Meatball Machine Kodoku (Kodoku: Mîtobôru mashin) first published by SciFiNow In 2005, Yudai Yamaguchi and Junichi Yamamoto released Meatball Machine, a strange, superviolent romance in which a young man and woman fall in love, find themselves invaded and overtaken by parasite puppetmasters, and then duke it out (with an assortment of bizarre body-modified metal weapons) in…
A Quiet Place Part II first published by Sight & Sound, Summer 2021 Review: A quiet, all-American community in upstate New York – a ghost town really, with the clinking of Stars and Stripes on their flagpoles the only sign, and more importantly sound, of life. When Lee Abbott (John Krasinski) drives past in his…
Critters Attack! published by SciFiNow “What is this, 1986?”, teenager Trissy asks Drea (Tashiana Washington). College-age Drea is babysititng Trissy and her younger brother Jake (Jack Fulton), with Drea’s own younger brother Phillip (Jaeden Noel) in tow – and these words were Trissy’s horrified response to Drea’s proposal that they while away their time together…
Before We Vanish first published by SciFiNow Kiyoshi Kurosawa is no stranger to humanity’s end. Apocalypses closed his Charisma and Pulse, and now his Before We Vanish promises the same right from its title – even if the original Japanese title, Sanpo suru shinryakusha, literally means ‘strolling invaders’. Indeed, it tells its story of alien invasion…
Alienate first published by Little White Lies, as the fourth part of my Cinema Psychotronicum column “It’s ok, baby, I’m fine,” says the young man (Nathan Day) to his anxious partner (Courtnea Hyland) in the opening scene of Michael Shumway’s feature debut Alienate. “It’s going to be alright.” All this is shot up close, and could…
Desolate first published by Grolsch FilmWorks “Have you ever wondered if it would be better if all this sort of ended? Boom!” This is Chad (Jez Bonham), on his first, disastrous date since his long-term girlfriend Annie (Teagan Vincze) walked out on him. With Annie’s departure, Chad’s whole world has come to an end, leading…
Review first appeared in Sight & Sound, January 2011 Synopsis: Marina Del Ray, LA. In town to celebrate his old friend Terry’s birthday, New Yorker Jarrod is torn between news that his girlfriend Elaine is pregnant, and an offer to join Terry’s successful VFX company. In the early morning after Terry’s party, a full-scale alien…
Review first published by EyeforFilm. In the wee hours of the morning in a Los Angeles penthouse that was the scene of a party the night before, Elaine (Scottie Thompson) wakes and staggers, still half-asleep, to the bathroom to throw up. Returning to bed, she notices that the room is shaking, and that a strange…
Review first appeared in Sight & Sound, May 2011 Synopsis: Los Angeles, August 2011. Physically aging and guilt-wracked over a disastrous tour in Afghanistan, Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz tenders his resignation. As he is completing his last training session, alien forces begin a massive coastal attack on the world’s major cities. When the platoon…