Category Archives: Reviews
Review: Luz (Germany 2018)
A borderline-experimental possession horror film, Luz straddles the line between arthouse and horror, with enough unsettling atmosphere, blood, and nudity to satisfy gorehounds, but an avant-garde approach that wouldn’t seem out of place in a museum installation. It can take … Continue reading
Review: The White Storm 2: Drug Lords – NYAFF 2019
This is some classic Hong Kong bullshit right here. I saw the original White Storm a while back, but I’m pretty sure this has nothing to do with it. Instead, Herman Yau sets up a wild grudge match between former … Continue reading
Review: Fly Me to the Saitama (Japan 2019) – NYAFF 2019
I fucking loved this movie. Perhaps the campiest thing I’ve seen in years, this boys-love Romeo and Juliet fable of a Rococo oppressive Tokyo dominating its lame bedroom suburb neighbor Saitama (imagine if folks from New Jersey needed visas just … Continue reading
Review: The Perfection (2019)
I am genuinely uncertain whether what I just watched was terrible terrible, or hilariously awesomely terrible. And I’m not sure if the director and cast know either. But I wasn’t bored. I attended a screening with a Q&A from director … Continue reading
Review: The Ranger (USA 2018)
The Ranger, directed by Jenn Wexler and co-written by Wexler and Giaco Furino, is a fun, tight, modern indie slasher, in the tradition of “roll up your sleeves” regional splatter flicks like The Mutilatorand “punks vs. hicks” schlock like Punk … Continue reading
Review: Premika (Thailand 2017) – NYAFF 2018
Those in the mood for midnight movie fare need look no further than Premika, an absolutely bugnuts karaoke-themed horror movie out of Thailand. It’s funny, it’s gross, and it’s even a bit heartbreaking. Premika is gonzo filmmaking at its best, … Continue reading
Review: The Big Call (China/HK 2017) – NYAFF 2018
The Big Call, the latest from Oxide Pang, is so hilariously overwrought (even by Hong Kong standards) for its subject matter that I spent most of the first half of the movie convinced it was a sly parody. No such … Continue reading
Review: Dynamite Graffiti (Japan 2018) – NYAFF 2018
The 17th New York Asian Film Festival kicks off tonight at Lincoln Center and I could not be more excited. I’ve been coming to Subway Cinema’s annual extravaganza’s since before they even were the NYAFF, and they’ve never once failed … Continue reading
Review: Heavy Trip aka Hevi Reissu (Finland 2018) – Cinepocalypse 2018
As a region, Scandinavia only has a few instantly recognizable cliché cultural exports. Smoked fish, 70’s art porn, IKEA … and the blackest of black metal. I’m not much for the others, but I’ve been fascinated with the Scandinavian metal … Continue reading
Review: Satan’s Slaves aka Pengabdi Setan (Indonesia 2017) – Cinepocalypse 2018
I watch a lot of horror movies, and while I love them, I’ve become pretty jaded over the years. Maybe one out of every hundred are actually frightening, and then usually only for a moment or two. So when I … Continue reading