A Faustian thriller that drips with dread, The Spiral is fantastic TIFF fare. It will not only appeal to the Midnight Madness crowd for which it was selected, but also countless film lovers as it plays within the genre, but also raises lots ot morality questions, and is executed seamlessly and skillfully. Spirals can be…
Tag: tragedy
TIFF ’26: Love is the Monster dir. Neto Villalobos Brenes
How far would you go for love? Would you do something truly monstrous? Director Neto Villalobos Brenes delivers a female-driven narrative (men only show up a couple of times throughout the film, and each time makes an impression) that lands the viewer in a not-so-distant, dystopian-leaning future. The men are gone. They left two years…
Smallville (2006) – Lockdown, and Reckoning
There’s more trouble afoot in Smallville when a deranged police officer, Flynn (Kevin Daniels), breaks into the Luthor Mansion demanding to know where the spaceship is that came down in the meteor shower. Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) uses his panic room to stay safe. Written by Steven S. DeKnight this episode was first broadcast on 19…
Clown in a Cornfield (2025) – Eli Craig
I quite enjoyed the Bram Stoker award winning YA novel Clown in a Cornfield, so it made sense that sooner or later I was going to take in the film adaption of the story. It makes me laugh that the book is very much defined as a teen book, but the film itself, because of…
Smallville (2002) – Rogue, and Shimmer
Rogue debuted on 15 January, 2002. It was written by Mark Verheiden. This time, it looks like Clark (Tom Welling) is in some real trouble, cause there’s nothing worse than a dirty cop. In this case it’s Sam Phelan (Cameron Dye) who stumbles onto Clark’s secret. Phelan attempts to blackmail Clark into stealing some internal…
How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive (2024) – Craig DiLouie
I greatly enjoyed Craig DiLouie’s Episode Thirteen, and liked how he converted the found footage genre into a novel. So when I heard that he had a new one coming out I had to get my hands on a copy. How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive came out this week, released through Orbit…
Mister Magic (2023) – Kiersten White
Kiersten White’s Mister Magic is an unnerving and spooky tale that definitely has a commentary on religion and those who believe. Mister Magic was a radio program, and later a television show that ran until the 90s when the final episode ended in tragedy. It seems a number of people remember the show, and remember…
1408 (2007) – Mikael Hafstrom
John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson star in this big screen adaptation of the Stephen King short story. Cusack, who has always been a favourite of mine, is Mike Enslin, a writer who cranked out one good (and seemingly forgotten novel) and after a personal tragedy, which had him walking out on his grief-stricken wife…
Hell House LLC (2015) – Stephen Cognetti
The found footage sub-genre of the horror realm can be hit or miss. You not only have to be willing to be swept up into the tale, and the reality it presents, it also has to be engaging enough to keep the viewer involved. Therefore it has to have an interesting story, and at the…
The X-Files (2001) – Empedocles, and Vienen
While Scully (Gillian Anderson) ends up in the hospital with a complication surrounding her pregnancy, Agent Reyes (Annabeth Gish) approaches Mulder (David Duchovny) with a case that may tie back to Doggett (Robert Patrick). Empedocles was written by Greg Walker, and first aired on 22 April, 2001. When an office worker, Jeb (Jay Underwood) is…
