In 2009, the horror fiction website Creepypasta helped create one of the more popular modern boogey men of horror. While many people expected the newest boogeyman would be born on film or television, aptly enough he was born on the internet. Much to the surprise of everyone, the Slenderman (an enigmatic fictional monster whose ability to lure children in to the woods and collect them for nefarious purposes) became much more than a simple meme. He was a pop culture sensation, and out of him spread a cult of loyal fanatics. One of the most infamous cases involved the incident of two twelve year old girls who lured their best friend out in to the woods and attempted to stab her to death as a means of appeasing the slenderman.
Tag Archives: Documentary
Hotel Coolgardie (2017) [Slamdance Film Festival 2017]
I’m pretty surprised at how entertaining and compelling Pete Gleeson’s documentary “Hotel Coolgardie” ends up being. It has such a weird and odd premise that threatens to be so dull and monotonous. But by the end of the movie I was more than thrown in to this surreal situation and cared about the two focal points of the movie Lina and Steph. It doesn’t have a huge social message or political aspirations but is a pleasantly engrossing tale about two foreigners in a new land, both of whom struggle to adapt amidst a large lifestyle of sexism, xenophobia and alienation. You’d think a premise for a documentary of this ilk would be reserved for art house movie fodder, but the fact it has happened for years is so fascinating and makes you wonder who else has walked in to Hotel Coolgardie.
Daniel Blake Smith – An Indie Artist
Daniel Blake Smith is an award-winning filmmaker at home in nonfiction and narrative genres. He wrote and co-produced the PBS-aired ”February One,” a documentary about the 1960 Greensboro, N.C., lunch counter sit-in that helped launch the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and two prize-winning documentaries (both narrated by film star James Earl Jones) about Native American life: “Cherokee Legacy: The Trail of Tears,” and “Black Indians: An American Story.” Smith’s documentary biopic about Edgar Allan Poe (“Terror of the Soul”), starring John Heard and Treat Williams with music by Philip Glass, aired on PBS’ “American Masters” series, and his documentary “Kentucky—An American Story” (narrated by Ashley Judd) aired on Kentucky Educational Television. He wrote and produced the 2016 drama “Texas Heart” starring John Savage. In this episode, Dr. Smith (he also has a Ph.D from of Virginia) talks about his distinguished cinema career.
X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All Time (2015) (DVD)
From Showtime and Kino Lorber comes what is basically a fun primer of adult cinema for folks that might want to either re-visit the genre, or perhaps learn where to start their collection. “X-Rated” is a very R rated look at some of the greatest Adult movies of all time, and manages to interview many of the surviving cast members of films like “The Opening of Misty Beethoven,” “Deep Throat,” and the once very controversial “Taboo.” Its surprising to see how much involvement many of the cast members had in making these classic porn movies, and how affectionately a lot of modern adult stars discuss these movies with a lot of insight and enthusiasm.
The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975)
In concept, the 1970 endeavor to enable Japanese daredevil skier Yuchiro Miura to become the first athlete in his sport to descend Mount Everest seemed like an expensive folly: a $3 million budget that initially involved 850 men and 27 tons of equipment. And documentary footage covering this adventure seemed destined to become a standard-issue travelogue, at least in its initial journeys through too-picturesque stretches Nepal.
Quadrangle – A Short Film by Amy Grappell (2013)
Director Amy Grappell digs deep in to her childhood and touches upon a part of her young life that normally might hurt others or inspire discomfort. In 1969, Amy Grappell moves from Brooklyn to Long Island with her mother and further. Both parents were struggling with their own marriage and were working hard to stay together. After meeting another couple at a local beach club, both her mother and father Paul and Deanna eventually found kindred spirits in Eleanor and Robert, both of whom were also struggling with their own marriage at the time.
Big Charity (2015)
Alex Glustrom’s documentary focuses on New Orleans’ Charity Hospital, a healthcare landmark that fell victim to political machinations in the post-Katrina period.
Founded in 1736, Charity Hospital was located at different locations over the years before the 1939 opening of its massive 2,680-bed facility. Originally operated by the Daughters of Charity religious order and celebrating for providing high quality medical care to patients of all races and economic conditions, the hospital was administered by the Louisiana State University (LSU) System in 1997. LSU advocated for a new medical facility in the early 2000s but was unable to obtain state funding. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005 – when the rescue effort to evacuate patients and medical staff was uncommonly lethargic – LSU abruptly shut down Charity Hospital even though the facility had been restored to functioning ability by the U.S. Army.