NightStream Film Festival Review: Bloody Hell

Year: 2020 Runtime: 93 minutes Director/Writer: Alister Grierson, Robert Benjamin Stars: Ben O’Toole, Meg Fraser, Caroline Craig, Matthew Sunderland, Travis Jeffery, Jack Finsterer, David Hill, Caleb Enoka By Harris Dang “Bloody Hell” (2020) follows the story of Rex (Ben O’Toole) a seemingly average joe who is at a bank sorting out his financials(?) while trying to woo with the bank teller until suddenly a group … Continue reading NightStream Film Festival Review: Bloody Hell

NightStream Film Festival Review: Reunion

Emma Draper stars as Ellie, a university lecturer who has returned home to reunite with her estranged mother Ivy (Julia Ormond), who has been take care of her invalid husband Jack (John Bach). Despite being heavily pregnant, her state inspires little sympathy from Ivy and the two begin to pick up where they left off in their fractured relationship. Continue reading NightStream Film Festival Review: Reunion

NIGHTSTREAM Review: Mandibles

When the film that puts you on a lot of people’s radar is about a killer tire blowing people up and filled with B-movie dialogue, you make quite a unique first impression. Well, that’s what happened with French writer/director/DJ Quentin Dupieux when his horror? film “Rubber” put him on the map and gain cult following. Now after creating a bunch of genre-bending treks that mix in his unique style of comedy, Dupieux returns in 2020 with “Mandibles” – a comedy about two friends and their giant fly. Continue reading NIGHTSTREAM Review: Mandibles

NiGHTSTREAM Review: Black Bear

One of the strongest and most compelling elements of “Black Bear” is Plaza’s performance as she truly commands the screen with Allison’s controlling personality. She’s clearly comes with a purpose that she’s keeping hidden to herself and although she’s never exactly truthful with what she’s saying, Plaza constantly piques your curiosity just to keep you wondering what’s true and what’s not. Allison is also a huge provocateur, at least in the first half of the film, as she elevates issues between Blair and Gabe by throwing opinions out there and trying to back pedal out of it. Even for her causing a rift between these two likely for the sake of some dramatic inspiration, there’s still a distinct charm that Plaza brings to the character that keeps you invested and intrigued by everything she does. Continue reading NiGHTSTREAM Review: Black Bear

NightStream Film Festival Review: “Run”

Year: 2020 Runtime: 90 minutes Director: Aneesh Chaganty Writers: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian Stars: Kiera Allen, Sarah Paulson By Tom Moore After breaking onto the film scene in 2018 with “Searching,” a stylized and intricate webcam thriller filled with unique twists and turns, writer/director Aneesh Chaganty left audiences eager to see what he’d do next. “Run,” which makes its world premiere at NIGHTSTREAM, a virtual … Continue reading NightStream Film Festival Review: “Run”

NightStream Film Festival Review: Darkness

Just within its premise and opening moments, it’s easy to see that “Darkness” touches on some claustrophobic and paranoia filled fears that are mostly perfect for the current pandemic. The plastic all over the house, the daunting fear of what the harmful effects could be of walking into the outside world, and the way that Stella and her sisters are forced to find ways to entertain themselves while stuck inside is incredibly reminiscent to what’s happening now. It’s surely what people imagine as a “worst case scenario” in this time and it makes the dark and drab atmosphere so effective in making viewers uneasy. The only detractor of it is within it’s twist as the idea of the condition that the father describes not being accurate is what keeps me from saying that “Darkness” is the perfect film for the time. With the effects of coronavirus still being felt and thousands still being infected, it’s hard to recommend something like “Darkness” as it doesn’t fully fit the narrative of coronavirus being something that we should take seriously. Continue reading NightStream Film Festival Review: Darkness