By: Nick van Dinther As soon as you read the synopsis for Lost Solace, you can tell that this will be a unique story idea that, if executed well, will be a quite a treat for audiences. Thankfully, the film meets its potential and then some.
By: Trevor Chartrand Doomed by circumstance, citizens of the gritty slum town Badsville are generally faced with two options: escape the city or die trying. In a corrupt town ruled by gangsters and criminals, the world built in director April Mullen’s Badsville may be bleak and daunting, but it’s not a world without hope.
By: Nick van Dinther From the very first scene in Den of Thieves, it becomes fairly obvious that this is not going to be your typical shoot ‘em up popcorn flick. It’s actually a smart, well written, edge-of-your-seat thriller that defies all expectations.
Horror fodder like Friend Request tends to be dismissed based on its timely nature, which is really too bad. These digital age thrillers may borrow from other formulas (or other movies), but they certainly are not derivative. In the case of Friend Request, it owes a debt of gratitude to fellow social media flick Unfriended, but it fuses its modern premise of cyberstalking with revered lore and finds a good balance between “old” and “new”…
By: Nick van Dinther There are so many wonderful and creative upstart filmmakers putting out fantastic work. Whether they’re film students or people with a true passion for the industry, they do their best to fund an idea, bring it to life, and share it with the world. When they decide to release the project for profit however, it needs to meet a certain standard. Brownwell Entertainment’s Friends Don’t Let Friends, a horror/thriller about covering…
Collaborating filmmakers Rob Grant and Mike Kovac receive a tape from an alleged fan mimicking a disturbing scene from their crime comedy Mon Ami. Rob and Grant, immediately feeling guilty about inspiring a movie goer in the wrong way, reflect on cinematic violence and compare it to real-life acts of assault. It’s a personal insightful adventure that leads them down an unpredictable rabbit hole.
In 2014, at the Blood in the Snow Film Festival, I had rather exciting things to say about director Audrey Cummings. The film she screened was her feature film debut, Berkshire County, and while it treaded common ground, she at least showed enough awareness to spin clichés into something new.
Starting Friday, November 10, Toronto movie goers can finally check out Poor Agnes, a Canadian thriller that was an award-winner at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival and this past month’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival. As someone who has seen the movie, I’m anticipating the release because I want to know if people will have the same reactions I had. Much like the unfortunate victim who falls for Agnes’ manipulative tricks, Poor Agnes sent me into a freaky frenzy…
