Commentary
Originally entitled “The Shower” when I reviewed it at Spooky Movie Festival 2014, this off-kilter outbreak thriller from first-time feature writer/director Alex Drummond comes across with the type of sardonic humor that treads the line between comedy and horror (more often catering to the former). A more than serviceable genre crossover in the vein of “Shaun of the Dead”, […]
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Sevé Schelenz is just a regular everyday guy trying to make a difference. In the stripper-horror subgenre. It’s been five years since my one and only meeting with the director, when Schelenz’s creepy minimalist found-footage flick “Skew” left much to our imaginations at the 2011 Spooky Movie Fest in DC (it went on to great […]
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Albeit a very different style, DC-Area native writer/director Jeremy Saulnier’s “Green Room” competes with “The Invitation” as the best horror/thriller of the year. While the latter is a subtle, clever twist on the “Ten Little Indians” premise, Saulnier’s follow-up to “Blue Ruin” is more like a grenade going off in an over-crowded sub-genre. It’s tense, smart, and […]
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Every once in a while, I like to chime in on a big film after heated opinion has waned (i.e., I couldn’t make the press screening). The big question is: is the clash of the cleft chins as bad as all the reviewers are saying it is? Though I had the same reaction to the battle between […]
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A few years back, I spoke with a guy named Sevé Schelenz, who was out peddling a found-footage flick that he wrote and directed called “Skew” on the festival circuit. I caught him at the Spooky Movie Fest in DC where I took maybe the best photograph of a Canadian horror filmmaker ever. Then I found […]
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We sat down with Kung Fu Panda 3 directors Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni earlier this month. Click here (or use the embedded player below) to hear about the journey Po (Jack Black) has taken, what he’s learned, and the things that go into making one of the best-looking animated films to come out […]
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Betsy Cox delivers an urgent message in a twenty-year-old story….still in the making. This is not a film about Washington, DC, or political ideologies concerning education, though its socioeconomic undercurrent is critical in establishing the odds of the era. This is a film about people and what they are capable of when afforded the opportunity […]
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Here’s a quick Top 20 list to supplement my End-of-Year Review. But first, some brief thoughts on Thursday’s Oscar nominees (Full List Here): Opinion: As for period dramas, “Carol” should have taken the “Brooklyn” slot; “The Revenant” and “The Big Short” absolutely, one hundred percent, belong on that list (both in my Top 5); an unbelievable 8 nominations for “Mad Max: […]
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By Michael Parsons As I emerge from a fugue state after a slew of awards screenings, I’m reminded of why I love movies so much. Not because I’ve seen almost ever Oscar contender out there, but because the ever-expanding art of cinema never fails to churn out some surprises. As far as I’m concerned, every year is a great year in […]
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THE 11th ANNUAL SPOOKY MOVIE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
THE 11th ANNUAL SPOOKY MOVIE INTERNATIONAL HORROR FILM FESTIVAL October 5-9, 2016 For ten years, October has belonged to the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival. The festival that brought the DC area such films as THE BABADOOK, EXISTS, TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, HE NEVER DIED, HOUSEBOUND, and THE FINAL GIRLS–-holds its 11th annual event […]
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