2018 Archives - Page 5 of 7 - The Spool (Page 5)
Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Hurt Is Blumhouse’s Latest, Spookiest, Most Uneven Scare-Fest

Blumhouse’s latest thriller is tense and deceptively clever, but undoes its thrills with no shortage of irritating fakeouts. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Trauma appears to be the monster in Sonny Mallhi’s Hurt, but things aren’t exactly as they seem. While the Blumhouse-produced thriller maintains an almost uncomfortable sense of tension, it suffers ... Fantasia 2018: Hurt Is Blumhouse’s Latest, Spookiest, Most Uneven Scare-Fest

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: The Witch in the Window Scares Without a Drop of Blood

Andy Milton’s atmospheric haunted house film is inscrutably scary and beautifully lit, balancing bone-chilling existential horror with compelling domestic drama. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Here it is, 2018’s version of The Witch and It Follows, a horror movie in which half its audience will appreciate its slow, moody burn, and the other ... Fantasia 2018: The Witch in the Window Scares Without a Drop of Blood

Fantasia 2018

Unfriended: Dark Web Elevates Its Premise to Scarier Screen-Based Dimensions

The web-footage sequel to the first Unfriended sees the series move in more believably conventional directions, eschewing supernatural scares for more haunting domestic terrors. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood We live in an age of overwhelming technology. Most of us spend most of day in the digital world, our computers becoming individual microcosms ... Unfriended: Dark Web Elevates Its Premise to Scarier Screen-Based Dimensions

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Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Lifechanger is a Bleak & Eerie Story About Identity & Never Letting Go

Justin McConnell’s lean, fascinating horror-drama blends an intriguing structure with some novel investigation into the psychology of its shape-shifting horror monster. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood There’s stalking, and then there’s what the narrator of Lifechanger does. Canadian horror-drama from writer-director Justin McConnell, it jumps right into the action right away, with Drew, ... Fantasia 2018: Lifechanger is a Bleak & Eerie Story About Identity & Never Letting Go

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Lifechanger’s Justin McConnell on Shape-Shifting, Memory and Toxicity

The writer/director of Fantasia-debuting horror film Lifechanger talks about the origins of the project and getting into the mind of his film’s main monster. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Lifechanger is a sneakier, more fascinating thriller than it might seem at first glance – the tale of a man doomed to feed off and ... Fantasia 2018: Lifechanger’s Justin McConnell on Shape-Shifting, Memory and Toxicity

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Blue My Mind Is a Different Kind of Mermaid Story

Lisa Brühlmann’s Swiss coming-of-age mermaid tale is admirably shot and performed, but inadvertently hews too closely to similar teen-horror dramas of recent years. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood It’s almost a shame that Lisa Brühlmann’s Blue My Mind came out so close on the heels of Julia Ducournau’s Raw. One of the freshest, ... Fantasia 2018: Blue My Mind Is a Different Kind of Mermaid Story

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Satan’s Slave Review – Ghosts, Zombies and Sex Cults, OH MY!

A loose remake/prequel to the 1980 film of the same name, Satan’s Slave is a chilling story of how the sins of our parents haunt us in the present from director Joko Anwar. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood A grief-stricken family comes face-to-face with the aftermath of their recently deceased mother’s deal with ... Fantasia 2018: Satan’s Slave Review – Ghosts, Zombies and Sex Cults, OH MY!

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Mikhail Red Explores Violence, Morality and Family in Neomanila

Superbly acted and beautifully shot, Neomanila is a morally ambiguous tale about what we do to survive and crimes we commit for the ones we love. This piece was originally posted at Alcohollywood Set against the backdrop of President Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines, Neomanila is a grim and gritty tale of family ... Fantasia 2018: Mikhail Red Explores Violence, Morality and Family in Neomanila

Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti is a Meditative Portrait of Depression and Obsession

Despite a charismatic performance by Vincent Cassel, this meditative biopic of the French painter fails to match the vibrancy of the artist’s work. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Often, in biographical films, we are given glimpses of the subject’s genius, while supporting characters wait on deck to expound on the profundity of his ... Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti is a Meditative Portrait of Depression and Obsession

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Hanagatami Review – The Director of Hausu Confuses and Delights in His Final Epic

Hausu’s Nobuhiko Obayashi starts wrapping up his 60-year career in filmmaking with a deeply weird, compellingly stream-of-consciousness wartime drama. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Nobuhiko Obayashi is one of Japan’s veteran suppliers of the weird and fantastical – despite a career spanning nearly forty films, his most famous international export is 1977’s kaleidoscopic, ... Fantasia 2018: Hanagatami Review – The Director of Hausu Confuses and Delights in His Final Epic

Skyscraper Review: The Rock Cooks Up Another Underdone Summer Thriller

While the Rock maintains his larger-than-life presence, this taller Die Hard knockoff buckles under the weight of its sizeable lack of humor. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Ever since my childhood days of watching professional wrestling, I’ve wanted Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to succeed. Whether it was in the ring (where he would ... Skyscraper Review: The Rock Cooks Up Another Underdone Summer Thriller

Review: Westwood Provides a Compelling Portrait of the Godmother of Punk

Showcasing her career from punk provocateur to a mainstay of English culture, Westwood is a love letter to one of fashion’s most iconic personalities This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist details the creative passions of Vivienne Westwood, the English designer who helped catapult London’s punk aesthetic into the mainstream. While ... Review: Westwood Provides a Compelling Portrait of the Godmother of Punk

Interviews

All the Queens Horses Interview: Kelly Richmond Pope on Rita Crundwell and Documentary as Education

This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood (This review and interview originally ran as part of On Tap’s previous run as its own separate feed. We’re re-running it here in conjunction with All the Queen’s Horses’ release on Netflix.) This week for our On Tap minisode, Clint discusses the new indie doc from Kartemquin, All the ... All the Queens Horses Interview: Kelly Richmond Pope on Rita Crundwell and Documentary as Education

Sorry to Bother You Review: Boots Riley Takes On Consumerism, Race in Scorchingly Funny Debut

Boots Riley’s wild feature film debut throws racial politics, consumerism, and magical realism in a blender, making for a comedy that’s as unpredictable as it is hilarious. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Capitalism is a hell of a drug – it lulls you in with the promise of wealth and success, and all ... Sorry to Bother You Review: Boots Riley Takes On Consumerism, Race in Scorchingly Funny Debut

Interviews

INTERVIEW: Bruce LaBruce on The Misandrists, Pornography and Feminist Brain-Swapping

We interview queersploitation provacateur Bruce LaBruce about queer cinema, working on a low budget, and his latest feminist satire The Misandrists. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Arthouse queer enfant terrible Bruce LaBruce has crafted an interesting career as an underground director of gory, sexy, splatter-ific screeds on radical topics like terrorism, feminism, and gay ... INTERVIEW: Bruce LaBruce on The Misandrists, Pornography and Feminist Brain-Swapping

The Misandrists Review: Bawdy, Transgressive Satire from Bruce LaBruce

Bruce LaBruce’s reputation as a bad-taste provocateur gleefully continues with this campy exercise in sex, sleaze, and political satire. This piece was originally published on Alcohollywood A transgressive artist’s main job should be to make people uncomfortable, and director Bruce LaBruce does his job very well. For over thirty years, LaBruce has been mixing art ... The Misandrists Review: Bawdy, Transgressive Satire from Bruce LaBruce

Interviews

La Enfermedad del Domingo: Entrevista con Ramón Salazar (Español)

This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood (You can find an English-language version of the interview here. Read our review of the film here.) La Enfermedad del Domingo es diferente a cualquier película que hayas hecho hasta la fecha. ¿De dónde vino la inspiración? La inspiración para la película debería ser Susi Sánchez, con quien trabajé ... La Enfermedad del Domingo: Entrevista con Ramón Salazar (Español)

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