Released nearly two years ago, it turns out that Hell House LLC wasn’t the complete package. Some intended VFX shots for the final sequence were never completed, and investor anxiety over breaching the 100-minute mark meant eight minutes of characterization was shaved from the original release. This “director’s cut,” which I saw, reinstates some of…
One would probably imagine that a creepy concoction such as writer-director Simon Verhoeven’s (“Men in the City”) bubble gum, horror/thriller Friend Request would take advantage of its exploitative ingredients to cultivate a half-way decent internet-based frightfest aimed at the under 30-something crowd. After all, where can one go wrong with a slasher featuring curvaceous collegiate…
In the midst of the devastation that was Hurricane Sandy back in 2012, New Jersey’s notorious play land, Atlantic City, was stripped to a bleak and torn terrain. First-time director Emanuele Della Valle uses this as a backdrop for his crime-drama film debut, Wetlands. The grey wasteland welcomes a once rogue Philadelphia cop, Babel (Adewale…
Darren Aronofsky has become a stalwart of complex themes bursting at subconscious seams with metaphor and symbolism throughout his impressive career. His darkly brutal handling of vivid despondency and ardent intentions has made his voice one of the most uniquely inspiring and eclectic in contemporary film. mother! has seemingly hit a crescendo of its director’s…
There aren’t many contemporary horror features — mainstream or independent — that one can boast as being pleasantly imaginative, thought-provoking or metaphysically intriguing. Writer-director-producer Michael Williams, breaks that notion by placing his profoundly frightening fingerprints upon the tension-filled, captivating horror suspense feature, The Atoning. Thoroughly engaging, contemplative and percolating with loads of mystique, Williams brings…
Though an estranged family tackling a bank heist in order to save a sibling is a recipe for interesting discourses by way of “Dog Day Afternoon,” The Vault, unfortunately is not that kind of film. Dan Bush cut his teeth co-directing, co-writing and co-editing the extraordinarily effective thriller/horror “The Signal,” followed by the overlooked yet…
One of the most attractive and thrilling aspects of Tsugumi Ohba’s manga and Tetsuro Araki’s anime adaptation of Death Note, is that the persistent and ever-twisting mind games played against a stylish and neo-noir backdrop always seem to build on the one preceding it until it reaches unfathomable heights. Though there have been live-action adaptations…
