Reviews

Mental illness is a subject that is often explored in movies, but rarely as raw and successfully done as in Writer/Director Dean Kapsalis’ (Jigsaw Venus 2000) The Swerve. The film stars a fragile, nearly stripped to the core Azura Skye (One Missed Call 2008) as Holly, a woman who slowly …

Directed by Matthew John Lawrence (Larry Gone Demon 2015), Uncle Peckerhead shines a very different light on the semi-glamorous life of a touring musician. The film opens as Judy (a brilliant Chet Siegel: The Last Two People On Earth TV series), the lead singer/bass player of the group DUH, quits …

An atmospheric short with a wicked twist is always a welcome treat in my book. The Killer of Grassy Ridge, directed by Johnny K (The Walking Dead: The World Beyond 2020), is one of those films. It stars Kevin Conn (Bonus Content 2014) and newcomers Michael Stumbo and Heather Stone. Synopsis: …

Written and directed by Leonel Dietsche (3000 2015), The New End is a post-apocalyptic fairy tale, full of knights, kings, jesters, and magicians rotted beyond recognition in radioactive dust. But in this decaying kingdom, there’s only one fair maiden left. The moral of this story, eulogized in the simultaneously hopeful …

Lore, written and directed by Christian Larsen (Another Time 2016) and Brock Manwill (White Salamander), is a visually spellbinding, slow burn thriller. It stars Lyndsey Lantz (By Day’s End 2020), Max Lesser (Ashby 2015), and Sean Wei Mah (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee 2007). Synopsis: A woman searches for …

There’s an elite tier of films out there. There’s the poor, unfortunate lot of potential blockbusters that got off track and eventually derailed in a fiery explosion of overspending, inflated egos, studio meddling, and about a thousand different interpretations of what the original vision happened to be. It inevitably is …

Earlier this month marked the fifteenth anniversary of one of the most uncompromising additions to modern horror – Eli Roth’s Hostel. In 2005, when Hostel was unleashed at the Toronto International Film Festival, the United States and beyond were facing some diabolical issues. Issues such as terrorism, war, and the …

Here we are at the end of January, a time when large swaths of the population experience seasonal depression. The feasts are long gone, old man winter is biting at your nose, and it’s time to take down those yuletide decorations. Leave them up for one last night, because I’ve …

The reign of blue and orange color grading in movie-making is slowly fading away. As Hollywood leaves behind the tried-and-true contrasting color scheme, indie filmmakers have picked it up, rung it out, and pinned it up to dry. Director Brayden DeMorest-Purdy’s (Compulsion 2017) Beyond the Woods wears that rust and …

I had the opportunity to watch Anthony Ladesich’s (Forty-Five: The Search For Soul 2017) short film Safe States for Panic Fest 2020. The film clocks in at about 7 minutes and stars Chris Bylsma (The Kid 2019), Meagan Flynn (Up In The Air 2009) and newcomer Maggie Hutchison. Synopsis: In …