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Joseph Perry

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Chattanooga Film Festival Offers a Hybrid Eleventh Edition This Month

Chattanooga Film Festival (https://www.chattfilmfest.org/) celebrates its 11th edition with a hybrid edition, so you can catch either in-person screenings from June 21–23 or relax at home with a virtual version from June 21–28, 2024. The lineup is a cornucopia of fright fare and other genre-film offerings. Lots of amazing features are scheduled, from Swedish religious horror In the Name of God to Dutch high-strangeness documentary The UFOs of Soesterberg to the sumptuous French vampire film The Vourdalak, and beyond. I’ve had the good fortune to watch and review four of the fest’s features from previous festivals for Horror Fuel, all of which I can recommend for Chattanooga Film Festival viewing. As always, you needn’t be concerned about spoilers in my reviews. Film descriptions are from the Chattanooga Film Festival website. Blind Cop 2 When an influx of illegal weapons trafficking explodes onto the scene, a grieving blind police officer must purge the city streets or risk mass chaos breaking loose.

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 20, 2024

Spoiler-Free Reviews: “They’re Here” and “The Hongfu Hotel” (Tribeca Festival 2024)

They’re Here (U.S., 2024) Codirectors Daniel Claridge and Pacho Velez offer an unusual, thoroughly captivating take on the UFO experiencer phenomenon in their documentary They’re Here. The filmmakers focus on a small group of New Yorkers who claim to have had close encounters with extraterrestrial crafts and sometimes their occupants. Interview subjects include Cookie, a woman who claims to have been abducted by aliens multiple times; Twon, a stand-up comedian who bombs telling jokes about extraterrestrials; Dave, who made the local news by allegedly filming a UFO on his cell phone while under the influence of mushrooms; and Steve, a man who feels that he had a UFO experience but has difficulty remembering any details about the encounter, and who agrees to hypnosis to try to recall what happened. Claridge and Velez approach their subjects with both skepticism and affection, allowing them to fully express themselves knowing that many people don’t believe their stories. They’re Here takes an unusual route

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 18, 2024

Spoiler-Free Reviews: “Beacon” and “A Family Guide to Hunting” (Tribeca Festival 2024)

Beacon (U.S., 2024) Last year, Tribeca gave the world a top-notch tale of two strangers, a man and a woman, stuck in an isolated location with a suspenseful mystery about who might be dangerous to the other with You’ll Never Find Me. This year, the fest serves up another such pressure cooker with director Roxy Shih’s Beacon. Emily (Julia Goldani Telles), a young woman who comes from a family with a love for sailing, sets off to circumnavigate the globe, but fate in the way of a huge storm strands her at a remote lighthouse. Ismael (Demián Bichir), the lone lighthouse keeper, attempts to help the injured Emily, who is naturally suspicious of him. Questions surrounding Ismael’s ability to communicate with the outside world and his obsession with the mythological creature known as the siren complicate matters further. Shih, working from a screenplay by Julio Rojas, paces the drama and suspense wonderfully. The main drawing point of the film for

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 18, 2024

Inaugural Amazing Fantasy Fest Announces Its First Wave

From superstitions to slashers to psychological horror and beyond, the first wave announcement for Buffalo, New York’s new Amazing Fantasy Fest this September offers tantalizing genre-film fare galore. Following is the official press announcement. Gregory Lamberson (Slime City, Johnny Gruesome) has announced the first wave of feature film selections for Amazing Fantasy Fest, the new genre film festival he founded to replace long running Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, which ended last year after a decade. Sponsors for AFF include Uncork’d Entertainment, filmmaker/author Kristen Skeet, and Dean Beltrano. Amazing Fantasy Fest celebrates independent horror, sci-fi, action, animation, and experimental films. AFF runs seven days this September, Friday the 13th – Thursday the 19th at Dipson’s Amherst Theatre in Buffalo. Official Selections will screen the first six days, with “secret cinema” offerings on the last day reserved for seven-day pass holders. Submissions are still being accepted via FilmFreeway: https://filmfreeway.com/AmazingFantasyFest The Outlaw Cinema Award will be presented in memory of Ace Genovese,

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 17, 2024

Spoiler-Free Reviews: “The Weekend” and “Untitled Tim Burton Docuseries” (Tribeca)

The Weekend (Nigeria, 2024) Good foreign fright-fare gives viewers culturally different spins on subgenres. Daniel Oriahi’s The Weekend certainly delivers the local-flavor goods and the chills with its Nigerian take on in-laws-from-hell eeriness. Engaged couple Nikya (Uzoamaka Aniunoh), orphaned as a young girl and dreaming of having a close knit family, and Luc (Bucci Franklin), who has fallen out with his parents but still talks with his sister, travel — Luc reluctantly so — from their home in the city to his rural hometown with a local holiday approaching. Local criminals who threaten the couple turn out to be the least fearful of dangers that await. Aniunoh and Franklin head up an excellent cast, and Oriahi delivers the shudder-inducing goods as the mystery behind Luc’s family and the reasons for their high ranking in their village are revealed — and the aforementioned holiday serves up its nightmarish tension, too. Sumptuously shot by cinematographer Idhebor Kagho, The Weekend delivers a gruesome

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 12, 2024

Spoiler-Free Reviews: “The Devil’s Bath” and “Hunters on a White Field” (Tribeca)

The Devil’s Bath (Des Teufels Bad; Austria/Germany, 2024) Cowriters/codirectors Veronica Franz and Severin Fiala are well known for crafting two of the grimmest horror features of the past 10 years, Goodnight Mommy (Ich seh, Ich seh, 2014) and The Lodge (2019). With their new outing The Devil’s Bath, they show within the first few minutes that they don’t plan on softening up their approach, as viewers witness an event from which many fear-fare filmmakers might shy away. In a dread-filled portrayal of mental illness in a small, rural religious community in 18th century Austria, the duo blends folk horror, religious horror, and psychological horror elements. Agnes (Anja Plaschg) and Wolf (David Scheid) have a festive wedding day, but Wolf has no interest in consummating their marriage, while Agnes seems quite interested in having a baby. Wolf’s mother Gänglin (Maria Hofstätter) doesn’t make life easier on Agnes, either. Depression sets in with Agnes, sending her on a journey toward the unthinkable.

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 11, 2024

Spoiler-Free Review: “Restless” (Tribeca)

Writer/director Jed Hart’s debut feature Restless (U.K., 2024) is a welcome, solid entry in the neighbors-from-Hell genre-film category, this one being a thriller with darkly comic elements. Although its main antagonist belongs to the uniquely British group known as chavs, the tension and stress brought on by that character’s constant partying and threatening demeanor will ring true for international viewers. Middle-aged empty nester Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal) is an overworked caregiver who lives a rather quite, simple life — until new neighbor Deano (Aston McAuley) moves in next door, throwing raging parties and blasting music all night. His lack of empathy toward Nicky and their other neighbors and his bullying behavior make it obvious that he will do nothing to change and make life more comfortable for Nicky, so she must find a solution to her miserable situation herself. Restless is driven by a superb performance from Marshal, who captures the frustrations of her character and the lengths that they drive

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 10, 2024

Spoiler-Free Review: “The Damned” (Tribeca)

Tribeca usually premieres features that land on my “top 10 horror films of the year” lists, and Icelandic director Thordur Palsson’s The Damned (UK, Iceland, Ireland, Belgium; 2024) has kept that streak alive, as it has certainly cemented a spot on my list already. The film deftly blends psychological, folk, and survival horror elements in a gripping work of dread. Set in a harsh winter during the 19th century, The Damned finds widow Eva (Odessa Young) in charge of an isolated fishing outpost. Her crew is near starvation, doing their best to keep their spirits up even as they begin resorting to eating the fish they use as bait to survive. When Eva and her crew catch sight of a sinking ship one day, they must decide whether to try and rescue survivors or to put their own survival ahead of saving strangers. After a chilling discovery is made, the inhabitants of the outpost begin to exhibit horrifying behaviors as

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 9, 2024

Fantasia Reveals Scintillating Second Wave for 2024 Edition

When Fantasia International Film Festival, Canada’s legendary genre film fest, makes announcements, we here at Horror Fuel take notice, and we want to share the good news about the event with our readers. Following is the official press announcement about the second wave of thrillers, chillers, and other fantastic fare for this year’s edition. The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montréal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, but in the meantime, Fantasia is excited to reveal a select second wave of premiere titles, along with the recipient of their 2024 Canadian Trailblazer award. OPENING FILM: ANT TIMPSON’S BOOKWORM, STARRING ELIJAH WOOD AND NELL FISHER Fantasia’s 28th edition will open

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 7, 2024

Horror Fuel’s Highly Recommended Fright Fare for Tribeca 2024

New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival is renowned for showcasing incredible films from around the world, created by established filmmakers and new voices alike. Horror and related genre fare are always in strong supply at the fest, as evidenced by its presentation of two of my absolute favorite films of last year, The Seeding and You’ll Never Find Me, along with many other great features and short films. This year’s edition, which runs June 5–16, promises more incredible cinema of the fearful and the fantastic. I was privileged to get an early look at the following chillers and thrillers before the fest, and though I can’t publish reviews until after the films make their Tribeca premieres — watch for my thoughts here on Horror Fuel soon after that — I can, at this time, highly recommend them to fright-fare aficionados as must-see viewing! Read on for press release descriptions for each film — in alphabetical order, by genre — with

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 3, 2024

More from Joseph Perry

Chattanooga Film Festival Offers a Hybrid Eleventh Edition This Month

Chattanooga Film Festival (https://www.chattfilmfest.org/) celebrates its 11th edition with a hybrid edition, so you can catch either in-person screenings from June 21–23 or relax at home with a virtual version from June 21–28, 2024. The lineup is a cornucopia of fright fare and other genre-film offerings. Lots of amazing features are scheduled, from Swedish religious horror In the Name of God to Dutch high-strangeness documentary The UFOs of Soesterberg to the sumptuous French vampire film The Vourdalak, and beyond. I’ve had the good fortune to watch and review four of the fest’s features from previous festivals for Horror Fuel, all of which I can recommend for Chattanooga Film Festival viewing. As always, you needn’t be concerned about spoilers in my reviews. Film descriptions are from the Chattanooga Film Festival website. Blind Cop 2 When an influx of illegal weapons trafficking explodes onto the scene, a grieving blind police officer must purge the city streets or risk mass chaos breaking loose.

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 20, 2024

Spoiler-Free Reviews: “They’re Here” and “The Hongfu Hotel” (Tribeca Festival 2024)

They’re Here (U.S., 2024) Codirectors Daniel Claridge and Pacho Velez offer an unusual, thoroughly captivating take on the UFO experiencer phenomenon in their documentary They’re Here. The filmmakers focus on a small group of New Yorkers who claim to have had close encounters with extraterrestrial crafts and sometimes their occupants. Interview subjects include Cookie, a woman who claims to have been abducted by aliens multiple times; Twon, a stand-up comedian who bombs telling jokes about extraterrestrials; Dave, who made the local news by allegedly filming a UFO on his cell phone while under the influence of mushrooms; and Steve, a man who feels that he had a UFO experience but has difficulty remembering any details about the encounter, and who agrees to hypnosis to try to recall what happened. Claridge and Velez approach their subjects with both skepticism and affection, allowing them to fully express themselves knowing that many people don’t believe their stories. They’re Here takes an unusual route

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 18, 2024

Spoiler-Free Reviews: “Beacon” and “A Family Guide to Hunting” (Tribeca Festival 2024)

Beacon (U.S., 2024) Last year, Tribeca gave the world a top-notch tale of two strangers, a man and a woman, stuck in an isolated location with a suspenseful mystery about who might be dangerous to the other with You’ll Never Find Me. This year, the fest serves up another such pressure cooker with director Roxy Shih’s Beacon. Emily (Julia Goldani Telles), a young woman who comes from a family with a love for sailing, sets off to circumnavigate the globe, but fate in the way of a huge storm strands her at a remote lighthouse. Ismael (Demián Bichir), the lone lighthouse keeper, attempts to help the injured Emily, who is naturally suspicious of him. Questions surrounding Ismael’s ability to communicate with the outside world and his obsession with the mythological creature known as the siren complicate matters further. Shih, working from a screenplay by Julio Rojas, paces the drama and suspense wonderfully. The main drawing point of the film for

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 18, 2024

Inaugural Amazing Fantasy Fest Announces Its First Wave

From superstitions to slashers to psychological horror and beyond, the first wave announcement for Buffalo, New York’s new Amazing Fantasy Fest this September offers tantalizing genre-film fare galore. Following is the official press announcement. Gregory Lamberson (Slime City, Johnny Gruesome) has announced the first wave of feature film selections for Amazing Fantasy Fest, the new genre film festival he founded to replace long running Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, which ended last year after a decade. Sponsors for AFF include Uncork’d Entertainment, filmmaker/author Kristen Skeet, and Dean Beltrano. Amazing Fantasy Fest celebrates independent horror, sci-fi, action, animation, and experimental films. AFF runs seven days this September, Friday the 13th – Thursday the 19th at Dipson’s Amherst Theatre in Buffalo. Official Selections will screen the first six days, with “secret cinema” offerings on the last day reserved for seven-day pass holders. Submissions are still being accepted via FilmFreeway: https://filmfreeway.com/AmazingFantasyFest The Outlaw Cinema Award will be presented in memory of Ace Genovese,

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 17, 2024

Spoiler-Free Reviews: “The Weekend” and “Untitled Tim Burton Docuseries” (Tribeca)

The Weekend (Nigeria, 2024) Good foreign fright-fare gives viewers culturally different spins on subgenres. Daniel Oriahi’s The Weekend certainly delivers the local-flavor goods and the chills with its Nigerian take on in-laws-from-hell eeriness. Engaged couple Nikya (Uzoamaka Aniunoh), orphaned as a young girl and dreaming of having a close knit family, and Luc (Bucci Franklin), who has fallen out with his parents but still talks with his sister, travel — Luc reluctantly so — from their home in the city to his rural hometown with a local holiday approaching. Local criminals who threaten the couple turn out to be the least fearful of dangers that await. Aniunoh and Franklin head up an excellent cast, and Oriahi delivers the shudder-inducing goods as the mystery behind Luc’s family and the reasons for their high ranking in their village are revealed — and the aforementioned holiday serves up its nightmarish tension, too. Sumptuously shot by cinematographer Idhebor Kagho, The Weekend delivers a gruesome

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 12, 2024

Spoiler-Free Reviews: “The Devil’s Bath” and “Hunters on a White Field” (Tribeca)

The Devil’s Bath (Des Teufels Bad; Austria/Germany, 2024) Cowriters/codirectors Veronica Franz and Severin Fiala are well known for crafting two of the grimmest horror features of the past 10 years, Goodnight Mommy (Ich seh, Ich seh, 2014) and The Lodge (2019). With their new outing The Devil’s Bath, they show within the first few minutes that they don’t plan on softening up their approach, as viewers witness an event from which many fear-fare filmmakers might shy away. In a dread-filled portrayal of mental illness in a small, rural religious community in 18th century Austria, the duo blends folk horror, religious horror, and psychological horror elements. Agnes (Anja Plaschg) and Wolf (David Scheid) have a festive wedding day, but Wolf has no interest in consummating their marriage, while Agnes seems quite interested in having a baby. Wolf’s mother Gänglin (Maria Hofstätter) doesn’t make life easier on Agnes, either. Depression sets in with Agnes, sending her on a journey toward the unthinkable.

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 11, 2024

Spoiler-Free Review: “Restless” (Tribeca)

Writer/director Jed Hart’s debut feature Restless (U.K., 2024) is a welcome, solid entry in the neighbors-from-Hell genre-film category, this one being a thriller with darkly comic elements. Although its main antagonist belongs to the uniquely British group known as chavs, the tension and stress brought on by that character’s constant partying and threatening demeanor will ring true for international viewers. Middle-aged empty nester Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal) is an overworked caregiver who lives a rather quite, simple life — until new neighbor Deano (Aston McAuley) moves in next door, throwing raging parties and blasting music all night. His lack of empathy toward Nicky and their other neighbors and his bullying behavior make it obvious that he will do nothing to change and make life more comfortable for Nicky, so she must find a solution to her miserable situation herself. Restless is driven by a superb performance from Marshal, who captures the frustrations of her character and the lengths that they drive

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 10, 2024

Spoiler-Free Review: “The Damned” (Tribeca)

Tribeca usually premieres features that land on my “top 10 horror films of the year” lists, and Icelandic director Thordur Palsson’s The Damned (UK, Iceland, Ireland, Belgium; 2024) has kept that streak alive, as it has certainly cemented a spot on my list already. The film deftly blends psychological, folk, and survival horror elements in a gripping work of dread. Set in a harsh winter during the 19th century, The Damned finds widow Eva (Odessa Young) in charge of an isolated fishing outpost. Her crew is near starvation, doing their best to keep their spirits up even as they begin resorting to eating the fish they use as bait to survive. When Eva and her crew catch sight of a sinking ship one day, they must decide whether to try and rescue survivors or to put their own survival ahead of saving strangers. After a chilling discovery is made, the inhabitants of the outpost begin to exhibit horrifying behaviors as

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 9, 2024

Fantasia Reveals Scintillating Second Wave for 2024 Edition

When Fantasia International Film Festival, Canada’s legendary genre film fest, makes announcements, we here at Horror Fuel take notice, and we want to share the good news about the event with our readers. Following is the official press announcement about the second wave of thrillers, chillers, and other fantastic fare for this year’s edition. The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montréal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, but in the meantime, Fantasia is excited to reveal a select second wave of premiere titles, along with the recipient of their 2024 Canadian Trailblazer award. OPENING FILM: ANT TIMPSON’S BOOKWORM, STARRING ELIJAH WOOD AND NELL FISHER Fantasia’s 28th edition will open

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 7, 2024

Horror Fuel’s Highly Recommended Fright Fare for Tribeca 2024

New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival is renowned for showcasing incredible films from around the world, created by established filmmakers and new voices alike. Horror and related genre fare are always in strong supply at the fest, as evidenced by its presentation of two of my absolute favorite films of last year, The Seeding and You’ll Never Find Me, along with many other great features and short films. This year’s edition, which runs June 5–16, promises more incredible cinema of the fearful and the fantastic. I was privileged to get an early look at the following chillers and thrillers before the fest, and though I can’t publish reviews until after the films make their Tribeca premieres — watch for my thoughts here on Horror Fuel soon after that — I can, at this time, highly recommend them to fright-fare aficionados as must-see viewing! Read on for press release descriptions for each film — in alphabetical order, by genre — with

Continue reading →
Joseph Perry
Jun 3, 2024
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