The Woman Directed by Lucky McKee Written by Lucky McKee and Jack Ketchum USA, 108 min. Opening with a phantasmagorical montage of the beginning of life, The Woman first emerges. She moves with a primal grace and an impossible focus propelling her forward in the dark wilderness. A montage of super-impositions and rapid cuts present …
The Wicker Man (1973) Directed by Robin Hardy Written by Anthony Shaffer UK, 88 min. In The Wicker Man, a small island community turns to paganism as a means of coping with failing crops. Framing regression as progression, they clash with the repressed Sergeant Howie, a steadfast believer in Jesus Christ. He is investigating the …
Morituris Directed by Raffaele Picchio Written by Gianluigi Perrone, based on a story by Raffaele Picchio and Tiziano Martella Italy, 2011 Fantasia imdb Dear Ricky D, Thank you for getting me the ticket. I know that I promised to write a review of the film, but… This is only half a review of Morituris. Turns …
Beyond the Black Rainbow Written by Panos Cosmatos Directed by Panos Cosmatos Canada, 2011 There’s been a welcome rush of audacious first features recently – Evan Glodell’s incendiary Bellflower and Daniel Cockburn’s witty, touching thought experiment You Are Here spring to mind, and now so does Panos Cosmatos’s gloriously odd Beyond the Black Rainbow, a …
The Innkeepers Directed by Ti West Written by Ti West 2011, USA Like The House of the Devil, his love letter to early ’80s horror, Ti West’s latest, The Innkeepers is a slow-burn and a re-imagination of classic horror tropes; but this time around his film is made up of two distinct genres – horror …
Burke and Hare Written by Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft Directed by John Landis UK, 2010 There have been several films about the infamous true-life grave robbers William Burke and William Hare, including Freddie Francis’s 1985 The Doctor And The Devils and John Gilling’s 1959 The Flesh and The Fiends. Perhaps the most famous is …
One Hundred Years of Evil Directed by Erik Eger & Magnus Oliv Written by Oliver Blackburn, Erik Eger, Magnus Oliv and Joacim Starander Sweden, 80 min. Maximum capital gains have long-inspired television programmers of history television to favour propaganda championing the heroes and successes of their countries war-time achievements. Audiences clearly lost interest in self-congratulatory …
Stake Land Written by Jim Mickle and Nick Damici Directed by Jim Mickle USA, 2010 A recent 60 Minutes report puts forth a startling figure: thanks to the high unemployment rate, soon 25% of all children in the United States will be living under the poverty line, many of them resorting to temporary shelter to …
Red State Written by Kevin Smith Directed by Kevin Smith USA, 2011 Red State may feature a certain wit familiar to Kevin Smith’s most ardent fans, but it’s minimized in favour of a social consciousness and the deafening sound of rifles as he tackles extreme religious fanaticism. The film begins on familiar ground, channeling a …
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale Directed by Jalmari Helander Written by Petri Jokiranta & Sami Parkkinen Finland | Norway | France | Sweden – 2010 Every once in a while, a filmmaker will get the idea to explore the seedier side of the holiday season. Bob Clark’s Black Christmas, from 1973, might have been the …
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame Written by Chen Kuo-fu and Zhang Jialu Directed by Tsui Hark Hong Kong/China, 2011 Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame has an infectious, bombastic energy that hides some of its more obvious flaws. Set in ancient China just as the first Empress is about …
As Fantasia rings in its 15th anniversary, they are celebrating the founding fathers of Quebec’s genre cinema heritage — the legendary producing team of John Dunning and André Link a.k.a. the Roger Cormans of Canada. The duo regularly took risks supporting exciting new talent, kickstarting the careers of some of Canada’s greatest filmmakers such …
Love Written by William Eubank Directed by William Euback USA, 2010 Love gets off to a rocky start, testing the audience’s attention and commitment with empty images and weak narrative progression. Long after the story of a lone astronaut suddenly cut off from mission control has taken off, there is never a true sense that …
Trollhunter Directed by Andre Øvredal Written by André Øvredal and Håvard S. Johansen 2011, Norway The 1980 Italian exploitation film Cannibal Holocaust, directed by Ruggero Deodato, broke traditional cinematic conventions while creating major controversy following its release. Although camcorders, cell phones, and the like hadn’t been invented yet, the main character, an aspiring documentary filmmaker, …
People keeping asking me for recommendations for movies screening at the Fantasia film festival. Simon already posted a list of ten safe bets. Kyle posted a list of four wild cards, four must see films that could be disappointing but still worth watching for various reasons. Here is a list of screenings that I highly …
#4 – The Robot Directed by S. Shankar A while back we shared this video with our readers. It is pretty silly, but also pretty incredible. The footage comes from a 2010 Indian science-fiction film called Enthiran (The Robot). It’s safe to say that fans of spectacular action sequences similar to what you see in …
The Fantasia Film Festival is celebrating it’s 15h anniversary, and they are doing it in style. Launched in 1996 with little financial backing, the festival has grown into one of the world’s largest genre film fest, fresh off a record year of 100,000 spectators in 2010. Fantasia has without a doubt become one of …
The Fantasia Film Festival is by far my favourite film festival in the world and I’ve been impatiently awaiting some news of what films they’ll be screening this year. Considered the world’s largest genre film festival and running over three weeks long, the event is celebrating it’s 15th edition this year and the lineup is …