A psycho-thriller about a woman’s search for a missing monster hunter and her growing realisation that she is inescapably linked to the creature being pursued, Kryptic is sure to be one of SXSW’s most talked about projects. And it’s why Peter Gray had to speak to the film’s director, Kourtney Roy, and lead actress, Chloe…
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Towards the beginning of the creepy and ambiguous Kryptic, a tour guide overseeing the Cedar Springs Women’s Walking Club explains what cryptozoology is. “It means the study of the hidden,” he states as he details Barb Valentine, a cryptozoologist who went missing in the very same British Columbia hinterland the group is currently hiking through….
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Men behaving badly is at the core of Annick Blanc‘s Hunting Daze, a surreal visualisation of toxic masculinity that refuses to ever pigeonhole itself into one category. It’s horrific without ever devoting itself entirely to that genre. It’s blackly funny, though never satirical. And it’s always engaging, even if the extreme manner in which Blanc…
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After losing everything in a cryptocurrency scam, a ragtag team of vigilante Redditors attempt to kidnap the kingpin who screwed them over. But when the home invasion takes a turn for the worst, they become victims in a sadistic game. Directed by Sundance-awarded Best Director Cutter Hodierne, Cold Wallet is a topically relevant genre blend of…
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Though there’s an enjoyable “Robin Hood”-like mentality to the narrative of Cutter Hodierne‘s always watchable thriller Cold Wallet, this cryptocurrency-heavy tale takes a less jovial approach to the world of tech talk and monetary scams than last year’s similarly themed Dumb Money. But, despite opting for a more intense, oft-violent approach, the emerging filmmaker has…
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Nina, a young and headstrong exotic dancer, finds herself stranded in the far North. She convinces her recent customers, five men on a bachelor hunting trip, to put her up for a few days. In this masculine microsociety, by turns hilarious and philosophical, she starts to feel a sense of belonging she never has before. But…
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Described as a “traumedy” and navigating a narrative I have no personal connection to – or even a right to comment on in all honesty – Molly McGlynn‘s Bloody Hell has the same footprints as a coming-of-age comedy, but laces such with a queer mentality and the potential dehumanising reality of when your body “rejects”…
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The parallels between an invasive parasite and an unwanted pregnancy are navigated with intricate delicacy and subtle terror throughout Until Branches Bend, Sophie Jarvis‘s disturbing drama that offsets its small physicality with a growingly unnerving mentality. At the centre of both converging narratives is Robin (Grace Glowicki, incredible), a fruit packing plant line worker who…
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Whilst there’s no doubt that Megan Stalter is a talented comedienne (“Hi Gay!”, anyone?), the type of social-media-sketch-performer-turned-feature-actress trajectory isn’t always a guaranteed translation for both their respective humour and an audience’s positive reaction. Thankfully, her starring role in Cora Bora is a more dramatic transition for the actress, displaying a more vulnerable, shaded, even…
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Supernatural terror and deep-seated personal revelations come to light in the tonally unbalanced, but no less interesting Brooklyn 45. Written and directed by Ted Geoghegan, Brooklyn 45 gradually unravels over the course of its 90 minutes as it centres around a group of battle-hardened friends and their overdue rendezvous in a Brooklyn brownstone. Set between…
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Even though one of the experts interviewed in Satan Wants You expresses that the 1980’s phenomenon known as “Satanic Panic” is seen as something of a joke through the eyes of today, there’s nothing particularly funny about the accusations that were being thrown around at the time. Perhaps it’s something of an absurdity when looking…
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“Before we continue I’d like to apologize to anyone who might be upset or offended by what you saw before the break. It’s not every day you see a demonic possession on live television.” Not the most typical sentence you’d expect to hear from a late night host, but such is the statement made by…
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There’s a moment in the first half of Luke Gilford‘s exquisite looking drama National Anthem where 21-year-old construction worker Dylan (Charlie Plummer) seems perplexed that an outside group of queer rodeo performers and ranchers would find him interesting; “You haven’t met your people yet”, is the open, telling response from the captivating Sky (Eve Lindley),…
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Only the Good Survive is the type of film that delights in the fact that it never follows the genre path you think it should. At one point the question is even asked if the story being relayed is “a horror or a comedy?”, and writer/director Dutch Southern, in the most nonsensical, unpredictable fashion, makes…
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To call Homesick bizarre would be a colossal understatement. And that’s meant in the most complimentary of fashions. Born – and that’s quite the fitting term when the film’s narrative is uncovered – from director Will Seefried‘s fascination with society’s urgency in recreating their childhood, Homesick takes a unique look at how one could submit…
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Having premiered at SXSW to rave reviews (including our own here) the horror/adventure film Slash/Back has more than announced filmmaker Nyla Innuksuk as a talent to take note of. Talking with Peter Gray during her time at the festival, the two spoke about the origins of the film’s story, the importance of incorporating her indigenous…
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Weaving together both historical and current events, how those events pertain to the savagery of racism over the years, and the juxtaposition of his own calming musicality, Omoiyari: A Song Film by Kishi Bashi is a stunning documentary about Kishi Bashi‘s own personal journey in exploring his past as he looks for inspiration for his…
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After missing out on the SXSW screening experience in 2020 with her feature The Golden Arm, director Maureen Bharoocha is even more grateful to be screening her latest film, The Prank, in person this year. As the dark comedic thriller premiered (you can read our festival review here) our Peter Gray spoke to both Maureen…
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For such a scrappy little feature, Eli Horowitz‘s The Cow has some impressive calibre that will no doubt help earn it some extra eyes beyond the unique indie crowd this seems tailor made for. Headlined by Winona Ryder (always a treat to see taking charge these days) and a suitably disarming Dermot Mulroney, The Cow…
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A somewhat standard high-school comedy and a campy dark mystery are fused together in Maureen Bharoocha‘s ambitious offering The Prank. Whilst much of the film rides on the fact you have to root for unlikeable archetypes – either outcast students Ben (Connor Kalopsis) and his feisty bestie Tanner (Ramona Young) or their evil-incarnate teacher (a…
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A pandemic story without exclusively being as such, Everything Will Be Alright has an everyman-type quality to it in how it presents the dilemmas the Coronavirus inflicted upon the world. Director Farhard Pakdel fuses his narrative with a heightened sense of drama though, injecting a potentially triggering additive that further highlights how people’s realities were…
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When watching Kestrin Pantera‘s Pretty Problems, if such titles as This Is 40, Wanderlust, The Invitation, White Lotus, and/or Schitt’s Creek come to mind, you can sit comfortably knowing that was somewhat deliberate. Though there’s evident inspiration from such vast titles, Pretty Problems is still very much its own being; it just helps it has…
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Whether we like them (or follow them) or not, influencers – sorry, “content creators” – are a cultural mainstay in our society that often extends beyond the environment of social media. In Australian horror effort Sissy, co-writers/directors Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes seem all too aware of the faux importance influencers place upon themselves, a…
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Unless you’re already an established name in the industry – and even then, to some degree, getting a film off the ground can have its challenges – the process of seeing a film through its production stages is never without its hurdles. So you can only imagine how it was for a first-time director like…
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Premiering at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, Radical Honesty is a new short feature from director/photographer Bianca Poletti. In the lead-up to the film’s premiere, our own Peter Gray spoke with her about the inspiration behind its unconventional take on relationships, her own personal attachment to the idea of non-monogamy, and which filmmakers she personally…
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The South By Southwest Festival has announced its 2022 Film Festival slate for its 29th edition, with this year’s acclaimed program being a largely in-person event, with select titles being offered online. Running from March 11th to the 20th, the 2022 program will include 99 features, including 76 World Premieres, 4 International Premieres, 4 North…
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Grief is often something that runs throughout the core of the horror narrative. And depending how it is structured, it can act in a nature that’s either cathartic or repressive. In Alex Noyer‘s Sound of Violence it’s a mixture of both psychological expressions, with the additive intricacy of music production – another key element to…
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German character actor Udo Kier is so synonymous with villainy that his role in Swan Song appears all the more revelatory. But given the actor’s own queer identification and penchant for theatrical performances, a character like his at the centre of Todd Stephens‘s gentle dramedy feels quite in tune with the actor’s aesthetic. Based on…
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Not unlike the professional front Katy Perry put forward in her Part of Me documentary, where she grinned and performed for a mass crowd only moments after being informed that her marriage (at the time) was over, Demi Lovato similarly bravely faces her adoring fans night after night in the early seconds of Dancing with…
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Written and directed by Sophie Mair and Dan Gitsham, The Thing That Ate The Birds is an atmospheric short that teases a darker universe we can only hope could be expanded on. Abel (Eoin Slattery) and Grace (Rebecca Palmer) are on the verge of separation, but the tragic circumstances surrounding their farmland have pushed their…
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