REVIEW: Cam2Cam [2014]

“r u alone?” This year’s most tonally out-of-place ending goes to Cam2Cam. A horror/thriller pitting the murderer of a young American in Bangkok against the victim’s sister for either vengeance or a smart getaway somehow finds itself culminating in a weirdly romantic vibe of lost loves sending gifts via post to remember the lovely time they had in Thailand. It’s the biggest left turn since The Truth About Charlie‘s mediocre by the numbers remake shifting to memorable WTF whimsy for its final five minutes. Cabin Fever comes to mind too.…

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REVIEW: A Nightmare on Elm Street [1984]

“Midnight, baseball bats and bogeymen, beautiful” How great is it that the credits for A Nightmare on Elm Street list Robert Englund as playing Fred Krueger? Even though his character is called Freddy throughout it and all subsequent films, the first installment never anticipated the kind of pop culture phenomenon he’d become. Billed as the new ‘masterpiece of fantasy terror’ from the director of The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House on the Left—I guess I never realized how popular those two were—this is what I most associate with…

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TIFF08 REVIEW: Sexykiller, moriras por ella [2008]

“Like killing, but backwards” It is going to be very hard to delineate the film Sexykiller from the experience I had seeing it. My screening at the Toronto International Film Festival was the first time I had ever been to a Midnight Madness event. The atmosphere was fantastic, the theatre filled with kindred souls, all ready to have a blast and check their brains at the door. While we waited in line for seats, a couple people dressed in makeup as zombies walked by, talking to themselves about where they…

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REVIEW: Lady in the Water [2006]

“Man has forgotten how to listen” M. Night Shyamalan has really matured as a filmmaker the past few years. After an auspicious beginning with the much-adored Sixth Sense, he followed with a slow, poorly paced Unbreakable and the not quite sure what it wanted to be Signs. At this point I pretty much wrote him off, except for the brilliance in marketing that seems to make his trailers must sees. I grudgingly went to The Village in 2004 and to my surprise loved it. Everything that didn’t work in his…

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