Director and writer Isaac Rodriguez had Last Radio Call on the site a few months ago and it was an interesting idea in spite of its found focus look. That same need to show found footage is in this movie, which tells the story of masked serial killer Mister Creep (Brian D. Anderson) and how his twenty years of murders are being investigated by students John (Ali Alkhafaji), Beth (Amber Lee Solis), Val (Shaela Payne) and Dave (Thomas Burke).

For years now, Mister Creep has killed and killed and killed — two hundred victims at least — and broadcasted each kill, which has obsessed Val. Now, she and her friends have followed that need to know about Mister Creep into what we all know is a trap, but as always, would we have a movie otherwise?

There’s also the story of Mr. Creep’s childhood, as told by his biographer and friend Mary (Judy McMillan), who goes mad while telling the story. And then, well…why not go to the abandoned transmission tower that Mr. Creep used to send his signal from?

I said exactly the same thing when I watched Rodriguez’s other film: He’s talented and knows how to make a scary movie. A reliance on found footage is actually a detriment to his cause, as it takes away and limits what he can do with the film. I hope he keeps on making more movies but also expands how they’re made.

With appearances by Mark Patton (Nightmare on Elm Street 2), Laurene Landon (Maniac Cop), Richard Elfman (Forbidden Zone), Mark Torgl (Toxic Avenger), Melanie Kinnaman (Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning), V.C. DuPree (Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan), Victor Miller (Friday the 13th), Marc Sheffler (Last House on the Left), Carl Solomon (Tropical Cop Tales), Adam Marcus (Jason Goes to Hell), Todd Farmer (Jason X), John Dugan (Texas Chain Saw Massacre), Bill Johnson (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Bob Elmore (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Lloyd Kaufman (my endless hatred), Claudio Fragasso and Rossella Drudi (Troll 2), Tim Dry (Xtro) and Dan Yeager (Texas Chainsaw 3D), The Once and Future Smash tells the story of Mikey Smash (Michael St. Michaels, The Greasy Strangler) and William Mouth (Bill Weeden, Psycho Ape), the two actors who each played Smash-Mouth in the 1970 film End Zone 2. Only Michael has been credited and the two have fought at convention after convention ever since.

As they both attend the Mad Monster Party horror convention, they learn that a modern End Zone will be made and they can both audition. That movie will start one hour into End Zone two before it retcons everything that happened after.

It’s pretty amazing that a This Is Spinal Tap documentary comedy could be made about slasher movies but that’s because we understand the genre’s conventions. And, well, conventions. If you’ve spent any time doing that awkward walk past near-empty stars of the past and the hangers-on who attempt to be important by being in their orbit, this movie will more than ring true.

Directors Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein, who also brough the world Blood of the Triblades, Magentic and Ten really know what they’re doing. This was a blast.

You can learn more at the official Facebook page.

Vibeke Muasya, who directed and co-wrote this film with Nikolaj Scherfig (who was in the script and continuity department for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher), has created a dark and intriguing film here.

Hannah (Madeleine Masson) has suffered since the death of her father and how much her mother Silvia (Karen Leigh Sharp) has started intruding into her life. Yet her issues aren’t over yet, as her boyfriend Andy (Christopher Rector) dies in a hunting accident within hours of cheating on her with her supposed best friend Raven (Lexy Ronning), who has since disappeared.

As for how much her mother helps her recover, she tells her that they have to leave town before any else horrible happens. So who is losing it? Daughter or mother?

The deaths in this movie are filled with destructive energy while the pace and animosity between Hannah and her mother slowly curls and darkens as the film moves towards an ending that you can read so many ways. I had no real expectation for this and was shocked how well made it was and just how overcast and even pitch black this became at times.

Twisted is now available on demand.

Serial killer Kyle Wheeler (Ken Brewer, who also directed and co-wrote this movie with Meri Gyetvay) and his even more murderous daughter Nancy (Kaitlin Kinner) have just walked into the park where retired San Francisco cop Matt (Doug Waugh) has just started his new retirement job. Now, he and fellow rangers Cletus (Joe D’Auganno) and Mike (Lawrence Waller) not only have to keep everyone in the park safe, they have to protect themselves, too.

What follows is a movie that’s the right length — 68 minutes — and non-stop running and slashing. It never takes itself seriously, nor does it feel any reason not to laugh at the slasher genre along the way.

What this film is missing in budget it makes up for in scenery, as the park they shot this in is absolutely perfect for what follows, a constant chase of killers against those seeking to avoid being killed. The effects are mostly practical — there are some well-done stabbing kills — and the power chord-rich metal that drives it all is a lot of fun.

My favorite part was when they hyped up the MMA fighter who goes up against Nancy and how quick the battle is. Consider this movie streaming barbecue chips — filling for a short time with some flavor that’ll make you think about it and maybe want another bite later.

Want to learn more? Visit the official site for the movie.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Graffiti art may have started with a bad name, but has become a revolution throughout the world and has cemented itself as one of the largest art movements in history. Hollywood’s Can’t Be Stopped crew is one of the most influential and recognizable graffiti crews of all time and this movie tells both the history of the art itself and how this group has contributed to it.

As their Skate works to create a surrogate family that can protect these artists from the streets, they all learn lessons in integrity, morality and respect. Unbeknownst to these young artists, the tagging that they were doing was a pioneering force and would shape the art world for the future.

Directed by Cody Smith over a ten-year period, this features 2Mex, Marc 7, alchemist, Brandon 2 Tone,  Anger, Ares, Atlas, Aura, Awol One, Mickey Avalon, Beri, Baba, Bleek, Blosom, Chaz Bojorquez. Hex Cbs, Tony “Az” Carmona, Chip, Circus, Simon Chan, Cisco, Clae, Joe Connolly, Creeper, Crook, Demno, Dime, Duel, Dytch, Esel, Evidence, Yaniv Evan, Exel, Exer, Kelly “Risk” Graval, Haste, Ash Hudson, Rakaa Iriscience, L.A. Jae, Jigs, Just, Kasl, Krash, Andre Legacy, Louiche Mayorga, Mek, Mers, Myk, Myka 9, Nace, D.J. Rob One, Mear One, Alex Pardee, Pastime, Peri, Perk, Phever, Pjay, Plek, Posh, Power, Prae, Pyro, Quake, Raymond Roker, Saber, Sandman, Seen, Shifty. Shot, Greg “Craola” Simkins, Simple, Size, Skate, Skego, Manny Skiles, Snoe, Spanto, Strip, Take, Tezer, Hex Tgo, Topr, Tren, Trigz, Tyer, Unit, DJ Lethal, Pink Uti, David Arquette, Jon Bernthal and Xpres and is narrated by Everlast.

If you want an overview of the scene or want to learn more about graffiti, this is a great start.

You can get this from MVD.

A group of activists breaks into a corporate facility to put an end to animal testing but little did they know that there’s literally a Kong-like ape being held inside and once loose, he won’t care who gets in his way and who has to die for him to be free.

Directed by Jack Ayers, written by Max Brooks — yes, the guy who wrote World War Z — and produced by Scott Jeffrey and Rebecca Matthews, who have brought so many made for streaming horror films our way was of late, The Rise of the Beast has a CGI monster that doesn’t always appear to be in the same physical space as the actors he’s menacing, but I think this year is the year I get past stuff like that and just say, “Well, we’re never going back to rubber suits or miniatures.”

It’s a movie smart enough to name its evil company the Darrow Corporation and have a Dr. Kafka be in charge, yet still dumb enough to have people running and screaming from a maddened monkey. There are times this wants to be a satire, other times it’s super serious and it does in all in under 80 minutes, which is some kind of small victory.

The Rise of the Beast is now available on digital and on DVD from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Buffalo policewoman Megan (Alexandra Faye Sadeghian), her partner Jeremy (Peter Johnson) and his friends Blake (Dominic Luongo) and Gabriella (Nicole Colon) go camping for the weekend to get Megan’s mind off of an accidental shooting during a holdup. Except, well, you know how it goes. They witness the execution of a drug trafficker by Sheriff Preacher (Bill Kennedy) and his deputies and try to get out of town, only for the sheriff to send an armed militia after them.

Gregory Lamberson directed and wrote something entertaining here,as sure, we know that Megan is going to make it — the tagline says “Against all odds she will survive” — but for a low budget gun movie, he makes something pretty entertaining with plenty of twists and turns that surprised me.  And hey — Lynn Lowry is in the cast! If you’re looking for a movie with plenty of hardware — they even got a helicopter for the militia — this will definitely more than do the job. I also appreciate that a sequel is teased at the end.

Guns of Eden is available on digital and on DVD from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Kim (Chaley Rose) is a stylist happily married to John (B.J. Britt) who has a man crush on his new co-worker Grant (Anthony Dalton II). Coincidentally, Kim and Grant used to be a couple and they still have some attraction, so while discussing how to break the news to John, they end up having sex, as you do. They decide to tell him that they used to date — they elect to skip the fact that they have recently horizontally danced — but as John arrives home to find his once friend, now rival on the couch and goes off, critically injuring Grant. As he goes upstairs to get medicine and towels, Kim coldly dispatches of her ex-lover and orders her man to start impersonating Grant, which ends up driving him mad.

Directed by Michael Civille and written by Ellen Huggins, this movie exists in a world where DNA evidence does not exist, everyone but the villain is a moron and men can go so crazy that they not only kill other men they are friends with, but freak out, then they are them and dig up their bodies and hug them.

I realize this is a Lifetime film, but seriously, is there such a thing as urban giallo? Because this would somewhat fit, even if it doesn’t have the stranger in a strange land aspect, it does have sex, fashion, identity issues and murder. What other movies would fit into this unexplored category? When the Bough Breaks? Obsessed? The Perfect Guy? Single Black Female? Fatale?

You can watch this on Tubi.

How do we deal with trauma, when the true unknown of the universe, the inky black nothingness that can erase those we love from existence, comes into our little world? If you’re young Agatha Black (Bridie Marie Corbett) you discover the scary story and sound effects records that you father once used to listen to with you and become obsessed with them, even if the truth they begin to tell you reveals your dark fate in a world that wants to take you from the only home you’ve ever known and a once safe neighborhood now surrounded by masked killers. With each revolution, these records take Agatha further from our reality and begin to infect everyone in her orbit.

Bradley Steele Harding, the director and writer of this film, is someone that I often write to when I find a microbudget movie that obsesses me, as I know that he’s as fascinated by them as I am. The highest praise that I can give his film is that if he hadn’t made it, it would be one that I would excitedly write up and send his way. I always wonder why people don’t take inspiration from true low budget strangeness like Let’s Scare Jessica to Death or Messiah of Evil — two movies this definitely pays tribute to — instead of just making another generic slasher. Harding goes me one better on this by taking his budget and using it right: it doesn’t cost anything to set the camera up in a way that makes every single shot terrifying and off-kilter. The money spent goes to the right things, such as Udo Keir for the opening voiceover and great artists for the sound design and album covers themselves.

Agatha feels as fragile and haunted as any giallo heroine yet while the movie plays with that genre somewhat, it is slavish to no set formula, instead becoming very much its own film. It has moments that may remind you that this is Harding’s first film, but seeing some of the brushstrokes only serves to make this painting that much more intriguing, a genuinely odd and wonderful film that we surely need more of.

You can watch this on Tubi. You can also buy this movie on blu ray from Amazon and learn more on the official Facebook page.