It might be cliché by now to admit that The Godfather changed my life, but it truly did change my perspective on the possibilities of cinema. At a very young age, I constantly looked forward to going to the movie theatre. I vividly remember being terrified but thrilled by the realistic dinosaurs of Jurassic Park …
As far as personal histories with a film go, Ti West’s The House of the Devil is one of the more transformative and memorable of mine. I first watched the film one night after hearing some chatter about it on the internet, and to be honest I didn’t really like it too much the first …
When the first film in this series was released 2 years ago, it came as a much-needed breath of fresh air for the found-footage subgenre, a subgenre that had tired itself out by the time even Paranormal Activity 2 came out. What stood out the most about it was that none of the filmmakers involved were trying to fool you into thinking that any of it was real, while studio made found footage films still marketed themselves as “this is real footage”. Rather than try to pull a trick you wouldn’t fall for, they just had fun with the format and sought to break down the limitations of it. V/H/S 2 doubled down on the scope and ambition and was an exhilarating anthology to witness. Does the whole endeavor begin to feel tired at this point? Yeah, but then again most film series tend to feel that way their third time at bat.
Pouvoir intime, or Blind Trust if you’re of the Anglo persuasion, is a film that has more or less fallen through the cracks of time. It was issued on home video once upon a time, in the long-past age known as the VHS era, and hasn’t been seen in a newer format since. Luckily, some enterprising folks at the Fantasia International Film Festival got together with the Cinémathèque québécoise and got them to dust off their 35mm print of the film. Showing these kinds of movies serves a very specific purpose: they add depth and texture to a film culture that was still figuring itself out even in the mid-80s.
The anthology horror film is back in the wake of the success of chapter-style horror films like The Theatre Bizarre (2011) and its announced follow-up, V/H/S (2012), the soon-to-be-released sequel V/H/S 2 (2013) and The ABC’s of Death (2012). While this movement generates a good deal of conversation about the fondly remembered Amicus productions of …
It’s no big secret I love horror films, but 2012 hasn’t been a great year. In my top ten, three films carry over from 2011, two won’t be released until 2013, two are animated and another isn’t much of a horror film. With that said, 2012 gave us Berberian Sound Studio and Cabin In The …
I remember when I was younger, I used to head to the video store and rent movies I’d never heard of based solely on the movie poster art. In doing so, I discovered many hidden gems, such as Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead. Movie poster artists are without a doubt some …
Spring Breakers – Opening Sequence Having been at TIFF this month, attempting to select favorite scenes without going entirely overboard– well, it may not exactly be as drastic as Sophie’s choice, but that is the first label that comes to mind. Spring Breakers is one of many very strong showings from Toronto this year, and …
V/H/S Directed by David Bruckner, Ty West, Radio Silence, Glenn McQuaid Radio Silence Joe Swanberg and Adam Wingard Screenplay by Simon Barrett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez , Glenn McQuai, Radio Silence, Nicholas Tecosky, Chad Villella and Ti West 2012, USA The faux-documentary, “cinema verité” camera style is increasingly prevalent in horror flicks …
V/H/S Directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and Radio Silence Written by Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Nicholas Tecosky, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, and Chad Villella USA, 2011 Imagine you went trick-or-treating. Knowing the area, you take a big empty bag. You go to …
V/H/S Written by David Bruckner, Ti West, Radio Silence, Simon Barrett, Nicholas Tecosky and Glenn McQuaid Directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Chad Villella) USA, 2012 A collaborative anthology feature, V/H/S is essentially five short films in the “found footage” …
For fans of all films macabre, The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is the venue for you. But for those that can’t wait until October for nine nights of horror, sci-fi, action and cult movies running from the 18th to the 26th, the good people behind TADFF have answered your counter intuitive prayers. For two …
Safety Not Guaranteed Directed by Colin Trevorrow Written by Derek Connolly USA, 2012 In the classifieds of a local newspaper, one ad reads: “Wanted: someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once …
Black Pond Directed by Tom Kingsley & Will Sharpe Black Pond heralds an incredibly original, startlingly mature, and completely inscrutable new film-making duo. It’s unclear what exactly they have made with Black Pond; suffice it to say it is equal parts profound and hilarious while refusing classification… (read the full review) Cabin In The Woods …
V/H/S Written by Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Nicholas Tecosky, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Chad Villella Directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Radio Silence USA, 2011 One of the most anticipated additions to the growing pantheon of “found footage” films this year comes in …
Picking 10 titles from a selection of 132 feature films is a bit of an exercise in absurdity, but for those of you looking to add a few more flicks to your ever-expanding list of “must sees” before you head down to the convention center, here are ten titles I personally am excited to see. …
Bloody Disgusting recently started their own distribution label, and along with AMC and The Collective, they have released their first film in limited theatres this weekend – Lucky McKee’s The Woman. Now it seems they’ve already got some pretty interesting plans for the future and are going one step further and actually producing a film …