Japanese filmmaker Kenichi Ugana’s extremist satire on the pursuit of perfection will make the audience wince, but left wanting more. “Because you like chairs.” There can be an incredible comfort in watching an expert simply work their magic in their trade. “Competency porn” is a real thing, and there’s something to be said about someone […]
The post ‘Incomplete Chairs’ Is Brutal, Blood-Soaked Body Horror Satire That Hits Bone Deep [BHFF Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
David Kittredge’s passionate deep dive into The Exorcist II: Heretic pulls back the curtain on the notorious sequel’s troubled production, poor reception, and surprising legacy. “Is this the movie that kills me?” There’s something inherently satisfying about a comeback story or when some fringe cult classic suddenly becomes a colossal hit, even if it takes […]
The post ‘Boorman and the Devil’ Compels You To Appreciate A Much-Maligned Horror Sequel [BHFF Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
Yûta Shimotsu’s sophomore feature is an enlightening social satire about the dangers of conformity and assimilation, brought to life through a chilling body horror experiment. “Japan is the best! Japan is the best!” There is no shortage of uncomfortable imagery and surreal nightmare fuel in American horror movies. However, the chilling visuals that are born […]
The post ‘New Group’ Feels Like A Lost J-Horror Classic That Turns The Human Body Into Abrasive Architecture [BHFF Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
Mickey Reece creates a one-of-a-kind dream-like descent into danger, death, and delirium that’s as unbelievable as it is unpredictable. “Every heavy thing falls away.” It’s become such a rarity for a movie to genuinely, truly surprise its audience. Cinemagoers can sometimes cynically feel as if they’ve seen everything, only for a film like Mickey Reece’s […]
The post ‘Every Heavy Thing’ Is A Manic Murder Mystery Masterpiece [BHFF Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
The melodramatic adaptation of the Courtney Summers YA novel fails to do anything new with a zombie apocalypse, despite a strong, committed performance by Olivia Holt. “The end of the world is a lonely place.” Film has been exploring zombie stories for close to a century. Zombie stories consistently find an audience and are one […]
The post ‘This Is Not A Test’ Unleashes A YA Zombie Apocalypse That Feels Like Detention [BHFF Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
Affection is an existential, claustrophobic examination of the self that’s more than its teases, twists, and turns “I know the difference between what’s real and what’s a dream.” Affection is such a rare, ambitious feat on multiple fronts — storytelling, editing, direction — but it’s a film that would absolutely fall apart without the right […]
The post ‘Affection’ Is A Macabre Meditation On Memory That Gets Under Your Skin [BHFF Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
Tinsman Road is a grueling emotional gut punch that explores grief, guilt, and the great unknown, but poor pacing and a lack of conflict leave it lost without a compass. “You wanted to do this.” “Yeah, because I believe.” The found footage genre, when properly embraced, can truly be magical. It has the ability to […]
The post ‘Tinsman Road’ Is Flawed Found Footage That Trades Frights For Feelings [BHFF Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
Psychonaut begins with a concise definition of its titular concept — a person who explores altered states of consciousness within the human mindscape — only to infinitely double-down on the idea’s most terrifying consequences. Yes, a psychonaut explores altered consciousness, but they’re also subjected to the many dangerous and destructive impulses that flood the human […]
The post ‘Psychonaut’ Journeys to the Darkest Recesses of the Mind But Gets Lost On the Way Out [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
Gazer, at its core, is a film about voyeurism and humanity’s innate compulsion to not just want to be voyeurs, but to understand and make sense of the people who are being spied on. People, by nature, have an urge to act as a storyteller and connect disparate ideas, even if they don’t naturally go […]
The post ‘Gazer’ Is Nihilistic Neo-Noir That Runs Cold [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
It’s incredibly human to want to be seen and accepted, warts and all. It’s a deeply vulnerable experience and territory that can be ripe for horror as characters reach troubling breaking points in order to become popular and stop feeling like an outcast. People will do whatever it takes to fit in, even if that […]
The post ‘Grafted’ Feels Like ‘The Substance’ Meets Takashi Miike [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
2020’s COVID-19 pandemic was a weird, isolating time, particularly for filmmakers and natural storytellers. Joe Begos’ Jimmy and Stiggs isn’t about the pandemic or even set during that period, but it’s a movie that was born out of this event and is very much in conversation with this challenging, reflective, isolating time. And it’s DIY […]
The post ‘Jimmy and Stiggs’ Is a Neon-Soaked, Cocaine-Fueled Alien Assault [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
Revenge stories are one of horror’s most popular sub-genres that range from arthouse endeavors, to gritty grindhouse fare, to pulpy “torture porn” and everything in between. Turkish filmmaker Can Evrenol, who previously struck gold with the surreal and suffocating Baskin and Housewife, tries his hand in this territory and strikes a rich vein that bleeds […]
The post ‘Sayara’ Is Harrowing Revenge Horror That’s Ruthless & Relentless [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
There’s been an exciting influx of female transformation horror films in recent years, such as The First Omen, Smile 2, The Substance, and Titane. All these movies depict harrowing rebirths, but there are also often transferences of power that allow these characters to penetrate worlds that would otherwise be impossible for them. Animale gets to […]
The post ‘Animale’ Is Bold, Gender-Driven Body Horror That Takes the Bull by the Horns [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.