Reviews

Few true crime documentaries are as gripping and complex as Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s 13 episode series, The Staircase. The makers of the series decided to make a documentary about a case from beginning to end, including all aspects of the family life, court planning, and trial details. This is truly the …

Trigger warning for this film review: The Forest of the Lost Souls deals very heavily in suicide in many forms and it will be discussed in the review. If you or someone you love is contemplating suicide, you can find all help numbers here. Please talk with someone; there is …

One of the many types of movies shown at the Fantasia International Film Festival are animated films. I’m generally not a big fan of animated films other than the Warner Brothers Batman releases, but I decided to give the Italian made Cinderella the Cat (Gatta Cenerentola) a go, and I’m …

To someone living in the Midwest, the idea of riding on the subway can feel foreign, intimidating, and maybe even scary. After viewing The Midnight Meat Train (2008) many years ago, you can bet that my opinion was changed to petrifying. This month is the 10th anniversary of this brilliant …

Anxiety is a monster. Even on two separate medications for my own anxiety disorder, the illness is still prone to snarl its teeth and tear at my throat from time to time. Fear and dread are my life partners, and they’re both stone-cold bitches who are nearly impossible to live …

The 2018 Fantasia International Film Festival has been one hell of a ride, and sadly, it will soon be wrapping up. Although we covered a lot of the feature film hits, we are also giving some love to the shorts as well. On that note, here are my thoughts on …

It’s no secret that films that come out of Asia are usually great, for the most part. Whether it is horror or action (although comedy doesn’t get at much love at it rightfully should), we eat it up. Movies from Japan and South Korea usually get all of the attention, …

I’m always on the hunt for a new twist on the zombie genre. There’s only so much to be done with the undead, shambling shells of our former selves. One film on the Fantasia Film Festival circuit hopes to take up the challenge and make it less about the fight …

Lou Simon came onto my radar back in 2016 when I first saw All Girls Weekend. What stuck with me about this film was it was all women, made by a woman, with practical effects and enough of everything else to keep me interested. So when I was given the …

Our coverage of Fantasia Fest 2018 continues with Clayton Jacobson’s Brothers’ Nest, a pitch black comedy about brothers who are planning the elaborately detailed murder of their stepfather, hoping to inspire their dying mother to include them in her last will and testament.  Though it sounds far from funny on …