Author Archives: Emilie Black

Darken (2017) [Blood In The Snow 2017]

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After trying to help a fallen warrior, a young woman falls into a dark world where people are seemingly stuck against their will under the rule of a ruthless woman.

Written by RJ Lackie and directed by Audrey Cummings, Darken creates a complex world with a lot of characters that feels like the start to something like a tv pilot or the first in a series. This means that the film sets up quite a few characters and a world of its own for them to evolve in. The film does good work creating that and introducing plenty of characters before killing quite a few off for the story to move forward and the other characters to have a reason to go on their quest. The film is entertaining while it does this and the characters are varied to add to this.

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Dalida (2016)

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Dalida tells the story of the Italian-Egyptian singer who made her life in France and was, and still is, hugely popular in French-speaking countries and other parts of the world. She was and still is a musical icon who became almost mythological after her suicide in 1987. For the unfamiliar, Dalida was and probably still is as big of an icon to some as Cher and Madonna are in the US.

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Buckout Road (2017) [Blood In The Snow 2017]

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A road at the center of local urban legends, young people trying to debunk its mysteries, and a few surprises along the way…

Based on a story by Johnny Pascucci and written by Shahin Chandrasoma and Matthew Currie Holmes, with the latter directing as well, Buckout Road is an interesting take on urban legend movies in how it approaches the urban legends and how the characters are not just plain victims with no background. The characters are decently developed and have relationships between them that make sense and make them care about one another. The way the film develops its story through flashbacks that have their own style depending on the era they are set in, giving the film visual interest each of their own. The story evolves in a way that keeps the interest and has some mystery to it. The ending is interesting and offers not exactly a twist but not exactly the ending one might expect from an urban legend film.

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The Child Remains (2017) [Blood In The Snow 2017]

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Inspired by the Butterbox Babies case, The Child Remains follows a couple as they stay in an inn with a dark past and an uncertain future.

From writer/director Michael Melski, The Child Remains is a haunting story of sorts that crosses with investigative story and a few other things. This leads to a film that is a slow burn but an interesting one. Those who are familiar with the Butterbox Babies case will see connections which are of course a bit stretched here but still make some sense. The characters built for the modern day people who stumble into this dark past are well developed. They are a basically just one couple who get haunted in one way or another and slowly work towards making sense of things for themselves with a few side moments into level of insanity or madness or something that actually makes sense in the film. These characters are very human, even frustrating like real people are at times.

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Art of Obsession (2017) [Blood In The Snow 2017]

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A novelist has a hard time getting his muse back after a tragedy and his latest book’s failure. As he tries to write again, he finds a new muse through extreme measures.

Written by Ryan M. Andrews and Chris Cull with the former directing as well, the Art of Obsession takes something that could have been a small infatuation with a woman in danger, the need to save and turns it into an unhealthy obsession that is dangerous for all involved. The story is interesting and has interesting developments while some of them are a bit less so making the film uneven and with a few predictable plot points. The film does however do a very good job of showing a victim who won’t give up on herself, on her own salvation as an opposite to her captor who has given up on his good side almost completely for the appeal of the next hit, the next success, the next accolade. The dichotomy of these characters leads to an interesting watch as the viewer sees them evolve in each their own way, influenced by each other and each of their needs.

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Blood Child (2017) [Blood In The Snow 2017]

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Following a miscarriage, a woman plays with forces she does not quite understand in her quest to have a child to love and care for.

Written and directed by Jennifer Phillips with story editor Emily Schooley, Blood Child is based on a true story, but how much of it is left here is not easily found with a quick Google search. Here the story is taken in a very supernatural way so the belief in whether or not it’s fully based on a true story will depend on the viewer’s level of belief in the supernatural. Nonetheless, the story is well written and takes the beliefs it plays with seriously while also adapting them to the screen. The characters feel like they are perhaps not developed at their best or the performances for them is what causes this lack of care for them from the viewer. The lead is interesting, but her husband comes off as unlikable, her best friend comes off bitchy, while the housekeeper comes off as a cliché complete with an accent that can only be fake (and if it is not, apologies to the actress).

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