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Joseph Perry

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Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Gaia

Eco horror, body horror, creature feature elements — South African chiller Gaia has all this, and more. It’s an intelligent, macabrely beautiful-looking head trip of a film. Park rangers Gabi (Monique Rockman) and Winston (Anthony Oseyemi) are working in the Tsitsikamma forest, floating down a river, when Gabi’s drone goes dead after she spots something unusual. Gabi goes on land to investigate but falls victim to a trap. She seeks shelter in a cabin and later meets its residents — a middle-aged man named Barend (Carel Nel) and younger adult man Stefan (Alex van Dyk) who have given up civilization for a minimalist, survivalist life deep in the forest. As the separated rangers learn, something deadly lurks in the forest in the way of mutated entities, two-legged creatures that have been overtaken by flowers, foliage, and fungi. And Barend and Stefan are all too familiar with them. Director Jaco Bouwer, working from a remarkable screenplay by Tertius Kapp, has crafted

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 15, 2021
Horror Fuel

Movie Review (Tribeca Festival 2021): My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To

How far would you go to help keep a sick loved one alive? How willing would you be to enable an addicted family member? At what point would you begin to say “Enough is enough” in either of these scenarios and actually act on it? These are just three of the questions explored in writer/director Jonathan Cuartas’ arthouse horror feature My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To. Three siblings live a bleak existence in their suburban home. Thomas (Owen Campbell) is the youngest, and he needs human blood to survive. He isn’t a typical fright-fare vampire, though. He is weak, often barely able to move without the help of his siblings, and totally dependent on them to survive. His brother Dwight (Patrick Fugit) rounds up unsuspecting homeless people under the guise of driving them to a shelter, and then takes them home where sister Jessie (Ingrid Sophie Schram) does the nasty business of draining the victims’ blood into

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 12, 2021
Horror Fuel

Twisted Dreams Film Festival Review: “To Freddy” 

Norwegian feature To Freddy (original title Til Freddy; 2020) finds the titular character, one of a group of friends planning a final camping trip after graduating university and heading into the workaday world, becoming increasingly paranoid after a box found randomly in the woods predicts that he will be killed by a member of their group. The film is a well-crafted thriller with horror overtones. Freddy (Nicolai Narvesen Lied) is worried about his future, and more than a little distrustful of social media, having recently abandoned it altogether after receiving targeted ads after a phone call. His friend Viljar (writer/director Viljar Bøe) finds a box containing birthday cards and messages anonymously addressed to Freddy. Curious, Freddy reads one that says one of his friends will kill him at a precise date and time during the camping trip, and that the trip cannot be cancelled. To prove the validity of this prediction, Freddy has instructions to perform specific games of chance

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 10, 2021
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Censor

Director/cowriter Prano Bailey-Bond expands on the video nasties theme she explored in her terrific 2015 short film Nasty with her feature-length debut Censor (U.K., 2021). This gripping psychological horror film rises high above mere pastiche to present a dark tale that recalls and reflects the luridness of some of the movies that made headlines in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s for being criticized for their violent content. Enid (Niamh Algar) works on a board of censors who approve or deny films for their content, so she must watch many horror films and approve or deny their often grisly and disturbing content. She becomes a target of hatred when someone commits a murder seemingly based on a killing in a film she approved, and matters get worse when film producer Frederick North (Adrian Schiller) brings her his latest film, which seems chillingly similar to the real-life disappearance of her sister. North’s film sets Enid on an obsessive quest to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 9, 2021
Horror Fuel

Twisted Dreams Virtual Film Festival Guarantees a Nightmarish Experience

Milwaukee’s Twisted Dreams Film Festival always schedules challenging, gripping horror and related genre-film fare, and the selections for its 6th edition — also its second virtual edition — are no exceptions to that tradition. Following is the information you need, gathered from the fest’s press announcement and website. Twisted Dreams Virtual Film Festival Featuring the most Twisted Independent Films from around the world June 4th-13th Virtual Film Festival Nightmare pass $60 Short Film Pass $50 Feature Pass $40 It is finally time for Twisted Dreams to bring you the 6th annual Twisted Dreams Film Festival. Last year was the first time we did a virtual event, and it was such a huge success that we are going to do it again this year. Due to the overwhelming success we have increased our staff and will be expanding to a 10 day festival (June 4th-13th). To purchase passes for the online event please click the link https://www.twisteddreamsff.com/ We are proud to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 2, 2021
Horror Fuel

Joshua Winch, Tyler Mane, Linnea Quigley, Danielle Harris Highlight Houston Horror Film Fest 2021

From the official press announcement: Joshua Winch (Fall of Grace) joins Tyler Mane (Rob Zombie’s Halloween), Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead), Danielle Harris (Halloween 4 & 5), Rob Mello (Happy Death Day), Oliver Robins (Poltergeist), Clint Howard (Evilspeak) and many more for the HOUSTON HORROR FILM FEST 2021. The weekend of June 25 – 27 the Marriott of South Hobby will be filled with monsters, maniacs, and the macabre. Visit special guest Joshua Winch, winner of best actor for horror movie for “Fall of Grace” and featured in Crave: Roots of Evil, Anna, Lake Fear, Lake Fear 3, and Allegience of Power. “Seeing my name listed as a guest for the Houston Horror Film Festival, with all those icons and great talent is really a dream come true!” – Joshua Winch For more information: https://www.houstonhorrorfilmfest.com/index.html And for more information on Joshua Winch imdb.me/joshuawinch https://twitter.com/joshua_winch?s=09 https://www.facebook.com/joshua.winch

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 1, 2021
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Spare Parts

Quite simply, Canadian feature Spare Parts is likely to appeal to gorehounds interested in watching young women in fetish gear kick butt, but those not in the mood for such fare may find it lacking. The film takes several ideas, from drive-in exploitation movies to postapocalyptic cinema to girls-with-guns fare to gorefests and more, and attempts to blend them together. The result is a technically sound film that aims to be more chaotic and violent than it is, but that revels in what brutality it does have on display. The punk band Ms. 45 — Amy (Michelle Argyris), her sister Emma (Emily Alatalo), Cassy (Kiriana Stanton) and Cassy’s girlfriend Jill (Chelsea Muirhead) — play a rowdy gig that earns them enemies along with fans. When a tire on their van blows out, local law enforcement officers take them to an automobile junkyard that happens to house a cult — led by The Emperor (Julian Richings of Anything for Jackson and

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 1, 2021
Horror Fuel

Austria’s Slash ½ Film Festival Features Supernatural Shudders and Gag-Inducing Grue

The stellar minds behind Slash Filmfestival Austrian film festival present Slash ½ — which returns to cinemas after an absence last year — with 11 amazing films. Highlights of he fest, which runs June 17–20, 2021 at Filmcasino in Vienna, Austria, include the gruesome shocker The Stylist, the gory dark-horror comedy Cyst, the supernatural chiller Son, and much more. Following is official information from Slash ½. After cancelling last year’s edition due to the pandemic, SLASH 1/2 is making its big comeback in 2021. Extended to four festival days, the mini festival presents international Fantastic Cinema in all its diversity. Sporting more than ten films, the program serves up hearty scenes of blood and pus splattering everywhere (mmhh!) as well as subtle horrors and social critique — after all, it’s not just your stomach that ought to turn but also the wheels in your head. Festival films include Brandon Cronenberg’s sci-fi thriller POSSESSOR, Tyler Russell’s equally nasty and funny body

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 31, 2021
Horror Fuel

Korea’s BIFAN Film Festival Unveils a Six-Poster Set for Its 25th Birthday This Summer

The following information is Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival’s official press announcement. The 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN, Festival Director: SHIN Chul) unveiled this year’s official posters on the 27th. The six posters make up the “cake series” that celebrates BIFAN’s 25th birthday, and they reflect this year’s slogan: “Stay Strange.” The mix of cuteness and bizarreness depict a sense of disharmony within harmony. The posters also act as an invitation welcoming everyone to come eat and be merry at the feast that has been prepared by BIFAN for its 25th anniversary. The “Stay Strange” slogan is an expression of BIFAN’s determination to show keen support for unconventional genre film talents that have turned away from the mainstream. The slogan implies that, although their stories might be unfamiliar and strange to some, if these stories are nurtured, the talents behind them can eventually meet BIFAN and blossom. “Stay Strange” also captures the hope and comfort being offered to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 27, 2021
Horror Fuel

Etheria Film Night Announces 2021 Lineup That Will Stream Exclusively on Shudder

Etheria Film Night — the world’s most respected annual showcase of horror, science fiction, fantasy, action and thriller films directed by women — will feature nine short films and honor The Walking Dead Showrunner and Executive Producer Angela Kang with the 2021 Etheria Inspiration Award when it has its exclusive streaming run on Shudder from June 25-July 25. Following is the official press announcement. Etheria Film Night (www.etheriafilmnight.com) announced today the 2021 Official Short Films Showcase Lineup, which will stream exclusively on Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streamer for horror, thrillers and the supernatural, beginning Friday, June 25 through July 25. This year’s Festival, the world’s most respected annual showcase of horror, science fiction, fantasy, action and thriller films directed by women, will feature nine short films and honor The Walking Dead Showrunner and Executive Producer Angela Kang with the 2021 Etheria Inspiration Award, given annually to a person in the entertainment industry who has inspired women to pursue careers working

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 26, 2021

More from Joseph Perry

Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Gaia

Eco horror, body horror, creature feature elements — South African chiller Gaia has all this, and more. It’s an intelligent, macabrely beautiful-looking head trip of a film. Park rangers Gabi (Monique Rockman) and Winston (Anthony Oseyemi) are working in the Tsitsikamma forest, floating down a river, when Gabi’s drone goes dead after she spots something unusual. Gabi goes on land to investigate but falls victim to a trap. She seeks shelter in a cabin and later meets its residents — a middle-aged man named Barend (Carel Nel) and younger adult man Stefan (Alex van Dyk) who have given up civilization for a minimalist, survivalist life deep in the forest. As the separated rangers learn, something deadly lurks in the forest in the way of mutated entities, two-legged creatures that have been overtaken by flowers, foliage, and fungi. And Barend and Stefan are all too familiar with them. Director Jaco Bouwer, working from a remarkable screenplay by Tertius Kapp, has crafted

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 15, 2021
Horror Fuel

Movie Review (Tribeca Festival 2021): My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To

How far would you go to help keep a sick loved one alive? How willing would you be to enable an addicted family member? At what point would you begin to say “Enough is enough” in either of these scenarios and actually act on it? These are just three of the questions explored in writer/director Jonathan Cuartas’ arthouse horror feature My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To. Three siblings live a bleak existence in their suburban home. Thomas (Owen Campbell) is the youngest, and he needs human blood to survive. He isn’t a typical fright-fare vampire, though. He is weak, often barely able to move without the help of his siblings, and totally dependent on them to survive. His brother Dwight (Patrick Fugit) rounds up unsuspecting homeless people under the guise of driving them to a shelter, and then takes them home where sister Jessie (Ingrid Sophie Schram) does the nasty business of draining the victims’ blood into

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 12, 2021
Horror Fuel

Twisted Dreams Film Festival Review: “To Freddy” 

Norwegian feature To Freddy (original title Til Freddy; 2020) finds the titular character, one of a group of friends planning a final camping trip after graduating university and heading into the workaday world, becoming increasingly paranoid after a box found randomly in the woods predicts that he will be killed by a member of their group. The film is a well-crafted thriller with horror overtones. Freddy (Nicolai Narvesen Lied) is worried about his future, and more than a little distrustful of social media, having recently abandoned it altogether after receiving targeted ads after a phone call. His friend Viljar (writer/director Viljar Bøe) finds a box containing birthday cards and messages anonymously addressed to Freddy. Curious, Freddy reads one that says one of his friends will kill him at a precise date and time during the camping trip, and that the trip cannot be cancelled. To prove the validity of this prediction, Freddy has instructions to perform specific games of chance

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 10, 2021
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Censor

Director/cowriter Prano Bailey-Bond expands on the video nasties theme she explored in her terrific 2015 short film Nasty with her feature-length debut Censor (U.K., 2021). This gripping psychological horror film rises high above mere pastiche to present a dark tale that recalls and reflects the luridness of some of the movies that made headlines in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s for being criticized for their violent content. Enid (Niamh Algar) works on a board of censors who approve or deny films for their content, so she must watch many horror films and approve or deny their often grisly and disturbing content. She becomes a target of hatred when someone commits a murder seemingly based on a killing in a film she approved, and matters get worse when film producer Frederick North (Adrian Schiller) brings her his latest film, which seems chillingly similar to the real-life disappearance of her sister. North’s film sets Enid on an obsessive quest to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 9, 2021
Horror Fuel

Twisted Dreams Virtual Film Festival Guarantees a Nightmarish Experience

Milwaukee’s Twisted Dreams Film Festival always schedules challenging, gripping horror and related genre-film fare, and the selections for its 6th edition — also its second virtual edition — are no exceptions to that tradition. Following is the information you need, gathered from the fest’s press announcement and website. Twisted Dreams Virtual Film Festival Featuring the most Twisted Independent Films from around the world June 4th-13th Virtual Film Festival Nightmare pass $60 Short Film Pass $50 Feature Pass $40 It is finally time for Twisted Dreams to bring you the 6th annual Twisted Dreams Film Festival. Last year was the first time we did a virtual event, and it was such a huge success that we are going to do it again this year. Due to the overwhelming success we have increased our staff and will be expanding to a 10 day festival (June 4th-13th). To purchase passes for the online event please click the link https://www.twisteddreamsff.com/ We are proud to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 2, 2021
Horror Fuel

Joshua Winch, Tyler Mane, Linnea Quigley, Danielle Harris Highlight Houston Horror Film Fest 2021

From the official press announcement: Joshua Winch (Fall of Grace) joins Tyler Mane (Rob Zombie’s Halloween), Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead), Danielle Harris (Halloween 4 & 5), Rob Mello (Happy Death Day), Oliver Robins (Poltergeist), Clint Howard (Evilspeak) and many more for the HOUSTON HORROR FILM FEST 2021. The weekend of June 25 – 27 the Marriott of South Hobby will be filled with monsters, maniacs, and the macabre. Visit special guest Joshua Winch, winner of best actor for horror movie for “Fall of Grace” and featured in Crave: Roots of Evil, Anna, Lake Fear, Lake Fear 3, and Allegience of Power. “Seeing my name listed as a guest for the Houston Horror Film Festival, with all those icons and great talent is really a dream come true!” – Joshua Winch For more information: https://www.houstonhorrorfilmfest.com/index.html And for more information on Joshua Winch imdb.me/joshuawinch https://twitter.com/joshua_winch?s=09 https://www.facebook.com/joshua.winch

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 1, 2021
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: Spare Parts

Quite simply, Canadian feature Spare Parts is likely to appeal to gorehounds interested in watching young women in fetish gear kick butt, but those not in the mood for such fare may find it lacking. The film takes several ideas, from drive-in exploitation movies to postapocalyptic cinema to girls-with-guns fare to gorefests and more, and attempts to blend them together. The result is a technically sound film that aims to be more chaotic and violent than it is, but that revels in what brutality it does have on display. The punk band Ms. 45 — Amy (Michelle Argyris), her sister Emma (Emily Alatalo), Cassy (Kiriana Stanton) and Cassy’s girlfriend Jill (Chelsea Muirhead) — play a rowdy gig that earns them enemies along with fans. When a tire on their van blows out, local law enforcement officers take them to an automobile junkyard that happens to house a cult — led by The Emperor (Julian Richings of Anything for Jackson and

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 1, 2021
Horror Fuel

Austria’s Slash ½ Film Festival Features Supernatural Shudders and Gag-Inducing Grue

The stellar minds behind Slash Filmfestival Austrian film festival present Slash ½ — which returns to cinemas after an absence last year — with 11 amazing films. Highlights of he fest, which runs June 17–20, 2021 at Filmcasino in Vienna, Austria, include the gruesome shocker The Stylist, the gory dark-horror comedy Cyst, the supernatural chiller Son, and much more. Following is official information from Slash ½. After cancelling last year’s edition due to the pandemic, SLASH 1/2 is making its big comeback in 2021. Extended to four festival days, the mini festival presents international Fantastic Cinema in all its diversity. Sporting more than ten films, the program serves up hearty scenes of blood and pus splattering everywhere (mmhh!) as well as subtle horrors and social critique — after all, it’s not just your stomach that ought to turn but also the wheels in your head. Festival films include Brandon Cronenberg’s sci-fi thriller POSSESSOR, Tyler Russell’s equally nasty and funny body

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 31, 2021
Horror Fuel

Korea’s BIFAN Film Festival Unveils a Six-Poster Set for Its 25th Birthday This Summer

The following information is Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival’s official press announcement. The 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN, Festival Director: SHIN Chul) unveiled this year’s official posters on the 27th. The six posters make up the “cake series” that celebrates BIFAN’s 25th birthday, and they reflect this year’s slogan: “Stay Strange.” The mix of cuteness and bizarreness depict a sense of disharmony within harmony. The posters also act as an invitation welcoming everyone to come eat and be merry at the feast that has been prepared by BIFAN for its 25th anniversary. The “Stay Strange” slogan is an expression of BIFAN’s determination to show keen support for unconventional genre film talents that have turned away from the mainstream. The slogan implies that, although their stories might be unfamiliar and strange to some, if these stories are nurtured, the talents behind them can eventually meet BIFAN and blossom. “Stay Strange” also captures the hope and comfort being offered to

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 27, 2021
Horror Fuel

Etheria Film Night Announces 2021 Lineup That Will Stream Exclusively on Shudder

Etheria Film Night — the world’s most respected annual showcase of horror, science fiction, fantasy, action and thriller films directed by women — will feature nine short films and honor The Walking Dead Showrunner and Executive Producer Angela Kang with the 2021 Etheria Inspiration Award when it has its exclusive streaming run on Shudder from June 25-July 25. Following is the official press announcement. Etheria Film Night (www.etheriafilmnight.com) announced today the 2021 Official Short Films Showcase Lineup, which will stream exclusively on Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streamer for horror, thrillers and the supernatural, beginning Friday, June 25 through July 25. This year’s Festival, the world’s most respected annual showcase of horror, science fiction, fantasy, action and thriller films directed by women, will feature nine short films and honor The Walking Dead Showrunner and Executive Producer Angela Kang with the 2021 Etheria Inspiration Award, given annually to a person in the entertainment industry who has inspired women to pursue careers working

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
May 26, 2021
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