CategoryForeign
International horror: J-horror, European extremity, Latin American shocks and the films Hollywood keeps remaking.
902 stories
ForeignIndieMoviesReviews
Drac (Jess Franco regular Howard Vernon, who’s appearance here proves my words, as this too is a Franco flick) is back, and he’s doing his fang bang schtick on ye local comely lasses… an action that really sticks in the ass of Dr. Jonathan Seward (Alberto Dalbés)… here filling the traditional Van Helsing role… so much so that he takes a carriage ride to Dracula’s castle and straight up stakes the mother sucker turning him into an ex-bat! Well, nightmare over… right? Wrong. Before the pillow is even cold, Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price, who would return to the role in Franco’s The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein a year later in 1973), and his unfortunately horny assistant Morpho (Luis Barboo) slide their asses on into the castle, and immediately reawaken the Doctor’s Monster (Fernando Bilbao) whom they’ve conveniently brought along. Said Monster then ambles into town and abducts a showgirl (who’s eventual corpse is the only thing to quench Morpho’s unholy
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesNewsTrailers
Brace yourself for a coming-of-age story that will get under your skin. Tiger Stripes, the critically acclaimed debut film by director Amanda Nell Eu, is out today. This unique film tackles the complexities of puberty through a haunting lens of female body horror. Zaffan, a rebellious 12-year-old, experiences a horrifying transformation as her body begins to change. Struggling to maintain normalcy at school, Zaffan desperately tries to hide her transformations, leading to a growing sense of isolation and fear. As Zaffan’s anxieties rise, a wave of mass hysteria engulfs the school. Rumors of a dark presence and bizarre physical manifestations spread like wildfire. A visiting doctor arrives, determined to banish the supposed demon plaguing the school. Tragically, his misguided investigation leads him to Zaffan, wrongly accusing her of causing the chaos. Faced with public humiliation and the doctor’s extreme methods, Zaffan undergoes a profound transformation. Like a cornered tiger, she sheds her inhibitions and unleashes her rage. She channels her
Continue reading →
ForeignK-HorrorMoviesNewsTrailers
Prepare for a heart-pounding experience as the South Korean horror-thriller Project Silence makes its U.S. debut this week. It promises an action-packed, wild ride. The official trailer unleashes a barrage of action as a group of civilians find themselves trapped on a failing bridge. Struggling to escape the crumbling structure, they face another deadly threat: escaped military experiments from the secretive “Project Silence” is on the loose. The trailer gives you a look at Lee Sun-kyun‘s final performances before his tragic passing in 2020. The acclaimed actor, who rose to international fame with his role in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite, left an undeniable mark on cinema. “Sudden weather turns deadly as a series of collisions and explosions cripple the Airport Bridge. People find themselves stranded. Amidst the chaos, military experiment canines codenamed ‘Echo’ escape from Project Silence, transforming the survivors into hunted prey.” The bridge becomes a microcosm of society. A government official, a tow truck driver, an elderly
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMovies
Fantasia, Canada’s premiere genre-film festival, has announced all of the selections for its upcoming 28th edition, running from July 18 through August 4, 2024 at Montreal’s Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. Following are recommendations for eight of the more than 125 feature films scheduled. I have seen the first three listed below and can highly recommend them. The other five have me champing at the bit to get a peek at. Below are Fantasia’s official descriptions, each one followed in italics by thoughts from yours truly. HOUSE OF SAYURI MARKS THE RETURN OF J-HORROR MASTER KOJI SHIRAISHI Legendary J-horror director Koji Shiraishi (NOROI: THE CURSE) brings the genre to new levels of fun with HOUSE OF SAYURI. A vengeful ghost disseminates a family until a counterattack from a bold grandma brings a startling new dynamic into the house. Shifting tones in surprising and destabilizing ways, this
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
After a series of freak un-natural disasters pound coastal Thailand to absolute shit, a giant crocodile crawls from fuck knows where and begins eating the various citizenry of water-side towns. Enter: Dr. Tony Akom (Nard Poowanai) and his pal John (Min Oo); two dudes who’s spouses… and in one case daughter… are devoured by that toothsome terror which sets the men on a little mission to put the hurt on that scaly fucker but good! To that end they enlist the help of grizzled sailor/possible early ’80s NYC LeatherDaddy Tanaka (Kirk Warren) and before you can say “Amity Island” the group (eventually joined by a Third Act comedy relief photographer character) begin the hunt to end the monster before he eats even more people… good luck fellas! Crocodile had me hooked right from the beginning with an impressive depiction of nearly supernatural storms and their destructive powers realized through sweet miniature work, tank effects, and animated lightning strikes… I eat
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
This is going to be a Grade-A fuckin’ nuts… Just by looking at that title up there you can tell if this is for you… and if you will be offended by it, which admittedly I’m sure there’s something here to displease most… also this is (probably) the first review where I have to emphatically state that I am not a doctor, so I’ll have to describe… oh fuck this, here we go! So 1979’s The Crippled Masters begins the way it should, with our main men strutting their bizarre, yet impressive stuff under the opening credits. Here we see Lee Ho (Frankie Shum), a man with but one arm… but it’s incredibly small and contains only a few fingers… and let me tell you, this fella is dynamite with a bow staff. We also meet Tang (Jackie Conn), a dude with emaciated legs that, and I shit you not, launches himself from a skateboard to land backwards on Lee’s
Continue reading →
AdaptationBooksForeignIndieMoviesReviewsStreaming TVThriller
Coming your way from our fiendish friends at Severin are a duo of Blu-ray releases featuring legendary literary Detective, Sherlock Holmes!First up comes 1962’s Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace: Who do you call when Cleopatra’s priceless necklace turns up missing? Well, the Egyptian authorities should be number one I guess, but freakin’ Sherlock Holmes is definitely probably on that list somewhere… As fate would have it, Holmes (Sir Christopher Lee… I’m sure everyone knows this legend, but just in case think Hammer Films’ Dracula flicks) is indeed called in, along with Dr. Watson (Thorley Walters) and the two quickly begin their famous sleuthin’ bag. Before long the trail leads to the infamous Dr. Moriarty (Hans Söhnker), who has set-up sinister shop under the guise of being a respectable archaeologist, which will definitely screw up Holmes’ investigation six ways to Sunday! Directed by Hammer mainstay Terence Fisher (who just so happened to direct a few of those aforementioned Dracula pictures
Continue reading →
ForeignK-HorrorMoviesNewsTrailers
Attention K-Horror fans! Get ready for a chilling new cinematic experience with Tastes of Horror, the new South Korean horror anthology film. This terrifying collection features six short films directed by different acclaimed South Korean directors. They have come together to create a terrifying experience that may very well leave you hungry for more. Tastes of Horror brings together the talents of five of South Korea’s most celebrated genre directors. That includes Sang-hoon Ahn (The Witness), Johnny Chae (Justice High), Yoon Een-Kyoung (Lingering), Yong-gyun Kim (The Sword with No Name), and Dae-wung Lim (Horror Stories). These visionary filmmakers weave a tapestry of horror and dread with their unique styles and approaches to horror. The film features six standalone short stories. Each promises to deliver a unique brand of terror in the director’s signature style of storytelling. This anthology also features a talented cast of well-known and respected Korean actors, including the Train to Busan star Oh Seung-hee, Chang Seung-yeon, the
Continue reading →
DocumentariesEventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNews
Chattanooga Film Festival (https://www.chattfilmfest.org/) celebrates its 11th edition with a hybrid edition, so you can catch either in-person screenings from June 21–23 or relax at home with a virtual version from June 21–28, 2024. The lineup is a cornucopia of fright fare and other genre-film offerings. Lots of amazing features are scheduled, from Swedish religious horror In the Name of God to Dutch high-strangeness documentary The UFOs of Soesterberg to the sumptuous French vampire film The Vourdalak, and beyond. I’ve had the good fortune to watch and review four of the fest’s features from previous festivals for Horror Fuel, all of which I can recommend for Chattanooga Film Festival viewing. As always, you needn’t be concerned about spoilers in my reviews. Film descriptions are from the Chattanooga Film Festival website. Blind Cop 2 When an influx of illegal weapons trafficking explodes onto the scene, a grieving blind police officer must purge the city streets or risk mass chaos breaking loose.
Continue reading →
DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
The Weekend (Nigeria, 2024) Good foreign fright-fare gives viewers culturally different spins on subgenres. Daniel Oriahi’s The Weekend certainly delivers the local-flavor goods and the chills with its Nigerian take on in-laws-from-hell eeriness. Engaged couple Nikya (Uzoamaka Aniunoh), orphaned as a young girl and dreaming of having a close knit family, and Luc (Bucci Franklin), who has fallen out with his parents but still talks with his sister, travel — Luc reluctantly so — from their home in the city to his rural hometown with a local holiday approaching. Local criminals who threaten the couple turn out to be the least fearful of dangers that await. Aniunoh and Franklin head up an excellent cast, and Oriahi delivers the shudder-inducing goods as the mystery behind Luc’s family and the reasons for their high ranking in their village are revealed — and the aforementioned holiday serves up its nightmarish tension, too. Sumptuously shot by cinematographer Idhebor Kagho, The Weekend delivers a gruesome
Continue reading →
More from Foreign
ForeignIndieMoviesReviews
Drac (Jess Franco regular Howard Vernon, who’s appearance here proves my words, as this too is a Franco flick) is back, and he’s doing his fang bang schtick on ye local comely lasses… an action that really sticks in the ass of Dr. Jonathan Seward (Alberto Dalbés)… here filling the traditional Van Helsing role… so much so that he takes a carriage ride to Dracula’s castle and straight up stakes the mother sucker turning him into an ex-bat! Well, nightmare over… right? Wrong. Before the pillow is even cold, Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price, who would return to the role in Franco’s The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein a year later in 1973), and his unfortunately horny assistant Morpho (Luis Barboo) slide their asses on into the castle, and immediately reawaken the Doctor’s Monster (Fernando Bilbao) whom they’ve conveniently brought along. Said Monster then ambles into town and abducts a showgirl (who’s eventual corpse is the only thing to quench Morpho’s unholy
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMoviesNewsTrailers
Brace yourself for a coming-of-age story that will get under your skin. Tiger Stripes, the critically acclaimed debut film by director Amanda Nell Eu, is out today. This unique film tackles the complexities of puberty through a haunting lens of female body horror. Zaffan, a rebellious 12-year-old, experiences a horrifying transformation as her body begins to change. Struggling to maintain normalcy at school, Zaffan desperately tries to hide her transformations, leading to a growing sense of isolation and fear. As Zaffan’s anxieties rise, a wave of mass hysteria engulfs the school. Rumors of a dark presence and bizarre physical manifestations spread like wildfire. A visiting doctor arrives, determined to banish the supposed demon plaguing the school. Tragically, his misguided investigation leads him to Zaffan, wrongly accusing her of causing the chaos. Faced with public humiliation and the doctor’s extreme methods, Zaffan undergoes a profound transformation. Like a cornered tiger, she sheds her inhibitions and unleashes her rage. She channels her
Continue reading →
ForeignK-HorrorMoviesNewsTrailers
Prepare for a heart-pounding experience as the South Korean horror-thriller Project Silence makes its U.S. debut this week. It promises an action-packed, wild ride. The official trailer unleashes a barrage of action as a group of civilians find themselves trapped on a failing bridge. Struggling to escape the crumbling structure, they face another deadly threat: escaped military experiments from the secretive “Project Silence” is on the loose. The trailer gives you a look at Lee Sun-kyun‘s final performances before his tragic passing in 2020. The acclaimed actor, who rose to international fame with his role in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite, left an undeniable mark on cinema. “Sudden weather turns deadly as a series of collisions and explosions cripple the Airport Bridge. People find themselves stranded. Amidst the chaos, military experiment canines codenamed ‘Echo’ escape from Project Silence, transforming the survivors into hunted prey.” The bridge becomes a microcosm of society. A government official, a tow truck driver, an elderly
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsForeignMovies
Fantasia, Canada’s premiere genre-film festival, has announced all of the selections for its upcoming 28th edition, running from July 18 through August 4, 2024 at Montreal’s Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. Following are recommendations for eight of the more than 125 feature films scheduled. I have seen the first three listed below and can highly recommend them. The other five have me champing at the bit to get a peek at. Below are Fantasia’s official descriptions, each one followed in italics by thoughts from yours truly. HOUSE OF SAYURI MARKS THE RETURN OF J-HORROR MASTER KOJI SHIRAISHI Legendary J-horror director Koji Shiraishi (NOROI: THE CURSE) brings the genre to new levels of fun with HOUSE OF SAYURI. A vengeful ghost disseminates a family until a counterattack from a bold grandma brings a startling new dynamic into the house. Shifting tones in surprising and destabilizing ways, this
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
After a series of freak un-natural disasters pound coastal Thailand to absolute shit, a giant crocodile crawls from fuck knows where and begins eating the various citizenry of water-side towns. Enter: Dr. Tony Akom (Nard Poowanai) and his pal John (Min Oo); two dudes who’s spouses… and in one case daughter… are devoured by that toothsome terror which sets the men on a little mission to put the hurt on that scaly fucker but good! To that end they enlist the help of grizzled sailor/possible early ’80s NYC LeatherDaddy Tanaka (Kirk Warren) and before you can say “Amity Island” the group (eventually joined by a Third Act comedy relief photographer character) begin the hunt to end the monster before he eats even more people… good luck fellas! Crocodile had me hooked right from the beginning with an impressive depiction of nearly supernatural storms and their destructive powers realized through sweet miniature work, tank effects, and animated lightning strikes… I eat
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
This is going to be a Grade-A fuckin’ nuts… Just by looking at that title up there you can tell if this is for you… and if you will be offended by it, which admittedly I’m sure there’s something here to displease most… also this is (probably) the first review where I have to emphatically state that I am not a doctor, so I’ll have to describe… oh fuck this, here we go! So 1979’s The Crippled Masters begins the way it should, with our main men strutting their bizarre, yet impressive stuff under the opening credits. Here we see Lee Ho (Frankie Shum), a man with but one arm… but it’s incredibly small and contains only a few fingers… and let me tell you, this fella is dynamite with a bow staff. We also meet Tang (Jackie Conn), a dude with emaciated legs that, and I shit you not, launches himself from a skateboard to land backwards on Lee’s
Continue reading →
AdaptationBooksForeignIndieMoviesReviewsStreaming TVThriller
Coming your way from our fiendish friends at Severin are a duo of Blu-ray releases featuring legendary literary Detective, Sherlock Holmes!First up comes 1962’s Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace: Who do you call when Cleopatra’s priceless necklace turns up missing? Well, the Egyptian authorities should be number one I guess, but freakin’ Sherlock Holmes is definitely probably on that list somewhere… As fate would have it, Holmes (Sir Christopher Lee… I’m sure everyone knows this legend, but just in case think Hammer Films’ Dracula flicks) is indeed called in, along with Dr. Watson (Thorley Walters) and the two quickly begin their famous sleuthin’ bag. Before long the trail leads to the infamous Dr. Moriarty (Hans Söhnker), who has set-up sinister shop under the guise of being a respectable archaeologist, which will definitely screw up Holmes’ investigation six ways to Sunday! Directed by Hammer mainstay Terence Fisher (who just so happened to direct a few of those aforementioned Dracula pictures
Continue reading →
ForeignK-HorrorMoviesNewsTrailers
Attention K-Horror fans! Get ready for a chilling new cinematic experience with Tastes of Horror, the new South Korean horror anthology film. This terrifying collection features six short films directed by different acclaimed South Korean directors. They have come together to create a terrifying experience that may very well leave you hungry for more. Tastes of Horror brings together the talents of five of South Korea’s most celebrated genre directors. That includes Sang-hoon Ahn (The Witness), Johnny Chae (Justice High), Yoon Een-Kyoung (Lingering), Yong-gyun Kim (The Sword with No Name), and Dae-wung Lim (Horror Stories). These visionary filmmakers weave a tapestry of horror and dread with their unique styles and approaches to horror. The film features six standalone short stories. Each promises to deliver a unique brand of terror in the director’s signature style of storytelling. This anthology also features a talented cast of well-known and respected Korean actors, including the Train to Busan star Oh Seung-hee, Chang Seung-yeon, the
Continue reading →
DocumentariesEventsFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesNews
Chattanooga Film Festival (https://www.chattfilmfest.org/) celebrates its 11th edition with a hybrid edition, so you can catch either in-person screenings from June 21–23 or relax at home with a virtual version from June 21–28, 2024. The lineup is a cornucopia of fright fare and other genre-film offerings. Lots of amazing features are scheduled, from Swedish religious horror In the Name of God to Dutch high-strangeness documentary The UFOs of Soesterberg to the sumptuous French vampire film The Vourdalak, and beyond. I’ve had the good fortune to watch and review four of the fest’s features from previous festivals for Horror Fuel, all of which I can recommend for Chattanooga Film Festival viewing. As always, you needn’t be concerned about spoilers in my reviews. Film descriptions are from the Chattanooga Film Festival website. Blind Cop 2 When an influx of illegal weapons trafficking explodes onto the scene, a grieving blind police officer must purge the city streets or risk mass chaos breaking loose.
Continue reading →
DocumentariesFilm FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
The Weekend (Nigeria, 2024) Good foreign fright-fare gives viewers culturally different spins on subgenres. Daniel Oriahi’s The Weekend certainly delivers the local-flavor goods and the chills with its Nigerian take on in-laws-from-hell eeriness. Engaged couple Nikya (Uzoamaka Aniunoh), orphaned as a young girl and dreaming of having a close knit family, and Luc (Bucci Franklin), who has fallen out with his parents but still talks with his sister, travel — Luc reluctantly so — from their home in the city to his rural hometown with a local holiday approaching. Local criminals who threaten the couple turn out to be the least fearful of dangers that await. Aniunoh and Franklin head up an excellent cast, and Oriahi delivers the shudder-inducing goods as the mystery behind Luc’s family and the reasons for their high ranking in their village are revealed — and the aforementioned holiday serves up its nightmarish tension, too. Sumptuously shot by cinematographer Idhebor Kagho, The Weekend delivers a gruesome
Continue reading →
