Still Ohio
Official synopsis
In a misguided attempt to save her relationship, Ana (Fernanda Lopez) transfers from Boston College to Tulane to be with her boyfriend, Doug. Doug arranges for Ana to carpool with three of his rambunctious friends, Henry (Michael Zapesotsky), Julia (Sofia Angelopoulos), and Johnny (Jake Melamed). However, along the way, Ana discovers Doug does not know these strangers nearly as well as she was led to believe.
Review
I’m rather a hard sell on genre films involving time loops, but writer/director Kaylin Allshouse’s Still Ohio is a well crafted exception to my usual stance. The characters and circumstances are nicely fleshed out, the direction is strong, and the performances from the four leads are all impressive.
Without giving too much away, the road trip that the four protagonists find themselves on involves a gas station that at first seems eerily similar to the first one where they stopped. As incidents proceed, that location and the other people inside it grow increasingly dangerous.
Lopez gives a terrific, engaging lead performance as Ana, a young woman whose character arc is truly engaging and believable. Zapesotsky as a philosophy major and Angelopoulos and Melamed as fellow university students who seem far more interested in the age-old subject of “human biology” than their schoolwork all give solid turns.
Allshouse effectively wrings maximum tension out of minimal locations. She shows a deft hand at building and sustaining chilling atmosphere. Cinematographer Kyle Bower captures the creepy nighttime atmosphere and the dread in the strange gas station wonderfully. Still Ohio is a nifty independent slice of fear fare that deserves to have a great run on the festival circuit and beyond.
Get That Dick
Official synopsis
A burned-out Atlanta PI takes a quick job helping a foul-mouthed kid on the run, only to discover the boy is fleeing a dangerous cult. What starts as easy money turns into a chaotic race to survive before the city swallows them whole.
Review
Writer/director Josh Stifter’s comedy Get That Dick is the kind of loopy, quirky feature that genre film fests were made for, and vice versa. There’s no denying the frenetic energy and try-everything-and-see-if-it-sticks madness of the film.
Roy Boy (Maximus Stifter) is on the run from a dangerous cult that wants him as a human sacrifice, and he gets private investigator Bugs (Sean Ashley AKA R.S. Trashley) involved. Bugs, however, has already been hired by cult leader Reverend David Opilio to find Roy Boy and bring him back to the group. Comedic chaos ensues.
Josh Stifter keeps the energy flowing nicely throughout. The humor won’t always land with everyone, but you can’t say that the talent on both sides of the camera didn’t give it their all. It feels like all involved had a blast making this independent feature — make sure to stick around during the credits to see further evidence of this. Ashley as the hard-drinking Bugs and Maximus Stifter as the pottymouthed youngster who seeks his help head up a fun cast. Rene Arriagada did fine work on the special effects and special makeup effects, with plenty of goopy, gloppy gore.
Get That Dick is an amusing, highly entertaining slice of independent genre fare. It should find many admirers on its film festival run and beyond.
Still Ohio and Get That Dick screened as part of GenreBlast X, which ran September 3–6 in Winchester, Virginia. For more information, visit https://www.genreblast.com/.
