Film Festivals

Horror film festivals worldwide — lineups, awards and the titles that break out of the festival circuit.

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Spoiler-Free Reviews: BLACK MOLD and BLUE HOUR: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF NICK BRANDRETH (Panic Fest 2023)

Black Mold Writer/director John Pata’s Black Mold fairly drips with dread as Brooke (Agnes Albright) and Tanner (Andrew Bailes) — a pair of photographer friends who shoot decrepit, abandoned buildings — find themselves trapped in one such structure by a homeless man (Jeremy Holm) who resembles Brooke’s deceased father. Is it the titular rot that begins to affect the pair’s thinking or supernatural reasons? This is one of the questions posed in the film, and one thing is for certain — there’s psychological horror aplenty on tap. Albright gives a grounded performance as a young woman harboring darkness from her childhood, and Holm gives a solid performance as an enigmatic, paranoid, threatening figure, while Bailes gives a performance that must be seen to be appreciated. It’s an intriguing one that borders at times on scenery chewing without quite crossing the line, and at others as a realistic portrayal of a supportive friend. Tiffany Jasinski’s set design is remarkable — you

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Joseph Perry

Apr 19, 2023

DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Review: KING ON SCREEN (Panic Fest 2023)

French/Belgian coproduction King on Screen is a valentine to the film adaptations of prolific author Stephen King — who truly needs no introduction here — and to the writer himself. Featuring talking-head interviews with filmmakers who adapted King’s works to big and small screens alike, along with behind-the-scenes footage and film clips galore, the film shows the diverse range of genres in which King has worked, and examines why his stories work as well as they do. Director Daphné Baiwir begins her documentary with an Easter-egg–filled seven-minute sequence in which King’s short stories and novels get name checked or alluded to, and it’s a fun way to begin this film. Even the most casual of the author’s fans will get some of the references, while more seasoned aficionados will appreciate the deeper cuts. From there, the interview segments, archival footage that includes King on different sets, and clips from both classic and lesser known King films begin. Filmmakers such as

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Joseph Perry

Apr 17, 2023

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller

Spoiler-Free Reviews: THE BIGFOOT TRAP and MEDUSA DELUXE (Panic Fest 2023)

The Bigfoot Trap The Bigfoot Trap (U.S., 2023) is not another movie about Sasquatch running rampant on misbehaving city folk — far from it, although we do get a nice variation on that type of person here. Josh MacMahon (Tyler Weisenauer) has set aside his goal of becoming a reporter of depth for some quick cash being a content provider for a clickbait-style website hungry for views. After a video of him making fun of a flat-Earth believer goes viral, Josh gets an assignment of doing another such video about Red Wilson (Zach Lazar Hoffman), the head of the Southern Sasquatch Research Foundation — the membership of which seems to be two people. At first trying to get yucks at Red’s expense, Josh begins to buy into the earnestness with which Red seeks to prove that Bigfoot actually exists. When a possible visual sighting of the legendary cryptid goes tragically awry, The Bigfoot Trap ratchets up its drama and suspense.

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Joseph Perry

Apr 17, 2023

EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews

Chattanooga Film Festival Promises Fears, Tears, and Cheers for Its 2023 Edition

Chattanooga Film Festival returns to the cinema this year with a stellar selection of horror and genre-film features announced for its first wave. Those who have been following its online versions in recent years need not worry, as the festival is also offering a hybrid edition. Following is the official press announcement. The Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) will make its long awaited return this summer from June 23-29. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, after being named one of “The 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” by MovieMaker Magazine, the festival will return to the ground June 23-25, while still offering a virtual experience from June 23 – 29. While the festival will have various locations around the city, the main venue will be Chattanooga’s historic and legendary haunted The Read House Hotel. The hotel’s 1920’s beauty and the tale of Room 311, with resident ghost Annalisa, makes it the perfect backdrop for the festival’s 10th Anniversary. Opening the festival will

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Joseph Perry

Apr 12, 2023

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsSci-FiThriller

Spoiler-Free Reviews: MONOLITH and ACCUSED (Overlook Film Festival)

Monolith Australian science fiction/mystery Monolith finds a young reporter (Lily Sullivan) trying to revive her career as a journalist after not checking her sources on a controversial article. She has an opportunity to start a podcast but suffers from creative block — until, that is, she receives an email from an anonymous source that hints at a particular woman and a brick. The podcaster follows up on the mysterious message and finds herself going further and further down a rabbit hole, and revealing any more of the plot would be doing director Matt Vesely’s film a great disservice. Vesely, working from a marvelous screenplay by Lucy Campbell, masterfully builds the intensity, with Sullivan giving a first-rate performance. Sullivan is, with soem small exception, the only actor viewers see — other performers provide solid voice acting — and she carries the film wonderfully. Go in to Monolith as cold as possible and be prepared for a slow-burn mystery designed to keep

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Joseph Perry

Apr 11, 2023

Film FestivalsMoviesNewsTrailers

A Bachelorette Party Turns Into Terror In The Trailer For Tubi’s ‘Bury The Bride’

A bride and her bridesmaids find themselves fighting for their lives this April in the Tubi Original Bury the Bride. In the movie, “Bride-to-be, June’s bachelorette getaway turns deadly when her blood-thirsty fiancé and his backwoods friends show up to crash the party. What follows becomes a living nightmare of unholy proportions as June, her sister Sadie and their closest friends fight for their lives and avenge the ones who don’t make it through the night.” Directed by Spider One, the movie was co-written by Krsy Fox. Bury the Bride stars Krsy Fox, Scout Taylor-Compton, Dylan Rourke, Lyndsi LaRose, Chaz Bono, Katie Ryan, Rachel Brunner, Cameron Cowperthwaite, and Adam Marcinowski. The movie was produced by Krsy Fox & Spider One (OneFox Productions) Chaz Bono, Ian Hoge, and Andy Patch. Bury The Bride premieres on April 22, 2023, as a Tubi Original and screens at Panic Fest in Kansas City, MO, on April 15th and Salem Horror Film Fest on April

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Apr 10, 2023

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: GODLESS: THE EASTFIELD EXORCISM and THE ARTIFICE GIRL (Overlook 2023)

Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism Australian feature Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism (2023) eschews the cliches of films dealing with vomit-spewing, head-spinning people possessed by demons in favor of dealing with the religious beliefs vs. mental health question behind alleged possessions. The result is a riveting film that is ultimately as heartbreaking as it is chilling. Lara (Georgia Eyers) and Ron (Dan Ewing) are a young married couple. She has been exhibiting unusual behavior including dancing naked outside their home, and while Ron simply wants psychologist Dr. Walsh (Eliza Matengu) to give them permission to seek a church-sanctioned exorcism, Lara does not share her husband’s religious beliefs and leans more toward therapeutic help. As her behavior grows more violent, possibly because of either dissociative identity disorder or demonic possession, a desperate Ron seeks the help of unsanctioned exorcist Daniel (Tim Pocock), and this is when director Nick Kozakis’s film heads into truly terrifying territory. Based on a true crime case in Australia,

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Joseph Perry

Apr 6, 2023

EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNews

Brazil’s Fantaspoa Announces Is Full 2023 Edition Lineup

Brazilian genre fest Fantaspoa has announced the final wave for its 19th edition, and scare-fare fans will find plenty of intriguing selections ranging from the whimsical to the weird to the wild. Following is the official press announcement. After presenting its first wave of 2023 titles, Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival is proudly announcing the remaining selection of feature films from its upcoming nineteenth edition. The massive lineup, between shorts and features, comes to a whopping 160 films. The festival’s feature films are divided into four different competitive sections: International; Ibero-American; Brazilian; and a new section “Low Budget, Great Films”, dedicated to the appreciation of those who take risks and make incredible movies with meager resources. According to festival directors João Fleck and Nicolas Tonsho, “Low Budget, Great Films is a section that emerged from our 2023 entries. There were so many amazing films that applied and blew our minds, and we simply had to acknowledge their abilities to overcome a

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Joseph Perry

Apr 4, 2023

Film FestivalsMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Film Review: The Unheard (Boston Underground Film Festival)

Jeffrey A. Brown, who made a strong impression as director of 2019’s The Beach House, turns in more fine work at the helm with The Unheard. This supernatural feature rewards close watching, as several hints about what is happening around the town in which the film is set and what comes to a head in the third act are subtly laid out throughout the film. Twenty-year-old Chloe (Lachlan Watson) undergoes a clinical trial treatment to try to regain her hearing, which she lost as a young child when she was stricken with meningitis. Dr. Lynch (Shunori Ranamathan) is Chloe’s lead physician on the case, and she instructs Chloe to contact her whenever needed. Chloe takes up residence in her childhood beach home, and as she slowly begins regaining her hearing, she also starts hearing static and other noises, and surfacing amongst them are the voice of her deceased mother, who disappeared when Chloe was eight years old. To give away

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Joseph Perry

Mar 31, 2023

Film FestivalsMoviesReviewsShort Films

Shorts Reviews: EVERY HOUSE IS HAUNTED, WE FORGOT ABOUT THE ZOMBIES, and DEAD ENDERS (SXSW)

Every House Is Haunted Maya (Kate Cobb) and her husband Danny (Kevin Bigley) move into a new house that their real estate agent said was haunted by friendly ghosts in writer/director Bryce McGuire’s short film Every House Is Haunted. Danny doesn’t think it’s a problem, but Maya is somewhat concerned. When he goes away on a business trip, she encounters the ghost of a boy (Emmanuel Wood) who died at age seven of carbon monoxide poisoning. After bonding with the ghost, he introduces her to others who inhabit the home. McGuire goes for something far deeper than mere shocks and starts in this thoughtful, sensitive exploration of a woman who has suffered a tragic loss. We Forgot About the Zombies Writer/director Chris McInroy’s frenetic horror comedy short We Forgot About the Zombies finds two friends, one of whom was bitten by a member of the living dead, taking temporary shelter in a place with bottles marked with “c–e,” with the

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Joseph Perry

Mar 29, 2023

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