TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! According to director Sid Zanforlin, Black Paris is principally about “the decisions we make.” This phrase acts as a master key to Zanforlin’s horror story. That key unlocks the film, allowing it to reveal…
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The New Hands is an absurd but occasionally amusing indie slasher from writer-director Brandon Scullion. His film follows Bram Victor (Stephen Wu), who lives with his girlfriend Zora (Lexi Graboski) and works at a laboratory. She greatly admires Bram’s hands.…
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TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! Like the roguish wordplay that inhabits its name, Scott Riopelle’s Soul Proprietor is many things. On the surface, the short film is a nod to the great possession films of cinema. But move past…
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TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! There is a singular moment in writer-director Mathieu Turi’s The Deep Dark that marks its approach to horror. The flash of an old camera illuminates an entirely black screen, and for a few fleeting yet…
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AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! Director Marc Saltarelli’s crucial documentary Studio One Forever uncovers conclusive proof of shirtless, good-looking life on the disco ball planet. It chronicles the history of a legendary West Hollywood gay club housed in a building where…
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Suitable Flesh, directed by Joe Lynch and penned by Dennis Paoli, is a harrowing descent into the abyss of the human psyche. Based on H.P. Lovecraft’s chilling short story “The Thing on the Doorstep,” the film weaves a complex narrative…
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AWARD THIS! 2023 NOMINEE! To the world, the story of Brandon Lee (not that one) is quite unremarkable, but in Glasgow, Scotland, it’s a story so infamous that its citizens still talk about it. Jono McLoed’s My Old School tells the incredible…
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When we look back on our lives, it’s the friends we’ve made and the time spent together that we most fondly recall. Director Kevin Bible and writer Mike Hayes’ short film, Bunco Babes, is the story of one such group of…
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Written by director Brandon T. Bailey and star Liana Marie Zaino, Cici’s Sonata is a glimpse into how trauma can affect a person years down the line. Promising young pianist Ciana (Zaino) is prepping for an audition, but the pressure…
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More of a comedy than a drama but wholly about drama, Unpacking is a film by and for women that everyone should appreciate. If all that sounds tangled, it’s because that’s the point. Directors Alexandra Clayton and Michal Sinnott’s Unpacking…
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What would you do to contact a loved one who has passed on? Would it bring closure or further one’s descent down the grief spiral? These questions lie at the heart of Creep Box by writer-director Patrick Biesemans. Dr. Caul (Geoffrey Cantor)…
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Kurdish director-writer Hisham Zaman’s A Happy Day is a darkly comedic and often poignant tale of teen refugees waiting to move on with their lives. Hamid (Salah Qadi), Aras (Ravand Ali Taha), and Ismail (Mohamed Salah) are housed in a…
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