After her mother disappears, a young girl joins a group of street kids trying to survive in a world of violence, drugs, and gangs. Through stories and fairytales, they keep each other going.
Tag Archives: Horror
Daguerrotype (Le secret de la chamber noire) (2017)
In a French mansion, a photographer is obsessed with reproducing long lost photos taken with the daguerreotype technique of yore. When he hires a young assistant for his project, things get complicated.
Written by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Catherine Paille, and Eléonore Mahmoudian and directed by Kurosawa, Daguerrotype is a very slow burn of a film that feels more like a drama than anything else. This being said, there are a few elements that will be surprising if the viewer goes into it completely blind and thus will not be spoiled here. Having the genre pre-established as anything other than drama will lead into guessing a few of these. Given the director and his resume, this aspect can be easily guessed. Here he works in a manner where the characters are given plenty of time to develop themselves and their arcs while the story builds around them. The writing and directing of the film feel like a proper mix of French and Japanese cinema in a way that is hard to explain but works wonderfully well here.
Popcorn (1991): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
One of the highly anticipated releases of 2017, Synapse Films unleashed the new print of the rare horror comedy “Popcorn” for fans with a limited edition release. Months later, they allow fans another chance with a regular Blu-Ray and DVD editions of “Popcorn” with the same deluxe special features and treatment but none of the collector flavor. “Popcorn” is one of those horror comedies that deserve to be consumed by horror movie fans of all kinds, as it’s one of the cleverer meta-horror movies that satirized indie horror, while also delivering its own interesting slasher tale.
Treaters (2017)
From Treehouse Digital and director Peter Stanley-Ward, “Treaters” is a short film that I would love to become the basis for a horror anthology somewhere down the road. “Treaters” is a surefire Halloween treat that works with a sense of whimsy but also has an admirably demented sense of humor that I was sucked in to from minute one. One thing that’s always menacing about Halloween are trick or treaters, because you just never really know who, or what, are wearing those dreaded masks and whatnot.
Hellbent (2006)
I give director and writer Paul Etheredge-Ouzts a lot of credit for creating a traditional slasher film with a lot of the conventions turned around for an all gay cast. Every single character in the movie is gay, right down to the psychotic masked killer. Ironically, “Hellbent” does fall in to the traps of conventional slasher films, with people willingly walking in to danger, and a slasher whose origins is completely unexplained. I was disappointed in the latter, as I was expecting a big twist, or at least a link to protagonist Eddie’s past as an aspiring police officer.
You Have to See This! The Midnight Hour (1985)
Only in 1985 could a movie like “The Midnight Hour” have been created. This is the decade of Michael Jackson and music videos. This is the decade of MTV. This is the decade where one of the goofiest Halloween movies ever made has a musical number that breaks the fourth wall because… well, Michael Jackson, and Madonna! Duh. Seriously, it’s a shame that “The Midnight Hour” has been so hard to find and out of print for such a long time, because it’s such a ridiculous eighties gem that I figured people would be watching it during Halloween parties and laughing their asses off.
Michael Legge: Ghoul’s Night Out
Underground film icon Michael Legge is celebrated for his distinctive horror-comedy films that mix the macabre with wonderfully droll silliness. On this episode on “The Online Movie Show,” the Massachusetts-baed creator of such brilliantly batty films as “Working Stiffs,” “Honey Glaze,” “Brain Drainer,” “My Mouth Lies Screaming” and “Monochromia” – as well as his foray into serious horror, “Evan Straw” – discusses his remarkable career and previews his upcoming film “Crawlers.”
The episode can be heard here.
“The Online Movie Show” is produced at Platinum Wolfe Studios.