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…
Cold Hell (DIR. Stefan Ruzowitzky) Cold Hell is a dark and gritty crime thriller written by Martin Ambrosch and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky. The film has been deservedly compared to other serial-killer thrillers like David Fincher’s Se7en; though it doesn’t revolutionize the genre, Cold Hell’s adrenaline-fuelled brutality prove that following the usual formula isn’t always a bad thing.
Two teenage girls come-of-age in a small town. They use “teen speak”, spend all their time on social media, and find themselves consumed by their various hobbies. What makes Tragedy Girls different from a plethora of similar films is that one of these girls’ hobbies is murder.
Filmmaker Reese Eveneshen seems to be his own worst enemy with his latest project Defective. On one hand, on a limited budget, he’s developed Toronto into a nameless city living in a convincing dystopia. The visuals are on par with the works of Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium). However, Eveneshen’s overwritten screenplay becomes so convoluted, it reaches a point of no return.
The tagline for The Limehouse Golem boasts that its fictional Victorian London serial killer precedes the infamous Jack the Ripper. We have yet to see a compelling cinematic take on the Ripper murders (including the Hughes Brothers’ tragically underwhelming Johnny Depp vehicle From Hell). Though it merely draws inspiration from the Ripper, The Limehouse Golem suggests that we may have to wait a bit longer.
