It’s clear from the way they pay tribute to the filmmakers that came before that first-time writers/directors Kenta Osaka and Hirohito Takimoto watched a lot of horror movies before sitting down to create Tokyo Home Stay Massacre. Some of their tributes will be immediately identifiable, such as the spooky creature with the extremely long hair […]
As someone with an aversion to on-screen torture, it truly means something when I say that director Sigurd Culhane’s dark comedy/thriller short Green Cobra is a hilariously uncomfortable, recommended watch. The short boasts both gut-churning and gut-busting sequences. Green Cobra is filmed using wide lenses and a thick green filter, and kicks off with a […]
A superb example of how to take a relatable feeling of tranquility and launch it into a surreal science fiction scenario, director Trish Harnetiaux’s short film You Wouldn’t Understand is a delightful, gorgeous-looking journey into the absurd. A man (Anthony Arkin, who also performed editing duties) is enjoying a relaxing solo picnic and reading a […]
I love it when a story surprises me – and Spontaneous has done just that. Not going to lie – I put this one on the back burner for a week or so – it gave off a little too much of a “romantic/comedy” vibe from the trailer and synopsis – and well, I don’t […]
“They want nothing from you and God help you if you try to interfere.” It seems a little corny for husband and wife filmmaking team Lane and Ruckus Skye to begin their feature film debut with a dire quote from a 2010 census to underline the dangerous nature of people living in the remote region […]
Two mad doctors — well, they may not be totally made yet, but they are well on their way — reanimate a corpse in the fun horror-comedy short Half-Cocked. The problem is, they chose the wrong person to try and gift with eternal life. Dr. Grant Kirby (Pat Healy) and Dr. Gabriella Flores (Vanessa Benavente) […]
It’s not easy being 18-year-olds adrift between the worlds of the teenage years and adulthood, but you certainly have to “adult” pretty quickly when you are first suspected of being robbers and then become the victims of a home invasion — especially if you hope to make it out of the situation alive. This is […]
Whether it’s a closeup of Lon Chaney Jr’s face getting hairier and hairier using lapse-dissolve photography in his various Universal Monster Movies or Rick Baker’s Oscar-winning full body transformation of David Naughton in An American Werewolf in London, the measuring stick for all werewolf films is the transformation scene. A good transformation scene not only […]
Eating just before watching the mind-blowing horror short Mashed Potato Face is not recommended. Many readers can probably relate to the feeling of taking another bite of mashed potatoes when you’re already stuffed, and the queasy feeling that can accompany that decision. Well, that’s nothing compared to how viewers will feel while watching this short, […]
It’s not much of a gig for Myles Park (Steve Vanderzee) being the opening act for a Hollywood sell-out trying to return to his stand-up roots to prove he is more than just a guy making bad movies for the money. But it takes place in a real theater and that sure beats telling jokes […]
Breakfast is a gripping Australian shocker short blending body horror with another fright-fare aspect that would be criminal to spoil here. Written by Paul Beattie and codirected by Beattie and Melanie Rios, Breakfast delivers an eerie tale featuring differing character perspectives and a chilling atmosphere throughout. Katherine (Rebecca Smee) has been sick and bedridden for […]
The Faceless Man is a confusing mess. The first 10 minutes feel like a high school theater production of an angst-filled father/daughter melodrama that takes place in the middle of a crowded cancer ward. It’s badly acted, badly written, and almost bad enough to make you stop watching altogether. But please don’t. When the action […]
Ever wonder where all the love for Thanksgiving horror is? Well, so do I. Thanksgiving is that lost holiday right between Halloween and Christmas, heck even the decorations in my household go directly from ghosts, monsters and pumpkins to Santa, snowmen and reindeer. Well thankfully this gory serving of Thanksgiving horror from up and coming […]
Writer/director Finn Callan’s U.K. short film Guest is rich in spine-tingling atmosphere, from the bandaged appearance of its protagonist Mary (Melania Crisan) to the heavy sense of dread throughout to the decidedly creepy reason why Mary is in her current state. Mary has entered, uninvited, the home of a woman (Jessica Munna) after being pursued […]
The latest entry in the subgenre of young women finding power as werewolves is I Am Lisa, a film that follows such entries as Canada’s Ginger Snaps (2000) and the Danish/French coproduction When Animals Dream (2014). Prolific director Patrick Rea’s (Arbor Demon [2016]; Nailbiter [2013]) latest feature, I Am Lisa combines a powerful revenge story […]