This year, I was granted access to the Fantastic Fest online “screening room”. It was pretty sweet to be recognized as the heavyweight genre film blogger that I am. One of the available films was an Irish film called, A Dark Song. The description sounded pretty good so I watched a completely different Irish movie! … More The Hallow (2015) – REVIEW
Do I know anything about Spanish psychological thrillers? Am I up on these things? Do I even know that ‘psychological thriller’ is usually a euphemism for highbrow horror? Let’s give me the benefit of the doubt here and assume that I can answer yes to ⅓ of those questions. (it’s the euphemism one) So, how … More Killing Words (Palabras Encadenadas) – (2003) – REVIEW
Fabrice Du Welz is a filmmaker that I keep tabs on because his film, Calvaire (aka: The Ordeal) made such an indelible impression on me. It wasn’t that the Belgian film was perfect, or particularly groundbreaking,. It was the raw grit and creativity that saturated the film. From the The Texas Chain Saw Massacre … More Alleluia (2014) – REVIEW
The trailer for Baskin made the social media rounds a while back (about a year ago). It looked pretty grimy and bloody. Right up my alley. I put it in my list of films to keep on my radar but never saw it. Did it come to Chicago? Maybe. But if it did, I certainly … More REVIEW – Baskin (2015)
French. Found footage. Fantasia (International Film Fest 2016). That’s what I knew about Therapy going into it. Modern French horror can be pretty damn good. (see: Frontier(s), A L’interieur, Martyrs, Ils, Dans ma Peau, etc.) Granted, I either haven’t been attuned to the good stuff coming out of France in the last few years, or … More Therapy (2016) – REVIEW
One of the great things about horror is that I end up watching films from all over the world. I will eagerly watch a story told from a perspective (cultural, aesthetic, etc) different from my own, even if that story is old and familiar. I can’t imagine watching a retelling of You’ve Got Mail just … More Goran (2016) – REVIEW
Kiyoshi Kurosawa (how much pressure on a filmmaker is THAT name?!) is a horror heavy-hitter with cult favorites Pulse and The Cure. (maybe they’re just regular favs in Japan. but here, i call them cult) I even liked his strange, meandering Bright Future. So, when I saw that Kurosawa would be returning to the horror … More Creepy (2016) – REVIEW
Next up in my Fantasia International Film Fest 2016 review series is Red Christmas. Another film that I was unaware of until I saw the trailer on the Fantasia Fest site. It looked pretty crazy and like it had plenty of high-pressure blood fountains. So, I was convinced. (natch) It’s an Australian film that stars … More Red Christmas (2016) – REVIEW
Next up in my Fantasia International Film Fest 2016 review spree – Shelley from director, Ali Abbasi. (i don’t know why i’m compelled to type the entire official Fantasia 2016 title. i guess i imagine that i have readers that aren’t familiar w/ it and they would be like, ‘they remade Disney’s Fantasia!?’, if i … More Shelley (2016) – REVIEW
Fantasia (International Film Fest) has been premiering (or North American premiering) great genre films for a while now. I’ve never made it to the fest but I’ve excitedly awaited attendees’ tweets/reviews when the time comes each year. This year, I have a blog. And this year, I was accepted to review films from the … More The Wailing (2016) – REVIEW
No Real Danger 