By: Anthony King GOING IN: In this day in age, does the idea of more Vampires excite you? Or, has their rise to immense popularity and over saturation begun to turn you away? Personally I love vampires. I’ve read half an Anne Rice novel back in high school, so you can say I’m a pretty big fan of the subject. Just because there’s one series of films that are laughably bad and cheesy doesn’t mean…
By: Addison Wylie Happy Slapping is a movie that slowly won me over. It’s a film that’s difficult to get used to, but I’m glad I finally did. That said, I am torn. Despite my surprised reaction, Christos Sourligas’ film is something I can’t outright endorse. At least, not without a few warnings and reservations because of how it was conceived and how it ultimately looks on screen. You may have heard of Happy Slapping…
By: Addison Wylie There’s a craft to making dirty words and sexual innuendos funny that Sunflower Hour never masters. Aaron Houston’s mockumentary gathers a decent amount of giggles when its playing up pathetic characters in cleverly clean ways, but the comedy would much rather have those dolts exclaim expletives, or call things “gay”. The film centres around puppeteers competing for an open slot on ‘Sunflower Hour’, a supposedly successful – albeit cheaply made – children’s…
By: Addison Wylie What partly hurts Bird Co. Media is its insistence to make people believe it’s a documentary. Actions in the movie may have been inspired by real life events, but once you see how the film is formatted, you’ll have all the reason to doubt. For instance, cameras follow our leads and then freely cut around them – including on the other sides of doors. Those are some nimble cameramen. Bird Co. Media…
By: Addison Wylie Afflicted isn’t a found footage film, but rather a mockumentary documenting Derek Lee and Clif Prowse’s year long trip around the world. The film does, however, use the same techniques we’ve seen in previous found footage horrors. Luckily, the filmmakers in charge of this creature feature know what they’re doing. In fact, there are a lot of things filmmakers/co-stars Lee and Prowse do brilliantly in Afflicted. Firstly, the duo cover their asses extremely…
By: Addison Wylie Authors Anonymous didn’t have any laughs in it for me, but I believe that’s because I couldn’t relate to it. The mockumentary about five writers who gather to critique their works-in-progress hopes to derive humour from these eccentric personalities. One author is desperate for attention, one is the “ideas guy”, another likes to remind others of his future success while another writer can’t name a single author. There’s a young slacker who…
By: Addison Wylie What do I say about The Dirties? A film that shook me up and has hung around with me days after I’ve seen it. Matt Johnson’s courageous and ambitious feature film debut is a tough film to recommend to a wide audience because of its timely, controversial material handled with a sense of humour. You definitely have to be in a specific mood for its darker approach to school shootings and the…