Some Kind of Hate (2015)

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Adam Egypt Mortimer‘s “Some Kind of Hate” may be polarizing to some viewers, because much like its contemporaries like “Carrie,” and “The Final,” there simply are no winners or heroes in this narrative. It’s a tragic tale about people losing left and right, and the vicious cycle of bullying. Being the victim of bullying can be a stain on your persona forever, and it resonates as a horrific echo for eternity. “Some Kind of Hate” is a grim and brutally bleak horror film about bullying and how it musters up something really bad from beyond the grave. Mortimer keeps “Some Kind of Hate” consistently torturous by closing off any avenues of hope for his characters.

Continue reading →

Some Kind of Hate (2015) [Film4 FrightFest 2015]

Posted on September 19, 2015 by Emilie Black

Film4 FrightFest 2015

Lincoln Taggert is a loner metal head who is regularly bullied at school. After a particularly brutal event, Lincoln loses his cool and hurts one of his tormentors badly. Following this incident, Lincoln is sent to a meditation based reform school where he encounters a new group of bullies and eventually wishes they would all be dead. This awakens the vengeful spirit of Moira who attacks his tormentors one by one as she herself being highly disturbed by past bullying she was a victim of before her death.

Continue reading →

We Are Still Here (2015) [FrightFest 2015]

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Emilie Black

FrightFest 2015

Anne and Paul Sacchetti lost their son to a car accident. In an effort to move on, they relocate to New England, to a quaint looking house made for a family. No sooner have they arrived do odd things start happening. Higher than normal heat in the basement, frames falling over, possible apparitions, … A few weeks into their living there, the Sacchettis are visited by the McCabe and are told that the house needs a family. As the phenomena multiply, Anne becomes certain it’s their dead son letting them know he’s there with them. To get to the bottom of this, she invites her friend May who is a medium to come spend a weekend and possibly try to reach her son. Once May and her husband Jacob arrive, something is clearly not right. One day, while May and Anne are out shopping, the men have a séance which turns very bad and is followed by all hell breaking loose.

Continue reading →

Cherry Tree (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Emilie Black

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Faith has an as-close-to-normal life as her circumstances allow. Her father in in remission from leukemia and there is not mother to speak of. She goes to a good school with her best friend, gets bullied, has a crush on the cute new boy, … Nothing to see here, just life as almost usual for most 15 to 16 year olds. That is until her father’s leukemia comes back and threatens to throw her world upside down. Luckily, her new field hockey coach, Sissy, can help save her father in exchange for Faith’s help in having a child. Faith agrees to carry a child for Sissy for her father’s healing to take place. Little does she know, Sissy has very dark plans for both.

Continue reading →

I, Madman (1989) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Tibor Takács’ “I, Madman” kind of snuck up on me when I first saw it twenty years ago. I was primarily invested in the movie for the whole idea of fiction coming alive. I had no idea it would evolve in to a gruesome slasher and Giallo. That’s not a set back for me, but it’s really surprising how “I, Madman” looks and flows like a living comic book, but is never shy about grue and gore.

Continue reading →

Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

“Plan Nine” is often cited as the worst film of all time, but I tend to disagree. Say what you want about Ed Wood’s schlock disaster, but it at least has a narrative to it. It’s a pitiful narrative, it’s unnecessarily convoluted, but it’s something. Hell, even “The Room” has some kind of narrative to it that resembles the worst romance melodrama seemingly derived from a Spanish novella. “Manos The Hands of Fate” (or in English: Hands The Hands of Fate?) is the template of how not to make a movie.

Continue reading →

It Follows (2015) (DVD)

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

It’s always a thrill when an indie horror movie, a good indie horror movie, manages to take America by storm. “It Follows” is the big horror indie of 2015, and for good reason. It’s a creepy, intelligent, complex, and occasionally terrifying glimpse in to a nightmarish world where having pre-marital sex results in dire consequences. Particularly there’s the demon simply identified as It. Maika Monroe is great and absolutely gorgeous as Jay, a young girl who goes out with a guy named Hugh on a date. After they hit it off they have sex in his car, and Hugh proceeds to kidnap Jay. Rather than harm her, he explains that during sex he’s passed on a supernatural curse, and he explains the rules on how to evade the demon. One of the main guidelines being that sex passes the curse on and she must find someone to sleep with to save her own life.

Continue reading →