Indie Reviews
CAAMFest 2024 Review: EXTREMELY UNIQUE DYNAMIC, When BFFs Test the Limits of Friendship
Harrison Yu and Ivan Leung star in a friendly, funny movie that plumbs the depths of friendship, written and directed by Yu, Leung, and Katherine Dudas.
GASOLINE RAINBOW Review: Ode to Childhood and Kindness of Strangers
They say drunk people, children and fools always speak the truth. No word is truer than that of a drunk foolish kid, as Gasoline Rainbow proves. The docu-drama hybrid is a warm-hearted look at five naive teens going on a...
LAZARETH Review: Survival Thriller Hits One Too Many Familiar Beats
Teens and hormones. Together, they’re responsible for the realization of any number of worst-case scenarios. Once activated, however, they’re the perfect catalyst for drama in all its permutations, up to and including writer-director Alec Tipaldi’s (The Daphne Project, Spiral Farm)...
THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY Review: Thrilling, Enjoyable Neo-Western
Jim Cummings, Jocelin Donahue, and Sierra McCormick star in a film by Francis Galluppi.
TIME OF THE HEATHEN Review: Lost Indie Feature Showcases a Bleak Post-WWII America
It's safe to say that the post-WWII years were not as good as many people had claimed for many years. Despite propaganda lauding those years as a time of prosperity and success for all, it didn't take long for that...
FOIL Review: Finding Aliens and Restoring Friendships in the Wilderness
Like many who think they are leaving their hometown behind in a cloud of dust, Dexter (Zach Green) has found himself returning, somewhat with his proverbial tail between his legs. His big dreams of a indie film career in Hollywood...
I SAW THE TV GLOW Review: Discomfiting Blend of Fantasy, Horror, Drama
Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine star in Jane Schoenbrun's sophomore feature, from A24 Films.
NEW LIFE Review: Tight Horror Thriller
Hayley Erin and Sonya Walger star in John Rosman's directorial debut, a genre-blending thriller. The less you know, the better.
THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED Review: Comedic Discomfort in Millenial Ennui
While ennui and angst are common to many generations, I can imagine it could be much more accute among millenials - anything that might have been considered a 'normal' life gave up the ghost before they came of age. They're...
THE KING TIDE Review: The Fable of a Miracle Gone Wrong
Living in a harsh landscape, somewhat apart and isolated, means you make certain choices about how much assistance you will receive, and how much protection you will offer your community. It also means that legends can grow up around people...
HANKY PANKY Review: Cheap, Dumb, Delightful
Lindsey Haun and Nick Roth directed the horror comedy, available April 19 on VOD. "It's a silly movie that just wants to make its audience smile, and it succeeds."
SASQUATCH SUNSET Review: Sometimes Comical, Sometimes Profound, Sometimes Meaningful
Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg star in a new film by directors David and Nathan Zellner.
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...
IN FLAMES Review: The Supernatural Meets Patriarchal Conditioning
The term 'gaslighting' is now quite ubiquitous, and one which still remains scoffed at by many (usually those who hold power). But if you're a member of a marginalized group, that gaslighting could come not just from one person, but...
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...
ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH Review: The Power of Song Will Devour You
Folk horror is often associated with a particular location, or perhaps a physical object that can be held in hands, something concretely tangible. But, especially in an age when the folkiness of this horror, the true human darkness from which...
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...
THE PEOPLE'S JOKER Review: Maniacally Magical
It makes perfect sense that writer/director/effects artist/star Vera Drew doesn't want to rewatch The People’s Joker anymore. Drew has spent more than three years with the film now, since its beginning as a re-edit of the 2019 film Joker, through the...
