Hail to the Deadites (2019) [Fantasia Festival 2020]

Steve Villeneuve’s “Hail to the Deadites” is a documentary about “Evil Dead” that touts itself as not featuring any kind of footage from the original films at any point. You’d think that would hinder the experience, but that only benefits the feature in the end. “Hail to the Deadites” is an unabashed love letter to the fans and the fans only. It explores the various facets of “Evil Dead” fandom, how all three movies have affected their lives, and how Bruce Campbell has become a source of inspiration to many.

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TV on DVD: Cursed Films: Season One [Blu-Ray]/James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction (DVD)

Was “The Crow” cursed? Did “Poltergeist” bring a hex upon the entire cast? Were there real satanic forces behind “The Exorcist”? Did “Twilight Zone: The Movie” conjure up bad luck and ultimately a curse? Well, hell no on all fronts. The thing about Cursed Films (now on Blu-Ray from Shudder and Image Entertainment), is that if you’re a movie buff and horror fan, you’ve heard about literally everything that’s explored in “Cursed Films.” At five episodes and thirty minutes an episode, “Cursed Films” basically goes over the same material we’ve seen or read about a thousand times but in greater length.

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Yummy (2019) [Fantasia Festival 2020]

Now Streaming Exclusively on Shudder

Lars Damoiseaux’s “Yummy” reminded me a lot of the sub-plot in Robert Altman’s “The Player” where the two aspiring executives have an idea for the opening of a drama. Tim Robbins’ character snickers behind their backs that they have a movie with no second act. “Yummy” is a movie with a great concept, but no real execution behind it. It’s a gory darkly comic zombie movie set in a plastic surgeon’s office… and then… not much else happens beyond that.

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A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio (2019)

“On this stormy night, we are going to tell horror stories, because horror stories never end.”

I’m a big fan of the concept where studios or a collective of directors take various short films from indie directors and create anthology horror films in the vein of “Tales from the Darkside” or “V/H/S/.” The idea is a great one and opens up a broader audience, and allows them some great exposure. “A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio,” is one of the many that’s come along, mixing seven stellar horror shorts told by a lone radio DJ in the middle of the night.

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Deep Blue Sea 3 (2020) [Digital]

The “Deep Blue Sea” movie series seems to be veering slowly away from the campy nonsense that was the original and headed more in to Peter Benchley lite fare. For a movie that followed the silly shark fest with Sam Jackson, this is a surprisingly straight faced and dull second sequel. There’s nothing really here, save for the usual riffs on “The Deep,” “Aliens,” “The Abyss,” and only a very small connection to the sequel, which had a very small thread tied to the original Renny Harlin cult classic. It’s all fairly standard killer shark fare.

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Five Films for Fantasia Film Fest 2020 I Am Excited For [Fantasia Fest 2020]

For yet another year and another summer, Cinema Crazed is honored to be covering the Fantasia International Film Festival, the new edition now running from August 20th to September 2nd will screen films and various cinematic features virtually with all attendees and press being able to access the vast library of films online, thanks to COVID concerns and the continuing pandemic.

The festival is famous for featuring some of the most acclaimed and highly anticipated genre films from around the world, and this year is featuring a great and vast array of films. It’s no small feat considering the festival had to switch formats and entire platforms practically overnight. Nevertheless, here are five films premiering this year that I just can’t wait to check out.

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