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Joseph Perry

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Movie Reviews: Short Films “Girls Night In,” “Crimson Ties,” “Lamb,” and “Skin & Bone” (Tribeca Film Festival)

Movie Reviews: Short Films “Girls Night In,” “Crimson Ties,” “Lamb,” and “Skin & Bone” (Tribeca Film Festival)

Girls Night In Director Alison Roberto’s horror comedy Girls Night In takes a satirical stab as it takes into consideration The Bechdel Test, which, according to https://bechdeltest.com, “is a simple test [about films] which names the following three criteria: (1) it has to have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. ” This blast of a short film, with a clever screenplay by Landon LaRue, finds cautious, diabetic Becca (Jess Adams) and her outgoing friend Delaney (Skylar Benton) spending the evening over a bottle of what the latter insists is carb-free wine, when an intruder with deadly intentions invades the former’s home. As the girls attempt to shelter themselves in Becca’s bathroom and call 911 for help, the absurdity kicks in. Adams and Benton are obviously having a lot of fun in their roles. As with much satirical comedy, the humor is divisive, using elements that would not

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 28, 2022
Movie Review: Abandoned

Movie Review: Abandoned

Director Spencer Squire’s Abandoned doesn’t offer anything new in the scare-fare arena, as the film rolls out one haunted house trope after another, but solid performances from its three leads and perfectly fine technical aspects make it an ultimately watchable diversion. Sara (Emma Roberts of American Horror Story, Scream Queens, and The Blackcoat’s Daughter) and her veterinarian husband Alex (John Gallagher Jr. of 10 Cloverfield Lane) move with their newborn son from the hectic city life to the bucolic life of a rural house in which a tragic multiple murder/suicide occured, which they learn about before signing papers but buy the house anyway. With a set-up like this, it’s obvious that things aren’t going to go well for the couple. Sara, who is suffering from postpartum depression but refusing to take medicine because she wants to breastfeed her baby — who only wants bottles — begins hearing and seeing things in the house that grow from odd to frightening. Alex,

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 17, 2022
Movie Reviews: “A Wounded Fawn” and “Rounding” (Tribeca Festival) 

Movie Reviews: “A Wounded Fawn” and “Rounding” (Tribeca Festival) 

A Wounded Fawn Director Travis Stevens’ new feature A Wounded Fawn starts off in the world of high-end art and winds up in the depths of a serial killer’s mind, taking concepts from Greek mythology along for the entire ride. The result is a superb blend of supernatural and psychological horror from the man who helmed Jakob’s Wife and Girl on the Third Floor. Meredith (Sara Lind) has successfully gotten out of and over an abusive relationship, and she is ready to test the dating waters once again. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her, the man she plans to spend the weekend with at his remote cabin is Bruce Ernst (Josh Rubin), who is revealed at the beginning of the film to be a murderer. Meredith becomes suspicious of Ernst when she sees an art piece at his home depicting The Erinyes — also known as The Furies — that just recently passed through the auction house where she works. Seasoned fear-fare

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 15, 2022
Movie Review: “Family Dinner” (Tribeca Festival) 

Movie Review: “Family Dinner” (Tribeca Festival) 

Austrian horror film Family Dinner serves up characters and situations that haunt long after the ending credits roll. Wonderfully acted, grim, and unsettling, writer/director Peter Hengl’s debut big-screen feature does a fine job of getting under the skin of viewers. Simi (Nina Katlein) is an overweight teenager who visits her Aunt Claudia (Pia Hierzegger), a published cookbook author and authority on nutrition, in the hopes of losing some weight. Her visit is met with a cool welcome, and she is told that she must leave in a few days, before Claudia, her new husband Stefan (Michael Pink), and Claudia’s son from her first marriage, Filipp (Alexander Sledik), celebrate Easter. Simi must room with Filipp, and his despisal of her is clear from the beginning. He taunts her by showing off his torso, and his relationship with his mother and new stepfather is also highly strained. Claudia seems to be either skirting around information or outright lying when she is not

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 13, 2022
Movie Review: “All About Evil”

Movie Review: “All About Evil”

If you have been hankering for the resurrection of a cult horror film that has been dormant for a few years and that is a tongue-in-cheek love letter to low-budget fright-fare of the past, look no further than All About Evil. This verve-filled gorefest had a limited release in 2010 but is about to find its widest audience ever. Written and directed by Joshua Grannell — AKA drag performer Peaches Christ, who makes a cameo in the film — All About Evil finds Deborah Tennis (Natasha Lyonne in a grand, deliberate demonstration of chewing more scenery than there is in the sets), a frustrated child actor cum shy librarian, taking over the reigns of San Francisco’s Victoria Theater after her father dies. Her evil stepmother (Julie Caitlin Brown) threatens to sell the venue that Deborah’s dad worked so hard to build, and in a moment of temporary insanity that unlocks the door to a more permanent case, Deborah kills her

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 9, 2022
Movie Reviews: “Swallowed” (Overlook Film Festival) 

Movie Reviews: “Swallowed” (Overlook Film Festival) 

LGBTQ horror is having a strong year, from the film festival success of Hypochondriac to the upcoming Kevin Bacon vehicle They/Them to the resurrected release this month of the 2010 cult film All About Evil. Writer/director Carter Smith (The Ruins) delivers a squirm-inducing entry into the subgenre with Swallowed, which uses both body horror and survival horror in its nerve-wracking tale of plans gone awry among two friends. Benjamin (Cooper Koch) is celebrating his last night in town before moving to Los Angeles to become a gay porn actor. His straight best friend Dom (Jose Colon) is concerned about Benjamin’s future, so he has a plan to make some fast cash for his buddy. What Dom believes is a simple drug run turns out to be much worse than that, as the pair are held at gunpoint by deal go-between Alice (Jena Malone) and forced to swallow bags of illicit goods. When they go to a specified rest stop to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 7, 2022
Chattanooga Film Festival’s Second Wave Announcement Offers Monsters, Mysteries, and Magic

Chattanooga Film Festival’s Second Wave Announcement Offers Monsters, Mysteries, and Magic

Chattanooga Film Festival has announced its terrific second wave of films and special events for this year’s edition, scheduled for June 23–28. Twenty features, a bevy of short films, and special events ranging from live podcasts to super-special guests to a magic show are set to appeal to genre-film fans of every stripe. Following is the official press information. As the Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) dates of June 23rd – 28th draw near, festival organizers are excited to announce the second and final wave of programming, consisting of 20 additional features, six blocks of short films, and a selection of events that can be described as magical because there is magic happening—literally. Highlighting the second half of CFF’s feature film lineup is a trio of world premieres. Leading the pack is CFF 2022’s Opening Night Film THE LEECH, from filmmaker and CFF alumni Eric Pennycoff. Pennycoff follows up his debut feature SADISTIC INTENTIONS with another wild piece of cinema ready-made

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 4, 2022
Certified Fresh Serial Killer Thriller 'Watcher' Heads To Shudder

Movie Review: “Watcher”

Director Chloe Okuno, who first came to the attention of this reviewer and many a horror fan with her terrific 2014 short film Slut, delivers one of this year’s finest, most gripping horror thrillers with her debut feature Watcher. Elegantly shot, eerie, and suspenseful, the film boasts a fantastic lead performance from Maika Monroe, building on the strong work she has already shown in The Guest, It Follows, and other films. Julia (Monroe) moves from the U.S. to Bucharest with her husband Francis (Karl Glusman) after he is transferred there as a work promotion. He speaks the language, while she is trying to learn it. He works long days, while she mostly remains in their plush apartment. She notices a man (Burn Gorman of Crimson Peak) in the next building who is seemingly watching her at all hours. With a serial killer called The Spider roaming the streets, Julia naturally becomes suspicious when she sees someone who she believes is

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 2, 2022
Tribeca Festival Heaps on the Horror at Midnight

Tribeca Festival Heaps on the Horror at Midnight

Tribeca Festival has a tantalizing, sure-to-be-terrifying array of horror movies, thrillers, and related genre offerings slated for this year’s Midnight section of the renowned fest, which takes place June 8–19, 2022 in New York City. Along with the Midnight section, the TribecXploitation series offers three NYC-shot grindhouse classics on the big screen, presented by their directors. Following are brief descriptions of each film, followed by my thoughts in italics. Midnight Attachment Maja and Leah’s new relationship is interrupted when mysterious things start happening in their London flat. It seems that Leah’s disapproving mother, who lives downstairs, is using Jewish folklore to come between them. Folk horror is red hot at the moment, and religious horror is always a popular subgenre. It sounds as though this slice of Danish fear fare may have elements of both, and the acting is said to be particularly strong. The Black Phone Locked in a soundproof basement by a masked child killer, a teenage boy

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 26, 2022
Movie Reviews: “Dawning” and Short Films “Kageboshi,” “Good Taste,” and “Dikit” (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival)

Movie Reviews: “Dawning” and Short Films “Kageboshi,” “Good Taste,” and “Dikit” (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival)

Dawning Young Min Kim makes his feature film directorial debut — he also wrote the screenplay — with Dawning, a psychological horror outing heavy on family drama. Haejin Park (Kim Ellis) may have physically left her home after her father’s suicide (shown in the film’s opening scenes) for a new life in New York, but the trauma of that memory still weighs heavily on her. She goes back to the California farm where she grew up to console her younger sister Soojin (Veronica Kim), who has just split up with her abusive boyfriend. There, dark secrets are uncovered and supernatural overtones are introduced. Writer/director Kim shows a deft hand at the helm, serving up some twists and turns that raise the suspense while addressing the scars that PTSD and trauma can cause. Although the dialogue is a bit stiff at times, Dawning looks great, boasts fine performances from its two leads, and leaves viewers with much to think about. Kageboshi

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 25, 2022

More from Joseph Perry

Movie Reviews: Short Films “Girls Night In,” “Crimson Ties,” “Lamb,” and “Skin & Bone” (Tribeca Film Festival)

Movie Reviews: Short Films “Girls Night In,” “Crimson Ties,” “Lamb,” and “Skin & Bone” (Tribeca Film Festival)

Girls Night In Director Alison Roberto’s horror comedy Girls Night In takes a satirical stab as it takes into consideration The Bechdel Test, which, according to https://bechdeltest.com, “is a simple test [about films] which names the following three criteria: (1) it has to have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. ” This blast of a short film, with a clever screenplay by Landon LaRue, finds cautious, diabetic Becca (Jess Adams) and her outgoing friend Delaney (Skylar Benton) spending the evening over a bottle of what the latter insists is carb-free wine, when an intruder with deadly intentions invades the former’s home. As the girls attempt to shelter themselves in Becca’s bathroom and call 911 for help, the absurdity kicks in. Adams and Benton are obviously having a lot of fun in their roles. As with much satirical comedy, the humor is divisive, using elements that would not

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 28, 2022
Movie Review: Abandoned

Movie Review: Abandoned

Director Spencer Squire’s Abandoned doesn’t offer anything new in the scare-fare arena, as the film rolls out one haunted house trope after another, but solid performances from its three leads and perfectly fine technical aspects make it an ultimately watchable diversion. Sara (Emma Roberts of American Horror Story, Scream Queens, and The Blackcoat’s Daughter) and her veterinarian husband Alex (John Gallagher Jr. of 10 Cloverfield Lane) move with their newborn son from the hectic city life to the bucolic life of a rural house in which a tragic multiple murder/suicide occured, which they learn about before signing papers but buy the house anyway. With a set-up like this, it’s obvious that things aren’t going to go well for the couple. Sara, who is suffering from postpartum depression but refusing to take medicine because she wants to breastfeed her baby — who only wants bottles — begins hearing and seeing things in the house that grow from odd to frightening. Alex,

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 17, 2022
Movie Reviews: “A Wounded Fawn” and “Rounding” (Tribeca Festival) 

Movie Reviews: “A Wounded Fawn” and “Rounding” (Tribeca Festival) 

A Wounded Fawn Director Travis Stevens’ new feature A Wounded Fawn starts off in the world of high-end art and winds up in the depths of a serial killer’s mind, taking concepts from Greek mythology along for the entire ride. The result is a superb blend of supernatural and psychological horror from the man who helmed Jakob’s Wife and Girl on the Third Floor. Meredith (Sara Lind) has successfully gotten out of and over an abusive relationship, and she is ready to test the dating waters once again. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her, the man she plans to spend the weekend with at his remote cabin is Bruce Ernst (Josh Rubin), who is revealed at the beginning of the film to be a murderer. Meredith becomes suspicious of Ernst when she sees an art piece at his home depicting The Erinyes — also known as The Furies — that just recently passed through the auction house where she works. Seasoned fear-fare

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 15, 2022
Movie Review: “Family Dinner” (Tribeca Festival) 

Movie Review: “Family Dinner” (Tribeca Festival) 

Austrian horror film Family Dinner serves up characters and situations that haunt long after the ending credits roll. Wonderfully acted, grim, and unsettling, writer/director Peter Hengl’s debut big-screen feature does a fine job of getting under the skin of viewers. Simi (Nina Katlein) is an overweight teenager who visits her Aunt Claudia (Pia Hierzegger), a published cookbook author and authority on nutrition, in the hopes of losing some weight. Her visit is met with a cool welcome, and she is told that she must leave in a few days, before Claudia, her new husband Stefan (Michael Pink), and Claudia’s son from her first marriage, Filipp (Alexander Sledik), celebrate Easter. Simi must room with Filipp, and his despisal of her is clear from the beginning. He taunts her by showing off his torso, and his relationship with his mother and new stepfather is also highly strained. Claudia seems to be either skirting around information or outright lying when she is not

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 13, 2022
Movie Review: “All About Evil”

Movie Review: “All About Evil”

If you have been hankering for the resurrection of a cult horror film that has been dormant for a few years and that is a tongue-in-cheek love letter to low-budget fright-fare of the past, look no further than All About Evil. This verve-filled gorefest had a limited release in 2010 but is about to find its widest audience ever. Written and directed by Joshua Grannell — AKA drag performer Peaches Christ, who makes a cameo in the film — All About Evil finds Deborah Tennis (Natasha Lyonne in a grand, deliberate demonstration of chewing more scenery than there is in the sets), a frustrated child actor cum shy librarian, taking over the reigns of San Francisco’s Victoria Theater after her father dies. Her evil stepmother (Julie Caitlin Brown) threatens to sell the venue that Deborah’s dad worked so hard to build, and in a moment of temporary insanity that unlocks the door to a more permanent case, Deborah kills her

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 9, 2022
Movie Reviews: “Swallowed” (Overlook Film Festival) 

Movie Reviews: “Swallowed” (Overlook Film Festival) 

LGBTQ horror is having a strong year, from the film festival success of Hypochondriac to the upcoming Kevin Bacon vehicle They/Them to the resurrected release this month of the 2010 cult film All About Evil. Writer/director Carter Smith (The Ruins) delivers a squirm-inducing entry into the subgenre with Swallowed, which uses both body horror and survival horror in its nerve-wracking tale of plans gone awry among two friends. Benjamin (Cooper Koch) is celebrating his last night in town before moving to Los Angeles to become a gay porn actor. His straight best friend Dom (Jose Colon) is concerned about Benjamin’s future, so he has a plan to make some fast cash for his buddy. What Dom believes is a simple drug run turns out to be much worse than that, as the pair are held at gunpoint by deal go-between Alice (Jena Malone) and forced to swallow bags of illicit goods. When they go to a specified rest stop to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 7, 2022
Chattanooga Film Festival’s Second Wave Announcement Offers Monsters, Mysteries, and Magic

Chattanooga Film Festival’s Second Wave Announcement Offers Monsters, Mysteries, and Magic

Chattanooga Film Festival has announced its terrific second wave of films and special events for this year’s edition, scheduled for June 23–28. Twenty features, a bevy of short films, and special events ranging from live podcasts to super-special guests to a magic show are set to appeal to genre-film fans of every stripe. Following is the official press information. As the Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) dates of June 23rd – 28th draw near, festival organizers are excited to announce the second and final wave of programming, consisting of 20 additional features, six blocks of short films, and a selection of events that can be described as magical because there is magic happening—literally. Highlighting the second half of CFF’s feature film lineup is a trio of world premieres. Leading the pack is CFF 2022’s Opening Night Film THE LEECH, from filmmaker and CFF alumni Eric Pennycoff. Pennycoff follows up his debut feature SADISTIC INTENTIONS with another wild piece of cinema ready-made

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 4, 2022
Certified Fresh Serial Killer Thriller 'Watcher' Heads To Shudder

Movie Review: “Watcher”

Director Chloe Okuno, who first came to the attention of this reviewer and many a horror fan with her terrific 2014 short film Slut, delivers one of this year’s finest, most gripping horror thrillers with her debut feature Watcher. Elegantly shot, eerie, and suspenseful, the film boasts a fantastic lead performance from Maika Monroe, building on the strong work she has already shown in The Guest, It Follows, and other films. Julia (Monroe) moves from the U.S. to Bucharest with her husband Francis (Karl Glusman) after he is transferred there as a work promotion. He speaks the language, while she is trying to learn it. He works long days, while she mostly remains in their plush apartment. She notices a man (Burn Gorman of Crimson Peak) in the next building who is seemingly watching her at all hours. With a serial killer called The Spider roaming the streets, Julia naturally becomes suspicious when she sees someone who she believes is

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 2, 2022
Tribeca Festival Heaps on the Horror at Midnight

Tribeca Festival Heaps on the Horror at Midnight

Tribeca Festival has a tantalizing, sure-to-be-terrifying array of horror movies, thrillers, and related genre offerings slated for this year’s Midnight section of the renowned fest, which takes place June 8–19, 2022 in New York City. Along with the Midnight section, the TribecXploitation series offers three NYC-shot grindhouse classics on the big screen, presented by their directors. Following are brief descriptions of each film, followed by my thoughts in italics. Midnight Attachment Maja and Leah’s new relationship is interrupted when mysterious things start happening in their London flat. It seems that Leah’s disapproving mother, who lives downstairs, is using Jewish folklore to come between them. Folk horror is red hot at the moment, and religious horror is always a popular subgenre. It sounds as though this slice of Danish fear fare may have elements of both, and the acting is said to be particularly strong. The Black Phone Locked in a soundproof basement by a masked child killer, a teenage boy

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 26, 2022
Movie Reviews: “Dawning” and Short Films “Kageboshi,” “Good Taste,” and “Dikit” (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival)

Movie Reviews: “Dawning” and Short Films “Kageboshi,” “Good Taste,” and “Dikit” (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival)

Dawning Young Min Kim makes his feature film directorial debut — he also wrote the screenplay — with Dawning, a psychological horror outing heavy on family drama. Haejin Park (Kim Ellis) may have physically left her home after her father’s suicide (shown in the film’s opening scenes) for a new life in New York, but the trauma of that memory still weighs heavily on her. She goes back to the California farm where she grew up to console her younger sister Soojin (Veronica Kim), who has just split up with her abusive boyfriend. There, dark secrets are uncovered and supernatural overtones are introduced. Writer/director Kim shows a deft hand at the helm, serving up some twists and turns that raise the suspense while addressing the scars that PTSD and trauma can cause. Although the dialogue is a bit stiff at times, Dawning looks great, boasts fine performances from its two leads, and leaves viewers with much to think about. Kageboshi

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 25, 2022
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