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Joseph Perry

652 stories

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsSci-FiShort Films

Spoiler-Free Reviews: ELECTROPHILIA and ASTRO NOTS (Fantasia 2024)

Electrophilia (Los Impactados) Argentinian feature Electrophilia touches on body horror and eroticism involving electricity but never goes full-on with these themes, instead feeling more like a character study of its protagonist, veterinarian Amanda (Mariana Di Girólamo). The young woman is struck by lightning and after she recovers from a six-week coma, she begins to feel changes that have happened to her mind and now-scarred body. She falls in with a group of lightning-strike survivors under the care of Juan (Germán Palacios), a doctor who uses unorthodox methods to treat those under his care, and begins an affair with him. Amanda develops sexual kinks related to electrical charges and shocks, worrying her significant other Jano (Guillermo Pfening). Director Lucía Puenzo, who cowrote the screenplay with Lorean Ventimigila, leaves viewers hanging with plot points that seem to have no resolution, such as Jano secretly going into Juan’s office and finding the doctor’s file on Amanda but then that scene not being addressed

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Joseph Perry

Jul 27, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: DARKEST MIRIAM and THE OLD MAN AND THE DEMON SWORD (Fantasia 2024)

Darkest Miriam Canadian feature Darkest Miriam is a slow-burn thriller that follows thirtysomething librarian Miriam (Britt Lower), who is grieving over the loss of her father. She spends her days at work following routine— including dealing with an eccentric clientele — until an accident while she rides her bicycle jolts her out of the ordinary. She begins a relationship with foreign taxi driver Janko (Tom Mercier) but also starts receiving mysterious, ominous letters written in the voice of Italian opera character Rigoletto — who sheltered his daughter from the outside world until she was killed. Director Naomi Jaye has fashioned an intriguing character study that deals in genre elements while exploring themes of love and loss. A dreamlike feel pervades the film. Lower is fantastic as the complex title character, and Jank offers fine work in his costarring role. There’s an eccentricity to Darkest Miriam, but it is by no means an inaccessible one. Jaye ultimately aims to inspire, and

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Joseph Perry

Jul 24, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: The Cursed Land and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In

The Cursed Land Thai horror The Cursed Land is an ambitious work that perhaps takes on too much in its attempt to deliver a fear-fare tale involving djinn while addressing issues involving the largely Muslim Malay community in Thailand. Mit (Ananda Everingham) is wracked by guilt over not being able to save his wife, who died in an accident. He moves with his teen daughter (Jennis Oprasert) to a large house — in disrepair and with talismans placed around it — in a Muslim residential area near Bangkok. Mit removes the talismans and diabolical supernatural events ensue. In trying to find solutions to his newfound bedevilment, Mit learns about the tragic past of the region. Director Panu Aree, who cowrote the screenplay with Kong Rithdee, offers much in the way of eerie atmosphere and is assisted by strong performances from his cast members. The pacing is often slow, sometimes because of plentiful flashbacks, and the running time of 131 minutes

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Joseph Perry

Jul 22, 2024

Film FestivalsK-HorrorMoviesReviewsThriller

Spoiler-Free Reviews: The Unrighteous and The Last Stop in Yuma County

The Unrighteous Pseudoreligious cults are prevalent in some Asian countries. Shin’ichirô Ueda took a humorous approach at exposing the ways that such cults can sway people into their fold with his 2019 Japanese comedy Special Actors, and now Korean writer/director Kim Seon-kuk takes a more serious thriller/horror approach about such tactics with his engrossing The Unrighteous. Revolving around the residents of an aging apartment complex named Villa Wonjung and their desire to eventually profit from rising property values to move into fancier, more modern apartments, the story finds young head of household Joo-hyun (Lee Hyun-woo) pitted against neighbor Shin-hye (Moon Jeong-hee) whose sudden devoted involvement in a cult begins the recruitment of the other residents, including his mother. Aided by a young woman (Bang Min-ah) looking to expose the cult, Joo-hyun tries to use reason to stop the cult’s powerful influence while the residents’ fervor grows, and the cult’s underhanded ambitions grow increasingly dangerous. The committed performances by the three

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Joseph Perry

Jul 22, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignK-HorrorMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: The Tenants, Tenement, Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary, and Respati

Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary South Korea’s ultracompetitive education system is world-renowned. Students spend years studying for an exam so important that it has the potential to determine their entire future. Imagine being such a hopeless student that your parents and teachers urge you to guess the answers, believing you have a better chance of stumbling upon the correct choice than through any logical reasoning. This is the predicament faced by the protagonists of KIM Min-ha’s horror comedy Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary. We meet Jiyeon (played by Son Joo-yeon), an aspiring film director and avid cinephile; her devoted camerawoman Hyun-jung (Kim Do-yeon), and the budding actress Eun-byul (Jung Da-eun) — three high school seniors with big dreams but an even bigger problem: their abysmal grades and test scores. Success hinges on gaining admission to a prestigious university, which, in turn, requires stellar test scores. However, with the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) fast approaching, these

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Joseph Perry

Jul 21, 2024

DocumentariesEventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNewsThriller

Popcorn Frights 10th Anniversary First Wave: From Serial Killers to the Supernatural

Whether you’re into horror, thrillers, science fiction, or other genre cinema, Popcorn Frights — Florida’s premiere film festival destination for such fare — has something for you. Running August 8–18, 2024, with both in-person and virtual programming options, you can even join in on the movie madness from the comfort of your own couch! Following is the official press release. Popcorn Frights celebrates its 10th anniversary with a first wave announcement headlined by 24 boundary-pushing and mind-enhancing feature films, including eleven world premieres as well as a stacked cult classics lineup that pays homage to horror’s titans, and with many more screams, surprises, delights, and film premieres, yet to come! To add to the pure mayhem of its anniversary celebration, Popcorn Frights’ in-theater experience will be offered free and open to the public, as a gift back to the community for ten years of their dedicated support and moviegoing love. Popcorn Frights’ free festival is made possible by the generous

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Joseph Perry

Jul 18, 2024

Film FestivalsMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: ODDITY (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival)

Horror films that deserve to be called truly macabre and that evoke a real sense of supernatural eeriness are a rarity, so I’m thrilled to state that writer/director Damian McCarthy’s incredible Oddity more than lives up to those standards. The Irish shocker recalls the mesmerizing ambience of classic 1970s occult horror while maintaining a thoroughly modern flavor. Psychiatric hospital doctor Ted (Gwilym Lee) and his wife Dani (Carolyn Bracken) move into a remote country house not far from Ted’s place of work. A patient from the hospital named Olin (Tadhg Murphy) comes to the couple’s door one night when Ted is at work, claiming that Dani needs to let him in because he saw someone inside the house. Dani is then viciously murdered, and Olin is soon found dead. Fast forward one year. Dani’s blind, psychic twin sister Darcy (Bracken in a dual role), a purveyor of supposedly cursed curios, shows up unannounced to Ted’s home, which he now shares

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Joseph Perry

Jul 17, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: “House of Sayuri” (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival)

If you watch J-horror, you have likely heard of director Kôji Shiraishi. He has 95 directing credits on IMDB, with his most well-known film to Western audiences perhaps being the 2016 phantom face-off Sadako vs. Kayako. With his latest feature House of Sayuri (AKA Sayuri; Japan, 2024), he pulls off remarkable magic with tonal shifts to deliver a wholly satisfying haunted house spookfest. Head of the household Akio Kamiki (Sen Kajihara) has worked hard to move his wife, three children, and parents from a cramped city apartment into a spacious house all their own. Alas, the angry spirit of Sayuri, a girl who was murdered there, isn’t as happy about the situation as the new residents, and she would just as soon see them dead. Teen son Norio (Ryoka Minamide), his grandmother who suffers from dementia (Toshie Negishi), and his new school friend Sumida (Hana Kondo) — who happens to have a special sense about supernatural occurrences — need to

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Joseph Perry

Jul 15, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

London’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024 Unveils Its Amazing Lineup

Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024 is already renowned for being the U.K.’s top horror film festival, but the fest’s programmers have outdone themselves for this 25th edition. From the creepy to the comical, the festival has fear-fare fans of all stripes covered. Peruse the official press announcement following, and then check out www.frightfest.co.uk. Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024, the UK’s No.1 horror & fantasy film festival, will, for the first time, present its five-day extravaganza at The ODEON Luxe Leicester Square, London, taking over all seven screens, including the two ODEON Luxe West End screens. Running from Thursday August 22 – Monday 26 August, Pigeon Shrine FrightFest will showcase sixty-nine features from across the world, including twenty-five main screen premieres and forty-five Discovery Screen titles, embracing the famed ‘First Blood’ strand, the latest genre documentaries, and some exciting restorations and retrospectives. Plus, there’s the regular short-film showcase (to be announced later), panels, and some surprise 25th edition extras. This year there are

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Joseph Perry

Jul 12, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films

Spoiler-Free Reviews: “Indera” and “Help, I’m Alien Pregnant” (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival)

Indera (Malaysia, 2024) Although Malaysian horror Indera is, according to the official film description, “set against the backdrop of the violent Memali Incident in 1985,” director Ming Jin Woo’s feature should work fine for viewers with little-to-no prior knowledge of the event. Handyman Joe (Shaheizy Sam) does his best to raise his young daughter Sofia (Samara Kenzo) after her mother (Ashira Shafinaz) — who was also his wife — died in a tragic accident. Penniless and evicted, Joe takes on the position of caretaker for an older Javanese woman (Ruminah Sidek) who is raising three young orphans. The locals give the woman a wide berth for mysterious reasons. Fans of supernatural cinema should find plenty to be impressed with here, with top-notch performances from the main cast members, and although Indera contains some tried-and-true horror tropes, it puts an intriguing local flavor on matters, and Woo directs with a fine sense of building mystery and delivering chills. Help, I’m Alien

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Joseph Perry

Jul 11, 2024

Joseph Perry

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