Festivals
Udine 2024 Review: THEIR LAST LOVE AFFAIR, Lee Myung-se's Daring and Dazzling Tale of Illicit Romance
This year's Far East Film Festival is screening a large number of South Korean classics, including a full program dedicated to the country's fascinating 1950s output, such as Park Nam-ok's progressive drama The Widow, the first Korean film ever directed...
Udine 2024 Review: 12.12: THE DAY, Riveting Drama Brings Dark Episode of Korean History Into the Light
One of the final dark closets of modern Korean history gets thrown wide open in Kim Sung-soo's riveting historical drama 12.12: The Day. The film dramatises the coup d'état that took place in the wake of the assassination of President...
Udine 2024 Review: THE ROUNDUP: PUNISHMENT Wins One More Round in a Franchise Clinging to the Ropes
It’s Beast Cop vs Bitcoin in the fourth instalment of Ma Dong-seok’s enduringly popular Roundup action franchise, as his hulking detective goes toe-to-toe with a tech-savvy crime syndicate looking to expand into crypto. Helmed by action director Heo Myeong-haeng, Ma’s...
Friday One Sheet: THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY
This cream-coloured, coffee focused, exercise in minimalism and symbolism is for the tight, one location 'bag of money' suspense thriller The Last Stop in Yuma County. I have no idea why, but i wish more designers would put the title...
Udine 2024 Review: CITIZEN OF A KIND, A New Kind of Hero Rises in Delightful Female-Centric Vigilante Drama
If its films and dramas are to be believed, South Korea is a land teeming with vigilantes. They are typically brooding, sharply dressed and very attractive characters with dark pasts who mete out justice with brute strength or elaborate schemes,...
Fantaspoa 2024 Review: THE COMPLEX FORMS, How Classic Auteur Cinema Would Be If It Had More Monsters
Strange things are happening at an ancient villa in the literal middle of nowhere. A bunch of men are gathered here, all of them with a peculiar contract. A middle-aged man named Christian (David White) is in the process of...
Calgary Underground 2024 Review: HUMANE, The Family That Slays Together Stays Together
Apocalypses in Canadian cinema tend to occur in slow motion, and have a subversive touch of quiet absurdity. The two undisputed classics of the genre are Don McKellar’s Last Night, and Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool. Caitlin Cronenberg aims for that lofty...
Calgary Underground 2024: Curtain Raiser
The Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) opens its 21st edition today, and runs until April 28th. Western Canada's largest showcase of genre film, offbeat documentaries, and industry events is housed in the two-screen (stacked on top of one another) Globe Cinema in the...
Chattanooga Film Festival 2024: Massive, Mind-Melting Last Wave
Wow. Wow wow wow. The Chattanooga Film Festival just unleashed a cavalcade of cinematic insanity for their upcoming extravaganza (June 21-23 in person, June 21-28 virtual). We’re big fans of CFF’s annual explosion of genre fun, featuring narrative features, docs,...
Fantaspoa 2024 Review: THE ISLAND BETWEEN TIDES, Supernatural Mind-Teaser About Time, Ghosts and Complicated Relationships
When Lily (Remy Marthaller) was a child, she followed a mysterious melody and wandered onto a tidal island, disappearing for several days – though, when she returned, she claimed she was actually gone for mere minutes. Sixteen years later, it’s...
Fantaspoa 2024 Review: MASTERGAME (Mesterjátszma), Visually Compelling Thriller with Chess, Trains and Bathroom Fights
It’s November 1956, and Russian tanks have just invaded Budapest, crushing the revolution. A young couple, István (Gergely Váradi) and Márta (Varga-Járó Sára), rushes for the last train that can get them out of the country. When aboard, they are...
Panic Fest 2024 Review: THE BUILDOUT, Beautiful Meditation on Grief and Friendship
Writer/director Zeshaan Younus' feature debut flirts with genre in the same way Tarkovsky and Malick flirt with genre. The film follows two friends as they venture into the mysterious remote area in a vast Southern California desert that a religious...
Panic Fest 2024: Spanish Shorts APOTEMNOFILIA and FACIES Wow With Extreme Violence and Exciting Ideas
Panic Fest offers up another fantastic selection of shorts this year, but two in particular have stuck with me. Facies and Apotemnofilia both deliver shocking, stomach-churning moments of extreme violence that are memorable enough for the bodily reactions they elicit....
Panic Fest 2024 Review: OFF RAMP Celebrates Found Juggalo Family As Only Juggalos Can
Off Ramp is never subtle. Within the first five minutes, when Trey (Jon Oswald) is released from prison and says a heartfelt goodbye to correctional officer and fellow Juggalo (devoted fan of Insane Clown Posse) Faith (Laura Cayouette), the film...
Panic Fest 2024 Review: WORLDS Asks a Lot of Questions, Offers No Answers
Like its fellow found footage/mockumentary and Panic Fest 2024 film Jeffrey’s Hell, Worlds begins with an interview. Morgan Williams (Nikki Neurohr) talks about how she and some friends began to see a strange man (Nick Dailey), who always wore all...
Panic Fest 2024 Review: JEFFREY'S HELL Is a Brilliantly Self-Reflexive Found Footage Film
Writer/director Aaron Irons’s debut film Chest marked him as someone to watch. His sophomore effort, Jeffrey’s Hell, confirms that he’s one of the most interesting filmmakers working in the found footage horror genre. Chest follows a documentary crew investigating an...
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OUT IN THE RING: Award-winning LGBTQIA+ Wrestling Doc Available on Blu-ray Now!
Ry Levey's award-winning LGBTQIA+ wrestling documentary, Out In The Ring, is available right now on Blu-ray over at Vinegar Syndrome. There is a limited edition slip cover version and standard version available. Our own Josh caught Out In The...
(Good) Friday One Sheet: HUMANE
Curious timing on the Christian calendar for today’s column. We are not at the resurrection yet on Good Friday, only the sacrifice, and the death-heavy poster for Humane shows that. Perfect ordered body bags, in an neutral grey setting, suggest...
Calgary Underground Film Festival: Films and Events Announced
The Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) is Western Canada’s largest genre film festival which showcases everything from horror and sci-fi to indie comedies and music and fan docs. The 21st Edition of CUFF runs from April 18-28 and will open...
IN A VIOLENT NATURE Official Trailer: Chris Nash's "Genre-Redefining Zombie-Slasher" is Coming For You
By all accounts In A Violent Nature, the feature film debut from writer/director Chris Nash, is a game changer, a single film that revolutionizes the slasher genre. One of the buzziest titles to come out of Sundance this year we're...
