CategoryEvents
Horror events, screenings and experiences — premieres, festivals and one-night-only shows.
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Film FestivalsIndieMoviesReviews
If you are in the mood for something decidedly different and altogether intriguing, give writer/director Alexander Roman’s neo-noir mystery The Black Market: San Francisco (ASMR) a whirl. It’s a modern take on classic mysteries using autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) elements to engage viewers deeper into the proceedings. Besides offering what the store name promises, San Francisco business O’Hara’s Art Gallery & Rare Books also sidelines in hot items and organ transplants. Elsa (Christina Ros) is the face of the retail business, and works the behind-the-scenes illegal businesses with Jess (Stevie Vallejo) and Ava (Max Reeves). When Jess’s father, ringleader Boss Joe (David L. Klein), finds himself needing an organ transplant quickly, he finds it isn’t easy locating a donor as forces work against him. Side plots include a retired judge turned writer and someone he sentenced to jail time, and a detective suspicious of the goings-on at the bookstore who takes a personal interest in Elsa. Briefly, ASMR is
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesNews
Brazilian genre-film festival Fantaspoa celebrated its second year online with a tantalizing selection of horror, science fiction, thriller, and other exciting movies, as the fest’s 2021 awards affirm. Following is the official press announcement for Fantaspoa’s wrap-up of its 2021 edition. The seventeenth edition of Fantaspoa was again a landmark for the long-running Brazilian genre festival. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Latin America’s largest genre film festival celebrated its second online edition, with free access within Brazil to all festival content. In total, 160 films from over 40 countries were exhibited, including 57 features and 103 shorts. The massive virtual event took place from April 9th through 18th on the Brazilian streaming platform, Wurlak — and the festival proudly presented fourteen masterclasses along with 29 Q&As with filmmakers from around the globe. According to festival directors and producers João Fleck and Nicolas Tonsho, this was the finest edition of the festival they’ve presented thus far, even with the ongoing
Continue reading →
Film Festivals
Writer/director John Darbonne has created a new type of supernatural entity, one that doesn’t let the humans it encounters know of clear rules involving it. This leads to mystery and confusion for both the characters in Companion and, to some extent, viewers, as well. Mind games, duplicity, and deceit rule the world of this film, which has a decidedly grim edge to it. Gus (Marcus Anthony) and Ella (Anna Flynn) Grace are a married couple who viewers meet three years after a war and in the throes of an apocalypse. Since that time, entities called companions have inhabited the world, seeking out those who show fear. Companions look like some other-dimensional cross between the dead from Carnival of Souls and zombies. The Preacher (Eric Hanson) and two sidekicks burst onto the scene, gravely injuring Gus and brutalizing Ella. Just as quickly as the villainous trio showed up, Abner (Russell Shealy) arrives, and he has reasons to hunt down The Preacher.
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Horror movie lovers seeking something truly unique, as well as puppet fans with an edgy side, will find plenty to enjoy in the all-puppet terror tale Frank & Zed. Lovingly brought to cinematic life by writer/director Jesse Blanchard — the film took six years to make — Frank & Zed serves up gore galore, dark humor, and a feast for the eyes. Frank — who, you might guess, resembles Frankenstein’s monster — and zombie-like Zed are the former servants of an evil entity that once brought fear and destruction to the land in which the film is set. A king made a pact with that god of death to spare his kingdom and subjects, with the catch being that once the royal lineage dies out, the kingdom’s subject will be massacred in “an orgy of blood.” For countless years, Frank and Zed existed peacefully, with daily routines of battery charging using lightning and plenty of brain munching. Once some conspirators
Continue reading →
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Film FestivalsReviews
Phone app horror and the newer trend of Zoom-based fear fare meet in The Cloud, an anthology film from San Francisco’s Awesome Theatre group. Created and curated by Awesome Theatre’s Artistic Director Colin Johnson, the film features a good deal of tension and some solid performances. A new, invitation-only app called ReKomoZe is not only addictive in the usual sense — it also won’t let users quit without dire consequences. It’s also more intrusive than its downloaders could ever imagine. In The Cloud’s main thread, Eric (Marc Abrigo) and Lacey (Sonia Sawkar) become concerned about their friend Jules (Puja Tolton), who has been using ReKomoZe and is now withdrawn. As Eric begins some online sleuthing, the app creeps into his life as well as Lacey’s. All three actors turn in nifty work, and the mystery build pays off handsomely. In the first installment, “Dolores,” — written by Alexandria Love and directed by Nikki Meñez — celebrity vlogger Kennedi (Sharon Shao)
Continue reading →
Film Festivals
Writer/Director Timothy Covell’s Blood Conscious is a gripping horror thriller that touches on social commentary while delivering a good share of excitement and paranoia. Brittney (DeShawn White), her university student younger brother Kevin (Oghenero Gbaje), and her fiancée Tony (Lenny Thomas) travel to Brittney’s and Kevin’s family lakeside cabin in the woods for a relaxing getaway with their parents. They explore the eerily quiet surroundings and Kevin discovers the bodies of his parents and their neighbors, who have all been shot or otherwise violently killed. The perpetrator — Nick Damici as “The Stranger” — sneaks up on them, demanding to know at gunpoint whether they are humans or, as he claims, demons who replaced the murder victims before he disposed of them. The trio manages to overcome the stranger and lock him in the basement, where he continues to shout that they should protect themselves from the demons, who are on their way. Though Brittney and Tony insist that his
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
The latest entry into the ride-share subgenre of thriller and horror movies is Night Drive, one of the best offerings in the subgenre so far. Funny, smart, and with a truly surprising element, the first co-directing feature film team up from Brad Baruh and Meghan Leon is a blast. AJ Bowen (Dead Night; Satanic Panic; I Trapped the Devil) portrays Russell, a ride-share driver with a fancy car who has gone through a series of personal and professional hardships. He and his freewheeling fare Charlotte (Sophie Dalah of Dead Night and Satanic) share some laughs and drinks, and then Russell accidentally hits a pedestrian. It turns out that Charlotte happens to be quite knowledgeable in the area of body disposal, and the night is only going to get weirder and more dangerous for Russell. Bowen and Dalah have superb chemistry together, with both getting in their share of sarcastic barbs and witty asides. Leon’s crackerjack screenplay gives the duo plenty
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Carlson Young makes a flashy-looking splash with her debut feature film The Blazing World, which she directs, cowrites (with Pierce Brown), and stars in. The film is rich in gorgeous imagery and dreamlike set pieces, but could use a bit more in characterization and story. Young twin sisters Margaret (Josie Fink) and Elizabeth (Lillie Fink) are playing in a field with fireflies around them. Inside their stately home, their parents — Tom (Dermot Mulroney) and Alice (Vinessa Shaw) Winter — are fighting, verbally and physically. Elizabeth falls into the family’s pool and drowns, with the parents running outside when they hear Margaret’s screams. As the parents pull Elizabeth out of the pool, Margaret turns to look away from the horror and notices an odd man — Udo Kier as Lained — beckoning her to join him as he stands near a wormhole-like portal. Flash forward about 20 years to Margaret (Carlson Young of Scream: The TV Series), who is now
Continue reading →
Film Festivals
Horror film icons Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden make the most of headlining the horror comedy Jakob’s Wife. Their on-screen chemistry togethers drives the film, making it and them a blast to watch as Crampton’s character is possessed by a newfound will for independence that goes hand in hand with a new thirst for blood, and there are certainly bucketloads of the red stuff on display. Crampton plays Anne Fedder, a woman who gave up a wild younger lifestyle and dreams of exploring the world 30 years earlier to marry Pastor Jakob Fedder (Fessenden), a seemingly mild-mannered man given to religion and a life of routine. When Anne’s old flame Tom Low (Robert Rusler) returns to the Fedder’s small town to explore a business deal, he and Anne explore the old mill where they used to hang out together. Old Feelings flare up, they kiss, and mere moments later, Tom is attacked by a pack of rats and Anne finds
Continue reading →
Film Festivals
A frustrated, unpublished novelist who writes vampire romances finds what may be either the chance of a lifetime or a fast ticket to doom in writer/director Sean Nichols Lynch’s Christmas-set horror comedy Red Snow. Taking its horror as seriously as its dark and sometimes daffy humor is funny, the film strikes a fine balance of the two elements and delivers a fun, fast-paced viewing experience. Dennice Cisneros stars as Olivia Romo, a twentysomething writer who holes up in the Lake Tahoe house that she recently inherited after her mother’s passing. When a bat flies against her home and appears to be seriously injured, she tries to nurse it back to health in her garage. The bat turns out to be an actual vampire named Luke (Nico Bellamy), who is being sought after by vampire hunter Julius King (Vernon Wells of Death House [2017], Await the Dawn [2020], and more than 200 other appearances). Olivia hides Luke and assists him in
Continue reading →
More from Events
Film FestivalsIndieMoviesReviews
If you are in the mood for something decidedly different and altogether intriguing, give writer/director Alexander Roman’s neo-noir mystery The Black Market: San Francisco (ASMR) a whirl. It’s a modern take on classic mysteries using autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) elements to engage viewers deeper into the proceedings. Besides offering what the store name promises, San Francisco business O’Hara’s Art Gallery & Rare Books also sidelines in hot items and organ transplants. Elsa (Christina Ros) is the face of the retail business, and works the behind-the-scenes illegal businesses with Jess (Stevie Vallejo) and Ava (Max Reeves). When Jess’s father, ringleader Boss Joe (David L. Klein), finds himself needing an organ transplant quickly, he finds it isn’t easy locating a donor as forces work against him. Side plots include a retired judge turned writer and someone he sentenced to jail time, and a detective suspicious of the goings-on at the bookstore who takes a personal interest in Elsa. Briefly, ASMR is
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesNews
Brazilian genre-film festival Fantaspoa celebrated its second year online with a tantalizing selection of horror, science fiction, thriller, and other exciting movies, as the fest’s 2021 awards affirm. Following is the official press announcement for Fantaspoa’s wrap-up of its 2021 edition. The seventeenth edition of Fantaspoa was again a landmark for the long-running Brazilian genre festival. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Latin America’s largest genre film festival celebrated its second online edition, with free access within Brazil to all festival content. In total, 160 films from over 40 countries were exhibited, including 57 features and 103 shorts. The massive virtual event took place from April 9th through 18th on the Brazilian streaming platform, Wurlak — and the festival proudly presented fourteen masterclasses along with 29 Q&As with filmmakers from around the globe. According to festival directors and producers João Fleck and Nicolas Tonsho, this was the finest edition of the festival they’ve presented thus far, even with the ongoing
Continue reading →
Film Festivals
Writer/director John Darbonne has created a new type of supernatural entity, one that doesn’t let the humans it encounters know of clear rules involving it. This leads to mystery and confusion for both the characters in Companion and, to some extent, viewers, as well. Mind games, duplicity, and deceit rule the world of this film, which has a decidedly grim edge to it. Gus (Marcus Anthony) and Ella (Anna Flynn) Grace are a married couple who viewers meet three years after a war and in the throes of an apocalypse. Since that time, entities called companions have inhabited the world, seeking out those who show fear. Companions look like some other-dimensional cross between the dead from Carnival of Souls and zombies. The Preacher (Eric Hanson) and two sidekicks burst onto the scene, gravely injuring Gus and brutalizing Ella. Just as quickly as the villainous trio showed up, Abner (Russell Shealy) arrives, and he has reasons to hunt down The Preacher.
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Horror movie lovers seeking something truly unique, as well as puppet fans with an edgy side, will find plenty to enjoy in the all-puppet terror tale Frank & Zed. Lovingly brought to cinematic life by writer/director Jesse Blanchard — the film took six years to make — Frank & Zed serves up gore galore, dark humor, and a feast for the eyes. Frank — who, you might guess, resembles Frankenstein’s monster — and zombie-like Zed are the former servants of an evil entity that once brought fear and destruction to the land in which the film is set. A king made a pact with that god of death to spare his kingdom and subjects, with the catch being that once the royal lineage dies out, the kingdom’s subject will be massacred in “an orgy of blood.” For countless years, Frank and Zed existed peacefully, with daily routines of battery charging using lightning and plenty of brain munching. Once some conspirators
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Phone app horror and the newer trend of Zoom-based fear fare meet in The Cloud, an anthology film from San Francisco’s Awesome Theatre group. Created and curated by Awesome Theatre’s Artistic Director Colin Johnson, the film features a good deal of tension and some solid performances. A new, invitation-only app called ReKomoZe is not only addictive in the usual sense — it also won’t let users quit without dire consequences. It’s also more intrusive than its downloaders could ever imagine. In The Cloud’s main thread, Eric (Marc Abrigo) and Lacey (Sonia Sawkar) become concerned about their friend Jules (Puja Tolton), who has been using ReKomoZe and is now withdrawn. As Eric begins some online sleuthing, the app creeps into his life as well as Lacey’s. All three actors turn in nifty work, and the mystery build pays off handsomely. In the first installment, “Dolores,” — written by Alexandria Love and directed by Nikki Meñez — celebrity vlogger Kennedi (Sharon Shao)
Continue reading →
Film Festivals
Writer/Director Timothy Covell’s Blood Conscious is a gripping horror thriller that touches on social commentary while delivering a good share of excitement and paranoia. Brittney (DeShawn White), her university student younger brother Kevin (Oghenero Gbaje), and her fiancée Tony (Lenny Thomas) travel to Brittney’s and Kevin’s family lakeside cabin in the woods for a relaxing getaway with their parents. They explore the eerily quiet surroundings and Kevin discovers the bodies of his parents and their neighbors, who have all been shot or otherwise violently killed. The perpetrator — Nick Damici as “The Stranger” — sneaks up on them, demanding to know at gunpoint whether they are humans or, as he claims, demons who replaced the murder victims before he disposed of them. The trio manages to overcome the stranger and lock him in the basement, where he continues to shout that they should protect themselves from the demons, who are on their way. Though Brittney and Tony insist that his
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
The latest entry into the ride-share subgenre of thriller and horror movies is Night Drive, one of the best offerings in the subgenre so far. Funny, smart, and with a truly surprising element, the first co-directing feature film team up from Brad Baruh and Meghan Leon is a blast. AJ Bowen (Dead Night; Satanic Panic; I Trapped the Devil) portrays Russell, a ride-share driver with a fancy car who has gone through a series of personal and professional hardships. He and his freewheeling fare Charlotte (Sophie Dalah of Dead Night and Satanic) share some laughs and drinks, and then Russell accidentally hits a pedestrian. It turns out that Charlotte happens to be quite knowledgeable in the area of body disposal, and the night is only going to get weirder and more dangerous for Russell. Bowen and Dalah have superb chemistry together, with both getting in their share of sarcastic barbs and witty asides. Leon’s crackerjack screenplay gives the duo plenty
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Carlson Young makes a flashy-looking splash with her debut feature film The Blazing World, which she directs, cowrites (with Pierce Brown), and stars in. The film is rich in gorgeous imagery and dreamlike set pieces, but could use a bit more in characterization and story. Young twin sisters Margaret (Josie Fink) and Elizabeth (Lillie Fink) are playing in a field with fireflies around them. Inside their stately home, their parents — Tom (Dermot Mulroney) and Alice (Vinessa Shaw) Winter — are fighting, verbally and physically. Elizabeth falls into the family’s pool and drowns, with the parents running outside when they hear Margaret’s screams. As the parents pull Elizabeth out of the pool, Margaret turns to look away from the horror and notices an odd man — Udo Kier as Lained — beckoning her to join him as he stands near a wormhole-like portal. Flash forward about 20 years to Margaret (Carlson Young of Scream: The TV Series), who is now
Continue reading →
Film Festivals
Horror film icons Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden make the most of headlining the horror comedy Jakob’s Wife. Their on-screen chemistry togethers drives the film, making it and them a blast to watch as Crampton’s character is possessed by a newfound will for independence that goes hand in hand with a new thirst for blood, and there are certainly bucketloads of the red stuff on display. Crampton plays Anne Fedder, a woman who gave up a wild younger lifestyle and dreams of exploring the world 30 years earlier to marry Pastor Jakob Fedder (Fessenden), a seemingly mild-mannered man given to religion and a life of routine. When Anne’s old flame Tom Low (Robert Rusler) returns to the Fedder’s small town to explore a business deal, he and Anne explore the old mill where they used to hang out together. Old Feelings flare up, they kiss, and mere moments later, Tom is attacked by a pack of rats and Anne finds
Continue reading →
Film Festivals
A frustrated, unpublished novelist who writes vampire romances finds what may be either the chance of a lifetime or a fast ticket to doom in writer/director Sean Nichols Lynch’s Christmas-set horror comedy Red Snow. Taking its horror as seriously as its dark and sometimes daffy humor is funny, the film strikes a fine balance of the two elements and delivers a fun, fast-paced viewing experience. Dennice Cisneros stars as Olivia Romo, a twentysomething writer who holes up in the Lake Tahoe house that she recently inherited after her mother’s passing. When a bat flies against her home and appears to be seriously injured, she tries to nurse it back to health in her garage. The bat turns out to be an actual vampire named Luke (Nico Bellamy), who is being sought after by vampire hunter Julius King (Vernon Wells of Death House [2017], Await the Dawn [2020], and more than 200 other appearances). Olivia hides Luke and assists him in
Continue reading →
