Weird Reviews
THE TRIAL Blu-ray Review: Criterion Takes on Orson Welles' Masterpiece
Long awaited by cinephiles and Orson Welles fans, it took longer than it should for The Trial to be restored. At last, Welles' favourite of his own films has been given the Criterion treatment. It's often neglected in discussions on...
SLOTHERHOUSE Review: A Slowpoke Slasher Slays Sorority Sisters
One would be forgiven for stepping into a film titled Slotherhouse with incredibly low expectations. The title and gimmick of the film – mass murdering sloth takes out an entire sorority – doesn’t exactly conjure visions of the masters, and...
Toronto 2023 Review: WORKING CLASS GOES TO HELL, Serbian Justice Served Slow And Absurd
Early in Mladen Djordjevic’s tragicomic satire, Working Class Goes To Hell, a young girl eats her lunch in the husk of a dead factory. A faded mural “Long Live Labour Day” peels off the burnt out walls above her. She...
Toronto 2023 Review: HUMANIST VAMPIRE SEEKING CONSENTING SUICIDAL PERSON, Coming of Age When You Don't Age
Sasha is a bit of a disappointment to her parents. Not only is her body a little slow to catch up to lend the family the survival help they need, she also has no desire to participate in their most...
Toronto 2023 Review: DICKS: THE MUSICAL, Beautifully Demented
There are a lot of words you could use to describe Dicks: The Musical, A24's first foray into the musical form. Freaky. Disgusting. Toe-tapping. Queer. Outrageous. Ingenius. Incomprehensible. Queer. Bizarre. Did I mention queer? Because yes, it is, and delightfully...
Locarno 2023 Review: THE INVISIBLE FIGHT Packs the Funniest Genre Mashup Rebellion
Estonian director Rainer Sarnet crafts a wild genre mashup that delves into themes of individuality, rebellion, and spiritual transcendence in a Soviet-era monastery.
PERPETRATOR Review: How to Be a Ferocious, Witchy Empath
Kiah McKirnan and Alicia Silverstone Star in Jennifer Reeder's new horror feature.
Locarno 2023 Review: LOUSY CARTER Confronts Existential Crisis, Delivers Deadpan Sardonic Comedy
David Krumholtz, Martin Starr, Olivia Thirlby, Jocelyn DeBoer, and Stephen Root star in director Bob Byington's newest dark comedy.
PIAFFE Review: Embracing Animal Behaviour
We too often forget than humans are animals. Too many of us have divorced ourselves from the natural world, the world of our, for lack of a better phrasing, animal instincts. We clothe ouselves, eat (usually) with utensils, as if...
STRAYS Review: This Dog Will Hunt. An Incredibly Filthy Journey With Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx.
Josh Greenbaum’s Strays is a raunchy, ridiculous comedy about a little dog who’ll do anything to get back to his owner, though not for the reasons one might think. The director returns after the hilarious, huge-hearted Barb and Star Go...
Locarno 2023 Review: YANNICK, Quentin Dupieux's Secret Film, A Riot of Social Satire
Just before the world premiere of his freshest work Daaaaaali!, bound to be revealed in Venice, French pop-surrealist Quentin Dupieeux has unveiled another comic treat, Yannick, shot clandestinely over just six days with a modest budget. Following his absurdist...
Fantasia 2023 Review: KILLING ROMANCE, An Exuberant Slapstick Genre-Bender With A Lot On Its Mind
Killing Romance is an ebullient explosion of poppy music and poppier visuals that is a guaranteed crowd pleaser from Lee Won-suk, director of popular indie charmer How to Use Guys with Secret Tips. Already a massive hit in its native...
Fantasia 2023 Review: RAGING GRACE, An Immigrant Housekeeper Faces A Domestic Nightmare With Her Daughter
Debutante director Paris Zarcilla delivers a fiery first feature in Raging Grace, the story of an immigrant woman who takes a much needed service job in the wrong house. Starring Max Eigenmann as Joy and Jaeden Paige Boadilla as her...
Fantasia 2023 Review: A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE, Concise History of THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL
On November 17th, 1978, the Star Wars Holiday Special aired on CBS in America. The special premiered almost a year and a half after the first Star Wars film landed in cinemas and took the world by storm. It aired...
Fantasia 2023 Review: WITH LOVE AND A MAJOR ORGAN Is One From The Heart, Whatever Shape Yours Takes
What if when we talked about giving someone our heart, we actually meant it? First time feature filmmaker Kim Albright and writer Julia Lederer explore what happens when our innermost feelings, good and bad, manifest physically in With Love and...
Fantasia 2023 Review: HOME INVASION, On the Tyranny of Technology and Surveillance
Greame Arnfield really, really does not like the Ring. No, not the infamous J-Horror film or its American remake, but rather the video doorbell company that turned the humble little button that goes ding-dong, into the “smart doorbell,” a cloud...
Fantasia 2023 Review: RIVER, Laughs and Thinking About the Future, Two Minutes at a Time
In the wintry valley town of Kibune, Japan, we will find the Fujiya Inn. There we find one of the waitresses, Mikoto. They are sent to the basement to do a quick inventory count when Mikito steps out back where...
Fantasia 2023 Review: HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS, Triumph of Escalating Sight Gags
Hundreds of Beavers has been tearing up the festival circuit for months now, scooping prizes and rapidly building a rabid cult following. And with damn good reason. If you have even the slightest love for slap stick comedy and goofball...
Fantasia 2023 Review: HIPPO, A Hilariously Disturbing Suburban Nightmare
An unusual family lives an unusual life in Mark H. Rapaport’s Hippo, one of the stranger films playing at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival. Rapaport drops us into a suburban dystopic home where society’s rules don’t seem to apply, and...
Fantasia 2023 Review: BOOGER, A Quirky Exploration of Grief... With Hairballs
There is no one way to correctly grieve a loss. For some, the only way to pass through the hardest parts of this emotion is to throw themselves into work; for others, it’s impossible to move on without feeling each...
