Ghostwatch seems like an appropriate film for April Fool’s Day. Seven years before The Blair Witch Project marketed itself as an actual piece of found footage, a documentary, the BBC scarred viewers young and old with their television production of Ghostwatch. Staged like so many other BBC investigative programmes, and despite a brief intro proclaiming…
Tag: horror
Edenville (2023) – Sam Rebelein
I love a good horror novel, and I often find myself cruising best of lists to find something that catches my interest and haven’t heard of. Apparently in October of last year, I missed a stellar horror release by Sam Rebelein. Combining folk, cosmic and body horror, Edenville pulled me in and completely enraptured me…
Talk to Me (2022) – Danny and Micheal Philippou
The Philippou brothers deliver a fantastic Australian horror film with Talk to Me, creepy, smart, layered, and relatable characters make this one to watch, and get freaked out over. Something is sweeping the social media of the kids in a town in Australia, parties built around a ritual involving an embalmed hand, candles, and ninety…
It’s a Wonderful Knife (2023) – Tyler MacIntyre
With a title like It’s a Wonderful Knife, you can tell already what kind of film this is going to be. It plays on the classic Capra film, turns it into a horror movie, and also includes a lot of laughs. It has a solid cast and may become a new holiday favourite for horror…
Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010) – Eli Craig
Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk star in this horror-comedy that puts the murderous hillbilly horror trope on its ear. A group of annoying college kids, led by Allison (Katrina Bowden) and Chad (Jesse Moss) are headed up into the woods for a weekend of debauchery but are extremely creeped out when they come across a…
When Evil Lurks (2023) – Demian Rugna
The Spanish language film, When Evil Lurks, from Argentina, has found its way into my favourite horror films along with Late Night with the Devil. It’s creepy, has some legitimate scares, and a real sense of menace. Two brothers, Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jimi (Demian Salomon), find themselves confronting true evil when they encounter a…
TAD 2023: Canadian Shorts After Dark
Saturday afternoon at Toronto After Dark gives Canadian filmmakers a chance to showcase their genre shorts, and this time around, there are nine shorts for your spine-tingling enjoyment. There is Bird Hostage written and directed by Lauren Andrews and features her and fan favourite Jay Baruchel in this eccentric little tale that sees Lauren (Andrews)…
TAD 2023: Late Night with the Devil dir. Cameron Cairnes, and Colin Cairnes
The Toronto After Dark film festival got started on Thursday night with a bang with Late Night with the Devil. And it was a crowd-pleaser. If you are a horror fan, this is one to seek out, this is one to demand from your streaming service, this should move to the top of your viewing…
TIFF ’23: Sleep
Midnight Madness at TIFF is always a lot of fun, and some great genre films get scheduled that are designed to deliver to the late-night audience. Sleep hopes to do that this week. A Korean entry to the film festival from writer/director Jason Yu. It’s his first feature film, and Yu creates a tense, moody…
TIFF ’23: Hell of a Summer
Long-time friends Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk share directing, producing, writing and starring credits in their enjoyable and goofy riff on camp slasher films. It’s summer, and Camp Pineaway is gearing up for another round of campers and counsellors. In fact, the counsellors gather the weekend before camp opens to prepare, get reacquainted, drunk, high,…
The Mind Reels 