Author

Joseph Perry

652 stories

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi

Spoiler-Free Review: Personhood (MidWest WeirdFest)

Official Synopsis In a near-future world, a lonely, physically challenged man purchases a companion robot to escape his isolation. But his own insecurities and a jealous brother threaten his chances of ever finding love. Review Films about robots interacting with humans and the possible dangers that could bring have been with us since the silent era. Technology brings such fare ever closer to science fact than science fiction. With his intriguing feature Personhood, writer/director/editor Richard Jordan examines emotional problems that may occur when “artificial humans” become lovers with human beings. Waylen (Elliot Harris) is a physically challenged man who viewers learn right away craves intimacy, and that initial scene shows him going about things in a privacy-invading manner. He seems to be highly successful in his professional life and he lives in a beautiful, spacious, well-appointed home. The beautiful Gala (Agathe Levi) arrives at his front gate and proclaims that she will be very happy. Because the synopsis states that

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Joseph Perry

May 21, 2026

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesParanormalReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Earth to Colby and The Killing Cell (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Earth to Colby (Canada, 2026) Official Synopsis An aspiring vlogger discovers a notebook detailing hidden portals in her hometown, leading her on a journey to discover the city’s supernatural history. After paranormal vlogger Colby vanishes, a documentary crew digs through her content and recovered footage to uncover the truth. What they find is her growing obsession with a strange coil-bound book and the escalating hauntings that followed. As Colby searches for a sign from her late father, friends and family reveal the chilling descent that led to her disappearance. Review Director/cowriter/cinematographer/editor Rino Mioc serves up an intriguing high strangeness faux documentary with Earth to Colby. Saylor McPherson gives a thoroughly engaging star performance as Colby, a young woman so fascinated with the paranormal that she centers her life around her vlog on the topic, despite the skepticism of her best friend Derrick (Casey Coston) and her mother Denise (Anne Hawthorne, McPherson’s real-life mother). Mioc, who cowrote the screenplay with Stephanie

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Joseph Perry

May 12, 2026

DocumentariesMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: From the Beyond: High Strangeness in the Bennington Triangle (2026)

Official synopsis Since the mid twentieth century, a mysterious section of land in rural Vermont has been the home of untold strangeness. Rumors of UFOs, ghosts, phantom lights and mysterious creatures can all be found there in abundance, while verified reports of odd disappearances – many still unsolved – cast a shadow over Glastenbury Mountain. From the Beyond: High Strangeness in the Bennington Triangle goes beyond the rumors and campfire stories, while daring to ask what may be the most frightening question of all – why is Glastenbury Mountain so inexplicable, and what happened to those who have gone missing? Review Filmmaker Seth Breedlove and his Small Town Monsters crew deliver another of their impressively researched documentaries on cryptozoology and high strangeness with From the Beyond: High Strangeness in the Bennington Triangle. Their usual focus on folklore and local color is on display as they examine the esoteric occurrences that have taken place over the decades in rural Vermont’s so-called

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Joseph Perry

May 8, 2026

DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Feels Like Home and Black Zombie (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Feels Like Home (Hungary, 2026) Official Synopsis Kidnapped by a family convinced she is their missing daughter, a woman must assume another identity to survive as she seeks a way out of this nightmare. Rita, an ordinary, but lonely woman is kidnapped. Her captors are the Árpáds; they claim she is not called Rita but Szilvi, a runaway from their family. Rita eventually understands that the only way out is in – to escape she must impersonate Szilvi. The more she becomes the lost girl the more she finds out about the family, and understands that her life is on the line. Review Director Gábor Holtai’s Hungarian feature Feels Like Home is a dynamic blend of thriller, mystery, and drama with horror elements, as well. The acting throughout is a master class, led by Rozi Lovas’s bravura performance as Rita, a woman who is kidnapped mere minutes after losing her job at a shoe store. One of the kidnappers claims

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Joseph Perry

May 1, 2026

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Dead Bloom and Don’t Sleep Alone (Panic Fest)

Dead Bloom (U.S., 2026) Official Synopsis A struggling Black family settles on the poisoned land. Decay, madness, and violence follow. Years later, a new family inherits the property, awakening horrors long dormant. Blending parasitic flora, multi-generational trauma with corporate greed perpetuates the dehumanizing of people of color creating a chilling story of rebirth and reckoning, where the past is never dead, only buried. Review Socially charged horror films, including environmentally focused fear fare, can sometimes err on the side of being too on the nose, hammering home a message so hard that it distracts from its genre elements. Dead Bloom cowriters/codirectors Damien Paris and Domonic Paris make no such mistake. The father and son directing team balance the social commentary with the shocks marvelously, with the result being a suspenseful, gore-soaked slice of cinema. Dead Bloom’s look, production values, and special effects belie the microbudget on which it was made. Gorehounds will revel in the highly impressive practical effects, but

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Joseph Perry

Apr 29, 2026

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: Hangashore (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Official Synopsis Haunted by nightmares and visions, an artist chases the ghost of her father to the remote coast of Newfoundland. Abandoning all that she knows of her life in Iceland, Vera settles in a remote Canadian fishing village looking for answers. She finds herself drawn to Jack, a seal hunter leaving town with his failing boat and superstitious crew. With a curious romance blossoming, Vera sneaks aboard his fledgling longliner destined for ice floes full of seals. The vessel is choked in a thick fog and there is no bounty on the water. Jack’s scrappy crew is led by Patrick – desperate and plagued by superstition, he blames the mysterious weather on the stowaway. Violence erupts, hurling Jack and Vera into a fit of survival. HANGASHORE is a hypnotic vision of romance glowing in frozen Newfoundland landscapes. Review Because Calgary Underground Film Festival’s official description above sets up the story so well, I’ll dive right into review specifics. Writer/director

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Joseph Perry

Apr 27, 2026

Film FestivalsMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: Demonetize (Panic Fest)

Official Synopsis Out-of-work television ghost hunters discover the key to getting their jobs back — and proving ghosts are real — is by working with the last group of people anyone would expect: Social Media Stars. Review Director Alexander Boyd Watson delivers the latest in the fear-fare subgenre of influencer horror comedies with Demonetize (U.S., 2026). Horror films about social media personalities are a decidedly mixed bag, especially if viewers are already biased against their often grating personalities and when bickering relationships are part of the proceedings. Thankfully, Watson, who cowrote the screenplay with Janine Hogan, crafts one of the better recent offerings in the influencer-focused chills-and-chuckles department. One reason for Demonetize rising above the influencer horror comedy pack is that its characters, although deliberately not entirely likable, are at least more interesting than the norm. Yes, we have the expected obnoxious anything-for-clicks jerk in Paul Cory (Cherdleys AKA Chad Lebaron) and self-obsessed glamor gal in Tara Ahlquist (Lexi Collins),

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Joseph Perry

Apr 27, 2026

Film FestivalsMoviesShort Films

Our Frightening Four: A Quartet of Recommended Panic Fest Short Films

Screenland Armour and Downright Creepy present Panic Fest 2026, which kicks off March 9–13, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. With nearly 150 features, long form shorts, and short films on tap, there is plenty to choose from. I have had an early peek at the following shorts and can recommend that fright-fare aficionados put them on their need-to-see lists. Following are the official Panic Fest descriptions for the shorts. Click the links for more information, including tickets. The Scene (director Daniel Meyers) With the hope of discovering a new lead, a detective revisits the scene of his partner’s brutal murder. Yet, the longer he stays, the harrowing truth begins to reveal itself . . . Link below includes a trailer. Our featured image for this article is from The Scene. https://panicfest.eventive.org/films/69ab1fb0d0cabe43751e0592 Hell’s Half-Acre: Sojourn (director Nicholas Nicastro) Hell’s Half-Acre is a true-crime Western inspired by the haunting case of the Bloody Benders — America’s first family of serial killers. Set

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Joseph Perry

Apr 27, 2026

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Creature of the Pines and The Burning of Broken Beak (Panic Fest)

Creature feature devotees, we have reviews of two monsterrific films for you from Panic Fest’s virtual version: Creature of the Pines and The Burning of Broken Beak. Creature of the Pines (U.S., 2026) Official Synopsis A documentary investigation into Pine Hollow disappearances reveals a presence lurking deep within the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Review With Creature of the Pines, cowriters/codirectors Chris Ruppert and Tyler Transue craft a faux documentary/found footage hybrid that cryptozoology devotees should find quite intriguing. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that what lurks in the woods in this feature isn’t the usual hirsute, large-footed suspect, which should make this film even more tempting in the curiosity department. Talking heads interview footage is interspersed between “found” footage of hikers who disappeared in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The experts and others portrayed as interview subjects largely do a solid job of seeming natural in their portrayals, a style that is not

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Joseph Perry

Apr 27, 2026

Film FestivalsMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: Imposters and Little Doors (Calgary Underground Film Festival)

Imposters (U.S., 2026) Official Synopsis After a couple’s baby boy is taken, the desperate mother learns of a way to bring him back. However, her husband begins to suspect that what she returned with isn’t their son. Review Writer/director Caleb Phillips combines changeling folklore with “The Monkey’s Paw” elements and science fiction doppelganger twists in his feature film Imposters. Paul (Charlie Barnett) and Marie (genre-film favorite Jessica Rothe) are having marital problems, and things get decidedly worse when their baby disappears during a party the couple is throwing in their new countryside home. Mysterious neighbor Orson (Bates Wilder), tells a willing Marie and a highly skeptical Paul about an enigmatic cave in which they might find their son. I won’t go into more plot detail than that, as Phillips has plenty of twists and surprises in store for viewers. Sharing equal time with the fear-fare elements is the marital drama between Paul and Marie, which heightens the proceedings and stakes

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Joseph Perry

Apr 24, 2026

Joseph Perry

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