Author

Joseph Perry

652 stories

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller

Spoiler-Free Review: “Restless” (Tribeca)

Writer/director Jed Hart’s debut feature Restless (U.K., 2024) is a welcome, solid entry in the neighbors-from-Hell genre-film category, this one being a thriller with darkly comic elements. Although its main antagonist belongs to the uniquely British group known as chavs, the tension and stress brought on by that character’s constant partying and threatening demeanor will ring true for international viewers. Middle-aged empty nester Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal) is an overworked caregiver who lives a rather quite, simple life — until new neighbor Deano (Aston McAuley) moves in next door, throwing raging parties and blasting music all night. His lack of empathy toward Nicky and their other neighbors and his bullying behavior make it obvious that he will do nothing to change and make life more comfortable for Nicky, so she must find a solution to her miserable situation herself. Restless is driven by a superb performance from Marshal, who captures the frustrations of her character and the lengths that they drive

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Jun 10, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: “The Damned” (Tribeca)

Tribeca usually premieres features that land on my “top 10 horror films of the year” lists, and Icelandic director Thordur Palsson’s The Damned (UK, Iceland, Ireland, Belgium; 2024) has kept that streak alive, as it has certainly cemented a spot on my list already. The film deftly blends psychological, folk, and survival horror elements in a gripping work of dread. Set in a harsh winter during the 19th century, The Damned finds widow Eva (Odessa Young) in charge of an isolated fishing outpost. Her crew is near starvation, doing their best to keep their spirits up even as they begin resorting to eating the fish they use as bait to survive. When Eva and her crew catch sight of a sinking ship one day, they must decide whether to try and rescue survivors or to put their own survival ahead of saving strangers. After a chilling discovery is made, the inhabitants of the outpost begin to exhibit horrifying behaviors as

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Jun 9, 2024

DocumentariesEventsFilm FestivalsForeignFrom the CryptIndieMoviesNewsThriller

Fantasia Reveals Scintillating Second Wave for 2024 Edition

When Fantasia International Film Festival, Canada’s legendary genre film fest, makes announcements, we here at Horror Fuel take notice, and we want to share the good news about the event with our readers. Following is the official press announcement about the second wave of thrillers, chillers, and other fantastic fare for this year’s edition. The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montréal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, but in the meantime, Fantasia is excited to reveal a select second wave of premiere titles, along with the recipient of their 2024 Canadian Trailblazer award. OPENING FILM: ANT TIMPSON’S BOOKWORM, STARRING ELIJAH WOOD AND NELL FISHER Fantasia’s 28th edition will open

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Jun 7, 2024

DocumentariesEventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNewsShort FilmsThriller

Horror Fuel’s Highly Recommended Fright Fare for Tribeca 2024

New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival is renowned for showcasing incredible films from around the world, created by established filmmakers and new voices alike. Horror and related genre fare are always in strong supply at the fest, as evidenced by its presentation of two of my absolute favorite films of last year, The Seeding and You’ll Never Find Me, along with many other great features and short films. This year’s edition, which runs June 5–16, promises more incredible cinema of the fearful and the fantastic. I was privileged to get an early look at the following chillers and thrillers before the fest, and though I can’t publish reviews until after the films make their Tribeca premieres — watch for my thoughts here on Horror Fuel soon after that — I can, at this time, highly recommend them to fright-fare aficionados as must-see viewing! Read on for press release descriptions for each film — in alphabetical order, by genre — with

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Jun 3, 2024

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films

Romford Film Festival Spoiler-Free Film Reviews: “Kill Your Lover,” “Ill Fares the Land,” and “Have a Good Day”

Kill Your Lover (U.K.; 2023) The fractured relationship between former rock musician Dakota (Paige Gilmour) and her manipulative, much more conservative boyfriend Axel (Shane Quigley-Murphy) is toxic in more ways than one in codirectors/cowriters Alix Austin’s and Keir Siewert’s feature Kill Your Lover, winner of Romford Film Festival’s Best British Feature Film award. Just as Dakota is ready to finally break things off with Axel, he develops a contagious condition that causes him to develop strange markings on his skin, vomit, and cause acidic burns to anyone he touches. Flashbacks show the relationship from its beginnings to yellow and red flags developing to the horrific present. Gilmour and Quigley-Murphy give super performances as two very different people who somehow found themselves in a relationship that both probably should have known better than to start. The body horror is as strong as the psychological torture on display, for which Hair & Makeup Designer/Prosthetics Designer/Special Effects Makeup Artist Rebecca Wheeler and her

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

May 29, 2024

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

Film Maudit 2.0 Reveals Its 2024 Fifth Edition Lineup

If you are a cinephile seeking the uncommon, the unexpected, and the out-there, you will be interested in Los Angeles’s Film Maudit 2.0 festival, taking place this June. Following is the official press announcement. The 5th edition of Film Maudit 2.0, Highways’ showcase and celebration of outré films, runs June 12-16, 2024. A re-imagining of French artist Jean Cocteau’s 1949 one-time only festival, Film Maudit 2.0 features a range of narrative, documentary and experimental films that are deliberately bold, extreme, confrontational and unusual. The 2024 edition of the festival returns with a new range of works of cinema from 20+ countries addressing socio-political issues and taboo subject matter that challenge conventional artistic assumptions and sexual mores, and includes: The World Premiere of Molly Wurwand and Ryan McGlade’s MyImaginary Life for Someone(Narrative; Mockumentary/Dark Comedy, 2023), an uncanny tour through a labyrinth of mysterious linked Los Angeles McMansions circa Y2K, provides a dreamlike glimpse into the lives of unique women who live

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

May 27, 2024

DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignIndieMoviesNewsThriller

Fantasia’s 2024 First Wave Announcement: From the Horrifying to the Hilarious

Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival brings a drool-worthy feast of genre cinema to Montreal every year, and the first wave announcement for the fest’s 2024 edition — set for July 18 through August 4 — boasts a buffet of amazing features. Following is the official press announcement. The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montreal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, but this past Thursday, Fantasia exclusively revealed its first seventeen titles and a first look at its 2024 poster art. Please find the information below. The festival’s 2024 poster art, created by Montreal visual artist Donald Caron, brings back two of the festival’s most-beloved characters from earlier editions, returning

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

May 17, 2024

Film FestivalsParanormalReviewsStreaming TV

Spoiler-Free Review: “Department of Paranormal Affairs” (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

If you’re in the mood for a brisk supernatural comedy, you need look no further than the new Canadian six-part episodic short-form series Department of Paranormal Affairs. The series boasts highly likable characters in decidedly irregular situations. In the world of Department of Paranormal Affairs, ghosts, vampires, and other things that go bump in the night are real. This branch of the government deals with them in a different way than usual in series and movies. Rather than hunting them down to dispose of such entities, this agency looks to help them fit in positively with human society. The department’s civil servants consist of Director Greg LeGrow (Donovan Workun), who does as little as possible; Scott Power (David Feehan), the straight-laced rule follower of the bunch; and new hire Jenny Hicks (Nancy Ngo), who initially would rather punch a ghost than read a book about how to properly deal with one. Series creator Feehan, who shares screenwriting credits with Jessy

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Apr 29, 2024

ForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Film Review: “Witch”

In Witch (U.K, 2024), codirectors Craig Hinde and Marc Zammit — who cowrote the screenplay with David Baboulene — have crafted a feature that combines gothic horror and folk horror with a science fiction element. In a small English town in 1575, young wife and mother Twyla (Sarah Alexandra Marks – KILL KANE, HELP) is falsely accused of witchcraft and will be put to death if found guilty. The young woman accusing her is Johanna (Mims Burton), who herself is on trial for murdering her parents — she even walked around the town holding both of their severed heads. Twyla’s blacksmith husband William (Ryan Spong) does everything he can to save her, even accepting the help of mysterious stranger Thomas (Russell Shaw). The main villains are the ruthless Judge Hopkins (Daniel Jordan), who seemingly never met a person he couldn’t accuse of something, and the local marshall (Fabrizio Santino), who follows the judge’s orders, sometimes at the threat of death.

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Apr 29, 2024

DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesParanormalReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: “Loch Ness: They Created a Monster” (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Director John MacLaverty’s terrific documentary Loch Ness: They Created a Monster looks at the personalities involved in the search for Nessie, the legendary monster of Scotland’s Loch Ness, during the heyday of that searching, the 1970s and early 1980s. It’s a fascinating look at the men and women who devoted large parts of their lives to try and discover solid proof of the famous cryptid’s existence. The documentary illustrates the difference in attitudes between then and now, when scientific researchers, businesspeople, photographers, and other professionals had a more open-minded view toward high strangeness including the probability of a large, undiscovered beast living in the lake than today. That was a time when imagination felt stronger than cynicism, and skepticism was not quite as prevalent as it is now. Among the personalities featured in Loch Ness: They Created a Monster — through archival footage and interviews, and modern interviews with family members and colleagues, as well as surviving explorers — are

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Apr 25, 2024

Joseph Perry

More from Joseph Perry