CategoryForeign
International horror: J-horror, European extremity, Latin American shocks and the films Hollywood keeps remaking.
902 stories
ForeignIndieReviewsThriller
Ex-Vietnam vest/small time conman Bob Kowalski (Peter Winter) arrives down Athens way where he reconnects with his ol’ chum Ches Gilford (Hristos Nomikos); a real sufferer of what I like to call “Buckaroo Banzai Syndrome”… in other words he’s great at all sorts of rando and ridiculous things including karate, race car driving, and being a fuck toy for old rich broads (though his wandering eye and rampant horniness fuck that up six ways to Sunday right quick). Anyway, these two cats soon find themselves balls deep in capital “T” Trouble when they meet a woman named Geraldine Steinwetz (Jessica Dublin) and her looker of a daughter Christina (Maria Aliferi)… who just so happens to be a bonafide psychic. Long story short, ol’ Xtina witnessed a touh of the assassination biz ‘round aul Poland Towne, and Geraldine wants out two slacker heroes to watch over her. This leads to all manner of psionic shenanigans, busty assassins, clandestine organizations, raunchy synth
Continue reading →
Amazon Prime VideoForeignIndieMoviesNewsTrailers
Tremors meets Dawn of the Dead meets Alien in writer-director Sandra Sciberras’ sci-fi horror The Dustwalker. In this Aussie film, one by one the residents of a small isolated town become infected, turning into brutal, bloodthirsty zombie-like creatures that are on a mission, spread the infection, or kill everyone they come in contact with, including loved ones. Those who are struggling to survive look to Joanne Sharp (Jolene Anderson), the local chief of police for guidance along with her right-hand man, Luke (Richard Davies). Things go from zero to sixty fast. The blood starts being shed in the first few minutes. Once the chaos begins, there are bodies and blood everywhere. And while the hints that something otherworldly involved pop up bit by bit once the big twist is revealed it’s all-out war. The villain in this tale is a clever combination of imagination, sci-fi, and science. One of the key elements to the infection takes inspiration from nature, the
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Affable, nonchalant, and totally sleepy-AF Hercules (Reg Park, in his debut in the role) sets sail (along with his son Hylas… who looks to be the same age as our star, and Timoteo the comedy-relief dwarf… who at the least is considerably shorter than our star) and to find out why the skies of Greece are occasionally redder than a baboon’s ass. One nasty storm later, and our heroes find themselves on an island where women are fused with stone walls, and within seconds Hercules has to tangle with a snake, a lion, a vulture, and a lizard man… like every other Tuesday. Anyway, Herc soon finds himself at the bee-hived mercy of Antinea the Queen of Atlantis (Fay Spain) who is making a race of eyebrow-less Aryan super-men thanks to a magic rock (which contains the blood of Uranus, which will undoubtedly prove to be a real pain in the ass)… do you people reading these things ever stop
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 →
ForeignMoviesNews
IFC Midnight announced today that they are acquiring North American rights to the Welsh-language supernatural revenge horror The Feast, directed by BAFTA-winning television director Lee Haven Jones who is making his feature debut. “Rooted in the potent mythical fables of Wales, The Feast unfolds over the course of a single evening as a wealthy family gathers at their lavish home in the Welsh mountains for a dinner party, hosting a local businessman and neighboring farmer to broker a business deal to mine the surrounding countryside. When a mysterious young woman arrives to be their waitress for the evening, the family’s beliefs and values are challenged as her quiet yet disturbing presence begins to unravel their lives – slowly, deliberately, and with the most terrifying of consequences. A slow-burn meditation on history and tradition, greed and responsibility, identity and difference, The Feast is a contemporary morality tale that questions who is truly meant to inherit the earth, permeated with a mounting
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
Howard J. Ford’s The Lockdown Hauntings is the latest entry in the currently hot subgenre of supernatural shockers set during COVID-19 lockdowns. The film stars fright-fare icon Tony Todd. The official press announcement follows regarding its May 3rd release in the U.K. and Ireland. Strap yourself in for a Covid-era creep-out par-excellence, with THE LOCKDOWN HAUNTINGS, from acclaimed director Howard J Ford, (The Dead, The Dead 2) and Evolution Pictures, released 3rd May on digital platforms in the UK and Ireland. Set at the beginning of last year’s lockdown, THE LOCKDOWN HAUNTINGS is a fast-paced mix of paranormal horror and detective thriller, that sees the evil spirit of a dead serial killer stalking his victims who are stuck in their homes alone during the Covid epidemic. Award-winning director Howard J. Ford, (who directed/co-wrote zombie hits and FrightFest favorites The Dead and The Dead 2) pulls out all the stops to deliver a jolt-filled, creepy and highly entertaining shocker, despite having
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesReviews
In a plague-ravaged future a nomadic couple, Helmut (Lorenzo Lepori, who also co-wrote, co-produced, and directed the film) and Ornella (Shiri Binder), traverse a rural landscape trying like hell to avoid the murder-happy, haz-mat suited, gasmask sportin’ mother fuckers that eliminate the remaining populace with wild abandon. Long story short, Helmut buys the farm, and Ornella is taken in by Udolfo (Pio Bisanti in a Dafoe-level performance); a highly troubled individual who rapes her repeatedly while using her in his experiments involving nightmarish mutants and his disease-ridden wife that take place within the stone walls of the dilapidated fortress Udolfo calls home. What follows is a wicked whirlwind of brutal survival in a new world ruled by monsters and madmen! What begins with a set-up you may expect from a Bruno Mattei post-apocalyptic flick from down Italy way, soon transforms into something a bit deeper as Flesh Contagium unfolds. Sure we get mutants, naked flesh, and oh-s0-much bloodshed (more on
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
New (as of 1949) from Daiei; the studio that made YOU believe a turtle can fly comes: The Invisible Man Appears, one of the earliest tokusatsu efforts that would go on to be a huge cornerstone of Japanese cinema and TV! Ol’ Doc Nakazato has invented himself a way to make living things invisible down Japan way. Well wouldn’t ya just know that a gaggle of no-good jewel thieves get wind of the discovery and put a kidnap on Nakazato lickety-split so they can use his science to make their pockets fatter with zero the risk normally associated with such deviltry. Soon a real Claude Rains 1933 type (read bandages and sunglasses) shows up in Kobe and goes on a crime spree, but of course once those bandages are off there’s no trace of the criminal responsible for the dirty deeds! The real question is, will John Q. Law (aided by Ryûko Mizuki; a stylish, highly androgynous nightclub performer played
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMovies
In what will surely be the ultimate answer to “Does this look infected to you?”, those fine fiends o’er at Massacre Video are giving us Italy’s own FLESH CONTAGIUM! Here’s the sinister skinny on this fright flick straight from the haunted horse’s monstrous mouth! “The year is 2029. A horrible flu virus has devastated the planet leaving the global health infrastructure in ruins and leading to the creation and rise of hideous mutants. All large cities are now extermination camps and the new government, called “The Executors”, are in charge of eliminating these ghastly abominations. Survivors are left to fend for themselves, taking refuge in the most remote of areas, but a special team of “Executors” have been formed to find the survivors and eliminate them with no mercy. Massacre Video proudly presents Lorenzo Lepori’s FLESH CONTAGIUM, written during the first Italian lockdown and in the vein of cult filmmakers Jess Franco and Bruno Mattei, FLESH CONTAGIUM is a gory
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsThrillerTrailers
From Magnet Releasing, the studio that brought you The Wave and The Quake, comes the action-packed film The Unthinkable, about a fight for survival against a mysterious force. It’s midsummer and Sweden wakes up to a state of emergency. TV, internet, and telephone networks are down, and before anyone realizes what’s behind the collapse, a series of unexplained attacks take place around the country. Alex, a successful pianist whose controlled existence is upturned when his mother dies in a suspected terror attack, returns to his childhood village to arrange the funeral. There, he must reconcile with both his father and his old flame, Anna, who he has desperately been trying to forget. As old feelings come back to the surface, more mysterious attacks plunge Sweden into chaos and confusion. Christoffer Nordenrot, Lisa Henni, and Jesper Barkselius star in this Swedish film (English subtitles), directed by Crazy Pictures (Victor Danell). Watch The Unthinkable in theaters and On Demand today.
Continue reading →
More from Foreign
ForeignIndieReviewsThriller
Ex-Vietnam vest/small time conman Bob Kowalski (Peter Winter) arrives down Athens way where he reconnects with his ol’ chum Ches Gilford (Hristos Nomikos); a real sufferer of what I like to call “Buckaroo Banzai Syndrome”… in other words he’s great at all sorts of rando and ridiculous things including karate, race car driving, and being a fuck toy for old rich broads (though his wandering eye and rampant horniness fuck that up six ways to Sunday right quick). Anyway, these two cats soon find themselves balls deep in capital “T” Trouble when they meet a woman named Geraldine Steinwetz (Jessica Dublin) and her looker of a daughter Christina (Maria Aliferi)… who just so happens to be a bonafide psychic. Long story short, ol’ Xtina witnessed a touh of the assassination biz ‘round aul Poland Towne, and Geraldine wants out two slacker heroes to watch over her. This leads to all manner of psionic shenanigans, busty assassins, clandestine organizations, raunchy synth
Continue reading →
Amazon Prime VideoForeignIndieMoviesNewsTrailers
Tremors meets Dawn of the Dead meets Alien in writer-director Sandra Sciberras’ sci-fi horror The Dustwalker. In this Aussie film, one by one the residents of a small isolated town become infected, turning into brutal, bloodthirsty zombie-like creatures that are on a mission, spread the infection, or kill everyone they come in contact with, including loved ones. Those who are struggling to survive look to Joanne Sharp (Jolene Anderson), the local chief of police for guidance along with her right-hand man, Luke (Richard Davies). Things go from zero to sixty fast. The blood starts being shed in the first few minutes. Once the chaos begins, there are bodies and blood everywhere. And while the hints that something otherworldly involved pop up bit by bit once the big twist is revealed it’s all-out war. The villain in this tale is a clever combination of imagination, sci-fi, and science. One of the key elements to the infection takes inspiration from nature, the
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Affable, nonchalant, and totally sleepy-AF Hercules (Reg Park, in his debut in the role) sets sail (along with his son Hylas… who looks to be the same age as our star, and Timoteo the comedy-relief dwarf… who at the least is considerably shorter than our star) and to find out why the skies of Greece are occasionally redder than a baboon’s ass. One nasty storm later, and our heroes find themselves on an island where women are fused with stone walls, and within seconds Hercules has to tangle with a snake, a lion, a vulture, and a lizard man… like every other Tuesday. Anyway, Herc soon finds himself at the bee-hived mercy of Antinea the Queen of Atlantis (Fay Spain) who is making a race of eyebrow-less Aryan super-men thanks to a magic rock (which contains the blood of Uranus, which will undoubtedly prove to be a real pain in the ass)… do you people reading these things ever stop
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 →
ForeignMoviesNews
IFC Midnight announced today that they are acquiring North American rights to the Welsh-language supernatural revenge horror The Feast, directed by BAFTA-winning television director Lee Haven Jones who is making his feature debut. “Rooted in the potent mythical fables of Wales, The Feast unfolds over the course of a single evening as a wealthy family gathers at their lavish home in the Welsh mountains for a dinner party, hosting a local businessman and neighboring farmer to broker a business deal to mine the surrounding countryside. When a mysterious young woman arrives to be their waitress for the evening, the family’s beliefs and values are challenged as her quiet yet disturbing presence begins to unravel their lives – slowly, deliberately, and with the most terrifying of consequences. A slow-burn meditation on history and tradition, greed and responsibility, identity and difference, The Feast is a contemporary morality tale that questions who is truly meant to inherit the earth, permeated with a mounting
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsTrailers
Howard J. Ford’s The Lockdown Hauntings is the latest entry in the currently hot subgenre of supernatural shockers set during COVID-19 lockdowns. The film stars fright-fare icon Tony Todd. The official press announcement follows regarding its May 3rd release in the U.K. and Ireland. Strap yourself in for a Covid-era creep-out par-excellence, with THE LOCKDOWN HAUNTINGS, from acclaimed director Howard J Ford, (The Dead, The Dead 2) and Evolution Pictures, released 3rd May on digital platforms in the UK and Ireland. Set at the beginning of last year’s lockdown, THE LOCKDOWN HAUNTINGS is a fast-paced mix of paranormal horror and detective thriller, that sees the evil spirit of a dead serial killer stalking his victims who are stuck in their homes alone during the Covid epidemic. Award-winning director Howard J. Ford, (who directed/co-wrote zombie hits and FrightFest favorites The Dead and The Dead 2) pulls out all the stops to deliver a jolt-filled, creepy and highly entertaining shocker, despite having
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesReviews
In a plague-ravaged future a nomadic couple, Helmut (Lorenzo Lepori, who also co-wrote, co-produced, and directed the film) and Ornella (Shiri Binder), traverse a rural landscape trying like hell to avoid the murder-happy, haz-mat suited, gasmask sportin’ mother fuckers that eliminate the remaining populace with wild abandon. Long story short, Helmut buys the farm, and Ornella is taken in by Udolfo (Pio Bisanti in a Dafoe-level performance); a highly troubled individual who rapes her repeatedly while using her in his experiments involving nightmarish mutants and his disease-ridden wife that take place within the stone walls of the dilapidated fortress Udolfo calls home. What follows is a wicked whirlwind of brutal survival in a new world ruled by monsters and madmen! What begins with a set-up you may expect from a Bruno Mattei post-apocalyptic flick from down Italy way, soon transforms into something a bit deeper as Flesh Contagium unfolds. Sure we get mutants, naked flesh, and oh-s0-much bloodshed (more on
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
New (as of 1949) from Daiei; the studio that made YOU believe a turtle can fly comes: The Invisible Man Appears, one of the earliest tokusatsu efforts that would go on to be a huge cornerstone of Japanese cinema and TV! Ol’ Doc Nakazato has invented himself a way to make living things invisible down Japan way. Well wouldn’t ya just know that a gaggle of no-good jewel thieves get wind of the discovery and put a kidnap on Nakazato lickety-split so they can use his science to make their pockets fatter with zero the risk normally associated with such deviltry. Soon a real Claude Rains 1933 type (read bandages and sunglasses) shows up in Kobe and goes on a crime spree, but of course once those bandages are off there’s no trace of the criminal responsible for the dirty deeds! The real question is, will John Q. Law (aided by Ryûko Mizuki; a stylish, highly androgynous nightclub performer played
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMovies
In what will surely be the ultimate answer to “Does this look infected to you?”, those fine fiends o’er at Massacre Video are giving us Italy’s own FLESH CONTAGIUM! Here’s the sinister skinny on this fright flick straight from the haunted horse’s monstrous mouth! “The year is 2029. A horrible flu virus has devastated the planet leaving the global health infrastructure in ruins and leading to the creation and rise of hideous mutants. All large cities are now extermination camps and the new government, called “The Executors”, are in charge of eliminating these ghastly abominations. Survivors are left to fend for themselves, taking refuge in the most remote of areas, but a special team of “Executors” have been formed to find the survivors and eliminate them with no mercy. Massacre Video proudly presents Lorenzo Lepori’s FLESH CONTAGIUM, written during the first Italian lockdown and in the vein of cult filmmakers Jess Franco and Bruno Mattei, FLESH CONTAGIUM is a gory
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesNewsThrillerTrailers
From Magnet Releasing, the studio that brought you The Wave and The Quake, comes the action-packed film The Unthinkable, about a fight for survival against a mysterious force. It’s midsummer and Sweden wakes up to a state of emergency. TV, internet, and telephone networks are down, and before anyone realizes what’s behind the collapse, a series of unexplained attacks take place around the country. Alex, a successful pianist whose controlled existence is upturned when his mother dies in a suspected terror attack, returns to his childhood village to arrange the funeral. There, he must reconcile with both his father and his old flame, Anna, who he has desperately been trying to forget. As old feelings come back to the surface, more mysterious attacks plunge Sweden into chaos and confusion. Christoffer Nordenrot, Lisa Henni, and Jesper Barkselius star in this Swedish film (English subtitles), directed by Crazy Pictures (Victor Danell). Watch The Unthinkable in theaters and On Demand today.
Continue reading →
