Longtime lovers Dana (Fiona Dourif) and Charles (Kevin Ryan) are in a relationship rut. She wants more, and he thinks life is pretty swell. The mere mention of having kids sends Charles into stammers, while Dana sighs and continues to suppress signs of her newfound pregnancy.
Horror cinema is often limited to its wheelhouse of established fears – ghosts, demons, strangers, monsters, or disturbing details. Horror hounds are always looking for different scares though, and are always welcoming of a filmmaker’s ambition. Failure is still an option, but the best case scenario is that these directorial risks pay off and make lasting provocative impressions – much like Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow. It’s an incredible horror film that deals with not just the supernatural, but also…
The Eyes of My Mother is a painstakingly-crafted black-and-white chiller that has been described as a horror/drama. While writer/director Nicolas Pesce delivers a heart-wrenching story with unsettling imagery, it all adds up to a bleak and empty experience.
The Blair Witch Project inspired independent filmmakers and the found footage genre – the resourceful film perfectly executed psychological horror. Blair Witch, the semi-sequel-reboot released this year, delved into the franchise’s psychological lore, but also fancied being somewhat of a creature feature with broader scares.
Inspiration may be Jason Armstrong’s first feature-length movie in seven years, but he’s been a consistent storyteller. Just this Summer, Armstrong (along with frequent collaborator Mike Klassen) made 9 Days with Cambria, a moderately successful web series confronting abuse through short stories performed by different actresses portraying the same character.
A murderer whose calling card is a scratched-down horror story; a couple goes trick or treating and it quickly gets out of hand; a family brings home a witch to burn at the stake; a group of gutter punks find an easier way to come by food; a pair of police officers have a shady side business.
Capture Kill Release begins in the middle of a devious plot: young lovers Jenn and Farhang (played by Jennifer Fraser and Farhang Ghajar) are toying with the idea of murdering a random person. Their intentions and motives are deliberately foggy, which makes the film’s fly-on-the-wall experience more unsettling, disturbing, and impossible to look away – this is not for the faint of heart.
Lights Out, really, only has two good scares. And, you saw both of them in the previews. Despite that, there’s something about David F. Sandberg’s harmless horror flick that warms me over nonetheless.
The Master Cleanse (DIR. Bobby Miller) The Master Cleanse is such a small film, it’s easy to see why it would slip under someone’s radar. It’s 79 minutes long, contains a seemingly underdeveloped plot, and the film doesn’t seem to provide much in way of cultural presence. This is why Bobby Miller’s movie was such a pleasant surprise – it was so endearing.
