A group of five young and wealthy friends has gathered to attend the funeral of one of their number but it’s all a ruse. The group seems to have done this before — what are they the cast of the Full Moon movie Prison of the Dead? — so they all head off to the forest for a camping excursion. Yet while they’re there, a shaman approaches them all. By the morning, the magician is dead, they all have fangs and everything is changed forever.
Each of the five friends must now consider who they are in this new world. Will they hide their vampiric sides from the world? Will they become monsters? Or, as the children of the obscenely rich whose lives were simply a series of adventures up until now, have they always been somewhat horrible creatures?
The best part of director David Verbeek’s film is the gorgeous neon-lit world of Taiwan, which offers an “anything is permitted” vista for the characters. Verbeek’s commercial work comes to play here, making this look like — at times — an extended commercial for just how wonderful it would be to make the night eternal forever.
You can stream Dead & Beautiful exclusively on Shudder.
Director Jean-Christophe Meurisse has created a film that really has no limit of how low it will go. It has four stories that all take their own paths.
An elderly couple has gone so far into debt that their home will soon be repossessed, so they enter a dance contest in the hopes of winning an SUV and selling it to repay as much of their debt as possible.
Their son is a lawyer trying to climb the corporate ladder as he works for the financial secretary of France who is trying to change his image.
There’s also a young girl who is kidnapped and assaulted by an old man with a grudge against the government not long after her doctor explains to her that she’s entering womanhood and she plans to sleep with her boyfriend.
And the aforementioned lawyer attempts to get past a scandal by committing even greater crimes.
The film moves from rough dialogue to even rougher action; this movie is beyond cynical and dark until it starts to pile shock beyond shock in an attempt at either upsetting or numbing the viewer, depending on who they are.
That said, this movie feels very vibrant in the way that it’s shot, nearly like improvised chaos that all comes together well. This definitely is the kind of movie that people are either going to be major fans or major enemies of.
Blood Oranges is playing Fantastic Fest. We’ll updated this post when it begins streaming.
Co-writers and co-directors Emily Bennett and Justin Brooks have put together a claustrophobic story that stays nearly all in one apartment as Charlie (Bennett) attempts to get her two-story Brooklyn apartment ready for the return of her erstwhile lover Simone (Emma Myles). Something has happened between the two of them, but from the positivity on the phone, Charlie is beaming.
That’s when everything starts going wrong.
Shadows randomly appear. Voices are heard through the vents. The WiFi makes ordinary Facetime sessions demonic. Her mother (Barbara Crampton in a surprising and wonderful cameo) alternately throws vague praise her way or decides to condemn Simone as a witch. Random calls pepper the film, as a friend (Dora Madison) at a club begs her to finally leave the house. But when she finally goes outside, she can’t. Her home is wrapped up tight — quite literally — and no calls to the landlord or 911 can change things.
While this film takes advantage of COVID-19 time filmmaking — Crampton and Myles appear on screens — it also allows Bennett the opportunity to shine as a performer, pushing the narrative forward all under her own power. As the walls start to close in, we see more of what may have happened between Charlie and Simone, there are glimpses of Charlie being shut out of artistic opportunities. There are photos on the walls that seem either embarrassing or emboldening of Charlie on the walls. And there’s a man’s name showing up on Simone’s smartphone.
So is Simone coming back home? Is there even a home? Is Charlie going mad or is she already there?
Alone With You is playing Fantastic Fest along with Knocking, which tells a similar story of a trapped woman dealing with being haunted inside a small apartment. Both have their own way of telling the same story and it was really interesting to see where both films took their characters. And they end in such different ways…
Alone With You has been acquired by Dark Star Pictures and is playing Fantastic Fest. When we have streaming information, we’ll edit this post.
Update, March 2022: You can now watch Wanton Want as a free-with-ads stream on Tubi.Other viewing options are available at the end of this review.
If you grew up watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer, then you’ll have an immediate streaming interest in Wanton Want, the ninth indie feature film from Joston Theney. In addition to starring Nicholas Brendon, who portrayed Xander Harris on that TV franchise (1996 to 2003), the film also stars Tuesday Knight (who got her start in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master; with eleven films in various states of production) and Phillip Andre Botello (the 2019 Jesse Eisenberg vehicle, The Art of Self Defense). In support are Shoshana Wilder (Roku’s 2021 original series, Cypher) and a 55-indie credits strong Jackie Moore.
Wanton Want is the story of Douglas Paynter (Nicolas Brendon), a lackadaisical writer with hopes to shatter his recent bout of writer’s block and create his “magnum opus” by taking a remote (uh-oh), weekend getaway with his wife (Jackie Moore). No writing, however, will be done on this retreat: Paynter’s estranged friend Dan Mackie (Phillip Andre Botello) crashes the weekend with his femme fatale wife Pia (Shoshana Wilder) as the noirs of film slip and the screws turn when their once causal, sexual secrets and obsessions come to a head for a fatal weekend.
During a promotional interview for his second feature film, Axeman (2014), at Bio Gamer Girl, Atlanta, Georgia-born producer and actor, writer and director Joston Theney cited Takashi Ishii’s penned Evil Dead Trap (1988) as his favorite horror movie:
“[I’m] probably gonna catch hell for this but Evil Dead Trap. It’s ruthlessly violent and gory. It’s dark and moody, and it’s visceral and gritty. It doesn’t pull any punches. It was made at a time and in a nation where films of that nature were pretty much banned. But a very ballsy [Toshiharu Ikeda] found the money, dug deep and made a truly disturbing and jaw-dropping film when it was very unpopular and detrimental to your career to do so.“
Evil Dead Trap? What type of person chooses that film of all films as their favorite horror film? Passing over the oft, ad nauseam-cited bloody trinity of Carpenter, Cunningham, and Craven for a U.S-obscure director from Japan? You know what that means: Mr. Theney passes “GO!” and collects $200 bucks and becomes part of the B&S About Movies family.
Sadly, we don’t have $200. We can’t even afford to offer Joston a B&S drink tumbler or mouse pad. But we can review his movie.
“I’ve been a long time fan of film in general. Growing up, I was always a quiet kid. I was always kind of shy. Movies and television is what I always turned to. As I grew up, I created my own little stories and stuff, short stories. I had a little comic book I started. I think all of that, overtime, naturally led to me picking up a camera.” — Horror Fuel, 2017
“I say make a good film, show it where ever you can and tell everyone you can. You can’t just rely on social media. It’s only a cog in the machine. Without it, the machine doesn’t function properly, but you can’t focus solely on that or the rest of the engine will fail. Fans need to see it, feel it, sniff it, etcetera, and only hearing you yap about how awesome it is isn’t going to suffice.” — Horror DNA in 2014
“Growing up on ’80s slashers and never really growing out of them . . . this was and always has been my favorite era of filmmaking. It was a time when creativity and entertainment value were the things that drove film.” — Sandwich John Films, 2014
As you can see from Joston Theney’s previous insights, he’s an accomplished filmmaker with a cause; a filmmaker that doesn’t wait for the studios to come to him. So, with that, he’s created nine feature films since 2011, which includes his Axeman trilogy, along with a tenth — The Tale of Two Faces — in post-production. As an actor in the frames of his own works, you’ve also seen the writer-director in the uber silly, but very entertaining streamer Snake Outta Compton (2018). He’s also appeared in the latest, unofficial entry in the ongoing Jurassic mockbuster franchise, Jurassic Hunt (2021)*.
The Amazon Prime and IMDb reviews for Theney’s self-produced efforts haven’t been kind, but there are a few that “get” his efforts. In preparing for my review of Wanton Want — not being familiar with his works — I spent some time with three of his films. While there are, as is the case with any self-made filmmaker blazing their own trail, cinematic faux pas (see the great Flywheel as an example), Joston Theney is certainly not an incompetent filmmaker; he knows how to act-structure a screenplay and create character arcs, and he’s learned his craft with each film in his past as he matures with the next film. That’s the sign of a true filmmaker: growth, as Joston Theney doesn’t make the same mistake — or the same film — twice. Courtesy of having the most recognizable and thespian-strong cast of his now ten films, Wanton Want proves Joston Theney’s tremendous growth as a filmmaker, as his ninth effort is by far his strongest effort. This may also be, with the exception of his in-post-production The Tale of Two Faces, his last self-produced film.
Last film? I am wishing him bad luck? No, exactly the opposite.
Joston Theney is infinitely ready to be called up to the indie-shingle big leagues; he’s professional prepared to tackle damsel-in-distress flicks, even romance Christmas romps for the Lifetime and Hallmark Channels (if our beloved Fred Olin Rey and David DeCoteau can make em, why not). So watch Wanton Want today, so you can say you remembered Joston Theney, then.
For it will happen for him, sooner than later. He’s a filmmaker to watch out for and remember.
You can keep abreast on the latest with Wanton Want on Facebook and Instagram or go direct to the source at the Joston Theney’s official website. You can also read more of his insights on film with interviews at Final Girl and Search My Trash, along with a new interview, post-Wanton Want release, with Authority Magazine.
As you wait for the debut of Wanton Want, you can catch up with Joston’s work on Tubi with the free-with-ads streams of Snake Outta Compton, along with his horror directing efforts Adam K, Axeman at Cutter’s Creek, and Stained. If you’d prefer your Joston experience ad free, you can VOD stream his efforts via his Amazon Prime page.
Disclaimer: We received a review request from the filmmaker prior to the film’s distribution. That request has no bearing on our review of the film. We researched and retrieved all review quotes within this review — on our own. Those materials were not provided to us by the filmmaker, any PR firm, or film studio now associated with the film.
About the Author:You can learn more about the music journalism, fiction and screenwriting endeavors of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Movies.
Charles Dorfman has produced plenty of movies as of late, including VFW, Satanic Panic, The Fanatic, Boys from County Hell and plenty more. Barbarians is the first film that he’s directed but it sure doesn’t seem like it.
The concept is simple: our friends come together for a birthday celebration in a remote country home.
Yet you know how movies about dinner parties go. There are secrets to be unearther and hell to be unleashed.
You can sense the tension from the moment that the party begins. By the end of the main course, Lucas, Adam, Chloe and Eve have gone from polite conversation to outright resentment. And them, well, three armed gunmen intrude on the festivities.
At the heart of all of this is the conflict between two brothers. Tom Cullen is perhaps best known for his work on Black Mirror and Downton Abbey, while Iwan Rheon was Ramsay on Game of Thrones (and Maximus in Marvel’s first take on The Inhumans and Mick Mars in The Dirt). Their interplay and how their long-standing relationship — and how it changes as their partners come into their life — form the backbone of this tale.
By the end, things get dark. And not just in narrative tone, but the film gets literally shadowy in tone, which feels like something Rheon was used to coming from the inky blackness of Thrones. Also, this is yet another film that presents chapter headings for each narrative shift of the story.
Personally, I’ve had enough tense family dinners to last me the rest of my life, but if you’d like to sit in on another one, this is an intriguing film that explores the ridiculousness of influencer culture and masculinity while telling a gripping and brutal story.
Apache Junction is a place for thieves and cold-blooded killers, not big-city reporters like Annabelle Angel (Scout Taylor-Compton, Laurie from the Rob Zombie Halloween films). Luckily, she finds that Jericho Ford (Stuart Townsend, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Queen of the Damned). But can she trust her life to a man with such a notorious past?
Writer/director Justin Lee (Final KIll, Big Legend and Hunters) brings this western film to your small screen, his third film in the genre after Badland and A Reckoning. And this time, he has Trace Adkins and Thomas Jane as a saloon owner named Al Longfellow.
So other than the cast, I can say that the locations look good and the film is competently made. As for the rest, well…I can recommend all manner of much better Italian westerns, if you’d like.
But hey — Trace Adkins playing a murderous U.S. Army man? I guess there’s that.
Johannes is a young man who has never left home and only knows his mother — a recovering addict — and the vet that cares for his eagle Arthur. Maria, the mother, has raised him on a life of hard work, isolation in the Austrian alps and service to God.
All is well.
That is, until a ski resort developer intrudes, obsessed with owning the land that Johannes and his mother live upon. His harassment starts with phone calls, but before it’s over, he’s unleashed a torrent of threats and a veritable squadron of drones upon our protagonists.
Johannes is a child trapped in a man’s body and that man is about to learn that the world that his mother has told him is true is something quite different. Has she been raising him — really, not raising him — to never grow old, to remain a child for as long as she is alive? If she’s found God in her solitude, why has she treated her son this way? And is their relationship oedipal?
Susanne Jensen, the non-actor who plays Maria, and Franz Rogowski, considered one of Europe’s finest actors is Johannes, have tackled some truly challenging roles here. This isn’t a crowd-pleasing movie per se; this is a claustrophobic piece of film that goes from stark wilderness to religious unawakening to a battle against a relentless sea of machinery within nature.
Peter Brunner is just getting started as a director — this is his third film after To the Night and Those Who Fall Have Wings — and as the son of a psychoanalyst and a painting therapist, you can see the contemplative nature of that kind of upbringing has turned him into an intelligent filmmaker; he’s also studied under Michael Haneke (Funny Games, Amour) at the Vienna Film Academy.
There’s a claim that this movie is “inspired by the true story of an exorcism.” The director also claims that this only comes at the dark end of this film. I leave that interpretation up to you, but for someone who mostly watches the work of low-end directors, seeing an artistic film like this is often like staring at the sun.
Luzifer is playing Fantastic Fest this week. When we have streaming information, we’ll update this post.
Matt’s older brother Deco turns up with a hangover one morning — like always — and when he’s let in, it turns out that he needs more than just some aspirin and sleep. His new fangs prove that he’s been attacked by the vampires that haunt Dublin, led by the ex-fiancee of Henry (Anthony Head, Giles of Buffy the Vampire Slayer), once just a trainspotting history lover, now a vampire killing cab driver.
Obviously taking its title from Let the Right One In, this is a comedy take on vampires filled with more gore than you’ll see in several undead movies.
Director Conor McMahon made Stitches a few years back. This is a big movie for the director and feels like exactly something Shudder would pick up, just like 2019’s Thirst. The film also boasts lush scenery — and some Dublin dives — including Ringsend, as well as the Bram Stoker Museum/Castle Dracula in Clontarf.
While it’s played for laughs here, the metaphor of drug addiction being like vampirism and you make the problem worse when you invite the person into your life — or the vampire inside your home — is a solid one. It may not contribute much new to vampiric lore — seeing Giles teach a young kid about sandlewood stakes is a nice touch — but it’s the kind of movie that is out to make you laugh, cheer and shout out loud.
Let the Wrong One In is playing Fantastic Fest this week. As soon as we discover where it’s steaming, we’ll update this post.
A lot of people may wonder, what does the B and S in our site name stand for?
Eric Roberts.
Seriously, we’ve covered so many movies by today’s John Carradine that I feel like Mr. Roberts may as well be in my kitchen fixing himself up a bowl of Ghostbusters cereal.
So anyways, here’s this month’s bit of Eric, a movie in which…a pandemic has ravaged the Earth.
Oh man — do I want another pandemic movie despite most of my day job being dealing with it?
“It’s cool, Sam,” yelled Eric from upstairs. “You have any crackers for this hummus?”
So while I ponder the iron stomach of Eric Roberts, a man who can drink milk and hot pepper hummus at the same time, let us move to a place where not only famine and piracy are day-to-day affairs, but so are zombies.
Produced, directed, written and featuring Robert Enriquez, this movie has a lot of talking before we get to the action, with Roberts showing up as a flashback and not in the main narrative. But man, that’s how the man likes to work. He’s in my pool right now recording audio for another movie about an answering machine that gets plugged in and realizes that all the other answering machines are no longer in use so it goes on a rampage.
The zombies in this are called Wanderers, though, which is a good term for them. So kudos on that part of the script. It’s a real challenge to make a zombie movie these days when it feels like absolutely everything has been done, so I have to give it to the filmmakers to include aquatic undead, which is a nice touch as well.
Escape to the Cove is now available however you watch movies online. You can learn more at the official Facebook page.
I love exploring the retro-vibed, digital terrains of Tubi, as it takes me back to the simpler, analog days with a video membership card in my hand, perusing the shelves, examining the VHS sleeves for a Saturday afternoon of movie-binging.
Needless to say, in today’s digital distribution realms endlessly supplied with films by way of digital cameras (and now, smartphones), the films discovered are not so much a rough diamond, but a chunk of pyrite. As a matter of my own, personal review policy: If I discover—or am assigned—a small indie movie that fails to resonate, I won’t post a review. There’s nothing gained by calling out the shortcomings of one’s heartfelt passion project, be it action or comedy, or a hybrid of both. I have to believe in the work.
Producing an action film—in this case a dark-comedy action film—on a tight budget isn’t an easy task (usually maxing at one million in budget). So while those today digital productions aspire to become a Shane Black industry-calling card under the production eye of Joel Silver and directorial reins of Richard Donner, there are, again, more cubic zirconia than precious gem stone under the streaming loupes.
Charles Malik Whitfield stars? Consider it streamed.
When it comes to budget-tight actioners, while I was taken to snotty task by a troll or two in regards to my review, I stand by the work of writer-director Steven C. Miller with his serviceable action-thrillers, such as the Bruce Willis-starringFirst Kill (2017), the Nicolas Cage-starring Arsenal (2018), and the Aaron Eckhart-starringLine of Duty (2019). My same critical stance holds for the work of Prince Bagdasarian’s morally-screwed up character action romp, Abduction. I also felt noted urban music video director Nick Leisure turned in a fine set of frames with A Clear Shot and Anthony Ray Parker’s (TV’s syndicate Hercules and Xena franchises) industry calling card Lone Star Deception was another solid, against-the-budget action-thriller. Randall Emmett’s Precious Cargo giving Mark-Paul Gosselaar a starring role worked well, as well. On the comedy end, I felt Camilo Vila provided Jaleel White a solid, leading man comedy role with 5th of July, while Mehul Shah’s Nana’s Secret Recipe was an also an enjoyable watch.
So, when you’re on an entertainment budget and searching for something new and fresh, a little time and patience in the streaming-verse pays off. Of course, having those marquee names on the box—well, these days, a digital avatar—always helps entice my hitting that big red streaming button. Give me actors I know and respect for their commitments to their roles—no matter how big or small—be they on a career up-and-coming or on a downward slide—I am watching your flick.
Such a film is Hub City.
Best pitch-described as Ice Cube’s Friday meets Lethal Weapon, this effective, budget conscious (one million) action comedy stars the always watchable Charles Malik Whitfield (part of the starring-recurring casts of The Guardian, Empire, and Supernatural; stellar in one of his earliest roles as Otis Williams in the NBC-TV mini-series, The Temptations), along with the deserves-his-own-series Cisco Reyes (guest roles on TV’s CSI: Miami, Numbers, Leverage, and Rizzoli & Isles).
Originally under-the-radar released to festivals and VOD platforms in 2018 as Compton’s Finest, this fifteenth directorial effort (he’s also written sixteen films) by the prolific Dale Stelly has relaunched this September to the Tubi platform as Hub City (known as since the city is the almost-geographical center of L.A. county) to capitalize on actor Charles Malik Whitfield’s well-deserved, renewed awareness as result of his current work on NBC-TV’s hit series Chicago Med. Whitfield stars alongside Cisco Reyes as Detectives Kevin Blackman and Antonio Vargas (know your ‘70s actor homages; I know, the actor is “Fargas”) working—with comical effect—the Hub City beat on the search for Columbian drug lord Silk Delgado (the always stellar, 120-credits strong Roberto “Sanz” Sanchez of TV’s NCIS, Criminal Minds, Chicago P.D., Without a Trace, The Closer, and the Law & Order franchise) flooding the streets with a new, deadly designer drug: the cocaine-based “The Devil’s Breath”. During the course of their investigation, Blackman not only comes to discover his combative stepson is involved with Silk Delgado (“I have a ‘job’!” he screams), he endures the wrath of Silk after killing his son in a botched sting.
Actors from Chicago Med and Breaking Bad? Consider it streamed.
Rounding out the solid cast in support roles is Lavell Crawford, a pisser of a stand-up comedian who caught my eye a few years back on Comedy Central (do check out his “Grocery Store” and “Mama Was Old School” vignettes from his Can A Brother Get Some Love DVD). Crawford has since come to a find a larger, mainstream audience courtesy of his co-starring support as Huell Babineaux on AMC-TV’s hit series Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, as well as living his dream as a cartoon character (THUNDERCATS!) on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Here, he brings on a hilarious turn as Bubbles, the harmless ne’er-do-well friend of our put-upon detectives. Equally stellar is the-I-want-to-see-more-of Erick Nathan (in a completely different role in the soon-to-be-released horror Beyond Paranormal) as the Snoop Dogg-inspired, low-level street hustler Coldwater Pimp (who spews more comical-acronyms for the word “pimp” than I realized existed).
As is the case with any low-budget film, there’s a few minor faux-pas: A few edits, most fades, felt a bit abrupt-to-awkward. There were also a couple sound issues (a room echo that’s an easy fix in-post, but budget concerns most-likely prevented a fix). A couple performances were a bit weak, but certainly not of an unskilled, thespian-tragic level that you sometimes see in indie-streamers. All in all, for my first film exposure to Dale Stelly’s work, I find him to be a solid, competent director who knows how to work his tight budget to bring us a film with a solid set and production design as he extracts the best from his unknown-to-known actors. In the cinematography department, Brazilian-bred filmmaker Felipe Borges keeps everything well-shot, peppered with an occasional creative shot that keeps it fresh, but doesn’t overwhelm the watch with too much cleverness (one intelligent shot: the POV of an eye-patched character is ever-slightly blurred against the view of the other character; very nice, indeed).
Another Tubi-exclusive stream we’ve reviewed: Swim.
Since we’re on a budget, sure, the action isn’t to the crazed level of Lethal Weapon (eh, your critical mileage my err to side of the Bay-os strewn Bad Boys franchise) or any of its quick-to-market direct-to-DVD knockoffs, but this debut script by Tony D. Cox is a well-structured work that provides his characters plenty of solid, comedic lines that bring on the out-loud chuckles. Hopefully, this Tubi digital-relaunch—in conjunction with Charles Malik Whitfield’s rising star and Lavell Crawford bring the Breaking Bad fan base to the digital troughs—more streamers will discover Hub City and be turned on by Tony D. Cox’s writing. The next time I see his name on a film, I’m streaming that movie, as Cox is a writer to watch for. As for director Dale Stelly: I look forward to his next film and I hope he’s afforded a lager budget for his next film. This is good stuff from everyone involved. Steam it.
The ending teases a possible sequel with Kevin Blackman and Antonio Vargas—knowing they’re pulling a several month’s suspension—play with the idea of going into the private eye business. And Coldwater proclaims his pimpin’ days are over. So, a modern day Starsky and Hutch—with Coldwater as their “Huggy Bear” and Bubbles along for the ride? Hey, Bubbles cleaned up with his lawsuit after being shot in buttocks by the cops (“That’s not a gun, that’s piece of chicken!”), so he can back the new P.I. firm. Now that’s a sequel I want to see! If this streaming relaunch clicks with audiences . . . it could happen. Fingers crossed!
You can learn more about Dale Stelly’s body of work at his official website Stelly Entertainment and follow the studio on Facebook. Dale discusses his work in an extended interview with Film Courage on You Tube.
Disclaimer: We did not receive a review request for this film. We discovered it on our own and enjoyed the film.
Our thanks to the film’s writer, Tony Cox, for the positives vibes, in the comments.
Yes, the best is yet to come for you and Dale.See you both with the next films.
About the Author: You can read the music and film reviews of R.D Francis on Medium and learn more about his work on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Movies.
B&S About Movies 
You must be logged in to post a comment.