James Cullen Bressack (alias JCB) is a filmmaker full of surprises. His latest effort is one of the many anticipated flicks hitting screens at Fantastic Fest 2026. Whether he’s making a bare-bones thriller staring your favorite ‘80s icons, helping introduce the next generation of action talent, to subverting expectations with a retro-styled psychological horror, Bressack proves he’s a creative Swiss Army knife. In this retro-styled story, we follow Alex, a mentally and spiritually traumatized sibling who faces frightening uncertainty as to whether the monsters and demons he’s hiding from are real or imagined. Let’s just say when this gets real, it gets really real! We have proof this will raise…
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[Fantastic Fest Interview]…High Kicks and Furious Fists with Nik Pelekai & Jacob Stauff
The year is winding down quickly, and as we look back through the entertainment cornucopia of 2025, it was all pretty awesome. We had a slew of sensational experience in theaters, at home, and with creatives on multiple press junkets. And the best part about getting to interview people who make the things we love is when the conversation is as fun as the film. So enter director/writer Nik Pelekai and co-writer Jacob Stauff who brought their film to Fantastic Fest in September – if you’re gonna share something wild and hard-hitting with the world, this is the place to do it. Penance starts off with a bang, and even…
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Interview…Director James Cullen Bressack on ‘Darkness of Man’
Doing interviews for this site is a lot of fun. So many of them have stuck in my head for a variety of reasons whether it was the witty banter, unexpected hilarity, great life lessons, or some other unique and intangible takeaway. If luck works out we get a follow-up with any particular creative for their new project, be it a film, show, score, album, etc. So enter one James Cullen Bressack, a young writer/director who is about as self-made and humble as they come. He’s also got a wonderful personality and he sees films from a different perspective. He makes lean pictures, and there is a real fun to…
