CategoryEvents
Horror events, screenings and experiences — premieres, festivals and one-night-only shows.
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Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
One and Four Chinese feature One and Four (2021) is a nailbiter about Sanggye (Jinpa), a ranger who works alone at an isolated post in the Tibetan forest, whose solitude is interrupted when he finds a crashed car with a dead policeman on board. Returning to his cabin, he finds a wounded cop (Wang Zheng), but Sanggye suspects he might actually be a poacher. Kunbo (Kunde), a village acquaintance of Sanggye’s, returns to the cabin after a visit the night before, and eventually another wounded cop (Darggye Tenzin) stumbles onto the scene. As Sanggye becomes increasingly suspicious about each of the men, they do their part in creating further confusion and uncertainties. Naturally, weapons come into play, and as anger and confusion mount, danger threatens with every passing second. Writer/director Jigme Trinley’s debut feature looks terrific, with the snow-covered setting serving both a beautiful and bleak backdrop. He ratchets up the suspense masterfully, even if there’s not a whole lot
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Subject Subject, cowinner of this year’s Fantaspoa Best Film in the Brazilian Feature Film Competition category, tackles a familiar set-up: writer Max (Gustavo Falcão) has moved into a house in a rural area to work on his next book, but odd things occur inside the house. What director Leo Falcão does with this set-up is quite unlike what viewers might expect, though, as he takes a rather light-hearted, magical realism approach and sends Max on a weird journey involving suddenly-appearing texts, oddball locals, and the mystery of what happened to the writer who lived in the house before him. From characters who say strangely out-of-place words and instantly correct themselves to daily fistfights among friends, these locals are an enigmatic lot, and the actors who portray them do a marvelous job. Max finds himself grappling with existential puzzles, and Gustavo Falcão inhabits the character with a bemused, fish-out-of-water verve. Though not strictly a horror film, Subject definitely has scare-fare elements
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Dashcam Director Rob Savage follows up his highly acclaimed 2020 feature Host with Dashcam. It’s a freaky effort that uses an intriguing style that falls somewhere between direct cinema and found footage. There’s much to recommend about the film, though the lead character is so grating — no matter which way your politics lie — that it cancels out some of Dashcam’s goodwill. Musician and anti-vaxxer Annie Hardy plays a revved-up version of herself, hosting a livestreaming show in which she raps in an improv style while driving around in her car. In an effort to escape what she feels is the overbearing strictness toward COVID-19 in the United States to visit an old bandmate Stretch (Amar Chadha-Patel) in the U.K. — obviously, she didn’t do much homework before purchasing her ticket. She wreaks havoc in Stretch’s life before stealing his car and winds up picking up a sick elderly woman (Angela Enahoro), but the woman isn’t merely sick, and
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Dark Glasses Italian/French coproduction Dark Glasses (AKA Black Glasses; Occhiali Neri, 2022) is the latest from Dario Argento, and while it isn’t quite a return to form for the legendary director, it is arguably one of his better later-career offerings. High-end call girl Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli) loses her sight when she is pursued in a car chase by a serial killer who targets sex workers, and her vehicle crashes into another, blidning her and killing the parents of young boy Chin (Andrea Zhang). She visits him at the nunnery for orphans where he stays until placed with a foster family, and he escapes to live with her illegally. Naturally, the murderer is still pursuing Diana, which puts both her and the boy in peril. There are no surprises in Dark Glasses other than an eerie opening sequence involving a solar eclipse. After that, it’s pretty standard giallo/slasher fare, and not as stylish as viewers might hope for Argento’s first film
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesNews
Before Alex Herron‘s new movie Leave has not arrived in the states yet and the director has already moved on to his next film, Dark Windows, which made its premiere at Cannes this weekend. The first image has arrived (via Bloody-Disgusting) for the movie that is said to “take audiences on a ride of passion, loss, terror and horrific, unthinkable ways of seeking revenge.” In the film, “Four teenagers are involved in a car crash. Tilly, Monica, Peter, and Allison. Allison dies of her injuries and at her memorial, Allison’s uncle confronts the group and blames them for her death. Monica suggests that they get out of town and stay at her grandparents’ summerhouse in the US countryside to work through the grief of losing their friend and to be out of sight until things have calmed down. As they get to the cabin everything is normal and peaceful until a masked man starts to terrorize and punish them in
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Allegoria, the debut feature from writer/director Spider One, finds tortured artists and torturing artists alike. This anthology film is a dark dive into the psyches of musicians, painters, actors, and others and serves up a variety of horror elements. In the opening installment, acting teacher Robert Anderson Wright (John Ennis) demands that his students show him a monster. Ennis is pitch perfect as a hard-nosed instructor, giving an all-in performance that isn’t short on flying spittle. Next up, angry artist Marcus Muller (Bryce Johnson) gets inspiration for his latest painting from a decidedly dark source. Johnson invests Muller with the proper amount of pretentiousness and cynicism, and what he confronts is disturbingly realized. In the third segment — and probably the most viscerally brutal — screenwriter Eddie (Edward Hong) gets a lesson in crafting a slasher flick from an expert source (Adam Marcinowski). If it’s slasher action you crave, this section delivers. Next, sculptor Ivy (Scout Compton) volunteers to help
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews
The Overlook Film Festival brings another drool-inducing slate of horror and horror-adjacent features and shorts to New Orleans next month. From monsters to murderers to other mayhem-makers, the fest has something for fear-fare fans of every stripe. Following is the official press announcement. The Overlook Film Festival is proud to announce its opening night film and second wave of the 2022 festival lineup. These titles join previously announced films and events, including closing night film THE BLACK PHONE, for a total of 23 feature films and 25 short films from 16 countries, with 3 World Premieres and 1 North American premiere, along with 10 live events taking place at the Prytania Theatres At Canal Place in New Orleans June 2-5, 2022. The festival will open with the North American premiere of Ana Lily Amirpour’s MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON, which features a stellar cast including Jeon Jong-soo, Kate Hudson and Craig Robinson. Shot in New Orleans, this fantastical boundary
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Talisman One person’s belief system is another person’s superstition, and director Reangsei Phos’ Talisman (Canada) finds school-age Yi (Sean Lu) torn between those two schools of thought. His family has just moved into a new house, and as his mother (Qingqing Yang) tries to protect the home against ghosts, his father (Danny Liang) admonishes her not to fill the young boy’s head full of nonsense. Strange things are indeed happening inside the house, which leads to shocking acts of violence. Phos balances solid family drama with well-paced suspense, including some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it occurrences which should keep viewers’ eyes glued to the proceedings. The cast members, including Pascale Behrman, all turn in solid performances. Wendigo The animated short Wendigo (Ireland, 2021) is an intriguing take on the North American First Nations mythological creature combined with other eldritch occurrences. Charlie (voiced by Marc-Ivan O’Gorman) is an inquisitive young man who wants to investigate first-hand what remains of the Olsen manor, site of some
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNews
After a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 virus, Athens, Greece’s Horrorant Film Festival is set to welcome audiences back to its shiver-inducing in-person cinema experience. This May, the fest will serve up 63 delightfully dark features and shorts. Following is the official press announcement. During its first 6 years of life, Horrorant Film Festival has been acknowledged as one of Europe’s most up’n’coming genre fests, and the ever-growing and hungry for exciting cinematic experiences for which fans respond more and more enthusiastically. Unfortunately, that was when Covid-19 hit and everything froze up. For two years, entertainment was considered almost banned and movie theaters paid a hard price. The “easy” solution of online screenings was never an option for us, due to our belief that movies belong in the cinemas. At last, the nightmare seems to be reaching its end, and — carefully but confidently — Fright Nights are ready to return. This two-year hiatus was an opportunity to reconsider
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsIndieMoviesNews
RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, and Shudder, AMC Networks’ streaming service for horror, thriller, and the supernatural have acquired the North American rights to the horror film, Allegoria ahead of its world premiere at Panic Fest. In Allegoria, a group of artists’ lives become unwittingly entangled as their obsessions and insecurities manifest monsters, demons, and death. Written by Spider One, who also makes his directorial debut, the film stars Krsy Fox (Frank), Adam Busch (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), and Bryce Johnson (“Pretty Little Liars”), and Scout Taylor-Compton (Halloween). “Collaborating with emerging filmmakers/artists like Spider One is a top priority for us,” said Mark Ward, Chief Acquisitions Officer of RLJE Films. “We couldn’t be more proud to debut his first film. He is a great talent with a unique vision.” Allegoria was produced by OneFox Productions. Ward and Betsy Rogers from RLJE Films negotiated the deal with Dan Rozenblum from 33 & West Talent Agency on behalf of
Continue reading →
More from Events
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
One and Four Chinese feature One and Four (2021) is a nailbiter about Sanggye (Jinpa), a ranger who works alone at an isolated post in the Tibetan forest, whose solitude is interrupted when he finds a crashed car with a dead policeman on board. Returning to his cabin, he finds a wounded cop (Wang Zheng), but Sanggye suspects he might actually be a poacher. Kunbo (Kunde), a village acquaintance of Sanggye’s, returns to the cabin after a visit the night before, and eventually another wounded cop (Darggye Tenzin) stumbles onto the scene. As Sanggye becomes increasingly suspicious about each of the men, they do their part in creating further confusion and uncertainties. Naturally, weapons come into play, and as anger and confusion mount, danger threatens with every passing second. Writer/director Jigme Trinley’s debut feature looks terrific, with the snow-covered setting serving both a beautiful and bleak backdrop. He ratchets up the suspense masterfully, even if there’s not a whole lot
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Subject Subject, cowinner of this year’s Fantaspoa Best Film in the Brazilian Feature Film Competition category, tackles a familiar set-up: writer Max (Gustavo Falcão) has moved into a house in a rural area to work on his next book, but odd things occur inside the house. What director Leo Falcão does with this set-up is quite unlike what viewers might expect, though, as he takes a rather light-hearted, magical realism approach and sends Max on a weird journey involving suddenly-appearing texts, oddball locals, and the mystery of what happened to the writer who lived in the house before him. From characters who say strangely out-of-place words and instantly correct themselves to daily fistfights among friends, these locals are an enigmatic lot, and the actors who portray them do a marvelous job. Max finds himself grappling with existential puzzles, and Gustavo Falcão inhabits the character with a bemused, fish-out-of-water verve. Though not strictly a horror film, Subject definitely has scare-fare elements
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Dashcam Director Rob Savage follows up his highly acclaimed 2020 feature Host with Dashcam. It’s a freaky effort that uses an intriguing style that falls somewhere between direct cinema and found footage. There’s much to recommend about the film, though the lead character is so grating — no matter which way your politics lie — that it cancels out some of Dashcam’s goodwill. Musician and anti-vaxxer Annie Hardy plays a revved-up version of herself, hosting a livestreaming show in which she raps in an improv style while driving around in her car. In an effort to escape what she feels is the overbearing strictness toward COVID-19 in the United States to visit an old bandmate Stretch (Amar Chadha-Patel) in the U.K. — obviously, she didn’t do much homework before purchasing her ticket. She wreaks havoc in Stretch’s life before stealing his car and winds up picking up a sick elderly woman (Angela Enahoro), but the woman isn’t merely sick, and
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Dark Glasses Italian/French coproduction Dark Glasses (AKA Black Glasses; Occhiali Neri, 2022) is the latest from Dario Argento, and while it isn’t quite a return to form for the legendary director, it is arguably one of his better later-career offerings. High-end call girl Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli) loses her sight when she is pursued in a car chase by a serial killer who targets sex workers, and her vehicle crashes into another, blidning her and killing the parents of young boy Chin (Andrea Zhang). She visits him at the nunnery for orphans where he stays until placed with a foster family, and he escapes to live with her illegally. Naturally, the murderer is still pursuing Diana, which puts both her and the boy in peril. There are no surprises in Dark Glasses other than an eerie opening sequence involving a solar eclipse. After that, it’s pretty standard giallo/slasher fare, and not as stylish as viewers might hope for Argento’s first film
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesNews
Before Alex Herron‘s new movie Leave has not arrived in the states yet and the director has already moved on to his next film, Dark Windows, which made its premiere at Cannes this weekend. The first image has arrived (via Bloody-Disgusting) for the movie that is said to “take audiences on a ride of passion, loss, terror and horrific, unthinkable ways of seeking revenge.” In the film, “Four teenagers are involved in a car crash. Tilly, Monica, Peter, and Allison. Allison dies of her injuries and at her memorial, Allison’s uncle confronts the group and blames them for her death. Monica suggests that they get out of town and stay at her grandparents’ summerhouse in the US countryside to work through the grief of losing their friend and to be out of sight until things have calmed down. As they get to the cabin everything is normal and peaceful until a masked man starts to terrorize and punish them in
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Allegoria, the debut feature from writer/director Spider One, finds tortured artists and torturing artists alike. This anthology film is a dark dive into the psyches of musicians, painters, actors, and others and serves up a variety of horror elements. In the opening installment, acting teacher Robert Anderson Wright (John Ennis) demands that his students show him a monster. Ennis is pitch perfect as a hard-nosed instructor, giving an all-in performance that isn’t short on flying spittle. Next up, angry artist Marcus Muller (Bryce Johnson) gets inspiration for his latest painting from a decidedly dark source. Johnson invests Muller with the proper amount of pretentiousness and cynicism, and what he confronts is disturbingly realized. In the third segment — and probably the most viscerally brutal — screenwriter Eddie (Edward Hong) gets a lesson in crafting a slasher flick from an expert source (Adam Marcinowski). If it’s slasher action you crave, this section delivers. Next, sculptor Ivy (Scout Compton) volunteers to help
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews
The Overlook Film Festival brings another drool-inducing slate of horror and horror-adjacent features and shorts to New Orleans next month. From monsters to murderers to other mayhem-makers, the fest has something for fear-fare fans of every stripe. Following is the official press announcement. The Overlook Film Festival is proud to announce its opening night film and second wave of the 2022 festival lineup. These titles join previously announced films and events, including closing night film THE BLACK PHONE, for a total of 23 feature films and 25 short films from 16 countries, with 3 World Premieres and 1 North American premiere, along with 10 live events taking place at the Prytania Theatres At Canal Place in New Orleans June 2-5, 2022. The festival will open with the North American premiere of Ana Lily Amirpour’s MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON, which features a stellar cast including Jeon Jong-soo, Kate Hudson and Craig Robinson. Shot in New Orleans, this fantastical boundary
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Talisman One person’s belief system is another person’s superstition, and director Reangsei Phos’ Talisman (Canada) finds school-age Yi (Sean Lu) torn between those two schools of thought. His family has just moved into a new house, and as his mother (Qingqing Yang) tries to protect the home against ghosts, his father (Danny Liang) admonishes her not to fill the young boy’s head full of nonsense. Strange things are indeed happening inside the house, which leads to shocking acts of violence. Phos balances solid family drama with well-paced suspense, including some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it occurrences which should keep viewers’ eyes glued to the proceedings. The cast members, including Pascale Behrman, all turn in solid performances. Wendigo The animated short Wendigo (Ireland, 2021) is an intriguing take on the North American First Nations mythological creature combined with other eldritch occurrences. Charlie (voiced by Marc-Ivan O’Gorman) is an inquisitive young man who wants to investigate first-hand what remains of the Olsen manor, site of some
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNews
After a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 virus, Athens, Greece’s Horrorant Film Festival is set to welcome audiences back to its shiver-inducing in-person cinema experience. This May, the fest will serve up 63 delightfully dark features and shorts. Following is the official press announcement. During its first 6 years of life, Horrorant Film Festival has been acknowledged as one of Europe’s most up’n’coming genre fests, and the ever-growing and hungry for exciting cinematic experiences for which fans respond more and more enthusiastically. Unfortunately, that was when Covid-19 hit and everything froze up. For two years, entertainment was considered almost banned and movie theaters paid a hard price. The “easy” solution of online screenings was never an option for us, due to our belief that movies belong in the cinemas. At last, the nightmare seems to be reaching its end, and — carefully but confidently — Fright Nights are ready to return. This two-year hiatus was an opportunity to reconsider
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsIndieMoviesNews
RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, and Shudder, AMC Networks’ streaming service for horror, thriller, and the supernatural have acquired the North American rights to the horror film, Allegoria ahead of its world premiere at Panic Fest. In Allegoria, a group of artists’ lives become unwittingly entangled as their obsessions and insecurities manifest monsters, demons, and death. Written by Spider One, who also makes his directorial debut, the film stars Krsy Fox (Frank), Adam Busch (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), and Bryce Johnson (“Pretty Little Liars”), and Scout Taylor-Compton (Halloween). “Collaborating with emerging filmmakers/artists like Spider One is a top priority for us,” said Mark Ward, Chief Acquisitions Officer of RLJE Films. “We couldn’t be more proud to debut his first film. He is a great talent with a unique vision.” Allegoria was produced by OneFox Productions. Ward and Betsy Rogers from RLJE Films negotiated the deal with Dan Rozenblum from 33 & West Talent Agency on behalf of
Continue reading →
