Extraordinary Tales is the perfect little bon mot to kick off the Halloween season. It is a slight, charming, and charmingly macabre animated adaptation of five Edgar Allen Poe short stories, all illustrated, directed, and adapted by Raul Garcia. There is also a mediocre framing device that sets up Poe as a raven chatting with […]
If you are a young couple and have a dream of opening your own bed and breakfast, it’s best not to buy one of the oldest houses in New England for the task. Usually something very bad happened there, or something very unpleasant lives there. That’s the lesson Jessica and Dan learn in the Rasmussen […]
The makers of The Final Girls pull of an admirable trick. They present a credible, genial spoof of 1980’s slasher flicks while successfully incorporating a sentimental yet credible theme of appreciating and letting go of grief. It’s impressive and gives the movie more heft than most of the joke-a-minute spoofs that, say, the Wayans brothers […]
Goodnight Mommy has one crackin’ good premise, but it doesn’t quite know what to do with it. This Austrian film aims for the sparseness and sleekness of recent arty Scandinavian horror, and in doing so, falls into self-enforced blandness. It treads the straight path instead of really examining its characters and ends up letting down […]
Directed by Jonas Alexander Arnby Written by Rasmus Birch, based on an idea by Christoffer Boe, Arnby, and Birch Produced by Caroline Schlüter Bingestam and Ditte Milsted Released by Radius Danish with English subtitles Denmark/France. 84 min. Rated R With Sonia Suhl, Lars Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Jakob Oftebro, Stig Hoffmeyer, Mads Riisom, Esben Dalgaard, Gustav […]
Directed by John McNaughton Written by Stephen Lancellotti Produced by Kim Jose, David Robinson, Steven A. Jones and Marshall T Released by IFC Midnight USA. 103 min. Not rated With Samantha Morton, Michael Shannon, Meadow Williams, Charlie Tahan, Leslie Lyles, Natasha Calis, and Peter Fonda Parents just want what’s best for their children, don’t they? […]
Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead Released by Drafthouse Films USA. 109 min. Not rated With Lou Taylor Pucci and Nadia Hilker In this new supernatural romance film, an isolated, directionless young American named Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci) flees to Italy to find himself. It’s obvious that he needs a chance to make a […]
Written and Directed by Adam MacDonald Produced by Thomas Michael Released by IFC Midnight Canada. 91 min. Not rated With Missy Peregrym, Jeff Roop, Eric Balfour, and Nicholas Campbell Based on a true story, the feature film debut of actor and director Adam MacDonald follows Jenn (Missy Peregrym) and Alex (Jeff Roop, executive producer) as […]
Written and Directed by David Robert Mitchell Produced by Rebecca Green, Laura D. Smith, David Kaplan and Erik Rommesmo Released by Radius-TWC USA. 100 min. Rated R With Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, and Lili Sepe It Follows, a stunning new wave horror film, pays homage to its genre’s predecessors […]