The Boy (2016)

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

I would only suggest “The Boy” to folks that are quite fond of Lauren Cohan and want to see her dip her toes in to the horror genre yet again. It’s honestly the only reason why I bothered with “The Boy.” While director William Brent Bells‘s film has a neat concept, the premise quickly runs out of steam and the writers almost seem to scramble for a way to stay ahead of the audience and come up with a neat twist they simply weren’t expecting. Seriously, I would have preferred they gone down the road I was hoping they would, rather than drop this completely goofy plot twist in the climax that simply made no sense whatsoever.

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Emelie (2016)

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Emilie Black

A babysitter is kidnapped and another girl takes her place to watch over a couple’s three children as they celebrate their anniversary. The minute the parents leave the house, the new sitter turns the weird factor way up and begins with a series on increasingly creepy games and situations. Written by Richard Raymond Harry Herbeck and director Michael Thelin, the story gets going very fast here.

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The Survivors (2016)

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

I really like where director Steve Rudzinski’s head is with “The Survivors.” I love the idea of a movie about the survivors of slashers and serial killers teaming up to bring down random slashers around the country. The war of good and evil materializes in to a wicked concept where the slashers have the tables turned on them, resulting in the slashers forming their own cabal where they murder people in various towns around the world. Director Rudzinski pokes fun at the horror genre and team movies in general, offering some fun and funny satire of horror icons above and beyond.

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Holidays (2016)

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

The folks behind “Holidays” try to cover all the bases of the resurgence of the horror anthology film. They tackle the holiday horror film, try to create original and unique horror segments out of rarely touched upon holidays around the world, and they also organize it with a faux arthouse gloss that became popularized in “ABCs of Death.” While “ABCs of Death” and its sequel were misfires of the anthology horror film at least they were amusing misfires.

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Night of 1000 Burritos by 2Am Burrito

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Emilie Black

A few weeks ago, at MoPA in San Diego, a group of filmmakers working under the production banner of 2AM Burrito and their friends gathered to screen their most recent shorts. It was an evening with red carpet and cast and crew in attendance. Without further ado, here is what I thought of each short presented.

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Unbalanced Love (2016)

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Clocking in at three and a half minutes (five with bloopers included), director Sydney Hord’s “Unbalanced Love” is a tight and very good short horror film that oozes potential. Granted, I would have loved twenty more minutes for exposition, but considering the context of the film’s production, “Unbalanced Love” unfolds the premise and narrative very well.

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Aliens (1986)

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Sequels should always strive to be better than the original while paying homage to the film that came before it. James Cameron does a bang up job with a film that, in another reality, would have failed big time. Cameron takes what was a slow burn and gradually unraveling horror science fiction film about a woman battling a phallic alien and transforms it in to a brutally and entertaining action horror film. While some of the more ardent fans of “Alien” might have been thrown off by the change in tone, James Cameron embraces the action genre for a brand new generation, offering an extension of Ridley Scott’s film that compliments what came before.

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