “after The Wailing” period going on currently. Sure, there are still some fast-moving, breakneck horror being made in South Korea, but there has… Read More ›
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“Sanzaru” is an intriguing slow burn, yet crashes in the landing. [Fantasia Film Festival]
Sanzaru is a film that might look like a film along the lines of The Dark & The Wicked in its rural set-up for a horrific force haunting a house, but off the bat, there’s something much stranger at hand…. Read More ›
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French Western “Savage State (L’état Sauvage)” is a stark, quiet, introspective tale of survival. [Fantasia Film Festival]
Fantasia Festival has provided a bevy of opportunities to showcase some truly great genre films, primarily focusing into the sci-fi/horror route of things. The grisly, spooky, and downright weird have been on full display since the start of the festival,… Read More ›
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If you’re in the mood for something dark and gory, look no further than Bryan Bertino’s “The Dark & The Wicked.” [Fantasia Film Festival]
One of the first horror films I ever saw during its release time was Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home-invasion thriller, The Strangers. I will always have the distinct memory of watching it at my best friend’s house after a July 4th… Read More ›
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Despite an engaging aesthetic and good performances, “The Block Island Sound” doesn’t totally manifest. [Fantasia Film Festival]
Everyone has their favorite urban legends, mine typically revolve around abandoned places and towns that have no explanation in their abandonments. Others like bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, or the Bermuda Triangle. It’s easy to see that the latter is… Read More ›
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Charlie Kaufman’s “i’m thinking of ending things” pulls off the seemingly impossible task of adapting Ian Reid’s book with ease and grace.
When I read a book, I feel accomplished. When I read a book based on a film, I feel elitist. When I read a book based on a film before its release, I feel completely untouchable. I know I shouldn’t,… Read More ›
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Documentary “Class Action Park” is incredibly riveting and oddly fun, despite it serious nature. [Fantasia Film Festival]
Ah, amusement parks; the sites of “controlled fun” that you either love or loathe. Whether you like the themes and characters of something like Disney World, the rides and thrills of Carowinds, or the wet-and-splashy water park fun of Wet… Read More ›
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The discomfort within “Centigrade” is more than a matter of degrees.
I hate snow. Perhaps it’s because my exposure to snow has been the rare snowstorms that hit North Carolina once or twice a year, leaving a wake of dirty black ice in its wake, but I’ve genuinely never enjoyed the… Read More ›
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Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s “Labyrinth of Cinema” is a fitting final opus. [Fantasia Film Festival]
There is no film more indicative of “you either love it, or you don’t” than Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s 1977 horror film, House. The surrealist and absurdist take on the typical haunted house story creates a film that defies all convention and… Read More ›
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Sabrina Mertens’s “Time of Moulting (Fellwechselzeit)” lacks urgency within its coming of age tale. [Fantasia Film Festival]
Teen angst. Everyone has had it; hell, I still have it and I’m 24 (today is my birthday when this is published). It’s generally an integral part of our shaping as adults by going through the hormonal and emotional rollercoaster… Read More ›
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“Random Acts of Violence” exists in a strange gray area where you lose much of the fantastic elements present.
The rise of the comic book movie has mainly accrued its time and money within the industry using big-budget superhero movie universes. While gritty graphic novel adaptions had their day in the mid-2000s with the hits of Sin City, V… Read More ›
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“Crazy Samurai Musashi” eschews bombast in favor of quiet restraint. [Fantasia Film Festival]
Long takes have become the new major flex a filmmaker can make in their films these days, from Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), to Sam Mendes’s 1917, even making its way into video games like… Read More ›
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IFC Midnight’s “Sputnik” is the kind of slow-burn horror experience you long for theatrically.
I could name five French films that have released in the past year, the same with Korean, Chinese, German, Swedish, and Spanish films as well. However, despite being the largest country on Earth by landmass, I probably couldn’t name five… Read More ›
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Once the idea gets in your head, it’s inevitable that “She Dies Tomorrow.”
Contagions are a powerful force of nature, illustrated beautifully by the fact that I haven’t worn anything but basketball shorts and cheap t-shirts for the last four months because of a deadly, incurable one that has swept the world and… Read More ›
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Horror thriller “1BR” offers pure, clever entertainment.
Apartment hunting is a living nightmare. There’s simply no way around the fact that every facet of moving to a new space is meant to test our mental and physical fortitude as humans, looking to see just how much stress… Read More ›
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Romola Garai’s directing debut “Amulet” delivers on every twisted promise.
Actors turned directors are not rare occurrences in the film industry with many seasoned actors at least taking one crack behind the camera during the course of their career, from George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, to Denzel… Read More ›
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The Breathtaking Melancholy of “Relic” (or How I Learned to Stop Panicking and Trust the Aging Process).
Both of my grandfathers died before my grandmothers (one of whom, my mother’s mother, is still with us), and what remained following their deaths was a peculiar phenomenon that I had never considered before. As women of the 1940s, they… Read More ›
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Leaning more into comedy than horror, “Zombie for Sale” provides a welcome escape.
For a population currently living through a viral pandemic that is wreaking havoc on the world, zombie films feel almost a little too on the nose at this point. Take into account how it’s now clear that a good portion… Read More ›
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New streaming horror film “Yummy” is anything but.
What’s so wonderful about horror is that there’s truly something for everyone. Do you find yourself compelled most by fear of the unknown? Try some supernatural horror. Scared of a violent apocalypse? There are tons of zombie films at your… Read More ›
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Closing out the “Time Warp” documentary series, “Volume 3” looks at the area of comedy and camp.
Personally speaking, I don’t really think the concept of a “cult film” resounds in the same way today as it did pre-social media. Everyone’s tastes and needs are attended to so astutely by viral start-up studios and filmmakers shooting entire… Read More ›