Review: Ira Rosensweig’s ‘SHARE?’ is one of the smartest genre films of the year

SHARE?

Disturbing, funny, and undeniably thrilling, SHARE? is an intriguing human experiment. The premise is slick, a mix of social commentary, the dystopian role of influencer culture, and the disease of instant gratification. The film opens with a man (Melvin Gregg), dubbed #14, in an empty room wearing nothing but a pair of underwear. Once he hears the ping of a rudimentary computer interface, SHARE? unfolds like gangbusters. 

Bradley Whitford is a veteran “participant” craving interaction. Each man gains knowledge from the other’s vastly different strategies for survival. Gregg discovers rewards flow when he either embarrasses or hurts himself. As one coaches the other, a mutually beneficial relationship develops. Alice Braga enters the scene as a woman on a mission, determined to find a way out. Her fiery passion counters Whitford’s stubbornness and Gregg’s growing popularity. When best intentions backfire, and another very influential participant butt heads with her, the consequences prove unthinkable. 

The performances are magnificent. Whitford’s energy is manic. It is like hypnotic live theatre. Alice Braga brings her usual fierceness, rattling the day-to-day flow of events. Melvin Gregg is a one-man show that gets better and better by the minute. His flawed vulnerability pulls you into this mesmerizing plot. He is magnificent. 

The first feature film to be shot entirely from one fixed camera angle, SHARE? is a wonder. The structure demands your undivided attention, as each captive, like Pavlov’s Dog, learns and responds to obtain food, water, clothing, nonessentials, and social interaction. Desperation, cancel culture, isolation, and voyeurism drive SHARE? headlong like a freight train and with a finale so fitting it’s breathtaking. You’ll scream at the screen.


ARRIVING IN SELECT THEATERS & ON DIGITAL AND VOD

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

 

SHARE?

Directed by: Ira Rosensweig

Screenplay by: Benjamin Sutor

Story by: Ira Rosensweig & Benjamin Sutor

Producers: Carissa Buffel, Kevin Matusow, Ira Rosensweig

Country of Origin: USA

Language: English

Genre: Sci-fi Mystery

Distributor: XYZ Films

Cast: Melvin Gregg (The Way Back, The Blackening), Bradley Whitford (Get Out, The Handmaid’s Tale), Alice Braga (The Suicide Squad, Hypnotic), 

Danielle Campbell (Tell Me a Story)

 

OPENING IN SELECT THEATERS ON NOVEMBER 10th

AND NATIONWIDE ON DIGITAL / VOD

NYC: Alamo Drafthouse, Lower Manhattan, November 6th (one night only)

Philadelphia: PFS Bourse Theater – November 7th (one night only)

Chicago: Alamo Drafthouse, November 8th (one night only)

Austin: Alamo Drafthouse, November 9th (one night only)

San Francisco: Alamo Drafthouse, November 10th

Los Angeles: Arena Cinelounge November 10th (full week run)

Los Angeles: Alamo Drafthouse DTLA, November 11th

Richmond, VA: BTM Movieland at Boulevard Sq, Richmond, VA, November 10th

Columbia, SC: BTM Dutch Square Cinema 14, Columbia, SC, November 10th

Oaks, PA: Oaks Center Cinema, November 10th


 

ICYMI- The extended trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest ‘POOR THINGS’ starring Emma Stone


POOR THINGS

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Coming to theaters December 8th, 2023

#PoorThings


 

Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2023: Filmmaking phenom Alice Maio Mackay’s ‘T-BLOCKERS’ is an invasion allegory with a queer cast and crew that is sickening in the best way possible.

T-BLOCKERS

Award-winning trans filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay brings her buzzy genre mashup T-BLOCKERS to the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2023. Part queer coming-of-age and part splatterfest, Lauren Last plays Sophie, a filmmaker whose horrible blind date leads her to vigilante killings to prevent hate crimes. Oh, and there are aliens involved. Sophie realizes she is the only one who can sense a body-snatching entity that targets alt-right creeps. So obviously, she and her group of friends must hunt them down and destroy them in the name of their queer community and for the love of cinema. Duh.

Lewi Dawson plays Spencer, Sophie’s best friend and colleague. They are undeniably fantastic in this role. Stanley Browning is Adam, blind date and lead carrier of the infected alien hate worm. Etcetera Etcetera is our hostess with the mostess and hypnotizes with her spooky charm. Lauren Last gives us everything we need to feel grounded, permitting us to laugh at the premise. I would love to see her in more stories. I would welcome a sequel about Spencer and Sophie’s forthcoming shenanigans.

2023 has been a step in the right direction for trans, queer, and nonbinary representation with films like The People’s Joker, Something You Said Last Night, Monica, Theater Camp, My Animal, Barbie, and the upcoming The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. T-BLOCKERS joins the ranks of engaging storytelling that crosses genres and excites. The neon lighting and campy gore have all the markings of Midnight cult classic indies. The J. K. Rowling joke was perfection. T-BLOCKERS is an allegory for the homophobic antitrans movement and their evil online cultlike behavior. It’s a creative call to activism and self-acceptance told through a B-horror-inspired lens. Be prepared to rock out to one hell of a battle cry song and to stand up and cheer for the final scene.


BROOKLYN HORROR FILM FESTIVAL 2023

Sitges & Beyond Fest 2023 review: Order Up! Alan Scott Neal’s ‘LAST STRAW’ is a delicious revenge horror.

LAST STRAW


Set over one night in a dusty roadside diner, LAST STRAW follows Nancy (Belkin), a young waitress working alone on the late shift. As a series of chaotic events spiral out of control, Nancy finds herself in a fight for her life when she is terrorized by a group of masked assailants. No one is who they appear to be, and with nowhere to turn, she must do everything she can to survive the night.


Alan Scott Neal brings SITGES & Beyond Fest 2023 audiences a nasty small-town tale of terror in LAST STRAW. A stressed-out Nancy must manage a double shift at her father’s diner, confronting a group of local teens promising to make her night a living hell.

Following a confrontation in the diner earlier in the day, Nancy’s now solitary night shift turns deadly when a masked group turns up to terrorize her. The film starts with a bang, as close-ups of some goretastic aftermath flash across the screen. We already know we are in for some shit. Flash to 24 hours earlier, and we meet our leading lady, her father, and those who would become her tormentors throughout the film. LAST STRAW serves up a brilliantly structured screenplay by Taylor Sardoni. A shocking multiple narrative comes together, and it is chef’s kiss.

Jeremy Sisto plays Edward, Nancy’s father and diner owner. Sisto gives him a loving nature that grounds everyone else’s backstories. Christopher M. Lopes is Petey, Jake’s brother. His sweetness shines. Joji Otani-Hansen plays Bobby with a boy next door core. His pack nature clashes with his morality, making him a spectacular foil for so much of the male energy in the film.

Taylor Kowalski‘s sarcastic edge counters Nancy’s sass. Jake’s desperation and a fierce sense of protection for Petey fuels his rage. He is undeniably compelling. Jessica Belkin gives Nancy an attitude for days. Her dynamic badassery is something to behold. She is a brand ambassador for Final Girls.

The music is an epic mix of synth and girl punk rock. Tender Misfit’s song over the credits is perfection. Do not think you know what’s happening at any given moment. The style and tone shifts again and again. It’s a fresh and satisfying take on revenge horror and one superb debut for Alan Scott Neal.


DIRECTED BY Alan Scott Neal

WRITTEN BY Taylor Sardoni

ORIGINAL SCORE BY Alan Palomo (NEON INDIAN)

STARRING Jessica Belkin (American Horror Story), Jeremy Sisto (Six Feet Under, Wrong Turn) and Taylor Kowalski (Snowfall)


LAST STRAW marks the directorial debut of Alan Scott Neal with a script by Taylor Sardoni, a raw & relentless twist on the home-invasion thriller, starring Jessica Belkin (American Horror Story), Jeremy Sisto (Thirteen, Clueless) and Taylor Kowalski (Snowfall).

LAST STRAW is produced by Daniel Brandt (I Love My Dad), Bad Grey’s Dane Eckerle (I Love My Dad) & Cole Eckerle (Mother, May I?), along with producers Michael Giannone & Phil Keefe on behalf of AC3 Media, Levon Panek, and Sam Slater of Burn Later Productions. LAST STRAW will world premiere at Sitges Film Festival, followed by a North American debut at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles.



DIRECTOR Alan Scott Neal

WRITER Taylor Sardoni

CINEMATOGRAPHER Andrey Nikolaev

COMPOSER Alan Palomo (Neon Indian)

PRODUCERS Daniel Brandt, Dane Eckerle, Cole Eckerle, Michael Giannone, Phil Keefe

GENRE: Horror/Thriller

RUN TIME: 81 Minutes

YEAR: 2023

SALES: Blue Finch Films

Review: Demian Rugna’s jaw-dropping ‘WHEN EVIL LURKS’ is extreme horror that will wreck you.

presents

When brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimmy (Demián Salomón) discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby farmhouse — its very proximity poisoning the local livestock — they attempt to evict the victim from their land. Failing to adhere to the proper rites of exorcism, their reckless actions inadvertently trigger an epidemic of possessions across their rural community. Now they must outrun an encroaching evil as it corrupts and mutilates everyone it is exposed to, and enlist the aid of a wizened “cleaner,” who holds the only tools that can stop this supernatural plague.

A wildly original take on the possession film, When Evil Lurks is a shocking supernatural thriller from Argentine master of horror, writer-director Demián Rugna (Terrified).

Folk horror goes hard in this tale of possession and superstition. Writer-director Demian Rugna‘s WHEN EVIL LURKS pits fear and skepticism against an unrelenting demonic force. That’s only the beginning.

The script reveals itself in bits and pieces, with the plot having ties to some apocalyptic lore affecting entire towns. We learn of a set of rules that are cannon to this happening from generations preceding our main characters. Take David Robert Mitchell’s IT FOLLOWS, add a page out of Stephen King‘s IT, and you’ll begin to understand what you’re dealing with. Somehow, WHEN EVIL LURKS is nastier and even more shocking. The script also suggests that cities were targets first, but there is also an implication that class is somehow involved. There are also what amounts to slayers, a select group of people who confront the evil known as “Cleaners.” There is so much meat on the bone in this script that despite the urge to hide your eyes, it compels you to watch it unfold.

One standout performance comes from Emilio Vodanovich as Jari, Pedro’s autistic son. As a mother of a child on the spectrum, I genuinely believed they had cast an actor with autism. It is a startling performance. Demian Soloman gives Jimi an authentic heart. A lot is going on behind those eyes. Ezequiel Rodríguez has your heart in your throat from beginning to end. His portrayal of Pedro runs the emotional gambit. He nails it. Rugna gives Jimi and Pedro enough depth and trauma that Soloman and Rodríguez could pull off a sequel in a heartbeat.

Pablo Fuu‘s music is brilliantly disturbing, particularly in the repeated hard rock guitar riff. Holy Special FX, Batman! WHEN EVIL LURKS pulls no punches with the visual ick. Marcos Berta‘s work is gag-inducing and diabolical. It makes you angry and nauseous. The dialogue is often vile and biting but entirely hypnotizing as you discover more. The brutality grows from one scene to the next. WHEN EVIL LURKS is easily one of the most deranged films of the year. Rugna has broken all the rules. There is no coming back from this one.

IFC Films will release in theaters nationwide this Friday
Find a theater near you
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Available to stream on Shudder on October 27th




Director: Demián Rugna

Screenwriter: Demián Rugna

Starring: Ezequiel Rodríguez, Demián Salomón, Silvina Sabater, Virginia Garofalo, Paula Rubinsztein, Luis Dziembrowski

Producers: Fernando Diaz, Roxana Ramos

Executive Producers: Fernando Diaz, Roxana Ramos, Samuel Zimmerman, Emily Gotto

Cinematographer: Mariano Suarez

Editor: Lionel Cornistein

Composer: Pablo Fuu

Language: Spanish

Country of Origin: Argentina

Running Time: 99 minutes


About the Director

Born in Haedo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, director and screenwriter Demián Rugna specializes in fantasy and horror films. After making numerous short films in the horror genre and a large number of original scripts, he’s directed several feature films including The Last Gateway, Cursed Bastards! and You Don’t Know Who You’re Talking To. His fourth film, Terrified, was multi-awarded, sold to platforms all over the world, and was the most successful horror film at the box office in Argentina. Recently, he participated in an anthology film called Satanic Hispanics. His 5th feature film, When Evil Lurks, will premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and be released this Fall.


 

Fantastic Fest 2023 capsule review: ‘The Other Laurens’ brims with mystery and mayhem

THE OTHER LAURENS

Beginning in Shakespearean fashion, the chaos and bait-and-switch screenplay of Claude Schmitz‘s THE OTHER LAURENS earns your attention. Private investigator, Gabriel gets contacted by his niece to look into the recent death of her father and Gabriel’s estranged twin brother, François.

THE OTHER LAURENS is a whirlwind of mafialike underworld, bikers as protective soldiers, drug trafficking, double dealings, and bombastic characters. The script’s dramatic complexity gets a momentary reprieve from the two local detectives and their witty banter.

Loise Leroy wows in her feature debut as Jade. The emotional turmoil she endures puts Leroy through the wringer, and she handles it like a pro. She is a star. Olivier Rabourdin plays dual roles as Gabriel and François. His ability to shape-shift will captivate you. THE OTHER LAURENS is an epic film, brimming with twists and turns, and is a real stand-out from Fantastic Fest 2023.


Director: Claude Schmitz
Writer: Claude Schmitz and Kostia Testut
Starring: Olivier Rabourdin, Louise Leroy, Kate Moran 
Producers: Jérémy Forni, Benoit Roland
Co-Producers: Valérie Berelmont, David Claikens, Tanguy Dekeyser, Phillipe Logie, Alex Verbaere  

Year: 2023
Runtime: 117 minutes
Language: French, English, Spanish
Country: Belgium, France
Premiere: North American


 

TIFF 2023 capsule review: Aptly named neo-noir ‘LIMBO’ puts racism in the forefront.

LIMBO

Aided by car trouble, a detective looks into the 20-year-old disappearance of a local girl named Charlotte. Travis Hurley is a messy addict, but with nowhere to go, he delves deeper into the case, interviewing old witnesses and suspects. What he discovers will frustrate and ultimately shock no one.

Simon Baker gives Travis a gritty aura. He is simply fantastic. The stark black-and-white cinematography throws the brain into chaos. Knowing what the Australian landscape normally looks like, it is a striking choice. Serving as Writer, Director, Producer, DOP, Editor, Colorist, and Composer, filmmaker Ivan Sen depicts the ever-present racism faced by the indigenous population. LIMBO is a neo-noir crime drama that leaves you with a pit in your stomach.

Check out the trailer below: