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
The Profane Exhibit
An anthology that traveled festivals for a full decade and was tinkered with profoundly before it finally saw its domestic release a little while ago. It's not hard to see why this one took so long to materialize in full, but there are some very cool segments here, and true horror heads won't be disappointed. Boll's entry is a terrible low, but other than that most shorts are pretty interesting. What this anthology is lacking is some true standouts. Apart from Manna, by far the most visceral and mysterious short of the bunch, and to a lesser extent Nishimura's Hell Kitchen, there aren't any shorts that push the limits. But if you love a good horror anthology, be sure to give this one a shot.Read all
