Tag: Black Comedy

Aachi and Ssipak Turns 20! Host a Streaming Watch Party?

Aachi and Ssipak is a gloriously collision of dystopian science fiction, black comedy and manic animation. Its crisp 2K restoration gives this bizarre South Korean cult film another chance to find its audience.

Aachi and Ssipak Title CardAvailable to stream on Darkroom

Aachi and Ssipak is one of those strange, animated works that needs to be seen to be believed. If it’s even remotely possible to say this movie is a product born from visual tropes popularized by other works, like Ren and Stimpy meets South Park, then that’s this bizarre South Korean work in a nutshell. It won’t be for everyone either, due to its very adult content; but it’s available to screen on Darkroom, a streaming platform that’s building a solid reputation as a place for the bizarre and underappreciated.

For a film that’s totally whacked out, the concept is actually quite novel. Whether there’s any truth to turning methane into fuel has been the subject of speculation for some time. What’s explored here is less about the science and more about how dystopian things can become if governments and private industries get their way. In a localized part of the world where human excrement is the city’s only source of energy, the keepers reward citizens with addictive “Hard” popsicles for keeping the supply flowing.

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Just What A Useful Ghost Offers Is Not Seduction, But Suction

A Useful Ghost turns grief, spirituality, and social satire into one of the most offbeat supernatural films in recent memory. Blending heartfelt loss with possessed appliances and sharp cultural commentary, this Ghost Month standout is equal parts absurd and affecting.

A Useful Ghost Movie Poster
Playing at the Victoria Film Festival Feb 14th, 2026 at The Roxy (2657 Quadra St.) at 2pm. Buy tickets here.

Filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke has crafted a supernatural film that doesn’t just tug at the heartstrings, it suggests grief doesn’t always need to be sucked up. A Useful Ghost (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ) weaves several tales together to create the ultimate Ghost Month film. Originally debuting in August 2025 for Southeast Asian audiences, it’s now making a well-deserved splash across the international festival circuit.

The film introduces a series of suffocating situations. There is Tok (Krittin Thongmai), who dies at work from chest congestion. Elsewhere, an unnamed academic (Wisarut Homhuan) insists it isn’t dust but industrial pollution choking him. He buys a vacuum cleaner that promptly malfunctions. When Krong (Wanlop Rungkumjad) arrives to fix it, he has no idea he’s about to be seduced.

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When The Count Stops at Mickey 17, Could The Next War Concern Eugenics?

Dealing with life is never easy, but for Mickey 17, he finds the answer to it and there’s a lot more to it than to be reminded about Toni Basil’s song.

Mickey 17 film_posterNot everyone is going to interpret Bong Joon Ho‘s Mickey 17 the same way as the novel. When I went in not knowing the book, what I found is a story concerning Mickey (Robert Pattinson) looking to escape his past. And when he signs up to be an Expandable for the industrial evangelist Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), life will not be easy. Instead of a soldier, he’s a replicant. That is, he’s a guinea pig. Whether that’s for medical tests or ordered to walk into a minefield, he’s there!

When this film is deviating from the source material, just what happens next is anyone’s guess. When this narrative mixes up elements from Edge of Tomorrow and Starship Troopers, I’m already hooked! And for the star to be geeked to resemble Steve Rogers before becoming Captain America results from some excellent makeup design.

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Will The Real “Lore” Standup? The Struggle When The Title Is No Different Than Other Works.

Not every tale featured in Lore is from some British folk past. Had it been, there’d be more to appreciate from it.

Lore 2023 Movie PosterSpoiler Alert

Not to be confused with other similarly titled films, television series or graphic novels, the latest Lore offers four tales that tell a story over a campfire. Perhaps, if the film had come out in spring-time when the camping season was in full swing, it would have delivered a more chilling message than in October, when people were huddling by the fireplace for warmth.

That’s just my preference. While either season will do for this collection of shorts where four friends meet up with a creepy dude (Richard Brake) to huddle by a fire, I had high expectations. They are on an off-season hike to meet this individual, and pretty soon, he’s setting the mood for the remainder of this film.

Out of the four tales offered, only three of them really hit the mark in defining what British horror is like. One concerns a mysterious demon type thing haunting a building (tentatively titled “Shadows,”) the other is your classical ghost (“The Hidden Woman,”) and the third (“Cross Your Heart”) is with cults. It’s best not to give away all the details, since the last one (“The Keychain Man”) felt like let’s make a slasher film in a movie theatre. I’m not one who enjoys the slasher genre. Continue reading “Will The Real “Lore” Standup? The Struggle When The Title Is No Different Than Other Works.”

When The Kill Room Meets Art Criticism, Who Says Murder Isn’t Art?

Making money is hard these days, and just what can one art dealer do to make ends meet? Apparently, it’s to make some dirty dealings with the Miami underground in The Kill Room.

The Kill Room Movie Poster

Shout! Studios
Playing at select theatres beginning today

From selling fake artwork from celebrated modern masters to more crazy installation type pieces, The Kill Room is a fantastic black comedy which stars Uma Thurman–who doesn’t look like she’s aged by much since her Kill Bill days. With Samuel L. Jackson as a mentor on how she should deal with managing an art studio that’s having a lot of problems, what goes from a simple scam to scheme could go awry!

But when Patrice (Thurman) discovers a new talent in Reggie (Joe Manganiello), she doesn’t really get just what he truly does for a living. There are hints about what he does in Nicol Paone‘s direction, but nobody seems to care. He’s a natural-born killer, and somehow what he uses as a calling card are considered works of art!

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Parasite lands Everywhere Following the Academy Awards!

Parasite DVD Slip Cover
Available to purchase on Amazon USAParasite Picture Still

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Congratulations to Bong Joon-ho for taking home four awards at the 92nd Academy Awards! This dark comedy deserves all the wins. The use of classical background music gives more than a change of atmosphere to the South Korean character drama. Ultimately, I feel it’s a Shakespearean play that constantly shifts genres. Just how this film ends, it’s tough not to feel for the main protagonist.

The scholars rock is a macguffin which kept me curious about when it becomes important to driving this tale forward. It can mean anything. For a moment I wondered if it’s a philosopher’s stone, a transformative device. When the last film I saw from this director includes Snowpiercer and Okja, I knew he’s not going to make this change come easy. When this story is about the lower class infiltrating the home of a wealthier clan and watching how they feed off each other, the importance is with who holds the power instead.

The Kim clan is led by Ki-taek Kim (Song Kang-ho). Nobody is really doing well, not even Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), Ki-jung (Park So-dam) and Ki-woo (Choi Woo-Shik). When Ki-woo’s wealthy friend Min-hyuk gifts them a this stone, supposedly imbued with magical properties, just what happens next is with how they pretend to be skilled workers when they are not–just so they can work at the Park home.

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