Film Review: Creative Control

David is an ad man whose firm has taken on the marketing of Augmenta, an “Augmented Reality” device comparable to Google Glass with built in Photo Shop and some VR capability. As the stresses of the job pile on top of the relationship problems David is experiencing at home, he begins to experiment with Augmenta’s programs to pursue an affair within his Augmented Reality. Unfortunately for David, he may not be stable enough to juggle work, a relationship and two realities.

Creative Control is an interesting take on the relationship drama with the occasional touch of humor and a slightly futuristic sci-fi setting, which combine to create an effective viewing experience. Writer, director and lead actor Benjamin Dickinson is clearly a filmmaker with a vision who should get a lot of attention for Creative Control considering it is only his second feature film and has a more fleshed out vision and stylistic tone than many directors accomplish in their careers.

Creative Control is a well-written and fantastically acted film that walks a fine line between human drama and absurd humor while keeping all of its characters grounded and believable. Creative Control also utilizes slick black and white photography with touches of color, which gives the film a unique feel and also helps to establish its slightly futuristic setting. A quick encapsulation of Creative Control would be slightly future-ish “Mad Men” through the cinematic lens of Felini. If that description piques your interest, then I would definitely recommend you check it out.

Creative Control opens Friday March 25 at the Cable Car Cinema; Director: Benjamin Dickinson; Starring: Benjamin Dickinson, Nora Zehetner, Dan Gill Film Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane

After packing her belongings and leaving her husband, Michelle is involved in an automobile accident and wakes up in a bomb shelter with two strange men, Howard and Emmett. While the two men insist that some unknown catastrophic event took place on the surface and that Michelle is not a prisoner but rather there for her own safety, she can’t help but harbor a distrust toward the strangers. Tensions grow as the three learn more about one another and even though they have no idea what happened outside or what may still be happening outside, could outside be a better option?

10 Cloverfield Lane has certainly found itself to be the topic of controversy as film fans debate whether it has any tangible connection to 2008’s Cloverfield, but then again we already know that producer J.J. Abrams likes to enshroud his projects in a veil of secrecy and mystery. While not a proper sequel of any sorts, 10 Cloverfield Lane certainly takes place in the same universe and depending on how you read certain events can definitely be part of the same extended story. But no matter which way you lean on that decision, it is certainly an excellent film on its own. First time feature director Dan Trachtenberg does an amazing job of crafting a tense sense of dread as we learn more about the situation and our three main characters and all three of the lead actors do wonderful work in the movie.

The movie as a whole is a thoroughly entertaining and tense thriller and I would recommend 10 Cloverfield Lane to anyone looking for a fun and challenging film.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016); Director: Dan Trachtenberg; Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr. Salve Regina French Film Festival

‘Tis the season for francophiles in the Ocean State. As Salve Regina University in Newport celebrates its 11th year appreciating the best in French cinema, viewers get to watch up to six French films (with English subtitles, of course!). This year’s coordinator is Dr. Dean de la Motte, a professor of French at the University. “The Alliance Française of Newport has been involved from the beginning,” he said. “The public for the festival has always been a mix of community members, students and faculty.”

The opening screening for the festival used to be held at the Jane Pickens Theatre in Newport, but as part of an ongoing effort to bring the Salve Regina and greater Newport communities together, some things have changed.

“We are working with different constituencies on campus to raise the profile of the festival,” he explained. “Even our food service, Sodexo, will prepare French food all day on the Friday prior to the festival.”

A number of groups across campus are co-sponsoring the festival, both academic and administrative. “This year we made a concerted effort to involve more students, faculty and staff,” de la Motte explained. Anyone with a Salve Regina ID card is granted free access to each screening, all of which will be screened on campus in the O’Hare Academic Center’s Bazarsky Lecture Hall (Salve Regina University, 100 Ochre Point Ave, Newport). There’s even a student discussion hosted by the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy the day after one of the films.

3 coeurs / 3 Hearts: Sun, Apr 3, 4pm; Wine and cheese reception to follow in McAuley Hall (adjacent to Bazarsky)

Illustration by Jacob Saariaho

After Paris-based tax auditor Marc (Benoit Poelvoorde) misses his train home, he spends the night in a small town in southern France, where he meets the melancholic Sylvie (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Drawn to each other, they never exchange names or numbers, instead agreeing to meet by a fountain at the Jardin des Tuileries in the French capital. This romantic plan is thwarted, however, when Marc, en route to the destination, suffers severe chest pains and is rushed to the hospital. Dejected, Sylvie returns to her unhappy marriage and soon leaves for the US. Marc, meanwhile, meets and falls in love with another woman, Sophie (Chiara Mastroianni), who, unbeknownst to him, is Sylvie’s beloved sister.

Bande de filles / Girlhood: Tue, Apr 5, 7pm

Celine Sciamma’s third feature focuses on Marieme (Karidja Toure), a 16-year-old who absorbs the wrath of her older brother and assumes responsibility for her two younger sisters while their mother works the night shift. She falls in with a triad of tough girls, abandoning her braids for straightened hair and her hoodie for a leather jacket. Girlhood follows Marieme as she moves toward adulthood while consistently being reminded of her limited options.

Timbuktu: Thu, Apr 7, 7pm

In his magnificent fourth feature film, Abderrahmane Sissako demonstrates his remarkable ability to condemn religious fanaticism and intolerance with subtlety and restraint. Timbuktu concerns the jihadist siege of the Malian city in 2012. A ragtag band of Islamic fundamentalists announce their increasingly absurd list of prohibitions via megaphone to Timbuktu’s denizens, several of whom refuse to follow these strictures, no matter the consequence.

Deux jours, une nuit / Two Days, One Night: Sun, Apr 10, 3pm; A coffee and pastry reception at 2pm

Acclaimed directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne join forces with one of the most talented performers working today, Marion Cotillard. The actress plays Sandra, an employee at a solar-panel factory in an industrial town in Belgium, who learns that management is offering each of her colleagues a 1,000 euro bonus if they vote to make her redundant. Sandra meets each of her 16 coworkers over a weekend to convince them to forgo the cash and let her resume her position at the company. These encounters reveal the Dardenne brothers’ signature compassion for characters torn asunder by the demands of late capitalism.

La religieuse / The Nun: Tue, Apr 12; 7pm

In Guillaume Nicloux’s adaptation of Denis Diderot’s 18th-century novel, Pauline Etienne plays Suzanne Simonin, a devout 16-year-old who, lacking a dowry and a vocation, is forced by her aristocratic, though financially troubled, parents to enter a convent. Although her time in the nunnery was supposed to be short, Suzanne soon finds herself imprisoned in the abbey when her mother announces her daughter is an illegitimate child and must expiate the family’s sins by staying in the convent indefinitely. A scathing examination of religious hypocrisy and a profound treatise on freedom, Nicloux’s adaptation also stars the great Isabelle Huppert and Louise Bourgoin.

Hiroshima mon amour / Hiroshima, My Love: Thu, Apr 14, 7pm

One of the most influential movies ever made, Alain Resnais’s masterwork from 1959 would not only shape the nouvelle vague benchmarks made in its wake, but liberate filmmakers from linear storytelling. “[I]n my film time is shattered,” Resnais once said. Hiroshima mon amour, which was scripted by Marguerite Duras, consists of multiple flashbacks. Spanning approximately 36 hours, the movie centers around the time-toggling conversations of two characters, the French actress known only as She (Emmanuelle Riva) and Japanese architect known as He (Eiji Okada). While the two reflect on the horrors of wartime — She on living in a Nazi-occupied country, He on the incineration of more than 100,000 of his compatriots — they begin to debate the unreliability of memory.

The Salve Regina University French Film Festival runs from April 3 – 14. For more details about the festival, visit salve.edu/french-film-festival. Patrons are encouraged to purchase tickets and passes in advance online: web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/29095.

Film Review: Nina Forever

Holly is a strange girl with a dark side who is drawn to her co-worker Rob who recently attempted suicide after his girlfriend Nina died in a car accident. Things seem to be going fine for Holly and Rob until their relationship becomes sexual because whenever they become intimate, Nina returns if only to mock them and perpetually remind Holly that she is Rob’s rightful girlfriend.

Nina Forever is an eerie and emotional take on what could have been nothing more than crude splat- stick in the hands of less capable film makers. The story and characters are extremely well written and fleshed out (sorry but I couldn’t resist that one) and the story takes a fascinating turn from examining how we deal with grief and loss to a complex take on one character’s own insecurities. The directing team of brothers Ben and Chris Blaine have done a great job of crafting a film that is both disturbing and humorous while having depth. The three main lead actors are all superb, especially Abigail Hardingham who plays Holly.

Nina Forever is available on VOD now and comes highly recommended by me although I will say that it isn’t for everyone so you may want to check out a trailer first.

Nina Forever (2015); Directors: Ben Blaine and Chris Blaine; Starring: Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Abigail Hardingham, Cian Barry Film Review: The Witch

Introducing itself as “A New England Folk Tale,” the film immediately thrusts us into a courthouse where a family is being expelled from their colony essentially for not practicing the right version of Christianity. On their own in the wilderness, the family establishes their own small farm but once their newborn son goes missing while in the care of their eldest daughter, a series of bad things start to happen and supernatural forces seem to be at hand.

The Witch is an extraordinary film that not only gives the audience horror in the literal and traditional sense, but also in the metaphoric as most of the story’s characters are haunted by grief, guilt and deception. It is worth noting that the thrills and scares of The Witch are subtle at times and deliberately paced, so if you don’t go in expecting a thrill-a-minute scare fest, I believe that you as the viewer will be greatly rewarded by this terrific film.

Writer director Robert Eggers does a wonderful job of establishing a mood and world for the story while providing plenty of creepy atmosphere and some of the most subtly unsettling images to grace a screen in quite some time. Meanwhile the entire cast of The Witch turns in some of the most gut wrenching performances given to a genre film in ages, and every member of the main cast is certainly going to be recognized for their work.

The Witch received a wide release last week and if it is still running at a theater near you I highly recommend seeing it before it is gone, and if it already left your local theater then seek it out on VOD.

The Witch (2015); Director: Robert Eggers; Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie Seven Dorms of Death: When Good Directors Go Bad

Rhode Island-based independent film director Richard Griffin knows how to make movies, and he’s made over 20 of them. In his latest outing presented at a sold-out world premiere at the Route One Cinema Pub in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, on Sunday, February 21, he set out to recreate his beloved 1980s schlock horror even more faithfully than ever before. The result is a deliberately – and hilariously – bad movie, complete with continuity errors, boom microphones intruding into scenes, and actors freezing awkwardly until an off-screen voice yells, “Cut!”

Seven Dorms of Death, in the best tradition of bad horror titles, has little to do with dorms, let alone seven of them. An opening text scroll explains that what the viewer is about to see was the second half of a late-night horror double feature taped off the air from a low-powered UHF television station in 1987, recovered from a Betamax video cartridge discovered in the basement of a Rhode Island library. We are then immersed into Baron von Blah’s Celluloid Crypt, hosted by the eponymous baron (Michael Thurber), an absurd third-rate vampire character with an obviously fake Middle European accent who alternately presents and trashes the feature presentation, something of a cross between Boris Karloff and Wile E. Coyote, and his sidekick “Sockenstein” (Michael Varrati), a sock puppet who delivers lines such as, “We’re all staring into the abyss!” Thurber as an actor wonderfully evokes the age of classic horror.

Every so often, random (fake) commercials interrupt for such bizarre things as a made-for-television soap opera based on the (fake) 1980s-ish romance novel Yesterday’s Winds of Tomorrow’s Fortune by an author whose previous books have included A Kiss Before Trying to Kiss Again and Pat Nixon Claims the Night. My personal favorite fake commercial is for a program Future Shock 1999 set in what is anticipated to be a post-apocalyptic nightmare on the cusp of the new millennium, although a short digression into Dracula’s Castle of Sadism, a period drama rather closely inspired by the Marquis de Sade, was a close second.

The main feature within the film, Seven Dorms of Death (SDoD), or at least what we can see of it between lengthy discursions by the baron and his sock puppet, interruptions from commercials, and occasionally even random drop-outs due to snow or tape skips, is a very 1970s/1980s-style Lovecraftian muddle about some college kids at Dunwich University rehearsing at the Charles Ward Theater for a play, The King in Yellow, that causes horrific things to happen when it is performed. Amazingly, Griffin’s deliberately bad film-within-the-film has better writing, acting and production than some of the utter crap it intends to parody, such as the 1970 abomination The Dunwich Horror.

SDoD begins with a collegiate tryst between “Edie” (Laura Minadeo) and “Bruno” (Christian Masters), the latter of whom meets his predictable end at the hands of a masked killer wielding a potato peeler. The police are called in, “Detective Sergeant Vargas” (Aaron Andrade) and his partner “Sam” (Dan Mauro), who proceed to overact every period procedural cliché from Dirty Harry to , along with a bit of Magnum, P.I. on crack cocaine. Griffin noted quite seriously introducing the premiere that it was a challenge to get actors of excellent ability to play their roles intentionally badly, but Andrade’s police detective was so over-the-top ridiculous that the character carried a substantial part of the film: delivering idiotically inappropriate snippets from Shakespeare and non-seqitur lines such as “It ain’t worth two squirts of owl piss to me!” with vibrant emotion and emphasis, Andrade’s virtuoso portrayal of a narcissistic, hard-boiled, lunatic completely took over and filled up the screen whenever he was on it. The audience eventually started laughing in anticipation every time Andrade appeared in a scene, before he even said or did anything.

“Bambi” (Hannah Lum), “Kruz” (Tobias Wilson), “Chad” (Graham King), “Lumpy” (Rich Tretheway), and “Severin” (Anna Rizzo) are the student actors. “Jason” (Evan Clinton) is the beret-wearing drama professor directing the play, and his flamingly gay persona unnerves the homophobic Vargas. Lumpy happens to be quarterback for the school football team – “Go Squids!” – and is a bit slow in the intellectual department. Lum is outstanding as a Judas Priest-obsessed airhead who is so reminiscent of Flashdance that she even wears leg warmers while otherwise naked in the shower. “Mr. Felg” (Bill Pett), the theater janitor, witnesses the killing but doesn’t pay attention because he “doesn’t meddle in other people’s affairs.”

As the murders mount up, “Jane Peach” (Laura Pepper) is a reporter who despite her Pulitzer Prize- winning history is reduced to working for the Dunwich Penney Saver (sic) under editor “Mahoney” (Dave Almeida), and she gets past “Officer Kansinski” (Vincent Perrone) into a crime scene.

“Mark” (Mark Zuccola), a long-haired metal-head and “student of the occult,” is caught hanging around the theater but has an alibi for the murder, a time-stamped receipt from the local Safeway at 432 Lovecraft Road. It turns out that he has been writing a “satanic code translator” on his “Tandy home computer” – which, in yet another presumably deliberate continuity error, contains no Tandy parts but is actually a Commodore VIC-20 pushed up against an Apple Macintosh SE – he claims “is just like the one NASA uses.” After inserting a 5.25-inch floppy disk, the computer outputs an inverted pentagram over the words “Yog Sothoth”, the character Lumpy is playing on stage.

It’s impossible to convey the surreal nature of the experience of watching this production. Griffin has really outdone himself this time, breaking just about all of the conventions of film making to inspire an hour and a half of continuous laughter, defying audience expectations in ways that a less daring director would not risk. Suffice it to say that the final unmasking of the killer is one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever watched on film.

Seven Dorms of Death, directed by Richard Griffin, from Scorpio Film Releasing. Griffin has said that there will be several additional screenings scheduled in the near future, details to be announced. Trailer clip.

Film Review: Bad Hurt

The Kendall family is on the verge of collapse; parents Ed and Elaine have been pushed apart by the stress of caring for their mentally handicapped adult daughter Deedee and their son Kent who returned from Iraq with severe PTSD and a painkiller addiction. All while their other son Todd tries to hold things together and live up to the expectations of his father and reputation of his brother as he drives a city bus and waits to be bumped up from the police reserves to the actual police force. But the Kendalls are forced to start confronting and opening up to each other as unfortunate events begin to come in quick succession.

Bad Hurt is a well-constructed character drama featuring a solid script and strong performances from all of its lead actors, especially from Theo Rossi as Todd and Iris Gilad as Deedee. Director Mark Kemble does a great job of balancing the heavy dramatic storylines with some awkward bits of humor that involve but are not at the expense of the film’s mentally handicapped characters. The credits also indicate that the film is based on a stage-play, but it doesn’t feel location-bound as many adaptations do. The filmmakers made sure to give the viewer multiple recurring locations to fill out the world of Bad Hurt.

Bad Hurt is in limited release and is available now on VOD. I recommend Bad Hurt as a solid indie drama with a strong cast.

Bad Hurt (2015); Director: Mark Kemble; Starring: Theo Rossi, Karen Allen, Michael Harney Film Review: Sociopathia

In this indie serial killer thriller we meet Mara, a special effects artist whose fear of being alone leads her to risky situations and terrible actions. When a lover, even a one night stand, tries to leave her she takes desperate measures to keep them around and the only thing that seems to calm her is her growing collection of “dolls.” When Mara begins a relationship with Kat, the producer of a film she is working on, Mara enters into a massive internal struggle with her psychosis, which has external effects.

Sociopathia is really a solid independent film with a decent cast and strong characters. The story is pretty tight and well written and pulls a lot of influence from previous films, such as Maniac and Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, while maintaining its own identity. Disappointingly, it is only part of a story as we get little information on Mara’s back-story, which could have deepened the story a bit by providing us with a catalyst for her fear of being alone. The movie also features some very good practical effects and the occasional too-noticeable digital enhancement, but overall the gore is impressive. Sociopathia also has a lot of good atmosphere aided by in-depth set design and its soundtrack, which features New England-based musical acts Courage Cloaks and J/Q, who are just a couple of the numerous New England connections this Baltimore production has.

Sociopathia is a good movie and an impressive example of super low budget filmmaking. Sociopathia is available now on VOD and DVD and I would recommend checking it out.

Sociopathia (2015); Directors: Ruby Larocca, Rich Mallery; Starring: Tammy Jean, Nicola Fiore, Asta Paredes A Night at the Deli: The Ultimate Jewish Dinner and a Movie

Combining a screening of the film Deli Man with an actual “pop-up” deli traveling from City, the Jewish Alliance of Rhode Island will host the aptly-named “A Night at the Deli” on the PVD East Side on Thursday, Feb. 18.

Deli Man is a documentary about, according to its web site, “More than 160 years of tradition served up by the owners, operators and fanatics who are keeping hot hot – and a culinary must. Just don’t tell your cardiologist.” It focuses on David “Ziggy” Gruber, a third-generation deli balaboos who runs Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen in Houston, Texas. The film includes interviews with noted writers on Jewish themes, including David Sax (Save the Deli) and Michael Wex (Born to Kvetch), as well as a number of entertainment celebrities talking about the close ties between delis and the theater, including Fyvush Finkel who credits deli food with helping him live into his 90s.

Preceding the film screening at 7:30pm, there will be a fully catered kosher dinner beginning at 6:00pm served by a team from Ben’s Best Deli of Rego Park in Queens, New York, headed by fourth-generation proprietor Jay Parker, made using the same recipes and processes for over 65 years. The menu includes stuffed cabbage, kasha varnishkes, and (potato pancakes) with apple sauce as appetizers, homemade chicken soup with matzah balls and kreplach (dumplings), a slicing station featuring homemade 21-day dry cured , slow-smoked signature pastrami, beef tongue, and prime roast beef for the meat, and deli classics such as old-style potato salad, creamy cole slaw, tomato salad, chopped liver, and a pickle barrel.

Erik Greenberg Anjou, the director of Deli Man, will be attending the screening to speak and take questions afterward. Anjou gushed about Jay Parker and Ben’s Deli who appear in the film. “For my dollar, his deli is the best in New York. It’s a small, neighborhood store that represents the best of the tradition.” Rather than catering to tourists, Anjou said, Ben’s Deli is the essence of the old-style neighborhood life that gave rise to the deli in the first place.

“The worst thing is for tradition to not be a living tradition,” Anjou said, citing the example of Eastern European synagogues that can be visited as beautiful attractions “but no one prays there anymore because there are no Jews.” New delis are opening up, he said. “I think that’s good news. People are spending money to eat deli again.”

“Documentaries tend to germinate by accident,” Anjou said, explaining that he met Ziggy Gruber whose philanthropic endeavors included sponsoring a screening of Anjou’s prior documentary The Klezmatics – On Holy Ground about the famous klezmer band. “The light bulb went off,” Anjou said, when he realized Gruber and his Texas deli would make a good subject for his next film, because Gruber is a “lively embodiment of a regular guy who was trying to keep tradition alive.”

Many current deli operators were born into the tradition. “It’s not the sort of business you would encourage your kids to get into. You’re not going to make a lot of money in the deli business,” Anjou said. “We were able to get to these generational successors, one of the nice things about the film.”

There is no doubt Jewish deli is not what it once was, the affordable “fast food” of the working man, in its 1920-1950 heyday. “You can’t ignore the numbers,” he said, as there are now only about 150 traditional Jewish delis left in the entire country as compared to thousands a few decades ago in alone. “There are shining, leading lights out there” in the business now, many of their owners appearing in the film, he said. Kenny & Ziggy’s when they first opened, he said, had a clientele that was about 70% Jewish and 30% not Jewish, but over time this has reversed not because there are less Jews eating there but because more non-Jews are discovering high-quality Jewish deli.

Unlike many other delis, some of them even fairly famous, Kenny & Ziggy’s prepares its own meat from scratch, with aspects of the process shown in the film. Although Ziggy was brought into the deli business by his grandfather, he is a classically trained French chef who was, with his father’s encouragement, headed for a career in fine dining and working his way up in a Michelin-starred restaurant. When Ziggy with his father attended a convention of deli men and realized that everyone else there was in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s, he realized that he had found his calling in life.

Jewish deli is a unique cultural experience well beyond the food. One time when I was working in and wanted a late might meal, I walked over to the Carnegie Deli, arguably the most famous deli in the world (and just reopened on Feb. 9 after a months-long hiatus). A little before midnight, a group of theater-goers from out of town – very far out of town, probably the Midwest – came in, just leaving whatever show they had seen, and began trying to decipher the menu. “What’s ‘krep-lash’?” they wondered aloud, mispronouncing the word for a kind of dumpling – “kreplach” – that ends with a hard, guttural “ch” sound, like “loch.” After I told them the correct pronunciation and helped them practice until they got it, they asked me how to pronounce “borscht,” but refused to believe me and insisted that I must be putting them on.

The Midwestern tourists were overwhelmed by the huge menu and asked the waiter for a recommendation. “Our is world-famous,” he answered. They didn’t know what a Reuben was, so the waiter patiently explained that it involved corned beef. (The Carnegie is Jewish-style but not kosher, and a Reuben mixes meat and dairy in violation of kosher rules.) Traditional deli waiters are notorious for being sarcastic and brusque, and the tourists made themselves an obvious target by admitting they had no idea what corned beef was and had never tasted it, but they decided to try it and ordered Reubens. A few minutes later the waiter came back and apologized that they were out of corned beef, and I immediately realized that something weird was going on because the Carnegie could not possibly run out of its signature menu item. After the tourists expressed disappointment, the waiter started laughing and pointed out that the clock had just crossed midnight, changing from March 31 to April 1. “April fool!” he shouted gleefully, “Of course the Carnegie has corned beef!”

The Jewish Alliance promises only dinner and a movie at “A Night at the Deli,” but you can hope for sarcasm from the waiters.

“A Night at the Deli,” Dwares Jewish Community Center, 401 Elmgrove Ave, PVD, Thu, Feb. 18, 2016, dinner 6pm, film 7:30pm. Price (per person, includes full dinner and admission to the film): $42 non- members, $36 members; seating is limited, reservations required. Web site: https://www.jewishallianceri.org/a-night-at-the-deli/ Telephone: Erin Moseley, 401.421.4111 ext. 108 E- mail; [email protected]

New Jewish Cinema trailer and interview with Erik Greenberg Anjou and David “Ziggy” Gruber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J06U4oXOc4k

Interview with Jay Parker of Ben’s Best Deli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY-9ItpIUlY Film Review: Southbound

Southbound is a horror anthology that gives us five interconnected stories that focus on people traveling through an unnamed stretch of desolate desert road in the southwest. The multiple stories are linked by characters or specific locations and encompass a wide range of horrors from the nightmarish supernatural to real life tragedy and unfortunately for these travelers, these aren’t easy trips.

Ranging from desert cults to the search for a missing person or the desperate call for help after an accident to being tracked by something not quite natural, Southbound offers a great mix of different stories and styles that remain linked by a unifying theme and look. The various stories are all written and acted very well without any one story standing out as a weak spot, which is unusual for an anthology film. Plus Southbound features an impressive mix of both digital and practical special effects. There are some shocking sequences featuring some disturbing practical effects while the film also features some wonderfully realized digital creature work that defies the movie’s presumably modest budget.

Horror anthologies have made a noticeable comeback in recent years with the popularity of the V/H/S and ABC’s Of Death franchises and if Southbound and the recent Tales Of Halloween are an indication of what is to come, then I am eagerly awaiting the next wave of anthologies. I highly recommend that fans of horror films check out Southbound, which opens at the Cable Car Cinema on Tuesday, February 16.

Southbound (2015); Directors: Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, Patrick Horvath, and Radio Silence; Starring: Fabianne Therese, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Yow