Nightmares Film Festival

Can You Hear Me Now?

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Interaction

Screens Sunday, October 19 at 4pm

by Hope Madden

Dallas Richard Hallam’s mesmerizing, beautifully shot, and quietly audacious feature Interaction lulls you, then hypnotizes you. But you have no idea what you’re in for.

House cleaner Rebecca (Suziey Block) hides little recording devices in all the homes she cleans. Never without her headphones, and right under the noses of clients with the means to pay for housekeeping, she listens to their most banal and most intimate moments.

But she listens all the time—in the car, in bed at night. The keepers are even labeled, for when she needs to relax, when she needs to laugh, when she needs a good cry. And for quite a while, this unapologetic invasion of privacy plays like a poetic reflection of modern social isolation.

The quietly beautiful image of loneliness and disconnect is a sleight of hand, though, and the film slowly – with zero exposition – turns more and more sinister.

Nearly the only dialog in the entire film comes from these recordings. When someone does speak, it feels like an invasion. This, too, suggests a director in absolute command of his medium. Though we may believe we have nothing in common with Rebecca, we come to connect with her. We worry when she seems too at home in someone else’s living space, fear that she should remove the headphones before she commits to certain acts, in case someone is around the corner, or returns home unexpectedly.

Hallam tightens tensions minute by minute, so quietly and efficiently you may not even recognize your own anxiety. He’s helped immeasurably by a masterpiece of understatement from Block, whose performance is unnervingly authentic and, for that reason, shocking when it needs to be.

Filmmaker Claire Denis has built an immaculate career making movies about the moments in the story other directors ignore or leave out. The same story is told, she just uses different beats within the same tale to tell it. Hallam, who co-wrote the script with A.P. Boland, approaches the film in much the same way.

At no point does his choice feel like a gimmick, which is success in itself. But when the film begins to veer toward true thriller, when it turns genuinely mean, it’s unsettling in the way a Denis or even a Michael Haneke film might be. Interaction is hard to forget.

Nightmares Film Festival

The Bloodsucker Proxy

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LandLord

Screens Saturday, October 18 at 2pm

by George Wolf

Remember the simple genius of 30 Days of Night? Vampires were roaming Alaska, in a town with no sunlight for a month! We all wondered why we didn’t think of that.

LandLord is built on a similarly clever foundation. Vampires have to be invited in, right?

Not if they own the property.

Go on.

Writer/director Remington Smith could have steered that premise toward a basic bite-fest, and it might have been good fun. But here he has something more ambitious in mind, with a patient, understated approach that makes sure the wounds go a little bit deeper.

A Black Bounty Hunter (a terrific Adama Abramson) cuts quite a figure as she travels alone, on foot and dealing only in cash. The bills she throws at the manager of a rundown apartment complex get her some keys with no questions asked, and plenty of time to surveil a man who carries a valuable briefcase.

But a chance meeting with a bullied youngster named Alex (Cohen Cooper) slowly draws the Bounty Hunter away from her mark, and toward Alex’s outrageous claims about a white vampire stalking the housing community.

The apartment setting coupled with the teenage perspective calls to mind 2016’s excellent The Transfiguration, while the prevailing subtext of a disposable population echoes Jorge Michael Grau’s masterful We Are What We Are. Still, Smith is able to make sure his own voice his heard.

LandLord is a story of survival. Getting out alive is going to take wits, courage, and a good friend watching your back. You’ve just got to know who the bloodsuckers are.

And some of them might even be vampires.

Nightmares Film Festival

A Hill to Die On

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Pig Hill

Screens Saturday, October 18 at 10pm

by Brandon Thomas

Using the word “Pig” in the title of your film automatically conjures up a disgusting mix of imagery before you’ve seen even one frame of film. As Sam Jackson’s Jules says in Pulp Fiction, “Pigs are filthy animals.” That they may be, but director Kevin Lewis sets up a nice curveball with Pig Hill, one that delivers a more psychologically disgusting film than a visual one. 

Like most small towns in America, Meadville, Pennsylvania has its own local legend: that of the pig people of Pig Hill. Everyone has their own theory about the pig people, but the one true throughline from all is that they are some ghastly mix of human beings and pigs. Carrie (Rainey Qualley) and her brother Chris (Shiloh Fernandez, Evil Dead) have lived in Meadville their entire lives, and the pig people story has always loomed large. As recent personal struggles bring both siblings to emotional low points, the prospect of writing a book about Pig Hill gives Carrie a potential ticket out of Meadville. As Carrie’s investigation into pig hill deepens, so does the mystery surrounding a growing number of women who have been going missing. 

Pig Hill is a cornucopia of a film. There’s a dash of Texas Chain Saw Massacre mixed with a pinch of The Silence of The Lambs, and finally a bit of The Hills Have Eyes for taste. Story and tone aren’t a problem as Lewis (Willy’s Wonderland) weaves his influences together into a satisfying and cohesive whole. As someone who clearly knows the horror genre inside and out, Lewis wickedly plays with audience expectations until the very end.

Outside of a pretty standard open, Pig Hill isn’t the stalk n’ slash fest you might expect. When the film gets down and dirty – it does so with gusto and never forgets that there are characters experiencing the horror around them. The cast ends up doing the bulk of the heavy lifting as it’s a surprisingly dialogue-heavy film that takes the time to flesh out characters. While the cast may not rival that latest P.T. Anderson flick, they all work well for the film. Qualley and Fernandez bounce off one another well, and former teen heartthrob Shane West (A Walk to Remember, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) brings some name recognition as the film’s romantic lead and pseudo-hero. 

Lewis takes a big swing toward the end of the film that might seem too telegraphed, but it still doesn’t lessen the impact once the layers get pulled back more and more. It lets Pig Hill end on  a horrific emotionally charged note instead of one covered in blood and guts.

Nightmares Film Festival

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

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Tinsman Road

Screens Sunday, October 19 at 2pm

by Rachel Willis

Writer, director, and star Robbie Banfitch crafts a unique, documentary-style film with his feature, Tinsman Road.

Banfitch plays Robbie Lyle, a documentarian focused on capturing his mother Leslie’s (Leslie Ann Banfitch) belief that her missing daughter is now an angel.

Leslie’s grief is tangible, and as the “documentary” progresses, her hold on reality seems more and more tenuous. Her belief that her daughter is now a visiting angel is met with tender skepticism by her son. When she asks if he believes in psychics, she answers his no with the assurance that while “some are scams,” hers is real.

Leslie Banfitch’s naturalism helps sell the documentary approach. Her ability to fully encompass a woman who believes her missing daughter now haunts her life is not only heartfelt but convincing. Her performance sets the film apart from similar, weaker fare. Robbie’s own grief feels two-fold. Not only does he also mourn the loss of his sister but feels helpless in helping his mom with her grief. It’s a heart wrenching dilemma.

Eerie elements underscore the fact that, while this is a movie about a grieving family, it’s also a horror film. It’s these subtleties from the very beginning that slowly suck you in. The film also pulls artfully from the true crime genre.

The camera work and low-budget quality of the movie both heighten the tension and add to the sorrow surrounding the characters. Though the style has certainly been overused in the horror genre, Banfitch manages to make it feel like a necessary choice.

Certain moments feel unnecessary, but they’re few and far between. The removal of one or two scenes may have helped tighten pacing. But these are small imperfections, easy to overlook.

Tinsman Road‘s slowly building dread gives way to a shattering climax. The intensity of the third act is stomach churning, especially after the quiet meditation on grief that came before it. Banfitch rewards your patience with the finale.

Grief and horror have often gone hand in hand, and Banfitch offers up a worthy contribution.

Nightmares Film Festival

Horror and Heavy Metal Collide

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If It Bleeds

Screening Friday, October 17 at 6:30pm

by Brooklyn Ewing

Horror anthologies hold a special place in my heart, and If It Bleeds packs three individual segments full of iconic horror appearances, and awesome makeup FX. 

In the wraparound story, a hungry young news reporter, Diane Winters, (Terrifier’s Catherine Corcoran), and her cameraman, chase a series of brutal murders during a hectic day hunting down a lead story. 

Director and writer Matthew Hersh packs this film full of killer actors like Dee Wallace (Cujo, ET, The Howling) Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, Hellboy), Bonnie Aarons (The Nun and the Nun 2), John Kassir (Tales from the Crypt), Russell Todd (Chopping Mall, Friday the 13th Part II), and Khleo Thomas (Holes and Roll Bounce). 

If It Bleeds is filled with faces you’ll recognize from the horror and heavy metal communities. It was awesome to see metal aficionado Jose Mangin in the segment featuring the voice of John Kassir. Kassir really nails Chip, the puppet. It’s such a magical moment hearing him do another horror voice. The segments are so stacked with up and coming horror talent that I can’t even name drop everyone appropriately. 

From the soundtrack to each and every segment, If It Bleeds gives you all the gore and killer stories you could ask for. This one is so fun, and is perfect for horror and metal fans. Hersh has definitely me super excited to see what he does next. 

5 stars, because Chip said so!

Nightmares Film Festival

A Video Rental Store Dream

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Blood Barn

Screens Friday, October 17 at 8:30pm

by Brooklyn Ewing

I have always wondered what it felt like to see 1981’s The Evil Dead before it was released to the world, and now I kind of feel like I do thanks to Gabriel Bernini’s first feature film, Blood Barn. 

Blood Barn isn’t perfect, or super polished, like most new horror making its way onto the screen. Honestly, it doesn’t need to be because it’s so creative, and feels like something special you’d pull from the shelf in a mom and pop video store in 1983 because the box art was so cool. 

In the film, a group of friends find themselves traveling to an old farmhouse to have some fun when they accidentally conjure up some old demons, and all hell breaks loose.  I almost lost my mind when I saw Rachel, played by Euphoria actress Chloe Cherry, show up in the car ride. She’s just an absolute vibe in everything she does. The other cast members fit right in and create such a cool group of quirky, vintage friends that I want to hang out with. 

This throw back to 70s and early 80s, camp horror uses so many out-of-the-box cinematic tricks to create their vintage atmosphere on a shoe string budget. I found myself wanting to immediately sit down with Bernini and the team to ask how they pulled off so many of the shots. The cinematography in the opening alone fills me with nostalgia, and makes me feel like a kid again sneaking out to the living room to watch a movie on USA Up All Night with Rhonda Shear and, the late, Gilbert Gottfried. 

Blood Barn oozes vibes from classics like The Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, Night of the Demons, and even has small nods to things like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Prom Night, New Year’s Evil, Blood Lake and Sleepaway Camp. 

Don’t go into Blood Barn expecting to see a perfectly written studio film. It’s not that. This movie celebrates creative indie filmmaking from a bygone era at its best. Have some fun with this one. It’s packed with all the nostalgia you can handle, and all the old school makeup FX that an 80s horror kid could dream of. 

Old school horror fans, this one’s for you. 

Elvira would give it 5 stars, so I will too.

Nightmares Film Festival

Final (Draft) Girl

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The Red Mask

Screens Friday, October 17 at 4pm

by Daniel Baldwin

Attempting to reinvent a film franchise can be an incredibly tricky thing. If things change too much, filmmakers risk incensing fans and making audiences wonder why the new project even bears the same name as the original. If not enough is changed, subsections of fandom might be happy, but everyone else will still be left thinking, “What’s the point?”

That’s the fine line to be walked as a creator when tackling a pre-existing thing, especially when it comes to horror. There’s also a quiet truth: you’re never going to please everyone with your reinvention. Just ask folks like David Gordon Green, Nia DaCosta, Fede Alvarez, and filmmaking team Radio Silence. All tackled recent renewals of long-running slasher series to varying degrees of success, both of the critical and commercial variety. Fans still argue about all of them today and they will continue to do so for decades to come. For better or worse, franchises inspire passion in their fanbases. Sometimes that passion is born of love and acceptance. Other times, it is overflowing with hatred and malice.

This is the core subject of Ritesh Gupta’s satirical slasher, The Red Mask. Together with screenwriters Samantha Gurash and Patrick Robert Young, Gupta has crafted a fiercely critical look at both sides of the coin when it comes to a slasher series being redone for a new generation. The terror tale begins with acclaimed indie screenwriter Allina Green (Helena Howard) kicking off a stay at a secluded cabin with her fiancé, Deetz (Inanna Sarkis). The goal? To write a killer script for a reboot of popular fictional slasher series, The Red Mask.

Things take a turn when Allina & Deetz’s brainstorming sessions are interrupted when a couple (Jake Abel & Kelli Garner) with a clashing Airbnb reservation arrive at the cabin. Also – wouldn’t you know it? – they happen to be big fans of The Red Mask films who have their own very different thoughts on how their beloved saga should be revived. The stage is now set for a battle (both verbal and physical) between filmmakers and fans over the soul of an intellectual property.

It’s the kind of thing one only ever sees play out in comments sections and social media posts, but instead of ALL CAPS WARFARE, the fight becomes decidedly more literal in the hands of Gupta & Co. What results is a very savvy and fun piece of horror filmmaking that is sure to thrill you and make you chuckle in equal measure. Keep an eye out for this one, horror fans. It’s a really good time.

Nightmares Film Festival

Are You There, Audience? It’s Me. Death.

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The Cramps: A Period Piece

Screening Friday, October 17 at 10:30 pm

by Bob Green

The Cramps: A Period Piece, from writer/director Brook H. Cellars (she/they), is exactly what it says on the tin. Those of you that own a uterus are in for a fantastic time.  So is everybody else.

Agnes Applewhite (Lauren Kitchen) is a young woman flowering into adulthood and doing her best to escape her claustrophobic home life, her holier-than-thou mother, and her sycophantic sister.  She finds community at her local salon, populated with a cast of kooky characters, but she and her pants hold a dark and hilarious secret.

Now, I’m not generally a big consumer of low-fidelity horror because ADHD can be a pain, but Cellars has found a colorful, fun, and out-there way to address the issues that people with uteri have to suffer.  I am not one of those people, so I rely on the viewpoint of filmmakers like Cellars and others to walk me through the process, as it were.

Conversations about bodily processes like menstruation and reproduction can make people uncomfortable, but The Cramps brings the subject to the table with an irreverence that transcends audience discomfort.

Cellars brings to mind Russ Meyer and Herschell Gordon Lewis, with a touch of Go Go culture and a soupçon of John Waters, much like Anna Biller’s The Love Witch (2016). 

It’s just a hair melodramatic with our soft-spoken lead meandering through the perils of romance, family, and… other things. But the sass from everyone else, like her new boss, Martini Bear (Laverne Lancaster), brings it right back home.  The special effects are on that edge of cheesy that aficionados of B-Grade cinema adore.  The supporting cast of drag queens, queer folks, enbies and allies just make it an absolute hoot.

We all know that it’s difficult to make a “so-bad-it’s-good” movie on purpose, but Cellars has nailed it.  This is a cult movie wonder and I dig it, baby.

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Nothing Permanent in This Wicked World

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Tron: Ares

by Hope Madden

Tron was a fun idea in 1982. What director Joachim Rønning’s Tron: Ares gets very right is its commitment to simplicity, impressive yet simple visual effects, and soundtrack.

Greta Lee is Eve Kim, head of ENCOM, a tech industry whose whiz kid founder vanished back in the 80s. Kim’s been working on AI that can materialize into something concrete—like an orange tree. But she’s missing the string of code that will make the thing permanent, helping her eradicate hunger and do so many other good things AI will clearly never actually be used to do.

Meanwhile, megatech competitor Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) is materializing soldiers, of course. But their impermanence is a stickler for him as well.

The race is one to own the permanence code! Natch, Dillinger sends one of his soldiers (Ares, played by Jared Leto) to nab Kim, leading to adventures inside and out of “the grid”.

Is it dumb? Of course it is. Is it fun? Sometimes it really is! There’s a motorcycle chase that looks amazing, a gorgeous opening sequence, and visuals that manage to be both forward thinking and adorably retro—kind of a highly polished version of a tech world as imagined in the early 1980s.

Supporting turns from effortless badass Jodie Turner-Smith and ever glorious Gillian Anderson class up the joint. And did I mention the characteristically jarring, distorted and sorely missed sounds of Nine Inch Nails?

Jared Leto does his best Jared Leto, handsome and wise and weirdly stiff. Whatever. But Greta Lee is clearly better than the material, which can’t help but elevate the few scenes requiring true acting. She runs well too. And Peters is a bit of fun as our favorite punching bag, the spoiled, entitled, weak tech billionaire playboy. (He’s no Nicholas Hoult, but the performance is still solid.)

Is Tron: Ares great? It is not. But it doesn’t suck, either.

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Tale of Three Pretties

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Kiss of the Spider Woman

by George Wolf

Trusting Bill Condon to bring the Kiss of the Spider Woman stage musical to the big screen is an understandable choice. With Dreamgirls, Chicago and even Beauty and the Beast, the man has shown he knows how to write and/or direct the necessary pop and pizazz.

He brings both again this time, just enough to offset what’s lacking on the political intrigue side of the ledger.

Based on the 1993 Tony Award-winning adaptation of Manuel Piug’s 1976 novel (which also spawned the 1985 film version), Condon’s Kiss keeps the core story intact. It’s set after Argentina’s coup d’état in the late 70s, when the military dictatorship began rounding up scores of political opponents.

One of these activists, Valentín (Diego Luna), is sharing a jail cell with Molina (Tonatiuh), a window dresser who has been convicted of “public indecency” with another man. To brighten their spirits, Molina begins regaling Valentín with the plot of one of his favorite movie musicals starring the glamorous Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez).

All three actors impress in multiple roles, as Condon crafts the fantasy song-and-dance numbers with the staging, visual panache and aspect ratio to recall the golden age of Hollywood. Shifting often from lavish sequence to jail cell squalor, the film’s two plot lines begin to mirror each other, and some layers of love, loss, and sacrifice grow stronger than others.

The fantasy throwbacks, queer and Latin influences pull each other along nicely, but Condon never quite establishes the prison as a setting with real grit or tangible danger. Granted, it’s tricky to walk this line without recalling too much Man of La Mancha. But the lengths which Condon goes to differentiate the worlds visually only makes those slippery tone shifts more curious.

Is it entertaining? It is, even at just over two hours. JLo is award-worthy yet again, Luna is quietly heroic and Tonatiuh (Carry-On) delivers a smashing and star-making breakout turn. Give in to them all, and Kiss of the Spider Woman can get you lost in the fantasy.

Hope Madden and George Wolf … get it?