Author

Joseph Perry

652 stories

Horror Fuel.com’s Top 10 Film Festival Horror Movies of 2021

This year was an outstanding one for horror films making the film festival rounds, which is where I see most of my movies each year. Thankfully, many films are making it to wider release quicker than in the past — for example, my #1 film of 2021 is already available on VOD, and several of my honorable mentions are on streaming services or on DVD or Blu-ray. Keep the following films in mind because some of them just may be future favorites for you in 2022! 1. The Feast (Wales) Director Lee Haven Jones’ Welsh outing The Feast — a blend of folk, psychological, environmental, and supernatural horror — instantly became my favorite film of the year, regardless of genre, when I saw it as part of SXSW Online 2021 in March. In my Horror Fuel review, I said that The Feast is an “eerie slice of horror cinema that jangles the nerves and does a beautiful job of slowly

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Dec 22, 2021

ForeignMoviesReviews

Movie Review: “Roh”

Folk horror films have been on the rise lately, and when they come from countries not known for their fear-fare cinema output, it often adds an extra dimension of the creepy unknown to viewers outside of the country of origin. Malaysia’s Roh (AKA Soul; 2019) certainly falls into that description, with its untamed forest providing a disquieting setting that looks quite different from forest settings in horror movies shot in Western countries and therefore giving off an even more unsettling effect than what many viewers are used to. Single mother Mak (Farah Ahmad) lives in an isolated area of the forest with her teenage daughter Along (Mhia Farhana) and younger son Angah (Harith Haziq). Their lives are difficult, living meagerly off of what they can find nearby. A deer hanging curiously from a tree could either provide food for a week or open the door to danger, as the siblings discuss. When a little girl (Putri Qaseh) shows up at

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Dec 17, 2021

EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMovies

Newest Benson and Moorhead Horror Feature Leads Sundance Film Festival Genre Offerings

The dynamic directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead return to supernatural horror with their latest outing, Something in the Dirt, which premiers at Sundance Film Festival in January. Described below, it is one of the films from the fest that we here at Horror Fuel are most excited about. The festival takes place in person and digitally, so fear-fare fans can join in from around the United States. Following is information from the official press release, along with a list of genre films — including horror, science fiction, thriller, mystery, dark comedies, and more — along with general information about the festival. The Festival takes place in person in Utah and online as well as at satellite screens around the country. (The in person and online are not separate events for us but part of one Festival. We are thrilled to be able to invite folks in from where they are or to have them join us in

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Dec 13, 2021

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller

Movie Reviews: “Apparitions,” “Crow Valley,” and “The Dunes” (Monster Fest)

Apparitions Combining psychological horror with a couple of other styles of fright fare that I don’t want to spoil here, Apparitions (Australia, 2021) is a well-crafted shocker from the cowriting/codirecting team of Perri Cummings and Paul Anthony Nelson featuring admirable performances and a good amount of intrigue. Lily Stone (Cate O’Connor) has just graduated from university but what should be a high point in her life so far is overshadowed by the fact that she was the only survivor of a family slaughter that she witnessed as a young girl (as revealed very early on in the film). She returns home to what locals consider a haunted house to find out more about her past. Lily fails to contact her best friend Alice (Shanon Kulupach), who goads serious-minded cop Jane Wilkes (Cummings) into taking her along to find out what is wrong. Deadly mayhem ensues as long-buried secrets are uncovered. Cummings and Nelson run protagonist Lily through the wringer both

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Dec 7, 2021

MoviesReviews

Movie Review: “Silent Night”

Silent Night (the U.K., 2021) is a gut-punch of a film. What seems to be a traditional British Christmas gathering of family, friends, and frenemies turns into a harrowing ordeal that plays on emotions in a taut, chilling manner, with dark humor added to the mix to make matters even more mind-boggling. Nell (Keira Knightly) and her husband Simon (Matthew Goode), parents of eldest son Art (Roman Griffin Davis) and their younger twins Thomas (Gilby Griffin Davis) and Hardy (Hardy Griffin Davis), host a Christmas feast for a diverse bunch. Nell’s stuffy sister Sandra (Annabelle Wallis) and her kinder, gentler husband Tony (Rufus Jones) arrive with their mordant young daughter Kitty (Davida McKenzie); Nell’s other sister Bella (Lucy Punch) brings along unsuspecting significant other Alex (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), and longtime friend from school days James (Sope Dirusu) arrives with younger girlfriend Sophie (Lily-Rose Depp). While the adults bicker and open up both new and festering older wounds, the children run around

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Dec 4, 2021

U.K.'s Fortean Film Festival Set to Open Eyes and Minds to the Highly Unusual

Film FestivalsMoviesReviews

Movie Review: “Cats of the Bayou (ASMR)” (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival)

Writer/director Alexander Roman returns with another feature to warm the hearts of viewers who appreciate old-school occult movies and noir films with some modern twists, Cats of the Bayou (ASMR). Like Roman’s previous features, it deals in style and elegance, eschewing graphic gore and violence in favor of good storytelling and leaving certain elements to the imagination of viewers. Members of a group called The Cat Society meet in New Orleans to listen to a tape from Egyptologist Horace, and then learn that one of their members has been found dead, with scratches all over his face and body. A few months later, a young woman named Jacqueline (Max Reeves) returns to the city, where she had lived as a child before being moved to an abbey. As she begins to become increasingly intrigued about the secretive Cat Society and its members, and as she starts to unearth shocking clues about the death of her parents, esoteric mysteries begin to

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Nov 30, 2021

MoviesReviews

Movie Review: “Motherly”

Canadian feature Motherly is a slick horror thriller full of intriguing twists and turns. Though savvy viewers may have a strong inclination early on as to the big, climactic reveal, director Craig David Wallace — working from a screenplay that he cowrote with Ian Malone — makes the full ride worth taking nevertheless. Kate (Lora Burke) is trying to give her daughter Beth (Tessa Kozma) a happy ninth birthday party, but Kate isn’t having it. She wants to be with her father, who is in prison for killing a child. The mother and daughter are staying in a safe house located in the woods with her daughter, with law enforcement agent Hal (Colin Paradine) as their contact with the outside world. Kate investigates around the house when she thinks she hears a noise, maybe even seeming a little paranoid, but it turns out someone really is out to get her . . . Let’s leave the plot information at that,

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Nov 29, 2021

Film FestivalsMoviesReviews

Movie Reviews: “The Unhealer” and “Human Resources” (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival)

The Unhealer Director Martin Guigui’s The Unhealer (2021) is a “the bullied becomes the bullier” revenge tale that plays like a 1990s horror movie, with plenty of familiar genre-film faces on display. Pflueger (Lance Henriksen) performs faith healing miracles — for donations, of course — having gained supernatural powers from the hoary cinematic chestnut that is “Indian burial grounds.” He accidentally and unwittingly transfers his powers of instantly healing from any injury or pain to Kelly (Elijah Nelson), a teenager bullied by classmates because of suffering from the eating disorder pica. His childhood friend Dominique (Kayla Carlson) is a popular girl at their high school who tries to get her jock boyfriend and his buddies to cut Kelly some slack, but an incident in which one of them tries to fight Kelly and gets injured instead helps Kelly realize that he has inherited powers that turn others’ violence toward him on the perpetrators. Megalomania ensues, along with deadly acts of

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Nov 26, 2021

EventsFilm FestivalsNews

The U.K.’s Horror-on-Sea Film Festival Announces Its Full Lineup for 2022

Horror-on-Sea returns this coming year with a loaded slate of international independent horror features and short films. From ghosts to gorefests and monsters to murderous mayhem, there’s something for every fear-fare fanatic at the Southend fest. Following is the official press release. Following a hiatus in 2021 due to the pandemic, Horror-on-Sea will be making a welcome return to Southend in 2022 with what promises to be its biggest yet. Horror-on-Sea is recognised by many as the true home of independent horror and remains one of the UK’s biggest independent film festivals. Horror-on-Sea was originally formed to promote independent horror films and will continue to uphold that tradition, giving the horror fans an opportunity to see independent titles which would not normally be played on the big screen. Hosted once again at The Park Inn Palace Hotel (Southend-on-Sea) the festival will be running over two weekends from Friday 14th January to Sunday 16th January and Friday 21st January to Sunday

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Nov 23, 2021

Film FestivalsMoviesReviews

Movie Reviews: “Night Caller” and “Crabs!” (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival)

Night Caller You’ll probably feel like you need a shower after viewing writer/director Chad Ferrin’s Night Caller. This paean to grindhouse gorefests oozes a 1970s vibe from practically every frame. The film is lurid in both senses of that word, from its color palette to its graphic violence. It pays obvious homage to Maniac (1980) with its killer’s method of murdering and scalping victims as it name checks — with video clips — psychic horror of the past such as Patrick (1978) and some public domain fear fare, with some spaghetti western and Laurel and Hardy references, as well. Clementine Carter (Susan Priver) works as a telephone psychic with boss Jade Mei (Bai Ling) when she begins receiving calls from a serial killer, whose upcoming acts of violence she sees in visions as they talk. As Clementine tries to solve the mystery of just who the fiend is, she brings danger closer to her elderly father (Robert Miano as Charles

Continue reading →

Joseph Perry

Nov 23, 2021

Joseph Perry

More from Joseph Perry