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** I forewarn you. I cannot say enough exciting things about this spellbinding film! ** NEAR DARK (1987) directed by Kathryn Bigelow is by far one of the best vampire movies I’ve ever seen and perhaps the best one ever made. With incredible special effects makeup surpassing the need for CGI tweaking and a cast assembled from James Cameron’s ALIEN what’s not to love about this new take on the vampire genre? I don’t even think the word “vampire” is even mentioned in the narrative. It all begins with the classic boy meets girl narrative but the exception is…
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Karyn Kusama’s THE INVITATION (2015) is eerily poetic connecting its seductively almost paralyzing ambiance, to what I imagine it feels like to be in a sedated juncture of elevated sorrow. Sorrow being the big bad wolf in this decadent, psychological tale of a couple hosting a dinner party with a small group of close friends they hadn’t seen in two years, all secluded in the Hollywood Hills. Doesn’t it sounds like a Manson-cultish-holy-hell-of-a-dinner-party? This film oozes of subtlety and it’s strangely gratifying. The opening sequence, for instance, has that profound foreshadowing factor with the coyote getting hit by a…
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When I read about French, filmmaker Julia Ducournau’s RAW last year, I intrinsically knew it be something I’d find fascinating to study. Mind you, I’m still studying it. It’s disgusting, grotesque, where all the horror lies within the flesh, blood, hair, flakey skin, eyeballs, basically your whole anatomy making it narrowly bearable. Its controversy is just as stigmatizing as any Catherine Breillat film and some might even be up there with gnarly Cronenberg film. Whatever happened to that guy? I constantly read articles on how audiences reacted and this may have attributed to some of it’s success. Personally, I…
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WIHM: DAY #15 HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP In so many words… exploitation, mutation, and half-witted pandemonium are all essential in making a Roger Corman production come to fruition, given there were very few women directing such nutty monstrosities. Aside from Stephanie Rothman, I am loosely amazed Barbara Peeters was able to direct the 1980 somewhat horror/sci-fi campy disaster (all in good fun) HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP. Oh boy! From reading up on the film what was supposed to start out being “an intelligent suspenseful science fiction story” mutated into an exploitative frenzy of blatant nudity which did nothing for…
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Anna Biller’s THE LOVE WITCH is magnetic for a multitude of reasons whether it resides in its themes of feminism, fantasy, witchcraft and the pursuit of love, or perhaps it’s strength in color schemes, melodramatic dialogue, and some swanky, groovy music. The mise en scène is of the grandest kind as it’s impressiveness shines in the arena of independent filmmaking, almost like it’s the discovery of some rare fossil. This is a genuinely, handcrafted film just like every stitch you hand sew on a quilt that takes copious amounts of concentration, time, and skill. I mean every crevice of…
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I remember, I was supposed to go to a screening of this film when it debut, but for some reason got cancelled and I kinda forgot about it until browsing the dvd section in Barnes & Noble last weekend. How did I let this gem pass me by? Thank god for DVDS still being sold at Barnes & Noble. Any who, my gut told me to buy it, so I did and I’m not at all disappointed. I’m actually pleasantly surprised REVENGE directed by Coralie Fargeat is a French film. Oh la la! C’est la vie! And that’s all…
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I don’t typically like roasting films in my reviews because I try to dig deep in finding aspects that are worth a decent discourse. So this is definitely an instance where I am scraping the barrel here. I’m so sorry but WITHIN directed by Hanelle M. Culpepper is a story about a young girl wrestling grief after a life changing loss and trying to pick up the pieces by moving to a new town with her father, but things to go over so easy. People lack a sense of warmth in this world and its really disheartening especially for…
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My immediate thought was this feels like an elaborate Lancome commercial, but as the story progressed forward where two people meet in a video store and sparks are firing off with attraction, you know it’s got some sensual spunk. They fall in love. The end. Aww so cute. Also for the record this is more of the erotic version of TWILIGHT because this came out way before 50 SHADES OF GREY. Fight me. Xan Cassavetes, the daughter of John Cassavetes makes an exemplary and extremely sexual vampire tale that has the mood, look, and feel of a 70s foreign…
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Did you guys know there’s an anthology horror series called INTO THE DARK produced by a branch of Blumhouse Productions on Hulu? I didn’t. So my curiosity made me sign up for Hulu so I can watch the latest one-hour episode for February, titled, INTO THE DARK: MY VALENTINE which was directed by Maggie Levin. The narrative revolves around Valentine (Britt Baron) who returns to the stage singing the songs she wrote on one dark, crazy night at a venue, when her ex-boyfriend Royal, (Benedict Samuel) pays the owner to empty out the place for an hour. It doesn’t…
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Who can resist a shy, socially-awkward vampire who’s trying to resist the urge to… well be a vampire? This unconventional sweet- eyed vampire story just makes me swoon because he’s not out for vengeance or on a killing spree to lust in blood. He’s making the best of a situation that was beyond his control. Poor guy was just trying to take a long slumber until a random golfer hits his ball through the wrong window of an abandoned building awakening the shy-eyed Boya (Gordon Currie). He went to sleep in 1969 and woke up in 1995, now he…
[Film Reviews from a Female Brain]
MARISSA THE CINEPHILE 