By: Trevor Chartrand Insane Like Me? is the first feature film from director Chip Joslin, who also wrote the script with the movie’s star, Britt Bankhead. This lackluster thriller has a number of faults, most of which are hard to ignore.
When I wrote about Ryan Ward’s directorial feature debut Son of the Sunshine, I was humbled by the filmmaker’s response to my unenthused review. I had labeled his film as “maple syrup melancholy”, a term I coined to encompass Canada’s ongoing trend of churning out depressing, empty movies. I thought the term was clever, Ward didn’t think so. The Canadian writer/director advised that, while disliking a movie and its motives is fine, labelling art can…
By: Jolie Featherstone Talk to Me, by brothers Danny and Michael Philippou (a.k.a. RackaRacka of YouTube fame), is a modern folk tale charged with the rush and hook of viral trends, and the desperate compulsion of grief.
If you’re looking for genuine scares, look no further. Evil Eye (Mal de Ojo in Spanish) is the real deal. Get ready for great special effects, maximum impact jump scares, and chills.
8 (DIR. Harold Holscher) Horror can be found just about anywhere, however not all horror is equal. This is why films that incorporate real-life horrors must be particularly aware of how they incorporate the various elements. Former TAD presentation Under the Shadow is a great example of how to do this correctly. But, this is why Harold Holscher’s 8 is so conflicting. It doesn’t really have much to say about its source events, creating a final product…
Ghosts are just ordinary people who have died. Surely, that means they are all around us, right? Extra Ordinary starts with this quirky concept and adds satanism, post-domestic abuse, and driving school experience to turn the weirdness up to eleven. The film’s weirdness isn’t its only trick, however, because Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman’s film is roaringly funny despite that.
Curiosity is a quality that keeps on giving. M. Night Shyamalan, for instance, is a filmmaker who is eager to explore his own craft. And while his back catalogue has included projects that have snowballed out of his own range, he’s at least owning his ambition and finding original stories to tell audiences. His latest collaborations with indie empire Blumhouse Productions have been great vehicles to anchor his passion projects and visual filmmaking. Such is…
An adventure is difficult to endure when it’s lacking thrills or fun. A film made by unenthused people is hard for an audience member to get wrapped up in. Antidote, a supernatural thriller starring mixed martial arts powerhouse Randy Couture, is an example of both unsavoury moviegoing situations.
Our House graduates from the “Paranormal Activity Institute of Small and Effectual Scares”. Actually, if we’re rating this supernatural horror against the Paranormal Activity series, it’s on par with the first two films, and ranks higher than the franchise’s final two chapters. For what it’s worth, that’s a decent sweet spot for Anthony Scott Burns and his feature-length debut.
Another Soul will remind viewers of other movies. It’s an echo of supernatural horror stories told before featuring demons, possessions, conflicted parents, and exorcisms. But, Another Soul is also a shoestring effort working with limited resources that no one would truly want to slam because the cast and crew are simply “doing their best”. This, perhaps, could’ve acted as an excuse to criticize Paul Chau’s film on a curve, but I’m afraid the Paranormal Activity franchise has…