I’ve never been one to shy away from all things spooky. My childhood was a colorful blur of Beistle decorations, Disney Villains, and haunting and haunted tales from days of old. I had a King Kong stuffed animal, from the old days of Universal Studios merch, that was (besides Elmo, duh) my best friend. My [...]

Nightstream Film Festival (NFF) - Allegory and heavy-handed metaphors stall the meaningful message of Clearcut - a cautionary tale about logging, industry, and colonization. Brutal, sadistic torture lays a dark but necessary swath over a tale of a misguided but well-meaning lawyer, Peter Maguire (Ron Lea) who has just lost the case against a logging company [...]

Austin Film Festival (AFF) - Higher education is one of those subjects that drives heated debates, even amongst friends and loved ones. Some can’t imagine a feasible future without - some see a bleak and debt-ridden future with. Marc (John DiMino) is one of those students - in far too far over his head, having [...]

Nightstream Film Festival (NFF) - A brutal beginning, including a sixteenth birthday, a seance, and a death-by-bookshelf set the scene for Alison's Birthday, a 1981 Ozsploitation film from the mind of Ian Coughlan. Despite the tragedy and the terrifying message of impending doom (seemingly sent by the spirit of her dead father), Alison (Joanne Samuel) [...]

I have to be honest. I’m not one hundred percent sure of what I just watched. The synopsis of Companion is simple enough - “Across a post-apocalyptic landscape haunted by spirits, a guilt-stricken woman must choose to abandon her husband or die with him.” Makes sense to me, certainly. Ella (Anna Flynn) and Gus (Marcus [...]

Writer/Director Natalie Rodriguez has spent her career spotlighting violence, trauma, and mental health issues--all important factors of The Extraordinary Ordinary, her first feature endeavor. Carefully highlighting the honest truths of PTSD and trauma-related stress illness, the film delicately walks the tightrope of trauma and drama--without pulling any gimmicks or goofy tropes along the way. The [...]

In a town where death has been banned, there are few people more shunned than the Undertaker. Doctor Caligari (Antonio Amoruso) can’t sell his coffins - and his reverence of death prevents him from jumping on the trend of resurrection. Business beyond dwindling, and his personal life on the brink of total destruction, he is [...]