CategoryIndie
Independent horror: micro-budget features, short films and first-time filmmakers doing more with less — and often doing it better.
2,257 stories
IndieMovies
Sometimes I can’t even believe the things I have to type for this column…like this for instance: In the future, death row convicts are forced to compete in a virtual reality game show called The Jurassic Games, where they have to fight dinosaurs to win their freedom…so, this is The Running Man with dinosaurs…this may actually be genius (I mean someone is eaten by a T-rex before even five minutes have passed, so that is a good sign). Alliances and rivalries are formed among the convicts, dinosaurs eat people, and even more story elements are lifted wholesale from the Schwarzenegger classic (including corruption behind the scenes of the games, the “hero” convict being wrongfully accused, merch of the show being advertised during the broadcast…and on and on). Look, no one is ever going to say The Jurassic Games is original (and if they do they may need serious psychiatric help), but I’ll be damned if the film isn’t entertaining. It’s
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ForeignIndieMovies
Mad Foxes begins with Easy Rocker from Krokus blaring from the speakers…we may be off to something special here fiends… As far as what follows that sonic assault, it goes a lil’ something like this: Middle aged Hal is driving his (freshly turned) 18 year-old girlfriend out on a date in order to wine and dine her so she will let him be the one to ‘break the seal’ if you know what I mean (and if that bit of crass purple prose wasn’t clear enough for ya, the lady sits underneath a giant tacky painting of an oozing chocolate covered cherry), when he absolutely murders a Nazi biker, as one does. Of course that biker had equally as Nazi pals (at least indoors…their armbands have no swastikas in exterior shots, but they appear as if by magic inside) who arrive and beat the hell out of Hal and rape his girlfriend. Hal then naturally enlists a squad of martial
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMovies
Pity poor Goran (Franjo Dijak); all he wants to do is drink (a lot), drive his cab in the tiny isolated snow bound Croatian village he calls home, and hang out in a cabin with his BFF (Goran Bogdan) gettin’ his soak on…but unfortunately, his non-stop nag of a blind wife, Lina (Natasa Janjic) makes that increasingly difficult. Things carry on as usual until Lina announces she is pregnant, which goes over like a fart in a submarine for our hero, as he believes the child may not actually be his, but rather his sauna sittin’ pal mentioned previous. Well push comes to shove (literally) with disastrous results, and after a chemically enhanced Birthday party things get completely out of hand (read: incredibly violent and oh so very, very wrong)! Goran plays out like a relationship/family drama for nearly forty out of it’s eighty two minutes of run time (with credits), but then things go so incredibly south so incredibly
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IndieMovies
When pro-vlogger Julia (Meelah Adams) arrives in the states from Germany to visit her cousin Hannah (Alyson Walker) she brings a few things along for the trip…like the ability to cry sideways, and a strange shadowy figure that haunts her selfies, oh, and let’s not forget the ability to send text messages without using her god damned phone because she’s seemingly possessed, and also some sort of infection (that one is reasonable at least)…seriously; I’d ask this bitch to leave about 2 millifarts (it’s a real measurement…and it’s mega short believe me…I’m a reviewer, I know things…) after she walked across my threshold. Anyway, Hannah is a better person than your’s cruelly and instead plays nursemaid to her sickly/haunted cuz…while also launching into a full on Nancy Drew to search all of the deep (web), dark (net) online secrets Julia is keeping…mainly that she got involved in some seriously F’d up crap on a part of the internet none should
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
In the year 2041, the the United States is divided into two opposing blocs, the North Hemi and the Eastern Alliance. Now these two aren’t exactly bosom buddies, but they both really hate the pirates known as Centros who go around causing all manner of havoc. Can anyone stand in their way? Why yes, yes they can (because if the answer was “no” this would have been a very short film…)…two anyone’s in fact; a rogue mega-robot pilot (Don Michael Paul) and his pal Stumpy (James Staley…who, in a real humdinger of a twist has all of his appendages) who discover that dignitaries from the EA are out to steal the aforementioned scorpion shaped mechanical marvel (the last of it’s kind…or is it?). Anyway those evil bastards succeed, but our heroes…along with plucky archaeologist Leda (the legendary Barbara Crampton) discover a hidden mega-robot (this one humanoid in apperance)…which of course leads to a nice bout of robot asskickery! Simply put;
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IndieMovies
After a truly impressive opening of a car winding through secluded mountain roads viewed from above (think Kubrick, but doubtless shot utilizing a drone for a mere fraction of the cost of a helicopter…but damn does it look great), the story proper of Evolution of Evil gets underway; to wit: a young couple (maybe they are just friends…damned if I could tell), named Christopher and Lori for those of you keeping score at home, treks out to the middle of nowhere to get away from it all, and everything is artisanal beer and bratwurst until the silence of the night is split by distant gunshots. Well the following morning things go from pleasant to poopy as Chris is abducted (I know, right?!!) by some seriously fucked up woodsmen and subjected to all manner of rape and abuse (again, right?!!). Meanwhile Lori wanders the woods in a daze before being picked up by one of our batshit antagonists. What follows is
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesParanormal
A young writer named Sam Talbot (Nathaniel Grauwelman) and his wife Veronica (Vanessa Cuccia) head out to a cabin in the sticks where he hopes to learn a lil’ somethin’ about the family tree…or the dark roots from which it grew. Finding his uncle’s diary, Sam learns that his alcoholic ancestor (Jacob Crickenberger) went a bit screwy after he witnessed his wife murdered by a psycho in a bunny mask (I loved this visual by the by)…or did he…I don’t really know, and neither will you (which is a plus if you ask me). Anyway, how will the sins of the past effect the present? I’m not telling…and I’m not even sure if I could! On the plus side, there are some beautiful visuals on display here (in particular in the surreal dream sequences), and the acting (in particular from Vanessa Cuccia as Veronica, and Jacob Crickenberger as the beleaguered Samuel were real stand outs) is mostly solid… The Grave
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IndieMovies
When Marion (Glenda Morgan Brown) has one “senior moment” too many, her son saddles her with a smoke show of a caregiver named Rebecca (Rachel Alig). This puts a bunch in Marion’s Depends, but she soon gets over it and her and Rebecca hit it off…and before long ol’ Becky has convinced our old ass friend to turn a room in her home into a sort of AirBnB for weary travelers. This would be all well and good, except Rachel is a Grade-A murder machine that offs any guest that displays sassitude…and she’s so damn good at it Marion doesn’t have a clue…though from what we learn from her son Marion would be apt to answer a banana and eat a phone. Things get more complicated when a married couple take up residence in the room…and by “complicated” I mean Rebecca convinces the husband, Ted (writer/director Les Mahoney) to kill his wife and become her partner in crime. Of course
Continue reading →
IndieTrailers
Entertainment icon Snoop Dogg stars in the sci-fi parody adventure film Unbelievable!!!!! Snoop Dogg stars as “Major LeGrande,” opposite co-producer and Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols in their independent feature film debut. Today, the first trailer has been released for the film that has a huge ensemble cast that includes Snoop Dogg as well as 40 former Star Trek actors. Writer-director Steven L Fawcette and his wife, who serves as a producer as well as actress Angelique Fawcette of Archangel Films have announced that Unbelievable!!!! has now completed post-production. Unbelievable!!!!! follows, “the crazy exploits of four off-beat astronauts (one is a marionette) who travel to the Moon on a rescue mission to determine the fate of two Space Agency comrades who have not been heard from in several days. The individuals they find at the Lunar Base are not who they appear to be and, through acts of trickery and deception, nearly succeed in killing them. Soon the astronauts find
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
Two scientists work in a run down facility performing bizarre experiments that result in half human/half marine life hybrids…all in the name of discovering the secrets of immortality. Into that strangeness step two graffiti artists hoping to make an artistic statement (based on ghosts…). Before long a Sea-god is walking the Earth, wine and cheese is consumed, and our heroes engage in the fight of their lives…while still managing to make art! Soft Matter is absolutely batshit insane…in the best possible way a film can be! The whole affair is an unholy amalgamation of Lovecraft, Henenlotter, and the squirrely aesthetics of the shot on video craziness from the late ’80’s (though not featuring their technical ineptitude). There’s the wrong side of the tracks lovable protagonists (played perfectly by Devyn Placide and Ruby Lee Dove II), mad science, monsters, dance numbers, a charming animated sequence featuring a story about a dead turtle, a low-tech puppet show flashback, undead scientists re-animated to
Continue reading →
More from Indie
IndieMovies
Sometimes I can’t even believe the things I have to type for this column…like this for instance: In the future, death row convicts are forced to compete in a virtual reality game show called The Jurassic Games, where they have to fight dinosaurs to win their freedom…so, this is The Running Man with dinosaurs…this may actually be genius (I mean someone is eaten by a T-rex before even five minutes have passed, so that is a good sign). Alliances and rivalries are formed among the convicts, dinosaurs eat people, and even more story elements are lifted wholesale from the Schwarzenegger classic (including corruption behind the scenes of the games, the “hero” convict being wrongfully accused, merch of the show being advertised during the broadcast…and on and on). Look, no one is ever going to say The Jurassic Games is original (and if they do they may need serious psychiatric help), but I’ll be damned if the film isn’t entertaining. It’s
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMovies
Mad Foxes begins with Easy Rocker from Krokus blaring from the speakers…we may be off to something special here fiends… As far as what follows that sonic assault, it goes a lil’ something like this: Middle aged Hal is driving his (freshly turned) 18 year-old girlfriend out on a date in order to wine and dine her so she will let him be the one to ‘break the seal’ if you know what I mean (and if that bit of crass purple prose wasn’t clear enough for ya, the lady sits underneath a giant tacky painting of an oozing chocolate covered cherry), when he absolutely murders a Nazi biker, as one does. Of course that biker had equally as Nazi pals (at least indoors…their armbands have no swastikas in exterior shots, but they appear as if by magic inside) who arrive and beat the hell out of Hal and rape his girlfriend. Hal then naturally enlists a squad of martial
Continue reading →
ForeignIndieMovies
Pity poor Goran (Franjo Dijak); all he wants to do is drink (a lot), drive his cab in the tiny isolated snow bound Croatian village he calls home, and hang out in a cabin with his BFF (Goran Bogdan) gettin’ his soak on…but unfortunately, his non-stop nag of a blind wife, Lina (Natasa Janjic) makes that increasingly difficult. Things carry on as usual until Lina announces she is pregnant, which goes over like a fart in a submarine for our hero, as he believes the child may not actually be his, but rather his sauna sittin’ pal mentioned previous. Well push comes to shove (literally) with disastrous results, and after a chemically enhanced Birthday party things get completely out of hand (read: incredibly violent and oh so very, very wrong)! Goran plays out like a relationship/family drama for nearly forty out of it’s eighty two minutes of run time (with credits), but then things go so incredibly south so incredibly
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
When pro-vlogger Julia (Meelah Adams) arrives in the states from Germany to visit her cousin Hannah (Alyson Walker) she brings a few things along for the trip…like the ability to cry sideways, and a strange shadowy figure that haunts her selfies, oh, and let’s not forget the ability to send text messages without using her god damned phone because she’s seemingly possessed, and also some sort of infection (that one is reasonable at least)…seriously; I’d ask this bitch to leave about 2 millifarts (it’s a real measurement…and it’s mega short believe me…I’m a reviewer, I know things…) after she walked across my threshold. Anyway, Hannah is a better person than your’s cruelly and instead plays nursemaid to her sickly/haunted cuz…while also launching into a full on Nancy Drew to search all of the deep (web), dark (net) online secrets Julia is keeping…mainly that she got involved in some seriously F’d up crap on a part of the internet none should
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
In the year 2041, the the United States is divided into two opposing blocs, the North Hemi and the Eastern Alliance. Now these two aren’t exactly bosom buddies, but they both really hate the pirates known as Centros who go around causing all manner of havoc. Can anyone stand in their way? Why yes, yes they can (because if the answer was “no” this would have been a very short film…)…two anyone’s in fact; a rogue mega-robot pilot (Don Michael Paul) and his pal Stumpy (James Staley…who, in a real humdinger of a twist has all of his appendages) who discover that dignitaries from the EA are out to steal the aforementioned scorpion shaped mechanical marvel (the last of it’s kind…or is it?). Anyway those evil bastards succeed, but our heroes…along with plucky archaeologist Leda (the legendary Barbara Crampton) discover a hidden mega-robot (this one humanoid in apperance)…which of course leads to a nice bout of robot asskickery! Simply put;
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
After a truly impressive opening of a car winding through secluded mountain roads viewed from above (think Kubrick, but doubtless shot utilizing a drone for a mere fraction of the cost of a helicopter…but damn does it look great), the story proper of Evolution of Evil gets underway; to wit: a young couple (maybe they are just friends…damned if I could tell), named Christopher and Lori for those of you keeping score at home, treks out to the middle of nowhere to get away from it all, and everything is artisanal beer and bratwurst until the silence of the night is split by distant gunshots. Well the following morning things go from pleasant to poopy as Chris is abducted (I know, right?!!) by some seriously fucked up woodsmen and subjected to all manner of rape and abuse (again, right?!!). Meanwhile Lori wanders the woods in a daze before being picked up by one of our batshit antagonists. What follows is
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesParanormal
A young writer named Sam Talbot (Nathaniel Grauwelman) and his wife Veronica (Vanessa Cuccia) head out to a cabin in the sticks where he hopes to learn a lil’ somethin’ about the family tree…or the dark roots from which it grew. Finding his uncle’s diary, Sam learns that his alcoholic ancestor (Jacob Crickenberger) went a bit screwy after he witnessed his wife murdered by a psycho in a bunny mask (I loved this visual by the by)…or did he…I don’t really know, and neither will you (which is a plus if you ask me). Anyway, how will the sins of the past effect the present? I’m not telling…and I’m not even sure if I could! On the plus side, there are some beautiful visuals on display here (in particular in the surreal dream sequences), and the acting (in particular from Vanessa Cuccia as Veronica, and Jacob Crickenberger as the beleaguered Samuel were real stand outs) is mostly solid… The Grave
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
When Marion (Glenda Morgan Brown) has one “senior moment” too many, her son saddles her with a smoke show of a caregiver named Rebecca (Rachel Alig). This puts a bunch in Marion’s Depends, but she soon gets over it and her and Rebecca hit it off…and before long ol’ Becky has convinced our old ass friend to turn a room in her home into a sort of AirBnB for weary travelers. This would be all well and good, except Rachel is a Grade-A murder machine that offs any guest that displays sassitude…and she’s so damn good at it Marion doesn’t have a clue…though from what we learn from her son Marion would be apt to answer a banana and eat a phone. Things get more complicated when a married couple take up residence in the room…and by “complicated” I mean Rebecca convinces the husband, Ted (writer/director Les Mahoney) to kill his wife and become her partner in crime. Of course
Continue reading →
IndieTrailers
Entertainment icon Snoop Dogg stars in the sci-fi parody adventure film Unbelievable!!!!! Snoop Dogg stars as “Major LeGrande,” opposite co-producer and Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols in their independent feature film debut. Today, the first trailer has been released for the film that has a huge ensemble cast that includes Snoop Dogg as well as 40 former Star Trek actors. Writer-director Steven L Fawcette and his wife, who serves as a producer as well as actress Angelique Fawcette of Archangel Films have announced that Unbelievable!!!! has now completed post-production. Unbelievable!!!!! follows, “the crazy exploits of four off-beat astronauts (one is a marionette) who travel to the Moon on a rescue mission to determine the fate of two Space Agency comrades who have not been heard from in several days. The individuals they find at the Lunar Base are not who they appear to be and, through acts of trickery and deception, nearly succeed in killing them. Soon the astronauts find
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
Two scientists work in a run down facility performing bizarre experiments that result in half human/half marine life hybrids…all in the name of discovering the secrets of immortality. Into that strangeness step two graffiti artists hoping to make an artistic statement (based on ghosts…). Before long a Sea-god is walking the Earth, wine and cheese is consumed, and our heroes engage in the fight of their lives…while still managing to make art! Soft Matter is absolutely batshit insane…in the best possible way a film can be! The whole affair is an unholy amalgamation of Lovecraft, Henenlotter, and the squirrely aesthetics of the shot on video craziness from the late ’80’s (though not featuring their technical ineptitude). There’s the wrong side of the tracks lovable protagonists (played perfectly by Devyn Placide and Ruby Lee Dove II), mad science, monsters, dance numbers, a charming animated sequence featuring a story about a dead turtle, a low-tech puppet show flashback, undead scientists re-animated to
Continue reading →
