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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

Film FestivalsMoviesReviews

Spoiler-Free Reviews: HORROR IN THE HIGH DESERT 2: MINERVA, TONTINE, and THE UXCIORU CULT TAPE (Unnamed Footage Festival)

Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva Writer/director Dutch Marich follows up his 2021 feature Horror in the High Desert — which I haven’t seen yet —with Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva. This sequel finds police and first responders in Cyprus, Nevada, dealing with the murder of a woman named Minerva (Solveig Helene), who had lived in a trailer in a remote area while studying geology and mining. Reporter Gal Roberts (Suziey Block) tries to uncover the facts behind this mysterious case, including following a series of communications between Minerva and her friend Cathy (Sami Sallaway) in New York. The faux documentary then turns to the nighttime roadside disappearance of a woman named Ameliana (Brooke Bradshaw) and the eerie bodycam footage of EMT Luke Wells’ (David Nichols Jr.) search in the desert and through an abandoned building for her. Marich does a superb job of recreating the authentic feel of a missing persons documentary and of giving the

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Joseph Perry

Mar 27, 2023

Film FestivalsReviewsShort Films

Shorts Reviews: EYESTRING and THE MUNDANES (SXSW)

Eyestring If eye trauma gives you the heebie jeebies, director Javier Devitt’s short horror film Eyestring is certain to press a few buttons. There’s no Un Chien Andalou-level of sudden shock; rather, Eyestring deals more with lingering, building psychological and body horror. Alena Chinault, who cowrote the screenplay with Devitt, stars as Veronica, a young woman who finds a hair growing out of one of her tear ducts one day. The mental health phone service she uses to discuss her obsessive compulsive disorder is of no help in her new situation, and matters escalate as attempts to cut the hair do anything but solve the problem. Could an alternative eye treatment clinic be of help? Devitt and Chinault have crafted a gripping, thought-provoking slice of fear-fare cinema that addresses mental health care while delivering a chilling story. Chinault’s fine performance and Devitt’s solid work at the helm lead toward a jaw-dropping final shot. The Mundanes Meet the Mundanes, a suburban

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Joseph Perry

Mar 20, 2023

DocumentariesEventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNews

Boston Underground Film Festival Serves Up the Supernatural and The Super Funny

The Boston Underground Film Festival is mere days away, and Horror Fuel has our collective eyes on many of the fest’s fine fear-fare offerings. Following are official press announcements, with thoughts from Film Festival Editor Joseph Perry in italics. 23nd annual Boston Underground Film Festival returns to Harvard Square’s arthouse hub The Brattle Theatre with five days of vanguard cinemania from March 22nd through the 26th. This year’s lineup is stacked with fearsome folk horror, mendacious miscreants, harrowing horrors and hero/es/ines, godless god-complexes, eco-thrillers and chillers, sensational sci-fi, and all manner of midnight madness. BUFF is beyond honored to host the World Premiere of Jeffrey A. Brown’s haunting, Massachusetts-based horror thriller The Unheard for a homecoming heroes’ welcome on Opening Night. Starring Lachlan Watson (Chucky, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), The Unheard follows a deaf young woman ensconced in a signal-to-noise mystery of dueling senses, realities, truths, identities, and possibly worlds. Brown (2019’s The Beach House) and local screenwriting legends Michael

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Joseph Perry

Mar 16, 2023

Film FestivalsMoviesReviews

Film Review: Appendage (SXSW)

Body horror and creature feature combine in writer/director Anna Zlokovic’s feature Appendage. Fueled by solid direction, fine performances, and fun special effects work, the film comes highly recommended for horror fans. Hannah (Hadley Robinson) is a fashion designer hoping to make it into the upcoming seasonal collection of her ill-mannered boss. She receives a great deal of support from her friend and colleague Esther (Kausar Mohammed) and her boyfriend Kaelin (Brandon Mychal Smith), but none from her own parents, who hold an incident from her high school years against her. As Hannah’s insecurities mount, she develops a growth in her side, springing from a birthmark — a growth with a face, that enjoys needling her about the things that already trouble her. As the appendage grows, Hannah seeks support from a group of others sharing her affliction, including Claudia (Emily Hamphsire), who has seemingly tamed her own appendage into a more submissive role. Appendage features some humorous moments but more

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Joseph Perry

Mar 15, 2023

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