TIFF24: A Missing Part dir. Guillaume Senez

Senez delivers a moving drama that examines familial connections against the backdrop of Tokyo and Japan’s clean break policy when it comes to family separation. Jay (Romain Duris in a role that allows him to deliver a stellar performance) drives a cab at night, while he spends his days trying to find the daughter he…

The Believers (1987) – John Schlesinger

The dirty and gritty New York of the 80s serves as the backdrop for this rough, brutal and frightening take on hoodoo and Santeria, with a script written by Mark Frost from a novel by Nicholas Conde, the story follows a police psychologist, Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) when he gets called in a horrifying case….

Starman (1986/1987) – The Gift, and The System

Jane Wyatt, who played Spock’s mother in Star Trek, The Original Series and The Voyage Home, plays Paul Forrester’s (Robert Hays) mother in The Gift. Written by Peggy Goldman, this is the series holiday episode and was first broadcast on 12 December, 1986. Paul and Scott (Christopher Danie Barnes) receive a letter from Stella, Paul’s…

Starman (1986) – Fatal Flaw, and Blue Lights

Paul (Robert Hays) and Scott (Christopher Daniel Barnes) are still on the hunt for Jenny Hayden in Fatal Flaw and end up helping a female pilot, Jessica (Patricia McPherson) and her father, Conrad (Kenneth Tobey). Written by Mike Gray and John Mason, this episode was first broadcast on 3 October, 1986. After an incident at…

TAD 2023: Daniel’s Gotta Die dir. Jeremy LaLonde

I’ve been a fan of Jeremy LaLonde for some time now, and have enjoyed all of his films. He assembles great casts and tends to have very sharp scripts, his latest, Daniel’s Gotta Die, screening tonight at Toronto After Dark is no exception to that. Shot in the Caribbean during lockdown, LaLonde delivers a fun…

Episode Thirteen (2023) – Craig DiLouie

Orbit Books brings me my first real creepy novel of 2023, Episode Thirteen. Using the familiar structure of the found footage genre, something that has been co-opted successfully for all of the ghost-hunting shows that seem to plague reality television, DiLouie compiles a literary found footage film, offering up video transcripts, EVP recordings, text messages,…

Fringe (2012) – Brave New Worlds: Part 1 and Part 2

The final two episodes of season four are a one two punch, a two-part episode that brought a number of things to a close and set up things for the final season. Brave New Worlds: Part 1 first aired on 4 May, 2012 and was written by Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Wyman and J.H. Pinkner. The…

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) – Adam Marcus

New Line Cinema takes over the reins of the Voorhees series for the next three films, and for their first film, the creator of the original film, Sean Cunningham insisted on something different. Adam Marcus, who served as the film’s director, and one of the film’s writers definitely did that, and delivered one of the…

Millennium (1997) – 19:19, and The Hand of Saint Sebastian

Prophecy and the Millennium Group are front and centre in this week’s episode of Millennium. First up Frank (Lance Henriksen) is trying to find a group of missing children in Hurricane Alley, and he and Peter Watts (Terry O’Quinn) are in a race against time in 19:19. Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong this…