It must be getting increasingly difficult to make effective “monsters under the bed” and “monsters in the closet” horror shorts, with so many variations on the theme in both short-film […]
Tag: FilmQuest
[Review] An Ideal Host [FilmQuest]: Australian Genre-Bender Brings an Invasion of Laughs and Chills
The Australian feature An Ideal Host (2020) is a horror/science fiction/comedy hybrid that delivers on all three fronts. Liz (Nadia Collins) and Jackson (Evan Williams) are planning the ideal dinner […]
Genre-Cinema Mecca FilmQuest Reveals Its 2021 In-Person Lineup
Provo, Utah’s award-winning FilmQuest film festival has announced its lineup of cinematic genre-film fare— including 14 feature films and dozens of short films from around the world— for its 2021 […]
[Review] Laura Hasn’t Slept [FilmQuest]: The Face of Fear Awaits a Young Woman’s Slumber
Writer/director Parker Finn’s terrific short film Laura Hasn’t Slept combines the concept from the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise (along with other horror properties) of avoiding sleep so as […]
[Review] Hungry Joe [FilmQuest]: People and Systems Fail a Distraught Mother Whose Son Has a Voracious Appetite
I strongly recommend watching U.K. horror short Hungry Joe on an empty stomach. Codirectors/cowriters Samuel Dawe and Paul Holbrook pull no punches in their 23-minute meeting of body horror and […]
[Review] Seek [FilmQuest]: Outstanding Design and Effects Highlight This Excellent Creature Feature Short
Director Aaron Morgan wrings the maximum creepy atmosphere possible in five minutes in his short film Seek. This tale of a rest stop break gone terrifyingly wrong is also bolstered […]
[Review] Changeling [FilmQuest]: A Fatigued Mother Is Plagued by an Otherworldly Terror
The cries of a baby and the slow but caring response of the child’s weary mother kick off a sense of dread in Scottish writer/director Faye Jackson’s U.K. short horror […]
FilmQuest Official 2020 Selections Include Vampires, Creeps, and Brains
FilmQuest is well known as a film festival rich with genre-cinema treasures, and the fest strongly backs up that reputation with its superb 2020 official selections. The seventh annual FilmQuest […]
[Review] Maggie May (FilmQuest): Foreboding Atmosphere and the Horrors of Inaction Drive Disquieting Australian Short
Writer/director Mia Kate Russell explores the potential terrors of inaction in her Australian short film Maggie May, which offers up some of the most disturbing horrific images in recent memory, […]
FilmQuest Reveals Terrific 2019 Festival Lineup and Guests
FilmQuest, one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “30 Bloody Best Genre Fests in the World in 2019,” has announced a stellar lineup of more than 190 features and shorts highlighting some of […]
[Review] Lunch Ladies (FilmQuest 2018): Death Can’t Dash the Dreams of Two Sisters Obsessed with Johnny Depp
Nothing can get in the way of two sisters who have dreams of becoming Johnny Depp’s personal chefs – not even a crime of passion – in the hilarious, glop-ridden […]
[Review] Maw (Muil) (FilmQuest 2018): Macabre Fantasies About Being Eaten Drive Artful Psychological Chiller
A dark journey into the mind of a man increasingly obsessed with the desire to be eaten by either animals or monsters, the Belgian horror short Maw (Muil) is a […]
[Review] Meow (FilmQuest, 2017): Death Follows a Feline Adoption in Wry Horror Short
Writer/director Christopher Jopp delivers an amusing horror short with a decidedly 1980s vibe with Meow. This fun, wicked work recalls the best television terror anthology shows from that decade, but […]