I call shotgun! ARTIK, the name of the film and main protagonist is a bloody adventure about a serial killer obsessed with comic books written and directed by Tom Botchii. Tom Botchii, leading this directorial debut in a feature-length film, is also known for his shorts 11 Minutes, and Goldblooded. …

I’ve been dying to watch The Perished for the past year, but something always came up. Finally, I was able to watch it for Panic Fest 2020 and let’s just say it was worth the wait. This gut-wrenching film was written and directed by Paddy Murphy. The cast includes Fiach …

Exorcism films are fun because they’re scary, and often, they deal with unfamiliar themes. On the other hand, they almost always include the all too familiar young woman in a tattered, dirty nightgown with ashy skin, facial wounds, and lips as dry as the Sahara, screaming demonic vitriol in a …

Greenlight is a thriller about an amateur director who gets his opportunity at creating a feature-length film, but there’s a catch. One of the crew must suffer a terrible fate. The film was both created and directed by Graham Denman, his directorial debut in a feature-length film, who’s also an …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Every parent’s worst nightmare is the kidnapping of their child. The short film, Amber, directed by Andrew Wynkoop (To Pierce An Angel’s Wing 2017), addresses this issue with a nightmarish twist. I recently got to watch it for Panic Fest 2020. The film stars Sherill Quinn (Choice 2019), Johnny Gilligan …