CategoryForeign
International horror: J-horror, European extremity, Latin American shocks and the films Hollywood keeps remaking.
902 stories
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Apparitions Combining psychological horror with a couple of other styles of fright fare that I don’t want to spoil here, Apparitions (Australia, 2021) is a well-crafted shocker from the cowriting/codirecting team of Perri Cummings and Paul Anthony Nelson featuring admirable performances and a good amount of intrigue. Lily Stone (Cate O’Connor) has just graduated from university but what should be a high point in her life so far is overshadowed by the fact that she was the only survivor of a family slaughter that she witnessed as a young girl (as revealed very early on in the film). She returns home to what locals consider a haunted house to find out more about her past. Lily fails to contact her best friend Alice (Shanon Kulupach), who goads serious-minded cop Jane Wilkes (Cummings) into taking her along to find out what is wrong. Deadly mayhem ensues as long-buried secrets are uncovered. Cummings and Nelson run protagonist Lily through the wringer both
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
Following raves at Cinepocalypse, Brussels Fantastic Film Festival, Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival, and more, North America gets to now witness the terrifying tale of a Moroccan legend in Achoura. In the film, four friends reconnect when one of them, who disappeared 25 years ago, suddenly comes back into their lives. Together, they will have to confront the terrifying events of their youth and fight a monstrous creature born of a horrible legend. “It is sociologically proven that fantasy and horror cinema has always enjoyed a renewed interest from audiences and critics in times of social and economic turmoil.” Franco–Moroccan filmmaker Talal Selhami says. “ Fear cinema is therefore a kind of outlet for the viewer, unfortunately today too used to seeing atrocities through the media. Stories of ghosts, vampires, creatures hidden under the bed, allow us to transpose our fears into something unreal. The best way to play to scare yourself without taking risks. The times we are living in
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
Three years after its premiere, the French-Moroccan horror film Achoura has a US trailer and is finally set for a US release from Dark Star Pictures. In the film, four childhood friends are reunited when one of them surfaces after twenty years, forcing them to deal with a creature straight out of a spine-chilling Moroccan legend. They will have to confront the terrifying events of their youth and fight a monstrous creature from folklore. It is sociologically proven that fantasy and horror cinema has always enjoyed a renewed interest from audiences and critics in times of social and economic turmoil,” the director explains. Sofiia Manousha, Younes Bouab, Omar Lotfi, Iván González, Moussa Maaskri, and Mohamed Choubi star in the English subtitled film. Achoura comes home on VOD and DVD in the US on December 14th, 2021.
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Amazon Prime VideoForeignMoviesNewsParanormalStreaming TVTrailers
Crypt TV’s chilling paranormal thriller Chhorii, an Amazon Original, is now available on the streaming service and marks the first entry into India for LA-based Crypt TV, founded by Jack Davis and Eli Roth and backed by horror genre heavyweights Blumhouse Productions. Chhorii follows the story of a young couple forced to flee their city home and seek shelter in a house within a haunted sugarcane field. Soon, the couple realise that the shelter they once sought for refuge from danger is in fact the very location for a seriously sinister paranormal threat. The housewife, eight months pregnant, must now fight to save her unborn baby from the spirits out to snatch her away. The film, from director Vishal Furia, is a seriously hair-raising, tentatively twisted story produced by T-Series, Abundantia Entertainment, and Crypt TV. A remake of the Marathi film Lapachhapi, the film features Nushrratt Bharuccha in the lead role. Crypt TV is known for showcasing a new caliber
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
Newlyweds Manuel (Rolando Breme), a camera buff, and school teacher Altair (Diana Bovio) are just two crazy kids who are high on life, a life that couldn’t be a more typical blend of birthday parties, puppies, and boudoir role-play. Of course that shit begins to go south rather quickly as odd occurrences begin happening such as birds turning into ape-shit cannibals (much more than they normally already are), phone calls that only contain strange noises, and bad dreams with onset nosebleeds and sleepwalking (never a good sign in our beloved horror biz). Oh, about those “dreams”… well, they begin to tell Altair to do things… admittedly seemingly random tasks like painting bricks that arrived mysteriously one day out of the blue… and soon our heroine is acting 100% fuckin’ Grade-A bizarre… or is she? A little detective work from Manuel, along with his pal Callahan (Guillermo Callahan) reveal a troubled past, but are those events at all responsible for the
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Since the head honcho of a local Yakuza family just shook hands with the ol’ Grim Reaper, the next in line to take the reigns is none other than his estranged daughter… spunky, goofy, pretty fuckin’ ridiculous in every respect, high school student Izumi Hoshi (idol singer Hiroko Yakushimaru)! Cue stupid-ass record scratch sound effect here. Izumi is more than ready to become a delinquent, and immediately abandons school (though the sailor suit remains… and yes, she weilds a rather angry machine gun as well at times)… though at first she isn’t sure that livin’ in a gangsta paradise is for her… but soon she actually takes to the role and ,along with a quartet of henchmen, begins to become a presence in the underworld… but will she manage to keep ahead of the game, or be swallowed by it? I have to tell you, reading that above synopsis I wouldn’t blame you for expecting a wall-to-wall, live-action anime style
Continue reading →
ForeignGamingIndieNewsProductTrailers
Wired Productions and LKA announced at the Golden Joystick Awards that their upcoming first-person psychological thriller Martha Is Dead will be getting a February release for Playstation 4 and 5, Xbox, and PC. Set in Italy during the Second World War, Martha is Dead follows a young woman who is going through loss after her sister was found murdered after her body washed to shore near the village they live in. With the horrors of war playing in the background, players will explore the blurred lines of reality and local folklore and urban legends surrounding the White Lady. Players can explore the countryside of Tuscany, use tarot cards, take pictures and develop them in a dark room, unlock the main character’s suppressed memories through mechanical theatre sequences using marionettes, and collect newspapers and telegrams as well as listen to the radio to follow the historical events unfolding. Martha is Dead will be coming to PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox, and
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
With the holiday’s fast approaching at the time of this writing, I’m sure there is nothing that brings more cheer than Cesare Canevari’s 1977 exercise in poor taste; The Gestapo’s Last Orgy… and by “cheer” I mean images you’ll need to scrub your eyeballs with a wire brush to unsee… Lise (Daniela Poggi) returns to the place of her internment after the close of world War II, and begins to relive her terrifying misadventures in a concentration camp utilized as a bordello by the most Italian German officers you are ever likely to lay eerie eyeballs upon. So what sorts of monstrous memories are revisited by our heroine? Well, after a cold, sterile gyno exam, the pick of the prisoners are given to the horny as hell ranks where the soldiers are more than ready to do the deed after watching a preposterous series of slides (featuring a muscle bound Hitler having anal with a woman eating a bucket of
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
The chances that you folks haven’t seen Dario Argento’s arguably finest giallo experience Deep Red are pretty fuckin’ slim, so I’m not sure how much my wicked words will do to help you make the decision to purchase this new Blu-ray release from Arrow… because you know damn well you’ve already bought it, but here we go… Jazzman Marcus (David Hemmings) is livin’ the life in Rome until he witnesses the murder of his neighbor Helga (Macha Méril), a noted psychic who just picked up some serious bad vibes from a member of the audience at her most recent mind-readin’ hootnanny. Of course, given his complete lack of any sort of crime solving experience, our hero leaps balls first into solving the homicide, and to that end teams up with reporter/sass-mouth expert Gianna (Daria Nicolodi). This naturally makes him a rather large target for the black-gloved murder machine stalkin’ the streets, and it’s only a matter of time before the
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Canada’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival, which runs in Toronto from November 18–23, 2021, features a jaw-dropping array of homegrown horror and horror-comedy features and shorts. Following are reviews of three of the short films that screen at the festival. Giant Bear Giant Bear (Canada, 2019) is a beautifully animated vision of an Inuit legend that is absolutely stunning. Codirectors Neil Christopher and Daniel Gies have crafted an absolutely gorgeous work. As beautiful as the snowy landscape is, the underwater world in the short is breathtaking. A lone hunter tries spearfishing with his dog, only to come face to face with a monstrously large bear. Much more than just an animated creature feature, Giant Bear is a riveting experience. Wolf in Dude’s Clothing Writer/director Solmund MacPherson’s Wolf in Dude’s Clothing (Canada, 2021) sees a wolf assume a human lifestyle after finding a suit of human skin in the wild. The wolf-man (Erik Athavale) — a fun play on the
Continue reading →
More from Foreign
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Apparitions Combining psychological horror with a couple of other styles of fright fare that I don’t want to spoil here, Apparitions (Australia, 2021) is a well-crafted shocker from the cowriting/codirecting team of Perri Cummings and Paul Anthony Nelson featuring admirable performances and a good amount of intrigue. Lily Stone (Cate O’Connor) has just graduated from university but what should be a high point in her life so far is overshadowed by the fact that she was the only survivor of a family slaughter that she witnessed as a young girl (as revealed very early on in the film). She returns home to what locals consider a haunted house to find out more about her past. Lily fails to contact her best friend Alice (Shanon Kulupach), who goads serious-minded cop Jane Wilkes (Cummings) into taking her along to find out what is wrong. Deadly mayhem ensues as long-buried secrets are uncovered. Cummings and Nelson run protagonist Lily through the wringer both
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
Following raves at Cinepocalypse, Brussels Fantastic Film Festival, Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival, and more, North America gets to now witness the terrifying tale of a Moroccan legend in Achoura. In the film, four friends reconnect when one of them, who disappeared 25 years ago, suddenly comes back into their lives. Together, they will have to confront the terrifying events of their youth and fight a monstrous creature born of a horrible legend. “It is sociologically proven that fantasy and horror cinema has always enjoyed a renewed interest from audiences and critics in times of social and economic turmoil.” Franco–Moroccan filmmaker Talal Selhami says. “ Fear cinema is therefore a kind of outlet for the viewer, unfortunately today too used to seeing atrocities through the media. Stories of ghosts, vampires, creatures hidden under the bed, allow us to transpose our fears into something unreal. The best way to play to scare yourself without taking risks. The times we are living in
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
Three years after its premiere, the French-Moroccan horror film Achoura has a US trailer and is finally set for a US release from Dark Star Pictures. In the film, four childhood friends are reunited when one of them surfaces after twenty years, forcing them to deal with a creature straight out of a spine-chilling Moroccan legend. They will have to confront the terrifying events of their youth and fight a monstrous creature from folklore. It is sociologically proven that fantasy and horror cinema has always enjoyed a renewed interest from audiences and critics in times of social and economic turmoil,” the director explains. Sofiia Manousha, Younes Bouab, Omar Lotfi, Iván González, Moussa Maaskri, and Mohamed Choubi star in the English subtitled film. Achoura comes home on VOD and DVD in the US on December 14th, 2021.
Continue reading →
Amazon Prime VideoForeignMoviesNewsParanormalStreaming TVTrailers
Crypt TV’s chilling paranormal thriller Chhorii, an Amazon Original, is now available on the streaming service and marks the first entry into India for LA-based Crypt TV, founded by Jack Davis and Eli Roth and backed by horror genre heavyweights Blumhouse Productions. Chhorii follows the story of a young couple forced to flee their city home and seek shelter in a house within a haunted sugarcane field. Soon, the couple realise that the shelter they once sought for refuge from danger is in fact the very location for a seriously sinister paranormal threat. The housewife, eight months pregnant, must now fight to save her unborn baby from the spirits out to snatch her away. The film, from director Vishal Furia, is a seriously hair-raising, tentatively twisted story produced by T-Series, Abundantia Entertainment, and Crypt TV. A remake of the Marathi film Lapachhapi, the film features Nushrratt Bharuccha in the lead role. Crypt TV is known for showcasing a new caliber
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesParanormalReviews
Newlyweds Manuel (Rolando Breme), a camera buff, and school teacher Altair (Diana Bovio) are just two crazy kids who are high on life, a life that couldn’t be a more typical blend of birthday parties, puppies, and boudoir role-play. Of course that shit begins to go south rather quickly as odd occurrences begin happening such as birds turning into ape-shit cannibals (much more than they normally already are), phone calls that only contain strange noises, and bad dreams with onset nosebleeds and sleepwalking (never a good sign in our beloved horror biz). Oh, about those “dreams”… well, they begin to tell Altair to do things… admittedly seemingly random tasks like painting bricks that arrived mysteriously one day out of the blue… and soon our heroine is acting 100% fuckin’ Grade-A bizarre… or is she? A little detective work from Manuel, along with his pal Callahan (Guillermo Callahan) reveal a troubled past, but are those events at all responsible for the
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Since the head honcho of a local Yakuza family just shook hands with the ol’ Grim Reaper, the next in line to take the reigns is none other than his estranged daughter… spunky, goofy, pretty fuckin’ ridiculous in every respect, high school student Izumi Hoshi (idol singer Hiroko Yakushimaru)! Cue stupid-ass record scratch sound effect here. Izumi is more than ready to become a delinquent, and immediately abandons school (though the sailor suit remains… and yes, she weilds a rather angry machine gun as well at times)… though at first she isn’t sure that livin’ in a gangsta paradise is for her… but soon she actually takes to the role and ,along with a quartet of henchmen, begins to become a presence in the underworld… but will she manage to keep ahead of the game, or be swallowed by it? I have to tell you, reading that above synopsis I wouldn’t blame you for expecting a wall-to-wall, live-action anime style
Continue reading →
ForeignGamingIndieNewsProductTrailers
Wired Productions and LKA announced at the Golden Joystick Awards that their upcoming first-person psychological thriller Martha Is Dead will be getting a February release for Playstation 4 and 5, Xbox, and PC. Set in Italy during the Second World War, Martha is Dead follows a young woman who is going through loss after her sister was found murdered after her body washed to shore near the village they live in. With the horrors of war playing in the background, players will explore the blurred lines of reality and local folklore and urban legends surrounding the White Lady. Players can explore the countryside of Tuscany, use tarot cards, take pictures and develop them in a dark room, unlock the main character’s suppressed memories through mechanical theatre sequences using marionettes, and collect newspapers and telegrams as well as listen to the radio to follow the historical events unfolding. Martha is Dead will be coming to PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox, and
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
With the holiday’s fast approaching at the time of this writing, I’m sure there is nothing that brings more cheer than Cesare Canevari’s 1977 exercise in poor taste; The Gestapo’s Last Orgy… and by “cheer” I mean images you’ll need to scrub your eyeballs with a wire brush to unsee… Lise (Daniela Poggi) returns to the place of her internment after the close of world War II, and begins to relive her terrifying misadventures in a concentration camp utilized as a bordello by the most Italian German officers you are ever likely to lay eerie eyeballs upon. So what sorts of monstrous memories are revisited by our heroine? Well, after a cold, sterile gyno exam, the pick of the prisoners are given to the horny as hell ranks where the soldiers are more than ready to do the deed after watching a preposterous series of slides (featuring a muscle bound Hitler having anal with a woman eating a bucket of
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
The chances that you folks haven’t seen Dario Argento’s arguably finest giallo experience Deep Red are pretty fuckin’ slim, so I’m not sure how much my wicked words will do to help you make the decision to purchase this new Blu-ray release from Arrow… because you know damn well you’ve already bought it, but here we go… Jazzman Marcus (David Hemmings) is livin’ the life in Rome until he witnesses the murder of his neighbor Helga (Macha Méril), a noted psychic who just picked up some serious bad vibes from a member of the audience at her most recent mind-readin’ hootnanny. Of course, given his complete lack of any sort of crime solving experience, our hero leaps balls first into solving the homicide, and to that end teams up with reporter/sass-mouth expert Gianna (Daria Nicolodi). This naturally makes him a rather large target for the black-gloved murder machine stalkin’ the streets, and it’s only a matter of time before the
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Canada’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival, which runs in Toronto from November 18–23, 2021, features a jaw-dropping array of homegrown horror and horror-comedy features and shorts. Following are reviews of three of the short films that screen at the festival. Giant Bear Giant Bear (Canada, 2019) is a beautifully animated vision of an Inuit legend that is absolutely stunning. Codirectors Neil Christopher and Daniel Gies have crafted an absolutely gorgeous work. As beautiful as the snowy landscape is, the underwater world in the short is breathtaking. A lone hunter tries spearfishing with his dog, only to come face to face with a monstrously large bear. Much more than just an animated creature feature, Giant Bear is a riveting experience. Wolf in Dude’s Clothing Writer/director Solmund MacPherson’s Wolf in Dude’s Clothing (Canada, 2021) sees a wolf assume a human lifestyle after finding a suit of human skin in the wild. The wolf-man (Erik Athavale) — a fun play on the
Continue reading →
