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Joseph Perry

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Movie Reviews (Blood in the Snow Film Festival): Horror Shorts — Giant Bear, Wolf in Dude’s Clothing, and Mummering Legends

Canada’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival, which runs in Toronto from November 18–23, 2021, features a jaw-dropping array of homegrown horror and horror-comedy features and shorts. Following are reviews of three of the short films that screen at the festival. Giant Bear Giant Bear (Canada, 2019) is a beautifully animated vision of an Inuit legend that is absolutely stunning. Codirectors Neil Christopher and Daniel Gies have crafted an absolutely gorgeous work. As beautiful as the snowy landscape is, the underwater world in the short is breathtaking. A lone hunter tries spearfishing with his dog, only to come face to face with a monstrously large bear. Much more than just an animated creature feature, Giant Bear is a riveting experience. Wolf in Dude’s Clothing Writer/director Solmund MacPherson’s Wolf in Dude’s Clothing (Canada, 2021) sees a wolf assume a human lifestyle after finding a suit of human skin in the wild. The wolf-man (Erik Athavale) — a fun play on the

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

EventsFilm FestivalsNews

Austria’s SLASH Filmfestival 2022 Is Now Accepting Submissions

Filmmakers, take note: Austria’s prestigious SLASH Filmfestival is currently accepting submissions for its 13th edition next year. Following is the official press release. SLASH Filmfestival, Austria’s foremost festival for Fantastic Film and the country’s third largest film festival overall, is now accepting submissions for its 13th edition, which will run from September 22 through October 2, 2022. Filmmakers from across the world are invited to send in their work via FilmFreeway. Founded in 2010, SLASH Filmfestival has quickly grown in size and scope, now attracting close to 15.000 visitors over its 11-day run. The festival hosts a Fantastic Shorts competition with a cash prize of 1000 EUR decided by popular vote and also organizes the Méliès d’argent competition for European short films. Additionally, SLASH organizes a feature film competition with a cash prize of 3000 EUR, the winner of which is identified by a professional jury. SLASH celebrates genre films in various shapes and sizes. Both short films (30 min.

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Movie Reviews: “Peppergrass” and “Flee the Light” (Blood in the Snow Film Festival)

Peppergrass Eula Baek (Chantelle Han) and Morris Weiss (Charles Boyland) are in a relationship — and quite obviously not a happy one, judging from their constant sniping and bickering — and are driven to desperation during the COVID lockdown for her titular restaurant and his bar. They hatch a plan to scam veteran Captain Reuben Lom (Michael Copeman) — who lives in a very rural area and who was friends with Eula’s father — into giving them some valuable truffles that they can resell to try to make ends meet. Morris gets greedy and aggressive, and suddenly the three people are fighting for their lives. Peppergrass (Canada, 2021) toys with the “home invasion goes south” style of fear fare before diving headlong into survival horror, but rather than fully committing to the more grueling side of the latter, focuses instead on being more of a dread-filled mood piece with lots of wandering around in the woods. Codirectors Steven Garbas and

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Movie Reviews: “Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes” and “Two Witches” (FilmQuest)

Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes Similar to how films like The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears and Berberian Sound Studio have evoked giallo, director Kevin Kopacka’s Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (Germany, 2021) draws its inspiration from European arthouse films, of the horror genre and otherwise. It’s best to go into this outing cold, so I will only give a brief, spoiler-free set-up regarding its plot: Margot (Luisa Taraz) and her husband Deiter (Frederik von Lüttichau) have inherited a remote castle — with Bava influences in more than just lighting — and as the tension between the couple rises, gothic-horror madness sets in. Try learning nothing more than that for maximum surprise from the film. Kopacka, who cowrote the screenplay with Lili Villányi, has crafted a mind-bender of a movie that fairly drips eerie atmosphere, with scenes that range from the tried-and-true method of having off-screen occurrences for viewers to fill in with their imagination, to a graphic gore

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

Film FestivalsReviews

Movie Review: “Last Survivors” (Arrow Video FrightFest Halloween Edition)

Last Survivors, the latest entry in the thriller subgenre of “children beginning to question their parents’ philosophies after an apocalyptic event” (this year’s Gaia being one example) is a solid outing fueled by fine performances from its three leads. Troy (Stephen Moyer) is a stern man who has raised his adult son Jake (Drew Van Acker) from very young childhood in a remote mountain area, with the two of them living off the land and storing venison jerky for long winters. Troy has been training Jake to kill any intruders without hesitation to protect what is theirs, and Jake declares himself ready to do so. When Troy is injured during one such confrontation, he tells Jake where a supply of medicine is hidden. The young man goes to fetch it and spies a woman just outside of their property. He has second thoughts about shooting her, and instead breaks into her house, where he learns that her name is Henrietta

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Movie Review: “The Righteous” (Blood in the Snow Film Festival)

Writer/director Mark O’Brien’s The Righteous is a gripping, slow-burn gothic horror that examines the dark hearts of people and the secrets they hide. Conflicts in religious faith and the consequences of sins are at the forefront, with top-notch performances and brilliant use of light and shadow driving the film. Former priest Frederic Mason (Henry Czerny) left the church to marry his wife Ethel (Mimi Kuzyk). As the film opens, the two have just lost their young, adopted daughter in an accident. Frederic prays and seeks the advice of a practicing priest. Soon thereafter, a stranger who claims he is named Aaron Smith (O’Brien) shows up on the Mason’s property, injured and pleading for help. Frederic uncharacteristically allows him to spend the night in their home, even lying to a local police officer who the couple knows well, saying that the man is someone he knows. Ethel is shocked by Frederic’s invitation but soon becomes fond of the young stranger, who

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

EventsFilm Festivals

Toronto’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival Presents Its In-Cinema Lineup for November

Toronto, Canada’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival (BITS) hosts a hybrid edition this year, with a virtual festival running this weekend (information at https://www.bloodinthesnow.ca/) from October 29-31 and a just-announced in-theater lineup for November 18-23 at the Royal Cinema. From hilarious horror comedies such as Vicious Fun to darker offerings such as Canadian folk horror The Family and styles of fear fare in between are world, national, and local premieres of feature-length and short fright fare films. Following is the official press announcement. Blood in the Snow Film Festival (BITS), a unique and imaginative showcase of contemporary Canadian horror films, is pleased to announce the lineup for the in-theatre portion of this year’s hybrid festival taking place November 18—23 at the Royal Cinema. “After being forced to take a break from in-person gatherings due to the COVID 19 pandemic and pivoting to a virtual format with the help of Super Channel in 2020, we are thrilled to be able

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

Film FestivalsReviews

Movie Reviews: “What Josiah Saw” and “Let the Wrong One In” (Screamfest)

What Josiah Saw One of the darkest gothic horror tales in recent memory is director Vincent Grashaw’s What Josiah Saw. Rich in ghosts, curses, premonitions, and other supernatural elements, the story is also grounded in the real-world horrors of abuse, suicide, and the lingering effects of these and other trauma-inducing incidents. Robert Patrick stars as Josiah Graham, alcoholic, abusive patriarch of a family made up of three adult children, two of whom want nothing to do with visiting the family property where they grew up — though, naturally for this plot, they eventually must. Tom (Scott Haze), the youngest of the siblings, lives at the home, still suffering abuse and wild flights of fancy from his father. Eli (Nick Stahl), the eldest, is an alcoholic loser in debt with criminals so badly that he must go on a robbery job immediately or be shot on the spot by the local crime boss. Mary (Kelli Garner), the middle child, suffers psychological

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

MoviesNewsTrailers

New Clip Debuts Ahead Of The Premiere Of The British Horror ‘Shepherd’

Following its world premiere at BFI London Film Festival, a new clip has been unveiled by Darkland Distribution’s new disturbing British horror, Shepherd, Writer-director Russell Owen, was delighted with the news of the film’s selection, saying, “I’ve followed the BFI London Film Festival for decades, so to actually be a part of it is surreal and a massive honor. I can’t think of a better platform to bring Shepherd to an audience and I’m over the moon.” In the film, “running from grief after the mysterious death of his wife, Eric Black takes a job as a shepherd. Trapped alone on a majestic weather-beaten island with an ominous secret. One man’s spiraling madness meets a vengeful supernatural force. What starts as the perfect wind-swept escape becomes a race to save his sanity and his life.” Tom Hughes (Red Joan, Victoria), Kate Dickie (“Game of Thrones”, The Witch), Gaia Weiss (“Vikings,” “Medici”), and Greta Scacchi (The Player) star in Shepherd, in

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

Film FestivalsReviews

Movie Review: Red River Road (A Night of Horror International Film Festival)

Red River Road (2020) depicts a family becoming increasingly fractured as the effects of a lockdown because of an epidemic take their toll. This is no biologically spread epidemic, though, and the truth behind whether it really exists or not is also challenged, leading to dissension among family members. Red River Road was made entirely during COVID-19 lockdown by writer/director Paul Schuyler, with his family acting as cast and crew. Father Stephen (Schuyler), his wife Anna (Jade Schuyler), and their teenage sons Wyatt (Quinn Schuyler) and Sean (Shaw Schuyler) have moved from Boston to their rural summer home to avoid contact with other people as much as possible during the lockdown for an epidemic that is spread through online contact, and which makes people go insane before killing them. Random assortments of groceries and other necessities are delivered daily, apparently by a government agency, with requests taken over landline phones. People find it physically impossible to leave their immediate residence

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Joseph Perry

Nov 22, 2021

Joseph Perry

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