Focus on Film & Television Reviews and writings about these subjects. As well as Pop Culture at times. With a bit of an edge and some color
Directed By: J.D. Dillard
Written By: Alex Hyner, Alex Theurer & J.D. Dillard
Cinematography: Stefan Duscio
Editor: Gina Hirsch
Cast: Kiersey Clemons, Emory Cohen, Hanna Mangan Lawrence
Jenn has washed ashore a small tropical island and it doesn’t take her long to realize she’s completely alone. She must spend her days not only surviving the elements, but must also fend off the malevolent force that comes out each night.
Directed By: Joel Schumacher
Written By: Peter Filardi
Director Of Photography: Jan De Bont
Editor: Robert Brown
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Hope Davis, Kimberly Scott, Aeryk Egan
Medical students begin to explore the realm of near death experiences, hoping for insights. Each has their heart stopped and is revived. They begin having flashes of walking nightmares from their childhood, reflecting sins they committed or had committed against them. The experiences continue to intensify, and they begin to be physically beaten by their visions as they try and go deeper into the death experience to find a cure.
Directed By: Jamie Blanks
Written By: Tom Savage (Book) & Donna Powers & Wayne Powers & Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts
Director Of Photography: Rick Bota
Edited By: Steve Mirkovich
Production Design by: Stephen Geagahn
Starring: Marley Shelton, David Boreanaz, Denise Richards, Jessica Capshaw, Johnny Whitworth, Katherine Hiegel, Jessica Cauffiel
It is the late 1980’s. At a high school dance, young nerdish-looking Jeremy Melton is spurned & insulted by every girl he asks to dance, except one named Dorothy. Later they start making out under the bleachers until a group of bullies discover them, and Dorothy says Jeremy attacked her. The boys further humiliate Jeremy by violently assaulting him & pulling off his clothes. About 12 years later, those same girls are in their twenties and enjoying the dating scene. But Jeremy has mysteriously disappeared. After one of the girls, Shelley has a date with an arrogant loser, she is savagely murdered in her medical school’s anatomy lab by a tall, sinister man dressed in a dark coat and wearing a cherub mask. Just before her death, Shelley received a threatening Valentine’s Day card. The other girls soon start receiving similar cards shortly after, and one at a time, they start dying violently. When police inform them that Jeremy Melton has not been seen or heard from for many years, Dorothy speculates that he may have had plastic surgery and worked out to change his appearance. Kate has recently found herself a new boyfriend but Dorothy suspects he may in fact be Jeremy, using his new look to get close to the girls who spurned him so many years before…and seeking revenge…
Directed By: Joe Dante
Written By: Alan Trezza
Cinematography By: Jonathan Hall
Editor: Marshall Harvey
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Alexandra Daddario, Ashley Greene, Oliver Cooper, Dick Miller
When Max learns that his new live-in girlfriend, Evelyn (Greene) is controlling and manipulative, he is afraid to end the relationship. However, fate occurs and Evelyn is killed in a freak accident. A couple months have passed and Max meets his dream girl, Olivia. The new romance gets tricky when Evelyn comes back from the grave and insists on continuing their once relationship by all means.
Directed By: Daniel Robbins
Written By: Zachary Weiner
Cinematography: William Babcock
Editor: Nik Voytas
Cast: Zachery Byrd, Philip Andre Botello, Zack Weiner, Aaron Dalla Villa, Cameron Cowperthwaite, Joe Gallagher, Melanie Rothman, Erica Boozer
A group of college freshmen pledge an exclusive fraternity but soon realize there’s more at stake than they could have ever imagined. A film that feels like it could and should have been made in the 1980’s as that was when that culture was big especially in the movies. Not to mention it carries that tradition and vibe.
Directed By: Alexandre Aja
Written By: Michael Rasmussen & Shawn Rasmussen
Cinematography: Maxime Alexandre
Editor: Elliot Greenberg
Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfyyd Clark, Ross Anderson, Ami Metcalf, Jose Palma, George Sommer
A young woman, while attempting to save her father during a category 5 hurricane, finds herself trapped in a flooding house and must fight for her life against alligators.
Directed By: David Yarovesky
Written By: James Gunn & Brian Gunn
Cinematography: Michael Dellatorre
Editor: Andrew S. Eisen & Peter Gvozdas
Cast: Jackson A. Dunn, Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Meredith Hagner, Matt Jones, Becky Wahlstrom Steve Agee, Emmie Hunter
What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister? This film seems to be more about the origin of a supevillian by a kind of reverse morals of Superman. That entices the audience and could have been really strong and powerful, but instead goes more as a fantasy horror film.
Cinematography & Directed By: Peter Hyams
Written By: Andrew Marlowe
Editor: Jeff Gullo & Steven Kemper
Cast: Arnold Schwartzenegger, Rod Steiger, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollak, Robin Tunney, CCH Pounder, Udo Kier, Mark Margolis, Miriam Margolyes, Renee Olstead, Gary Anthony Williams, Victor Varnado
On December 28th, 1999, the citizens of New York City are getting ready for the turn of the millennium. However, the Devil decides to crash the party by coming to the city, inhabiting a man’s body, and searching for his chosen bride, a 20-year-old woman named Christine York. [If he bears her child between 11:00 PM and midnight on New Year’s Eve], the world will end, and the only hope lies within an atheist ex-cop named Jericho Cane, who no longer believes in God because of the murder of his wife and daughter.
Written, Edited & Directed By: Ti West
Cinematography By : Eric Robbins
Cast: AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, Kate Lyn Sheil, Gene Jones, Kentucker Audley, Donna Biscoe
A fashion photographer is traveling to meet his sister at Eden Parish. Once there, his friends begin to film interviews with the Eden Parish inhabitants, all of whom speak of the commune in glowing terms. However, they soon discover that there is a sinister edge to the commune that belies the seemingly peaceful setting.
Written & Directed By David Robert Mitchell
Cinematography By: Mike Gioulakis
Editor: Julio Perez IV
Cast: Maika Monroe, Kier Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe, Jake Weary, Daniel Zovatto, Bailey Spry, Claire Sloma
For nineteen-year-old Jay, Autumn should be about school, boys and week-ends out at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, something, is following her. Faced with this burden, Jay and her friends must find a way to escape the horrors that seem to be only a few steps behind.
Cut To The Chase 