Tag: Independent Film

The Ghost Writer Redefines What Plagiarizing Means in this Murder Mystery

There’s more than family dysfunction going on here that makes The Ghost Writer more than just another murder mystery.

The Ghost Writer Movie PosterThe Ghost Writer felt awfully familiar at times, and that’s because Paul Wilkins film is more about dealing with a very authorative father who may well be figuratively lurking in the shadows. He’s passed on some years ago, and although Gilliger (Luke Mably) thinks he can deal with those imagined spirits, there’s more going on in this film which may have some viewers curious.

Here, this once successful author can’t even come up with an original idea. He was once on the list of top selling mysteries, but lately, this individual can’t even get recognition on the streets. He thinks moving back to the old family home can fix things, but when there are many skeletons lurking in those closets, it’ll be rough! But when he finds his pops discarded a story that he thinks he can fix up, something gets stirred up in the homestead and that’s when the fun begins!

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Nobody is Crazy in this Charming Coming of Age Tale

The best way to show how Nobody is Crazy is in showing how everybody should be treated even when adversity is everywhere.

Nobody is Crazy Movie PosterPlease check local film festival listings for screenings near you.

Anyone with an obsessive-compulsive disorder is easy to deal with. People just have to be more compassionate and know what to say in order to help them manage the everyday. But for Rafa (Manuel Gutierrez) in Nobody is Crazy, what he has to do is face what makes him the odd man out. He has no friends or people to turn to, and this actor does a remarkable job at selling the fact he can do better.

But when nobody believes that he has made a friend, a masked individual (who prefers to be recognized as Nobody) who claims to be from his future, the film by Federico J. Arioni is masterfully crafted to not let anyone in on the secret. It’s a very thoughtful low-fi time travel cum existential work that deserves continued film festival screenings worldwide. Even though this work was released back in 2019, getting noticed by well known movie celebrations is tough.

Also, I was amused at how this Argentine director puts himself into this movie by playing this hero who pops in and out of existence, like a conscience to offer sage advice to a lost boy.

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Catching up with Brinke Stevens. From Scream Queen to The Night Jane Went Insane, and Director, She’s Doing It All!

In what get get to learn in part two of this look at The Night Jane Went Insane is in how it connects to Brinke Stevens personal interests.

Brinke Stevens and Ed SumBrinke Stevens really needs no re-introduction. I met her a long time ago, and when I heard she would return to Victoria, BC for another convention, I interviewed her. Because I’m a fan of scream queens from the 80s, I was more than thrilled when the opportunity was made available. Plus, when I see that she’s keeping busy with new projects, from more scary stories to even serious ones, I’m glad she’s showing no signs of slowing down. She’s a different kind of wonder woman.

She’s no longer that “nubile coed” from long ago and the reason is not about ageism in the entertainment industry. It’s about respect. These days, she’s getting offers to play characters whose profession is that of a doctor, lawyer or even a sheriff! The films might still be campy, and that’s okay. For her, “It’s really fun to be in roles that’s more about female empowerment,” stated this actress.

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Dana Kippel’s Reflect is More Than a Meditation on the Game of Life

Relax, Don’t Reflect on it. Because if you try too hard to find the pleasures at the end of the rainbow, this film shows one possible result!

Reflect 2023 Movie PosterAvailable to stream on Apple TV

Shades of The Truman Show can be found in Reflect, a movie written and directed by Dana Kippel. When she stars in it too, I can’t help but wonder if this work is a result of her going through some personal crisis that she wants to look back on, and sort through. Whatever the case, this magical journey has some elements to like, and other bits which will vary in meaning–subject to each viewer’s own experiences.

And as for whether we’re watching a television show within another depends on who wants to witness the coming challenges. There’s two men, a father and son, who seem to know what is exactly going on, and while I keyed into those characters more than the ladies, that’s because I’m a male. They seem to be in control of the larger story. And as for Summer (Kippel) and her gal pals headed to a retreat to mend fences, what transpires next is somewhat surreal in a Midsummer’s Night Dream kind of way. Although Katie (Grace Patterson), Annie (Marissa Patterson), Nia (Ariana Brown) and Liz (Jadelyn Breier) question what’s to come, Hermes (Joe Filippone) seems more genuine. But this messenger of the gods is no trickster. By the time this film gets to the first campfire scene where everyone should be singing Kum ba yah, arguments ensue!

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When Prosjekt Z is More About the Movie Making Process than The Horror

Anyone having the post-Halloween blues may want to check out this hybrid Prosjekt Z as it’s not always about the terror, but the blues.

Prosjekt Z Movie PosterComing to DVD/VOD
Nov 3, 2023

Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken‘s Prosjekt Z is a rather strange hybrid that doesn’t quite know what kind of movie it wants to be. When it’s hitting select theatres after All Hallow’s Eve, just who will be anxious to see this must be for folks craving anything postmortem. Here, the story is about a group of students out to make a zombie film out in the woods. But there’s much more going on, since we also get something akin to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes going on later on.

If that’s not this work’s premise, then the Rocky Horror moments even get curiouser and curiouser–minus the music. That is, there’s a couple who’s out in the woods and after having a bit of a spat, find themselves in front of a lone mansion. They’re just characters to a story within a story where afterwards, a meteorite comes zooming through and crashes! Its radiation is turning the locals into the walking dead.

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Gale, Stay Away From Oz Offers More Than The Stuff Nightmares are Made Of!

Prepare to be creeped out in Gale, Stay Away from Oz which is no doubt influenced by Disney’s Return to Oz (for those who haven’t read the books).

Gale Movie PosterAvailable on Chilling Streaming Service

Frank Baum’s books about the fantasy world of Oz have never been cause for concern amongst those familiar with the entire series. After watching the horror film, simply titled Gale, Stay Away From Oz, I have to watch Return to Oz (1985) again to refresh my memory. It seems this short is clearly influenced by it along with the books. The story here concerns how insanity has affected the Gale family.

Just when fans of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s film Wizard of Oz thought that film was the end all be all, there’s been attempts to continue the story with Journey Back to Oz, produced by Filmation, but it largely lays forgotten when compared to other attempts by the House of Mouse, which includes Oz, The Great and Powerful, along with other studios’s interpretation. The original tale is in the public domain, and filmmakers and playwrights can do whatever they want with this fond classical piece of children’s literature.

With the novels, I like to see if it ever alluded to Dorothy Gale going insane after returning to Earth. Fans of the books know the author also included scarier elements later on in the series. As for which work made Daniel Alexander reimagine this world to a product of true nightmares, I’m glad he’s taking a chance and releasing it early, before Spooktober.

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