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BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE

October 14, 2018 By Leave a Comment

BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE

Drew Goddard crafts tales that are multi-layered and philosophically challenging. From his days in the Whedon-verse to the deliciously exercise in meta-text, CABIN IN THE WOODS, there is always much more going on than the surface narrative. And so it is with BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE, which may not be the flawless wonder… Read More »

Tagged With: Allegory, California-Nevada border, hotel, neo-noir, suspense

THE VOID

April 7, 2017 By Leave a Comment

THE VOID

THE VOID is a beautifully executed horror film that pays homage to the genre’s roots while carving out its own enigmatically creepy mythos.  Playing on such familiar tropes as the deserted farmhouse, the dark basement, and an axe swung with abandon, it takes place over the course of one night in a soon-to-be abandoned hospital… Read More »

Tagged With: cult, horror, hospital, mystery, suspense, tentacles

FARE — Thomas Torrey Interview

March 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment

FARE — Thomas Torrey Interview

The first thing I asked Thomas Torrey when I spoke with him by phone on February 23, 2017, was whether shooting his film, FARE, in three days, and entirely within a car, was necessity or personal challenge. Once that was out of the way, we went on to talk about the odd sort of intimacy… Read More »

Tagged With: agnostic, C. S. Lewis, cinematography, coincidence, infidelity, Kunal Rajan, Madeleine L’Engle, moon roof, mystery, R.C. Walker, ride-share, sound design, suspense, The Screwtape Letters, theology, Wormwood

THE ONES BELOW

May 21, 2016 By Leave a Comment

THE ONES BELOW

There is definitely someone going crazy in THE ONES BELOW, and the wonderful thing about this astringent tale of mystery and suspense is that we have few doubts about who it is. The key word is few. Two couples who have layers, which may or may not be camouflage, experience tragedy, resentment, joy, and childbirth,… Read More »

Tagged With: baby, childbirth, mystery, neighbors, shared living space, shoes, suspense

Kent Jones on HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT

December 8, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Kent Jones on HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT

When Francois Truffaut sat down with Alfred Hitchcock in 1962, the former was in his early 30s with few films to his name, the latter was in his early 60s, and was the undisputed master of suspense. Hitchcock was not, however, given proper respect as an artist, at least not as far as Truffaut, and… Read More »

Tagged With: Alfred Hitchcock, Andrew Sarris, Arnaud Desplechin, camera angles, cinema, film criticism, film history, Francois Truffaut, Helen Scott, Kent Jones, Lew Wasserman, Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater, suspense, Universal Studio, VERTIGO

Dreary DARK PLACES

August 7, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Dreary DARK PLACES

DARK PLACES is awash with dark moodiness as it tells a raggedy story that suffers from a failure of to find a narrative structure as strong or as compelling as the performance of his star, Charlize Theron. Based on the novel by Gillian Flynn, on whose novel of the same name GONE GIRL was based,… Read More »

Tagged With: book to screen, Charlize Theron, Gillian Flynn, murder, mystery, narrative, suspense

How to Wield A CANDLESTICK

April 6, 2015 By Leave a Comment

How to Wield A CANDLESTICK

It takes a great deal of moxie to begin a film by referencing Hitchcock in both title sequence and score, but director/co-writer Christopher Presswell’s CANDLESTICK does just that, and then, with an impudent wink at the audience, does a more than credible job of making good on its promise. An intelligently crafted plot, driven by… Read More »

Tagged With: adultery, Andrew Fitch, British film, Chritopher Presswell, Isla Ure, Nigel Thomas, suspense, thriller, Tom Knight

RUN ALL NIGHT with Liam Neeson

March 22, 2015 By Leave a Comment

RUN ALL NIGHT with Liam Neeson

There is a reason that there is a rigid formula for Liam Neeson action films:  it has a tendency to hit more than it misses.  In RUN ALL NIGHT, the tropes are all present and accounted for with the variations that are permitted within the formula’s rules.  Neeson is the everyman with, you will pardon… Read More »

Tagged With: action, Common, crime thriller, drama, Ed Harris, explosion, father-son relationship, fistfight, gunfight, Jaume Collet-Serra, Joel Kinnaman, Liam Neeson, narrative, New York City, suspense, Vincent D'Onofrio

Perry Blackshear, MacLeod Andrews & Evan Dumouchel Insist that THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE

February 18, 2015 By 1 Comment

Perry Blackshear, MacLeod Andrews & Evan Dumouchel Insist that THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE

  THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE is a first-rate existential horror film, as well as a psychological thriller. I got the same vibe watching it that I had gotten watching PI and BRICK, the maiden efforts of Darren Aronofsky and Rian Johnson respectively. Writer/director Perry Blackshear understands more than just how to create evocative, even sumptuous, visuals, he knows… Read More »

Tagged With: ABSENTIA, alienation, apocalypse, cinema, Danny Boyle, dating, delusions, demons, director, emotional trauma, Evan Dumouchel, existential, friendship, horror, indie film, interview, isolation, loneliness, MacLeod Andrews, male-bonding rituals, Mike Flanagan, movie, OCCULUS, Pantheon of Evil, paranoia, paranormal, Perry Blackshear, primal fear, reality, schizophrenia, screenwriter, self-help, Slamdance, sound design, SUNSHINE, suspense, THE LOOK LIKE PEOPLE, thriller

SPIDER

October 21, 2014 By Leave a Comment

SPIDER

David Cronenberg’s particular genius is getting inside our deepest, most primal fears, the ones that exist in the id and are impervious to any assuaging from the land of logic. Hence in RABID, Marilyn Chambers grows something suspiciously phallic in a most unexpected place, in VIDEODROME, our televisions turn on us, and in DEAD RINGERS,… Read More »

Tagged With: art as seduction, book to screen, censorship, David Cronenberg, delusion, director, horror, madness, mental illness, murder, mystery, Patrick McGrath, schizophrenia, silence as sound, suspense

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