A group of people lives holed up in a tenement because of a mysterious sickness affecting people on the outside. All excursions are considered deadly dangerous and people are starting to go crazy after too long of a separation from the outside world.
Tag Archives: Thriller
Becky (2020)
A teenage girl goes to her family’s lake house with her father so he can tell her some important news. In the meantime, a group of violence convicts escapes and heads to the same lake house. The clash between the family and the convicts pushes Becky to take things in her own inexperienced hands.
One Cut of the Dead (Kamera o Tomeru na!) (2017): Steelbook [Blu-Ray/DVD]
If you haven’t checked out Shinichirou Ueda’s indie horror comedy hit “One Cut of the Dead” by now then you’ve truly missed out on a prime piece of filmmaking. The film has been a festival darling, has become a hit on streaming and is being given excellent treatment for physical media collectors in a deluxe Steelbook. “One Cut of the Dead” is a genuine horror comedy gem that is best appreciated going in with as little information about it as possible. Although most reviews have given this advice of avoiding any and all spoilers, it’s sage wisdom that will only help improve an already excellent film.
Shorts Round Up of the Week: 5/29/20
We have a second installment of Shorts Round Up of the Week, and Emilie Black steps in to the driver’s seat once more, to bring readers some reviews for five more of the latest short films from very unique indie film voices.
If you’d like to submit your short film for review consideration, submissions are always opened to filmmakers and producers.
You Have to See This! The Vast of Night (2020)
With the accessibility of independent filmmaking, often times filmmakers have chosen to pay homage to the Grindhouse era, and with often varying results. It’s not too often we can sit down to watch a genuinely scary film that pays tribute to the atomic age and the classic anthology series from the golden age of television. Andrew Patterson’s “The Vast of Night” is absolute accomplishment. It’s a movie I reviewed during Slamdance 2019 and have yet to quit talking about or boasting about since it was scooped up by Amazon Video. It’s a cinematic gem filled with horror, mystery, science fiction, and pure suspense that will hook audiences the moment the film begins.
Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Psiconautas, los niños olvidados) (2015) [Blu-Ray/DVD]
I freely admit that I didn’t quite enjoy “Birdboy” when it was titled “Psychonauts, The Forgotten Children” back in 2016 for the Fantasia Film Festival. While typically I’m a big fan of animation of most kinds, “Birdboy” failed to click with me. I just could not find any real reason to recommend it when I’d finished it, and struggled to even finish it, when all was said and done.
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971) [Blu-Ray]
I’ve come to appreciate “Let’s Scare Jessica to Death” more and more over the years, as it’s managed to separate itself from the other vampire films in the sub-genre. While other of its ilk manage to flaunt the concept of the vampire without much substance, John Hancock and writers Sheridan Le Fanu and Lee Kalchiem take an opportunity here. Here, the monster is brilliant used as a means as a dread filled allegory for paranoia, fear of unraveling sanity, and our latent fear of infidelity.
Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory (Lycanthropus) (1961) [Blu-ray/CD]
There’s a ghoul in school! And “Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory” is one of the weirdest and darkest werewolf movies I’ve ever seen. It’s tough to believe a movie from the early sixties is filled with such dread, violence, and sexual implications that becomes the backdrop for the narrative. Despite being a werewolf movie, Paolo Heusch’s movie carries with it a lot of giallo vibes, focusing on a mostly obscured villain that stalks and strangles their victims. Although there is the stalk and chase of the sub-genre, Heusch relies on a whodunit mystery that feels much in the vein of Argento.