The story of Medusa the Gorgon is fairly well known. She was one of three sisters and her tale ends with a slash of the hero Perseus’s sword across her neck. He was sent to slay her and was rewarded… Read More ›
thriller
Suspense thriller “The Inevitable Death of the Crab (La Inevitable Muerte del Cangrejo)” is a strong first full-length outing by Ahcitz Azcona.
An observation about American cinema is made early into writer/actor/director Ahcitz Azcona’s The Inevitable Death of the Crab (La Inevitable Muerte del Cangrejo) that’s incredibly obvious yet startling once considered: whomever the latest “bad guy” is to the U.S., they… Read More ›
Johannes Grenzfurthner’s experimental supernatural horror “Razzennest” is a disquieting sensory experience that’ll leave you stunned.
Satire is a sticky wicket requiring expert balance to nail. Films like Paul Verhoven’s RoboCop (1987) and Starship Troopers (1997) are as frequently misunderstood for their analysis of corporate greed and nationalism as Fight Club is (film (1999) or novel)… Read More ›
Jordan Peele’s third film, sci-fi thriller “Nope,” simultaneously works as a smart survival film and as an exploration of humanity’s darker tendencies.
Jordan Peele: writer, actor, producer, director. Even before his debut directorial film, Get Out (2017), audiences had a solid sense of Peele’s creativity from any of the projects he played any part in. Now, however, with his third film in… Read More ›
The world of “The Witch” explodes with the discovery of “The Other One.”
Writer/director Park Hoon-jung’s The Witch: Subversion is a remarkable sci-fi thriller, taking the coming-of-age tropes we know and blending them together with supernatural-like covert forces, culminating in an adventure that feels familiar and wholly unique. Just before the film ends,… Read More ›
The horror comes home with “Barbarian” available on digital.
It would be silly to think that in the year 2022 life wouldn’t somehow become an imitation of that childhood trauma (or, for the very few, memory) of playing Monopoly and realizing you never were the one with the gazillion… Read More ›
Lorcan Finnegan’s “Nocebo” plays on expectations, twisting what you think you know to present a disquieting, rage-inducing thriller.
Sometimes it only takes one film to make an impression on an audience. With his 2019 film Vivarium, writer/director Lorcan Finnegan did exactly that via a tale that takes a dark view of the life cycle, trapping a couple in… Read More ›
Get ready, get set, “Run Sweetheart Run.”
We’ve all been to at least one work event that went incredibly sour, but the average person’s worst day at the office has nothing on the nightmare of a client dinner that unfolds in Run Sweetheart Run. When pre-law student… Read More ›
Paolo Strippoli’s “Flowing (Piove)” explores what resentment can do if left unchecked. [Brooklyn Horror Film Festival]
“Hell is other people.” -Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit In Sartre’s novel Huis Clos (No Exit), he tells a story of three people locked in a room together who share things about themselves, coming to a conclusion that in their inability… Read More ›
Writer/director Laurence Vannicelli’s psychological thriller “Mother, May I?” is a cautionary tale regarding denial of self. [Brooklyn Horror Film Festival]
There’s an old adage that women seek out men like their fathers and men seek those like their mothers. To me, this reeks of a presumption that individuals are destined to be stuck in cycles, constantly perpetuating the same broken… Read More ›
Writer/director Marie Alice Wolfszahn’s “Mother Superior (Mater Superior)” upends expectations in a tense cat-and-mouse chiller. [Brooklyn Horror Film Festival]
August 2017: A group of White Nationalists gathered at the University of Virginia, carrying torches and chanting “You Will Not Replace Us.” This slogan within White Nationalist beliefs that speaks to the fear of the White race being replaced. This… Read More ›
The best way to go into “Deep Fear” is with deep silence. [Fantastic Fest]
There is something special about glancing briefly at a synopsis of a movie and solely making a decision to jump in on the film based on what the PR team decides to compare the film to. Reading that a film… Read More ›
Anthology film “Give Me An A” is an artful expression of rage, disappointment, and fear. [Fantastic Fest]
June 24th, 2022: the United States Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision to make abortion in the U.S. legal. This is not only a blow to the modern Women’s Rights Movement, but it also opened the door for the Supreme… Read More ›
Kensuke Sonomura’s sophomore film “Bad City” includes the action you expect and subtext you won’t. [Fantastic Fest]
Over the last few years, much of the best stunt work has been coming out of Asia. Preman: Silent Fury (2022) from Indonesia, Aliennoid (2022) from Korea, Baby Assassins (2021) and HYDRA (2020) from Japan, and Raging Fire (2021) from… Read More ›
Not for the squeamish, “Project Wolf Hunting” unloads literal blood, sweat, and tears. [Fantastic Fest]
With Project Wolf Hunting, writer and director Kim Hong-sun ensures that the audience is taken on a journey that will test the limits of their toleration for extreme violence and bloodshed. This film is not for the faint of heart,… Read More ›
Seth McTigue’s feature-length directorial debut “Take the Night” is full of potential.
In his directorial debut, writer/actor Seth McTigue decided to tackle the hefty subject of parents and children. In his crime thriller Take the Night, the relationship between a parent and child, in this case primarily fathers and sons, is explored… Read More ›
Despite being mysterious and weird, documentary “Mister Organ” falls short of its payoff. [Fantastic Fest]
If you haven’t heard of documentarian David Farrier, there are two reasons for that. You either don’t enjoy deeply unsettling documentaries that either explore the weirdest parts of the internet or the creepiest parts of the world, or you just… Read More ›
“They Crawl Beneath” Blu-ray Giveaway
Though there are plenty of horror films released throughout the year, there’s something about ones dropping *in* October, something that feels more special, more likely to hit that thriller/chiller spot. Coming from director Dale Fabrigar (D-Railed), and hitting shelves and… Read More ›
“The Antares Paradox (La Paradoja de Antares)” is a well-executed single-location story. [Fantastic Fest]
Imagine for a moment that you’ve known what you’ve wanted to do from a young age, that you’ve spent the majority of your life reaching toward a goal despite a lack of familial or even societal support. Now imagine that… Read More ›
Action drama “Preman: Silent Fury” hits harder with the pathos than violence.
Murder, mayhem, sorrow, grief, pain, redemption: these are universal aspects of storytelling that transcend time and place. For stories that combine these to the point where pulpy isn’t just a way to describe the story but the viscera that remains… Read More ›