Directed and written by Justin Lee (Final Kill, Apache Junction, Big Legend, Hellblazers), this movie tells the story of a a bag of stolen money — which started as part of a D.B. Cooper-style leap from a plane — being lost and ex-military types being hired to find the cash before the FBI. The problem? A hunter finds it first and ends up knowing the woods better than they do.
Will Walker (Chris Tamburello) is that hunter, finding himself up against some actual killing machines like Austin (former UFC star Tito Ortiz) out in the woods. There’s gunfire aplenty, including a grenade launcher that lies waste to the environment. It even goes hand to hand for a bit before a group of hunters spots the carnage and says, “Are you guys OK? It sounded like a lot of shots being fired.”
Did they not hear the grenade launcher?
Amazingly, this is the second movie in the last few months that I’ve seen with former Samhain drummer London may in the cast. The other was s Night of the Bastard (2022). Man, what’s next Eerie Von as a fireman? Lyle Presnar as a lawyer?
You know who else is in this? Danny Trejo. You have to respect that he’s in the Donald Pleasence phase of his career where he can just show up for a few minutes and be the top person on the poster. Maybe Kalus Kinski would be a closer comparison?
I liked that this movie came down to two men in the woods trying to kill each other for a bag of money. It got pretty intense and anyone that came between them paid the price.
Directed by Jeffrey Brown (The Beach House) and written by Michael and Shawn Shawn Rasmussen (Crawl), The Unheard has two horror themes in one: Chloe (Lachlan Watson) is part of a clinical trial to fix the hearing that was damaged by a childhood illness. And oh yeah, she’s going back home — never go back home — to help her father sell the house, the last place she saw her mother before she, like many women in her hometown, disappeared.
You can see — or more likely, hear — what’s coming.
As Chloe starts watching old videotapes and experiences the strange feelings of being back home, she starts to hear things that may or may not be there. As she begins to adjust to having her senses adjusted, she’s not hearing things for the first time nearly, including her mother’s voice via the tapes from the past.
Oh yeah — there’s also a giallo style killer still in town, stalking and killing women.
Sadly, the film never figures out what movie it is. Is it a coming home horror? A senses coming back shocker? A murder story? A haunted town? No, it’s all of those things and it rarely comes together.
Director and writer Lagueria Davis has created an amazing movie that asks so many questions about Barbie and what she means to the world of race. Yes, there were once no black Barbies, then there was only Julia, Barbie’s black friend who had no African-American features, just the same doll with black skin. And today, we have come pretty far, but still not far enough, as this movie shows.
Davis’ aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell worked at Mattel for 45 years and was only the second black person to work at their headquarters. She became friends with the woman who created Barbie, Ruth Handler, as well as Kitty Black Perkins, who made the first black-featured Barbie.
At one point, girls had to ask, “Why not make a Barbie that looks like me?” I was thinking about this today at a toy show, as when I was a kid, the only choices black kids had when buying Star Wars toys were Lando and one of his Bespin guards. That’s it. Two black dolls and hundreds of other aliens and all white people.
I liked how this film showed how people interacted with the doll as kids, what it means to them today and how the brand still needs to do better. That said, the fact that representation has increased does mean something. As a purchaser of boy toys growing up, G.I. Joe always had a diverse team of ethnicities and outlooks, even having multiple African-Americans: Roadblock, the heavy machine gun soldier who joined the army to learn how to be a chef; Doc, a military chaplain and medic who despite being on an anti-terrorism task force is a pacifist; Stalker, who escaped the ghettos of Detroit to be a leader and Alpine, who was an accountant and a mountaineer. On the cartoons, the Cobras even had black characters, such as Cobra officer Lieutenant Clay Moore and Raven, a Strato-Viper pilot. As for He-Man, an all-white line, they have added the Sun Man characters to their characters, providing some much-needed addition of other races.
The “Barbie and Nikki Discuss Racism” moment in this in pretty weird, though. I think it’s important to speak on these issues, but even G.I. Joe mainly handled problems like downed power lines. It’s a big topic for kids to get into and are Barbie and Nikki the right people to be discussing these heavy issues?
Black Barbie raises thoughts and questions I didn’t think of and for that, I found it an interesting film. I’d liked if it was a little shorter, but it’s not my movie or story to tell.
This movie is part of the Calgary Underground Film Festival, which for twenty years has been dedicated to elevating Calgary’s cultural landscape with the best in international independent cinema. Recently, CUFF was named one of the Best Horror Festivals in the World, 2022 by Dread Central, and one of the World’s 50 Best Genre Festivals and one of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2021 by MovieMaker Magazine. CUFF continues to attract audiences with its programming of films that engage audiences and defy convention.
It’s running from now until April 30 and you can see the entire schedule here.
You probably know Danielle Fishel as Topanga from Boy Meets World. She’s married to Jensen Karp, a former white rapper who wrote the book Kanye West Owes Me $300 (and other true stories from a white rapper who ALMOST made it big), owns Gallery 1988 and started this whole weird Twitter urban legend that Cinnamon Toast Crunch had shrimp tails in it.
Anyhow, she directed this Tubi original and he wrote it.
Anabella (Anjelica Bette Fellini) and Raury (Kayden Muller-Janssen) may have gone to the same high school, but they never spoke. Why would they? Anabella is the heir to the Meat Sleeves empire and has gone to college to basically do nothing and learn how to get ready to eventually take over her father’s company. Raury has worked multiple jobs to get to the same school, applying herself and winning the scholarships, loans and grants she needs to be the first person in her family to ever go to college.
Due to a computer hack, Anabella and Raury’s identities are switched, despite them coming from different worlds and even different races. But in the time they have to explore their new selves — unburdened from their past and expectations thanks to the double fresh start that college and this identity hack has provided — to explore who they really want to be.
This movie really struck me with how funny it was and how creative. It’s above the standard Tubi original and has a lot of cute little moments that make you enjoy both characters and root for them. Fellini and Muller-Janssen are great in their roles and really play off each other well.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This movie plays at Salem Horror Fest tomorrow night!
Directed by Colton David Coate (who also wrote the film) and Micah Coate, Guys at Parties Like It is all about what happens when a virgin — no members of this frat can be virgins or they get hazed — takes a wasted sorority girl upstairs only to discover that getting laid won’t be as easy — or bloodless — as he thinks.
Mary (Monica Garcia Bradley) is our heroine. Sure, she’s in a sorority, but she thinks she’s above it and just using her years there to advance her career. And she’s all about flirting, having a drink and even getting the boys hot under the collar. But when she gets behind closed doors, she’s still able to say no, which is her right, and not anything that these boys want to hear.
Brad (Anthony Notarile) is one of them. He’s the virgin who is getting into the frat because of his big brother Tony (Pablo Sandstrom), a guy who’ll do anything to get his friend ahead. Even spike the drink that Mary asks for, all so Brad doesn’t need to get that hazing.
There are others who play into this psychodrama: Sorority queen Trixie (Jacqueline O’Kelly), who is still smarting that Mary leaking a video of them making out; Kyle (Haulston Mann), the closeted frat boy who is having a secret affair with the frat’s only gay member Connor (Yuhua Hamasaki); Mart’s roommate Mags (Paige Sciarrino) who is stuck being the sober one. Trixie’s BFF Monica (Vianca Peguero) and the way too enthusiastic frat brother Rick (Jackson Trent).
Not all of them will survive the night.
My friend told me that she’s seen so many movies that have a moment where a triumphant woman walks away from a house or building on fire; beaten down but triumphant. She really needs to make a Letterboxd list for those movies — The Menu and Ready or Not are two to get her started — and she can add this as well.
Guys At Parties Like It is terrifying because there’s no saying that it didn’t happen last weekend. Or that it won’t happen this weekend. The moment when the cop gets so happy seeing the old frat house says it all: these men are protected, no matter what, unless something horrible happens to them.
Based on the true story of Roger Sharpe, a man with an incredible mustache who overturned New York City’s 35 year-old ban on pinball machines, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game is an astounding achievement. I’m interested in a movie about pinball but I bet not too many would be. A knowledge or even caring about the game in unnecessary. This film has a universal message and a true heart inside it.
Roger (Dennis Boutsikaris in the interview segments and Mike Faist in the main plot) has no idea what the wants to do or be. He just feels good when he plays pinball. Yet when a raid destroys the machines in the only place that has them in 1970s New York City — an adult book store — he is informed that the game he loves so much is illegal.
Along the way, he gets a purpose — making pinball legal, writing books on it, even designing his own games — but also finds something even more important: another chance at love with Ellen (Crystal Reed, Abby Arcane from the Swamp Thing series and Sofia Falcone from Gotham), a single mother with a young son named Seth (Christopher Convery). They’ve both been divorced and are unsure about their romantic lives; the way the movie brings them together and shows how essential their love is feels like something missing from so many films. I felt utterly charmed for both of them and wished I knew them beyond the time I spent with them in this film.
That said, if you love pinball, the scenes of Roger in Chicago meeting with the different companies and creators of pinball — names like Williams, Stern and Gottleib, if they mean anything to you, will make you very happy — and deep cut explanations of how the game is played will please you.
My favorite moment is when Roger decides to share pinball with Ellen for the first time and takes her into the adult book store where he’s on a first name basis with the guy behind the counter. She thinks he’s confessing a fetish. Yet he’s innocent and so excited to share the most important thing in his life with the most important person in his life. When she enjoys the game, he enjoys her more. It’s a very real moment in a movie filled with them.
Consider this a recommendation.
This movie is part of the Calgary Underground Film Festival, which for twenty years has been dedicated to elevating Calgary’s cultural landscape with the best in international independent cinema. Recently, CUFF was named one of the Best Horror Festivals in the World, 2022 by Dread Central, and one of the World’s 50 Best Genre Festivals and one of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2021 by MovieMaker Magazine. CUFF continues to attract audiences with its programming of films that engage audiences and defy convention.
It’s running from now until April 30 and you can see the entire schedule here.
Directed and written by Scott Goldberg and produced by Kevin Smith, The Forest Hills follows Rico (Chiko Mendez), who has been battling mental health issues since he was struck on the head somewhere in the middle of the Catskills. He has no idea what is a dream and what is reality, but he’s sure of one thing: he’s a werewolf. And Billy (Edward Furlong) keeps trying to convince him to transform.
The cast is the real draw here, as the film brings together werewolf actress par excellence Dee Wallace, slasher queen (and mangled dick expert) Felissa Rose, scream queen Debbie Rochon, Stacey Nelkin (Halloween III), Marianne Hagan (Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers) and, most amazingly, Shelley Duvall, who returned to acting to be in this movie to play Rico’s mother. Marc Summers from Double Dare even shows up!
With a mix of both psychological and actual horror, The Forest Hills is an intriguing movie filled with practical effects. Goldberg also made a short film by the same name in 2007 in which content creators Michelle and Elaine Torrance — do you think he likes The Shining? — seek the urban legend of the Forest Hills in Prestonsfield, Kentucky.
You can learn more at the official site for the movie.
Thanks to Esteban De Sade for reminding me — twice — that I confused Shelley Long and Shelley Duvall. I’m quite embarrassed.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This movie was watched as part of Salem Horror Fest. You can still get a weekend pass for weekend two. Single tickets are also available. Here’s the program of what’s playing.
At the height of sheer Q-Anon craziness — I think probably when a shaman in red, white and blue facepaint led an army of people into government buildings, and people defecated on the walls, maybe — people were grasping for straws and pearls and wondering, “How could this happen?”
I’m here to tell you that this has always been here.
In the 1980s, high school me was the same as old me. I was always in black, with long hair, and I only cared about music, movies and studying weird things. As such, I was brought into the Core Group, a team of teachers led by an occult expert cop who studied which students could be worshipping Satan. This group was led by my godmother.
The Satanic Panic wasn’t started by Michelle Remembers, but it felt like it was. The union of Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his psychiatric patient (and eventual wife, but we’ll get to that) Michelle Smith. In the mid-70s, while treating Michelle for depression due to a miscarriage, she confessed to him that she knew that something horrible had happened to her and could not recall what it was. Using hypnosis, Michelle was soon screaming for 25 minutes non-stop and speaking in the voice she had as a child. 14 months and 600 hours later, a conspiracy was found: Michelle’s mother and other citizens in Victoria were members of a worldwide Church of Satan.
At one point, Michelle was part of a ritual that lasted 81 days that Satan himself showed up for, and during that time, she was tortured, raped, witnessed others get killed and was covered with the blood of murdered babies until St. Michael the Archangel, Mary and Jesus appeared, healing all of her scars and blocking all of her memories of the years of Satanic desecration of her body and soul.
None of these stories were challenged, even a decade after, when Michelle and Laurel Rose Willson, who wrote Satan’s Underground about being a breeder for Satanists and having two of her children killed in snuff films, were on Oprah Winfrey and at no moment did Oprah challenge either of them, in 1989. The year, I was repeatedly questioned and challenged and told that I was giving my soul to Satan.
I was a white kid from a small town, and in no way have I ever dealt with racism, sexism, transism or any isms in any other way again. This experience, however, showed me a small, tiny glimpse into what it’s like to know you’re right and everyone is sure you’re wrong based on no facts at all.
By the 80s, Pazder was an occult expert, consulting in the McMartin preschool trial and appearing on a 20/20 segment called “The Devil Worshippers” that stoked the flames of the Satanic Panic. That report claimed that movies like The Godsend, The Incubus, Amityville II: The Possession, Exorcist II: The Heretic, The Exorcist, The Omen and Omen 2 allowed people to visualize and be inspired by the devil. This aired in prime time on ABC, a major cable network. They also refer to The Satanic Witch as a book filled with evil rites. And then, of course, heavy metal. As Anton LaVey was in his era of not speaking to the media, this also has footage taken from Satanis.
As part of the Cult Crime Impact Network, Pazder got into business working with police groups and consulting on Satanic ritual abuse, while lawyers used his book while doing cases, and social workers used Michelle Remembers as their training manual.
According to NPR host Ari Shapiro, “One reason these fictions were so appealing was that they gave people a sense of purpose. They had a mission – to defend the innocent.”
This is what’s happening today. It’s why trans people are grooming children, why Democrats are eating babies, andwhy elections are being seen as conspiracies. Because the truth — the idea that things happen randomly for no reason — is less frightening than Satanism or Q-Anon.
Man, did I digress?
In Satan Wants You, filmmakers Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams explore the history of Michelle Remembers and what most people don’t know, such as how Pazder and Smith left their families to be together and how the book was debunked. It would be one thing if their sessions led to a book and some press, but it would be another if they kicked off an entire movement.
The directors have stated: ““This is the first time that Michelle’s sister, Larry’s ex-wife, and Larry’s daughter have gone on the record to tell their side of this story. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to combine all these stories together to reveal the true origins of the Satanic Panic and show how they connect to the Pizzagate and QAnon conspiracies of today.”
This movie must be seen, even if we’ve entered a time when feelings matter more than facts. But did facts ever matter?
This film also found an anonymous source sending Michelle’s actual tapes, which have never been heard until now.
I don’t discount that she went through some trauma. Yet, how many lives were destroyed along the way?
The sad fact is that no one has learned anything. That same refrain of “protecting the children” exists today. And yes, that’s a noble endeavor. But as someone who grew up in a town of 7,500 people that had more than one Catholic priest abusing children in the last fifteen years of my life, Often, the abuser is someone the abuser has known and trusts.
Just like a worldwide Satanic network — paging Maury Terry and The Family, a book that lost a court case to the Process Church over false claims — and a public ritual lasting 81 days seems complicated to swallow, so do all the claims of the far right today.
Back when I was a kid getting grilled over my slasher movie magazines and love of Danzig, I figured, “Well, someday soon, all of these close-minded people will die off, and we can get past racism, and we can learn how to be more open-minded together.” But now, everyone is close-minded. No one seemingly wants to learn. And this movie is a great teaching tool — it’s a must-see, an intense documentary worthy of rewatching — because it happened before, and yes, it’s going on all over again. The message may have shifted, but it’s still the message.
I just discovered Becky, a movie that shocked me with its depth and ferocity. I had no clue how you could make a sequel to that film, but after watching this, I feel satisfied.
Filmmakers Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote were approached to write and direct this sequel by producer J.D. Lifshitz with only three weeks to write the script. Luckily, star Lulu Wilson had thought a lot about her character and wanted it to be more mature. I was worried that the previous team who made the first movie wasn’t involved, but co-writer Nick Morris and directors Jonathan Milot and Cary Murnion were the executive producers.
Years later from the first movie, Becky is working at a diner and living with an older black woman named Elena after living with different foster families. Her only constant is her beloved dog Diego. One day, while waiting on three Noble Men in town to meet with their cell leader (a nearly unrecognizable Sean William Scott) as they plan on an uprising during an appearance of Senator Hernandez (Gabriella Piazza). They act like you’d expect them to act and treat her as you’d expect them to treat her. She pours hot coffee in one’s lap and he decides to get revenge by finding out where she lives, killing Elena ad stealing Diego.
As you can imagine, Becky continues to be as efficient as a slasher maniac in her intensity, except this time the film takes breaks where she explains things, much like an Edgar Wright film. Woe be to the men — and one woman — of this racist terrorist cell, including Twig (Courtney Gains), DJ (Aaron Dalla Villa) and Sean (writer Angel).
Does that magic key from the first film get explained? Kind of. Are the bad guys so dumb that they explain their entire plans to her after tying her up? Of course. But is it also incredibly cathartic to have a female heroine chop an ultra MAGA guy to bits after he tells her his son’s name is Adolph? Most definitely.
Honestly, this sets up a sequel that I can’t wait to see. They could make a hundred of these movies and I’ll watch every single one.
This movie is part of the Calgary Underground Film Festival, which for twenty years has been dedicated to elevating Calgary’s cultural landscape with the best in international independent cinema. Recently, CUFF was named one of the Best Horror Festivals in the World, 2022 by Dread Central, and one of the World’s 50 Best Genre Festivals and one of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2021 by MovieMaker Magazine. CUFF continues to attract audiences with its programming of films that engage audiences and defy convention.
It’s running from now until April 30 and you can see the entire schedule here.
April 24: Do You Like Tubi Originals? — I do. You should find one and write about it. Here’s a list to help.
I feel like I’ve watched everything there is to watch about Keith Raniere and Nvixm, yet here’s another documentary about how a self-help multi-level marketing company suddenly started branding women, destroying lives and getting involved in human trafficking.
If you’ve seen as many of these as I have had to sit through — I adore my wife but my life is mostly Dateline and 48 Hours day in, day out — then you will know that somehow, really attractive women somehow fell for Keith and wanted to have him neg them and teach them the joys of volleyball. Hollywood actress women. Normal women. Business women. A lot of women.
That wasn’t enough for Keith, who should have realized he was doing pretty good, and he still wanted more, liek scamming the Dalai Lama and to have women brand his initials on their hips.
Keith even said, “I’ve had people killed because of my beliefs” and several of his ex-girlfriends have disappeared, died from being shot in the head or cancer that was later found to perhaps be poisoning.
If you’ve seen The Vow and all the other shows, you’ll learn the same information here. But aren’t we all true crime maniacs by now? If you have more of that sweet sleaze reality narcotic high, well, here it is.
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