Movies
Deathcember
Extensive seasonal horror anthology presented as an advent calendar. It's like the ABC's of Death, only with Christmas-themed shorts. It's a great way to start any movie run-up to Christmas, at least if you're into horror cinema (and all its genre relatives), as it's a lot less jolly than the usual Christmas fare. 24 shorts, about 5 minutes each, is quite a lot for an anthology, especially when you also count the two bonus shorts hidden away in the credits. It makes for a good 2.5 hours of cinema where every 5 minutes your mind needs a little reset. While I appreciate the high level of diversity, I think it would've been better if this had been 30 minutes shorter. Otherwise, there's very little to complain about. There's always going to be shorts that stick out while others fade away in the background, but the broad international selection, the varied mix of styles, genres and topics (while all holiday-related of course) and the many inspired ideas really keep Deathcember interesting and entertaining. I hope they turn this into a yearly tradition.Read all
A decent but simple premise, that results in decent but simple genre fare. It's a pretty moody film with some fun kills, held back by doubty performances and some rushed scenes. The film tries to link itself to Carrie, which isn't entirely unreasonable, but it's best to consider that little more than poster bait. A young girl with powers that control electricity running amok is a fun premise, the drama on the other is pretty generic and the actors aren't really up to the task. The cinematography is nice and there are some gruesome moments, but none of it really stands out. Decent genre filler, nothing more, nothing less.Read all