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Joseph Perry

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Short-Film Reviews: “Talisman,” “Wendigo,” “SMAHORROR,” and “Spare Body” (National Film Festival for Talented Youth)

Short-Film Reviews: “Talisman,” “Wendigo,” “SMAHORROR,” and “Spare Body” (National Film Festival for Talented Youth)

Talisman One person’s belief system is another person’s superstition, and director Reangsei Phos’ Talisman (Canada) finds school-age Yi (Sean Lu) torn between those two schools of thought. His family has just moved into a new house, and as his mother (Qingqing Yang) tries to protect the home against ghosts, his father (Danny Liang) admonishes her not to fill the young boy’s head full of nonsense. Strange things are indeed happening inside the house, which leads to shocking acts of violence. Phos balances solid family drama with well-paced suspense, including some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it occurrences which should keep viewers’ eyes glued to the proceedings. The cast members, including Pascale Behrman, all turn in solid performances. Wendigo The animated short Wendigo (Ireland, 2021) is an intriguing take on the North American First Nations mythological creature combined with other eldritch occurrences. Charlie (voiced by Marc-Ivan O’Gorman) is an inquisitive young man who wants to investigate first-hand what remains of the Olsen manor, site of some

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 29, 2022
Greece’s Horrorant Film Festival Returns to the Big Screen This May

Greece’s Horrorant Film Festival Returns to the Big Screen This May

After a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 virus, Athens, Greece’s Horrorant Film Festival is set to welcome audiences back to its shiver-inducing in-person cinema experience. This May, the fest will serve up 63 delightfully dark features and shorts. Following is the official press announcement. During its first 6 years of life, Horrorant Film Festival has been acknowledged as one of Europe’s most up’n’coming genre fests, and the ever-growing and hungry for exciting cinematic experiences for which fans respond more and more enthusiastically. Unfortunately, that was when Covid-19 hit and everything froze up. For two years, entertainment was considered almost banned and movie theaters paid a hard price. The “easy” solution of online screenings was never an option for us, due to our belief that movies belong in the cinemas. At last, the nightmare seems to be reaching its end, and — carefully but confidently — Fright Nights are ready to return. This two-year hiatus was an opportunity to reconsider

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 29, 2022
Vienna’s SLASH ½ Film Festival Announces Its Full Lineup

Vienna’s SLASH ½ Film Festival Announces Its Full Lineup

After announcing its first wave of chillers and thrillers earlier this month, Vienna’s SLASH ½ Film Festival now presents its final selection for this year’s edition — Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon — and schedule. Following is the official press announcement. Resistance, empowerment, upheaval: This is the motto of this year’s SLASH ½ Film Festival. The last film to be added to our lineup fits this mold perfectly, and we’d be remiss to keep it from you any longer: MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON is a somewhat quieter affair than director Ana Lily Amirpour’s previous feature THE BAD BATCH, but to no detriment to its bizarre whimsy. Her “adventure fairy-tale” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021 and wowed audiences not only with its deeply bizarre yet heartwarming story of a misfit but also its 1980s and ’90s neon look.Together with other highlights like Ti West’s sex-and-blood–drenched slasher gem X, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s long-awaited tour

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 28, 2022
The Chattanooga Film Festival Announces the First Wave of Its Virtual Lineup

The Chattanooga Film Festival Announces the First Wave of Its Virtual Lineup

The Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) continues its tradition of serving up a mouth-watering selection of chillers, thrillers, the horrific, and the humorous, and this year’s edition goes virtual again. The fest has announced its first wave of films, and from the frightening (such as The Ones You Didn’t Burn) to the funny (the slasher comedies The Third Saturday in October Part 1 and Part V,), CFF has something for genre-fan cinephiles of all stripes. Following is the official press announcement. Two years after blazing a trail as the first film festival to go completely virtual amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) returns for their ninth consecutive year this summer June 23–28. Taking place again virtually, this year’s lineup showcases an eclectic mix of the wild and wonderful features and events the festival has become well-known for through its eight previous editions. Highlights of this year’s first half include a pair of world premieres co-curated in partnership with

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 28, 2022
Movie Reviews: “Upurga” and “God’s Petting You” (Fantaspoa)

Movie Reviews: “Upurga” and “God’s Petting You” (Fantaspoa)

Upurga Director Ulges Ote blends blends folk horror, eco horror, surrealism, and absurdism to mystifying, eerie effect in his Latvian narrative feature debut Upurga. Andrejs (Igors Selegovskis) is a river rafting guide haunted by his inability to save a young woman from drowning. When his sister Mara (Elvita Ragovska) and her boyfriend Matiaas (Rihaard Sniegs) plan a trip to the wilds to shoot a vegan sausage commercial — along with videographer Oskars (Reinis Boters) and director/project manager Eva (Inga Tropa) — Andrejs insists on coming along to ensure everyone’s safety, though the others are far less concerned about that and more intent on having a good time and creating a worthy advertisement. Inspector Salins (Morten Traavik), the local park ranger, warns the group to respect nature and leave his jurisdiction within 30 minutes, but naturally the group members ignore his warnings. That turns out to be a poor decision, as exposure to the local flora makes them act in aggressive

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 27, 2022
First-Look Stills Revealed for U.K. Creature Feature WOLF MANOR 

First-Look Stills Revealed for U.K. Creature Feature WOLF MANOR 

Wolf Manor, the latest horror feature from director Dominic Brunt (Attack of the Adult Babies; Before Dawn) has entered post-production, and Horror Fuel has first-look stills of the U.K. werewolf horror thriller. Following is the official press information. Directed by Dominic Brunt, Wolf Manor is a full-throttle, gore-filled tale of a film crew caught in the claws of a manor house’s resident werewolf. It was shot in three weeks in locations in Shropshire. Brunt’s U.K.-produced film, which was written by Pete Wild and Joel Ferrari, stars James Fleet, (Bridgerton, Operation Mincemeat) Jay Taylor (Donkey Punch, Misfits), Thaila Zucchi (Evie, Attack of the Adult Babies), Rupert Procter (Luther, Ripper Street)) and John Henshaw (The Keeper, Looking For Eric). Wolf Manor’s creature design was created by renowned special make-up effects artist Shaune Harrison (Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Avengers: Age of Ultron). Make-up design is by Katie Wrigley and Costume Design is by Lance Milligan. Synopsis: Shooting a vampire flick in an

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 26, 2022
Movie Review: “The Cellar”

Movie Review: “The Cellar”

Writer/director Brendan Muldowney expands his 2004 short film The Ten Steps into a feature length treatment with The Cellar (Ireland; 2022). The result is an interesting watch that doesn’t offer a lot in the way of originality, but is bolstered by a solid performance from Elisha Cuthbert (House of Wax; Captivity). Cuthbert plays Keira Woods, who is moving into a house with her family — husband Brian (Eoin Macken of The Forest), teen daughter Ellie (Abby Fitz), and preteen son Steven (Dylan Fitzmaurice Brady) — that just happens to be riddled with strange symbols and, of course, a creepy cellar. When Keira and Brian are at a late work meeting one night and the power goes out at home, Keira talks a petrified Ellie down the darkened stairs by candlelight over the phone, only for the girl to disappear. Though some write off Ellie as a runaway, Keira believes she is alive and that her disappearance has something to do

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 12, 2022
SLASH ½ Once Again Paints Vienna’s Filmcasino Red

SLASH ½ Once Again Paints Vienna’s Filmcasino Red

SLASH, Austria’s premiere festival for fantastic film, presents its annual SLASH ½ edition from May 5–7, 2022, at Vienna’s Filmcasino, and the fest has just announced the first wave of feature titles. Check out the fine options so far! Following is the official press announcement. This year’s SLASH ½ features films once again showcasing the dazzling range fantastic cinema has to offer. What these eleven movies share is the core theme of resistance. Already an act of resistance in and of itself—against the mainstream, against good taste, against all that is established and agreeable—fantastic cinema is uniquely suited to illustrate the many facets of revolt in our society. The films of this year’s SLASH ½ often revolve around self-empowerment and protest but also revenge and vigilante justice. After decades of neglect and complacency, nature has also come to collect its dues from us for abusing and exploiting it. Now is its time to strike back with full force, in the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 11, 2022
Movie Reviews: “Wesens” and “Curse of Aurore” (Unnamed Footage Festival)

Movie Reviews: “Wesens” and “Curse of Aurore” (Unnamed Footage Festival)

South African offering Wesens (2020) is one of the more thoughtful found footage features in recent memory, focusing on the single-day investigation by four intelligence agents of a mysterious, unidentified object that fell from the sky onto remote farmland. Morné Visser plays the businesslike, skeptical head of the foursome; Pietie Beyers portrays a more open-minded character who becomes mesmerized by the dark, egg-shaped object; and Conradie van Heerden and Randy Januarie round out the group as assistants. As the men record their findings on what seems to be Super 8mm and 16mm film, the object begins to have weird, and possibly dangerous effects, on them. Wesens is wonderfully shot by cinematographer Tom Purcell, who thankfully avoids much of the shaky-cam trappings of the found-footage subgenre. Writer/director Derick Muller invests his science fiction film with elements of folk horror and psychological horror, and with the aid of his crackerjack cast members, serves up a thought-provoking film that addresses historical and political

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 3, 2022
Brazil's Fantaspoa Reveals the Second Wave of Its Eighteenth Amazing Edition

Brazil’s Fantaspoa Reveals the Second Wave of Its Eighteenth Amazing Edition

If almost 200 slices of fear-fare and related cinema sounds tantalizing to you, check out the just-revealed full lineup for Brazil’s Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival, which takes place from April 15 to May 1, 2022. From cutting-edge premieres to splatter-ific genre favorites, Fantaspoa offers something for horror fans of every stripe. Following is the official press announcement. After revealing the first batch of titles from its upcoming lineup last month, Brazil’s Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival is proud to announce the remaining selection of features appearing in its eighteenth edition. The full Fantaspoa 2022 lineup will consist of 90 features and 97 shorts – equaling 187 incredible movies, shown in five theaters around Porto Alegre from April 15 to May 1 of this year. The festival’s selection of feature films is divided into five competitive sections: International; Ibero-American; Brazilian; Animation; and “Mondo Bizarro”. While the first three are based on the geographic origin of the productions, the others are built solely

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 2, 2022

More from Joseph Perry

Short-Film Reviews: “Talisman,” “Wendigo,” “SMAHORROR,” and “Spare Body” (National Film Festival for Talented Youth)

Short-Film Reviews: “Talisman,” “Wendigo,” “SMAHORROR,” and “Spare Body” (National Film Festival for Talented Youth)

Talisman One person’s belief system is another person’s superstition, and director Reangsei Phos’ Talisman (Canada) finds school-age Yi (Sean Lu) torn between those two schools of thought. His family has just moved into a new house, and as his mother (Qingqing Yang) tries to protect the home against ghosts, his father (Danny Liang) admonishes her not to fill the young boy’s head full of nonsense. Strange things are indeed happening inside the house, which leads to shocking acts of violence. Phos balances solid family drama with well-paced suspense, including some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it occurrences which should keep viewers’ eyes glued to the proceedings. The cast members, including Pascale Behrman, all turn in solid performances. Wendigo The animated short Wendigo (Ireland, 2021) is an intriguing take on the North American First Nations mythological creature combined with other eldritch occurrences. Charlie (voiced by Marc-Ivan O’Gorman) is an inquisitive young man who wants to investigate first-hand what remains of the Olsen manor, site of some

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 29, 2022
Greece’s Horrorant Film Festival Returns to the Big Screen This May

Greece’s Horrorant Film Festival Returns to the Big Screen This May

After a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 virus, Athens, Greece’s Horrorant Film Festival is set to welcome audiences back to its shiver-inducing in-person cinema experience. This May, the fest will serve up 63 delightfully dark features and shorts. Following is the official press announcement. During its first 6 years of life, Horrorant Film Festival has been acknowledged as one of Europe’s most up’n’coming genre fests, and the ever-growing and hungry for exciting cinematic experiences for which fans respond more and more enthusiastically. Unfortunately, that was when Covid-19 hit and everything froze up. For two years, entertainment was considered almost banned and movie theaters paid a hard price. The “easy” solution of online screenings was never an option for us, due to our belief that movies belong in the cinemas. At last, the nightmare seems to be reaching its end, and — carefully but confidently — Fright Nights are ready to return. This two-year hiatus was an opportunity to reconsider

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 29, 2022
Vienna’s SLASH ½ Film Festival Announces Its Full Lineup

Vienna’s SLASH ½ Film Festival Announces Its Full Lineup

After announcing its first wave of chillers and thrillers earlier this month, Vienna’s SLASH ½ Film Festival now presents its final selection for this year’s edition — Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon — and schedule. Following is the official press announcement. Resistance, empowerment, upheaval: This is the motto of this year’s SLASH ½ Film Festival. The last film to be added to our lineup fits this mold perfectly, and we’d be remiss to keep it from you any longer: MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON is a somewhat quieter affair than director Ana Lily Amirpour’s previous feature THE BAD BATCH, but to no detriment to its bizarre whimsy. Her “adventure fairy-tale” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021 and wowed audiences not only with its deeply bizarre yet heartwarming story of a misfit but also its 1980s and ’90s neon look.Together with other highlights like Ti West’s sex-and-blood–drenched slasher gem X, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s long-awaited tour

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 28, 2022
The Chattanooga Film Festival Announces the First Wave of Its Virtual Lineup

The Chattanooga Film Festival Announces the First Wave of Its Virtual Lineup

The Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) continues its tradition of serving up a mouth-watering selection of chillers, thrillers, the horrific, and the humorous, and this year’s edition goes virtual again. The fest has announced its first wave of films, and from the frightening (such as The Ones You Didn’t Burn) to the funny (the slasher comedies The Third Saturday in October Part 1 and Part V,), CFF has something for genre-fan cinephiles of all stripes. Following is the official press announcement. Two years after blazing a trail as the first film festival to go completely virtual amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) returns for their ninth consecutive year this summer June 23–28. Taking place again virtually, this year’s lineup showcases an eclectic mix of the wild and wonderful features and events the festival has become well-known for through its eight previous editions. Highlights of this year’s first half include a pair of world premieres co-curated in partnership with

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 28, 2022
Movie Reviews: “Upurga” and “God’s Petting You” (Fantaspoa)

Movie Reviews: “Upurga” and “God’s Petting You” (Fantaspoa)

Upurga Director Ulges Ote blends blends folk horror, eco horror, surrealism, and absurdism to mystifying, eerie effect in his Latvian narrative feature debut Upurga. Andrejs (Igors Selegovskis) is a river rafting guide haunted by his inability to save a young woman from drowning. When his sister Mara (Elvita Ragovska) and her boyfriend Matiaas (Rihaard Sniegs) plan a trip to the wilds to shoot a vegan sausage commercial — along with videographer Oskars (Reinis Boters) and director/project manager Eva (Inga Tropa) — Andrejs insists on coming along to ensure everyone’s safety, though the others are far less concerned about that and more intent on having a good time and creating a worthy advertisement. Inspector Salins (Morten Traavik), the local park ranger, warns the group to respect nature and leave his jurisdiction within 30 minutes, but naturally the group members ignore his warnings. That turns out to be a poor decision, as exposure to the local flora makes them act in aggressive

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 27, 2022
First-Look Stills Revealed for U.K. Creature Feature WOLF MANOR 

First-Look Stills Revealed for U.K. Creature Feature WOLF MANOR 

Wolf Manor, the latest horror feature from director Dominic Brunt (Attack of the Adult Babies; Before Dawn) has entered post-production, and Horror Fuel has first-look stills of the U.K. werewolf horror thriller. Following is the official press information. Directed by Dominic Brunt, Wolf Manor is a full-throttle, gore-filled tale of a film crew caught in the claws of a manor house’s resident werewolf. It was shot in three weeks in locations in Shropshire. Brunt’s U.K.-produced film, which was written by Pete Wild and Joel Ferrari, stars James Fleet, (Bridgerton, Operation Mincemeat) Jay Taylor (Donkey Punch, Misfits), Thaila Zucchi (Evie, Attack of the Adult Babies), Rupert Procter (Luther, Ripper Street)) and John Henshaw (The Keeper, Looking For Eric). Wolf Manor’s creature design was created by renowned special make-up effects artist Shaune Harrison (Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Avengers: Age of Ultron). Make-up design is by Katie Wrigley and Costume Design is by Lance Milligan. Synopsis: Shooting a vampire flick in an

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 26, 2022
Movie Review: “The Cellar”

Movie Review: “The Cellar”

Writer/director Brendan Muldowney expands his 2004 short film The Ten Steps into a feature length treatment with The Cellar (Ireland; 2022). The result is an interesting watch that doesn’t offer a lot in the way of originality, but is bolstered by a solid performance from Elisha Cuthbert (House of Wax; Captivity). Cuthbert plays Keira Woods, who is moving into a house with her family — husband Brian (Eoin Macken of The Forest), teen daughter Ellie (Abby Fitz), and preteen son Steven (Dylan Fitzmaurice Brady) — that just happens to be riddled with strange symbols and, of course, a creepy cellar. When Keira and Brian are at a late work meeting one night and the power goes out at home, Keira talks a petrified Ellie down the darkened stairs by candlelight over the phone, only for the girl to disappear. Though some write off Ellie as a runaway, Keira believes she is alive and that her disappearance has something to do

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 12, 2022
SLASH ½ Once Again Paints Vienna’s Filmcasino Red

SLASH ½ Once Again Paints Vienna’s Filmcasino Red

SLASH, Austria’s premiere festival for fantastic film, presents its annual SLASH ½ edition from May 5–7, 2022, at Vienna’s Filmcasino, and the fest has just announced the first wave of feature titles. Check out the fine options so far! Following is the official press announcement. This year’s SLASH ½ features films once again showcasing the dazzling range fantastic cinema has to offer. What these eleven movies share is the core theme of resistance. Already an act of resistance in and of itself—against the mainstream, against good taste, against all that is established and agreeable—fantastic cinema is uniquely suited to illustrate the many facets of revolt in our society. The films of this year’s SLASH ½ often revolve around self-empowerment and protest but also revenge and vigilante justice. After decades of neglect and complacency, nature has also come to collect its dues from us for abusing and exploiting it. Now is its time to strike back with full force, in the

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 11, 2022
Movie Reviews: “Wesens” and “Curse of Aurore” (Unnamed Footage Festival)

Movie Reviews: “Wesens” and “Curse of Aurore” (Unnamed Footage Festival)

South African offering Wesens (2020) is one of the more thoughtful found footage features in recent memory, focusing on the single-day investigation by four intelligence agents of a mysterious, unidentified object that fell from the sky onto remote farmland. Morné Visser plays the businesslike, skeptical head of the foursome; Pietie Beyers portrays a more open-minded character who becomes mesmerized by the dark, egg-shaped object; and Conradie van Heerden and Randy Januarie round out the group as assistants. As the men record their findings on what seems to be Super 8mm and 16mm film, the object begins to have weird, and possibly dangerous effects, on them. Wesens is wonderfully shot by cinematographer Tom Purcell, who thankfully avoids much of the shaky-cam trappings of the found-footage subgenre. Writer/director Derick Muller invests his science fiction film with elements of folk horror and psychological horror, and with the aid of his crackerjack cast members, serves up a thought-provoking film that addresses historical and political

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 3, 2022
Brazil's Fantaspoa Reveals the Second Wave of Its Eighteenth Amazing Edition

Brazil’s Fantaspoa Reveals the Second Wave of Its Eighteenth Amazing Edition

If almost 200 slices of fear-fare and related cinema sounds tantalizing to you, check out the just-revealed full lineup for Brazil’s Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival, which takes place from April 15 to May 1, 2022. From cutting-edge premieres to splatter-ific genre favorites, Fantaspoa offers something for horror fans of every stripe. Following is the official press announcement. After revealing the first batch of titles from its upcoming lineup last month, Brazil’s Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival is proud to announce the remaining selection of features appearing in its eighteenth edition. The full Fantaspoa 2022 lineup will consist of 90 features and 97 shorts – equaling 187 incredible movies, shown in five theaters around Porto Alegre from April 15 to May 1 of this year. The festival’s selection of feature films is divided into five competitive sections: International; Ibero-American; Brazilian; Animation; and “Mondo Bizarro”. While the first three are based on the geographic origin of the productions, the others are built solely

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Apr 2, 2022
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