There’s a reason that home invasion horror films like The Strangers, Them, The Purge, Hush, Don’t Breathe, Funny Games, and more rank highly among horror fans. The very concept of your private sanctuary getting corrupted and invaded by an unhinged intruder who means you grave harm is inherently terrifying. The realistic thrills of home invasion films can offer some of the most intense horror, and some of the biggest surprises when the formula is subverted.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to home invasion horror movies that unleash suspense, chills, violence, and stalker thrills. Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Angst – Kanopy, Midnight Pulp, Mubi, Tubi
An unconventional, stylized Austrian horror movie that largely influenced Gaspar Noe’s work, Angst follows a psychopath as he’s released from prison and eager to commit crime again. After a botched murder attempt,...
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to home invasion horror movies that unleash suspense, chills, violence, and stalker thrills. Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Angst – Kanopy, Midnight Pulp, Mubi, Tubi
An unconventional, stylized Austrian horror movie that largely influenced Gaspar Noe’s work, Angst follows a psychopath as he’s released from prison and eager to commit crime again. After a botched murder attempt,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
If executed well, twist endings can result in a fun experience. Having the rug pulled out from under you in a way that sheds new light on the entire film can make you instantly want to watch the rest of the film again. Whether it's "The Usual Suspects," "Fight Club," or "The Sixth Sense," the twist sends a blast of dopamine through your brain that leaves you walking out of the theater on a dizzying high.
Rarer are the twist endings that leave you utterly bereft and devastated, where that hit of dopamine is replaced by crushing defeat. Attempting this kind of ending can be enormously precarious, as you introduce the distinct possibility of completely alienating your audience. Sometimes that's the point, like in Michael Haneke's "Funny Games," but more often than not, you are looking to give the viewers an emotionally cathartic ending that is in keeping with the narrative.
Rarer are the twist endings that leave you utterly bereft and devastated, where that hit of dopamine is replaced by crushing defeat. Attempting this kind of ending can be enormously precarious, as you introduce the distinct possibility of completely alienating your audience. Sometimes that's the point, like in Michael Haneke's "Funny Games," but more often than not, you are looking to give the viewers an emotionally cathartic ending that is in keeping with the narrative.
- 12/13/2023
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
Black Cats and Incest.
Last week we used our discussion of Mark Pellington’s The Mothman Prophecies to recover from our month-long theme on toxic masculinity, which included episodes on Funny Games, Deadgirl, Murder by Numbers and Hard Candy.
This week we’re diving back into the world of Giallo with prolific Italian director Sergio Martino‘s Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key (1972), which is truly the best title ever.
In the film, Irina (Anita Strindberg) is in an abusive marriage with Oliviero (Luigi Pistilli), her drunk womanizing writer husband. When his niece Floriana (Edwige Fenech) comes to visit, a plan is hatched to wreak revenge against the destitute author. As the film progresses, however, it’s no longer clear who is playing who.
Can Irina and Floriana trust each other? Or will the women turn on each other in madness and despair?
Be...
Last week we used our discussion of Mark Pellington’s The Mothman Prophecies to recover from our month-long theme on toxic masculinity, which included episodes on Funny Games, Deadgirl, Murder by Numbers and Hard Candy.
This week we’re diving back into the world of Giallo with prolific Italian director Sergio Martino‘s Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key (1972), which is truly the best title ever.
In the film, Irina (Anita Strindberg) is in an abusive marriage with Oliviero (Luigi Pistilli), her drunk womanizing writer husband. When his niece Floriana (Edwige Fenech) comes to visit, a plan is hatched to wreak revenge against the destitute author. As the film progresses, however, it’s no longer clear who is playing who.
Can Irina and Floriana trust each other? Or will the women turn on each other in madness and despair?
Be...
- 12/11/2023
- by Joe Lipsett
- bloody-disgusting.com
‘Tis the season of abundance! Celebrate more being more with director Jenn Wexler’s “The Sacrifice Game,” a campy new Shudder release that imagines what would happen if the cast of “The Holdovers” got a Christmas visit from the Manson Family at an all-girls boarding school with a witchy secret.
Co-written by Wexler and Sean Redlitz, this grab-bag seasonal period flick — shot in snowy Canada and set in 1971 — is more gruesome than scary and takes a handful of decidedly silly turns. Be it fruit cake, stuffed stocking, whatever your holiday metaphor, the fantasy horror adventure of students Samantha (Madison Baines) and Clara (Georgia Acken) gifts audiences steadily stranger fun almost all the way through. It’s a genre blend that’s delightful, baffling, and surprisingly ruthless in its decisive direction with a holiday twist that isn’t necessary for the plot but certainly ties the zany concept together.
What begins...
Co-written by Wexler and Sean Redlitz, this grab-bag seasonal period flick — shot in snowy Canada and set in 1971 — is more gruesome than scary and takes a handful of decidedly silly turns. Be it fruit cake, stuffed stocking, whatever your holiday metaphor, the fantasy horror adventure of students Samantha (Madison Baines) and Clara (Georgia Acken) gifts audiences steadily stranger fun almost all the way through. It’s a genre blend that’s delightful, baffling, and surprisingly ruthless in its decisive direction with a holiday twist that isn’t necessary for the plot but certainly ties the zany concept together.
What begins...
- 12/8/2023
- by Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
Mothman’s Got Cakes.
After spending our month-long theme on toxic masculinity with difficult watches like Funny Games (listen), Deadgirl (listen) and Hard Candy (listen), we’re taking a break from the theme and wrapping up November with a look at Mark Pellington‘s 2002 high strangeness chiller The Mothman Prophecies.
The Mothman Prophecies sees journalist John Klein’s (Richard Gere) wife Mary (Debra Messing) experience a strange moth-like vision immediately before she dies from a brain tumor. Two years later, John suddenly finds himself hundreds of miles out of his way in the remote town of Point Pleasant, where there has been a proliferation of “mothman” sightings. While investigating with the local sheriff (Laura Linney), he concludes that the visions are omens of an impending disaster.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio,...
After spending our month-long theme on toxic masculinity with difficult watches like Funny Games (listen), Deadgirl (listen) and Hard Candy (listen), we’re taking a break from the theme and wrapping up November with a look at Mark Pellington‘s 2002 high strangeness chiller The Mothman Prophecies.
The Mothman Prophecies sees journalist John Klein’s (Richard Gere) wife Mary (Debra Messing) experience a strange moth-like vision immediately before she dies from a brain tumor. Two years later, John suddenly finds himself hundreds of miles out of his way in the remote town of Point Pleasant, where there has been a proliferation of “mothman” sightings. While investigating with the local sheriff (Laura Linney), he concludes that the visions are omens of an impending disaster.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio,...
- 12/4/2023
- by Trace Thurman
- bloody-disgusting.com
I Fucking Hate Goldfrapp.
After spending our month-long theme on toxic masculinity with difficult watches like Funny Games (listen) and Deadgirl (listen), as well as an easier watch in Murder By Numbers (listen), we’re wrapping up the month with a look at David Slade‘s controversial 2005 film Hard Candy.
Hard Candy sees precocious teenager Hayley (Elliot Page) go to a coffee shop to meet Jeff (Patrick Wilson), a photographer she met on the internet. Jeff thinks he is in for a real treat, but after a bit of flirtation Hayley drugs him and straps him to a chair, revealing that she knows Jeff preys on teenage girls. She has a plan to wring a confession from him, but Jeff doesn’t plan to do down without a fight.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts,...
After spending our month-long theme on toxic masculinity with difficult watches like Funny Games (listen) and Deadgirl (listen), as well as an easier watch in Murder By Numbers (listen), we’re wrapping up the month with a look at David Slade‘s controversial 2005 film Hard Candy.
Hard Candy sees precocious teenager Hayley (Elliot Page) go to a coffee shop to meet Jeff (Patrick Wilson), a photographer she met on the internet. Jeff thinks he is in for a real treat, but after a bit of flirtation Hayley drugs him and straps him to a chair, revealing that she knows Jeff preys on teenage girls. She has a plan to wring a confession from him, but Jeff doesn’t plan to do down without a fight.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts,...
- 11/27/2023
- by Trace Thurman
- bloody-disgusting.com
Bullock’s Badly Behaved Baboon.
After kicking off our month-long theme on toxic masculinity with difficult watches like Funny Games (listen) and Deadgirl (listen), we’re slowing things down a bit this week with Barbet Schroeder‘s 2002 Leopold and Loeb adaptation (of sorts) Murder By Numbers.
In Murder By Numbers, two gifted high school students named Richard and Justin execute a “perfect” murder – then become engaged in an intellectual contest with seasoned homicide detective Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock). The only problem for them is that Cassie has a dark past that she’s been hiding, and it will help her solve the case.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 256: Murder By Numbers (2002)
Let’s derange the world because the profile doesn’t fit the profile,...
After kicking off our month-long theme on toxic masculinity with difficult watches like Funny Games (listen) and Deadgirl (listen), we’re slowing things down a bit this week with Barbet Schroeder‘s 2002 Leopold and Loeb adaptation (of sorts) Murder By Numbers.
In Murder By Numbers, two gifted high school students named Richard and Justin execute a “perfect” murder – then become engaged in an intellectual contest with seasoned homicide detective Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock). The only problem for them is that Cassie has a dark past that she’s been hiding, and it will help her solve the case.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 256: Murder By Numbers (2002)
Let’s derange the world because the profile doesn’t fit the profile,...
- 11/20/2023
- by Trace Thurman
- bloody-disgusting.com
Asking Questions.
With Spooky Season firmly in the rear view mirror, Trace and I are now mid-way through our month on Toxic Masculinity. And while we probably could have counted Apt Pupil (and maybe even Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2), we officially kicked things off with Michael Haneke’s Funny Games.
Things get considerably darker with our second entry: Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel‘s Deadgirl. The extreme film follows two high school teenage boys – Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and Jt (Noah Segan) – who discover a zombie girl (Jenny Spain) in an abandoned hospital and make the horrific decision to use her as a sex object rather than alert the authorities.
As Rickie struggles with his guilty conscience, Jt recruits other “friends” like Wheeler (Eric Podnar) to assault the girl. Things get out of hand, however, when a pair of jocks, including Johnny (Andrew Dipalma) – the boyfriend of Rickie’s crush,...
With Spooky Season firmly in the rear view mirror, Trace and I are now mid-way through our month on Toxic Masculinity. And while we probably could have counted Apt Pupil (and maybe even Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2), we officially kicked things off with Michael Haneke’s Funny Games.
Things get considerably darker with our second entry: Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel‘s Deadgirl. The extreme film follows two high school teenage boys – Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and Jt (Noah Segan) – who discover a zombie girl (Jenny Spain) in an abandoned hospital and make the horrific decision to use her as a sex object rather than alert the authorities.
As Rickie struggles with his guilty conscience, Jt recruits other “friends” like Wheeler (Eric Podnar) to assault the girl. Things get out of hand, however, when a pair of jocks, including Johnny (Andrew Dipalma) – the boyfriend of Rickie’s crush,...
- 11/13/2023
- by Joe Lipsett
- bloody-disgusting.com
Hengameh Panahi, the French-Iranian producer and sales agent who founded Celluloid Dreams and was a pivotal figure in bringing works from such auteurs as Jacques Audiard, Jafar Panahi (no relation), François Ozon, Marjane Satrapi and Todd Haynes to the world, has died. She was 67.
Viviana Andriani, a press attaché who had worked with Panahi for many years, confirmed Thursday that Panahi died on November 5 after battling a long illness.
Celluloid Dreams, which Panahi launched in 1985, was a groundbreaking sales and production company that helped build the global market for international arthouse films. Over the course of three decades, Paris-based Celluloid helped package and sell more than 800 films, including the first works from François Ozon (See The Sea), Gaspar Noé (I Stand Alone), Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and Bruno Dumont (The Life of Jesus), among many others.
Alongside many European talents, Panahi, who was born in Iran but moved to Europe aged...
Viviana Andriani, a press attaché who had worked with Panahi for many years, confirmed Thursday that Panahi died on November 5 after battling a long illness.
Celluloid Dreams, which Panahi launched in 1985, was a groundbreaking sales and production company that helped build the global market for international arthouse films. Over the course of three decades, Paris-based Celluloid helped package and sell more than 800 films, including the first works from François Ozon (See The Sea), Gaspar Noé (I Stand Alone), Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and Bruno Dumont (The Life of Jesus), among many others.
Alongside many European talents, Panahi, who was born in Iran but moved to Europe aged...
- 11/9/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Silly Americans…
After concluding spooky season with a reappraisal of Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (the Director’s Cut), we’re moving into November by kicking off a new theme of episodes on toxic masculinity. First up is Michael Haneke‘s fourth wall-breaking film Funny Games!
In Funny Games, Anna (Susanne Lothar) and Georg (Ulrich Mühe) and their son Georgie (Stefan Clapczynski) visit their idyllic lakeside vacation home, only to be terrorized by Paul (Arno Frisch) and Peter (Frank Giering), a pair of deeply disturbed young men. Paul and Peter take the family hostage and subject them to the titular “funny games,” which doubles as a critique of (American) viewers themselves.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 254: Funny Games (1997)
Buckle up...
After concluding spooky season with a reappraisal of Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (the Director’s Cut), we’re moving into November by kicking off a new theme of episodes on toxic masculinity. First up is Michael Haneke‘s fourth wall-breaking film Funny Games!
In Funny Games, Anna (Susanne Lothar) and Georg (Ulrich Mühe) and their son Georgie (Stefan Clapczynski) visit their idyllic lakeside vacation home, only to be terrorized by Paul (Arno Frisch) and Peter (Frank Giering), a pair of deeply disturbed young men. Paul and Peter take the family hostage and subject them to the titular “funny games,” which doubles as a critique of (American) viewers themselves.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 254: Funny Games (1997)
Buckle up...
- 11/6/2023
- by Trace Thurman
- bloody-disgusting.com
The BBC has picked up Irish crime drama Kin from Fifth Season.
The RTÉ series, which aired in the U.S. on AMC+, is the latest high-profile show snapped up by the BBC buying team, following the likes of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire. It is produced by Joker financier Bron Studios and Man in the High Castle outfit Headline Pictures.
Kin stars Clare Dunne (Herself), Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones) and Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones). It follows gang wars in Dublin. A boy is killed and his family embarks on a gangland war with an international cartel: a war that is impossible to win. The Kinsellas are a local crime family, while the Cunningham cartel is a vast global organization.
“Anchored by a tremendous cast, Kin is a powerful and intense story of love, grief, family and crime, and its devastating ramifications,” said Sue Deeks,...
The RTÉ series, which aired in the U.S. on AMC+, is the latest high-profile show snapped up by the BBC buying team, following the likes of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire. It is produced by Joker financier Bron Studios and Man in the High Castle outfit Headline Pictures.
Kin stars Clare Dunne (Herself), Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones) and Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones). It follows gang wars in Dublin. A boy is killed and his family embarks on a gangland war with an international cartel: a war that is impossible to win. The Kinsellas are a local crime family, while the Cunningham cartel is a vast global organization.
“Anchored by a tremendous cast, Kin is a powerful and intense story of love, grief, family and crime, and its devastating ramifications,” said Sue Deeks,...
- 10/27/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Horror films and controversy often go hand in hand. Historically, no genre has pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable onscreen as much as horror, with authorities like the MPAA and the BBFC constantly stepping in to protect filmgoers from extreme content.
Controversies abound in horror, with countless examples of censorship, intrusive cuts, or outright bans. Other times, films can provoke a visceral reaction from the audience; "Audition" prompted people to faint in the initial screenings, for example, while "The Exorcist" gained everlasting notoriety for the apparent hysteria it caused in cinemas.
Rather than a comprehensive list, this represents a broad spread of different types of controversial deaths in horror films. It might best be summed up as 14 of the most interesting controversial deaths, rather than necessarily all of the most obvious choices. As such, please take the order with a pinch of salt. Lots of spoilers below, so beware!
Controversies abound in horror, with countless examples of censorship, intrusive cuts, or outright bans. Other times, films can provoke a visceral reaction from the audience; "Audition" prompted people to faint in the initial screenings, for example, while "The Exorcist" gained everlasting notoriety for the apparent hysteria it caused in cinemas.
Rather than a comprehensive list, this represents a broad spread of different types of controversial deaths in horror films. It might best be summed up as 14 of the most interesting controversial deaths, rather than necessarily all of the most obvious choices. As such, please take the order with a pinch of salt. Lots of spoilers below, so beware!
- 10/15/2023
- by Nick Bartlett
- Slash Film
For a few beautiful years in the early 2000s, Michael Pitt’s spine-chilling blue eyes wreaked havoc in world cinema, from Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Dreamers” to Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games.” Then, due to quite a few controversies, the actor stepped away from the limelight, taking on smaller projects here and there and leaving an abyssal gap in the industry: a blue-eyed menace whose presence in any given film immediately signaled some form of psychological torture.
Many have tried their hand at filling this gap, from the sprawling Skarsgårds to Dane DeHaan, but no one has come as close to it as Caleb Landry Jones.
Continue reading ‘Dogman’ Review: Luc Besson’s Freakish Canine Fable Is Rotten To The Bone [Venice] at The Playlist.
Many have tried their hand at filling this gap, from the sprawling Skarsgårds to Dane DeHaan, but no one has come as close to it as Caleb Landry Jones.
Continue reading ‘Dogman’ Review: Luc Besson’s Freakish Canine Fable Is Rotten To The Bone [Venice] at The Playlist.
- 8/31/2023
- by Rafaela Sales Ross
- The Playlist
At last year’s TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), one of the most raucous screenings I attended was The Blackening. Directed by Tim Story, the movie is a horror-comedy mashup about a group of black friends who rent a cabin together for the weekend, only to be stalked by a masked killer. While it may sound like standard stuff, the movie actually works as a pretty funny satire about the role of black characters in horror, which, in the eighties and nineties, often saw them killed off first. They have fun with the genre conventions and ultimately craft a movie that works well as a comedy but at the same time isn’t “zany” in the way something like Scary Movie is.
I was happy to get the chance to speak to many of the people involved with the film recently, and the faith they have in the movie is infectious.
I was happy to get the chance to speak to many of the people involved with the film recently, and the faith they have in the movie is infectious.
- 6/8/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Sean Penn, Tye Sheridan and Michael Pitt breezed into Cannes’ beachside La Môme Plage Thursday evening for a glitzy cocktail reception toasting the world premiere of French phenom Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s Black Flies, a viscerally immersive action drama about the lives of New York City paramedics. The black-tie bash, which was co-hosted by The Hollywood Reporter and Tage Studios, drew a lively crowd of producers, press and Cannes glitterati.
Produced by Warren Goz (Copshop), Eric Gold (Copshop), Penn and Sheridan, Black Flies is directed by Sauvaire — whose previous Thai prison boxing drama A Prayer Before Dawn (2017) has become something of a cult favorite — from a script by Ben Mac Brown and Ryan King (The Tutor), based on Shannon Burke’s novel.
Black Flies follows Ollie Cross (Sheridan) an upstart paramedic who courses through adrenaline-fueled nights in an ambulance for the New York City Fire Department in Brownsville, Brooklyn while spending...
Produced by Warren Goz (Copshop), Eric Gold (Copshop), Penn and Sheridan, Black Flies is directed by Sauvaire — whose previous Thai prison boxing drama A Prayer Before Dawn (2017) has become something of a cult favorite — from a script by Ben Mac Brown and Ryan King (The Tutor), based on Shannon Burke’s novel.
Black Flies follows Ollie Cross (Sheridan) an upstart paramedic who courses through adrenaline-fueled nights in an ambulance for the New York City Fire Department in Brownsville, Brooklyn while spending...
- 5/19/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Black Flies, the Cannes competition entry starring two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One), has been acquired by Signature Entertainment for the U.K. and Ireland from FilmNation Entertainment.
Produced by Warren Goz (Copshop), Eric Gold (Copshop), Penn and Sheridan, the feature is directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (A Prayer Before Dawn) from a script by Ben Mac Brown and Ryan King (The Tutor), based on Shannon Burke’s novel.
Alongside Penn and Sheridan, the film stars Michael Pitt (Funny Games), Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) and Mike Tyson (The Hangover).
Black Flies follows Ollie Cross (Sheridan) an upstart paramedic who courses through adrenaline-fueled nights in an ambulance for the New York City Fire Department in Brownsville, Brooklyn while spending days studying for med-school exams in a Chinatown hovel. Working alongside seasoned first responder Gene Rutkovsky (Penn), Cross discovers firsthand the chaos and...
Produced by Warren Goz (Copshop), Eric Gold (Copshop), Penn and Sheridan, the feature is directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (A Prayer Before Dawn) from a script by Ben Mac Brown and Ryan King (The Tutor), based on Shannon Burke’s novel.
Alongside Penn and Sheridan, the film stars Michael Pitt (Funny Games), Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) and Mike Tyson (The Hangover).
Black Flies follows Ollie Cross (Sheridan) an upstart paramedic who courses through adrenaline-fueled nights in an ambulance for the New York City Fire Department in Brownsville, Brooklyn while spending days studying for med-school exams in a Chinatown hovel. Working alongside seasoned first responder Gene Rutkovsky (Penn), Cross discovers firsthand the chaos and...
- 5/17/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Clockwise from far left: The Passion Of The Christ (20th Century Fox), The Revenant (20th Century Fox), American History X (New Line Cinema), The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (IFC Films), Sophie’s Choice (Shout! Factory)Graphic: AVClub
When it comes to movie night, we all have guilty pleasures or beloved classics...
When it comes to movie night, we all have guilty pleasures or beloved classics...
- 5/16/2023
- by Stacie Hougland
- avclub.com
Watching two Michael Haneke features back-to-back doesn’t sound all that outrageous, right? What if they’re Funny Games (1997) and Funny Games (2007)? You start with one of the more disturbing flicks in Criterion’s closet, then immediately follow it with an American shot-for-shot remake that relives the same nightmare. My inner masochist couldn’t skip on tackling one of the stranger entries into Revenge of the Remakes, as two equally competent home invasion thrillers played out like a case of knife-twisting déjà vu.
Haneke jumped at the chance to make an American version of his Austrian commentary on the media’s exploitation of violence. Why wouldn’t he? A proud filmmaker saw an opportunity to help his bundle of anti-joy reach a wider audience, only made more relevant by the popularized 2000s period in horror history with “torture porn” leading the charge. Although, does shooting the exact storyboards like they...
Haneke jumped at the chance to make an American version of his Austrian commentary on the media’s exploitation of violence. Why wouldn’t he? A proud filmmaker saw an opportunity to help his bundle of anti-joy reach a wider audience, only made more relevant by the popularized 2000s period in horror history with “torture porn” leading the charge. Although, does shooting the exact storyboards like they...
- 5/4/2023
- by Matt Donato
- bloody-disgusting.com
Growing up as an immigrant in a non-English-speaking household, subtitled movies were pretty standard for me. In fact, I still have the bad habit of turning on subtitles whenever they’re available, regardless of language. As a young man, it never occurred to me that this wasn’t the norm, and that’s why I always thought it was strange that American studios would remake foreign films in English instead of simply distributing them normally.
Obviously, there are a myriad of cultural and economic reasons explaining why this isn’t the case, but it’s also worth noting that not all remakes are created equal. I may have spent a large chunk of my life lamenting every time an American remake of a foreign horror flick was announced, but even I have to admit that some filmmakers are actually capable of successfully translating the elements that made scary stories effective...
Obviously, there are a myriad of cultural and economic reasons explaining why this isn’t the case, but it’s also worth noting that not all remakes are created equal. I may have spent a large chunk of my life lamenting every time an American remake of a foreign horror flick was announced, but even I have to admit that some filmmakers are actually capable of successfully translating the elements that made scary stories effective...
- 4/26/2023
- by Luiz H. C.
- bloody-disgusting.com
Guy Maddin: “I’m just always shuffling around timelines in my head to make sense of time’s great flow.”
Guy Maddin on hacking my dreams, elevators and escalators, Franz Wright’s Kindertotenwald, Lois Weber, Haruki Murakami, Mathieu Amalric and Arnaud Desplechin’s dreamwork, thinking of numbers, Federico Fellini’s dream journal, A Director’s Notebooks, I Vitelloni and Rimini, Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, and an enchanted place called Riminipeg were all discussed in the second instalment on The Rabbit Hunters, co-directed with Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, and starring Isabella Rossellini as a “merged version” of Fellini and Giulietta Masina.
Guy Maddin with Anne-Katrin Titze on his hometown and Federico Fellini’s: “Fellini is from the city of Rimini in Italy, which is really just the Winnipeg of Italy.”
From Winnipeg, Guy Maddin joined me on Zoom for an in-depth conversation on The Rabbit Hunters.
Anne-Katrin Titze:...
Guy Maddin on hacking my dreams, elevators and escalators, Franz Wright’s Kindertotenwald, Lois Weber, Haruki Murakami, Mathieu Amalric and Arnaud Desplechin’s dreamwork, thinking of numbers, Federico Fellini’s dream journal, A Director’s Notebooks, I Vitelloni and Rimini, Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, and an enchanted place called Riminipeg were all discussed in the second instalment on The Rabbit Hunters, co-directed with Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, and starring Isabella Rossellini as a “merged version” of Fellini and Giulietta Masina.
Guy Maddin with Anne-Katrin Titze on his hometown and Federico Fellini’s: “Fellini is from the city of Rimini in Italy, which is really just the Winnipeg of Italy.”
From Winnipeg, Guy Maddin joined me on Zoom for an in-depth conversation on The Rabbit Hunters.
Anne-Katrin Titze:...
- 3/24/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Welcome to the Ghostface Glossary, a guide to every horror reference and nod throughout the first five films of the Scream franchise.
After a lot of pausing, rewinding, and zooming in, as well as researching, we’re catching all of the many horror-specific references Williamson, Craven, and Co. included in this beloved postmodern slasher franchise. If we’ve forgotten any glaring ones, kindly let us know.
This guide will exclude homages from previous Scream films and their respective sequels— we’re only looking at outside horror franchises and inspirations, because any red-blooded Ghostface fan is likely already aware of those. (Goes without saying that the beloved faux franchise ‘Stab’(s) 1-8 will also not be counted, since, even though our neon green ‘Stab’ t-shirts and mock VHS tapes feel very real, it’s still a very fake franchise). If we’ve forgotten any glaring ones, kindly let us know.
“Mother...
After a lot of pausing, rewinding, and zooming in, as well as researching, we’re catching all of the many horror-specific references Williamson, Craven, and Co. included in this beloved postmodern slasher franchise. If we’ve forgotten any glaring ones, kindly let us know.
This guide will exclude homages from previous Scream films and their respective sequels— we’re only looking at outside horror franchises and inspirations, because any red-blooded Ghostface fan is likely already aware of those. (Goes without saying that the beloved faux franchise ‘Stab’(s) 1-8 will also not be counted, since, even though our neon green ‘Stab’ t-shirts and mock VHS tapes feel very real, it’s still a very fake franchise). If we’ve forgotten any glaring ones, kindly let us know.
“Mother...
- 3/10/2023
- by Julieann Stipidis
- bloody-disgusting.com
It has been noted that new age master of suspense-wannabe M. Night Shyamalan has basically gone downhill since his heady beginnings with the Oscar-nominated classic, The Sixth Sense, then pretty good follow-ups like Signs and Unbreakable. Even detours in split-personality hits like Split, and Glass — the latter successful enough to let Universal trust him with small enough budgets to take a few more swings — or the intriguing Twilight Zone-ish film Old, that unfortunately wore out its welcome after a promising start, bolster that notion.
Movies like Lady In The Water, The Visit, Last Airbender, The Happening, The Village, and After Earth are better left forgotten.
Now we have Knock At The Cabin, a home invasion thriller that mixes its premise up with a pretty far-fetched, Biblical apocalyptic plot line that ratchets up the tension, but could use a little more credibility. As in every Shyamalan picture, you expect some sort of twist,...
Movies like Lady In The Water, The Visit, Last Airbender, The Happening, The Village, and After Earth are better left forgotten.
Now we have Knock At The Cabin, a home invasion thriller that mixes its premise up with a pretty far-fetched, Biblical apocalyptic plot line that ratchets up the tension, but could use a little more credibility. As in every Shyamalan picture, you expect some sort of twist,...
- 2/3/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
It takes a lot to rattle my bones these days, but Christian Tafdrup's Danish psychological horror film "Speak No Evil" will stay with me for a long, long time. The film centers on a Danish family who befriend a Dutch family while on vacation, only to be invited months later to their home for a bit of a friendly reunion. The setup is conventional, almost unassuming — after all, it's a similar setup to the John Cena comedy "Vacation Friends." But "Speak No Evil" isn't a rousing buddy comedy, it's a devastating horror film. As can be predicted, the Dutch family's intentions are not at all what the Danish family expected, and they are suddenly thrust into a nightmarish weekend holiday and a fight for their lives.
As Bjørn (Morten Burian), Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), and their daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) begin to suspect Patrick (Fedja van Huêt), Karin (Karina Smulders...
As Bjørn (Morten Burian), Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), and their daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) begin to suspect Patrick (Fedja van Huêt), Karin (Karina Smulders...
- 12/30/2022
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
By now it’s safe to say that Naomi Watts is a bona fide Scream Queen. After more than a decade in small roles or B movies, the British actress finally found widespread acclaim in 2001 with David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. She followed this up with a star-making role in Gore Verbinski’s The Ring, and sky-rocketted to international fame. Watts has worked steadily since then, winning coveted parts like Ann Darrow in Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Oscar Nominated roles in 21 Grams and The Impossible, and franchise fame in the Divergent series.
Born in England, Watts and her brother moved around the UK with her Welsh mother before relocating to Australia at the age of 14 where she broke into acting. Despite this international upbringing, Watts is most known in the horror world for starring in American remakes of acclaimed foreign films. Her role in The Ring was just...
Born in England, Watts and her brother moved around the UK with her Welsh mother before relocating to Australia at the age of 14 where she broke into acting. Despite this international upbringing, Watts is most known in the horror world for starring in American remakes of acclaimed foreign films. Her role in The Ring was just...
- 12/21/2022
- by Jenn Adams
- bloody-disgusting.com
Exclusive: Jack Huston is set to make his feature directorial debut with Day of the Fight, a project that will reteam him with his Boardwalk Empire colleague Michael Pitt, who will star.
Huston will also write and produce the movie about a once celebrated boxer who takes a redemptive journey through his past and present, on the day of his first fight since leaving prison. Production is underway in New York and New Jersey.
Day of the Fight will also star One Night in Miami‘s Nicolette Robinson, Oscar winner Joe Pesci, John Magaro and Ron Perlman.
Producers are also Josh Porter, Jai Stefan, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Colleen Camp. EPs are Todd Diener and William Santor. Financing was handled by Productivity Media, Inc.
Huston tells Deadline, “I am both humbled and honored to be directing my first film with such an incredible cast and crew. It truly is a privilege...
Huston will also write and produce the movie about a once celebrated boxer who takes a redemptive journey through his past and present, on the day of his first fight since leaving prison. Production is underway in New York and New Jersey.
Day of the Fight will also star One Night in Miami‘s Nicolette Robinson, Oscar winner Joe Pesci, John Magaro and Ron Perlman.
Producers are also Josh Porter, Jai Stefan, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Colleen Camp. EPs are Todd Diener and William Santor. Financing was handled by Productivity Media, Inc.
Huston tells Deadline, “I am both humbled and honored to be directing my first film with such an incredible cast and crew. It truly is a privilege...
- 12/15/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Christmas horror movies are some of the most fun you can have during the holidays. There's something thrilling about combining the comfort of a holiday movie with the violent chaos of horror, to make a movie all about feeling unsafe during a time when you're supposed to feel the safest. The juxtaposition of blood and snow, plus all the Christmas lights make for delightfully colorful movies. It also helps that Christmas horror movies work on two separate holidays; You can add them to your October And December watchlists.
One of the best horror Christmas movies of the past few years is Chris Peckover's "Better Watch Out." The Australian horror movie is an R-rated riff on "Home Alone" and "Funny Games." It follows Ashley (Olivia DeJonge), a 17-year-old babysitting precocious 12-year-old Luke (Levi Miller) at Christmas time. After Luke, who has romantic feelings for Ashley, fails to seduce her, the...
One of the best horror Christmas movies of the past few years is Chris Peckover's "Better Watch Out." The Australian horror movie is an R-rated riff on "Home Alone" and "Funny Games." It follows Ashley (Olivia DeJonge), a 17-year-old babysitting precocious 12-year-old Luke (Levi Miller) at Christmas time. After Luke, who has romantic feelings for Ashley, fails to seduce her, the...
- 12/2/2022
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
8 Found Dead: "Stuck in a pandemic, Travis Greene and Jonathan Buchanan stumbled upon the story of 8 Found Dead while spitballing ideas at their local coffee shop.
Using several real-life characters and situations from Travis' life, Jonathan crafted a story around the inherent drama of being held hostage by conversation, a cue taken from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) - which, along with Death Trap (1982), Funny Games (2007) and The Strangers (2008) served as inspiration for the filmmakers.
The next step was choosing a cinematographer. and the obvious choice was their friend Ryan Valdez. His unique style had always stood out and seemed perfect for 8 Found Dead."
Synopsis:
"Two couples drive to a secluded house in the desert for a weekend getaway, each with their own baggage, expectations and secrets. Upon their arrival, they are met by two strangers, claiming to have rented the house as well.
What starts out as a “simple...
Using several real-life characters and situations from Travis' life, Jonathan crafted a story around the inherent drama of being held hostage by conversation, a cue taken from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) - which, along with Death Trap (1982), Funny Games (2007) and The Strangers (2008) served as inspiration for the filmmakers.
The next step was choosing a cinematographer. and the obvious choice was their friend Ryan Valdez. His unique style had always stood out and seemed perfect for 8 Found Dead."
Synopsis:
"Two couples drive to a secluded house in the desert for a weekend getaway, each with their own baggage, expectations and secrets. Upon their arrival, they are met by two strangers, claiming to have rented the house as well.
What starts out as a “simple...
- 11/23/2022
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
It’s time for a new episode of our video series Best Foreign Horror Movies, and with this one we’re looking back at a movie that is quite disturbing. The 1997 Austrian production Funny Games (get it Here). To find out what we had to say about Funny Games, check out the video embedded above.
Written and directed by Michael Haneke, Funny Games has the following synopsis:
An idyllic lakeside vacation home is terrorized by Paul and Peter, a pair of deeply disturbed young men. When the fearful Anna is home alone, the two men drop by for a visit that quickly turns violent and terrifying. Husband Georg comes to her rescue, but Paul and Peter take the family hostage and subject them to nightmarish abuse and humiliation. From time to time, Paul talks to the film’s audience, making it complicit in the horror.
The film stars Arno Frisch,...
Written and directed by Michael Haneke, Funny Games has the following synopsis:
An idyllic lakeside vacation home is terrorized by Paul and Peter, a pair of deeply disturbed young men. When the fearful Anna is home alone, the two men drop by for a visit that quickly turns violent and terrifying. Husband Georg comes to her rescue, but Paul and Peter take the family hostage and subject them to nightmarish abuse and humiliation. From time to time, Paul talks to the film’s audience, making it complicit in the horror.
The film stars Arno Frisch,...
- 11/1/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Blonde presents a singular vision of Norma Jeane Baker, the troubled soul who played host to Marilyn Monroe. The film makes no claim to being the definitive account of her life. Instead, in adapting Joyce Carol Oates’ novel of the same name, director Andrew Dominik tells the story of a tragic figure who died by overdose at the age of 36.
Dominik presents the threads of this death in an experimental, expressionistic nightmare. The aspect ratio is redrawn throughout, narrowing and widening. The palette alternates between full colour and stark monochrome. There are numerous handheld moments, too, as well as various effects that range from the ghoulish to the arrestingly beautiful. All of this gothic visual splendour is scored by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, whose work is hauntingly ambient. Blonde is a truly aesthetic experience and perhaps the greatest example of Dominik’s dark, inventive artistry.
Again, it must be...
Dominik presents the threads of this death in an experimental, expressionistic nightmare. The aspect ratio is redrawn throughout, narrowing and widening. The palette alternates between full colour and stark monochrome. There are numerous handheld moments, too, as well as various effects that range from the ghoulish to the arrestingly beautiful. All of this gothic visual splendour is scored by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, whose work is hauntingly ambient. Blonde is a truly aesthetic experience and perhaps the greatest example of Dominik’s dark, inventive artistry.
Again, it must be...
- 10/24/2022
- by Jack Hawkins
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
As it’s gone on, Ryan Murphy’s Netflix deal has revealed how many topics fascinate him — and how rigidly fixed in the past are his manners of addressing them.
Has he been able to get beyond the franchises he started on FX? Consider, for instance, his recent smash “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”; the surfeit of punctuation in the title seems to suggest a sublimated desire to call it what it is, another installment of the true-life “American Crime Story” in all but name. “Halston’s” gilded retelling of recent-ish celebrity culture recalled “Feud,” with the adversaries, perhaps, being the designer and his own ego. And now, with his new series “The Watcher,” Murphy has reverse-engineered an “American Horror Story,” taking a true story and finding within or beyond its nuances some Murder House melodramatics.
Adapted from Reeves Wiedeman’s 2018 New York magazine story, “The Watcher” tells...
Has he been able to get beyond the franchises he started on FX? Consider, for instance, his recent smash “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”; the surfeit of punctuation in the title seems to suggest a sublimated desire to call it what it is, another installment of the true-life “American Crime Story” in all but name. “Halston’s” gilded retelling of recent-ish celebrity culture recalled “Feud,” with the adversaries, perhaps, being the designer and his own ego. And now, with his new series “The Watcher,” Murphy has reverse-engineered an “American Horror Story,” taking a true story and finding within or beyond its nuances some Murder House melodramatics.
Adapted from Reeves Wiedeman’s 2018 New York magazine story, “The Watcher” tells...
- 10/13/2022
- by Daniel D'Addario
- Variety Film + TV
The name Naomi Watts is now, in the year 2022, synonymous with horror royalty. The beloved actress has graced the silver screen in many a terrifying tale — "The Ring" and "Funny Games" come to mind — but she's finally taking on another horror character and making it her own.
Watts stars in the upcoming "Goodnight Mommy" reboot film from Prime Video, and it's great to see her take on the titular mother character, because, let's be real, she plays those quite well, especially in a creepy context. But no matter the maternal situation of her character, she plays her horror leading ladies with a fierceness and pure terror that is unmatched. /Film's own Danielle Ryan sat down with the film's director, Matt Sobel, and he revealed that he was happy to be able to pay homage to one of Watts' most famous horror roles — her turn in "Mulholland Drive," of course — in "Goodnight Mommy.
Watts stars in the upcoming "Goodnight Mommy" reboot film from Prime Video, and it's great to see her take on the titular mother character, because, let's be real, she plays those quite well, especially in a creepy context. But no matter the maternal situation of her character, she plays her horror leading ladies with a fierceness and pure terror that is unmatched. /Film's own Danielle Ryan sat down with the film's director, Matt Sobel, and he revealed that he was happy to be able to pay homage to one of Watts' most famous horror roles — her turn in "Mulholland Drive," of course — in "Goodnight Mommy.
- 9/16/2022
- by Lex Briscuso
- Slash Film
Horror fans aren’t the only ones with reservations about remaking the 2014 psychological horror film “Goodnight Mommy.” Naomi Watts, who leads the American remake of the critically revered Austrian film from 2007, also had her doubts. The film, which follows two twin sons who begin to suspect their mother is an imposter following plastic surgery, was a major critical hit and an early example of the kind of elevated horror that is so popular today. As the mother, Watts’ face is covered in a gauze bandage for much of the film, presenting a unique challenge for the actress.
“When you learn the rules and the limitations, you figure out what you can do and you double down on them and then you really get very specific,” Watts said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “Obviously in a close-up, the eyes were all I had. In a wider shot, I used my...
“When you learn the rules and the limitations, you figure out what you can do and you double down on them and then you really get very specific,” Watts said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “Obviously in a close-up, the eyes were all I had. In a wider shot, I used my...
- 9/16/2022
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Watching the remake of a horror movie is a lot like watching a magic trick after you know how it’s done. You may have lost your sense of wonder at the trick itself, but if they’re doing it right, you’ve got an even deeper appreciation for the skill and showmanship of the magician.
The words “if they’re doing it right” are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that paragraph. Matt Sobel’s remake of Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s “Goodnight Mommy” tries to pull off the same mysteries and revelations from the original, but for some reason Sobel is doing it without the majority of the scares.
So much of the film’s brutality has been removed in favor of melodrama and CGI fake-outs that it doesn’t matter that the cast is bringing their A-game. The game has already been called due to lack of interest.
The words “if they’re doing it right” are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that paragraph. Matt Sobel’s remake of Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s “Goodnight Mommy” tries to pull off the same mysteries and revelations from the original, but for some reason Sobel is doing it without the majority of the scares.
So much of the film’s brutality has been removed in favor of melodrama and CGI fake-outs that it doesn’t matter that the cast is bringing their A-game. The game has already been called due to lack of interest.
- 9/15/2022
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
Few remakes feel necessary, but English-language versions of international horror films have an especially difficult time justifying their existence. We certainly didn’t need George Sluizer or Michael Haneke to remake their own “The Vanishing” and “Funny Games” for the benefit of subtitle-averse audiences, nor was anyone asking for a “Let the Right One In” remake when it was first released. “Need” and “want” are two different things, of course, and it’s hardly unheard of for one of these remakes to be quite good — just ask Naomi Watts, who followed her star-making turn in “Mulholland Drive” with “The Ring.” The two-time Oscar nominee now finds herself as the face of Matt Sobel’s remake of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s “Goodnight Mommy.” Well, maybe not the face exactly — as in the original, her head is obscured by surgical bandages for reasons that aren’t immediately made clear.
Few remakes feel truly necessary,...
Few remakes feel truly necessary,...
- 9/15/2022
- by Michael Nordine
- Variety Film + TV
Naomi Watts once again leads an American remake of an acclaimed international horror film. This time, she stars in an English language update of the 2014 Austrian horror movie by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, Goodnight Mommy. This remake may not drastically shake up the story, but it does alter its approach to psychological horror and serves as a solid introduction for the unacquainted.
Dad (Peter Hermann) drops twins Elias (Cameron Crovetti) and Lukas (Nicholas Crovetti) off at their mother’s countryside home for a stay. The boys are immediately taken aback when greeted by the heavily gauzed appearance of their Mother (Watts). While she apologizes, blaming a cosmetic procedure, it’s not just her covered head that leaves the twins on edge. Mother is quick to anger, and that’s only the beginning of her peculiar behavior that leaves Elias and Lukas suspicious that she’s not who she says she is.
Dad (Peter Hermann) drops twins Elias (Cameron Crovetti) and Lukas (Nicholas Crovetti) off at their mother’s countryside home for a stay. The boys are immediately taken aback when greeted by the heavily gauzed appearance of their Mother (Watts). While she apologizes, blaming a cosmetic procedure, it’s not just her covered head that leaves the twins on edge. Mother is quick to anger, and that’s only the beginning of her peculiar behavior that leaves Elias and Lukas suspicious that she’s not who she says she is.
- 9/15/2022
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Click here to read the full article.
Having starred in the U.S. remakes of The Ring and Funny Games, Naomi Watts leads another American reimagining of foreign-language horror with Goodnight Mommy. The original 2014 Austrian feature, co-directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, was a visceral psycho-chiller about mother-son ties twisted by distrust and withheld affection into a vicious nightmare. It was a fiendish exercise in exactingly controlled tone, atmosphere and ambiguity, which paid off with a final-act reveal that effectively recalibrated the entire story. Matt Sobel’s overhaul tones down the cruelty and eliminates the more grotesque touches, resulting in a chamber drama that never gets under the skin.
Premiering Sept. 16 on Amazon, the film is middle-tier streaming fare — well-acted, visually slick and powered by an ominous orchestral score from Alex Weston that loads up on heavy sawing strings. But that music struggles to do the unsettling work that...
Having starred in the U.S. remakes of The Ring and Funny Games, Naomi Watts leads another American reimagining of foreign-language horror with Goodnight Mommy. The original 2014 Austrian feature, co-directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, was a visceral psycho-chiller about mother-son ties twisted by distrust and withheld affection into a vicious nightmare. It was a fiendish exercise in exactingly controlled tone, atmosphere and ambiguity, which paid off with a final-act reveal that effectively recalibrated the entire story. Matt Sobel’s overhaul tones down the cruelty and eliminates the more grotesque touches, resulting in a chamber drama that never gets under the skin.
Premiering Sept. 16 on Amazon, the film is middle-tier streaming fare — well-acted, visually slick and powered by an ominous orchestral score from Alex Weston that loads up on heavy sawing strings. But that music struggles to do the unsettling work that...
- 9/15/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Barbarian" has quietly emerged as one of the biggest surprises of 2022. Written and directed by Zach Cregger, the subversive horror film centers on Tess (Georgina Campbell), a woman who rents an Airbnb ahead of a job interview in Detroit, only to find the house has been double-booked by a fellow named Keith (Bill Skarsgård). To say too much more would be to spoil the fun for those who've yet to see the movie (which you absolutely should asap), so I'll leave it at that.
In terms of its influences, "Barbarian" feels practically tailor-made for the current era of horror, in which filmmakers like Jordan Peele have come to fame making movies that blend imaginatively creepy imagery with biting humor and sharp social commentary. It's also a film that's hyper-aware of where the horror genre is at right now, flipping common tropes on their heads, embracing an unorthodox narrative structure, and...
In terms of its influences, "Barbarian" feels practically tailor-made for the current era of horror, in which filmmakers like Jordan Peele have come to fame making movies that blend imaginatively creepy imagery with biting humor and sharp social commentary. It's also a film that's hyper-aware of where the horror genre is at right now, flipping common tropes on their heads, embracing an unorthodox narrative structure, and...
- 9/13/2022
- by Sandy Schaefer
- Slash Film
Click here to read the full article.
Dear Thomas, Andreas Kleinert’s black-and-white artistic biopic of the late poet, writer, and film director Thomas Brasch, has won the Lola for best film at the 2022 German Film Awards.
Kleinert also won best director and Albrecht Schuch took the 2022 best acting prize for his starring role as Brasch. It’s the third acting Lola in three years for Schuch, who won two Lolas in 2020, both for best actor (for System Crasher) and best-supporting actor (for Berlin Alexanderplatz). His Dear Thomas co-star Jella Haase won best supporting actress, and Thomas Wendrich took the best screenplay Lola for his script. Dear Thomas also won the Lola for best editing for Gisela Zick, best costume design for Anne-Gret Oehme, and best cinematography for Johann Feind.
Keeping Dear Thomas from a clean sweep at the 2022 Lolas in Berlin Friday night was Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,...
Dear Thomas, Andreas Kleinert’s black-and-white artistic biopic of the late poet, writer, and film director Thomas Brasch, has won the Lola for best film at the 2022 German Film Awards.
Kleinert also won best director and Albrecht Schuch took the 2022 best acting prize for his starring role as Brasch. It’s the third acting Lola in three years for Schuch, who won two Lolas in 2020, both for best actor (for System Crasher) and best-supporting actor (for Berlin Alexanderplatz). His Dear Thomas co-star Jella Haase won best supporting actress, and Thomas Wendrich took the best screenplay Lola for his script. Dear Thomas also won the Lola for best editing for Gisela Zick, best costume design for Anne-Gret Oehme, and best cinematography for Johann Feind.
Keeping Dear Thomas from a clean sweep at the 2022 Lolas in Berlin Friday night was Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,...
- 6/24/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stars: Kay Leahy, Chanda Rawlings, Brendan Lynch, Matthew Sharpe, Cody Faulk, Wayne Townsend, Felissa Rose, Bobby Langford, Julie Anne Prescott, Christian Jensen, Dave Sheridan | Written and Directed by David Kerr
Bloody Summer Camp is the third film, and the third slasher, from writer/director David Kerr, so I think it may be fair to say he’s a fan of the genre. And, he certainly gets the film off to a proper start as two councillors on their way to Camp Trustfall suffer vehicle issues and find out just how dangerous the woods are at night.
Also in classic slasher style, we then join Tiffany (Kay Leahy) and her friend Kimberly (Chanda Rawlings) on their way to the camp, also to be councillors. Tiffany wants to give the kids the same fun times she had there as a child, Kimberly just wants to party. The other councillors include wheelchair-bound Donnie (Brendan Lynch), obnoxious jock Zach,...
Bloody Summer Camp is the third film, and the third slasher, from writer/director David Kerr, so I think it may be fair to say he’s a fan of the genre. And, he certainly gets the film off to a proper start as two councillors on their way to Camp Trustfall suffer vehicle issues and find out just how dangerous the woods are at night.
Also in classic slasher style, we then join Tiffany (Kay Leahy) and her friend Kimberly (Chanda Rawlings) on their way to the camp, also to be councillors. Tiffany wants to give the kids the same fun times she had there as a child, Kimberly just wants to party. The other councillors include wheelchair-bound Donnie (Brendan Lynch), obnoxious jock Zach,...
- 6/17/2022
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Pablo Larrain’s ‘Spencer’ has been nominated for best film.
Andreas Kleinert’s Dear Thomas has emerged as the front runner at this year’s German Film Awards, known as the Lolas, with 12 nominations.
The black-and-white biopic of East German poet, dramatist and filmmaker Thomas Brasch is nominated in the best feature film category, as well as for direction, screenplay, lead actor, cinematography and production design.
Andreas Dresen’s Berlinale competition title Rabiye Kurnaz Vs. George W. Bush is not far behind Dear Thomas with 10 nominations, the same number his Gundermann attracted in 2019.
Austrian director Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom,...
Andreas Kleinert’s Dear Thomas has emerged as the front runner at this year’s German Film Awards, known as the Lolas, with 12 nominations.
The black-and-white biopic of East German poet, dramatist and filmmaker Thomas Brasch is nominated in the best feature film category, as well as for direction, screenplay, lead actor, cinematography and production design.
Andreas Dresen’s Berlinale competition title Rabiye Kurnaz Vs. George W. Bush is not far behind Dear Thomas with 10 nominations, the same number his Gundermann attracted in 2019.
Austrian director Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom,...
- 5/13/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Boardwalk Empire actor Michael Pitt has joined Open Road and Sculptor Media’s drama-thriller Black Flies opposite Sean Penn, Tye Sheridan and Katherine Waterston.
The movie, based on the Shannon Burke novel of the same name, takes an immersive view of life on the streets and one medic’s struggle to maintain his desire to help despite his growing fear that nothing he can do will make a difference. It is the story of lives that hang in the balance and the choices of two men caught in the middle. Ollie Cross (Sheridan) is ready to do good. In preparation for his dream of medical school, he hits the streets driving an ambulance alongside Rutkovsky (Penn), a grizzled veteran and one of New York’s best medics.
Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire is directing off the latest draft by Burke, with Ryan King also penning. Open Road took US rights for a theatrical release.
The movie, based on the Shannon Burke novel of the same name, takes an immersive view of life on the streets and one medic’s struggle to maintain his desire to help despite his growing fear that nothing he can do will make a difference. It is the story of lives that hang in the balance and the choices of two men caught in the middle. Ollie Cross (Sheridan) is ready to do good. In preparation for his dream of medical school, he hits the streets driving an ambulance alongside Rutkovsky (Penn), a grizzled veteran and one of New York’s best medics.
Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire is directing off the latest draft by Burke, with Ryan King also penning. Open Road took US rights for a theatrical release.
- 5/10/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Naomi Watts has had a penchant for highly physical roles unusual among female stars not particularly associated with action movies. It made her acrobatics the most special effect amidst so many CG wonders in Peter Jackson’s “King Kong,” and a vividly plausible victim of grueling crises in films like “Funny Games” and “The Impossible.” Of course, one can always get too much of a good thing, as when recent, regrettable “The Desperate Hour” seemed to reduce the hot-button topic of school shootings to a gimmicky “Watch this fearless actress run the gamut of emotions while Jogging!”
Fortunately, there is nothing gratuitous about the physicality demanded of Watts by “Infinite Storm,” which is based on a real-life incident that took place in New Hampshire’s White Mountains a dozen years ago. Visually splendid, Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska’s second English-language feature (following 2019’s “The Other Lamb”) is an impressive outdoor...
Fortunately, there is nothing gratuitous about the physicality demanded of Watts by “Infinite Storm,” which is based on a real-life incident that took place in New Hampshire’s White Mountains a dozen years ago. Visually splendid, Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska’s second English-language feature (following 2019’s “The Other Lamb”) is an impressive outdoor...
- 3/22/2022
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
This review of “The Desperate Hour” (formerly known as “Lakewood”) was first published on Sept. 12, 2021 after the film’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
A mom’s morning jog becomes a gimmick running in place in “The Desperate Hour,” a crisis scenario striving for issue-driven importance that should have paid more attention to its dull suspense mechanics, slapdash style, and implausibility.
The estimable Naomi Watts is always in fighting shape for the deep feelings of a peril picture, as her all-in turns in “Funny Games,” “The Impossible” and “The Wolf Hour” attest — hell, throw in “King Kong” too — but as Amy Carr, a widow in the woods and desperate to get to a son in danger, it’s the actress who’s stuck and unable to escape the confines of a cheap trap that only gets more tedious as it goes along.
Her captors are filmmakers who should know...
A mom’s morning jog becomes a gimmick running in place in “The Desperate Hour,” a crisis scenario striving for issue-driven importance that should have paid more attention to its dull suspense mechanics, slapdash style, and implausibility.
The estimable Naomi Watts is always in fighting shape for the deep feelings of a peril picture, as her all-in turns in “Funny Games,” “The Impossible” and “The Wolf Hour” attest — hell, throw in “King Kong” too — but as Amy Carr, a widow in the woods and desperate to get to a son in danger, it’s the actress who’s stuck and unable to escape the confines of a cheap trap that only gets more tedious as it goes along.
Her captors are filmmakers who should know...
- 2/25/2022
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
Fast friendships formed during the idyllic getaways of carefree vacations can have a way of souring when reassessed in the starker light of the real world. Though that’s an understatement compared to the blood-curdling horror in store for an innocent Danish family in Speak No Evil, when they reconnect on less neutral ground with a Dutch couple they first encountered amid the rolling green hills of Tuscany. Christian Tafdrup’s satire of how socially conditioned middle-class politeness can dull our self-protection instincts is effective as a startling shot of inhuman cruelty, even if its vicious conclusion is short on psychological illumination.
Acquired out of Sundance’s Midnight section by AMC’s horror platform Shudder for release in North America, the U.K. and Ireland later this year, the film’s elegance makes its savagery even more disturbing. Inching under the viewer’s skin at first with an uncomfortable situation...
Acquired out of Sundance’s Midnight section by AMC’s horror platform Shudder for release in North America, the U.K. and Ireland later this year, the film’s elegance makes its savagery even more disturbing. Inching under the viewer’s skin at first with an uncomfortable situation...
- 2/2/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Speak No Evil is terrifying, shocking, and deeply, deeply unsettling. There’s no getting around the upset factor. Audiences who catch this Sundance entry from Denmark should be warned: this one’s gonna hurt. The latest from Christian Tafdrup has the brutal shock value of George Sluizer’s The Vanishing and gut-punching, visceral impact of Haneke’s Funny Games. Speak No Evil does not reach the level of ingenuity and freshness found in those similarly potent antecedents. But what it lacks in originality is compensated in chilling execution.
It’s the third feature from Tafdrup, a Danish writer-director who co-penned Evil with his brother, Mads Tafdrup. And it’s a smart, deceptive script. For more than half the film, Speak No Evil plays as dark comedy of manners, Ruben Östlund-style. Its tone slowly shifts, growing darker and stranger. Evil is ultimately revealed to be a horror film rooted in some key societal issues.
It’s the third feature from Tafdrup, a Danish writer-director who co-penned Evil with his brother, Mads Tafdrup. And it’s a smart, deceptive script. For more than half the film, Speak No Evil plays as dark comedy of manners, Ruben Östlund-style. Its tone slowly shifts, growing darker and stranger. Evil is ultimately revealed to be a horror film rooted in some key societal issues.
- 1/26/2022
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
The fear of seemingly harmless strangers that’s heightened during our era of online “relationships” (not to mention Covid) is cannily exploited in actor-turned-writer-director Christian Tafdrup’s “Speak No Evil.” Building on the thorny couple dynamics of his prior features “Parents” and “A Horrible Woman,” this excruciatingly.
Tafdrup’s squirm-inducing tale is premiering in Sundance’s Midnight section, and should find ready berth among genre fans, with strong potential for remake bids. (Distribution rights have already been secured by horror streaming service Shudder.) At the same time, its all-too-palpable cruelty will repel some viewers, in the same way such prior atypical horrors as the original “Wolf Creek” and both editions of “Funny Games” did.
A grim final destination is all the more upsetting because the over-the-top melodrama of Sune Kolst’s orchestral score, applied straightaway to a simple opening shot of a car driving down a road at night, suggests...
Tafdrup’s squirm-inducing tale is premiering in Sundance’s Midnight section, and should find ready berth among genre fans, with strong potential for remake bids. (Distribution rights have already been secured by horror streaming service Shudder.) At the same time, its all-too-palpable cruelty will repel some viewers, in the same way such prior atypical horrors as the original “Wolf Creek” and both editions of “Funny Games” did.
A grim final destination is all the more upsetting because the over-the-top melodrama of Sune Kolst’s orchestral score, applied straightaway to a simple opening shot of a car driving down a road at night, suggests...
- 1/22/2022
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
As Bestas
Spanish helmer Rodrigo Sorogoyen has been shooting up the charts with multiple projects for just over the past decade. Best known to international audiences for Mother – a project that began as a nominated short film for the Academy Awards and would then be elongated into the feature (Madre) which would be selected for Venice’s Orizzonti section in 2019. With filming having just concluded during the holidays, As Bestas is based on a true story co-written alongside frequent collab person Isabel Peña and which stars Denis Menochet, Marina Foïs, Luis Zahera and Diego Anido. Filmed in Galicia, Spain in two parts (to depict a timeline in two seasons), the Funny Games sounding thriller brings out the beast in people and that the filmmaker will shoot as a Western.…...
Spanish helmer Rodrigo Sorogoyen has been shooting up the charts with multiple projects for just over the past decade. Best known to international audiences for Mother – a project that began as a nominated short film for the Academy Awards and would then be elongated into the feature (Madre) which would be selected for Venice’s Orizzonti section in 2019. With filming having just concluded during the holidays, As Bestas is based on a true story co-written alongside frequent collab person Isabel Peña and which stars Denis Menochet, Marina Foïs, Luis Zahera and Diego Anido. Filmed in Galicia, Spain in two parts (to depict a timeline in two seasons), the Funny Games sounding thriller brings out the beast in people and that the filmmaker will shoot as a Western.…...
- 1/6/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman takes hosts Joe Dante and Josh Olson on a journey through some of his favorite cinematic tonal shifts.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Thank You For Smoking (2006)
Up In The Air (2009)
Juno (2007)
Young Adult (2011)
Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Seven Samurai (1954) Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Rififi (1955)
Titane (2021)
Cannibal Girls (1973)
Raw (2016)
Hellraiser (1987)
A Serbian Film (2010)
Cast Away (2000)
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Downhill Racer (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Breaking Away (1979)
Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)
Psycho (1960) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Psycho (1998) – Ti West’s trailer commentary
Last Night In Soho (2021)
Funny Games (1997)
Funny Games (2008)
The Piano Teacher (2001) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray
I, The Jury (1982)
Mother! (2017)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Tully (2018)
Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review, Tfh’s 30th anniversary links...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Thank You For Smoking (2006)
Up In The Air (2009)
Juno (2007)
Young Adult (2011)
Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Seven Samurai (1954) Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Rififi (1955)
Titane (2021)
Cannibal Girls (1973)
Raw (2016)
Hellraiser (1987)
A Serbian Film (2010)
Cast Away (2000)
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Downhill Racer (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Breaking Away (1979)
Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)
Psycho (1960) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Psycho (1998) – Ti West’s trailer commentary
Last Night In Soho (2021)
Funny Games (1997)
Funny Games (2008)
The Piano Teacher (2001) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray
I, The Jury (1982)
Mother! (2017)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Tully (2018)
Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review, Tfh’s 30th anniversary links...
- 11/23/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
In “Sundown,” his latest examination of how his country’s economic and social tensions sometimes explode, Mexican director Michel Franco takes a cold-eyed stare at his characters, even as the Acapulco sun beats down on them.
In the film that premiered on Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg play British tourists holidaying in a gorgeous Banyan Tree resort, accompanied by two late-teen or early 20s kids named Alexa and Colin. They swim and eat and lounge around, getting served margaritas by their private pool, venturing out to eat dinner or watch a cliff-diving exhibition in which local men risk their lives for the visiting galleries before passing a hat for donations.
Gainsbourg is chided by the kids for always being on her phone working, until it rings with some terrible news which means they have to leave immediately. Gainsbourg squeals in pain on hearing the news,...
In the film that premiered on Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg play British tourists holidaying in a gorgeous Banyan Tree resort, accompanied by two late-teen or early 20s kids named Alexa and Colin. They swim and eat and lounge around, getting served margaritas by their private pool, venturing out to eat dinner or watch a cliff-diving exhibition in which local men risk their lives for the visiting galleries before passing a hat for donations.
Gainsbourg is chided by the kids for always being on her phone working, until it rings with some terrible news which means they have to leave immediately. Gainsbourg squeals in pain on hearing the news,...
- 9/5/2021
- by Jason Solomons
- The Wrap
If you’ve found yourself having just too good a time lately and need that to come to an end, hotfoot it to New Order, the new ordeal from Mexican director Michel Franco. In just 86 brisk, effectively brutalizing minutes, any tentative optimism you might have been feeling — say, due to a jaunty walk to a newly-reopened movie theater in sunny weather — will completely dissipate into a far more familiar downer fug. Not to suggest it’s all doom and depression! The film also makes you feel unpleasantly dirty.
Franco is...
Franco is...
- 5/26/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Rollingstone.com
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