REVIEW: Antiviral [2013]

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“Celebrities aren’t human. They’re group hallucinations.” Like father, like son—Brandon Cronenberg has been paying attention. Even though a credit as Special Effects Technician on eXistenZ is the only one of David’s films he’s attached to in a professional capacity, it would be hard to believe he wasn’t at least on set for a few others. [...]

REVIEW: CARGO [2013]

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What would you do amidst a zombie apocalypse after discovering your baby daughter thus far spared in the backseat and a gaping wound on your arm signifying an expiring clock before making her your first meal as an undead daywalker? The options seem few: secure her somewhere high, run far away without looking back, and [...]

REVIEW: Gut [2012]

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“You’re supposed to be my friend” The low budget horror thriller Gut is a surprising work in that it isn’t surprising. Written and directed by New York’s School of Visual Arts graduate Elias, this psychological chiller has been released at a perfect time for diehard genre fans tired of the new torture porn style flooding [...]

REVIEW: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters [2013]

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“Never enter a house made of candy” The thing that’s so disappointing about Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is the rather ingenious premise at its back. Taking the classic Grimm Brothers tale and expanding on the results of what escaping an evil witch in the woods as children by burning her alive in an oven [...]

REVIEW: Warm Bodies [2013]

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“God, we move slow” Who would have thought even fifteen years ago that 2013′s nerd culture would have at its pinnacle zombies and bacon? Seriously, who? While we have Ron Swanson to thank for helping keep the latter alive recently, Hollywood has been the former’s driving force. What used to be a vehicle to disseminate [...]

REVIEW: Mama [2013]

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“She gets jealous” There are many types of laughter, the kind coming out during a horror film always a point of interest. Many cope with fear by forcing themselves to laugh, the sound hopefully easing the unrest gradually settling in. This is what good horror strives to achieve, that ability to precisely straddle the line [...]

REVIEW: Sinister [2012]

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“Even I’m not old enough to know what happened” I like me a good horror film generally because their filmmakers find a freedom from the genre to create imaginative aesthetics. Rarely does one end up disturbing me to the point where I inch up to the edge of my seat and literally beg for more, [...]

REVIEW: Citadel [2012]

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“Feel the fear and let it pass” Writer/director Ciaran Foy found the perfect way to distract his audience from questioning the often clichéd actions of horror film protagonists. Instead of making Tommy (Aneurin Barnard) naive or stupid like so many of the genre’s heroes walking headlong into danger or hiding in plain sight, a diagnosis [...]

REVIEW: Resident Evil: Retribution [2012]

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“Congratulations, you’re officially a bad ass” You would think that by installment five the studio and/or writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson would realize the fans of the Resident Evil franchise are the only ones still buying tickets. The fact Resident Evil: Retribution only made a little over forty million of its sixty-five million dollar budget back [...]

TIFF12 REVIEW: Ahí va el diablo [Here Comes the Devil] [2012]

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“Frightened eyes never lie” If ever a horror film begged for multiple viewings, Ahí va el diablo [Here Comes the Devil] makes a good case. In fact, until a little over halfway through I was completely checked out. I saw what writer/director Adrián García Bogliano was doing, but the on-the-nose sexual juxtapositions of womanhood, devil [...]

TIFF12 REVIEW: Aftershock [2012]

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“I’ll buy you a new hand” When opening credits begin with ‘an Eli Roth film’, you should know what to expect. While not quite his creatively—it’s directed by Nicolás López—the torture porn maestro does get a writing credit to accompany his producer and star statuses. With an act structure pretty much identical to Hostel, the [...]