After breaking up with her boyfriend during an unusual dinner, Elizia starts having visions and hearing voices. As she navigates this new way of life, she discovers more about herself and the world she lives in.
Tag Archives: Drama
Female Filmmaker Friday: Braid (2018) [Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2018]
A woman living in her imaginary world of her own making received a visit from two old friends on the run from the law and looking for easy money and as well as an easy way out. Turns out, going home may not yield the results they were aiming for.
Writer/director Mitzi Peirone creates a story here that is strong yet somewhat vague on some fronts and very hard to explain without giving too much away. What she creates with Braid is something that pulls the viewer in and doesn’t let them go until the end of the credits. Her works in writing and behind the camera are perfectly paired and create a world of its own on the screen. The characters she creates are complete and complex while not putting all the cards on the table at any point. This leads to a mysterious atmosphere and an odd flow to the story that work perfectly in this film.
The Witch in the Window (2018) [Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2018]
A divorced father takes his son to a house he’s bought to renovate and reconnect. As they work on the house, something there is showing itself, adding a few layers of fear and oddity to what is already going on.
Writer/director Andy Mitton takes themes of connection, family, letting go, and even grief and mixes them with his own personal take on the haunted house tropes. As the viewer follows along, the film takes these tropes and makes them their own while also not fully committing to being a haunted house film. The film feels more like a psychological film than a straight up scary one.
Bad Apples (2018)
Truthfully, “Bad Apples” isn’t a terrible movie even when you consider it’s a shameless rip off of “The Strangers.” It just obviously has a paper thin premise and not much else to do but pad the time. The movie is ninety minutes long and for twenty of those minutes it feels like a relationship drama set on Halloween starring Brea Grant and Graham Skipper as married couple Ella and Robert. She’s trying to adjust to her new house, he’s working his new job, and she’s trying to teach at a school run by an overly religious principal, oh the hilarity. Then it decides to dip in to the horror–eventually.
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998): 20th Anniversary Edition [Blu-Ray]
Alexandre Dumas’ “The Man in the Iron Mask” is based around one of the most interesting mysteries of all time. The man in the iron mask is an enduring mystery to this day left to whispers and heavy speculation, but the movie from Randall Wallace never actually broaches much of that mystery. In fact, “The Man in the Iron Mask” treads lightly among the 1851 novel’s themes and narrative, in place of what is a mediocre, unfocused movie that is much too long in the tooth.
Feral (2018) [Blu-Ray]
Mark H. Young’s horror thriller “Feral” feels like 2010’s “Primal” and 2003’s “Cabin Fever” reworked in to a goofy zombie melodrama about a lot of pretty people arguing over “important” stuff like relationships, and who’s dating whom before they’re interrupted by zombies. “Feral” could have been a very claustrophobic and weird little cabin in the woods gem, but it’s so mucked up with the twenty minutes of exposition and drama that goes absolutely nowhere. Seriously none of the conflicts actually take any real toll once the narrative gets moving, and it’s a shame.
Casper’s Haunted Christmas (2000)
Less budget, and less stars, this time Casper’s adventures are reduced to a pretty crummy animated feature where Casper teams up with another spunky young girl. She’s a girl facing a crisis about Christmas and she needs the help of… Casper. Makes sense, I guess. “Casper’s Haunted Christmas” is a noticeably bargain basement style production compared to the previous movies, all the while the animation is often weird and the narrative nonsensical.