This has easily been the hardest time I’ve ever had whittling down my favorite genre offerings for the year. I was fortunate to watch so many great movies throughout the course of the last 12 months (over 150—new and old!), and considering the quality of projects from both the studio and independent sides of the business was exceedingly high, I probably could have featured 20 films on this list, and still would have at least a dozen more I could recommend to fellow fans. 2016 was definitely one of the best recent years in horror and that’s pretty rad.
Beyond the realm of movies, horror also had a strong showing on TV, as it seems almost every single network these days has something of interest if you’re looking to immerse yourself in horror on the small screen. I was also fortunate enough to attend several amazing genre events in 2016, making...
Beyond the realm of movies, horror also had a strong showing on TV, as it seems almost every single network these days has something of interest if you’re looking to immerse yourself in horror on the small screen. I was also fortunate enough to attend several amazing genre events in 2016, making...
- 1/3/2017
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
By Todd Garbarini
It’s a scary thought, indeed, to think that it has been twenty-nine years since I first saw Dario Argento’s fifth giallo feature film which I had read about two years earlier in the pages of a back issue of Fangoria Magazine. The word giallo is the Italian word for the color yellow, and has found new life in describing a subgenre of the Italian horror film that refers to a who-done-it involving a killer who conceals their identity by wearing a large coat, a wide-brimmed hat, unisex footwear and gloves, their face always obscured or hidden completely. Very often we see the killer only in synecdoche. These stories all originated in the form of pulp novellas which sported yellow covers, hence the use of the term giallo.
Whereas the word giallo is always spelled one way, the correct spelling of the film’s title, Tenebrae,...
It’s a scary thought, indeed, to think that it has been twenty-nine years since I first saw Dario Argento’s fifth giallo feature film which I had read about two years earlier in the pages of a back issue of Fangoria Magazine. The word giallo is the Italian word for the color yellow, and has found new life in describing a subgenre of the Italian horror film that refers to a who-done-it involving a killer who conceals their identity by wearing a large coat, a wide-brimmed hat, unisex footwear and gloves, their face always obscured or hidden completely. Very often we see the killer only in synecdoche. These stories all originated in the form of pulp novellas which sported yellow covers, hence the use of the term giallo.
Whereas the word giallo is always spelled one way, the correct spelling of the film’s title, Tenebrae,...
- 10/16/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Update: The folks over at The Vulture reached out to one of their sources close to the production, and were met with the following response regarding this rumor:
“The spec script [mentioned in the original story below] was a jumping-off point for a new take on the story that draws from both the literary ballad of Mulan and Disney’s 1998 animated film… Mulan is and will always be the lead character in the story, and all primary roles, including the love interest, are Chinese.”
In short, the poster mentioned below was not inaccurate when they said the spec script they read had a white male, but Disney has supposedly since changed the script to include a full Chinese cast.
Original Story:
Well, we’re back here again.
I know, plenty of you are rolling their eyes at the title, and I understand. I’m sure other writers on the site such as Mario and Kellvin, who...
“The spec script [mentioned in the original story below] was a jumping-off point for a new take on the story that draws from both the literary ballad of Mulan and Disney’s 1998 animated film… Mulan is and will always be the lead character in the story, and all primary roles, including the love interest, are Chinese.”
In short, the poster mentioned below was not inaccurate when they said the spec script they read had a white male, but Disney has supposedly since changed the script to include a full Chinese cast.
Original Story:
Well, we’re back here again.
I know, plenty of you are rolling their eyes at the title, and I understand. I’m sure other writers on the site such as Mario and Kellvin, who...
- 10/11/2016
- by Joseph Medina
- LRMonline.com
September 13th boasts over 30 horror and sci-fi home entertainment releases, so I hope you guys have been saving up, because there are a lot of great choices to spend your money on this week. The highly anticipated 30th Anniversary Edition of Aliens comes home this week courtesy of 20th Century Fox, and if you are a big fan of James Wan’s latest sequel, you’ll undoubtedly want to pick up The Conjuring on Blu-ray or DVD this Tuesday.
Universal Studios is keeping busy this Tuesday with two Universal Monster collections celebrating Frankenstein and The Wolf Man, and Scream Factory’s Raising Cain Blu-ray arrives this week, too. Also, if you happened to miss the special edition of the giallo classic Tenebrae earlier this year, Synapse Films is putting out a basic Blu that fans will definitely want to nab (as a proud owner of the Collector’s Edition,...
Universal Studios is keeping busy this Tuesday with two Universal Monster collections celebrating Frankenstein and The Wolf Man, and Scream Factory’s Raising Cain Blu-ray arrives this week, too. Also, if you happened to miss the special edition of the giallo classic Tenebrae earlier this year, Synapse Films is putting out a basic Blu that fans will definitely want to nab (as a proud owner of the Collector’s Edition,...
- 9/13/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
If you missed out on their three-disc, limited edition Steelbook release of Tenebrae back in February, then you're in luck, because Synapse Films has announced a September 13th single-disc Blu-ray / DVD release of the 1982 Dario Argento film, complete with many of the special features included on the Steelbook:
Press Release: Synapse Films Announces The Single-disc Release Of Tenebrae, Dario Argento’S Giallo Masterpiece, On Blu-ray And DVD September 13th
Italian terror master Dario Argento elevates the Giallo genre to new heights with 1982’s Tenebrae, a darkly humorous, futuristic and notoriously grisly horror film many consider to be one of his finest works.
American mystery author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) comes to Italy to promote his newest novel, Tenebrae. Unfortunately, a razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, taunting Neal and murdering those around him in gruesome fashion just like the character in his novel. As the mystery surrounding the killings spirals out of control,...
Press Release: Synapse Films Announces The Single-disc Release Of Tenebrae, Dario Argento’S Giallo Masterpiece, On Blu-ray And DVD September 13th
Italian terror master Dario Argento elevates the Giallo genre to new heights with 1982’s Tenebrae, a darkly humorous, futuristic and notoriously grisly horror film many consider to be one of his finest works.
American mystery author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) comes to Italy to promote his newest novel, Tenebrae. Unfortunately, a razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, taunting Neal and murdering those around him in gruesome fashion just like the character in his novel. As the mystery surrounding the killings spirals out of control,...
- 6/28/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Werewolves, vampire assassins, and government factions, oh my! After its run on the festival circuit, Seize the Night, starring the film’s director and producer, Emma Dark, will have a limited DVD release. Also: Kickstarter news for HoloGrid: Monster’s Battle, a look at the film Chaos Theory in its entirety, first details on Exhibits, and info on Todd Masters’ (founder of MastersFX) 2016 Daytime Emmy win.
Seize the Night Limited DVD Release Details: Press Release: “Seize The Night has been one of the most talked about short films on the independent horror scene over the past year. In its time on the festival circuit the film has won creator Emma Dark a Mmbf Rising Star award at Ireland’s The Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival, garnered favourable reviews from a multitude of respected genre websites including Dread Central, Starburst and UK Horror Scene, and featured in comprehensive national print articles...
Seize the Night Limited DVD Release Details: Press Release: “Seize The Night has been one of the most talked about short films on the independent horror scene over the past year. In its time on the festival circuit the film has won creator Emma Dark a Mmbf Rising Star award at Ireland’s The Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival, garnered favourable reviews from a multitude of respected genre websites including Dread Central, Starburst and UK Horror Scene, and featured in comprehensive national print articles...
- 5/4/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
I’ll be honest and admit that it takes a lot to get me to drop 40 dollars on a single title release, but the recent limited edition Steelbook of Dario Argento’s slasher masterpiece Tenebrae was something that I just could not pass up. I’ve had a longtime fascination with the movie, so when Synapse Films announced they’d be putting out a definitive edition of Tenebrae, there’s no way I could resist. Thankfully, Synapse Films does the movie justice with an edition packed to the brim with a ton of extras, a CD featuring a remastered version of the soundtrack, an informative booklet, and stunning artwork to boot. This is also the best I’ve seen Tenebrae look, with the Synapse restoration giving Argento’s film new life and keeping his vivid blood-soaked vision purely intact.
Tenebrae follows American mystery writer Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) to Italy...
Tenebrae follows American mystery writer Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) to Italy...
- 4/13/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Dario Argento fans will want to circle February 23rd on their calendars, as Synapse Films has announced a three-disc Blu-ray / DVD limited edition steelbook release of 1982's Tenebrae:
Press Release: Dario Argento’S Giallo Masterpiece Finally Comes To U.S. Blu-ray On February 23rd From Synapse Films
A 3-disc (Blu-ray, DVD & CD) Limited Steelbook™ Edition Of Dario Argento’S Horror Classic! Only 3000 Units Produced!
Italian terror master Dario Argento elevates the Giallo genre to new heights with 1982’s Tenebrae, a darkly humorous, futuristic and notoriously grisly horror film many consider to be one of his finest works.
American mystery author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) comes to Italy to promote his newest novel, Tenebrae. Unfortunately, a razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, taunting Neal and murdering those around him in gruesome fashion just like the character in his novel. As the mystery surrounding the killings spirals out of control,...
Press Release: Dario Argento’S Giallo Masterpiece Finally Comes To U.S. Blu-ray On February 23rd From Synapse Films
A 3-disc (Blu-ray, DVD & CD) Limited Steelbook™ Edition Of Dario Argento’S Horror Classic! Only 3000 Units Produced!
Italian terror master Dario Argento elevates the Giallo genre to new heights with 1982’s Tenebrae, a darkly humorous, futuristic and notoriously grisly horror film many consider to be one of his finest works.
American mystery author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) comes to Italy to promote his newest novel, Tenebrae. Unfortunately, a razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, taunting Neal and murdering those around him in gruesome fashion just like the character in his novel. As the mystery surrounding the killings spirals out of control,...
- 1/27/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Doctor Who warps back on to our screens in two short days, with the premiere of a new 12-part series of sci-fi, sonic screwdrivers and Capaldi attack eyebrows.
But while the BBC has broadcast more than 800 episodes of generation-defining time travels, there's been as many cracking scripts that never made it to our TVs – from key character deaths to Jk Rowling cameos.
1. Jk Rowling vs. wizards
Russell T Davies' first idea for the 2008 Christmas special was to have the Doctor meet Jk Rowling - playing herself - with the pair battling wizards and witches.
David Tennant wasn't fond of the idea - he felt it sounded like a spoof - so Davies quashed the story to placate his leading man. In its place, we got 'The Next Doctor', which was pretty magical in its own right - so no damage, no foul.
2. Stephen Fry's 1920s adventure
Doctor Who...
But while the BBC has broadcast more than 800 episodes of generation-defining time travels, there's been as many cracking scripts that never made it to our TVs – from key character deaths to Jk Rowling cameos.
1. Jk Rowling vs. wizards
Russell T Davies' first idea for the 2008 Christmas special was to have the Doctor meet Jk Rowling - playing herself - with the pair battling wizards and witches.
David Tennant wasn't fond of the idea - he felt it sounded like a spoof - so Davies quashed the story to placate his leading man. In its place, we got 'The Next Doctor', which was pretty magical in its own right - so no damage, no foul.
2. Stephen Fry's 1920s adventure
Doctor Who...
- 9/16/2015
- Digital Spy
by Seth Metoyer
MoreHorror.com
The horror comedy Killer Rack has found its world premiere screening which will occur at this year's Scare-a-Con Film Festival.
This one looks like it's going to be a killer fun time, along with some killer practical F/X and yes, monster boobs. I'm looking forward to it! Check out all the triple D-eets below.
From The Press Rlease
Killer Rack, a screwball horror comedy produced in Buffalo, New York, will have its world premiere at the Scare-a-Con Film Festival, held in conjunction with the Scare-a-Con horror convention at the Turning Stone casino resort in Verona, New York. The film screens Friday, Sept. 11th at 5 pm and Saturday, September 12th at 3 pm. An awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, and the film has been nominated for Best Feature, Best Actress (Jessica Zwolak) and Best Director (Gregory Lamberson). Zwolak and Lamberson are residents of Buffalo,...
MoreHorror.com
The horror comedy Killer Rack has found its world premiere screening which will occur at this year's Scare-a-Con Film Festival.
This one looks like it's going to be a killer fun time, along with some killer practical F/X and yes, monster boobs. I'm looking forward to it! Check out all the triple D-eets below.
From The Press Rlease
Killer Rack, a screwball horror comedy produced in Buffalo, New York, will have its world premiere at the Scare-a-Con Film Festival, held in conjunction with the Scare-a-Con horror convention at the Turning Stone casino resort in Verona, New York. The film screens Friday, Sept. 11th at 5 pm and Saturday, September 12th at 3 pm. An awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, and the film has been nominated for Best Feature, Best Actress (Jessica Zwolak) and Best Director (Gregory Lamberson). Zwolak and Lamberson are residents of Buffalo,...
- 9/10/2015
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Panama’s place in the panoply of Latin American cinema is growing with careful and conscious nurturing. The three films screening in the Cannes Marche 2015 were “Invasion,” which became Panama’s first foreign-language Oscar submission, “Te prometo anarquía” (“I Promise you Anarchy”) a Mexico-Panama-Guatemala coproduction from Guatemalan director Julio Hernández-Cordón that won the Iff Panama’s 1st Primera Mirada for works-in-progress and “Panama Canal Stories” (“Historias del Canal”).
“Invasion," “Panama Canal Stories,” along with “Breaking the Wave” (“Rompiendo la ola”) and “Reinas,” were the four local productions that made a mark commercially at the Panamanian box office in 2014. Thirteen features have been produced in Panama since 2012, compared with just three local productions completed between 2007 and 2012 and two between 2001 and 2007. Panama is growing in productivity as nations rush to invest their capital in the country in anticipation of the enlarged canal which will permit the Chinese cargo ships passage to Latin American and U.S. ports.
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron was one of the five directors of “Panama Canal Stories” whose international premiere in Cannes was an important event for those who knew of its debut. The other directors of the film were Carolina Borrero,Pinky Mon, Luis Franco Brantley, and Abner Benaim, all relative newcomers to directing.
The importance of the film is three fold. For one, the unique history of the Panama Canal and its impact on Panama and the world has never been told. These five Panamanian directors focus their attention on the lives of every day folk directly and from each particular story a universal issue and truth emerges, all of which converge into “freedom”.
A second important aspect of the film is its showcasing new talent.
Carolina Barrero, one of the two female directors in this omnibus, is a talent to watch. Her story, “1913” unfolds with a scene that looks like a stunning Salgado photograph. It then follows a romance which unfolds as the Panama Canal is under construction by a legion of foreigners who come to the site searching for an opportunity of a better life. The majority came from the Antilles, aka West Indies: Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad + Tobago, Martinique with some European and North Americans. To see the mix of people, most of whom were of African descent and to see how two connected in love was not only interesting and touching, but also bears witness to the budding talent of Carolina Barrero and the star. When Clarice Thompson, played by Lakisha May, as the daughter of the pastor and the canal worker, Philip Clay, exchange a stone inscribed with their names, they set off a violent incident whose violence is promulgated throughout this series of five vignettes and only comes to a full resolution in the fifth sequence, directed by the second woman director, Pituka Ortega Heilbron.
Pituka Heilbron is also one of the three producers (Ileana Novas and Pablo Schverdfinger are the other two) and is the Director of the Panama International Film Festival, an event now approaching its fourth year and gaining an important spot in the Latin American film business.
Another emerging talent to watch is Lakisha May who plays Clarice Thompson in “1913” and Clarice Jones, her great grand daughter in the last segment “2013”, who rediscovers her great grandmother and finds her own voice.
Lakisha May is an actress based in the U.S. whose delicately beautiful Latino African looks and the fire in her acting mark her as an up and coming talent. This Spellman University graduate who received her Mfa in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco in 2010 creates two distinct personalities which are intriguing and attractive, leading the audience into wanting to know more about them, particularly in the final segment where she plays a singer who is not able to perform because of a creative block which is only lifted when she comes to recognize her great grandmother’s legacy.
Key to “Panama Canal Stories”, the great grandmother wrote her memoirs and was also a correspondent for the great Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican political leader ,publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements and whose influence in the U.S. is still felt today. And as a side note, check out Lakisha May’s short here. It shows her talent as a polemic filmmaker as well.
Pinky Mon’s story “1950” depicts the discovery of the Panama Canal Zone through the eyes of an American kid who lives with his mother who was recently widowed and drowns her sorrow in alcohol. He witnesses the Anglo-Panamanian tensions first hand with his playmates, first the Anglo children of the Canal Zone, which in the 1950s numbered some 65,000 people living in privileged conditions, and then with the Panamanian boys living on the outskirts of The Zone which included the canal and an area extending five miles on every side of its center, excluding Panama City and Colón which were regarded as U.S. territory.
The separateness and colonial nature of this setup antagonized the Panamanians. In the short time allotted to this segment of the movie, director Pinky Mon captures a feeling of time and space which is recognizable but which depicts an event we have never actually considered before. If the audience is like me, as a U.S. citizen I am so used to Panama being a satellite of the U.S. and while I recall U.S. taking down Noriega (who we put there in the first place) for his corruption, I know very little about Panama itself. The child and his mother eventually return to her hometown in the U.S. and he feels as so many did, that he will always miss this “lost paradise”.
Luis Franco Brantley’s story “1964” takes place in the midst of a fatal protest that took place on January 9th, as it is filtered through the eyes of two young people who belong to opposite sides of the fight. The tension it portrays which in reality resulted in the shooting death of 24 Panamanians and the government of Panama’s breaking diplomatic relations with the U.S., the first time a Latin American country took such a measure, is flawed by the story itself and the acting of Hannah Schöbitz in her first role, as an American white girl who has a brief affair with a young Panamanian photographer played by Ivan González.
Abner Benaim’s story “1977” portrays the life of a taxi cab driver hired by the U.S. to act as chauffeur for two U.S. State Department executives and who is a spy for the Panamanian government during the negotiation of the Torrijos–Carter Treaty. Again, previously unknown views of the conflicts U.S. faced in its colonization of Latin America makes an interesting backdrop to what unfolds. The problem of this segment is the inconsistencies in the story itself.
The good fellowship between the driver and his two Americans and the relationship with his Panamanian “boss” are both so ambiguous that the story often seems more like a comedy played with a heavy hand rather than a suspenseful spy story. It affect is confusing. The two actors I would like to see more of however are the extremely handsome Luis Manuel Barrios who is the driver and his “boss” who obviously thinks he is a total fool, José Angel Murillo. Both seemed out of their element in this story but both have a magnetism on the screen which holds up throughout this odd story.
Pituka Ortega Heilbron’s closing story examines the Panama Canal in 2013 and its expansion project (also called the Third Set of Locks Project) which will double the capabilities of the Canal by 2016. Clarice Thompson of “1913” returns here as Clarice Jones who in discovering her heritage finds her voice in a literal sense. “2013” is metaphoric; not only does Clarisse finds her voice-- a nation finds its voice,” Producer Heilbron says. “It was the hardest story to come up with of the five stories.” “2013” completes the circle begun in “1913” and nicely rounds out the 100 year history of Panama and the Panama Canal.
Somewhat conventional filmmaking is offset by stories which are unique and even riveting as they uncover a history of the Panama Canal which expands beyond what little we may know of the country’s history. Under the stewardship first of the French and then of the North Americans intent on building a canal which cost many lives, 25,000 of the 75,000 working on the Canal died from malaria, Yellow Fever (Remember our own history lessons about Dr. Walter Reed discovering the cause of Yellow Fever?), landslides, explosions and horrid living conditions.
The third point of importance for this film telling stories that are particular to a segment of society we have not seen on screen before is the universality of their stories. The people who were there building the Canal enlighten us about what personal conflicts they themselves were experiencing. The audience of industry professionals left the screening room with feelings of surprise and pleasure for “discovering” this film. While this privately financed $2.5 million film is not an “art film” nor is it a “popular”, that is “studio” film, it will appeal most to the educated and middle class audiences who delight in new stories as they pertain to U.S. and its policies. This includes segments of the white arthouse audience as well as the African diaspora wherever it may be and to the Latino audiences sharing such interests. If it is aimed for audiences in the U.S. I would estimate a box office success at $500,000 - $1,000,000 with proper marketing via trailers in theaters and online along with wide social networking. The beauty of the place and actors might even surprise us with higher grosses. Having stated this, I await news on its distribution.
“Invasion," “Panama Canal Stories,” along with “Breaking the Wave” (“Rompiendo la ola”) and “Reinas,” were the four local productions that made a mark commercially at the Panamanian box office in 2014. Thirteen features have been produced in Panama since 2012, compared with just three local productions completed between 2007 and 2012 and two between 2001 and 2007. Panama is growing in productivity as nations rush to invest their capital in the country in anticipation of the enlarged canal which will permit the Chinese cargo ships passage to Latin American and U.S. ports.
Pituka Ortega-Heilbron was one of the five directors of “Panama Canal Stories” whose international premiere in Cannes was an important event for those who knew of its debut. The other directors of the film were Carolina Borrero,Pinky Mon, Luis Franco Brantley, and Abner Benaim, all relative newcomers to directing.
The importance of the film is three fold. For one, the unique history of the Panama Canal and its impact on Panama and the world has never been told. These five Panamanian directors focus their attention on the lives of every day folk directly and from each particular story a universal issue and truth emerges, all of which converge into “freedom”.
A second important aspect of the film is its showcasing new talent.
Carolina Barrero, one of the two female directors in this omnibus, is a talent to watch. Her story, “1913” unfolds with a scene that looks like a stunning Salgado photograph. It then follows a romance which unfolds as the Panama Canal is under construction by a legion of foreigners who come to the site searching for an opportunity of a better life. The majority came from the Antilles, aka West Indies: Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad + Tobago, Martinique with some European and North Americans. To see the mix of people, most of whom were of African descent and to see how two connected in love was not only interesting and touching, but also bears witness to the budding talent of Carolina Barrero and the star. When Clarice Thompson, played by Lakisha May, as the daughter of the pastor and the canal worker, Philip Clay, exchange a stone inscribed with their names, they set off a violent incident whose violence is promulgated throughout this series of five vignettes and only comes to a full resolution in the fifth sequence, directed by the second woman director, Pituka Ortega Heilbron.
Pituka Heilbron is also one of the three producers (Ileana Novas and Pablo Schverdfinger are the other two) and is the Director of the Panama International Film Festival, an event now approaching its fourth year and gaining an important spot in the Latin American film business.
Another emerging talent to watch is Lakisha May who plays Clarice Thompson in “1913” and Clarice Jones, her great grand daughter in the last segment “2013”, who rediscovers her great grandmother and finds her own voice.
Lakisha May is an actress based in the U.S. whose delicately beautiful Latino African looks and the fire in her acting mark her as an up and coming talent. This Spellman University graduate who received her Mfa in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco in 2010 creates two distinct personalities which are intriguing and attractive, leading the audience into wanting to know more about them, particularly in the final segment where she plays a singer who is not able to perform because of a creative block which is only lifted when she comes to recognize her great grandmother’s legacy.
Key to “Panama Canal Stories”, the great grandmother wrote her memoirs and was also a correspondent for the great Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican political leader ,publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements and whose influence in the U.S. is still felt today. And as a side note, check out Lakisha May’s short here. It shows her talent as a polemic filmmaker as well.
Pinky Mon’s story “1950” depicts the discovery of the Panama Canal Zone through the eyes of an American kid who lives with his mother who was recently widowed and drowns her sorrow in alcohol. He witnesses the Anglo-Panamanian tensions first hand with his playmates, first the Anglo children of the Canal Zone, which in the 1950s numbered some 65,000 people living in privileged conditions, and then with the Panamanian boys living on the outskirts of The Zone which included the canal and an area extending five miles on every side of its center, excluding Panama City and Colón which were regarded as U.S. territory.
The separateness and colonial nature of this setup antagonized the Panamanians. In the short time allotted to this segment of the movie, director Pinky Mon captures a feeling of time and space which is recognizable but which depicts an event we have never actually considered before. If the audience is like me, as a U.S. citizen I am so used to Panama being a satellite of the U.S. and while I recall U.S. taking down Noriega (who we put there in the first place) for his corruption, I know very little about Panama itself. The child and his mother eventually return to her hometown in the U.S. and he feels as so many did, that he will always miss this “lost paradise”.
Luis Franco Brantley’s story “1964” takes place in the midst of a fatal protest that took place on January 9th, as it is filtered through the eyes of two young people who belong to opposite sides of the fight. The tension it portrays which in reality resulted in the shooting death of 24 Panamanians and the government of Panama’s breaking diplomatic relations with the U.S., the first time a Latin American country took such a measure, is flawed by the story itself and the acting of Hannah Schöbitz in her first role, as an American white girl who has a brief affair with a young Panamanian photographer played by Ivan González.
Abner Benaim’s story “1977” portrays the life of a taxi cab driver hired by the U.S. to act as chauffeur for two U.S. State Department executives and who is a spy for the Panamanian government during the negotiation of the Torrijos–Carter Treaty. Again, previously unknown views of the conflicts U.S. faced in its colonization of Latin America makes an interesting backdrop to what unfolds. The problem of this segment is the inconsistencies in the story itself.
The good fellowship between the driver and his two Americans and the relationship with his Panamanian “boss” are both so ambiguous that the story often seems more like a comedy played with a heavy hand rather than a suspenseful spy story. It affect is confusing. The two actors I would like to see more of however are the extremely handsome Luis Manuel Barrios who is the driver and his “boss” who obviously thinks he is a total fool, José Angel Murillo. Both seemed out of their element in this story but both have a magnetism on the screen which holds up throughout this odd story.
Pituka Ortega Heilbron’s closing story examines the Panama Canal in 2013 and its expansion project (also called the Third Set of Locks Project) which will double the capabilities of the Canal by 2016. Clarice Thompson of “1913” returns here as Clarice Jones who in discovering her heritage finds her voice in a literal sense. “2013” is metaphoric; not only does Clarisse finds her voice-- a nation finds its voice,” Producer Heilbron says. “It was the hardest story to come up with of the five stories.” “2013” completes the circle begun in “1913” and nicely rounds out the 100 year history of Panama and the Panama Canal.
Somewhat conventional filmmaking is offset by stories which are unique and even riveting as they uncover a history of the Panama Canal which expands beyond what little we may know of the country’s history. Under the stewardship first of the French and then of the North Americans intent on building a canal which cost many lives, 25,000 of the 75,000 working on the Canal died from malaria, Yellow Fever (Remember our own history lessons about Dr. Walter Reed discovering the cause of Yellow Fever?), landslides, explosions and horrid living conditions.
The third point of importance for this film telling stories that are particular to a segment of society we have not seen on screen before is the universality of their stories. The people who were there building the Canal enlighten us about what personal conflicts they themselves were experiencing. The audience of industry professionals left the screening room with feelings of surprise and pleasure for “discovering” this film. While this privately financed $2.5 million film is not an “art film” nor is it a “popular”, that is “studio” film, it will appeal most to the educated and middle class audiences who delight in new stories as they pertain to U.S. and its policies. This includes segments of the white arthouse audience as well as the African diaspora wherever it may be and to the Latino audiences sharing such interests. If it is aimed for audiences in the U.S. I would estimate a box office success at $500,000 - $1,000,000 with proper marketing via trailers in theaters and online along with wide social networking. The beauty of the place and actors might even surprise us with higher grosses. Having stated this, I await news on its distribution.
- 7/15/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Yellow fever hits the UK, while Amy delivers the biggest ever homegrown documentary debut as it tops the half-million mark
Easily resisting the challenge of the latest Terminator and Magic Mike films, Minions held on to the top spot with second-frame takings of £6.24m, a 46% decline on the opening weekend. After 10 days, the yellow urchins have amassed an impressive £20.97m in the UK, with a continuing clear run at family audiences until Pixar’s Inside Out arrives on 24 July.
Continue reading...
Easily resisting the challenge of the latest Terminator and Magic Mike films, Minions held on to the top spot with second-frame takings of £6.24m, a 46% decline on the opening weekend. After 10 days, the yellow urchins have amassed an impressive £20.97m in the UK, with a continuing clear run at family audiences until Pixar’s Inside Out arrives on 24 July.
Continue reading...
- 7/7/2015
- by Charles Gant
- The Guardian - Film News
Transgressive Canadian filmmaker Frédérick Maheux presents a new kind of occult thriller in his latest feature film, Ana.
The official synopsis from the filmmaker reads:
An individual investigating the disappearances of several female identities from the Internet. The missing women appear in encrypted and hidden videos over the web, leading the protagonist in an esoteric puzzle he tries to decipher.
Underneath this structure lies a reflection about our curiosity towards the spectacle of self-destruction. It incorporates the existence of real marginal communities on the Internet, such as pro-ana/pro-mia (pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia), and the aesthetic surrounding them: glitch, VHS, selfies, references to fashion etc.
Ana is Maheux’s third feature film and several of his short films have previously been reviewed on the Underground Film Journal, such as Yellow Fever and Extase de chair brisee (co-directed with Pierre-Luc Vaillancourt).
Learn more at the film’s official website.
The official synopsis from the filmmaker reads:
An individual investigating the disappearances of several female identities from the Internet. The missing women appear in encrypted and hidden videos over the web, leading the protagonist in an esoteric puzzle he tries to decipher.
Underneath this structure lies a reflection about our curiosity towards the spectacle of self-destruction. It incorporates the existence of real marginal communities on the Internet, such as pro-ana/pro-mia (pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia), and the aesthetic surrounding them: glitch, VHS, selfies, references to fashion etc.
Ana is Maheux’s third feature film and several of his short films have previously been reviewed on the Underground Film Journal, such as Yellow Fever and Extase de chair brisee (co-directed with Pierre-Luc Vaillancourt).
Learn more at the film’s official website.
- 4/14/2015
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.