On June 24-29 I had the luxury of virtually attending the 2021 Chattanooga Film Festival (which seems to have basically set the standard for virtual festivals last year, from what I’ve been told) for the first time ever and had an absolute blast! It was easy to feel the overwhelming amount of excitement from all the active users in the […]
Timothy Covell’s “Blood Conscious” is a brilliantly executed, cerebral exercise in managing paranoia that within the first few minutes has the characters juggling with who they can trust, what’s actually going on, and deciphering how they’re going to get out of this situation without being killed or suffering an even worse fate. It’s a film that submerges the viewer in […]
Presenting the viewer with a mesmerizingly layered narrative that’s brought to life by great performances, Jacob Gentry’s “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” is a deeply unsettling and highly engaging thriller that’ll have you completely engrossed in it’s mystery by the end of the first act. The story unfolds rather slow as it begins, but quickly picks up pace it never loses as […]
Peter Collins Campbell’s darkly magical romantic drama “DimLand” is an absolutely remarkable film that whisks the viewer away to a cabin in the woods alongside a young woman named Brynn and her boyfriend Laika, who are looking to escape their lives for a little while. Little do they know that shortly after arriving they’ll encounter a mysterious stranger from Brynn’s […]
This movie is budget filmmaking at it’s finest: it’s rough, violent, cheesy at times, and just plain fun to watch! Isaac Rathé’s “Duel on the River” is an aptly titled love letter to Steven Spielberg’s debut classic “Duel” that, as you’d expect, takes the stress-inducing chase from the open road to the open water. Made entirely during the pandemic as a […]
There’s nothing wrong with a film that ambiguously meanders a bit more than it needs to if it adds something to the characterization or overall experience the filmmakers are trying to sell. After rolling credits on Sasha Voronov’s “Mom, I Befriended Ghosts” though, it’s clear that it doesn’t always work when that ambiguous meandering is really all there was to […]
Christopher Alender’s “The Old Ways” is hands down one of the most well-made, refreshing, and genuinely disturbing possession films of recent years, in almost every imaginable way. The filmmakers manage to set the hooks in the viewer very early on with an interesting premise that’s highly engaging from the minute it begins due to masterful cinematography, a slew of great […]
A meandering yet meaningful exploration of what it means to be “a good person” in a world filled with so much moral grey area, Robert G. Putka’s “Mister Limbo” is a heartfelt mumblecore dramedy set in a surreal desert wasteland. Though it’s setting is fairly fantastical it doesn’t rely on visual effects or lean too heavily on the gimmick of […]
A guide on how not to act when your dog goes missing? Caleb Michael Johnson’s “The Carnivores” is a film that’ll have you questioning nearly every single character motivation in sight, cringing in disbelief at some of the things the things they willingly do without question, and ultimately wondering what it was all for by the time the credits roll. […]
Baptiste Drapeau’s “The Lodger” is a romantic horror film featuring one of the most captivating and haunting love triangles in cinematic history, that manages to feel like a romantic fantasy while remaining impressively grounded throughout it’s ninety-two minute runtime. A young nursing student named Julie is starting school in Bordeaux, France where she rents a room from a strange but […]