TagAnother Hole in the Head Film Festival
11 stories
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Writer/director Alexander Roman returns with another feature to warm the hearts of viewers who appreciate old-school occult movies and noir films with some modern twists, Cats of the Bayou (ASMR). Like Roman’s previous features, it deals in style and elegance, eschewing graphic gore and violence in favor of good storytelling and leaving certain elements to the imagination of viewers. Members of a group called The Cat Society meet in New Orleans to listen to a tape from Egyptologist Horace, and then learn that one of their members has been found dead, with scratches all over his face and body. A few months later, a young woman named Jacqueline (Max Reeves) returns to the city, where she had lived as a child before being moved to an abbey. As she begins to become increasingly intrigued about the secretive Cat Society and its members, and as she starts to unearth shocking clues about the death of her parents, esoteric mysteries begin to
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
The Unhealer Director Martin Guigui’s The Unhealer (2021) is a “the bullied becomes the bullier” revenge tale that plays like a 1990s horror movie, with plenty of familiar genre-film faces on display. Pflueger (Lance Henriksen) performs faith healing miracles — for donations, of course — having gained supernatural powers from the hoary cinematic chestnut that is “Indian burial grounds.” He accidentally and unwittingly transfers his powers of instantly healing from any injury or pain to Kelly (Elijah Nelson), a teenager bullied by classmates because of suffering from the eating disorder pica. His childhood friend Dominique (Kayla Carlson) is a popular girl at their high school who tries to get her jock boyfriend and his buddies to cut Kelly some slack, but an incident in which one of them tries to fight Kelly and gets injured instead helps Kelly realize that he has inherited powers that turn others’ violence toward him on the perpetrators. Megalomania ensues, along with deadly acts of
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Night Caller You’ll probably feel like you need a shower after viewing writer/director Chad Ferrin’s Night Caller. This paean to grindhouse gorefests oozes a 1970s vibe from practically every frame. The film is lurid in both senses of that word, from its color palette to its graphic violence. It pays obvious homage to Maniac (1980) with its killer’s method of murdering and scalping victims as it name checks — with video clips — psychic horror of the past such as Patrick (1978) and some public domain fear fare, with some spaghetti western and Laurel and Hardy references, as well. Clementine Carter (Susan Priver) works as a telephone psychic with boss Jade Mei (Bai Ling) when she begins receiving calls from a serial killer, whose upcoming acts of violence she sees in visions as they talk. As Clementine tries to solve the mystery of just who the fiend is, she brings danger closer to her elderly father (Robert Miano as Charles
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Phone app horror and the newer trend of Zoom-based fear fare meet in The Cloud, an anthology film from San Francisco’s Awesome Theatre group. Created and curated by Awesome Theatre’s Artistic Director Colin Johnson, the film features a good deal of tension and some solid performances. A new, invitation-only app called ReKomoZe is not only addictive in the usual sense — it also won’t let users quit without dire consequences. It’s also more intrusive than its downloaders could ever imagine. In The Cloud’s main thread, Eric (Marc Abrigo) and Lacey (Sonia Sawkar) become concerned about their friend Jules (Puja Tolton), who has been using ReKomoZe and is now withdrawn. As Eric begins some online sleuthing, the app creeps into his life as well as Lacey’s. All three actors turn in nifty work, and the mystery build pays off handsomely. In the first installment, “Dolores,” — written by Alexandria Love and directed by Nikki Meñez — celebrity vlogger Kennedi (Sharon Shao)
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
A brooding psychosexual character study that oftentimes flirts with the surreal, Danish film Victim of Love offers striking visuals and gripping performances. Writer/director Jesper Isaksen has crafted a fine debut feature with a brooding, hypnotic flair. Danish-American man Charly (Rudi Køhnke) is staying in the same Copenhagen hotel where his girlfriend Amy (Louise Cho) disappeared a few months earlier. He hits alcohol and cocaine hard, spending seemingly more time under their influences than actually looking for Amy, which he tells others is his reason for being there. Hotel bartender Felicija (Siff Andersson) is a goth denizen of the city nightlife, and she takes Charly on a whirlwind night of partying, and the two eventually wind up in bed together. Charly is haunted by visions of both Amy and a masked murderer, some appearances on the simple side and others much trippier. When Felicija begins to play in his visions too, the proceedings get much darker and more sinister. Charly is
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Croation shocker F20 may not deliver many surprises to fans of lover-gone-psycho cinema, but its vibrant style and gripping performances make the ride to the inevitable a stirring one. Director Arsen A. Ostojic’s thriller takes viewers on an unsettling ride with nods to slasher fare in its third act. Part-time university student Martina (Romina Tonković) reluctantly helps her widowed father Mate (Mladen Vulić) out at his pizzeria. She develops a crush on Filip (Filip Mayer), a young man her age who orders pizza delivery daily. Asserting herself into his loner lifestyle of playing first-person shooter games while his parents are on vacation at their forest cabin, she and her friend Irena (Lana Ujevic) coax him into going out for drinks and karaoke, and the pair eventually enter into an intimate relationship. Viewers are tipped off very early — some might argue too soon — that something might be amiss with Filip, but I’ll save the how and why to avoid
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMovies
Rich in sharp dialogue, amusing situations, and cast members wonderfully bringing their easy-to-root-for characters to life, writer/director Michael Lovan’s Murder Bury Win is a delightful crime comedy with horror elements. From nail clippers to bear traps and beyond, if it can be used as a murder weapon, the protagonists in this film have most likely thought of it. That’s because the main trio is made up of three would-be board game developers. Chris (Mikelen Walker), Adam (Erich Lane), and Barrett (Henry Alexander Kelly) are three game-nerd friends who are trying to come up with a product that can challenge Murder Wall as the next big thing. Chris is interested in the challenge, Adam is interested in the potential money, and Barrett is interested in the collaboration. After the three buddies fail in their crowdfunding effort for the titular game, they are invited by legendary indie game developer V.V. Stubbs (Craig Cackowski) to show him their game. Impressed, or at least
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
Writer/director Erick Lorinc’s low-budget horror indie The Last Thanksgiving delivers big time on the practical effects gore and gags, but falls a bit short on its humor and social commentary goals. Set on the titular holiday, the story sees a group of restaurant employees made to work on Thanksgiving attacked by a cannibal family. The reason for the invasion and violence has to do with the family’s history — I’ll leave out details here so as to avoid spoilers — but their focus of attacks is on those who disrespect the holiday, in their viewpoint, by working on the holiday. The set-up is there for the aforementioned social commentary, but the delivery falls a bit flat with jokes about indigineous peoples — delivered by the villains, who are corrected at one point by an understandably upset near-meal protagonist — and the other attempts at comedy don’t land much better. The acting ranges from good to scenery chewing to a bit
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
If you are looking for a new exploitation movie version of H.P. Lovecraft’s work, look no further than The Deep Ones. It’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth mashed up with Rosemary’s Baby, Humanoids from the Deep (complete with rape scenes, as in that film; be warned), The Stepford Wives, and tentacle porn, for starters. Lovecraft literary purists will probably shudder at that description, but B-movie aficionados should find plenty to enjoy here. Starting off with naked bodies galore, the film sees Alex (Gina La Piana) and her husband Petri (Johann Urb) renting a seaside vacation home to try and get their minds off of Alex’s miscarraige and reconnect more. Hosts Russell (Robert Miana) and Ingrid (Silvia Spross) Marsh welcome them in an uncomfortably friendly manner, soon taking Petri out on a boat ride where they hypnotize him while the local doctor (TimothyMuskatell in drag) ingratiates herself with Alex. Naturally, there is a reason for everyone’s fake friendliness, and if you guessed
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Writer/director Alex Galvin takes a novel approach to his feature The Turn of the Screw, his adaptation of the classic Henry James novella. Setting the New Zealand-made film at a play rehearsal for The Turn of the Screw one night before the play opens at a Wellington theater, the approach puts the last-minute replacement actress Julia (Greer Phillips) in an unfamiliar environment. As she goes through what the director Richard (Ralph Johnson) calls an unofficial dress rehearsal, Julia finds herself becoming increasingly distressed and fearful as the play proceeds. Whereas the governess in the source novella slowly begins to believe that the house in which she is put in charge is haunted, Julia starts to see strange sights and hear odd noises. The theater is empty other than the cast, director, and sound and lights crew members — or is it? Phillips is marvelous as the understudy given a frantically rushed chance to take a lead role in a production
Continue reading →
More from Another Hole in the Head Film Festival
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Writer/director Alexander Roman returns with another feature to warm the hearts of viewers who appreciate old-school occult movies and noir films with some modern twists, Cats of the Bayou (ASMR). Like Roman’s previous features, it deals in style and elegance, eschewing graphic gore and violence in favor of good storytelling and leaving certain elements to the imagination of viewers. Members of a group called The Cat Society meet in New Orleans to listen to a tape from Egyptologist Horace, and then learn that one of their members has been found dead, with scratches all over his face and body. A few months later, a young woman named Jacqueline (Max Reeves) returns to the city, where she had lived as a child before being moved to an abbey. As she begins to become increasingly intrigued about the secretive Cat Society and its members, and as she starts to unearth shocking clues about the death of her parents, esoteric mysteries begin to
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
The Unhealer Director Martin Guigui’s The Unhealer (2021) is a “the bullied becomes the bullier” revenge tale that plays like a 1990s horror movie, with plenty of familiar genre-film faces on display. Pflueger (Lance Henriksen) performs faith healing miracles — for donations, of course — having gained supernatural powers from the hoary cinematic chestnut that is “Indian burial grounds.” He accidentally and unwittingly transfers his powers of instantly healing from any injury or pain to Kelly (Elijah Nelson), a teenager bullied by classmates because of suffering from the eating disorder pica. His childhood friend Dominique (Kayla Carlson) is a popular girl at their high school who tries to get her jock boyfriend and his buddies to cut Kelly some slack, but an incident in which one of them tries to fight Kelly and gets injured instead helps Kelly realize that he has inherited powers that turn others’ violence toward him on the perpetrators. Megalomania ensues, along with deadly acts of
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Night Caller You’ll probably feel like you need a shower after viewing writer/director Chad Ferrin’s Night Caller. This paean to grindhouse gorefests oozes a 1970s vibe from practically every frame. The film is lurid in both senses of that word, from its color palette to its graphic violence. It pays obvious homage to Maniac (1980) with its killer’s method of murdering and scalping victims as it name checks — with video clips — psychic horror of the past such as Patrick (1978) and some public domain fear fare, with some spaghetti western and Laurel and Hardy references, as well. Clementine Carter (Susan Priver) works as a telephone psychic with boss Jade Mei (Bai Ling) when she begins receiving calls from a serial killer, whose upcoming acts of violence she sees in visions as they talk. As Clementine tries to solve the mystery of just who the fiend is, she brings danger closer to her elderly father (Robert Miano as Charles
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsReviews
Phone app horror and the newer trend of Zoom-based fear fare meet in The Cloud, an anthology film from San Francisco’s Awesome Theatre group. Created and curated by Awesome Theatre’s Artistic Director Colin Johnson, the film features a good deal of tension and some solid performances. A new, invitation-only app called ReKomoZe is not only addictive in the usual sense — it also won’t let users quit without dire consequences. It’s also more intrusive than its downloaders could ever imagine. In The Cloud’s main thread, Eric (Marc Abrigo) and Lacey (Sonia Sawkar) become concerned about their friend Jules (Puja Tolton), who has been using ReKomoZe and is now withdrawn. As Eric begins some online sleuthing, the app creeps into his life as well as Lacey’s. All three actors turn in nifty work, and the mystery build pays off handsomely. In the first installment, “Dolores,” — written by Alexandria Love and directed by Nikki Meñez — celebrity vlogger Kennedi (Sharon Shao)
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
A brooding psychosexual character study that oftentimes flirts with the surreal, Danish film Victim of Love offers striking visuals and gripping performances. Writer/director Jesper Isaksen has crafted a fine debut feature with a brooding, hypnotic flair. Danish-American man Charly (Rudi Køhnke) is staying in the same Copenhagen hotel where his girlfriend Amy (Louise Cho) disappeared a few months earlier. He hits alcohol and cocaine hard, spending seemingly more time under their influences than actually looking for Amy, which he tells others is his reason for being there. Hotel bartender Felicija (Siff Andersson) is a goth denizen of the city nightlife, and she takes Charly on a whirlwind night of partying, and the two eventually wind up in bed together. Charly is haunted by visions of both Amy and a masked murderer, some appearances on the simple side and others much trippier. When Felicija begins to play in his visions too, the proceedings get much darker and more sinister. Charly is
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsThriller
Croation shocker F20 may not deliver many surprises to fans of lover-gone-psycho cinema, but its vibrant style and gripping performances make the ride to the inevitable a stirring one. Director Arsen A. Ostojic’s thriller takes viewers on an unsettling ride with nods to slasher fare in its third act. Part-time university student Martina (Romina Tonković) reluctantly helps her widowed father Mate (Mladen Vulić) out at his pizzeria. She develops a crush on Filip (Filip Mayer), a young man her age who orders pizza delivery daily. Asserting herself into his loner lifestyle of playing first-person shooter games while his parents are on vacation at their forest cabin, she and her friend Irena (Lana Ujevic) coax him into going out for drinks and karaoke, and the pair eventually enter into an intimate relationship. Viewers are tipped off very early — some might argue too soon — that something might be amiss with Filip, but I’ll save the how and why to avoid
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMovies
Rich in sharp dialogue, amusing situations, and cast members wonderfully bringing their easy-to-root-for characters to life, writer/director Michael Lovan’s Murder Bury Win is a delightful crime comedy with horror elements. From nail clippers to bear traps and beyond, if it can be used as a murder weapon, the protagonists in this film have most likely thought of it. That’s because the main trio is made up of three would-be board game developers. Chris (Mikelen Walker), Adam (Erich Lane), and Barrett (Henry Alexander Kelly) are three game-nerd friends who are trying to come up with a product that can challenge Murder Wall as the next big thing. Chris is interested in the challenge, Adam is interested in the potential money, and Barrett is interested in the collaboration. After the three buddies fail in their crowdfunding effort for the titular game, they are invited by legendary indie game developer V.V. Stubbs (Craig Cackowski) to show him their game. Impressed, or at least
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
Writer/director Erick Lorinc’s low-budget horror indie The Last Thanksgiving delivers big time on the practical effects gore and gags, but falls a bit short on its humor and social commentary goals. Set on the titular holiday, the story sees a group of restaurant employees made to work on Thanksgiving attacked by a cannibal family. The reason for the invasion and violence has to do with the family’s history — I’ll leave out details here so as to avoid spoilers — but their focus of attacks is on those who disrespect the holiday, in their viewpoint, by working on the holiday. The set-up is there for the aforementioned social commentary, but the delivery falls a bit flat with jokes about indigineous peoples — delivered by the villains, who are corrected at one point by an understandably upset near-meal protagonist — and the other attempts at comedy don’t land much better. The acting ranges from good to scenery chewing to a bit
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
If you are looking for a new exploitation movie version of H.P. Lovecraft’s work, look no further than The Deep Ones. It’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth mashed up with Rosemary’s Baby, Humanoids from the Deep (complete with rape scenes, as in that film; be warned), The Stepford Wives, and tentacle porn, for starters. Lovecraft literary purists will probably shudder at that description, but B-movie aficionados should find plenty to enjoy here. Starting off with naked bodies galore, the film sees Alex (Gina La Piana) and her husband Petri (Johann Urb) renting a seaside vacation home to try and get their minds off of Alex’s miscarraige and reconnect more. Hosts Russell (Robert Miana) and Ingrid (Silvia Spross) Marsh welcome them in an uncomfortably friendly manner, soon taking Petri out on a boat ride where they hypnotize him while the local doctor (TimothyMuskatell in drag) ingratiates herself with Alex. Naturally, there is a reason for everyone’s fake friendliness, and if you guessed
Continue reading →
ForeignMoviesReviews
Writer/director Alex Galvin takes a novel approach to his feature The Turn of the Screw, his adaptation of the classic Henry James novella. Setting the New Zealand-made film at a play rehearsal for The Turn of the Screw one night before the play opens at a Wellington theater, the approach puts the last-minute replacement actress Julia (Greer Phillips) in an unfamiliar environment. As she goes through what the director Richard (Ralph Johnson) calls an unofficial dress rehearsal, Julia finds herself becoming increasingly distressed and fearful as the play proceeds. Whereas the governess in the source novella slowly begins to believe that the house in which she is put in charge is haunted, Julia starts to see strange sights and hear odd noises. The theater is empty other than the cast, director, and sound and lights crew members — or is it? Phillips is marvelous as the understudy given a frantically rushed chance to take a lead role in a production
Continue reading →
