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.

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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.

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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.

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SXSW Movie Review: Night Owls

By Brad Henderson

It seems that more and more independent filmmakers are grasping the concept that if you have a great script, good chemistry between actors, minimal locations, and a somewhat intriguing story you can still make a really great film without anything revolutionary. Night Owls is a prime example of a film that does so much with so very little by grabbing and holding the audience’s attention. It uses a basic idea but with such great execution.

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SXSW Movie Review: Pod

By Brad Henderson

Does every horror film need some originality in order for it to be good? I think half of people surveyed would say yes and the other half would say no. Personally, I’m a “no” because I feel if the film has the right elements, it can be just as good as something completely original. Do we constantly have to be surprised or shown something new each and every time we see a new film? I think as long as the film has a good script, solid acting, good characters, and a decent soundtrack it will be successful to me. This is how I feel about Pod.

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SXSW Movie Review: The Frontier

By Brad Henderson

The Frontier feels like David Lynch directed a made-for-TV ‘90s Noir western stage play with great actors. I’m unsure what to think of it because part of me really dug its Twin Peaks-esque feel and part of me was turned off by this style. At first The Frontier is beautifully crafted, but after some establishing shots, it quickly descends into this stage play gaze, almost like something from The Young & The Restless. The film seems connected to the rest of the world in the beginning but eventually it feels like no outside world exists. I found this confusing because I wasn’t expecting it all.

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Blu-Ray Review: Mark Of The Devil

By Less Lee Moore

The original German title of Michael Armstrong’s infamous Mark Of The Devil was Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält, literally translated into Witches Tortured Till They Bleed. It’s a horrifying, yet accurate title for a movie that contrasts lush scenery and exquisite period costumes with some of the most excruciating scenes of torture ever put on film.

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DVD Review: Zombieworld

By Brad Henderson

Even talking about Zombieworld seems silly to me. Dread Central recently released a “movie” anthology of zombie shorts. That seems interesting at first, but when you notice that the shorts are have been around for a few years and are simply strung together with no wraparound, you realize this was just a sloppy and lazy way to make a quick buck.

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Blu-Ray Review: Don’t Go Into The Woods

By Brad Henderson

My mom and I watched horror films consistently all through the years of my youth. My mom wasn’t a horror buff, but was really into slashers, so naturally I was as well because I soaked up whatever she would show me. Almost every night we would go to my room and watch at least one film and I would stay up late to make it a double feature. (To this day she will come over to my place and we will either watch a classic or I will show her something new I’ve discovered.)

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SXSW Movie Review: Breaking A Monster

By Brad Henderson

A couple of years ago while perusing YouTube, I came across an amatuer video of three young black kids playing metal music near a subway station in New York City. Months after that I saw a couple more videos pop up here and there and then they showed up on national TV with even more exposure. They are called Unlocking The Truth and they are fucking amazing.

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