A nation’s 2020 vision: is this the year that Argentine genre cinema arrives? first published (under a different title) by Through the Trees, 14 December 2020. Includes capsules of: The Returned; The Funeral Home; History of the Occult; Murder Me, Monster Way back in 1997, Pablo Parés and Hernán Sáez directed and starred in Argentina’s…
Murder Me, Monster (Muere, Monstruo, Muere) first published by Through The Trees In the opening sequence of Murder Me Monster, amid bleating sheep with bloodied faces, a woman staggers around at dusk before she sinks to her knees, a vicious wound gaping open across her throat – even as we hear a low growl approaching….
Dawn of the Dead first published by Through The Trees Magazine George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead is a sequel of sorts (with no common characters) to his groundbreaking sociopolitical zombie film Night of the Living Dead (1968) – and its two opening sequences offer a sketch in diptych of society in rapid, chaotic…
The Funeral Home (aka The Undertaker’s Home, aka La Funeraria) first published by Through the Trees At the heart of The Funeral Home (aka The Undertaker’s Home, aka La Funeraria) is a dysfunctional family. Bernardo (Luis Machín) runs an undertaking business from a building across the garden from his home, lives in the shadow of…
Caveat first published by Through the Trees A young woman in pyjamas (Leila Sykes) walks into a dimly lit, water-stained room, and as her nose bleeds, she holds up a creepy-looking old toy bunny which starts beating its drum when pointed towards a door. She heads through the door and down to the basement where,…
The Returned (Los Que Vuelven) first published by Through The Trees “I want my son to be alive,” says Julia (María Soldi) clutching her stillborn baby by a spectacularly cascading waterfall at the beginning of The Returned (Los Que Vuelven). “Bring my son back,” she prays – and then we hear the sound of a…
Becky first published by Through The Trees After a prologue – in fact a scene from the chronological end of the film – in which 13-year-old Becky Hooper (the amazing Lulu Wilson) is being interviewed by a police detective and a psychologist about an incident which she claims only partly to remember involving some men…
Violation first publsihed by Through The Trees, 13 September, 2020 Co-written and co-directed by Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Violation opens with the contrasting sounds of loons and baroque music, as a woozily abstract blurring of blues and greens slowly resolves itself into the image of a misty stone bridge over a woodland river. This…
The Swerve first published by Through the Trees It is clear from early on in The Swerve, the feature debut of writer/director Dean Kapsalis, that Holly (Azura Skye) is a car crash waiting to happen. You can see it in the mouse that she, and she alone, sees first in the kitchen and then in…
Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business first published by Through the Trees “It’s been said that there are three things you should never do when making a film: make a film about yourself; make a film about filmmaking; or open the film with a quote.” So says Canadian filmmaker Justin McConnell at the beginning…
Dark Stories first published by Through the Trees Single mother Christine (Kristanna Loken, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, 2003) comes under attack from a psychopathic Chucky-like semi-animated doll that has just been delivered to her home. Bound to a chair in the basement, she tells the knife-wielding mannequin a series of five ‘scary stories’…