Parasites In Cinema: A Listicle

By Less Lee Moore

“Pssst, do you have any Reese’s Pieces?”

Have you seen Der Nachtmahr yet? Probably not if you haven’t been to the three film festivals where it has screened (Locarno, TIFF, Warsaw).

What’s Der Nachtmahr about, you ask? “After a wild night out, a Berlin party girl finds herself haunted by a twisted, repellent little creature that no one else can see.”

Is he an alien? Is he good or evil? Is he a parasite? You’ll have to see the film to find out (and you can read my review), but in the meantime I thought I’d pay my respects to some well-known (or perhaps underrated) cinematic parasites.

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Retro Review: Here Comes The Devil

By Less Lee Moore

If you’re familiar with Mexican horror films and are expecting something Gothic, spooky, and languorous from Adrián García Bogliano, you’re in for a surprise. Here Comes The Devil is going to scorch your eyeballs and bathe them in blood.

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Seven Movies About Possession

By Less Lee Moore

The Devil’s Candy

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Blu-Ray Review: The Walking Dead, Season Five

By Less Lee Moore

I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people are sick of zombies. And yet, The Walking Dead continues to be one of the most popular shows on television, even producing a spinoff (Fear The Walking Dead) that’s gotten some good buzz. There are those who might be tempted to just give up on the show—and zombies—altogether. Yet The Walking Dead remains one of the most compelling and innovative dramas on television.

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Retro Review: Pontypool

By Less Lee Moore

Let’s face it: with few exceptions, everyone is sick of zombies. That’s not to say that zombie movies and TV shows are dead in the water (with zombie sharks), but it does mean that artists are going to have to do better than the standard ripoffs of “I’m coming to get you, Barbara.”

Enter Tony Burgess and Bruce McDonald. Based on Tony Burgess’s book, Pontypool Changes Everything, the McDonald-directed film Pontypool—which screened at TIFF in 2008—is a breath of fresh air in a cemetery full of empty, stinking graves.

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Retro Review: Tony

By Less Lee Moore

If the name Gerard Johnson doesn’t ring any bells, it should. Perhaps you will recall a grubby, claustrophobic film from a few years back called Tony. (I can see you nodding at your computer as you read this blog post. But I swear I’m not creepy.)

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Neon Dreams Will Bring Your Neo-Noir Fantasies To Life

By Less Lee Moore

Streets of Fire

If you live in the Toronto area and you love movies, you might already know about The Royal Theatre on College Street. But did you know that every month, programmer Brendan Ross takes over The Royal for one night devoted to the best of neo-noir cinema from the 1970s, 1980s, and beyond? Featuring such classics as Body Double, Risky Business, To Live and Die in L.A., and Streets Of Fire, Ross’s Neon Dreams Cinema Club is one of the city’s best kept cinematic secrets.

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Music Review: Wand, 1000 Days

By Less Lee Moore

And the paintings are now dead
And they looked into your eyes
And the patterns that they set
They will live inside your mind.
—Wand, “Paintings Are Dead”

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The Official Popshifter Podcast, Episode #02: 57 Maidens

Welcome to The Official Popshifter Podcast, Episode #02, “57 Maidens and No Wrestling at TIFF”

Featuring Managing Editor Less Lee Moore and Featured Contributor Jeffery X Martin! Enjoy and thanks for listening.

Reviews:

La Grande Bouffe Blu-Ray

Ghost, Meliora from Dirge Magazine

Iron Maiden single, “Speed Of Light”

Top Five: TIFF 2015 Picks From Less Lee Moore

By Less Lee Moore

Men & Chicken

I tried to pick movies that I didn’t think I’d get a chance to see in the multiplexes. Also, I’m a sucker for the Vanguard and Midnight Madness programmes at TIFF.

MEN & CHICKEN:

Writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen hasn’t let me down yet, and neither has Mads Mikkelsen. As great as he is as Hannibal Lecter, he’s equally great in Jensen’s twisted black comedies.

DER NACHTMAHR:

A young woman is haunted by a deformed creature that no one else can see? Sign me up.

THE MIND’S EYE:

Joe Begos’s Almost Human was the movie that 1982’s Xtro should have been, so I know his latest will be a wild ride.

THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS:

Great cast, including Katherine Isabelle and Mitch Pileggi, in a film about serial killers and starfuckers that’s lensed by Dean Cundey. That’s like catnip to a horror junkie.

THE DEVIL’S CANDY:

Satanic possession movies are kind of my thing and Sean Byrne is the kind of director genre fans kill for (but not literally, OK?).