Movies about horny vampires are a dime a dozen. The sex and death metaphors that link to vampirism are well-trodden territory by now, but it’s nice to know that vampires can get bored, too. But as we’ve seen before, horniness and boredom can lead to dangerous places, especially when dealing with creatures of the night. Writer/Director Dallas King explores this, as well as the bodies of his cast in DREAD’s latest vampire flick “Swap.” This ain’t no white elephant party.
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Has there ever been a film featuring true crime fanatics who DON’T wind up terrorized by what they’re after? Maybe they could fall in love and open a detective agency. That’s definitely not the premise of “Overkill,” the new gripping horror thriller from writer-director George Kaplan (“Abduction: The Harvesting”) about the danger of obsession and of course, a killer wearing a frightening mask.
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Julian Maury and Alexandre Bustillo are the xenomorphs of horror directors. The duo attach themselves to a subgenre, exploring its corners almost to the fullest, in order to make a film rooted in a given category, while maintaining their own identities as filmmakers. They’ve tackled home invasions (“Inside”), vampires (“Livide”), coming-of-age horror (“Among the Living”), and even an underwater haunted house film (“The Deep House”). But no matter which sandbox they play in, you know a Maury/Bustillo joint when you see it. Their latest is “The Soul Eater,” a procedural that ventures into some of their darkest territory yet.
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For the record, I’m an absolute sucker for horror documentaries. There’s no reality in which I wasn’t going to love “Generation Terror,” the latest from Phillip Escott and Sarah Appleton “The Found Footage Phenomenon”), exploring the state of horror at the turn of the millennium. If anything, I wanted it to be longer.
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The recipient of the Bronze Audience award at this year’s Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, “Bone Lake” is an erotic thriller about the worst ways to prove your love. The film’s four characters comprise two couples who accidentally book the same lake house for the weekend. They decide to make the best of it, but things don’t go as planned, leading to mind games and a gleefully bloody finale. I spoke with director Mercedes Bryce Morgan, as well as stars Marco Pigossi (Diego), Alex Roe (Will), and Andra Nechita (Cin) about collaboration, improv, and one of the most crowd-pleasing finales of the year.
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She’s not interested in love, or any kind of relationship. She doesn’t even understand the concept. She just wants you to use her body in whatever way you see fit. Her name is Susan (Yvonne Emilie Thalker in her debut feature) and she’s a robot created by Gil (Marc Romeo), an inventor and tech bro who’s going to revolutionize perversion while keeping said perverts away from flesh-and-blood people. “Black Eyed Susan” is the latest film from writer/director Scooter McCrae. It’s an ambitious, low-fi effort with a lot on its mind.
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The people have spoken. Jurors and filmgoers alike have cast their votes for the best films shown at this year’s Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. The festival’s ninth year featured winners across the subgenre spectrum. There was something for everyone, but this year’s winners went above and beyond. Macabre Daily is continuing to roll out reviews and coverage, but for now, take a look at the films and filmmakers who made a splash at this year’s event.
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Two couples accidentally book the same Airbnb on the same weekend. It’s awkward, but they bond and become lifelong friends. The end…if this were a Hallmark movie. Lucky for us, Director Mercedes Bryce Morgan has something more sinister in mind with her latest, “Bone Lake,” a thriller about seduction that gets bonus points for featuring The Exploited’s “Sex and Violence” in more than one scene.
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Much like Hansel, sci-fi body horror is so hot right now. From “The Substance,” “Alien: Romulus,” to the Frankenstein-like stories of “Birth/Rebirth,” “Poor Things,” and, well, “Lisa Frankenstein,” there’s been a glut of recent films about the minutiae of our bodies and how they can be manipulated and transformed. Entering the arena is “Grafted,” a gnarly tale of an outsider taking her place in an indifferent world, one face at a time.
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Macabre Daily has all the horror news fit to print from this year’s NEW YORK COMIC CON!
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Director E.L. Katz has been working in the genre space for a while now, having directed the cult classic “Cheap Thrills” and the underrated “Small Crimes” (not “Small TOWN Crime,” as I sometimes have to point out). He’s made a name for himself in TV and streaming, helming episodes of “Channel Zero,” and “Scream: The Series," and now with his latest feature, "AZRAEL" starring Samara Weaving!
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There’s a scene in the recent adaptation of “The Fall Guy,” where the script supervisor approaches the director played by Emily Blunt. The big-budget film they’re shooting is running into some screenplay issues in the third act, but obviously shooting won’t be halted to work them out. The script suggests they add a line to the film calling attention to the script problems as a way to get ahead of the audience, which is immediately shot down. This scene, while funny, is indicative of the problems with Yuson Fuadi’s new film “The Draft!”
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We’ve seen this story before. A cloistered religious community, possibly a cult, represses and abuses its female members, leading to liberation with disastrous results for the congregation. “The Starling Girl,” “Women Talking,” and “Them That Follow” are all recent examples of stories that are unfortunately too relevant today in Dean Puckett’s first feature “The Severed Sun".
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If you’re at all familiar with the online horror community, you’ve probably heard of Clarke Wolfe. She’s a podcaster, filmmaker, host, and she recently won “Best Supporting Actress” at the Hollywood Blood Horror Film Festival for her role in this week’s anthology horror film, “Tenants.” Wolfe plays “Belinda,” a put-upon roommate in “Need Anything,” a hilariously bloody look at cohabitation.
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Having made a bloody splash at this year’s Fantasia and Sitges Film Festival, the (deep breath) Estonian musical horror comedy “Chainsaws Were Singing!” wreaked havoc on this year’s Fantastic Fest. The hype for Sandar Maran’s blood-soaked DIY labor of love has reached a fever pitch, but is it worth the buzz (I apologize for nothing)?
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Years after the Rapture, those who remain have taken a vow of silence, as speaking is considered a sin. Much like the Guilty Remnant from “The Leftovers,” those who are still here have made a utopian society without fear, anger, or hate…kidding, of course. At 85 minutes, E.L. Katz’s “Azrael” is a lean, mean post-apocalyptic thriller that’s comfortable asking more questions than it answers. Come for the blood, stay for the theological questions you might not understand if you’ve never read the bible.
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Living in a building surrounded by strangers can be a perilous experience. But how well do we really know our neighbors? Do we try to or even want to? It’s a simple, but interesting premise for several horror films. “Tenants,” the new film from directors Johnathan Louis Lewis, Sean Mesler, and Blake Reigle, marries these concepts into an anthology that surprisingly hasn’t been made into a film yet.
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For genre fans in the NYC area, it’s becoming a new October tradition to check out the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Last year it showed some heavy horror hitters like “Stopmotion” and “Where the Devil Roams,” as well as a screening of “Maniac Cop” with William Lustig, himself in attendance. it looks like 2024 is shaping up to be just as big, if not bigger.
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If you give a mouse a cookie, the mouse will ask for a glass of milk. If you give a DIY filmmaking collective a real budget and a crew, they’ll give you a gooey good time. That’s what the Adams Family has brought us with this year’s Shudder exclusive, “Hell Hole.” John Adams, his wife Toby Poser, and their daughters Lulu Adams and Zelda Adams are known for making handmade, but striking horror films in upstate, New York. They write, direct, score, act in, and edit their own films, and have been doing so for years. This time, they've moved production to Serbia to tell a creature feature, Adams-style.
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A new Adams Family film is becoming an annual tradition. The prolific filmmaking family is back with arguably their most accessible film yet, the Shudder exclusive “Hell Hole.” John Adams and Toby Poser have directed another, homemade horror film, co-written with their daughter Lulu Adams (their other daughter and collaborator Zelda Adams is hanging back for this one, since she’s starting a modeling career, but don’t worry, she’s still in the band).
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