Tag Archives: Horror

Dale’s a “Cult Hero!” Busting His Way to Success at Fantasia 2022’s Premiere!

31 Jul

Cult HeroCult Hero is a lively throwback to the action films of yesteryear and writer/director Jesse Thomas Cook loves to camp it up! Anyone who loved his movie, Monster Brawl, will enjoy this one too. I was laughing throughout this horror comedy. Plus, the mashup of filming with a mix of old and modern equipment is perfect for to give this film everything a fan of 80s and 90s television would want. Even the titles are recreated with loving effect.

This movie about the life and times of Dale Domazar is hilarious. Ry Barrett is perfect in the role of a has-been television show host cum private investigator. He used to be the star of a television show called Cult Busters, and as the name implies, it’s about him breaking up ominous cults. But after the last broadcast resulted in a mass suicide, that can ruin one’s reputation easily. However, he believes he can get his mojo back.

This jab at reality TV is what I need after watching Conjuring Kesha. It’s not even a ghost hunting show (review link) because the direction is very Scooby-Doo and depends more on this singer trying to be like Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkly at the same time.

Conversely, thankfully Domazar pulls off the craziness like Sgt. Slaughter and be all gung-ho like Dog the Bounty Hunter. He’ll stop at nothing to stop secret societies bent on ruining people’s lives. Sadly, these days, he’s out of work, living in a recreation-vehicle and trying to sell a shtick.

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Conjuring Kesha Isn’t All That Scary or Compelling

31 Jul
Conjuring Kesha

Available to Stream on Discovery Plus

Kesha wants to be more than a musician these days. Now, she’s a wannabe ghost hunter in Conjuring Kesha—if that’s what she is doing. Instead of entertaining listeners with her good vibrations, she wants to make it weird. All she’s getting from these visits is the experience of getting spooked. This pseudo Reality TV program is allegedly a continuation of this singer’s short-lived podcast, Kesha and the Creepies, and if this show is any indication, I can’t wait to see her appear in the cartoon series, Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (should it get a third season).

I suspect the idea to produce both series didn’t come to mind after appearing in The Haunting of eight years ago. She presented herself differently and I like this show more. It’s a lot more realistic than what’s shown in Conjuring Kesha. This new show feels like, in essence, to be very much like The Osbournes: Night of Terror.

Before this occupational switch, she’s an EDM superstar. Because of this, I knew she would eventually sing. However, I can’t tell if her voice will wake the dead. To be fair, I had to watch more than four episodes to see if that’d happen. Instead, the last two episodes saw her go camping in the woods at Mount Shasta, where she hopes to meet bigfoot! It’s a shame she didn’t go visit Devil’s Tower, where it served as a backdrop to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. She would have better luck for a supernatural meet-up there!

The latest concerns the Odd Fellows Lodge in Illinois–to which I doubt all the meeting places are equally haunted. Nothing was said about how this association has Lodges everywhere around the world and they aren’t necessarily a secret society. I have to wonder what other members elsewhere thinks. Between this outing (which offers nothing new when compared to other paranormal reality tv shows) and past, I can’t say I’ll bother with the finale, unless we hear from the news she’s quit because of some recent encounter giving her grey hair.

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Breaking Bad with The Breach at Fantasia 2022

29 Jul

The Breach PosterFans of Craig Davidson’s scary stories will be in for a treat in the film adaptation of The Breach. Technically, he writes under the pen name of Nick Cutter when crafting horror. Although changes were made, the cinematic version honours the literary piece well. It is like The X-files meets Psi Factor meets (a what if) Prequel to Evil Dead.

This movie from Rue Morgue Magazine founder and sometimes filmmaker Rodrigo Gudiño, and GnR guitarist turned executive movie producer Slash, is a brooding piece of terror. I’m glad his involvement lays more in crafting a few atmospheric tones instead of making it completely heavy metal.

To say H.P. Lovecraft’s works are an influence is a stretch. Ultimately, it depends on what fans understand of this author’s vision. I’ve read every work he wrote and also studied the various expositions about his life which have seeped into his work. His idealisms and attitude were a product of the times. His stories were about secret orders and eldrich mindless gods. At other times, what he wrote was simply about mortals involved in mad science experiments. Not every tale he wrote is about this subject, and often, what happens to his hapless protagonists are beyond their control. They stumble into incomprehensible situations and often go insane. What I like from this author are his tales of cosmic horror rather than Reanimator.

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Andy Mitton’s The Harbinger isn’t Doomed for Failure at Fantasia 2022

21 Jul

The Harbinger

Next Fantasia 2022 Screening on July 22, 2022 1:50 PM at the Salle J.A. De Sève

When considering the bounty of movies made concerning the pandemic, Andy Mitton’s The Harbinger is the definitive movie to watch. This film concerns what people must and must not do if they want to survive. Here, Monique (Gabby Beans) lives with her brother and father in a family bubble which they maintain with vigilance. In order to stay healthy and safe, they no longer live in the big city.

One day, her oldest friend Mavis (Emily Davis) gives her a call and says she’s being tormented by nightmares, has trouble waking up, and she needs her bestie by her side. She’s afraid something will take her away, and without someone near, nobody will notice she’ll be gone.

Monique heads to New York to be by her side, but in what she discovers is much worse. She learns everyone in the entire building is affected by the same dream Mavis has, and a demon is stalking them! And if this plot sounds familiar, that’s because the Nightmare on Elm Street vibes are certainly there. Instead of offering up grisly kills, what we get is a large exposition about the anxieties over what the future holds for every person these ladies have talked to. 

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Fantasia Film Festival 2022’s 15 Top Picks to Feast Upon

5 Jul

Fantasia Film Festival

Fantasia Film Festival is back as an in-person event in 2022! There’s over 80 films being offered during the course of the two week event in Montreal, Quebec, and if I was to average two a day, that’s barely scratching the surface. There’s also all the special events, panels, and  shorts to consider and they will be held at the Concordia Hall,  J.A. de Sève cinemas, the Cinémathèque Québécoise, Cinéma du Musée and McCord Museum.

Ticket pre-sales will open at the end of this week, on July 9, 1:00 EST, and people travelling this event might want to consider booking their hotels now. Anyone still concerned about the pandemic are advised to still wear face masks and use personal descretion until the Health Authority declares otherwise.

Polaris-movie-film-action-revenge-2022-Viva-Lee-Fantasia-posterThe film to begin the festivities is Polaris, a Canadian sci-fi eco-adventure and I get the feeling its a work that’ll rival the cult film, Turbo-Kid (2015). I’m glad to say that I got the early bird ticket on a few flicks.  One work I admire is The Witch 2: The Other Side (review link), which received limited screenings across North America courtesy of Well GO USA. Another is The Girl From The Other Side which first screened at Fantasia 2019 as a short, and this year, it’s been expanded to a feature length movie! It’s a parable that I throughly enjoyed (review link) when it played at the Los Angeles Asian Film Festival a few months ago. All the detailing in this work really must be seen on the big screen!

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