Strawberry Mansion first published by SciFiNow As he stays in the home of elderly, eccentric ‘atmosphere creator’ Bella (Penny Fuller) to audit her dreams, Preble (Kentucker Audley) finds himself sharing a room with Bella’s pet Sugar Baby. This tiny tortoise spends most of his time in a pink-lit terrarium, eating strawberries. If the terrarium is…
Barbarian first published by SciFiNow The title of writer/director Zach Cregger’s superlative thriller, Barbarian, is – at least at first – a bit of a puzzler, even though its associations and implications cast their shadow over the rest of the film. ‘Barbarian’ derives originally from an onomatopoeic word (βάρβαρος, barbaros) used by the Greeks for…
Fall first published by SciFiNow The opening title credit for Scott Mann’s Fall is written vertically, with the initial ‘f’ at the top of the screen and the final ‘l’ at the bottom. Indeed, much of the film operates on the vertical plane. The prologue – also the primal scene of the heroine’s trauma –…
Burial first published by SciFiNow Burial opens in London, during the Christmas of 1991, at a particularly momentous turn of global events. For as the TV news reports Mikhail Gorbachev’s resignation as the President of the Soviet Union in what appears to be the end of the Cold War and even the end of history…
Torn Hearts first published by SciFiNow “We’re like sisters,” says Leigh Blackhouse (Alexxis Lemire) about herself and her best friend/bandmate Jordan Wilder (Abby Quinn). Their country band Torn Hearts is starting to gain traction in Nashville’s bar circuit, but not nearly fast enough to match their aspirations. Jordan has the talent, Leigh has the star…
Wolf Manor (aka Scream of the Wolf) first published by SciFiNow Those expecting the film that they are watching to be Dominic Brunt’s Wolf Manor (aka Scream of the Wolf) might be surprised to see a title at the beginning for Crimson Manor, directed by Derrick Francis. There is a blood moon, and lightning over…
Walking Against The Rain first published by SciFiNow Scott Lyus’ Walking Against The Rain opens with text which sounds like a quote from the Biblical Book of Revelation (although it is in fact of the filmmaker’s invention), about the defiant ones knowing ‘great pain’, and beasts risen from the abyss to destroy men while leaving…
Daughter first published by SciFiNow “I want you to understand something. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want any harm to come to you at all – but if it comes to it, you will be harmed.” The speaker is Father (Casper Van Dien, in a career-best performance), and his immediate audience (Vivien…
The Lair first published by SciFiNow It is April 2017, in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, and if there is one thing that we know, it is that Neil Marshall’s The Lair is going to end with a bang. We know this because text at the very beginning reveals that the rest of the film will…
Night Sky first published by SciFiNow. Near the end of Night Sky, someone will menacingly promise protagonist Oren (AJ Bowen) “a long excruciating couple of agonisingly painful hours while you – you helplessly wait to bleed out,” adding, “a sensation with which I think you’re pretty familiar.” Indeed, when we first meet Oren in the…
The Visitor From The Future first published by SciFiNow “Turn back!”, are the first words heard in The Visitor From The Future (Le visiteur du futur), addressed to a technician who is running into a nuclear power plant in meltdown while his colleagues are all fleeing the other way. The ambiguity of these words –…