Slamdance 2024: Peter Oh’s ‘LOVE AND WORK’ – a parallel what-if of haunting hilarity

LOVE AND WORK Writer-director-editor-producer-cinematographer and obvious showoff Pete Ohs brings his latest genre buster, LOVE AND WORK, to Slamdance 2024. Reteaming with Will Madden and Stephanie Hunt from festival darling Jethica, this new film leans further into the absurd. Once again, gifting us with striking black-and-white cinematography, a voiceover hands us the immensely intriguing, near-future plot where AI has taken Read More →

Slamdance 2024 review: Intimate and personal ‘ONE BULLET’ pierces the heart

ONE BULLET This story of female friendship forged amidst America’s longest war is told by a filmmaker who spent 18 years in-and-out of Afghanistan. In this war movie, the battlefield lies behind the curtains of an Afghan home as Bibi Hajji struggles to survive the loss of her youngest child, and the impact of a brother’s death on her remaining Read More →

Slamdance 2024 review: Yes, the hilarious pilot episode of ‘RESTORAGE’ fixes everything.

RESTORAGEEpisodes-TV Web Pilot- Drama, Comedy, Sci-Fi SYNOPSIS: RESTORAGE is about a fractured group of siblings eachreceiving a portion of their inheritance. Robert receives the businesslegacy, Lisa is given the family estate and a priceless family heirloom, andChase, receives an old storage unit filled with junk. Chase and Robertquarrel and he inadvertently breaks the vase causing a greater rift in thefamily. Read More →

Slamdance 2024 shorts: ‘LEGEND OF EL CUCUY’ & ‘DOSH’

Legend of El Cucuy SYNOPSIS: Legend of El Cucuy is a cautionary tale. Laura and herhusband Carlos are permissive parents, and their choice to raise theirdaughter Isabel without discipline has resulted in a very rude,disobedient child. Carlos is having doubts about their behavioralstrategy, but Laura is determined to make different choices from theirparents. Against his better judgment, Carlos tells Laura Read More →

Slamdance 2024 review: ‘INHERTITANCE’ is a heartbreaking portrait of cyclical poverty and addiction.

INHERITANCE Slamdance 2024 doc INHERITANCE is an unfiltered look at one Appalachian family’s struggle with generational addiction. The rippling effects of drugs directly connect to cyclical poverty. They are a part of the culture. We see children who look as young as ten years old smoke cigarettes with the nonchalance of chewing gum. Young girls get pregnant at a rate Read More →

Slamdance 2023 review: A psychological horror that gets under your skin in jury winner ‘THE UNDERBUG’

THE UNDERBUG As India is ravaged by sectarian violence on the eve of its Independence Day, two rioters take refuge in an abandoned house. An eerie presence in the house, however, haunts the men to the edge of sanity. Spectacular handheld camerawork amplifies the differences between the two men and places the viewer inside the house. The tense score closes Read More →

Slamdance 2023 Unseen Films review: The Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize winner, ‘The Underbug’

THE UNDERBUG The Underbug is a moody thriller about two men on either side of sectarian violence in India stumbling into a strange house. The house is deserted or seems to be, except for the men who are soon faced with problems greater than themselves. This is a great looking tense “horror” film about the things that go bump in Read More →

Slamdance 2023 Unseen Films review: ‘Where is the Lie?’

Where is the Lie? WHERE IS THE LIE is a really good film. A look at love in the modern age it’s based on a true story film where a woman named Jazen breaks up with her boyfriend. Turning to a dating app she meets the perfect guy who ends up ghosting her. However, what is going on is something Read More →

Slamdance 2023 review: ‘A Perfect Day for Caribou’ is a captivating character study.

A PERFECT DAY FOR CARIBOU We find Herman with a tape recorder in hand, giving estranged son Nate life tips and recalling snippets of random stories from his past. When his phone rings, he finds Nat on the other end, requesting a visit. Nate arrives with his six-year-old son Ralph in tow. Three generations in the same place for the Read More →

Slamdance 2023 review: The weird and wonderful world of ‘Who’s Annie?’

Slamdance 2023 Premiere of WHO’S ANNIE? After jail-time, 12-step programs and five marriages, Annie begins her acting career in her mid-fifties with the help of a young director she met at a Burger King. In this show within a show, Annie tackles both her gigs as an actor and the role of herself in her own life story. A farcical Read More →

Slamdance (2022) review: ‘HONEYCOMB’ tackles female complexity in this unusual coming of age debut.

HONEYCOMB Five small-town girls abandon their mundane lives and move into an abandoned cabin. Growing increasingly isolated, their world becomes filled with imagined rituals and rules but the events of one summer night threaten to abruptly end their age of innocence forever. Honeycomb feels akin to watching a slumber party on Lord of the Flies terms. The timing of the Read More →

Slamdance Film Festival (2022) review: ‘IMPERFECT’ razzles dazzles ’em.

IMPERFECT A professional company of actors with disabilities defies expectations by taking center stage in Chicago the musical. I was a musical theatre major at a conservatory program in Manhattan twenty years ago. As a performer and director, I understand what it takes to make a musical come to fruition. The amount of work ethic required to succeed is unfathomable for anyone Read More →

Slamdance 2021 review: ‘WORKHORSE QUEEN’ the good, the bad, and the drag.

WORKHORSE QUEEN By day, Ed Popil worked as a telemarketer in Rochester, New York for 18 years. By night, he transformed into drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis, a 1960’s era housewife trying to liberate herself from domestic toil through performing at night in secret –an homage to Ed’s mother. After seven years of auditioning to compete on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ed Popil was finally cast Read More →

Slamdance Film Festival Review: ‘A Great Lamp’ shines bright.

SYNOPSIS Set in a small riverside town in North Carolina, two sad vandals and an unemployed loner long await for a fabled rocket launch. A Great Lamp isn’t about what you think it’s about. Although, I’m not sure what I really thought it was about until the final 30 minutes. This film is like no other. Shot in black and white, Read More →

‘DARUMA’ (2024) The healing power of kindness and the importance of representation shine bright.

DARUMA Director Alexander Yellen and writer Kelli McNeil expand their 2018 short film of the same name to glorious big screen life. DARUMA tells the story of, Patrick, a bitter wheelchair user, discovering he has a four-year-old daughter from a forgotten fling. He quickly learns that he cannot parent her as she needs and enlists the help of his cantankerous Read More →

‘THE COMPLEX FORMS’ (Screamfest 2024) An exquisitely crafted nightmare.

THE COMPLEX FORMS Filmmaker Fabio D’Orta‘s THE COMPLEX FORMS plays Screamfest 2024. The film follows a group of men who sell their bodies for temporary possession by an unknown entity that emerges from the woods. In an ancient Italian villa, our characters work until chosen. Upon seeing the horrors that await them, the roommates decide to run. A sweeping opening Read More →

Chelsea Film Festival 2023 review: ‘THE MAD WRITER’ soothes the soul and the senses.

THE MAD WRITER How does a musician make music when they are slowly and mysteriously losing their hearing? Director Zach Kashkett makes a documentary about his oldest friend, Austin Hart. A shockingly curmudgeonly and darkly sardonic subject, Kashkett slowly pulls out a profound story about an artist on the brink of greatness or tragedy. The editing is masterful. The narrative Read More →

DWF: LA is coming! Take a peak at a few of the eclectic selections at this year’s festival.

Some of the best new discoveries of the year come out of Dances With Films. (Their brilliant lineup of shorts is to die for.) It’s a festival you should never sleep on. Here is a preview of a few titles you can catch from June 22nd to July 2nd. DANCES WITH FILMS (DWF: LA & DWF: NYC), now in its Read More →

Fantasia International Film Festival is back with its 26th edition to rescue us from reality. Here’s what we’re excited to see! #Fantasia2022

It’s no secret that all the best genre films come through Fantasia Film Festival. 2022’s fest comes just in time to distract us from all the actual horrible things happening in the world. Welcome to a list of things we’re excited about playing this year. Some are already on our best of the year lists and some we anticipate adding. Read More →

Review: ‘DRIFTWOOD’ is anything but hollow.

You might think that a film without a single word of dialogue would be difficult or tedious to watch. You’d be completely wrong in the case of festival favorite, Driftwood. After a young woman washes up on shore, an older man “rescues” her and brings her to his home to recoup. But all is not what it seems from the very Read More →