Father Malachi Martin is fighting for the soul of those who have been possessed. In his battle, he encounters fake and real cases. One of the latter is the one of a young girl he truly believes is possessed. Hostage to the Devil tells the life story of Father Malachi Martin through interviews and videos of his work. Written by Rachel Lysaght and Marty Stalker with Stalker also directing, the film has a very even style with the interviews all shot about the same and the way they are shown with straight on interview style and overlays on photos and images gives the film a very straight forward feel.
Author Archives: Emilie Black
Animated Shorts Block [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2016]
Dad’s Fragile Doll (Iran) (2014)
A young girl uses imagination to mentally work through her family situation. The film by Ali Zareghanatnowi has an interesting animation style that looks like moving sketches. The style is visually appealing but can become too much in scenes with more action, which is unfortunate. The film shows the horrors that humanity can do and how a young girl uses the power of imagination to help herself. This short shows that imagination liberates you, frees you of your cage, of your oppressor. The use of dolls and animation as surrogates for reality brings forth the message and the emotions.
Other Shorts From Horrible Imaginings [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2016]
L’Ours Noir (The Black Bear) (France) (2015)
Written and directed by Méryl Fortunat-Rossi and Xavier Seron, L’Ours Noir is a film based on a safety pamphlet about black bears in the north of Quebec. A group of hikers go in a forest to explore the land, when they meet a black bear for which they were supposed to learn the rules before going. The film they build is absolutely hilarious and gory, sporting a talented cast with a great sense of timing. The cast is composed mainly of Francois Neycken, Jean-Jacques Rausin, Terence Rion, Catherine Salée, and Jean-Benoit Ugeux who all give great performances in the crazy circumstances they are thrown in. The film also boasts fantastic special effects that fit just right with it. The bear used might be cuddly looking but his attacks are vicious, funny, and bloody. This short is possibly the funniest horror-comedy this reviewer has seen this year and in a long while. It’s absolutely fantastic and must be watched if you get the chance.
The ReZort (2015)
A woman dealing with the aftermath of her father’s death in the war against zombies decides to go on a zombie safari on a remote island. Written by Paul Gerstenberger and directed by Steve Barker, this zombie film doesn’t really bring anything new to the genre, it uses a few newer, or less used, ideas and freshens it up a bit. Their zombies are fast moving zombies, the bad people are clearly so, but the good guys are decent and easy to watch with a few you can root for. These characters are a bit basic and a bit predictable but they work in the story and are decently entertaining.
The Unspoken (2015)
Written and directed by Sheldon Wilson, The Unspoken is a pretty tame horror film. It follows the tropes of haunted housed films well without adding a whole lot that is new until the very end when a twist changes the whole story. A single mother and her son move into a house that has been abandoned for seventeen years following multiple deaths. Angela, whose single father has been laid-off for a while, is hired to look after Adrian, the non-speaking new child in town. The script up until then is fairly routine: a scare here, scare there, jump scare, lots of set up. Unfortunately, this formula falls a little flat for this big horror fan. However, this does not mean that it won’t scare of unnerve the casual horror fan, or the ones looking for their yearly scare.
Genghis Khan Conquers the Moon (2015) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2016]
In director Kerry Yang’s epic short film, Genghis Khan meets with a Wizard as he’s busy conquering the world. This Wizard shows him the Moon and Khan sets his sights on the unconquered “land”. Written by Steve Emmons and Kerry Yang, the film is historical sci-fi fantasy at its best. The characters they build and put in this crazy situation are entertaining to watch. The cast of actors chosen for the leads in this epic short are very impressive.
An Eye for an Eye (2016)
Following the 9/11 attack, a man in Texas decided to kill Arabs and Muslims in his community. This man, Mark Stroman, sits on death row when the viewer meets him. Through interviews with him and others, correspondence, and archive videos and images, the viewer gets to know who Stroman is, why he did what he did, and how he came to be forgiven by the victims of his crimes. Israeli director Ilan Ziv starts his documentary with footage of 9/11 showing the attacks from multiple angles, something that will hit many hard as they watch. Fifteen years later, it is still hard footage to watch for anyone who remembers the day and the events. Those images set what comes next. This being when Stroman decides that he cannot take this attack, and wants revenge. He then writes a manifesto and goes looking for Muslims to kill.