[Fantastic Fest 2024] CHAINSAWS WERE SINGING Review: A Gooey and Chaotic Musical Gorefest

By: Paul Farrell

Love is an odyssey, fraught with all manner of earthly obstacles — including chainsaws.

Sander Maran’s Chainsaws Were Singing is a wildly chaotic musical gorefest, harvesting energy from both the gloriously gooey work of a young Peter Jackson and the emotive sensibilities of the Broadway stage. A charming amalgam of a later Texas Chain Saw Massacre sequel and Cannibal! The Musical (1993), the film spends its runtime reveling in the harmonic dissonance created by the many competing tones that flit across the ever-swirling, blood-soaked frame.

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[Fantastic Fest 2024] AJ GOES TO THE DOG PARK Review: An Unexpectedly Weird Hero’s Journey

By: Paul Farrell

AJ operates in a world fueled exclusively by irreverent whimsy and limitless imagination, which is why it is so funny that he spends his days eating toast in his kitchen, soup with his married friends, and, as a treat, frequenting the local dog park. AJ’s undoing is this very commitment to the simplicity of a comforting routine, an affront to the unnamed cosmic forces that govern his odd universe and one that must be rectified through the kind of heroes’ trials that might’ve inspired Odysseus, Luke Skywalker, or even Homer Simpson to run for mayor too.

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