Indie Reviews
THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED Review: Comedic Discomfort in Millenial Ennui
While ennui and angst are common to many generations, I can imagine it could be much more accute among millenials - anything that might have been considered a 'normal' life gave up the ghost before they came of age. They're...
THE KING TIDE Review: The Fable of a Miracle Gone Wrong
Living in a harsh landscape, somewhat apart and isolated, means you make certain choices about how much assistance you will receive, and how much protection you will offer your community. It also means that legends can grow up around people...
HANKY PANKY Review: Cheap, Dumb, Delightful
Lindsey Haun and Nick Roth directed the horror comedy, available April 19 on VOD. "It's a silly movie that just wants to make its audience smile, and it succeeds."
SASQUATCH SUNSET Review: Sometimes Comical, Sometimes Profound, Sometimes Meaningful
Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg star in a new film by directors David and Nathan Zellner.
Panic Fest 2024 Review: THE BUILDOUT, Beautiful Meditation on Grief and Friendship
Writer/director Zeshaan Younus' feature debut flirts with genre in the same way Tarkovsky and Malick flirt with genre. The film follows two friends as they venture into the mysterious remote area in a vast Southern California desert that a religious...
IN FLAMES Review: The Supernatural Meets Patriarchal Conditioning
The term 'gaslighting' is now quite ubiquitous, and one which still remains scoffed at by many (usually those who hold power). But if you're a member of a marginalized group, that gaslighting could come not just from one person, but...
Panic Fest 2024: Spanish Shorts APOTEMNOFILIA and FACIES Wow With Extreme Violence and Exciting Ideas
Panic Fest offers up another fantastic selection of shorts this year, but two in particular have stuck with me. Facies and Apotemnofilia both deliver shocking, stomach-churning moments of extreme violence that are memorable enough for the bodily reactions they elicit....
Panic Fest 2024 Review: OFF RAMP Celebrates Found Juggalo Family As Only Juggalos Can
Off Ramp is never subtle. Within the first five minutes, when Trey (Jon Oswald) is released from prison and says a heartfelt goodbye to correctional officer and fellow Juggalo (devoted fan of Insane Clown Posse) Faith (Laura Cayouette), the film...
ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH Review: The Power of Song Will Devour You
Folk horror is often associated with a particular location, or perhaps a physical object that can be held in hands, something concretely tangible. But, especially in an age when the folkiness of this horror, the true human darkness from which...
Panic Fest 2024 Review: WORLDS Asks a Lot of Questions, Offers No Answers
Like its fellow found footage/mockumentary and Panic Fest 2024 film Jeffrey’s Hell, Worlds begins with an interview. Morgan Williams (Nikki Neurohr) talks about how she and some friends began to see a strange man (Nick Dailey), who always wore all...
Panic Fest 2024 Review: JEFFREY'S HELL Is a Brilliantly Self-Reflexive Found Footage Film
Writer/director Aaron Irons’s debut film Chest marked him as someone to watch. His sophomore effort, Jeffrey’s Hell, confirms that he’s one of the most interesting filmmakers working in the found footage horror genre. Chest follows a documentary crew investigating an...
THE PEOPLE'S JOKER Review: Maniacally Magical
It makes perfect sense that writer/director/effects artist/star Vera Drew doesn't want to rewatch The People’s Joker anymore. Drew has spent more than three years with the film now, since its beginning as a re-edit of the 2019 film Joker, through the...
THE GREATEST HITS Review: Strong Cocktail of Grief, Romance, Time Travel
Lucy Boynton, Justin H. Min, David Corenswet, and Austin Crute star in a film directed by Ned Benson.
LA CHIMERA Review: Precious Things Left to Bury
Arthur (Josh O'Connor) is not having a good day. He's just got out of prison with nothing but the clothes on his back. His former criminal gang is eager to recruit him; the person to whom he plied his trade...
ASPHALT CITY Review: Raw Intensity, Brutal Stress, Overwhelmed Paramedics
Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan star in Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's intense thriller.
RIDDLE OF FIRE Review: Life Beyond the Screen Requires a Brave Quest
Weston Razooli's feature debut stars Lio Tipton, Charles Halford, Charlie Stover, Skyler Peters, Phoebe Ferro, and Lorelei Olivia Mote.
DAD & STEP-DAD Review: Barbequeing the Male Ego to a Crisp
Not since wandering into Kevin Smith’s Clerks in an Oshawa multiplex in 1994 have I immediately glommed on to a micro-budget comedy as something that can be watched over and over again. Tynan DeLong’s Dad & Step-Dad is a small,...
YOU'LL NEVER FIND ME Review: When A Stranger Knocks
Relying upon the kindness of strangers (who are very strange indeed) on a dark and stormy night (when it feels like the wind might blow the world down) is a good recipe for a horror film. Add in a somewhat...
SAINT OMER Blu-ray Review: The Divide Between Personhood and Motherhood
When it comes to dismantling discrimination, whether it be by race, gender, or other marginalized identity. does the law follow society, or society follow the law? While the public can often push for changes they want in society to be...
SXSW 2024 Review: DORY PREVIN: ON MY WAY TO WHERE, Waking Up, Slowly
Julia Greenberg and Dianna Dilworth direct a music-doc about a singular singer and songwriter who needed to wake up to her own talent.
