I never would have believed it if I didn’t see it for myself. Director Steve Rudzinski is a man who is not satisfied with creating your typical indie fare, and while his films may be a bit rough around the edges, you’re almost always assured an original film that has a keen sense of what kind of entertainment it wants to be. “CarousHELL” is a movie I, for some reason, assumed was some kind of horror anthology, and boy was I way off. Not prone to just delivering a slasher movie you’ve seen a thousand times, Steve Rudzinski offers up a slasher movie you’ve never seen before. Duke is a sentient carousel unicorn who has spent years and years being ridden on by nasty, smelly, and ungrateful children.
Tag Archives: Indie Film
DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR (2016)
This is the story of 1994’s “Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four.”
Adapted from the iconic Marvel Comic, the film iteration was made on a measly budget of a million dollars with a joint venture by Fox, Marvel and Neue Constantin Films. After casting and initial filming was conducted, “The Fantastic Four” was a highly anticipated film covered in major magazines like Wizard and Film Threat. After a long tour of fan meetings and interviews with the press, the cast and crew learned that their hard work would result in a film that was cancelled by the studios and never to be released. Shortly after, the folks that took part in “The Fantastic Four” learned that, much to their horror, the film was never intended to ever be released. Worse, much of the struggles to conceive a fantastic cinematic vision in a decade bereft of epic comic book movies were merely to secure the rights for the comic book property and nothing more.
The Creature Below (2016) [FrightFest 2016]
After a diving accident that almost cost her life, Olive finds an odd egg in her damaged oxygen tank. Sneaking it off of the boat after being fired, she brings it homes to study it and see what kind of beast might emerge from it in this Lovecraftian tale from the UK. The Creature Below is directed by Stewart Sparke who wrote the story Paul Butler based his script on. They create an interesting lead who loses her job and returns home to her boyfriend after 5 months at sea. Tensions are clear and expected between them and they get stronger as she works with the creature in her home office and as her sister visits.
Enclosure (2016)
Fiona Dourif is one of the premiere actresses making waves in the horror genre, and she continues delivering powerhouse performances in one of the more creative and complex horror films director Patrick Rea has ever given fans. After her powerhouse performance in “Curse of Chucky,” Dourif stars in “Enclosure,” a film that’s teeming with tension, terror, and mystery and ends as a pretty original twist on the lost campers in the woods trope. I initially assumed “Enclosure” was another big foot or yeti horror tale, but director Patrick Rea strives for so much more, and delivers a film that’s so much more meaningful than a simple monster in the woods tale. “Enclosure” is very much a Patrick Rea film with his usual injection of tension, twists, and subtle humor, along with a premise that transforms in to a whole other beast mid-way.
HollyShorts Film Festival 2016 Shorts Selections Part 2
The short film festival HollyShorts took place in Hollywood August 11th to 20th, 2016. It showcased a ton–yes a ton–of short films from the US and around the world. Here are more short reviews of some of these bite-sized films. This is Part two of the HollyShorts Film Festival Round Up.
HollyShort Film Festival 2016 Shorts Selection
The short film festival HollyShorts took place in Hollywood August 11th to 20th, 2016. It showcased a ton–yes a ton–of short films from the US and around the world. Here are short reviews of some of these bite-sized films.
Limbo (2016)
After breaking down on the side of the road and tossing his phone, a man finds a dying dog. Giving the dog some water grants him a wish. Director Will Blank co-wrote with Richard Kapones and they adapted the story from a comic strip by Marian Churchland to create a story that resonates on many levels. The story they build here seems simple at first, but as it advances and the lead thinks of what he wants to wish for, it makes the viewer think about what they would wish for and why. The film may be short but it doesn’t lose any of its story’s effectiveness.