Movie Review: Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made

By Brad Henderson

Since childhood, I’ve wanted to make movies. Last night I got to watch a documentary about a group of kids who were determined to make a shot for shot remake of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Raiders! The Story Of The Greatest Fan Film Ever Made tells the story of this incredible attempt and the resulting admirable success.

(more…)

SXSW Movie Review: My Father, Die

By Brad Henderson

Backwoods movies, or “Hicksploitation” films, are some of the meanest and dirtiest to exist in the cinema world. Titles like Poor Pretty Eddie, Gator Bait, and Psycho From Texas are cruel and just fucked up in general, making you want to take a bath right after you watch them. These films are way more shocking than extreme torture or gore baths.

My Father, Die is one of these types of films. It’s not often we get a modern Hicksploitation flick that looks beautiful but is so filthy at the same time. Usually these films are gritty and raw-looking which involves you more in the atmosphere surrounding the movie.

(more…)

SXSW Movie Review: Beware The Slenderman

By Brad Henderson

Beware The Slenderman is one of the most intense, chilling, and scary documentaries ever to exist.

If anyone has surfed any Internet forums, then they most likely they know about Slenderman. What started as a Photoshopped picture on SomethingAwful spawned a urban legend that has made its way into stories, video games, and even movies. Slenderman has only existed for a little over a decade, but it didn’t really get popular until videos started appearing on the Internet.

(more…)

SXSW Movie Review: The Greasy Strangler

By Brad Henderson

If Tim and Eric made an R-rated Napoleon Dynamite-esque movie, that’s exactly what The Greasy Strangler would be.

Sometimes it feels that The Greasy Strangler isn’t even a movie, but an overall test of what one person can endure. It also feels like this would be a good social experiment to show your friends and see if they remain friends with you afterwards. That said, The Greasy Strangler is hilarious, sleazy, slimy, and just a fucking weird comedy that actually exists in this world and it’s perfect.

(more…)

Blu-Ray Review: The Weapon

By Brad Henderson

As I’ve been going through the movies that Olive Films has reissued, I’ve been finding some that are truly unique, amazing, and kind of unknown. One of these is called The Weapon.

(more…)

SXSW Movie Review: Raiders!

By Brad Henderson

Since childhood, I’ve wanted to make movies. Last night I got to watch a documentary about a group of kids who were determined to make a shot for shot remake of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Raiders! tells the story of this incredible attempt and the resulting admirable success.

(more…)

SXSW Movie Review: Welcome To Leith

By Brad Henderson

If you’re an actual human being with dignity, you already know racism is a terrible thing. Well, if you’re racist against racists then I guess that’s OK. . . or stupid people. Hell, I’m a racist then.

We all know it exists but I think the world is unfamiliar with how bad it is sometimes. The news doesn’t broadcast a lot of these kinds of things. One person I think people are definitely unfamiliar with is Craig Cobb. I’d heard of Cobb before seeing Welcome To Leith, but this film showed me who Cobb really is. A lot of words come to mind trying to describe Cobb, but to put it simply: he’s a fucking racist. A big one.

(more…)

SXSW Movie Review: One & Two

By Brad Henderson

One & Two is the best superhero origin movie ever despite the fact that it’s not based on any existing superheroes and is a completely original story. It’s rad as hell.

The story revolves around a brother and sister—Eva (Mad Men‘s Kiernan Shipka) and Zac (Timothée Chalamet)—who share something special: They are able to do something that no one else can. Their mother has severe seizures and the clock is ticking down to her last remaining days. Their father is an emotional trainwreck from trying to cope with his wife and what he knows his children can do. Eva and Zac spend their nights playing around with their capabilities, but their father forbids it and asks them numerous times to stop. One night something life changing happens to their family and the father kicks Eva out of their home. From then on, it’s up to Eva to make the biggest decision of her life.

(more…)

SXSW Movie Review: Hangman

By Brad Henderson

I’m a huge fan of found footage. I stand behind this method of filmmaking 100 percent. There is a certain aspect that makes it feel like it’s more of a reality than your normal film. Even if a found footage film has ghosts or goblins in it, it can still hold that realism for me. I know it’s not for everyone but I think that’s because we are given a lot of garbage found footage films in addition to all the good ones.

(more…)

SXSW Movie Review: Unfriended

By Brad Henderson

Please Note: This review was written after seeing an unfinished version of the film during SXSW on March 13, 2015.

It seems that computer screen horror is catching on rather quickly and I’m not sure how I feel about it. In the past couple years we’ve had The Den and Open Windows; in both films the actions is presented through a computer screen. The Den worked to an extent and was creative for the most part, but Open Windows didn’t work out because it was so silly. . . well, to me anyway.

Unfriended has the same presentation but it works. Like Open Windows, it runs in real time and that’s one of the main things that works. Our story is told through a Skype chat between five friends who hold a secret. During one of their chats they are introduced to another visitor. They are unsure who this person is and try to get rid of this unknown entity, but remain unsuccessful despite multiple attempts. Soon they realize this person may be someone that they know from their past who is dead set on terrorizing them.

(more…)