Tilly (USA) (2016)
A child is scared of the monster in her bedroom and her father is trying to convince her there is nothing to be afraid of. He is very, very wrong. In director Robert Kotecki’s short film, things are not as they seem. He takes a simple premise and twists it a couple of times. The main twist, what makes it what it is and makes the story effective is actually unexpected and it creates an interesting story. The second twist woks as well, however the ending kind of breaks the film for this reviewer.
Tag Archives: Foreign
Broken (2016) [Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2016]
Evie is trying to make her life better by taking a job taking care of a tetraplegic, John, who can be a disagreeable handful. As she cares for him and attempts to bond with him somewhat, her past comes popping back up. Written by Shaun Robert Smith and co-writer Craig Conway and directed by Shaun Robert Smith, Broken is as much about John’s battle to regain some happiness after becoming tetraplegic and not giving up on life as it is about Evie trying to help him become more independent as she attempts to redo her life and forget her past. Evie is the definite lead, but John’s story is about as important.
What We Become (2016) [Blu-Ray/DVD]
It’s “Night of the Living Dead Yuppies” in what is easily one of the most asinine foreign zombie movies of the year. In a year where we were able to see brilliant zombie fare like “Train to Busan” and “Seoul Station,” it’s sad we have “What We Become,” a pretty frustrating horror drama that ends just as it begins to pick up steam. It’s not really a zombie movie, but it feels like one heavy handed commentary on how vicious and cruel we become when we’re faced with the task of surviving and caring for one another. It’s nothing we haven’t seen covered in George Romero’s films, or “The Walking Dead,” before. Yes, when faced with survival, we will tear each other’s throats out for a can of beans, the military is shifty and violent, the elderly are usually the first to go, and deep down we’re all selfish bastards. Also kids never stay in the damn house, even during a zombie apocalypse.
Human Killers and Psychological Terrors Shorts Block Part 2 [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2016]
Dogged (UK) (2015)
A young couple is being watched; soon the young man’s life takes a turn for the artsy weird as masked people chase him in this homage to Little Red Riding Hood. Director Richard Roundtree creates, with co-writer Christina Roundtree, a visually interesting short film that is disorienting. The story is unfortunately unclear which leads to being unsure as to the leads’ performances. The cinematography by Christopher Foulser, the editing by Foulser and Lee Wignall, and the music by James Griffiths team up to create a short that is memorable even with its story issues.
Boy Eats Girl (2005)
“Boy Eats Girl” derives many elements from “Shaun of the Dead” as a romance comedy with a horror and zombie twist, all the while adhering to a lot of the classic teen romance tropes. There’s the alpha female, and geeky best friends, while our hero is a reluctant protagonist thrust in to an extraordinary situation that rekindles his love for his girlfriend. Nathan is a student at a local school where he constantly fawns for the love of his life Jessica who may or may not have the same feelings. After a misunderstanding, Nathan gets drunk, and accidentally hangs himself. His mom brings him back from the grave (When are people going to learn not to use mysterious books to do magic?), and all seems too good to be true.
Karate Kill (2016) [Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2016]
Kenji, a karate master who keeps to himself, learns of his little sister’s disappearance so he flies to the US to find her and kill anyone who gets in his way. Writer/director Kurando Mitsutake builds a crazy fun action film. His film not a character study and that is perfectly fine. It’s build like an 80’s action film on steroids which mean the characters are okay, the bad guys are really bad and the good guys are not so numerous. However, the fight scenes are many and highly entertaining. The film is built to showcase the fighting and the action, the kidnapping of the little sister is only a reason for the lead to go nuts and fight everyone in his path to get her back. The film is in both Japanese and English adding an angle to Kenji’s travel to the US as he does not speak English and must rely on other Japanese people for most of his communications. The cultural differences are there from that but also seem to be exaggerated for the sake of entertainment.
Egomaniac (2016) [Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2016]
Catherine Sweeney wants to make her first fiction feature film, a zombie romantic comedy, but to do so; she must find people to finance her and help produce the film. After everyone she meets in the industry is telling her to put a speaking dog in her film as it will sell it like crazy. After first resisting this idea, she eventually gives in, losing her integrity and possibly her sanity in the process. This film about the plight of the filmmaker, particularly of the female horror filmmaker, is written and directed by Kate Shenton whose first feature film this is. The lead she creates here feels like a woman some of have met in the industry, possibly a little bit or a lot of Shenton herself as she has to have seen a lot of what Sweeney sees in her own career.