Dead Man’s Shoes (2006)

Shane Meadows previously worked with Paddy Considine in the criminally underseen “A Room for Romeo Brass.” Considine is a man capable of playing many things, and someone without much of a mental balance is probably his best character yet. Paddy Considine is admittedly one of the most unorthodox choices for the lead in a very dramatic and powerful revenge thriller, but he’s a man who can lend a lot of menace and terror to someone who doesn’t quite look like someone who’d knock heads. When he first meets the men that tormented his younger brother, he lays the fear of God in to them by merely glaring at them when they attempt to crowd him. One scene even finds him rattle a power drunk thug in the middle of a crowded bar.

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Deathgasm (2015)

deathgasmThere’s never been anything like Jason Lei Howden’s “Deathgasm” before and I doubt there will ever be anything like it ever again. “Deathgasm” is one of the very few death metal horror movies I’ve ever seen and it’s one that will definitely touch on the right spots for horror fanatics, despite the fact that it’s heavily centered on characters that live and breathe death metal music. For them, it’s a way of life and eventually becomes the downfall of humanity. “Deathgasm” is a shockingly excellent horror comedy that focuses more on the coming of age of its main character and how he uses the eventual demon apocalypse to discover something about himself.

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Dead Body (2015) [Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2016]

dead-body-posterPost-graduation, a group of high school friends meet up at one of the guys’ father’s cabin in the woods.  There they hang out, drink, argue, and play a game called Dead Body.  As they start dying off one by one, they must figure out who is the real killer and try to survive. Directed by Bobbin Ramsey and written by Ian Bell and Ramon Isao, the film boasts nine teenage characters that are all fairly generic stereotypes of teenagers and how they should act.  What makes the film interesting is not as much who they are or how they act but the whodunit angle to the story.  Of course red herrings and false red herrings are thrown left and right from the beginning.

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Demon (2015)

demonPiotr moves to Poland to marry his long-distance girlfriend Zaneta whose immediate family is less than thrilled with the situation but still supportive.  As the wedding day approaches, Piotr finds bones in the yard of his marital home.  Things take an odd turn and a restless spirit, or dybbuk, possesses the groom. Co-written by Pawel Maslona and director Marcin Wrona, Demon is a slow burn drama with horror elements.  The title leads one to believe it would be more straight up horror film but the reality is that it’s a drama about a wedding or marriage that may have been a bad idea to start with and as the film advances and the spirit manifests itself it becomes a battle between people’s feelings and beliefs and people searching for the truth.

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Dark Exorcism (2015) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2016]

dark-exorcismA Columbia grad student interviews and shadows a paranormal specialist as she investigates a possible haunting or possession which may very well be something much worse than expected. Dark Exorcism, originally titled In The Dark, is David Spaltro’s third feature as a director and second as a writer.  Here he weaves a tale of demonic possession starring four strong female characters.  His afflicted lead, Bethany Mills is a sweet and strong girl who fights and tries to protect her mother. Her mom is also strong, but at her wits end when Lois Kearne and student Veronica Carpenter come to investigate and ultimately support and help her, whatever it takes.

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Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994)

darkangel-theascentFull Moon offers their take on “Innocent Blood” with the tale of a vigilante demon and her hapless doctor boyfriend who proceeds to fall in love with her despite her demonic underpinnings. Angela Featherstone is insanely sexy as Veronica, a young demon who hangs out in hell sorting out sinning souls with her father, a dutiful monster who wants her to step in line and follow his orders. Veronica is restless though, and seeks to visit the Earth realm to see what it looks like. After fighting with her father once more, she escapes with her loyal German Shepherd to the outer world. There, she discovers the world isn’t that different from hell, save for the fact that the sinners and pure evil are able to hide among the civilized, rather than be punished.

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Director’s Cut (2016) [FrightFest 2016]

director-s-cutAn unhinged fan buys his way onto a film set by way of crowd funding.  Well into filming, he decides to kidnap lead actress Missi Pyle to force her to shoot his better version of the film which he has already started shooting without her knowledge. Writer Penn Jillette (yes, that Penn) and director Adam Rifkin create a cheesy cop film which is them overlaid and cut up with comments and scenes create by Jillette’s character Herbert Blount who fancies himself a better director than Rifkin due to all the learning he has done online.

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The Devil’s Dolls (2016)

the-devils-dollsA police detective investigating a serial killer takes a box of dolls with him.  His daughter gets her hands on them, and then turns them into jewelry which gets spread around town by well-meaning buyers.  Soon the wearers turn evil and things become bloody. Written by Danny Kolker and Christopher Wiehl and directed by Padraig Reynolds, The Devil’s Dolls takes the possessed item idea and multiplies it, sending multiple cursed/possessed items into a community to wreak havoc.

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