Official Stills and Poster for the Female Horror Anthology "XX"

Magnet Releasing recently send us over information for the upcoming female directed horror anthology "XX". The film features short films directed by Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Karyn Kusama (THE INVITATION, GIRLFIGHT), Jovanka Vuckovic (THE CAPTURED BIRD),Roxanne Benjamin (SOUTHBOUND) with sward-winning animator Sofia Carrillo (LA CASA TRISTE)wrapping together the four films. "XX" stars Natalie Brown, Melanie Lynskey, Breeda Wool and Christina Kirk.

"XX" hits theaters in limited release and VOD on February 17th.

Plot Synopsis:

XX is a new all-female helmed horror anthology featuring four dark tales written and directed by fiercely talented women: Annie Clark (St. Vincent) rocks her directorial debut with THE BIRTHDAY PARTY; Karyn Kusama (THE INVITATION, GIRLFIGHT) exorcises HER ONLY LIVING SON; Roxanne Benjamin (SOUTHBOUND) screams DON'T FALL; and Jovanka Vuckovic (THE CAPTURED BIRD) dares to open THE BOX. Award-winning animator Sofia Carrillo (LA CASA TRISTE) wraps together four suspenseful stories of terror featuring a cast including Natalie Brown, Melanie Lynskey, Breeda Wool and Christina Kirk.

XX will open in select theaters and on VOD on February 17.

Film Clips from the Upcoming Indie Chiller "The Eyes of My Mother"

Magnet Releasing recently released film clips for their upcoming release "The Eyes of My Mother". The film stars Kika Magalhães, Will Brill, Flora Diaz, Paul Nazak, Clara Wong, Diana Agostini and Olivia Bond.

"The Eyes of My Mother" hits theaters in limited release and VOD on December 2nd.

For more information on this film, you can visit the film's official website at: TheEyesOfMyMother.com.

Plot Synopsis:

In their secluded farmhouse, a mother, formerly a surgeon in Portugal, teaches her daughter, Francisca, to understand anatomy and be unfazed by death. One afternoon, a mysterious visitor shatters the idyll of Francisca's family life, deeply traumatizing the young girl, but also awakening unique curiosities. Though she clings to her increasingly reticent father, Francisca's loneliness and scarred nature converge years later when her longing to connect with the world around her takes on a dark form. Shot in crisp black and white, the haunting visual compositions evoke its protagonist's isolation and illuminate her deeply unbalanced worldview. Genre-inflected, but so strikingly unique as to defy categorization, writer/director Nicolas Pesce's feature debut allows only an elliptical presence in Francisca's world, guiding our imaginations to follow her into peculiar, secret places.

"The Eyes of My Mother" Film Clip - Country Road

"The Eyes of My Mother" Film Clip - Dance Show

Film Review: Synchronicity

"Synchronicity" marks the first time that I review a film that has nothing to do about horror here in the horror chamber as part of the site's addition to cover sci-fi/exploration here addition all the horror coverage.

The film is about a scientist Jim Beale (Chad Mcknight) who invents a machine that can travel to the past. He soon discovers that his machine comes with a price as he finds out that a ruthless businessman (Michael Ironside) is out to steal his invention with the help of a mysterious woman (Brianne Davis). Finding out that fact, Jim decides to go through the wormhole and try to stop what is going to happen in the future to his invention.

Going into this film I was curious about it because the film is directed by Jacob Gentry, who was one third of the directing team behind the brilliant horror film “The Signal” that was released in 2008. What I got out of this film was nothing short of brilliants, as this is an early contender for my best of 2016 list.

Gentry does a very good job making sure the flow of the film moves at very good pace. It’s hard to do considering the time travel aspects and keeping track of everything that goes on, but he makes sure the scenes have a level of content whether its visually or the way that he shoots this film. It help makes the film move while exploring the main character and the whole time travel mystery that goes on. Gentry also very good job making sure the performances keep the action. Whether it’s the way he has his small cast approach their roles to how the chemistry between the cast is very good, it helps make an interesting film like this one more entertaining.

Speaking of the performance, it was the best thing about this film. Both Chad McKnight and Brianne Davis were great in this film. I liked, the way that each of them approaches their characters as it made some of the film’s pivotal scenes along with their screen time together work so well and keep things interesting. The film also has very good supporting performances from Scott Poythress (The Signal) A.J. Bowen (You’re Next, The Sacrament) as the two scientists working alongside McKnight and Michael Ironside (Starship Troopers, Turbo Kid) as greedy tycoon.

Before I go into the film’s screenplay, I can’t help but praise the score of this film from Ben Lovett. This was a brilliant score as it adds to the film. It captures the tone of the film that is needed to be in rhythm with the scenes while also having this retro feel to it that works so well. Would love to see this on MP3 or CD in the future.

The screenplay written by Gentry with story co created by Alex Orr was good and less confusing than I expected. That was one of the things that I liked about it as sometimes during time travel and alternate universes films everything feel confusing especially when the main character keep running back to time period where the film starts. It didn’t feel that way, because the pieces fit together easily that it made sense with the beginning. The other thing that this screenplay does very well was to make the action feel like it could work as a film noir. Whether it’s visualized in the screenplay or the way the story is conceived, everything that goes on here feels original and something that isn’t seen in many science fiction films. It’s what was able to pull me in from the first fifteen minutes to the very end.

“Synchronicity” is the first great film of 2016, as this is one of those films that you should go out of your way to check out if you're into films that deal with the seriousness of time travel and alternate selves. With its stellar directing and entertaining screenplay, “Synchronicity” is a time traveling noir that deserves to be checked out.

“Synchronicity” is currently playing in limited release and VOD.

Review Rating: Five Stars

"The ABC's of Death 2" Review

“The ABC’s of Death 2” is a film that I’ve been waiting to get a chance to see since first hearing about it. I enjoyed the first film, even though I couldn’t stand some of its segments. But I was excited about this entry considering the talent that are involved with the project.

The film consists of 26 chapters that represent each letter of the alphabet. It features some of the best up and coming talents including Julian Barratt (A Field in England), Todd Rohal (The Catechism Cataclysm), Steven Kostanski (Manborg), Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), Jim Hosking (commercial director), Hajime Ohata (Henge), Chris Nash (Skinfections), Rodney Ascher (Room 237), Bill Plympton (Animator), Erik Matti (On the Job), Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper (Vanishing Waves), Vincenzo Natali (Cube), Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter), Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (Inside), E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills), Jen and Sylvia Soska (American Mary), Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado (Big Bad Wolves), Julian Gilbey (A Lonely Place To Die), Dennison Ramalho (Ninjas), Lancelot Imasuen (Nollywood director), Jerome Sable (Stagefright), Robert Morgan (Bobby Yeah), Robert Boocheck (Horrific), Juan Martinez Moreno (Game of Werewolves), Marvin Kren (Rammbock:Berlin Undead)and Soichi Umezawa (special makeup effects artist).

Before I start on what I liked and disliked about “The ABC’s of Death 2”, I think this is much better film than “The ABC’s of Death”. It didn’t feel like there too many awful ones here. There were a couple of bad one which I’ll get to but at least most of the films were good or so-so. This made it a little harder coming up with some of the best shorts here. Still, that it’s a good problem to have especially when there wasn’t many bad/awful ones. Let me start off with the ones I liked.

Speaking of starting off, this film starts off with one of best ones in the whole film. “A for Amateur” directed by E. L. Katz. Like his earlier film this year “Cheap Tricks”, this was one twisted film. I liked, the way that he does a great job starting the short like a music video with the way it was directed and conceived. It made me think that the whole short was going to be that way. But I was wrong, as this quickly turns into one of the most gruesome and shocking shorts of the bunch.

The next one that I truly liked and stood out for me was “K for Knell” directed by Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper, the duo behind the Lithuania film “Vanishing Waves”. This was an intense short from start to finish. What I liked about it was the fact they manage to make everything intense without any dialogue being spoken. The way they directed their actress helped this short work as a whole without needing other characters to make the action scary, as her reactions helped build the suspense. It also provided a good scare or two which helped set it apart from some of the other shorts. The other one that stood out was “W for Wish” by Steven Kostanski. This short had the same feel as Kostanski’s last film “Manborg”. He makes sure that his short had a different approach from its fanboy feel to the way that he uses stop motion effects. It made the short have its apocalyptic tone while also having its cheesy feel to it. It made the short both entertaining and twisted.

Other good ones include the Claymation short “D for Deloused”, the weird “G is for Granddad”, Erik Matti’s (On the Job) dysfunctional family short “I is for Invincible”, Marvin Kren’s (Rammbock: Berlin Undead) “R is for Roulette”, the entertaining Q is for Questionnaire directed by Rodney Ascher (Room 237)” Jen and Sylvia Soska’s (See No Evil 2) creepy “T is Torture Porn” featuring Tristen Risk (American Mary) and Conor Sweeney (Father’s Day, Manborg) and the shocking “X is for Xylophone” directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury(Vivid, Inside) and starring Beatrice Dalle (Inside).

There were a couple of really bad ones too. For the life of me, why in the world the two of the worst shorts of are L and M again. They weren’t as horrifically bad as the L and M in the first film but I would’ve thought those letters would be the easiest shorts to watch. “L for Legacy” was one of those shorts that should’ve aired on Syfy and not this film. Everything was wrong from the story feeling rushed to the effects, it had a cheesy and dull feel to it. “M for Masticate” is the other one that really sucked. It was directed by Robert Boocheck, who won the 26th director contest for this entry. What made this short not work for me was the way that he uses slow motion. That technique made the short nauseating to watch, as I was disgusted with what I was watching. It also didn’t help that the ending was the beginning of the short.

Beside those two, the other awful short that stood out in a negative way was “E for Equilibrium directed by Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). This was the worst of the bunch. This short had characters that come off as stupid and uninteresting. Also, it would’ve been nice to have seen interaction with the characters. While some of shorts didn’t have dialogue or much interaction, they managed to build tension and suspense in their shorts. This film has none of that, as it’s not suspenseful and entertaining enough to grab my interest.

Even though I liked “The ABC’s of Death”, this film is much better than the last one. With some very entertaining shorts and more of an intense feel. “The ABC’s of Death 2” shocking horror at its best. I can’t wait to see a third installment of this series.

“The ABC’s of Death 2” is currently available on DVD, VOD and Blu-Ray.

Review Rating: Four Skulls