People say that there is art through adversity. As such, to begin, it’s worth stating that Mattie Do‘s latest feature is the 13th film to come out of Laos… in its history. Furthermore, it is worth noting that she is a female filmmaker in a Marxist state. So while the country is fraught with local censorship, Do is able to deliver quality films in a place where there is no film industry or infrastructure for that kind of entertainment. Creative struggles are one thing, but judging the finished product, Dearest Sister is an admittedly hard film to review. The premise seems straightforward, yet vague enough to pique your interest: “After moving to the city, a poor…
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G-S-T Review…Lazer Team
One of the darlings of Fantastic Fest, and others like it, this sci-fi buddy comedy – about four morons being Earth’s only hope against pending galactic doom (would you expect any less from a genre film?) – is everything you could want in a midnight movie. As such, it joins a long line of preposterous romps, namely Idiocracy, Hobo With A Shotgun, Machete Kills, and Turbo Kid, and all the zaniness they can deliver. Lazer Team is a modern yarn, but the premise has a decidedly throwback vibe which will make any fan of the ’80s happy – especially the absurdly over-the-top elements. It’s highly irreverent, and tries to channel a Nation Lampoon level of humor, but sadly, the results…
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Off the Shelf…Ernesto Díaz Espinoza’s ‘Redeemer’
Genre filmmaking staple, and Fantastic Fest regular, Ernesto Díaz Espinoza has been working with Marco Zaror for years. With each succeeding film, the two have been crafting yarns meant to be a little more serious than their B-Movie homages and send-ups from the glory days of VHS. Even if, like us, you’re a fan of Espinoza (check out our review of Bring Me the Head of Machine Gun Woman here), the Dark Sky trailers that precede this, his fifth feature, don’t give a lot of confidence. Yet one need not worry, this is not the pinnacle of Espinoza’s career. It’s an opportunity to let Marko Zaror be a badass, again. These days,…
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G-S-T Review…Man From Reno
Editor’s Note: This review has been republished. It originally posted with the rest of our reviews and coverage at Fantastic Fest this past September. Even though it’s a slow-boil mystery, Man From Reno is film that engages quickly and keeps you transfixed. Like the hard-boiled detective films, and noir fiction which inspired it, Dave Boyle‘s involving story is layered with sly, pensive and effective reveals. Further, it’s punctuated by just the right amount of wrong elements that help keep us in suspense for the duration. In San Francisco, hugely popular Japanese novelist Aki (played by Ayako Fujitani) becomes caught up in something more elaborate than one of her best-selling books. On…
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G-S-T Review…It Follows
Editor’s Note: This review has been republished. It originally posted with the rest of our reviews and coverage at Fantastic Fest this past September. The darling hit of the 2014 Fantastic Fest, the overly pensive and highly original stalker film, It Follows, is sure to pick up fans wherever it screens. In an effort to stay progressive, and put a one-of-a-kind stamp on the horror genre, David Robert Mitchell actually gives us a story that feels somewhat like a throwback. The last time we were at the Fest, writer Robert Cargill and director Scott Derrickson told us that the genre had been dumbed down to mindless teen slashers. Well, they set out to help fight…
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G-S-T Review…My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn
Editor’s Note: This review has been republished in conjunction with the theatrical and the VOD release on February 27, 2015. It originally posted with the rest of our reviews and coverage at Fantastic Fest this past September. When a filmmaker sets out to tell a story, their goals are simple: get the ideas they have in their head on to the screen, and have the audience enjoy it. Seems straightforward enough, but there are a multitude of challenges to achieve either goal. Really, the odds are stacked against every filmmaker simply because we the audience are becoming increasingly tougher to satisfy. A lot of it comes from how much content is…
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Video Interview…’My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn’ Director Liv Corfixen
Editor’s Note: This interview has been republished in conjunction with the theatrical and the VOD release on February 27, 2015. It originally posted with the rest of our reviews and coverage at Fantastic Fest this past September. Fantastic Fest is a festival where anything can happen. Further, while there, you can meet just about anyone including one-of-a-kind filmmakers like Nicolas Winding Refn. To calm your nerves, no, he wasn’t there promoting a new film (though he is working on one). In fact, this intense and uncompromising auteur is the subject of his wife’s film. Directed by Liv Corfixen, My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn is a very personal making-of documentary that…
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G-S-T Review…The Babadook
Editor’s Note: This review has been republished. It originally posted with the rest of our reviews and coverage at Fantastic Fest this past September. Back in 2012, director Scott Derrickson and writer C. Robert Cargill screened Sinister (click to read our review). Critic Brian Salisbury introduced the film to the eager Fantastic Fest crowd, and, very fittingly, called it “nightmare fuel“. Well, in the same vein as that film (and other modern horror game changers like Insidious, and The Conjuring), Australia’s own The Babadook shows that there are still untapped areas in the human psyche that, when tapped just right, are plenty capable of scaring even hardened horror fans. The Babadook is written…
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Interview…’V/H/S: Viral’ Directors Gregg Bishop, Marcel Sarmiento, Nacho Vigalondo
V/H/S: VIRAL screened at the 2014 Fantastic Fest, and fans of this horror anthology series just love it. Each segment offered something unique, dark and twisted and this leg of the purported trilogy really went for the throat. We had the chance to speak with directors Gregg Bishop, Marcel Sarmiento, and Nacho Vigalondo who share their experiences filming their violent, intense and jaw-dropping sequences. This installment might have fans and critics split, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Click here to read our review from Fantastic Fest. FYI, the bulb on our light kit went out halfway through the interview session. Instead of starting over, we decided to run with it and…
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Interview…’V/H/S: Viral’ Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
The purported final leg in the horror anthology series, V/H/S: VIRAL screened at the 2014 Fantastic Fest. In short, it was nuts but the crowd just loved it. Now, outside of the festival circuit, this installment might have fans and critics split, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Click here to read our review from Fantastic Fest. While at the Fest, we got to sit with directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead as well as the cast of the insane “Bonestorm” segment. They offer their experiences filming one of the series’ most intense sequences. Sure wish they could have done something with the skydiving idea they head, but this sequence still…
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Interview…’Tombville’ Writer/Director Nikolas List
Writer/Director Nikolas List studied film directing at the IAD in Belgium. Ange, his final university project, was selected by more than 50 international film festivals and awarded many prizes. List’s follow-up effort, Tombville, is also his full-length film debut and is a story that will stick with you long after you’ve seen it. Tombville follows 25 year old David, a man who wakes up in a village plunged into darkness with no memory of what happened or how he ended up there. He quickly realizes that it is impossible for him to escape: whatever direction he takes, he always finds himself back at the same point. Memories of his past come back to him bit by…
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Video Interview…’ABCs of Death 2′ Directors – E.L. Katz, Alejandro Brugues, Jim Hosking & The Soska Sisters
While at Fantastic Fest, we got to do several interviews, including a few with the talented directors who helped bring ABCs of Death 2 to life… er, death? A vast improvement over the first ABCs film (check out our capsule review here), it will fright and delight fans of just about every genre. Before we get started, we want to offer our apologies for the extremely bad lighting here – the rooms they used for interviews weren’t lit at all, unfortunately. This was done in the newly refurbished Highball bar, inside the karaoke rooms at the Alamo Drafthouse, which explains the lack of bright light. Up first is E.L. Katz,…
