A widow, Diane, and her family celebrate their final Christmas at the family home. Typical family feuding is interrupted by a cloaked stranger. Unfortunately for them, he doesn’t come baring gifts but vengeance. Red Christmas was written and directed by Craig Anderson and stars horror legend Dee Wallace, Geoff Morrell, Sarah Bishop, David Collins, Janis McGavin, Sam Campbell, Gerard O’Dwyer, Bjorn Stewart, and Deelia Meriel.
An Interview with James Allen Smith
“Haskell” is a short currently on the festival circuit, having played Fantasia and HollyShorts, that deals with themes of time and how it affects people.
The Creep (2016) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2017]
A couple on their third date is back at his place going through the motions before heading to the bedroom. Once there, things take an odd turn as she notices a padlock on his closet door. What might this be for…?
Alone (2017)
Although it’s only about three minutes in length, sometimes that’s all you need to really scare someone out of their seat. You need a good set up, a very relatable scenario, and a nice final scene to end the movie on. Reminiscent of the short “Lights Out,” director Tofiq Rzayev has a definite future in filmmaking and horror filmmaking, as “Alone” is a really good horror short that kind of spooked me a bit.
Goodnight, Gracie (2017)
I like what “Goodnight Gracie” has to say about blind faith being pointless, but I wish it was just a better movie. At four minutes, “Goodnight Gracie” doesn’t tell a story but just unfolds events. This happens, and then this happens, and blind faith is dumb! Roll credits. I don’t mind a movie insisting that most times it takes more than faith to get out of a bad situation. Pretty much every time, faith isn’t enough. It’s also about getting up off your ass and doing something about your predicament that can help you or someone else next to you. Director Stellan Kendrick has a lot of ideas about the futility of blind faith, it’s just “Goodnight Gracie” never quite comes together as a cohesive narrative.
Karen Allen Reigns Again!
For the first episode of the second season of “The Online Movie Show with Phil Hall,” Hollywood icon Karen Allen is the very special guest star. On this episode, Ms. Allen discusses her new feature film “Year By The Sea,” which opens in New York on Sept. 8. We will also explore her film directing debut with the new short “A Tree A Rock A Cloud,” based on the Carson McCullers story.
The full episode can be heard here.
“The Online Movie Show” is produced at the Platinum Wolfe Studios, with new episodes airing on SoundCloud every Monday.
Shower (2013)
Perhaps one of the most controversial and polarizing short films of the year, “Shower” has inspired a lot discussion among the media. Is it shocking just to be shocking, is it exploitative, or is there an actual message to be absorbed here? I don’t think there is a wrong interpretation, but I will find it fascinating to see how audiences respond to it after watching it. It’s become a very volatile short film with a climax that I kind of knew was coming, but still left me pretty shocked. Love it or hate it, you have to ask yourself if it’s art, or just a ploy to shake audiences up?