Monthly Archives: September 2022

GENREBLAST FILM FESTIVAL: Lily’s Mirror (2022)

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The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Lily’s Mirror (2022): I loved every single minute of this short and it definitely deserves to be a full-length movie.

Lily (Linnea Frye, who directed and wrote this with Adam Pinney) has had a major setback. While on a dinner date, a man named Bart (Matt Horgan) uses a hatchet to chop off her hand. He calls for the bill and leaves her with the check, which is covered in blood. No one cares, which is a major theme of this movie, and she has to deal with her loss with only the help of Dr. Taylor (Mary Kraft) who gives her a therapeutic mirror box that will get her past the phantom pain of losing her appendage.

However, when Lily uses the mirror box, she discovers that it allows her to transform a photo of slain news anchor Maria Estando Cortez (Viviana Chavez) and help her prove that her co-anchor Tim Davis (Jamie Moore) has been murdering female news anchors for years.

This movie exists in its own world with its own rules, a place at once brighter and darker than our own, yet one that has the same issue with the same men getting away with the same crimes. Yet the end promises that Davis will soon be on the hand of some justice. Closure is fine; crushing your enemy feels so much better.

You can learn more about the movie at the official site.

GENREBLAST FILM FESTIVAL: The Trunk (2022)

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The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

The Trunk (2022): A father and daughter — Marco and Cass (Craig Monk and Ashleigh Morrison) — have found an old trunk covered with chains in the woods. They wonder what’s inside and how much money they can make from what’s inside, but perhaps when you find a chained-up chest buried in the mud you should just leave it there.

Directed and written by Travis Laidlaw, this is a film that builds to its inevitable gory and effects-filled conclusion. It’s a very simple story, yet incredibly well-told and could be the start of a much longer movie that could explore these characters more. I loved the art direction of the poster and how the credits run backward at the end, too. Definitely worth a watch.

GENREBLAST FILM FESTIVAL: I’m Losing You (2022)

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The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

I’m Losing You (2022): An alcoholic woman (Koko Marshall) — seen as she uses her computer and through the lends of Facetime and other apps — seeks the comfort of strangers on a video chat website. She’s lost her infant daughter, her parents (Kent Moran and Pearls Daily) keep calling and she’s going to be late for her AA meeting. But she’s close to the edge and even the self-help meditations (Natasha Lyonne is the voice) aren’t keeping her together. And then she meets someone (Catharine Daddario) very familiar on the other side of the computer.

Directed by Courtney and Mark Sposato and written by Courtney, this film uses its narrative technique of remaining online, as well as the visuals it shows, to the fullest. It allows you to get to know so much of its lead and learn how she got to this point. As to whether or not she escapes, the film doesn’t give any easy answers.

You can learn more on the film’s production site.

GENREBLAST FILM FESTIVAL: Get Out of There (2022)

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The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Get Out of There (2022): The Barber Brothers also made another short I’ve seen recently, Specter of Weeping Hill, and Get Out of There has the same gorgeous attention to look and detail.

After narrowly making it alive out of a fall down a hillside, Officer Jim Soul (Nathaniel Barber) can’t get back on his feet. Yet he knows that he’s not alone in the woods and only has his radio and dispatcher Maggie (Breanne Solis) for help.

This seems like part of a much larger story but it’s hard to complain when it’s so well made. I’d love to see where else the brothers go, as I’ve loved the first two shorts that I’ve seen from them.

CANNON MONTH 2: Frances (1982)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Frances was not produced by Cannon. It was, however, released on video in Germany by Cannon Screen Entertainment.

“In her false witnessI hope you’re still with usTo see if they float or drownOur favorite patientDisplay of patienceDisease-covered Puget SoundShe’ll come back as fireTo burn all the liarsLeave a blanket of ash on the ground”

Nirvana biographer Michael Azerrad wrote that Francis Farmer was the “patron martyr” of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, as they saw parallels between her mistreatment by the media and their own struggles with the press. Cobain told the writer of the song, “I guess that’s my way of letting the world know that bureaucracy is everywhere and it can happen to anybody and it’s a really evil thing. The story of Frances Farmer is so sad and it can happen to anybody and it almost felt at a time that it was happening to us…but it’s mainly just exposing the Frances Farmer story to people.”

In her book Will There Really Be a Morning?, Farmer said that while being keptin Western State Hospital she “was raped by orderlies, gnawed on by rats and poisoned by tainted food. I was chained in padded cells, strapped into strait-jackets and half-drowned in ice baths.”

Directed by Graeme Clifford (Gleaming the Cube, Ruby Cairo) and written by the team who wrote The Elephant Man Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore as well as Nicholas Kazan (Patty Hearst), Frances stars Jessica Lange as Farmer, who from a young age was defiant and the world felt the need to make her behave. Harry York (Sam Shepherd) tells most of the story for her, as she moves from acting on Broadway to a career in Hollywood to being institutionalized and finally appearing on This Is Your Life. The character is not a real person and was invented by the screenwriters to prove that they came up with the story. That’s because a lot of this movie came from William Arnold’s book Shadowland, which fictionalized a lot of Farmer’s life. Arnold sued for copyright infringement, claiming the film’s screenplay stole those fake parts that he came up with. He lost.

From 1958 to 1964, Farmer hosted Francis Farmer Presents on WFBM in Indianapolis, interviewing celebrities and showing old movies. That kind of makes me happy instead of sad. She refers to herself as a faceless sinner at the end of this movie and looks forward to life slowing down. I’d like to think she found some peace.

The film closes with this in the credits: “In exchange for the use of certain facilities and per agreement with the California Department of Mental Health, the producers have agreed to the following disclaimer: Since the 1940s there have been major advances in the care and treatment of the mentally ill. The reprehensible conditions experienced by Frances Farmer are not typical of mental health treatment today.” Supposedly, medical professionals from Western State Hospital at the time Frances Farmer was there denied that she was ever lobotomized or operated on.

To achieve that effect, director of photography László Kovács shot that scene with no eyelights.

What gets to me is that the scene where Farmer is arrested in the nude only lasts three minutes but took four days to shoot due to the door not working properly, believe it or not. Supposedly, Lange began to feel as abused as Farmer by the end of the scene.

GENREBLAST FILM FESTIVAL: Fame Fatale (2021)

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The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Fame Fatale (2021): Michael (Michael James Daly, who also co-wrote this film with director Michelle Iannantuono and story consultant Maddox Julien Slide) has been acting for twenty years and trying to get his break. The role he’d been so hopeful to get has been awarded to someone else, so he heads off to a horror movie convention to try and get his mind off the loss.

The director said, “Michael and I have both spent a lot of time on the film circuit, and we’ve seen a LOT of indie horror movies. And while gay characters are certainly becoming more prominent in horror films, they are still often the first to be victimized, or they are villainized due to their sexuality. Often, their sexuality is their singular character trait that defines and motivates them – which is simply not a reflection of reality. On top of that, very frequently heterosexual actors are hired to play gay roles, making the pool of opportunity even smaller for struggling LGBT performers.

We wanted to create a horror film that stars a gay character, played by a gay actor, who is well-rounded, funny, and sympathetic. His identity is core to his portrayal, but his character is not motivated by it.”

With a strange interaction with Halloween Kills actor Michael Smallwood and an indie filmmaker panel that nearly destroys whatever hope for a career that Michael has, Fame Fatale does a great job at showing just how clique-ish the so-called horror fam of conventions can be. Yet there are still individuals that want to make it better, that know how to reach out to one another and not gatekeep. There’s still a reason to love fandom and push yourself to want to be a creator.

I really loved how Fame Fatale used VHS tracking to denote dream sequences and get inside the head of its lead. It made me consider the indie films that end up on the site and consider the lives and careers of every actor and crew member, no matter how small.

GENREBLAST FILM FESTIVAL: Our First Priority (2022)

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The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Our First Priority (2022): Directed and written by Ariel Baska, this short uses the lens of a horror movie to tell some truths about dealing with chronic illness. Hannah (Violet Gotcher) has to have a checkup and the doctor (Benjamin Frankenberg) only has so much time to spend with her — he’s reminded that he has another patient waiting more than a few times — and he can’t believe that she has such a strange list of medical issues. His only job is to check the boxes on his paperwork and move on to the next person.

But Hannah is followed by her adult self or guardian angel (Jamie Kirsten Howard) who will make this doctor pay for the way she was treated.

Baska dedicated this movie “to all the loved ones we’ve lost to medical bias” and started it while she was getting ready to receive brain surgery, referring to herself and her issues as a “medical unicorn.”

While quick and to the point, Our First Priority made me consider how every patient is treated and how when medical treatment is encouraged to add just one more minute of care to each patient exactly how short of time that is.

CANNON MONTH 2: Strange Invaders (1983)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This was originally on the site on May 17, 2022. Cannon did not produce Strange Invaders, but they did release it on video in Germany on the Cannon Screen Entertainment label. Cannon did, however, produce the similar 50s science fiction style Invaders from Mars. 

Directed and co-written — with Bill Condon and Walter Halsey Davis — by Michael Laughlin, Strange Invaders was to be the second part of a trilogy that started with Strange Behavior AKA Dead Kids. The third film was going to be The Adventures of Philip Strange, a World War II spy adventure mixed with science fiction.

1958: Centerville, Illinois (shot on location!) is invaded by aliens, transforming humans into blue orbs and taking over their bodies.

1983: College lecturer Charles Bigelow (Paul Le Mat) learns that his ex-wife Margaret Newman (Diana Scarwid, Mommie Dearest) has disappeared after last being seen in Centerfield. Along with journalist Betty Walker (Nancy Allen), he heads to the town to find her and protect their daughter Betty Walker (Lulu Sybert, who was the daughter of production designer Richard Sylbert and writer Susanna Moore, who left Sybert for Laughlin), a half-human, half-alien being that the aliens want to bring back home.

Along with June Lockhart and Mark Goddard from Lost in Space and Kenneth Tobey from the original The Thing, Strange Invaders also has Louise Fletcher (Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Wallace Shawn, Fiona Lewis (who was also in Strange Behavior ), Bobby “Borris” Pickett (the maker of “Monster Mash”) and Dey Young (Kate Rambeau from Rock ‘n Roll High School).

Strange Invaders is a movie that tries to remind audiences of the Cold War science fiction of the 1950s. Audiences weren’t really all that into it — I mean, even The Thing struggled — but it remains a movie I watch every few months and always enjoy.

CANNON MONTH 2: Straw Dogs (1971)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Straw Dogs was not produced by Cannon. It was, however, released on video in Germany by Cannon Screen Entertainment.

I know they made a remake of Straw Dogs in 2011, but there’s no way I can imagine people not being beyond upset with this movie. The violence probably wouldn’t upset all that many people, but the two graphic assaults of Susan George — much less the quick flash that she may not have been all that upset by the first — would be greeted by a procession of anger the likes of which no movie made today would be able to create. I mean, would director Sam Peckinpah have been able to make movies in today’s world? One could argue that he struggled to do it in the 70s.

Based on The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon M. Williams and written by David Zelag Goodman and Peckinpah, the story begins with David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) moving his wife Amy (George) back to her hometown of Wakely. Her ex, Charlie Venner (Del Henney), has a gang of horrible townsfolk like Norman Scutt (Ken Hutchison), Chris Cawsey (Jim Norton) and Phil Riddawa (Donald Webster) and each of them resents the meek academic American making love to one of their own.

David and Amy have moved into her father’s house, Trenchers Farm, and hired the four men to fix it up. As the house improves, their marriage falls apart, as she claims he left America because he was a coward afraid of conflict and that he treats her in a condescending manner. He withdraws into his study of stellar structures while she teases the workmen with her body.

Despite the men killing their cat, David still goes hunting with them. They pull the snipe hunting trick and abandon him, heading back to his home so that Venner can attack his wife. That coupling seems a bit too much like lovemaking by the end and as she holds her ex-lover, Scutt comes in with a gun and forces Venner to hold her down. By the time David returns, Amy says nothing.

The next day, David fires the men and Amy has a breakdown in church when she sees them. Things get worse — a local boy named Henry Niles (David Warner) ends up being seduced by a relative of Venner named Janice Hedden (Sally Thomsett). When the men chase them down, he accidentally kills her and goes on the run. After David accidentally hits him with his car, he takes the boy home, which brings the foursome back to begin invading the home.

Then David says, “I will not allow violence against this house.”

What follows is a Hoffman descending into the kind of barbaric behavior one expects in a Stanley Peckinpah movie.

Straw Dogs is older than I am and still packs such infernal power. We see ourselves cheering for David to finally rise up, but is too much well, too much? I guess not from the same man who made The Wild Bunch. I’ve been thinking this film over and over in my head and trying to figure out how I feel about it. It’s not ambivalence. I’m just seeking an answer.

GENREBLAST FILM FESTIVAL: Buzzkill (2022)

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The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Buzzkill (2022): Let me tell you, when you start your animated short off with a logo that says Canon Pictures and looks like Cannon Films, I’m going to love what comes next.

That said, it’s easy to love this movie, which is the story of Becky (Kelly McCormack, who is Jess McCready in the A League of Their Own Series) and Rick (Peter Ahern, also the director and writer), who return to her house after a date and their moment of romance is interrupted by an insect crawling out of her eyeball.

The animation is gorgeous, the story is amusing and I just loved the way that it all pays off. Buzzkill gets in more gross-out and laugh-out-loud moments in its short running time than most movies get in two hours.