In nature, there’s no such thing as evil. There’s the ecosystem with predator and prey, but while there are behaviors that some groups would define within a power dynamic, it’s atypical for the natural world to engage in behavior humans… Read More ›
film festival
15 films to check out during Atlanta Film Festival 2024.
For the first time, Elements of Madness will be covering Atlanta Film Festival and we thought we’d offer up our recommendations of what to check out during the fest or what to keep an eye out for in wider distribution…. Read More ›
Creature feature “Arcadian” has a fever and the only prescription is more Cage. [The Overlook Film Festival]
In the most Abed Nadir voice possible — “Nicolas Cage maaaaaaaaan” — and that alone should either have an audience immediately ready to dive into what absolute madness whether good, bad, or Cage, they’re about to get into. While the… Read More ›
“Red Rooms” takes audiences on a frightfully intense rollercoaster of court proceedings. [The Overlook Film Festival]
There are movies that focus on courtroom procedurals and the drama that comes from the hearing itself that either are so effective they’re traumatizing or so dull they entirely lose the audience. Pascal Plante’s Red Rooms (Les chambres rouges) thankfully… Read More ›
“Infested” grants audiences a parting gift of a life-long phobia. [The Overlook Film Festival]
Horror movies usually tend to fixate on fears to engage their audience or do something truly horrifying and disturbing. The latter are typically easier to digest since they’re easier to shake off as they’re not exploiting something the audience may… Read More ›
Filmmakers Clark and Weir show potential in their debut film “Birdeater.” [The Overlook Film Festival]
There are so many ways that a film can get under an audience’s skin, whether that be intentional or not, but beating the proverbial dead horse with a children’s bat is certainly not the way to get things going in… Read More ›
A Conversation with “Switch Up” filmmaker Tara Pirnia. [SXSW]
EoM Senior Interviewer Thomas Manning recently sat down with writer and director Tara Pirnia to discuss her work on the romantic comedy Switch Up, which premiered at SXSW. Pirnia talks about the importance of setting the film in Texas, collaborating… Read More ›
The play’s the thing when it comes to comedic documentary “Grand Theft Hamlet.” [SXSW]
The pandemic did a lot of things to the citizens of the world in the early years, the least of which was take thousands of lives. Those who remained in those initial months and years dealt with physical isolation, financial… Read More ›
More than sew-sew, comedic thriller “Sew Torn” will leave you in stitches. [SXSW]
“For want of a nail …” Choices upon choices upon choices are what bring you to this review at this moment in your life. Maybe you signed up for notices when a new one publishes from EoM, maybe you follow… Read More ›
“Cold Wallet” is a home invasion thriller that lacks any strength in the teeth it tries to bare. [SXSW]
Capitalism is great when you’re rich and the worst when you’re poor. Or, in the case of current economic insecurities in the U.S., middle class. Capitalism functions off the premise that trade and industry are better off when private owners… Read More ›
Documentary “We Can Be Heroes” reminds us that imagination is a constructive force for community-building and individual healing. [SXSW]
Like the David Bowie song from which filmmakers Carina Mia Wong and Alex Simmons (Buddymoon) drew inspiration for the title of their documentary, We Can Be Heroes is a bit of a melancholic tale of individuals who recognize that they… Read More ›
Ned Benson’s time travel rom-com “The Greatest Hits” is profound in its use of grief and trauma. [SXSW]
Photosensitivity Warning: The visual elements used to convey transitions appear as an anamorphic lens-like flare similar to refraction of light that may prove trigging to photosensitive individuals. Memory is greatly tied to our senses. Tastes, sights, smells, and sounds all… Read More ›
Doc “The Antisocial Network” demonstrates the devastating repercussions of focusing on the lulz and forgetting to touch grass. [SXSW]
“I reject your reality and I substitute my own!” – From the film The Dungeonmaster (1984) and *not* Adam Savage There’s a fairly popular video and text meme which starts with a reminder that it costs nothing to be kind… Read More ›
A Conversation with “Desert Road” filmmaker Shannon Triplett. [SXSW]
In this edition of EoM Presents, Senior Interviewer Thomas Manning speaks with writer and director Shannon Triplett about her debut feature film Desert Road. Triplett talks about the real-life inspiration for the script, the intense, physically demanding lead performance from… Read More ›
Filmmaker Michael Felker’s sci-fi thriller “Things Will Be Different” shakes up the time travel genre for the better. [SXSW]
There’s the world we know — the one we can see, hear, smell, and touch — and there is the world in between. It exists around us, within the spaces within spaces. Overlapping and overlapping, like a Venn diagram wherein… Read More ›
“The Bleacher” takes audiences on a wild eight-minute adventure in a laundromat [SXSW]
After a world premiere at Sundance 2024, co-directors and operators of Magic Society Pictures, Nicole Daddona and Adam Wilder (Sexy Furby; The Mundanes) bring their animated horror short The Bleacher to SXSW for its Texas premiere. Looking like stop motion… Read More ›
Filmmaker Shannon Triplett’s directorial debut “Desert Road” utilizes the loop thriller to profound effect. [SXSW]
“… no one can never see past the choice they don’t understand… ” The Oracle, The Matrix Revolutions (2003) Loop films are, by their nature, a sci-fi fantasy tool utilized to get a protagonist to confront some aspect of themselves…. Read More ›
No matter snow, rain, heat, or gloom, “Dead Mail” delivers. [SXSW]
There’re directors who go things alone and then there’re directors who operate with someone else as a team. You’ve got the Coen brothers (Miller’s Crossing), the Wachowskis (The Matrix trilogy), the Russo brothers (several MCU films), the Farrelly brothers (Dumb… Read More ›
Table top gaming documentary “The Hobby” demonstrates that gaming is for everyone. [SXSW]
“You don’t stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. On wintry days when it was too cold to venture out or on summer… Read More ›
15 films to keep on your radar for SXSW 2024.
For the fourth year in a row, Elements of Madness will officially be covering SXSW and we thought we’d offer up our recommendations of what to check out during the fest or what to keep an eye out for in… Read More ›