Tag: Review

[Fantasia 2020] THE COLUMNIST Review: A Wildly Entertaining Cautionary Tale for the Internet Age

Dead RingersLeave a comment

By: Emily von Seele

You know those assholes on the internet — the trolls and the griefers and the dickbags whose only purpose in life is to make other people miserable by shitting on everything? Yeah, we all know them. And if you’re a woman on the Internet, then you are intimately aware. The comments, accusations, and remarks about our work, how we look, and anything else they come up with between massive helpings of Cheetos and a few conversations with their mom, who, for the love of god, wants them to move the hell out of her garage so that she can have some semblance of a life now that she has finished raising this piece of shit. Yeah, them. This movie is about what happens when someone finally pushes back.

Read More »

[Fantasia 2020] HAIL TO THE DEADITES Review: A Fun Love Letter to EVIL DEAD Fans

Dead RingersLeave a comment

By: Emily von Seele

If there is one thing unique to horror, it’s the fans. Horror fandom is a special and unique place where we celebrate everything macabre, bloody, strange, and otherworldly. We can recite lines from our favorite films, make obscure references to one another, and cosplay the most minor characters knowing that if we go to a con, someone there will know who we’re dressed as and give us a high five.

Read More »

[Fantasia 2020] SLEEP Review: A Journey into the Nightmares of the Past

Dead RingersLeave a comment

By: Emily von Seele

My first film of the Fantasia International Film Festival was a fascinating and understated horror film from Germany. Sleep is a film fueled by nightmares that break into the waking space and fuse themselves to the horrors of the real world. The film centers on Marlene (Sandra Huller) and her daughter Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof). Marlene is plagued by nightmares, often finding herself trapped between sleep and consciousness, gasping for breath. Mona tries to help her as much as she can, but her condition keeps worsening and doesn’t have an apparent source.

Read More »

[Fantastic Fest] Review Round-Up: THE SHIP OF MONSTERS, PARASITE, KNIVES OUT

Dead RingersLeave a comment

By: Paul Farrell

Knives Out

As the final frames of the last movie flickered into blackness, I knew the end had come. No more screening slots to agonize over, no more seating assignments to lament, no more festival volunteers to high-five — Fantastic Fest 2019 was no more. But in those final hours, there was still celebration; movies to watch, love, and share with the world. That’s when an epiphany hit me. For if we keep talking about it, Fantastic Fest will never truly end, only live on in the hearts, minds, and souls of movie fans everywhere, for all time. And thanks to a particularly great lineup of films on the final day, I’ve still got plenty to say.

Read More »

[Fantastic Fest] Review Round-Up: VIVARIUM, IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON, IN THE TALL GRASS, THE LODGE

Dead RingersLeave a comment

By: Paul Farrell

The Lodge 2

At Fantastic Fest, there were days where movies flowed fluidly in front of my eyes and the only distraction was trying to find the little plastic pen in the dark to sign my receipt for the chicken strips. It was a time full of complimenting strangers on their cool t-shirts and striking up conversations about enamel pins on festival lanyards. Those days…oh, how they were fantastic. By this particular day, a Monday, more than half of the festival was now behind us, but I was still going strong. Here’s what I saw.

Read More »

[Fantastic Fest] Review Round-Up: Horror Queers Live Podcast + SCREAM, QUEEN! MY NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, SYNCHRONIC, COME TO DADDY

Dead RingersLeave a comment

By: Paul Farrell

Scream Queen

As my body has become fully assimilated into the world of movies and soft pretzels with queso, so too have my days become increasingly more difficult to define. I no longer am able to distinguish between night and day — all is a series of slowly dimming lights as I attempt to eat tortilla chips softly during the quiet parts of whatever movie is playing before me. Still, the rewards I reap are far greater than the generally overrated grasp of time and space that most people have access to. Take Sunday, for example. Here’s what went down.

Read More »

[Fantastic Fest] Review Round-Up: THE LONG WALK, KNIVES AND SKIN, VFW, BLISS

Dead RingersLeave a comment

By: Paul Farrell

VFW 2

I was told upon my arrival at Fantastic Fest that, at a certain point, the days would begin to blend together. That reality itself would become an unreliable entity, time passing in great chunks as nothing but movies, beer, and brief encounters with those I had previously only known via their Twitter handle float by in scarcely digestible vignettes. Yes, I was warned, I just thought it would take longer than a few days to kick in.

Read More »

[Fantastic Fest] Review Round-Up: THE ANTENNA, THE DEATH OF DICK LONG, COLOR OUT OF SPACE, HOMEWRECKER

Dead RingersLeave a comment

By: Paul Farrell

Color Out Of Space 2

Friday, September 20th, 2019 was an important day. I’ve hit many milestones in my time on this Earth, but until this particular day I had never experienced a full day…of Fantastic Fest. It brought with it a sinister Turkish government satellite dish; the mysterious death of a man due to “getting weird;” an epic cosmic threat from the deepest reaches of outer space (complete with a bourbon-loving, alpaca-milking Nicolas Cage); and a hard-R, Lifetime-esque midnight movie that features the heavy use of a sledgehammer that was formerly wall art. Allow me to explain.

Read More »

[Fantastic Fest] SWEETHEART Review: A Lean, Character-Driven Creature Feature

Dead RingersLeave a comment

By: Paul Farrell

Sweetheart

The water is clear and blue in the bright sunlight, the sandy floor unobscured. There’s something serene about the crystal clear sea, something calming about the lapping waves as they make their way toward the sandy shore. In the wake of the beaming sun, the beauty of the ocean’s vastness and what it holds just beneath the surface is utterly breathtaking, offering a staggering sense of unfathomable possibility — one that can feel as impressive in the light as it does imposing in the dark.

That’s when a girl washes ashore.

Read More »