Author Archives: Emilie Black

Female Filmmaker Friday: La Quinceañera (2017) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2018]

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On the evening of her quinceañera, Alejandra witnesses the slaughter of her family. With the few surviving members, they set out of make things right.

Created and written by Shane McKenzie and Gigi Saul Guerrero with the latter directing, La Quinceañera started off as a series of webisodes and then became a feature with all the episodes gathered together in one feature. The film version is easy to watch with separate chapters that lead the story from a sweet start to a very bloody ending. The characters built here are strong and work together in a way that is natural and very much like a family.

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Final Score (2018)

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An ex US soldier visiting his niece in the UK goes to a soccer (football) game with her in the hopes of connecting with the teen. Once there, a terrorist group looms over the game and threatens his niece’s life as well as that of thousands of people. As he works to prevent the worse, reasons for the attack are made clearer and things get more complicated.

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Mandy (2018)

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In the early 1980s, a man’s goes on a rampage to find his loved one’s killers after dealing with loss, grief and its many stages most definitely including anger. His love for her was all encompassing and nothing will come in the way of his revenge, not even demons.

Based on a story by Panos Cosmatos who co-wrote with Aaron Stewart-Ahn and directed, Mandy is a mayhem-y film that starts mellow and filled with love. It takes its time setting up the relationship and care between Red and Mandy before Mandy gets dispatched, making her someone the viewer can care about and can be attached to before she gets killed. This does also mean that it feels a bit long in the first part before Red gets through his grief and to his revenge. That being said, when the revenge begins, it goes full force, balls to the wall, insane. The film’s last third or so is blood-soaked violent goodness where every and all tools can become a murder weapon that makes a ton of damage.

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Lifechanger (2018) [FrightFest 2018]

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A shapeshifter is running through bodies faster and faster and must take extreme measures to keep surviving or let go of his own self.

Written and directed by Justin McConnell, Lifechanger is an exploration of mortality, letting go, love, and what people are willing to do to keep going without changes and what they are willing to accept to keep their lives on their preferred path. While the film is a horror film at its core, the story is about much more than the simple kills and shapeshifting, it’s about taking over lives, making one’s own life. The way this is approached creates a story that is easy to follow even with the switches in lead person and the multiple storylines. The film keeps everything in order and easily understandable. As the story advances and the lead narrates the story, the reasons for it all become clearer and they are not just for survival.

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