Cold In July Written by Jim Mickle and Nick Damici Directed by Jim Mickle U.S.A., 2014 Set in a small Texas town, Cold in July opens with a bang in more ways than one. Family man Richard Dane (Michael C. Hall) awakens one night in bed, convinced that an intruder has infiltrated his home. After …
Indie auteur Jim Mickle has said that his newest effort ‘Cold in July’ is a combination of Bong Joon-Ho’s serial-murder thriller ‘Memories of Murder’ and the Patrick Swayze action film ‘Road House.’ That’s an eye-catching pairing, for certain…
10. Poltergeist Directed by Gil Kenan Written by David Lindsay-Abaire USA Release Date: November 14th Production recently wrapped on the Poltergeist remake with Gil Kenan (Monster House) in the director’s chair and Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) producing. Little is known as they continue to put the movie together in post-production, but we do have a few details, beginning …
In case it isn’t obvious, I’m a pretty big fan of the horror genre, and so I wanted to spotlight some of my most anticipated horror films of 2014. Between the big studio releases and the crop of independent features from some of our favourite directors, 2014 looks to be a great year. Note: I …
Special Mention: Sightseers Directed by Ben Wheatley Written by Steve Oram and Alice Lowe UK, 2012 This bloody, satirical road trip comedy is by no means as great as Terrence Mallick’s Badlands, but it is truly unique, strange, disquieting, and uncomfortably funny. Ben Wheatley is one of the most exciting genre filmmakers working in the …
Too few modern horror films take their cue from the power of suggestion. The less you show, the more terrifying your story can be. Some of the all-time greats of the genre, from The Haunting to The Shining, either show nothing scary or deliberately supernatural at all, or bide their time, allowing strange noises in the distance or unexpected shadows to do the heavy lifting.
Jim Mickle’s previous film Stake Land, a post-apocalyptic road movie with a vampiric threat, combined the tone of something like The Road with narrative flourishes (invincible hunter known only as Mister, vampires launched from helicopters like dropping bombs) more akin to comic books.
“We didn’t want things jumping out at you. We wanted you to feel immersed, as if you were inside the scene.” Director Blair Erickson can only be referring to 3D; unlike many lazily post-converted blockbusters, his Banshee Chapter was filmed entirely in stereoscopic 3D, a conscious choice from the outset of the film’s production and a risky experiment for something so low budget.
Stake Land Directed by Jim Mickle Screenplay by Nick Damici and Jim Mickle 2010, USA Horror films, despite their divisiveness, are uncannily successful as time capsules. Stake Land, despite its many flaws, quite exhaustively captures the zeitgeist of 2010 America. Director Jim Mickle’s second feature is a vampire-apocalypse-road-movie featuring a dumb, animalistic class of vampires–that …
Stake Land Directed by Jim Mickle Horror films, despite their divisiveness, are uncannily successful as time capsules. Stake Land, despite its many flaws, quite exhaustively captures the zeitgeist of 2010 America. Director Jim Mickle’s second feature is a vampire-apocalypse-road-movie featuring a dumb, animalistic class of vampires–that is to say zombies with more rules and more …