Although the Fantasia International Film Festival was held virtually this year, it still featured an incredible lineup of wild and visceral films that celebrated everything gory and horrific. Many of the featured titles were loud and boastful with their colorful… Read More ›
Dreams help us process unspoken emotions and desires in contained, temporary environments. Those who dream can escape reality, explore a path unchosen, and tuck the experience away in a safe box. In Michael Venus’s feature-length debut, however, the borders between… Read More ›
May 8th – 10th of 1998 marked the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Chess Federation’s National High School Championship. With 230 schools from 32 states, the Wyndham Hotel at Los Angeles Airport was filled with some of the brightest minds… Read More ›
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 ›
Internet trolls have long been the bane of social media journalists and content creators, but rarely do the victims of such attacks get a chance to face their opponents eye-to-eye. In Ivo Van Art’s Dutch language film The Columnist, this… Read More ›
Over twenty years after his first experimental Shakespeare film adaptation, Tromeo and Juliet (1996), Lloyd Kaufman and the team at Troma Entertainment have released yet another irreverent and outlandish adaptation with #ShakespearesShitstorm, a wacky musical-comedy and gross-out fest based on… Read More ›
One of the things I love about GKids Films, a distributor of Asian animated films, is the absolute variety and high quality of each production they release in the U.S. The films they release range from stop-motion (My Life as… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
Multi-talented writer and director Mathias Malzieu, who is known for his success as a novelist and musician as well as filmmaker, returns to this year’s virtual Fantasia Film Festival with a delightful grown-up fairytale. Malzieu’s previous animated film, Jack and… Read More ›
Imagine, if you will, that you’re a teenager sitting at your local hangout, a Circle K, perhaps, when someone drops out of the sky and tells you they are from the future and that you’re destined to be the foundation… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
Among the types of people underrepresented in film, surely women over 50 would rate in the top 10. When they do emerge, such characters tend to serve as guides, champions, or foes to the main character. Whether spouting sage wisdom,… Read More ›
Inspired in-part by his own real-life trauma, comedian Pete Davidson (Saturday Night Live) crafted a story in partnership with director Judd Apatow (This is 40) and writer/producer Dave Sirus that presents a fictional tale of heartache, profound pain, and, ultimately,… Read More ›
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 ›
We all love a good action flick. Even the worst action movies can get somewhat of a pass if the action is exciting and visceral. Action movies, as of late, have become much more versatile than some might expect. On… Read More ›
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 ›
The truth is often less exciting, less inspirational than fiction. My presumption for this is not because the truth lacks power, but that our individual imaginations build up ideas until they are larger than any one person or concept. It’s… Read More ›