by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Trailer & Poster for MA: Not The House Party You're Looking For

Blumhouse can arguably officially take on the mantle of premiere indie horror film production company; like Hammer Films in the 1960s & 70s, we have come to expect a certain level of horror with more than a little dash of...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: MISS BALA, Crime Thriller with Next Generation Latinx Herione

Gina Rodriguez stars as a woman who journeys from brave bystander to kick-ass heroine; Catherine Hardwicke directs.
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Sundance 2019: Trailer for Short Film HOW DOES IT START Explores A Girl's Desire to Understand Desire

Most societies are uncomfortable with pre-teens having knowledge of, or even curiousity about, sex and sexual desire, especially girls (though we're sexualized enough from an early age, but that's a story for another day). Recent feature films such as The...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: IO, A Philosophy of Existence and Connection

It is not easy to know when to have the courage to change something, and when to have the wisdom to accept what can’t be changed. Or even if something can be changed, when it might be too late to...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: RUST CREEK, Danger and Redemption in the Backwoods

The backwoods and its inhabitants have been a cornerstone of contemporary horror films for decades. Hillbilly hicks and their sterotyped lack of intelligence and aggressive behaviour makes for an easy villain, usually with young people as the targets of their...
by Peter Martin

Screen Anarchy's Favorite Films of 2018

Here's our favorite films of 2018, as voted on by more than 20 of our contributing writers, who collectively picked 114 films as their favorites. 1. Roma 2. The Favourite 3 (tie). BlacKkKlansman / You Were Never Really Here 5....
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Trailer for US: Jordan Peele Wishes You a Scary Christmas

As my colleague Josh Hurtado noted, not many of us would have guessed that Jordan Peele, known mainly as a comedian, would turn out to be a great horror director. His feature debut Get Out, a brilliant social satire-horror, won...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: VOX LUX, The Cult of Celebrity and the 'Difficult' Star

Music stars (real or imagined) and their various addictions and vices, have been fodder for films for many years. Brady Corbet's sophomore feature, Vox Lux, looks at the unusual beginnings and current troubles of mega-pop star Celeste, a stand-in for...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, The Cost of Love

Perhaps it is true what is said, that the world looks different when you’re in love. Colours are fuller and brighter; even a dingy basement apartment can seem like a palace; and you have all the hope that, no matter...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Short Film WE SUMMONED A DEMON: Be Careful What You Wish For

Filmmaker Chris McInroy is no stranger to these pages or to much of our readership: his short films such as Bad Guy Number 2 and Death Metal have screened at festivals around the world (Fantasia, FrightFest, Fantastic Fest, Boston Underground...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: AT ETERNITY'S GATE, Glorious Sunlight, Overwhelming Shadow

Few visual artists have been examined and mythologized as much as Vincent Van Gogh. He's been portrayed by the likes of Kirk Douglas, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tim Roth; had several documentaries made about his life; at least one magnificent animated...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: NUMBER 37, South African Thriller Holds Surprises Around Every Corner

Many films either overtly or covertly play homage to other films. And it certainly takes a lot of courage to make a film that is an overt homage to a film as iconic as Rear Window. But then, South African...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

First Teaser for TOY STORY 4: Toys in the Clouds

I'm not sure if it just an odd coincidence that two movies this year have made use of Judy Collins' recording of 'Clouds' (the first being Hereditary during its closing credits, an interesting choice for certain). But here it is...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Morbido 2018 Review: QUIÉN TE CANTARÁ, Music, Mirrors, and Memory

Spanish writer/director Carlos Vermut has an unusual imagination. In his first feature film, Diamond Flash, a fantastical drama, five women circled each other with dangerous secrets and kidnappings; in his second, Magical Girl, neo-noir mixes with black comedy as a...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Review: SILENCIO, Time-Bending Thriller That Misses Opportunities

Science fiction, arguably, has always been the more ponderous of the fantastic genres, in that in its various high-concept scenarios, it asks its audience to contemplate large questions regarding the nature of human existence, and how we function within that...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

First Poster & Video from FONOTUNE: AN ELECTRIC FAIRYTALE

A few years ago, ScreenAnarchy posted about Fonotune: An Electric Fairytale and their crowdfunding campaign. Well, the world premiere happened to great success as Sitges festival last week. In another time and place, an impending apocalypse is in the air....
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Sitges 2018 Review: 70 BIG ONES, Crime Thriller That Keeps You Guessing

While Spain is slowly emerging from the economic crisis of the early 2000s, it still hasn't recovered completely, and even the most skilled worker can face themselves with extreme circumstances for which they need money. A lot of it. Now....
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Sitges 2018 Review: KNIFE + HEART, Delightfully Queer, Sensuous and Cruel

An editor looks through reels of a gay porn film, making decisions about what to cut, with the image of a beautiful young man flashing before her. At the same time, this young man is at a club, surrounded by...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2018 Review: THE WIND, Loneliness Brings Out the Demons

"Does it ever stop? The wind?" Two women converse over the natural elements and, although it isn't mentioned, the effect it has on their state of mind. This being sometime in the late 1800s, there is no television or radio...
by Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Toronto 2018 Review: HIGH LIFE, Eroticism and Solitude in Deepest Space

Space is dark, a blackness that you cannot even imagine. And it is silent. Not middle-of-nowhere silent where there is still the occasional breeze that moves the sand or a sense of the air or sun which seems to have...