Fantastic Fest 2019: THE LONG WALK Review – A Patient Cautionary Fable
Starring Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, Vilouna Phetmany, Por Silatsa Written by Christopher Larsen Directed by Mattie Do "Was there something I could have done differently?" That's what I asked myself when I lost a very close friend several years ago. Looking back, the
Gender Bashing: MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE And Cult Control Of Women’s Bodies
The horror genre has long accessed a universal fear of losing control of our own bodies, in various ways. Proto-zombie joints J'Accuse (1919) and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) brought concepts of "the living dead" and mind control together
Fantastic Fest 2019: THE OTHER LAMB Review – A Staunch Feminine Take On The Cult Film
Starring Michiel Huisman, Raffey Cassidy, Denise Gough Written by C.S. McMullen Directed by Małgorzata Szumowska In a small self-sufficient commune out in the middle of wooded nowhere, Shepherd (Michiel Huisman) is the sole luminary atop a throng of women and children, each
Fantastic Fest 2019: SAINT MAUD Review – An Anointed Descent Into Madness
Starring Jennifer Ehle, Morfydd Clark, Turlough Convery Written by Rose Glass Directed by Rose Glass Finally, a film for those of us who found Joan of Arc's claims of godly guidance to be horrifying. Rose Glass busts out of the gate with
Fantastic Fest 2019: SCREAM, QUEEN! MY NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET Review – Rips Your Heart Out
Starring Mark Patton, Cecil Baldwin, Marshall Bell Directed by Roman Chimienti, Tyler Jensen Some of the best documentaries take a modest situation and extend it into it's larger cultural implications. Contextually embroidered within a tapestry that includes the AIDS epidemic of
Fantastic Fest 2019: THE GOLDEN GLOVE Review – Filthy Shock Horror Leavened With Humanity
Starring Jonas Dassler, Margarethe Tiesel Written by Fatih Akin (screenplay), Heinz Strunk (novel) Directed by Fatih Akin The Golden Glove pulls from previously-banned shock cinema classics like Gerald Kargl's Angst in a shared earnest observation of its subjects, while it's cruel
TIFF 2019: RESIN Review – A Bleak Nordic Bildungsroman
Starring Vivelill Søgaard Holm, Peter Plaugborg Written by Daniel Joseph Borgman Directed by Daniel Joseph Borgman Daniel Joseph Borgman enjoys putting his characters in suspended animation. His Danish film's opening images are those of a man struggling against the
Gender Bashing: Feminine Fantasy in BRAID
I like to think that, when writing her film Braid, director Mitzi Peirone was listening to the Stones' timeless maxim: "You can't always get what you want/but if you try sometimes, you might find/you get what you need." Peirone's debut
Fantasia 2019: KOKO-DI KOKO-DA Review – Puts Grief In Purgatory
Starring Peter Belli, Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon Written by Johannes Nyholm Directed by Johannes Nyholm Grief and trauma are having a moment in horror. Recently, Hereditary and Halloween (2018) have made a splash in their navigation of the moments and feelings for which there
Gender Bashing: THE EYES OF MY MOTHER’s Feminine Navigation of Violence
A new Joker movie is on its way down the pike, and there are already critics and fans alike throwing their hands in the air at the trailer. Comparisons to Taxi Driver abound as Joaquin Phoenix's interpretation of the DC
Gender Bashing: MAUS And The Use Of Male POV In A Woman’s Story
Watching a horror movie as a woman can be oppositional at times. We love seeing a strong woman taking control of her own narrative and handing down righteous vengeance to her assailants, but hate that many rape-revenge films reinforce the
Gender Bashing: The Weaponization of Patriarchal Authority In THE CLOVEHITCH KILLER
There are plenty of depictions of fatherhood in the horror genre. The Shining's Jack Torrance, Frailty's Daddy Meiks, and It's Alive's Frank Davis all have implications about fatherhood and its place in the cultural consciousness. There are plenty of kind
Review: Playmobil’s GHOSTBUSTERS Toys Are A Horror Parent’s Dream
Playmobil is a toy company ordinarily known for fantasy and historical releases of the childhood staples like knights and castles, but just a few years back they began expanding their repertoire with licensed properties. Playmobil went pop culture with an
Gender Bashing: Externalizing Male Grief in THE INVITATION
We all grieve. Some let out a haunting maternal wail, as Annie Graham does in Hereditary. Others opt for the creative route, putting their pain into their music like The Changeling's John Russell. A myriad of cultural and personal factors
CEMETERY TALES: A TALE OF TWO SISTERS Short Film Review – A Love Letter To Romero
Starring Traci Lords, Michael Broderick, Bruce Davison Written By Chris Roe & Matt O'Neill Directed by Chris Roe The first of the Cemetery Tales shorts, Chris Roe's A Tale Of Two Sisters (not to be confused with the popular Korean horror film of
SCARY STORIES Review: A Solid Tribute to The Tales That Terrified A Generation
"Part of Alvin Schwartz' brilliance was that he took all of these old folk legends and myths and old stories, and made them readable for kids. He used what the stories were, but he was able to write in a