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Movie Review: The Gravedigger (2019)

A Gravediggin’ man (Paul Homza) has a bit of surprise at work when he sees an actual living being in his cemetery instead of the usual stiffs he associates with. Fear not for our hero though, as the “living” being he has found is stitched together from pieces of more corpses than currently reside in the boneyard he tends… that’s right boils n’ ghouls, he has run across none other than Frankenstein’s monster (Gisbert Heuer)! Soon our protagonist is helping that misunderstood monster try to find any scrap of humanity left in that shamblin’ shell of patchwork flesh, but all isn’t well for long as the monsters creator, Victor (Tyler Charles Kane), is hot on his trail, and he’s eager to make that poor bastard double-dead for what he did to the “good” doctor’s family! Directed by Erynn Dalton and written by Joseph Zettelmaier, The Gravedigger is a study in minimalism that manages to be engaging while offering a refreshingly

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Sep 3, 2022

Blu-ray Review: Massacre at Central High (1976)

After learning the film was distributed by someone named “Brian”… and only “Brian”… and his distribution company, we get down to brass tacks with Massacre at Central High… Mark (Andrew Stevens), along with his bully buddies Bruce (Ray Underwood), Craig (Steve Bond), and Paul (Damon Douglas) rule Central High through a reign of douche-baggery seldom seen on the silver screen! Take for instance their harassment of nerdy Spoony (Robert Carradine, Revenge of the Nerds coincidentally… ) who is busy painting swastikas on school lockers which they force him to clean off… okay, that one is a bit dodgy… would it help if I told you he was painting them in protest of their raucous regime? Enter: David (Derrel Maury), a new man on campus who just so happens to be an old buddy of Mark’s… an old buddy that helped him out of a “jam” at their old alma mater. Now David is one aloof mother fucker, so when he’s

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Sep 3, 2022

Shudder Review: Speak No Evil

Shudder’s horror-thriller Speak No Evil is set to premiere this September. But is it worth watching? Let’s talk about it. From director Christian Tafdrup comes the film about two families who become friends during an Italian getaway. When Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders) invite Bjorn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) to their remote home for a few days, they quickly say yes. Bjorn, Louise, and their young daughter are greeted with joy upon arriving, but that wouldn’t last long. After a few days, Bjorn and Louise begin to notice that something is off with the other family, soon they will learn just how off the family is when their true selves begin to shine through and the reality of Patrick and his wife’s nefarious motives are revealed. The film is good at building tension, but be prepared for a slow burn. And while the film features psychological horror, you won’t find any scares. The main

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Sep 2, 2022

Movie Review: “Hounded” (Arrow Video FrightFest)

Hounded (U.K., 2022) is a stylish, highly entertaining blend of Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” and the recent horror/thriller trend of young thieves being placed into potentially fatal situations by the homeowners they planned to rob, such as Don’t Breathe. Director Tommy Boulding tackles class war, working from a razor sharp screenplay by Ray Bogdonavich and Dean Lines. Brothers Leon (Nobuse Jr) and Chaz (Malachi Pullar-Latchman), together with partners Vix (Hannah Traylen) and Bod (Ross Coles), have been robbing valuable pieces of art from homes of the rich, sticking to a code amongst themselves and taking only what an art dealer (Larry Lamb) hires them to steal. Leon wants to stop because he has amassed enough money to put Chaz through university, but the other three teammates insist they go on to help them escape their current life situations. Leon reluctantly agrees, and on their next home invasion, they are tasered and when they wake up, find themselves bound

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 1, 2022

DVD Review: Hellbender (2021)

Izzy (Zelda Adams) lives a reclusive life deep within the woods in a mountain top house she shares with her mother (played by her real life mother Toby Poser… but more on all that in a bit my fiends) where the two of them get up to all manner of mother/daughter biz primarily consisting of creating some sweet-ass tunes with their two woman band, Hellbender, while glammed up in their home rehearsal space and eating pinecones, roots, and other assorted plant-based crunchy bits. Things are all art and river swimmin’ for Izzy, so life is pretty damn good except for one thing… she’s sick and cannot leave her property or interact with others. That of course goes to hell in a handbasket when Izzy learns that a girl her age lives just opposite her and it isn’t long before Izzy befriends said girl, Amber (LuLu Adams) by name, and soon that ol’ hoary chestnut “teen drinking” eventually leads our heroine

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 28, 2022

Movie Reviews: “Wild Bones” and “Ghostwritten” (Cinequest)

Wild Bones Dripping with dread and rich in unsettling atmosphere, writer/director Jack James’ Wild Bones (U.K. 2022) is a chilling look at a fracturing mind. Fay (Roxy Bugler) and her stepsister Alice (Mary Roubos) reconnect after their father mysteriously disappears and they inherit his house. Fay’s grasp on reality is slipping, along with her memory. Complicating matters, Fay becomes involved with the man with whom Alice arrived at their father’s home with, Gary (Tom Cray), despite Alice’s warnings about him. James’ film serves up several mysteries; because of Fay’s unreliable psychological state, viewers shouldn’t expect tidy answers. Bugler is superb as the disturbed Fay, and she and Roubos have marvelously realistic sibling chemistry together. James invests Wild Bones with haunting visuals and a tone that travels between deadly serious drama and eerie surreal sequences. The film has a decidedly gothic flavor, and the sound design greatly adds to the film’s mystique. Viewers who appreciate slow-burn and ambiguous fear fare should

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Aug 24, 2022

Movie Reviews: “Wolves” and “Dash” (Cinequest)

Wolves Haunting Canadian mystery thriller Wolves is a character study of a lonely man (Mark Nocent), unnamed throughout the film, who becomes obsessed with a series of animal mutilations in his wintry city. Fired from his moving job for stealing, and living alone with his pet turtle, the man researches and digs, ceaselessly pushing himself toward dangerous places psychologically and physically. Nocent gives a mesmerizing performance as someone living on edges and driven by dark places inside his mind. Writer/director Danny Dunlop invests his grim, slow-burn chiller with a constant feeling of unease. The sense of isolation is almost unrelenting, from the snow-covered streets to the man’s bare apartment to his almost hermit-like existence. Beautifully shot and masterfully edited by Dunlop, who also provided a fitting score with the help of Rachel Johnstone and Janice Kwan, Wolves is a discomfiting, highly recommended slice of genre cinema. Dash Writer/director Sean Perry’s Dash is a frenetic one-take thriller that goes from dark

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Aug 22, 2022

Movie Review: ‘Orphan: First Kill’

I’ll admit, when I first learned that a prequel was in the works for the unforgettable and utterly unnerving movie Orphan, I was skeptical on many levels. Now that it’s out today, I can give you my two cents. I was wondering how director William Brent Bell would pull off transforming a now 13 year older Isabelle Fuhrman into an even younger Esther than in the 2009 horror. The answer, a de-aging program, makeup and lighting. Unfortunately, all the special effects just didn’t do the job. The character looks much older in First Kill than she did in the first movie. Which isn’t good seeing that First Kill is meant to be set years prior to the original. Warning mild spoilers! In First Kill we are introduced to the family previous to the one in Orphan. After escaping an asylum, Fuhrman’s character picks a child on a missing persons website and sets out to steal her identity and her family.

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Aug 19, 2022

‘Thymesia’ Is Maddening…But Fun!

I don’t know how else to start after playing for hours repeatedly doing the same things over and over again and hoping it would be different with new tactics and upgrading my skills… Those who know that this is pretty much what it’s like to play a soulslike game! Overborder Studio and Team 17‘s new dark fantasy is set in a plague-ridden kingdom where our hero must recover memories in order to save it, this is Thymesia. I want to give OverBorder Studio and Team 17 a thank you for the reviewing opportunity! Thymesia takes place in the kingdom of Hermes that’s being ravaged by a mysterious plague. Players take on the role of Corvus whose lost memories hold the key to saving the kingdom and himself. Now onto the game itself! Thymesia‘s controls will take some getting used to at first and after a while, I began to get used to them. The controls respond well so whatever you

Continue reading →
Daniel S. Liuzzi
Aug 16, 2022

Movie Reviews: “Next Exit” and “Bubba Ho-Tep” (North Bend Film Festival)

Next Exit Writer/director Mali Elfman’s Next Exit is a science-fiction drama with supernatural elements that raises big questions, such as the ever-discussed “Is there life after death and if we discovered there was, how would we handle it?” but eschews attempting to answer such mysteries by instead focusing on the strained relationship between two strangers sharing a car together to willingly end their lives as part of a scientific experiment after it is confirmed that there is, indeed, an afterlife. Rose (Katie Parker of The Haunting of Hill House and Absentia) is haunted by what she has done wrong in the past as well as by a ghost, and she is bitter, angry, and ready to die. Teddy (Rahul Kohli of The Haunting of Bly Manor and iZombie) has issues from being abandoned by his father as a child and sees this opportunity as his chance to finally do something big. The pair are at odds from the beginning but

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Aug 14, 2022

More from Reviews

Movie Review: The Gravedigger (2019)

A Gravediggin’ man (Paul Homza) has a bit of surprise at work when he sees an actual living being in his cemetery instead of the usual stiffs he associates with. Fear not for our hero though, as the “living” being he has found is stitched together from pieces of more corpses than currently reside in the boneyard he tends… that’s right boils n’ ghouls, he has run across none other than Frankenstein’s monster (Gisbert Heuer)! Soon our protagonist is helping that misunderstood monster try to find any scrap of humanity left in that shamblin’ shell of patchwork flesh, but all isn’t well for long as the monsters creator, Victor (Tyler Charles Kane), is hot on his trail, and he’s eager to make that poor bastard double-dead for what he did to the “good” doctor’s family! Directed by Erynn Dalton and written by Joseph Zettelmaier, The Gravedigger is a study in minimalism that manages to be engaging while offering a refreshingly

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Sep 3, 2022

Blu-ray Review: Massacre at Central High (1976)

After learning the film was distributed by someone named “Brian”… and only “Brian”… and his distribution company, we get down to brass tacks with Massacre at Central High… Mark (Andrew Stevens), along with his bully buddies Bruce (Ray Underwood), Craig (Steve Bond), and Paul (Damon Douglas) rule Central High through a reign of douche-baggery seldom seen on the silver screen! Take for instance their harassment of nerdy Spoony (Robert Carradine, Revenge of the Nerds coincidentally… ) who is busy painting swastikas on school lockers which they force him to clean off… okay, that one is a bit dodgy… would it help if I told you he was painting them in protest of their raucous regime? Enter: David (Derrel Maury), a new man on campus who just so happens to be an old buddy of Mark’s… an old buddy that helped him out of a “jam” at their old alma mater. Now David is one aloof mother fucker, so when he’s

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Sep 3, 2022

Shudder Review: Speak No Evil

Shudder’s horror-thriller Speak No Evil is set to premiere this September. But is it worth watching? Let’s talk about it. From director Christian Tafdrup comes the film about two families who become friends during an Italian getaway. When Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders) invite Bjorn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) to their remote home for a few days, they quickly say yes. Bjorn, Louise, and their young daughter are greeted with joy upon arriving, but that wouldn’t last long. After a few days, Bjorn and Louise begin to notice that something is off with the other family, soon they will learn just how off the family is when their true selves begin to shine through and the reality of Patrick and his wife’s nefarious motives are revealed. The film is good at building tension, but be prepared for a slow burn. And while the film features psychological horror, you won’t find any scares. The main

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Sep 2, 2022

Movie Review: “Hounded” (Arrow Video FrightFest)

Hounded (U.K., 2022) is a stylish, highly entertaining blend of Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” and the recent horror/thriller trend of young thieves being placed into potentially fatal situations by the homeowners they planned to rob, such as Don’t Breathe. Director Tommy Boulding tackles class war, working from a razor sharp screenplay by Ray Bogdonavich and Dean Lines. Brothers Leon (Nobuse Jr) and Chaz (Malachi Pullar-Latchman), together with partners Vix (Hannah Traylen) and Bod (Ross Coles), have been robbing valuable pieces of art from homes of the rich, sticking to a code amongst themselves and taking only what an art dealer (Larry Lamb) hires them to steal. Leon wants to stop because he has amassed enough money to put Chaz through university, but the other three teammates insist they go on to help them escape their current life situations. Leon reluctantly agrees, and on their next home invasion, they are tasered and when they wake up, find themselves bound

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Sep 1, 2022

DVD Review: Hellbender (2021)

Izzy (Zelda Adams) lives a reclusive life deep within the woods in a mountain top house she shares with her mother (played by her real life mother Toby Poser… but more on all that in a bit my fiends) where the two of them get up to all manner of mother/daughter biz primarily consisting of creating some sweet-ass tunes with their two woman band, Hellbender, while glammed up in their home rehearsal space and eating pinecones, roots, and other assorted plant-based crunchy bits. Things are all art and river swimmin’ for Izzy, so life is pretty damn good except for one thing… she’s sick and cannot leave her property or interact with others. That of course goes to hell in a handbasket when Izzy learns that a girl her age lives just opposite her and it isn’t long before Izzy befriends said girl, Amber (LuLu Adams) by name, and soon that ol’ hoary chestnut “teen drinking” eventually leads our heroine

Continue reading →
DanXIII
Aug 28, 2022

Movie Reviews: “Wild Bones” and “Ghostwritten” (Cinequest)

Wild Bones Dripping with dread and rich in unsettling atmosphere, writer/director Jack James’ Wild Bones (U.K. 2022) is a chilling look at a fracturing mind. Fay (Roxy Bugler) and her stepsister Alice (Mary Roubos) reconnect after their father mysteriously disappears and they inherit his house. Fay’s grasp on reality is slipping, along with her memory. Complicating matters, Fay becomes involved with the man with whom Alice arrived at their father’s home with, Gary (Tom Cray), despite Alice’s warnings about him. James’ film serves up several mysteries; because of Fay’s unreliable psychological state, viewers shouldn’t expect tidy answers. Bugler is superb as the disturbed Fay, and she and Roubos have marvelously realistic sibling chemistry together. James invests Wild Bones with haunting visuals and a tone that travels between deadly serious drama and eerie surreal sequences. The film has a decidedly gothic flavor, and the sound design greatly adds to the film’s mystique. Viewers who appreciate slow-burn and ambiguous fear fare should

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Aug 24, 2022

Movie Reviews: “Wolves” and “Dash” (Cinequest)

Wolves Haunting Canadian mystery thriller Wolves is a character study of a lonely man (Mark Nocent), unnamed throughout the film, who becomes obsessed with a series of animal mutilations in his wintry city. Fired from his moving job for stealing, and living alone with his pet turtle, the man researches and digs, ceaselessly pushing himself toward dangerous places psychologically and physically. Nocent gives a mesmerizing performance as someone living on edges and driven by dark places inside his mind. Writer/director Danny Dunlop invests his grim, slow-burn chiller with a constant feeling of unease. The sense of isolation is almost unrelenting, from the snow-covered streets to the man’s bare apartment to his almost hermit-like existence. Beautifully shot and masterfully edited by Dunlop, who also provided a fitting score with the help of Rachel Johnstone and Janice Kwan, Wolves is a discomfiting, highly recommended slice of genre cinema. Dash Writer/director Sean Perry’s Dash is a frenetic one-take thriller that goes from dark

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Aug 22, 2022

Movie Review: ‘Orphan: First Kill’

I’ll admit, when I first learned that a prequel was in the works for the unforgettable and utterly unnerving movie Orphan, I was skeptical on many levels. Now that it’s out today, I can give you my two cents. I was wondering how director William Brent Bell would pull off transforming a now 13 year older Isabelle Fuhrman into an even younger Esther than in the 2009 horror. The answer, a de-aging program, makeup and lighting. Unfortunately, all the special effects just didn’t do the job. The character looks much older in First Kill than she did in the first movie. Which isn’t good seeing that First Kill is meant to be set years prior to the original. Warning mild spoilers! In First Kill we are introduced to the family previous to the one in Orphan. After escaping an asylum, Fuhrman’s character picks a child on a missing persons website and sets out to steal her identity and her family.

Continue reading →
Kelli Marchman McNeely
Aug 19, 2022

‘Thymesia’ Is Maddening…But Fun!

I don’t know how else to start after playing for hours repeatedly doing the same things over and over again and hoping it would be different with new tactics and upgrading my skills… Those who know that this is pretty much what it’s like to play a soulslike game! Overborder Studio and Team 17‘s new dark fantasy is set in a plague-ridden kingdom where our hero must recover memories in order to save it, this is Thymesia. I want to give OverBorder Studio and Team 17 a thank you for the reviewing opportunity! Thymesia takes place in the kingdom of Hermes that’s being ravaged by a mysterious plague. Players take on the role of Corvus whose lost memories hold the key to saving the kingdom and himself. Now onto the game itself! Thymesia‘s controls will take some getting used to at first and after a while, I began to get used to them. The controls respond well so whatever you

Continue reading →
Daniel S. Liuzzi
Aug 16, 2022

Movie Reviews: “Next Exit” and “Bubba Ho-Tep” (North Bend Film Festival)

Next Exit Writer/director Mali Elfman’s Next Exit is a science-fiction drama with supernatural elements that raises big questions, such as the ever-discussed “Is there life after death and if we discovered there was, how would we handle it?” but eschews attempting to answer such mysteries by instead focusing on the strained relationship between two strangers sharing a car together to willingly end their lives as part of a scientific experiment after it is confirmed that there is, indeed, an afterlife. Rose (Katie Parker of The Haunting of Hill House and Absentia) is haunted by what she has done wrong in the past as well as by a ghost, and she is bitter, angry, and ready to die. Teddy (Rahul Kohli of The Haunting of Bly Manor and iZombie) has issues from being abandoned by his father as a child and sees this opportunity as his chance to finally do something big. The pair are at odds from the beginning but

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Aug 14, 2022
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