Piercing Cameron Beyl’s The Veil and Forbidden Mysteries Answered–An Interview

Many people have said The Veil is like a lost episode of the Twilight Zone, and they’re right! The themes explored and just cinematography just nails what made this series special, and we can expect more from Cameron Beyl.

Cameron Beyl HeadshotSome movies like Cameron Beyl’s The Veil need to be savoured, and while the wait for it to arrive on home video/streaming felt long, that’s because to find the right window to release it meant waiting for a certain time of the year to arrive. People believe that the curtain separating the world of the living from the dead is at its thinnest during Halloween. Readers can check out my original review here.

As an enthusiast who has studied the behaviours of spirits through reading other case reports and participating in client-based (not the holiday style) paranormal investigations, everything told in fiction felt spot on. But in order to understand everything that went on in this film, the opportunity to interview this filmmaker to learn about his thought process made this movie what it is:

For readers unfamiliar with your work, can you please introduce yourself?

I’ve been making films, using the DIY approach, ever since I was eleven, and went to Emerson College to get a formal education. I made my feature debut with So Long, Lonesome (2009), and a couple of years later, made Here Build Your Homes. During that time, I made other short films, did commissioned jobs and also worked on documentaries. My “The Director Series,” is well known [it delved into examining notable talents like Stanley Kubrick, David Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson -ed], and after that The Veil. Continue reading “Piercing Cameron Beyl’s The Veil and Forbidden Mysteries Answered–An Interview”

In Guy Maddin’s Rumours, What’s Amazing is That There’s No Secret Societies At Work Here

There’s lots of absurdist moments in this polticial satire set during the apocalypse in Rumours. What’s offered is more than just a movie review here, but also an analysis about what it all means!

Guy Maddin's Rumours Movie PosterNow playing at select theatres
Spoiler Alert

When Guy Maddin’s Rumours gets heavy with absurdist humour and presents a group of world leaders as inept, this movie may well be his most bizarre to date. That’s because of the setup: these folks have gathered to deal with some unknown global crisis. And as for whether the mud people they discover is part of it or not, that’s a mystery they’ll have to figure out, if they don’t kill each other first! I suspect these subplots had the help of co-directors Evan and Galen Johnson during filming, and reminded me of the classic soap opera, Dark Shadows.

By the time everyone agrees on how to enact a plan against some strange mauraders, it’s too late. Here, we meet German premier Hilda Orlmann (Cate Blanchett) trying to keep it together, but I suspect she’s ready to crack. And the people who are there to represent other extremes include Antonio Lamorle (Rolando Ravello) from Italy; Maxime Laplace (Roy Dupuis) from Canada; Sylvain Broulez (Denis Ménochet) from France; Tatsuro Iwasaki (Takehiro Hira) from Japan; Cardosa Dewind (Nikki Amuka-Bird) from the UK, and US President Edison Wolcott (Charles Dance). While most of them are caricatures of certain leaders we know in our world, the folks who don’t get lost in the shadows.

Continue reading “In Guy Maddin’s Rumours, What’s Amazing is That There’s No Secret Societies At Work Here”

Steve Wang and an Amazing 40 Years in the Makeup Effects Industry. Reflections on the Film That Defined His Career: Kung Fu Rascals

Not everyone will be aware that Steve Wang’s career as a master creature effects artist is approaching 40 years!

Kung Fu Rascals Blu-ray
Available to preorder on Amazon USA

Steve Wang’s behind-the-scenes credits are vast, and to talk to him about the work that got him recognized as an award-winning creature creator and master FX artist was an absolute pleasure. He grew up watching shows like Ultraman, Super Sentai along with many Japanese monster movies which would later influence his creations.

One movie that helped him get recognized in Hollywood was Kung Fu Rascals, which was very DIY, funded out of his own pocket when studio support faded, and it’s now finally getting a Blu-ray treatment from Visual Vengeance, a subsidiary of Wild Eye Releasing.

This film emerged in the early 90s when the tokusatsu genre was truly getting a foothold in North America. Before then, martial arts films with stars like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan were all the rage. Fans wanted more, the style that transitioned out of one decade to another certainly influenced this filmmaker. He loved all those classics and they certainly had an influence on his style.

And to know more about where he came from, I had the opportunity to talk to him.

Continue reading “Steve Wang and an Amazing 40 Years in the Makeup Effects Industry. Reflections on the Film That Defined His Career: Kung Fu Rascals”

Everything Computes in The Wild Robot

The beauty that’s found in The Wild Robot concerns how to let go, and reuinite with those who you love. It doesn’t matter if the species is man, machine or mammal.

The Wild Robot Movie PosterThe Wild Robot is a perfect return to form. When Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois are working together to craft (or adapt) a story, there’s magic to behold. Although I can recognize the tropes they’ve been using ever since Lilo and Stitch (concerning runts of the litter and the Ugly Duckling motif), what’s presented in DreamWorks latest is a variation of that formula. Here, it’s about the relationship between machines and nature.

Here, the focus is on how creatures all great and small can get along and is more concerned about survival in a wild frontier. When a delivery of robots gets lost during a storm, I can imagine the company who made them can always build more rather than retrieve the items for scrap. As for the one who activated, Fink (Pedro Pascal) bypasses his natural fox instinct to teach the machine about the rules of the jungle.

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The Film Masters Isn’t Finished With Roger Corman’s Catalogue of Films Yet

Just when we thought The Film Masters was finished with releasing under-rated films from Roger Corman’s vast catalogue of works, this remastered treat will be sure to entertain!

Night of the Blood Beast BOX ART (Blu-ray) The Film Masters Restoration
Available to preorder on Amazon USA

The Film Masters isn’t finished with remastering films from Roger Corman’s vast catalogue of works. Coming November 12 is a double creature feature where this producer has partnered with Bernard Kowalski (Mission Impossible TV Series, Hot Car Girl) to make Night of the Blood Beast and Attack of the Night Leeches! Technically, Gene Corman has the principal credit with the latter, and although this post-Halloween treat is just that, any day is good to mark when aliens have come to town!

From the Press Release:

Night of the Blood Beast (1958)—with an extensive restoration, a new 4K scan from original 35mm archival elements—and Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)—newly restored in HD—will be available on Blu-ray and DVD in a special collector’s two-disc edition from Film Masters.

Plot Synopsis:

Astronaut John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) dies upon returning to Earth following a space mission, but mysteriously comes back to life! As the scientists at a remote space research station investigate Corcoran’s revival, they discover that a parasitic, alien lifeform is utilising his body as a host to incubate its offspring. Starring Angela Greene, John Baer and Ed Nelson, the disc includes the highly entertaining Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode as well.

Continue reading “The Film Masters Isn’t Finished With Roger Corman’s Catalogue of Films Yet”

Hollywood Suite’s Shocktober isn’t Just Zombie Town. Top 10 Picks, Returning Series and more!

While we won’t argue which holiday is better, Halloween or Christmas, the face Hollywood Suite doesn’t want to miss a beat with a month long celebration of films can be boiled down to our distallation of a top ten, along with news on what’s debuting or finally here to watch at home.

Hollywood Suite LOGOIn Canada, Hollywood Suite is back to deliver fan favourites of classic and modern age horror movies for the Halloween enthusiast. Their 2024 Shocktober line-up is here to play on air and on demand, and I’ve started with the broadcast premiere of R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town.

Despite what the major critics say, I rather enjoyed this family friendly work about a young teen who has a dislike for the season, but will have to change his mind when his hometown gets ravaged by your not so typical zombie. What happens is a variation on a moment from Last Action Hero! You can read a full review of my first impressions here, and after subsequent viewings, I feel it has the potential to be a cult classic. To have Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase make cameos is a plus!

Also, the second season of the Hollywood Suite original series Cinema A to Z is ready to air with its premiere episode Serial Killers on October 10. In this episode, film experts uncover audiences’ fascination with the macabre through 26 portrayals of murderers on film from American Psycho to Zodiac. Although I’m not a huge fan of the slasher genre, I respect it because that’s where the movie Halloween emerged from.

Continue reading “Hollywood Suite’s Shocktober isn’t Just Zombie Town. Top 10 Picks, Returning Series and more!”