“Haskell” is a short currently on the festival circuit, having played Fantasia and HollyShorts, that deals with themes of time and how it affects people.
Tag Archives: Horror
The Creep (2016) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2017]
A couple on their third date is back at his place going through the motions before heading to the bedroom. Once there, things take an odd turn as she notices a padlock on his closet door. What might this be for…?
Alone (2017)
Although it’s only about three minutes in length, sometimes that’s all you need to really scare someone out of their seat. You need a good set up, a very relatable scenario, and a nice final scene to end the movie on. Reminiscent of the short “Lights Out,” director Tofiq Rzayev has a definite future in filmmaking and horror filmmaking, as “Alone” is a really good horror short that kind of spooked me a bit.
Goodnight, Gracie (2017)
I like what “Goodnight Gracie” has to say about blind faith being pointless, but I wish it was just a better movie. At four minutes, “Goodnight Gracie” doesn’t tell a story but just unfolds events. This happens, and then this happens, and blind faith is dumb! Roll credits. I don’t mind a movie insisting that most times it takes more than faith to get out of a bad situation. Pretty much every time, faith isn’t enough. It’s also about getting up off your ass and doing something about your predicament that can help you or someone else next to you. Director Stellan Kendrick has a lot of ideas about the futility of blind faith, it’s just “Goodnight Gracie” never quite comes together as a cohesive narrative.
The Limehouse Golem (2016)
Before The Ripper, another serial killer terrorized London, so much so that people believed the killer could not be human but a being called a golem. As the police looks for the killer, a woman finds herself embroiled with the situation.
Death Note (2017)
I’ve been a casual fan and observer of “Death Note” since the mid-aughts and have always been fascinated with its premise and the moral dilemmas it props up for the audience and its characters. It’s almost like “The Box” but with a hit of adrenaline and more complex ideas and philosophies. Director Adam Wingard adapts “Death Note” for a new audience, taking the material from Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, and adding his own quirks, ideas, and dashes of dark comedy. What we get is a stark, entertaining horror movie that is very much a “Death Note” tale, but one that works in its own rhythm for a broader audience, without alienating the core fan base.
Fantasia International Film Festival 2017 Wrap-Up [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
This year was a huge year for myself in terms of coverage I was able to do at Fantasia. Having moved back to Montreal (albeit temporarily), I was able to see a huge number of films at the fest, which led to an average of 2 films per day most days with just a few days off to recharge. 2 films per day may not seem like a lot, but when you factor in the reviews being written to publish as soon as possible and networking every night after the fest, the best festival of the year for this reviewer becomes the most exhausting. Your schedule shifts to live between 12noon and 4am most days, waking up then writing reviews, sending reviews, going to the fest in the afternoon or at night, then to the official pub to meet with filmmakers, reviewers, staff, and fans, then bed at 4am-ish most days, the schedule takes a toll. Kudos to the staff of the fest who are up all day working, then all evening and part of the night before doing it all over again the next day, this for 21 days. I know I could never do that for that long. Even with a few full days off to handle life and try to survive, it was an exhausting yet exhilarating experience to be able to be there from the programme launch the week before the fest to post fest goodness with friends.