This year I covered Cinepocalypse’s second shorts block, and for this round the topics included Sex, Blood, and Heavy Metal. Not all of the movies are horror here, nor are they particularly scary, but they’re an interesting variety for the festival.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
Before Stonewall (1984)
This month’s 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riot and the launch of the modern gay rights movement marks a perfect time to bring back Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg’s groundbreaking 1984 documentary, which details the LGBT experience in the decades prior to the game-changing pushback that occurred at New York City’s Stonewall Inn in 1969.
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Attack of the Demons (2019) [Cinepocalypse 2019]
I have to say that I hate that I didn’t like “Attack of the Demons.” Throughout its merciful seventy five minute run time I anxiously tried to love it, and wanted to recommend it thirty times over. But by the end, while I appreciated its approach and concept, it’s really just a dull demonic thriller in the end. There might be a new way here to tall a story, but it’s by no means a novel take on the premise of a demon apocalypse by Eric Power.
Men in Black: International (2019)
“Men in Black International” should have worked. On paper it’s a great idea for a reboot, one that doesn’t bring with it the marquee name of Will Smith and the class of Tommy Lee Jones. I respect Sony for wanting to revive the “Men in Black” franchise after so many years, and I respect them even more for side stepping the whole “21 Jump Street meets Men in Black” movie they were planning. But in the end, this new attempts to jump start “Men in Black” for a new audience is a swing and a colossal miss. Worse, it’s absolutely boring.
HI-DEATH (2019)
I honestly never go in to any movie prepared to hate it. I approach every single movie with even the lowest of expectations and always hope to be surprised and thoroughly entertained. With “Hi-Death” though, this is a movie I had a difficult time finding any redeeming traits for. I love anthology horror, I love throwbacks to classic VHS and SOV days of horror and science fiction, but “Hi-Death” is a confusing mess of an indie horror film that will test the patience of any hardcore horror fan.
Terror in the Skies: Mothman, Winged Demons, Thunderbirds, Prehistoric Remnants (2019)
With Godzilla and giant monsters currently stomping through American cinemas, “Terror in the Skies” comes at the right time asking us about allegedly real giant monsters. Throughout decades of folklore and legends, there have been encounters with giant winged beasts, and supernatural monsters, all of which have managed to spawn mass hysteria and mysterious accounts by locals of various towns around America. While “Terror in the Skies” has potential to be a creepy documentary, it watches so much more like afternoon filler on basic cable.
Shorts Round Up of the Week – Cannes Contenders
This week we have seven stellar short films from around the world including Asia, Hungary, and The Ukraine, as well as one from prolific indie filmmaker Patricia Chica. Some of the shorts featured have competed in Cannes this year, and all deal with some kind of interesting and very widely discussed social theme including LGBTQ Pride Month. Look for these excellent films when you can. If you’d like to submit your short film for review consideration, submissions are always opened to filmmakers and producers