Festivals: SXSW
SXSW 2023 Review: BLOODY HELL, What Even Is a 'Normal' Body?
A woman's body is a battleground: not for her, necessarily (though it can be), but more for a society that wants to keep women narrowly confined and strictly controlled. From the moment that the patriarchy decides that it is convenient...
SXSW 2023 Review: SATAN WANTS YOU, Examining The Birth Of The '80s Satanic Panic
We don’t often cover documentaries here, but once in a while a film will cross our paths that it makes sense to discuss. Directors’ Steve J. Adams & Sean Horlor’s new film definitely fits that bill. An exploration of the...
SXSW 2023 Review: TETRIS, Taron Egerton Anchors Fun Cold War Thriller About Legal Contracts
When we think of video game movies these days, the first mental images that surface are inevitably garish, computer generated characters, over the top, cartoonish performances; maybe the occasional survival horror adaptation. Rarely does one imagine a procedural thriller about...
SXSW 2023 Review: FURIES, A Confused Uber Sleazy Actioner Misses The Mark
We all love Ngô Thanh Vân, better known in the West by her professional name, Veronica Ngô. First introduced to savvy genre film fans in the ‘00s through her kickass collaborations with Johnny Tri Nguyen in The Rebel (Dòng máu...
SXSW 2023 Review: CHRONICLES OF A WANDERING SAINT, A Magical Realist Triumph From First Time Filmmaker Tomás Gómez Bustillo
A magical realist fantasy, first time director Tomás Gómez Bustillo’s Chronicles of a Wandering Saint imagines the path to heaven for a pious woman with dreams of sainthood. Combining old world, small town charm with modern technology and gentle humor, Saint...
SXSW 2023 Review: MONOLITH, Single Setting Sci-Fi Delivers Creeping Dread
A disgraced journalist tries to claw her way back into the game through a podcast on the metaphysical mysteries of the unexplained in first time feature director Matt Vesely’s Monolith. A single character, single location science fiction thriller, Monolith delivers...
SXSW 2023 Review: EVIL DEAD RISE, A Gloriously Blood Soaked New Direction For An Old Fave
Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise confidently tackles the beloved franchise with new vigor and violence, opening up a world of possibilities for one of horror’s most cherished franchises. Much like Raimi’s third entry in the original series, Army of Darkness,...
SXSW 2023 Review: BROOKLYN 45, Ghosts Of The Past Bring The War Back From The Dead
It’s two days after Christmas, 1945 and the war is over, or at least it’s supposed to be. When Colonel Clive Hockstetter (Larry Fessenden) invites his old army buddies over for dinner, they all suspect it’s just a simple get-together...
SXSW 2023 Review: ABERRANCE, A Bold Debut Thriller From Mongolian Director Baatar Batsukh
You can’t really trust anyone, including your narrators, in the twisty new Mongolian thriller Aberrance, making its international debut at this year’s SXSW. Written, directed, and shot by Baatar Batsukh, Aberrance is a visually dynamic, at times perplexing film that...
SXSW 2023 Review: IT LIVES INSIDE, An Indian American Teen Faces A Monster From The Old Country
It’s a banner year for debut filmmakers at SXSW, and Bishal Dutta’s It Lives Inside is one of the reasons that we can make that claim. A horror story centering around first generation Indian-American teens, It Lives Inside balances the...
SXSW 2023 Review: THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER, A Different Kind Of Frankenstein Story
Transposing the classic Frankenstein story to the milieu of a black neighborhood in the South, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster uses well-worn horror tropes to examine the experiences and fears of the African American community through horror. Writer/director...
ABERRANCE: Raven Banner Boards Worldwide Sales For Mongolian Horror Flick
Over the weekend Raven Banner announced that they have boarded worldwide sales for the Mongolian horror flick Aberrance. The announcement and studio trailer can be found below. An estranged couple takes a retreat in the woods. Foreboding neighbors, frivolous...
SXSW 2023 Review: MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE, A Handmade Lo-Fi Sci-Fi Rom-Com Gem
While the age of the classic romantic comedy seems to have passed us by, films like Michael Lukk Litwak’s Molli and Max in the Future remind us that there is still magic to be wrung from well worn tropes if...
SXSW 2023 Review: THE WRATH OF BECKY, Hell Hath No Fury Like This Teenage Girl's Scorn
Becky is back, and this time it’s… pretty much the same as last time. Three years ago, the world witnessed one of the craziest heel turns in recent history, funny guy Kevin James (The King of Queens, Paul Blart: Mall...
SXSW 2023 Review: THIS CLOSENESS, The Awkward Loneliness of Modern Love
Have social interactions with strangers always been fraught with awkwardness, or has contemporary society and its technological trappings made it worse? How do we decide on new rules for behaviour and etiquette, especially when crossing cultural and class lines? I'd...
SXSW 2023 Review: LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL, An Exorcism On Live TV, What Could Go Wrong?
It’s 1977 and TV talk show host Jack Delroy’s (David Dastmalchian) career is on the skids. Once a titan of late-night TV, the tragic death of his wife has left him a shell of his former self, and his ratings...
Ted Geoghegan's BROOKLYN 45 Gets a Beautiful Hand Painted Poster
Like every good cinephile out there we love ourselves a great movie poster and this 1940s inspired poster for Ted Geoghegan's upcoming Brooklyn 45 is no exception. What a thing of beauty. Geoghegan says that this poster was hand...
SXSW 2023 Preview - So Many Great Flicks
It's time for another big Texas festival with SXSW getting started Friday. Yes it's the same weekend as the Oscars - which coincidentally look rather likely to be topped by a SXSW-premiering film. But Hollywood glitz and glamor be damned!...
THE WRATH OF BECKY Teaser Trailer: Lulu Wilson Returns as One Deadly, Pissed Off Teenager
Two years after she escaped a violent attack on her family, Becky attempts to rebuild her life in the care of an older woman - a kindred spirit named Elena. But when a group known as the “Noble Men” break...
SXSW 2023 Rounds Out Lineup with Matt Johnson's Latest - Full Lineup
We slept on the First SXSW lineup announcement mid-January, but we wouldn't dare not mention that the second wave has been announced and it includes the North American premiere of one pretty damned anticipated film. Blackberry is the long-awaited feature...
