10 Traumatic Treats from FrightFest 2022 first published by BFI, 23 Aug 2022 Includes capsules of: The Last Client, Sissy, New Religion, Control, Cerebrum, Hypochondriac, A Wounded Fawn, The Ones You Didn’t Burn, The Leech, The Harbinger Now, perhaps more than ever, we live in traumatic times. For as we see Roe v. Wade exploding…
OffSeason first published by Movies On Weekends Aside from an attention-grabbing prologue and the occasional flashback, OffSeason is set entirely on the coastal island of Lone Palm just as the last summer tourists leave. The key word here is ‘off’ – for although this is a pleasure resort whose blue-skied beaches are for half the…
After Midnight (aka Something Else) first published by Little White Lies, as entry 105 in my Cinema Psychotronicum column A wide shot shows a grassy grove with leafless trees on either side, as the soundtrack plays discordant synth tones and the sounds of a detuned radio. A woman in a dress, Abby (Brea Grant), staggers…
Bliss introduces us to the crumbling world and fragmenting headspace of Dezzy Donohue (Dora Madison). A Californian artist who has run out of creative juice, Dezzy has twice asked for extensions on her latest commission, and is getting nowhere with it. David (Chris McKenna), her agent of long standing, can see the writing (if not…
There is a scene, some way into Fingers, where Fox (Michael St. Michaels) divides humanity into three essential categories – the stupid, the funny and the crazy – with only the last category having any chance of survival. This might as well be the manifesto of the latest film from writer/director Juan Ortiz (Jennifer Help…
The title of Eric Pennycoff’s feature debut plays a crucial role in the dynamic of the narrative to come. The word ‘intentions’, after all, points towards plans for the future, and the word ‘sadistic’ tells us that these plans will be callous and cruel. So even though a good two thirds of the film are…
The Battery first published by VODzilla.co The Battery opens with a low-angle medium shot of Mickey (Adam Cronheim) standing in front of a house, smoking while listening to Wise Blood’s B.I.G. E.G.O.on his headphones. With his baggy shorts, crisp clean yellow T-shirt and styled goatee, Mickey is the very picture of a young, fresh-faced college…
Psychopaths first published by SciFiNow Sanity and insanity are not absolutes, but belong to a dynamic spectrum. In the world of cinema, a film’s sanity is measured in terms of its narrative coherence, its clear exposition, and its stable visual style. The more you strip these away, the madder the finished product – although, of…