Oddly enough “Vamp U” (formerly titled “Dr. Limptooth”) works much better as a horror movie than it does a comedy. Deep down it possesses the tone of one of those raucous horror comedies from the eighties that should rightfully star someone like Eddie Deezen or Linnea Quigley, and as a horror movie it’s a very effective tongue in cheek vampire film. As a comedy it’s a pretty decent riot, and one that may not inspire laughter, but will garner various giggles and chortles. When “Vamp U” decides it wants to be a straight up vampire movie, it’s a pretty wicked little throwback to the eighties, especially with Julie Gonzalo having a blast as the alpha vampire queen Chris, who begins sleeping with her vampire professor and turns in to a vampire mid-way.
Tag Archives: Indie Film
Are All Men Pedophiles? (2012)
If director Jan-Willem Breure’s documentary “Are All Men Pedohiles?” ever gets a wider distribution deal, it definitely needs a new title. The title of the film posits the film as a thesis about the potential for all men to be pedophiles in the making. In reality, Breure’s film is really about pedophilia as a while and what it means to be one and to identify one. The title makes the assertion that it tackles the potential for all men to be pedophiles, when Breure interviews all kinds of subjects about pedophilia. He even interviews female pedophiles during the mid-point of the movie. So while the title does in a sense tackle the theory that any attraction to children can be deemed as pedophilia, Breure offers the example that men and women can be pedophiles and have sexual attraction to children of all ages, hence the title is really a misnomer of a sorts.
Smiley (2012)
Come on. I think there could be a lot more done with the horror medium involving the digital age. “Smiley” takes what could be a wonderful and brilliant premise and just waters it down to create a standard slasher flick. Granted, I adore slasher movies, but this is the kind of derivative, generic, manufactured slasher garbage that never entertains. It’s a dull and unevenly paced horror thriller with a nugget of an original concept that never fully realizes it at all. “Smiley” is often so poorly made, even the fake shock scares are telegraphed seconds in advance and fail to land. It also doesn’t help that the two female protagonists of “Smiley” are so irritating, hearing them talk and interact is equivalent to nails on a chalk board.
5 Choice Indies of 2012
Special Mention:
88:88
Directed by: Joey Ciccoline
Written by: Sean Wilson, Joey Ciccoline
Official Trailer
Watch It Now!
Originally a contender for an online short film festival, director Joey Ciccoline’s short “88:88” is a wonderful and absolutely remarkable horror short about a woman who simply can not escape her destiny. She’s built her life around her over night occurrences, and on the day we meet her, she’s decided to stop becoming a victim and start resisting. In spite of her life around her wondering where she is, our young heroine spends her time building mechanisms and odd devices around her room.
Though she’s calm and resolute throughout the course of the short, she is racing the clock, and before she knows it, night has fallen and it’s time to sleep. With a wonderful eye on the small budget, and low maintenance special effects, Joey Ciccoline delivers an onslaught of horrific images, and devastatingly traumatic monsters that desperately try to bring this woman in to their throes and by her own clever instruments, shows them that she’s not one to be reckoned with any longer. A striking and downbeat short, this is a film to watch, if only because it’s one of the few extra terrestrial films that have succeeded in turning its menaces in to terrifying beings that have been tamed over the years.
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
One of the primary faults behind “Paranormal Activity 4” is that it makes promises it just can’t keep. It swears new scares with the use of the kinect and light beams and doesn’t quite fulfill the potential for the plot device. It introduces a new protagonist, but never fully develops her. And most importantly it explains that it has all led up to this, but there really isn’t a huge development in the storyline. I’m still not sure why what happened happens at all, and what they’re leading in to, but according to Dreamworks, we have two more films left in this series, and more films with a Latin spin off that will likely continue the mythos well in to 2019. If possible.
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
In the first “Paranormal Activity,” director Oren Peli seemed to have a one off horror movie in mind, but did allude to a lot of back story during the film. We do know from the first movie that Katie had been suffering from odd hauntings all her life, and had blocked out a lot of her childhood leaving the door open for the mysterious demon to enter in to the lives of she and her husband Micah. “Paranormal Activity 3” ventures even further back and widens the scope of the narrative to explore the deeper mythos behind the series of hauntings that took the lives of Katie and her husband.
On Top (2012)
Whomever cast actress Nikki Estridge for the role of escort Adrianna is a genius. “On Top” is a short film that’s reliant on casting the perfect woman for the role of the insatiable and professional escort who is wholly unapologetic in what they do. Star Nikki Estridge is excellent in her performance as professional freelance escort Adrianna who strives in pleasing her clients and loves what she does.