Le Serpent aux mille coupures (Thousand Cuts) (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]

A man on the run hides in a farm house, taking the family living there hostage.  As the search for him intensifies, dead bodies start to pile up.  Who is he and what has he done, who is killing these other people and why.

Based on the books by DOA and adapted for this film by DOA and director Eric Valette, Le Serpent aux mille coupures is a tense French polar, a sort of Thriller the French way.  The film takes its premise, adds extra bad guys, and pushes the limits a bit while still keeping a fairly simple way of going at things.  This creates a tension and suspense while the police and others are looking for a killer who tortures horribly his victims before killing them, while the man in hiding may or may not be this killer.  All the tension comes from how the story unfolds even after the audience knows who is doing what, something that is a sign of strong writing and directing.

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Jailbreak (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]

A special police team is sent to transfer a high risk prisoner from holding to a local prison where the Butterfly clan should not be able to get to him.  Once at the prison, things go south fast and the team members find themselves in a fight for their lives.

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Five Essential Stephen King Movies, and Five You’re Better Off Avoiding

It’s a pretty interesting time to be a Stephen King fan, as 2017’s seen the emergence of King in almost all media. His works “It” and “The Dark Tower” are being adapted in to highly anticipated feature films, “The Mist” has been turned in to a series for better or for worse, and Scream Factory are re-releasing “Misery” on blu-ray later in the year for fanatics. With “The Dark Tower” coming to theaters very soon, I thought I’d ring in the occasion by highlighting five stellar Stephen King movies, and five you’re much better off avoiding.

What are some King adapted movies you think are worth watching, and what are some you think should be avoided? Let me know in the comments!

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68 Kill (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]

A man living in an abusive relationship is put through the ringer and finds his inner strength to survive and move on following a wild and crazy night and day.

Based on the novel by Bryan Smith, written and directed by Trent Haaga, 68 Kill is an insane ride filled by crazy, lunatic characters.  The whole thing seems completely nuts and ludicrous but it works.  Somehow, Haaga took all the most ridiculous characters and situations and makes them work in a sort of white-trash opera.  Here all the characters do dumb things for dumb reasons and they almost all are assholes and lunatics, yet the film is crazy fun to watch and has a story that moves at a good, fast pace and leads to a satisfactory ending.  Haaga took all of the most unlikely elements to make one of those film that should not work yet does so beautifully.

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You Only Live Once (Sólo se vive una vez) (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]

After witnessing a crime, a con man goes on the run and hides as an orthodox Jew, bringing his problems to an unsuspecting community.

Based on a story by Sergio Esquenazi, written by Esquenazi and Axel Kuschevatzky, and directed by Federico Cueva, You Only Live Once is one of those completely insane action comedy films that should not work but does.  The film is filled with a series of crazy ideas and turns into a partial comedy of error while also being a good thriller-ish comedy.  The story takes odd turn after odd turn until the very last frame to say the least.  Oddly enough, the entire insanity works, which shows good writing and talented directing.  Of course, a few jokes or attempts at jokes do fall flat and a few are offensive, but the film has so much going on that it’s easy to be entertained by it.

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The Short Films of Izzy Lee [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]

Izzy Lee is a talented short filmmaker who some of us cannot wait to see a feature film from.  Her shorts have been many and has one of them, For a Good Time Call…, played Fantasia International Film Festival this year paired with the feature Dead Man Tells His Own Tale.  As her work should, more like needs to, be seen by all horror fans, here is a rundown of some of her recent shorts.

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