FrightFest has outdone itself with its line-up announcement for the FrightFest Glasgow 2022 edition! With no less than a dozen outstanding fright-fare and thriller offerings from around the globe, this is a can’t-miss film festival for aficionados of the strange and the suspenseful. Following is the official press announcement. The UK’s No.1 horror & fantasy […]
MidWest WeirdFest once again serves up cinema fare from the challenging to the chilling, as evidenced by the first wave announcement for this year’s edition of the Eau Claire, Wisconsin-based film festival. Monsters, metal music, and assorted mayhem are all on tap. Following is the official press announcement. MidWest WeirdFest announces its first programming wave […]
The Final Girls Berlin Film Festival hosts a treasure trove of incredible fear fare for its 7th edition, which is set for February 3-6, 2022 on the big screen and in person, with a worldwide On Demand presentation of most of its scheduled short films. In addition to presenting 7 fine feature films, the fest […]
When reviewing a Joe Badon film, words such as “ersatz,” “systematically,” and “avuncular” will never work. Nor will attempting diatribes or didacticism. His films are like surreal gossamer coated with Dadaist treacle. His newest work is the short film The Blood of the Dinosaurs, a prologue to his upcoming feature film The Wheel of Heaven, […]
Chile/Argentina coproduction Apps is a horror anthology based around smartphone apps. Its segments are much like apps in that some work well while others are disappointing. After the first segment of the good-looking but rather lackluster wraparound “Date Freak,” the film kicks into high gear with director Jose Miguel Zuniga’s “Eye Wolf,” in which female […]
Loosely based on accounts of a creature that is said to be the subject of one of the first Bigfoot sightings in Texas in the 1800s as well as in a more modern encounter, The Wild Man of the Navidad (2008 but receiving a new DVD rerelease) hearkens back to the heyday of 1970s docudrama […]
U.K. horror feature The Last Rite mixes a few different elements of terror, resulting in an effort that tries to pack too much into one film but boasts some effective spookiness. Bethan Waller’s performance, especially during the second half, is enough to warrant a recommendation. Waller stars as Lucy, a young woman who begins seeing […]
Horror-on-Sea returns in January with a tantalizing array of international independent horror features and short films. From ghoul-fests to gorefests and creatures to comedy, there’s something for every fright-fare fanatic at the Southend fest. Following is the official press release. Following a hiatus in 2021 due to the pandemic, Horror-on-Sea will be making a welcome […]
Attention, filmmakers: SLASH Filmfestival — home to weird, wild, and wonderful genre cinema in Austria — is now accepting submissions for its 13th edition next year. Gruesome Magazine had the pleasure of reviewing such terrific SLASH entries as You’re Dead Hélène and Tale of the Deaf for this year’s edition, and we can’t wait to […]
What’s a young girl to do when she has a mother that isn’t big on communication and interaction, a teen sister who worships H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional Old Gods, her father has recently passed away — and she begins seeing a strange, frightening creature outside her window? Writer/director O.B. De Alessi explores these questions and others […]
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 and feature-length outings. Writer/director/editor Joseph Covello shows that it is still possible, however, in his Canadian short film He Comes at Night. Covello does this […]
Writer/director Michiel Blanchart’s Belgian/French short film You’re Dead Hélène (T’es morte Hélène; 2021) is a remarkable genre-blending effort that takes viewers on a ride through three different storytelling genres and a wide range of emotions. Hélène (Lucile Vignolles) is in a complicated relationship with Maxime (Théophile Roux). She is having a hard time letting go […]
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 party at which Jackson will “spontaneously” propose to Liz — something that the couple has rehearsed well — surprising all the guests. We all know […]
Canada’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival (BITS), which is running a virtual festival this weekend (information at https://www.bloodinthesnow.ca/) from October 29-31, has announced the in-theater lineup for its November 18-23 run at Toronto’s Royal Cinema. Along with the hilarious horror comedy Vicious Fun and the dark Canadian folk horror The Family (Gruesome Magazine’s review […]
The latest entry in the folk horror/religious cult subgenres of cinema is the Canadian offering The Family (2021) and it is a dark film, indeed. It offers top-notch acting and a heavy sense of dread from the opening scenes, but unfortunately recalls films — one in particular that I won’t spoil here — that have […]