Two teenage girls obsessed with death and horror movies are building their online reputation. To do so, they exploit local deaths and events in their small town.
Author Archives: Emilie Black
Charismata (2017) [Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2017]
With a divorce and house sale pending, a police detective is put on the case of several ritualistic murders being committed her in town. As she investigates and finds clues, she loses more and more of her mind.
Terrifier (2017) [Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2017]
A crazed clown terrorizes a group of young women and the people trying to help them on Halloween night.
Written and directed by Damien Leone, Terrifier takes the scary clown idea and ups the violence from recent films such as IT and makes the kills bloodier and more brutal. The film has some definitely good ideas and the clown’s design is interesting and creepy for sure, but for those without coulrophobia, the clown is only as scary as the performance for him. This is something that will be touched on in a little bit. The story here is the classic slasher on Halloween night story; a killer maims and hurts a group of people on Halloween night. The difference is in the execution which is well done here but still feels a bit like more of the same at times. The title, Terrifier, gives an expectation for the viewer that this will be terrifying and unless you are really scared of clowns, the film is only a little scary and not quite terrifying.
Imitation Girl (2017) [Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2017]
A being falls to Earth and copies the first image of a human it sees. Living as this girl, she starts learning about family, love, and life. As she does, the girl she has copied lives her life in New York, working in the adult industries and slowly losing herself. As their lives evolve, their meeting is unavoidable and may bring them more than they expect.
Filippa (2017) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2017]
A father comes home to his daughter playfully wanting to play hide and seek. As he searches for her, something is clearly not as it should be.
Written and directed by Alexander Rönnberg, Filippa plays on parental fears and a father’s wants, hopes, dreams, and nightmares. The short film does so by showing just a small activity between a father and daughter and adding a fear element that just about any parent can relate too. Here that fear of losing a child gets more complex as the film advances and does so in subtle, nuanced ways that give the film a power over the viewer that is strong, impressive, and soft all at the same time. It’s one of those shorts that does not put things up in the viewer’s face and lets the viewer find their own fear and dread in the story. The film builds a nice family vibe and then adds this fear slowly and sneakily at first and then it all adds up to a sense of dread that permeates the atmosphere.
The Northleach Horror (2016) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2017]
Somewhere in the UK, a scientist and his assistant run odd experiments that have bizarre, weird, and scary results.
Directed by David Cairns who co-wrote with Alex Livingstone, The Northleach Horror is a comedic take on the wartime insane scientist scenario. They take something that has been done before and breathe fresh air into it with a sense of humor that can only be from the UK. This sense of humor makes the film as it’s dark, it’s inappropriate, yet it’s so funny. The way the humor works is perfectly paired with the film’s darkness while it also balances it out. The entire film is soaked in this humor and riddled with inappropriate jokes that work perfectly. Of course, this is for someone who has a similar sense of humor and some might not find it to their taste, but horror fans should be quite pleased.
The Honeymoon (2017) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2017]
A very religious couple books a room in a quaint B&B for their honeymoon and to finally consummate their marriage. Once arrived there, things are a bit more extreme than they expected.
Written and directed by Ruth Pickett, The Honeymoon is anything but subtle and that works for it. The sex den these newly wed land into is just perfect and hilarious given their expectations. The way she uses these newlyweds in comparison with the lady who keeps the B&B works on the humor side and also as a bit of a message on society’s divide in terms of sexuality and many other subjects. Here she uses this mostly for laughs but it works on many other levels. The film’s subject is a bit ridiculous, but the humor makes it quite something. The humor here is rather in your face and uses sex a lot for laughs, but as people living a society where sex is taboo still, this works to bring the funny and make the film quite entertaining.