REVIEW: Ayla [2018]

You still see her sometimes, don’t you? It doesn’t matter that it’s been thirty years since Elton’s (Nicholas Wilder) sister died at age four. He still sees her in the corner of his eyes, the shadows, and his mind. This sense of longing has taken hold of his actions many times throughout his life as evidenced by the scars on his forearms—a pattern of self-violence for which his mother Susan (Dee Wallace) and younger brother James (D’Angelo Midili) are keenly aware. But the hope is that those days are behind…

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REVIEW: Dark [2016]

“I didn’t like what I saw” It’s summer 2003 and the entire Northeast is about to go Dark. I lost seeing Radiohead as a result of that blackout—my tickets for the weekend’s Toronto show postponed a few months later to an exam night the next semester. Some people had it better with nothing going awry besides losing some perishables in the fridge; other had it worse. How much worse is up to the people who experienced it or those like screenwriter Elias and director Nick Basile seeking to use that…

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REVIEW: Gut [2012]

“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 the market. While most contemporary horrors try their hardest to be unique with twists and turns so obnoxiously convoluted that they bore instead of intrigue, Elias sticks to a more naturalistic approach depending heavily upon…

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