I Sell The Dead Directed by Glenn McQuaid When January rolled around, I was all ready to throw in the towel and declare 2009 a wash for movies in general. I’ll tell you what, though. I continue to be surprised by some of this year’s offerings and some of last year’s that are finally making …
MJ Documentary? The King of Pop continues to be incredibly lucrative, even in death. The latest posthumous venture concerns the “…rights to the approximately 80 hours of high-definition, full dress rehearsal footage captured by AEG Entertainment, the company behind Jackson’s concert series.” It’s the rehearsal footage for the “This Is It” series of 50 live …
Black Dynamite has been officially announced as the opening gala film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Directed by Scott Sanders the film stars Michael Jai White and is shot in the style of a blaxploitation film of the 1970’s. Inspired mostly by such films as Shaft, Dolemite and Superfly it was a Sundance …
The unlucky numbered 13th edition of the Fantasia Film Festival turned out to be a lucky year after all. With it’s diverse line-up of high selection standards, the festival attracted more than 90 000 fans this year and saw 40% of its 195 screenings completely sold out. With such eminent titles that had previously premiered …
Funny People Directed by Judd Apatow Creating a hero has been easy for Judd Apatow; whether you’re a 40-year old man who has never had sex or a 20-something freeloader accidentally knocking up a girl during a one night stand, you best be sure these people will rise to the occasion. The hero in Apatow’s …
Rosarigasinos (Gangs of Rosario) Directed by Rodrigo Grande “We’re still the same assholes.” Old habits die hard in Rodrigo Grande’s Rosarigasinos, a crafty little tale of rebirth and revenge. Imagine being separated from the world for 30 years. Imagine everything you once knew as life switched, grew, disappeared, died, or just simply changed, while you …
The director of several well-received horror films (Habit, The Last Winter) and producer of many others, Larry Fessenden has also made scores of appearances in mainstream films from the likes of Kelly Reichardt and Neil Jordan. Simon sat down with him at a bar here in Montreal to discuss his latest producing and acting gigs, …
In 1964, while the rest of the world was watching Mary Poppins take school kids on acid trips, Brazil was thrilling to the exploits of Coffin Joe, a character mixing the best parts of Anton LaVey, Count Dracula, and a homeless old man. Considered Brazil’s first horror film, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul was …
While waiting in line late last night for one of the most anticipated screenings at Fantasia, I saw a rather old gentleman with a huge grin slowly making his way towards me. He was shaking peoples’ hands and making small talk – I had no idea who it was and before I knew it he …
My Dear Enemy Directed by Lee Yoon-ki Furthering a developing hypothesis that South Koreans are launching a charm offensive against all hallowed Western film archetypes, the splendid My Dear Enemy, a spiritual kin to last year’s Adrift in Tokyo (from Japan), contains elements of the road movie, the romantic comedy, and Woody Allen-style light observational …
Coffin Joe. For Brazil, nothing personified horror quite like him. He’s a deceptively simple villain. He’s doesn’t drink blood, he’s not undead, he has no magic powers. There is absolutely nothing supernatural about him. Nothing. He is just an undertaker in a top hat and cape with extremely long fingernails. What strikes fear into the …
Ricky D interviewed director Barbara Bell on the subject of her new feature doc, Graphic Sexual Horror, which is making its debut at the Fantasia Film Fest here in Montreal. Horror explores the world of online hardcore bondage porn, with a focus on a specific, controversial site called Insex, and its founder, who goes by …
Smash Cut, about a B-movie director who begins killing people to improve the realism of his special effects, is the type of film that gives cult film fans fever dreams, full of porn stars and blood spatter and everything else that Pat Robertson thinks causes hurricanes. Starring adult film actress Sasha Grey, Last House on …
Life Is Hot In Cracktown Directed by Buddy Giovinazzo *** ½ Writer and director Buddy Giovinazzo has successfully adapted his collection of the 1992 short stories into a full-length feature film. Similar to Magnolia, Giovinazzo’s movie intercuts between four groups of people who all reside in the same ghetto overrun by crime, drug abuse and …
Sound on Sight co-host Al Kratina is covering Fantasia for the Montreal Gazette’s Cine Files blog. Read an excerpt below. Black Directed by Pierre Laffargue It must be difficult to do anything original with the urban crime drama, since most of the more familiar tropes have migrated from gritty 1970s cult films to G Unit …
Orphan Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra When you see a major studio’s logo in front of a horror film, you’re generally in for one of three things: neutered PG-13 dreck (The Uninvited); crass torture porn (Captivity); or an unspeakably generic slasher (the Friday the 13th reboot). Not only that, but all three forms are burdened by …
The Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled more major components of its 2009 lineup, as today organizers have announced the documentary films, the popular Midnight Madness series and Wavelengths, the festival’s “moving art” program. This is the section of the fest dedicated to horror, sci-fi and cult cinema and everything else we here at Sound …
Crush and Blush Directed by Lee Kyoung-mi * 1/2 Lee-Kyoung-mi’s first feature tries too hard to be the “polar opposite” of a romantic comedy. The story of a male teacher being stalked by a former pupil who has now become a teacher herself in order to be closer to him to attract his attention simply …
New cast in Kervorkian film: The cast of the new film about the high profile doctor, Dr. Jack Kervorkian, who fought “…to establish the right to die for terminally ill patients…” has announced an expansion of its cast. The made-for-TV film is entitled “You Don’t Know Jack,” and it will be directed by Barry Levinson. …
Variety reports that Cate Blanchett is set to star as Lady Edwina Mountbatten in Joe Wright’s Indian Summer. The film will follow the critical events during India’s Independence from England. Lord Mountbatten (with Edwina in tow) is sent to oversee the transfer of power to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the summer of …
Friday July 10th marked the North American premiere of Thirst at Fantasia, Park Chan-Wook’s latest effort. Mostly known for his Vengeance Trilogy, Park has created a movie that is even more stylistically polished than his previous films, if you can believe that. Thirst is immaculately shot and cleverly punctuated with scenes that would easily offend …
A Heaven of Horror Sergio Bizzio’s Animalada (2001) What is the greatest love story ever told? Is it the one where dad delivered a pizza to the girl next door only to then realize he had been living next door to the love of his life without even knowing it? Or, maybe it’s the story …
Fantasia’s Short Film Highlights Just at this year’s Fantasia Film Fest sees its features splaying out far from the realm of hardcore genre flicks into other realms, its local shorts, presented in two different categories (Courts Métrages Québécois and Courts Métrages Québécois DIY) display a wide range of genre, approach, form and subject matter, fromt …