It Ends is another entry in the liminal horror craze, focusing on souls getting lost in never-ending familiar voids. Directed by Alex Ullom, the film takes those ideas but removes them from enclosed spaces. Instead, It Ends is on an endless road with no meaning or purpose. Others trapped in the same space either feel overly panicked and volatile or have
Read MoreIf there’s anything Hollywood has lost in its adaptation to an ever-changing industry, it’s the art and success of the theatrical comedy. It always comes across as a miracle from the heavens when one can get a theatrical release. Even when they do, so many are franchise-based, like this year’s Scary Movie. So when a stoner comedy like The Wrong Girls
Read MoreDuring the opening ceremony of the Fantasia International Film Festival, Her Private Hell director Nicolas Winding Refn was awarded a Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award for his contributions to cinema. He made an impassioned plea on the importance of a festival like Fantasia and genre cinema as a whole: “In the mid-90s, when I began, we really couldn’t make genre movies;
Read MoreLeviticus resides in a fascinating place when viewing it from its genre roots. It’s able to weave both a compelling queer story and progressively brutal horror while changing enough elements to remain just distinctive enough from its inspirations. You’ll hear many comparisons to genre flicks like It Follows and Smile, but director Adrian Chiarella clearly understands that within his feature debut.
Read MoreIt would be futile for me to give you a succinct plot summary of Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters. The movie is the rapper-turned-filmmaker’s sophomore effort in the world of cinema following Sorry to Bother You and, most recently, a digression inside the world of television with the limited series I’m a Virgo. It would also be futile for me to
Read MoreHokum sees filmmaker Damian McCarthy return with another horror film that balances a mystery with supernatural creepiness. His previous effort, Oddity, made great use of the terror of inanimate objects moving. For almost 100 minutes, viewers would scan the background as characters talk in the foreground. And the same question would always arise: Did that giant mannequin-sized doll move? Hokum does not linger on the fear of sentient
Read MoreIf you were disappointed by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, look no further than Exit 8, a video game adaptation that actively respects fans of the original source material. Writer/director Genki Kawamura develops a visual language that’s very much in line with the atmospheric experience of playing Kotake Create’s mind-bending walking simulator. In fact, Kawamura is more concerned with the atmospheric
Read MoreThose who expected another Raw or Titane may be disappointed while watching Julia Ducournau’s latest movie, Alpha. This film takes a more subdued approach than the character-centric insanity pieces that immediately propelled the French filmmaker to critical acclaim. With only three features under her belt, Ducournau has already established herself as one of the most compelling genre artists working today. Especially
Read MoreNirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is Matt Johnson’s continuation of the television series of the same name, which follows the fictitious antics of Johnson and his best friend Jay McCarrol as they attempt (and fail) to book a show at The Rivoli, as if the Toronto-based café was as complex to book as Madison Square Garden. Before propelling into the
Read MoreOur Fantastic Fest 2025 coverage continues with Shelby Oaks. When it comes to the topic of film criticism, it’s hard to identify anyone who has made more of an influence on my career than Chris Stuckmann. He remains one of the rare YouTube movie critics who can articulate constructive feedback with class and sincerity for the art form. Being put in the
Read MoreFantastic Fest 2025 kicks off today in Austin, Texas, with another year of potentially great offerings. The festival is jam-packed with several great titles and early premieres. For example, the highly anticipated sequel to Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone is expected to captivate the Austin community during the first weekend. The festival will also feature Chris Stuckmann’s long-awaited movie debut, Shelby
Read MoreAs has been the case for its previous horror movies, NEON has raked up interesting marketing campaigns for some of their more terrifying titles, such as Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, The Monkey, and Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo. The studio wants as many people as possible watching in cinemas knowing as little as possible about the movie itself. That’s why you’ll see many ads
Read More
