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

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

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: “Sunod” (A Night of Horror International Film Festival)

Director Carlo Ledesma takes viewers on a wild ride of the supernatural in Sunod (AKA Followed; Philippines, 2019), which captured the awards for Best International Feature Film, Best Performance in an International Feature Film (Carmina Villarroel), and Best International Feature Film Director (Ledesma) at the recent A Night of Horror International Film Festival in Australia. Although the film sometimes deals in familiar fear-fare trappings, the overall result is a gripping chiller well worth a watch. Villarroel portrays Olivia, a single mother to teen daughter Anelle (Krystal Brimner) who is hospitalized with a heart condition. Olivia asserts herself, out of financial desperation, into a new night job at a call center. Her place of employment happens to be the same building that served as a hospital in the 1970s, and savvy horror movie viewers know that nothing good ever comes of being in a former hospital. Below the call center are abandoned floors. When Olivia finds herself on one of those

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Review: “Lair” (A Night of Horror International Film Festival)

Movie Review: “Lair” (A Night of Horror International Film Festival)

You’ll rarely find a character that you can’t wait to see get his as much as you will with paranormal researcher/exploiter Steven Caramore (Corey Johnson) in the U.K. feature Lair. As if being responsible for his business partner Ben’s (Oded Fehr) slaughtering of his wife and child, Caramore then sets up shop in a London apartment building, outfitting one flat with allegedly cursed objects while rigging up cameras in a neighboring one to watch what happens to an unsuspecting family in the first flat. The vacationing family in question brings their own personal demons into the mix — lots of arguing, bickering, bruised egos, and teen rebellion — and really they should have demanded a refund on their vacation rental as soon as Caramore told them — on their second day of the stay — that he placed a cursed doll in their flat, a toy to which little Lily (Lara Mount) took an instant liking. But Lily and her

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Review: “Last Survivors” (Arrow Video FrightFest Halloween Edition)

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Review: “The Righteous” (Blood in the Snow Film Festival)

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Toronto’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival Presents Its In-Cinema Lineup for November

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Award-Winning Hungarian Horror ‘Post Mortem’ Acquired By Black Mandala

Award-Winning Hungarian Horror ‘Post Mortem’ Acquired By Black Mandala

Black Mandala has just announced that it has acquired the Hungarian horror film Post Mortem, directed by Péter Bergendy, which has been chosen to represent Hungary at the Oscars 2022 in the category of Best International Feature Film. Post Mortem premiered at the Warsaw and Sitges film festivals last year and went on to screen at more than 20 genre festivals, picking up prizes in Trieste, Fantasporto, Sombra, and Parma. Last week, the film was screened at the Toronto After Dark Film Festing, bringing home ten awards including Best Feature Film, Best Horror Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Fruzsina Hais), and Best Special Effects. Set at the end of the First World War, the film follows Tomás, a traveling photographer who wanders through Hungary and photographs the recently deceased. Following the premonitory call of a 10-year-old orphan girl, Anna arrives in a small town where an unusual number of supernatural phenomena occur. The spirits need to tell him something,

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Reviews: “What Josiah Saw” and “Let the Wrong One In” (Screamfest)

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Review: Red River Road (A Night of Horror International Film Festival)

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Reviews: “The Changed” and “Alone with You” (Screamfest)

Movie Reviews: “The Changed” and “Alone with You” (Screamfest)

The Changed Director Michael Mongillo takes the basic premises of such classic paranoia-driven horror and science fiction fare as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (1960) from the original The Twilight Zone series, and gives them a fresh, current spin with his feature The Changed (2021). The result is a finely acted, taut chiller that puts today’s social climates under a gripping cinematic microscope. Mac (Jason Alan Smith) has anger issues that he is trying to work on, but that won’t be easy as he notices that his neighbors and others with whom he comes into contact are acting differently, in a way that he can’t quite figure out. His neighbor Bill (Tony Todd) tries to offer him some subtle reassurance over a morning cup of coffee, but as the day progresses, things get increasingly stranger — and more dangerous. When fellow neighbor and high school student Kim (Clare Foley) comes to

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Nov 22, 2021

More from Film Festivals

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

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: “Sunod” (A Night of Horror International Film Festival)

Director Carlo Ledesma takes viewers on a wild ride of the supernatural in Sunod (AKA Followed; Philippines, 2019), which captured the awards for Best International Feature Film, Best Performance in an International Feature Film (Carmina Villarroel), and Best International Feature Film Director (Ledesma) at the recent A Night of Horror International Film Festival in Australia. Although the film sometimes deals in familiar fear-fare trappings, the overall result is a gripping chiller well worth a watch. Villarroel portrays Olivia, a single mother to teen daughter Anelle (Krystal Brimner) who is hospitalized with a heart condition. Olivia asserts herself, out of financial desperation, into a new night job at a call center. Her place of employment happens to be the same building that served as a hospital in the 1970s, and savvy horror movie viewers know that nothing good ever comes of being in a former hospital. Below the call center are abandoned floors. When Olivia finds herself on one of those

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Review: “Lair” (A Night of Horror International Film Festival)

Movie Review: “Lair” (A Night of Horror International Film Festival)

You’ll rarely find a character that you can’t wait to see get his as much as you will with paranormal researcher/exploiter Steven Caramore (Corey Johnson) in the U.K. feature Lair. As if being responsible for his business partner Ben’s (Oded Fehr) slaughtering of his wife and child, Caramore then sets up shop in a London apartment building, outfitting one flat with allegedly cursed objects while rigging up cameras in a neighboring one to watch what happens to an unsuspecting family in the first flat. The vacationing family in question brings their own personal demons into the mix — lots of arguing, bickering, bruised egos, and teen rebellion — and really they should have demanded a refund on their vacation rental as soon as Caramore told them — on their second day of the stay — that he placed a cursed doll in their flat, a toy to which little Lily (Lara Mount) took an instant liking. But Lily and her

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Review: “Last Survivors” (Arrow Video FrightFest Halloween Edition)

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Review: “The Righteous” (Blood in the Snow Film Festival)

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Toronto’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival Presents Its In-Cinema Lineup for November

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Award-Winning Hungarian Horror ‘Post Mortem’ Acquired By Black Mandala

Award-Winning Hungarian Horror ‘Post Mortem’ Acquired By Black Mandala

Black Mandala has just announced that it has acquired the Hungarian horror film Post Mortem, directed by Péter Bergendy, which has been chosen to represent Hungary at the Oscars 2022 in the category of Best International Feature Film. Post Mortem premiered at the Warsaw and Sitges film festivals last year and went on to screen at more than 20 genre festivals, picking up prizes in Trieste, Fantasporto, Sombra, and Parma. Last week, the film was screened at the Toronto After Dark Film Festing, bringing home ten awards including Best Feature Film, Best Horror Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Fruzsina Hais), and Best Special Effects. Set at the end of the First World War, the film follows Tomás, a traveling photographer who wanders through Hungary and photographs the recently deceased. Following the premonitory call of a 10-year-old orphan girl, Anna arrives in a small town where an unusual number of supernatural phenomena occur. The spirits need to tell him something,

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Reviews: “What Josiah Saw” and “Let the Wrong One In” (Screamfest)

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Review: Red River Road (A Night of Horror International Film Festival)

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

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Nov 22, 2021
Movie Reviews: “The Changed” and “Alone with You” (Screamfest)

Movie Reviews: “The Changed” and “Alone with You” (Screamfest)

The Changed Director Michael Mongillo takes the basic premises of such classic paranoia-driven horror and science fiction fare as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (1960) from the original The Twilight Zone series, and gives them a fresh, current spin with his feature The Changed (2021). The result is a finely acted, taut chiller that puts today’s social climates under a gripping cinematic microscope. Mac (Jason Alan Smith) has anger issues that he is trying to work on, but that won’t be easy as he notices that his neighbors and others with whom he comes into contact are acting differently, in a way that he can’t quite figure out. His neighbor Bill (Tony Todd) tries to offer him some subtle reassurance over a morning cup of coffee, but as the day progresses, things get increasingly stranger — and more dangerous. When fellow neighbor and high school student Kim (Clare Foley) comes to

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Nov 22, 2021
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