TADFF 2022: MexZombies (2022)

MexZombies (2022)

Director: Chava Cartas

Cast: Inaki Godoy, Marcelo Barcelo, Roberta Damian, Luciana Vale, Vincent Michael Webb, Barbara de Regil

A group of teenagers must face a zombie apocalypse, and help reestablish order. – IMDB

MexZombies is a Mexican horror comedy and a love letter to mostly zombie films. It features a group of teens who group up together to keep the zombies in their gated community and stop them before they have an all out apocalypse in Mexico during Halloween night. The film blends horror zombie style to Stranger Things, The Goonies à la Zombieland vibes. Packed with mentions of horror films in dialogue, the homage flows pretty well in the script while still having its own style.

MexZombies is set in a gated community and with that brings its upper class families which also happens to be next to a lower class area in the vicinities which is where a social class issue is brought up and creates some of the comedy here when the main character Tavo sneaks into the community to spy on Ana, a girl that he has a crush on and has been caught before by the security. Both adults and teenagers alike all have their own issues with it as they either use it as a sense to exclude him or see him in a different light. Its a nice use of the topic itself. The gated community “one setting” has a big scope so the whole neighborhood comes into play with its Halloween festivities and such.

While that comes up, MexZombies is a fun zombie film with a charming young cast filled with four Mexican kids and one American kid. The film is set on Halloween night which also makes it all the more fun when the doubts are cast further when its hard to differentiate between a real zombie versus a fake one for a prank or whatnot. The challenges around every corner turns itself into its own fun twist of events for the most part. Even in lieu of certain plot points where its meant to be drama, its moves through it really quickly and refocuses back on the subject at hand: killing zombies to defend the nation.

Being someone who isn’t particularly well-versed in Mexican films or the actors/actresses in it, the young cast of character of quite a nice bunch. They each have their distinctive characteristics and it also calls back to the Halloween outfit that they are wearing. Much like they are kids and might know where to find the weapons, they don’t quite know how to use it. Of course, in this case, firearms expert among them is the American kid Johnny, played by Vincent Michael Webb who has a pretty fun character especially since he plays on the same line over and over again and it kind of works well especially when the others start reciprocating the dialogue in English to his surprise. Much like his host family’s daughter Rex (Luciana Vale) who ends up wielding a katana as her weapon of choice and rocking a fantastic outfit but has the moment where she realizes the sword is too long for her to pull out of its casing.

All that said, the two main characters of this entire films are best friends Tavo (Inaki Godoy) and Cronos (Marcelo Barcelo). Cronos is a nickname and while I’m not sure if I missed the reference but does make me wonder whether its a reference to Del Torro’s Cronos. These two characters are the highlight as they nail their roles completely with Tavo supposedly being on the wrong side of the tracks and expected to know all this tough business when he isn’t and Cronos is a cinephile for all things horror and faints at a sight of an insect. Suffice to say almost all the film reference is by Cronos.

Overall, MexZombies is a real gem. In terms of the storytelling, its one clever little plot. There’s a link to how this whole thing starts and who gets pulled right back into the equation while still creating some fun twists to play on various societal issues in a relaxing comedic way. The young cast while not all shining in the same way, they all deliver some solid acting for their characters plus some nice character development as well. Horror comedy zombies aren’t exactly anything to be scared of but between the comedy and the zombie action, there is a nice balance achieved. As a side note, it was hilarious to watch a little supporting role by Xin Wang as Maton Asiatico, which is super random without even an actual name for his character since he just talks in Chinese the whole time and feels out of place to be there as a thug because he’s cheap labor (and I have seen him before in TV drama Love Scenery (review)). I do love some random humor and this film is filled with it in such a witty smart way.

TADFF 2022: Evil Eye (Mal de Ojo, 2022)

Evil Eye (Mal de Ojo, 2022)

Director (and co-writer): Isaac Ezban

Cast: Paola Miguel, Ofelia Medina, Samantha Castillo, Arap Bethke, Ivanna Sofia Ferro, Paloma Alvamar, Mauro Gonzalez

Witches, fairy tales and parables, children in peril, creepy grandmother and a big house: All of them a good element to making a good horror. Evil Eye is a Mexican witchcraft horror film that plays with the parable reflected in real life and follows a young adolescent Nala who is forced to go to her estranged grandmother’s house because her younger sister Luna is sick and her parents are seeking more help. As she gets there, the most interesting is the housemaid’s story about three sisters and their encounter with a witch and the central message that everything is an exchange: they give you something and will take something back.

Evil Eye is an odd horror film to talk about. Its first part is unsettling and sets up a really great backdrop to what to anticipate. There’s a few jumpscares that are effective because the atmosphere is done so well. The second act feels a little more overdone as its a battle between the different values between the young city girl of Nala versus the elderly grandmother’s controlling nature which carries a hidden plot as Nala starts to find her increasingly bizarre and starts to see the connection with the story she heard versus her grandmother. In films like this, a lot of times it takes the path of the unexpected which makes the audience guess whether its just a misdirection as it plays up on the grandmother’s strong personality to bring her granddaughter up her own way so to see it going that extra step makes it a lot creepier. We’ve seen creepy grandmothers who own up to them in films like The Visit but Evil Eye takes a different direction and the final reveal as all the pieces come together makes for a pretty impressive final act and a rather bleak one to say the least as it brings in an element about moving from adolescent to adulthood.

Evil Eye as a whole is a pretty impressive film and it uses its elements pretty well. The cinematography and sound design also does pretty good to create a creepy and spine-tingling atmosphere. There are some fantastic design in terms of the witch design and the whole concept of how the witch works. Its a little sad that the witch’s appearance isn’t used more and rather the middle segment drags a little with the whole push and pull energy between Nala and her grandmother. It feels like it goes a step too much plus the grandmother brings in these moments of over the top expression and in some ways, it takes away a little from the initial mystery and sinister feeling that has been hanging in the air at times.

With that said, this film is centered around young actress Paola Miguel who plays Nala and she does a pretty great job. Much like Ivanna Sofia Ferro who plays her younger sister Luna. Nala is a pretty good character and reminds us a little of films like Pan’s Labyrinth, with their young female protagonist stepping into all kinds of dangers that going way over her head without the necessary protection that she needs. She’s a strong character and through all her jealousy towards her younger sister, the family and sisterhood element comes up even if she also has this helpless and misunderstood side because she’s against a much stronger and evil force.

Overall, Evil Eye has its little flaws here and there but the messages that it carries and the execution is pretty great overall. The setting in the big house and the surrounding area also have a character of its own as it amplifies the sinister atmosphere in its emptiness and solitude. While it carries multiple horror elements, they do blend very well together. Its always fun to see a parable-style film and in the vein of witches which seem to be a rising trend in both regards. Mexico seems to be a breeding ground for these types of films in general with Pan’s Labyrinth to Tigers Are Not Afraid and now this. While this one is more grounded in reality, there’s still a whole debate whether the tale told actually happened.

TADFF 2022: International Shorts After Dark

Tistlebu (2022)

Director (and co-writer): Simon M. Valentine

As a young urban couple on a working holiday hopes to connect with nature at Tistlebu farm, a primordial power comes into play, changing them both forever. – IMDB

Tistlebu is an interesting and creepy setting. It sets itself in the mountainous wilderness in a rural farm where two city youngsters are there to help and while one of the tasks given to them is normal, the other one is taking care of this odd mushroom thing which seeps white ooze occasionally. Things start getting very odd of how they react to this giant mushroom. However, the film takes a twist when it feels like it was reacting to one when actually the other falls prey to it. Its not really prey I guess but the consequences are rather creepy especially as it builds to the final scene.

The premise, the setting and the living thing works together to create a rather spinetingling and oddly profound message about nature and at times, the ugliness that people seem ignore. It works because this same message can be applied to anyone incredibly familiar with their own setting compared to how visitors feel about it. This one feels prime for a feature as there leaves a lot of mystery behind this mushroom entity.

Role Play (2022)

If our parents hasn’t engraved the concept of stranger danger when we were young, horror films and the abundant documentaries of serial killers should have. Role Play is exactly that when they have two men who met randomly assumingly at a club go back to one of their homes and is asked to do role play. I mean, logically in my mind I don’t know why anyone would accept this weird request by a stranger. If we look past that point, everything sinister starts as the host disappears and starts conversing through questions written on cards. What does in Role Play is how the whole situation is set up. We have sufficient information about the two men and as one of them follows along, the house’s decor changes and the atmosphere builds through this odd conversation with questions of the 4Ws. There’s this oddity and tension in the air that something is going to pop out and yet it all leads up to a well-deserved scare. Its does take an odd turn and its never quite certain what happens specifically but this one has a really great execution.

O (2022)

Director (and writer): Dominik Balkow

Jasmin sees a fist-sized hole in a brick wall. She’s hypnotically drawn to it and can’t focus on anything else. An increasingly morbid obsession begins, until the hole suddenly disappears. – IMDB

O is an incredibly weird one and yet, looking at its description, it does make sense that its about the downward spiral of obsession. This is a no narrative film so every shot is so important to getting the emotions across. The creepiest part of this which never faded away were the constant close-ups of Jasmin. At the beginning, it would be focusing for a long time on her huge smile. Its an interesting piece since it plays along the curiosity as well of wanting to put her fist into the hole to the part where after it disappears, she was obsessing over anything with a circular depth to it. It gets very intense and morbid by the end. There’s a lot to appreciate in O since it doesn’t have any narrative and still manages to keep it very poignant to the viewers.

The Blood of the Dinosaurs (2021)

Director (and co-writer): Joe Badon

Uncle Bobbo teaches children where oil comes from. – IMDB

Picture Mr. Dress-Up (that’s what I grew up with but this is compared to Mr. Rogers) making a very disturbing educational program and this what Blood of the Dinosaurs is. The film is like those children programs as it jumps through a lot of different scenarios and topics and sandwiched in between is the main piece of what the blood of dinosaurs is. I do have to say that there’s one specific part that I felt incredibly disturbed and honestly felt like it went a little far, maybe slightly distasteful in some ways. For that, I didn’t really like this one so much. However, I do understand what the film is trying to achieve and in many ways, it does achieve creating this very creepy children’s program figure that feels completely wrong in all ways.

Mantra (2022)

Directors (and co-writers): Pascal Bourelier & Stef Meyer

When a couple moves to an suburban mansion and the husband ends up leaving for work, the wife ends up finding companion in one of her husband’s insects, the praying mantis. The slow descent to this friendship with this insect is the focus of the short.

The short is a quiet setting. The film follows her loneliness and need for companion in an insect that is also under covers all day. What takes place after is a rather disturbing spiral of events. The film itself is pretty powerful in their narrative. The praying mantis is such a great choice for a horror story.

Smile (2022)

Director: Ryan Joseph McDuffie

There are honestly no words to describe how bizarre this 2 minute short is. Its packed with a lot of smiling and instrument. Its rather silly and to be honest, a short that I am not quite sure how to place.

Shut (2021)

Director: Niels Bourgonje

Jonas visits his father Arend after a long time. Jonas is startled when his father is almost unrecognizable. Has he deteriorated badly or has something taken possession of him? – IMDB

If we are talking about a coherent story and some great cinematography, Shut is the short in this set of international films. The film makes use of its setting and plays the story towards the mysterious nature of the father but the ending takes the audience for a spin. Shut tells a compelling story about possession and makes use of smokes and mirrors incredibly well. The creepy feeling sinks in very well by the end. This is a Netherlands short that I’d honestly love to see made into a feature. While the possession idea isn’t all that new, it feels like there’s an interesting angle to it here that could be explored further.

Bug Bites (2021)

Director (and writer): Daniel DelPurgatorio

Some house guests are a real pain in the ass. – IMDB

Bug Bites is a weird one to talk about. It takes on this genre that feels like it will go along in the veins of Fly (or Canadian feature Bite) however it quickly takes a turn into dark humor town when she calls on an exterminator to fix her possible bed bugs problem. Humor is a tricky thing and this one plays a little on the over the top expressions. Its a very wild story to say the least and while it starts off feeling uneasy and possibly going down as a disgusting body horror, the short takes a left turn down comedy lane. The tone shifts quickly when the final scene is the big reveal of what is literally hiding under your bed. At that point, it plays on a moment of quick camera through the different people and the WTF moment. While it could have played off as an annoying overly long moment if not executed right, somehow the feeling got overcome by the cleverness of the execution.

TADFF 2022: Pre-feature Shorts

The Cradle (2022)

Director (and writer): Massimo Meo

An angry mob interrupts a witch as she prepares breakfast for her collected children. – IMDB

The Cradle is a short running at a swift 3 minutes. The film is quiet for the most part and only pans through the titular item for a few seconds and then moves around the house of where this is set before it hits a final shocking reveal at the end. While the story itself feels a bit abstract to understand, it does have some pretty nice cinematography as it pans through the house and the items following a woman. Even if its a bit of a question mark why its called The Cradle, the film does have some good visuals and nice reveal at the end which gives some nice creepy vibes.

Cruise (2021)

Director (and writer): Samuel Rudykoff

We’ve all received scam phone calls, but what about the person making the calls? Cruise is a dark workplace satire about a hapless telemarketer trying mightily to give away a free cruise. And if he fails, there will be dire consequences. – IMDB

Cruise is a fun little dark humor short which looks at a possible scenario of what’s going on at the other end of a scam call. Maybe its not all that we think it is and the people making the calls really are there for other reasons and have their own obstacles and consequences. Its a pretty clever take on the scam calls story which looks at the callers and their bosses. Maybe it will make you think twice before you hang up on a scam call…

Anything, Anything (2022)

Director (and writer): Emma Higgins

Anything Anything is a short that starts itself with a conversation between two girl friends when one comes to visit the other to make sure they are okay after some abusive issues before. As the conversation goes along, the question now becomes whether the abusive danger still exists. Its not until after the friend leaves that we get the answer of what is actually going on. The setup of the story and the lighting works together to create a suspicious and sinister atmosphere.

The Ratcatcher’s Daughter (2022)

Directors (and co-writers): Jim Bryson & Adam Jeffcoat

Based on the short story “The Rat-Catcher” by Alexander Grin, The Ratcatcher’s Daughter is a 15 minutes short which definitely feel much more fleshed out due to the longer runtime. This animated feature follows a revolutionary who meets the plague ratcatcher’s daughter spontaneously and ends up running from the military and walk right into a sacrificial ritual. There’s a lot of nice animated cinematic style here as it chooses a more darker palette for the most part and chooses to only highlight the blood red colors so for example, the bloody moments and red eyes of the mice really pop. The story has depth and carries a pretty intriguing story that it almost feels like a prologue to what could become a full length animation. In some ways, the atmosphere and narrative execution reminds me a little of South Korean animated film Seoul Station.

In The Dark (2022)

Director: Bronson Allen

In The Dark tells the story of a girl who has been consistently unlucky with men who ends up going for a date with a man who seems to be normal. When she gets there, everything seems to be going fine until she starts to realize that all the light switches have been anchored to stay on. In further conversation, the man confesses that because of a child experience, he now has a monster that lurks in the darkness that wants to hurt him.

Everyone wonders whether the monsters that we think we see in the dark are real. We’ve seen some decent movies that navigate imaginary friends and monsters in our bedroom with kids. Rarely do they follow them into adulthood but this brings up the question as a seemingly pleasant date runs off course when the man tells the story of why he can’t close the lights. This short truly plays on the audience being the more knowledgeable group who believes the story more than the woman in the date and the question remains what will happen if the lights turn out. While the creature design here is a little funny (just the low budget feeling which is normal) more than creepy, the story takes a clever twist for its ending.

Dissós (2022)

Created by Unreal Engine, Dissós is a three minute short film that feels like a video game as you follow its protagonist who wakes up outside an abandoned house and goes inside to investigate to soon realize that there’s something odd at work.

Being a gamer myself and being very familiar with the horror genre in gaming, the film had a predictable moment and then the big reveal was also quite obvious as it came around but then, it is the type of surprise reveal that I personally enjoy a lot, where the beginning and end are connected to each other. The animation was done well and the atmosphere of the house was pretty well-structured. There was a good unsettling feeling at the start and it could be fun concept to experience further either as a full flesh story or a game.

Les Dents de la Maison (Paws, 2022)

Director: Austin Birtch

Les Dents de la Maison starts off its story with a man looking for a cat sitter for an evil cat. The film switches to a narrative format as the sitter comes to do his job and gradually the real deal is revealed. It flips also from English normal film to the French narrative with subtitles which isn’t a huge deal. The film in general right away delivers the uneasiness of this cat who seems to right off the get-go be evil because of how they portray the eyes and then as the sitter narrates, it seems to set it up whether its his paranoia or just that the cat actually is evil. It sure feels like cats are never used enough in horror films as the main villains and its only ever seemed to appear in short films once in a while. To be fair, the execution doesn’t make it scary even if the ending is pretty intriguing and unpredictable as didn’t quite see it going in that direction either.

Diggin’ A Hole (2022)

Director (and writer): David Bragg

I feel like talking about cats in the last short and jumping to this one seems so suitable as this short is basically the cautionary tale of “curiosity killed the cat”. A woman is digging a hold in the middle of a field when a man walks by and starts pressing her for an answer as to why she is doing it. The conversation doesn’t really get anywhere as it seems like every answer she gives is either avoiding or isn’t the truth. It takes the audience for a loop as she starts talking about one thing and then it all leads up to the actual reason. There’s a bit of dark humor embedded in the dialogue and how its executed but for something that is about a conversation in a middle of a field, it has decent pacing to keep the intrigue going.

Horse Brothers (2022)

Directors (and writers): Milos Mitrovic & Fabian Velasco

Two paranoid brothers are consumed with murderous fantasies after a horse convinces them that they are each others’ enemies. – IMDB

Horse Brothers is a trippy and weird short. There’s a grainy texture to the scene like its in the past. As the short moves along, the camera and lighting effects are really where it creates the more psychedelic sort of feeling. The story itself a little odd in general especially with the beginning where I can only assume its the horse talking to the brother which happens to be in a screen with Italian (I think). Because of the trippy feeling, the whole film also has this mysterious and unsettling feeling with how certain effects are used. While the film is a little too much for myself personally since the narrative is all a bit too odd, the last shot on the lake is very captivating.

TADFF 2022: Canadian Shorts After Dark

The Flying Sailor (2022)

Directors (and writers): Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby

Inspired by true events, the highly anticipated new film by Oscar-nominated duo Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis is a meditation on a sailor’s unexpected voyage. – IMDB

The Flying Sailor tells the tale of a sailor that flies out after two ships collide near the harbor and ends up rumbling and tumbling through the sky and into outer space before falling back onto Earth. In the process, he reflects on his life in flashbacks which blend both animation and real life.

There’s a lot to love about The Flying Sailor aside from watching a man fly through the sky completely naked right down to private part flapping around in all directions. Of course, that is besides the point but its a compliment on the attention to detail. In the process of flying through the sky, its flashbacks that bring him back to where he is now. While the process itself feels like it does flash by rather quickly, it still carries a ton of creativity. There’s a wonderful use of colors and the beautifully drawn visuals of the animation element. While its inspired by true events, there has to obviously be an exaggeration of the situation.

Black Forest Sanitorium (2020)

Director (and writer): Diana Thorneycroft

Starving for companionship, Quinn pursues an unorthodox approach to resolving her intense loneliness. – Letterboxd

Black Forest Sanitorium is a stop motion animation which follows a creature that moves around a sanitorium with a cart and stops to explore the patients. Perhaps the plot itself if I hadn’t read it in advance would be rather confusing. The big reveal does piece together what Quinn had planned for this visit. Perhaps its the stop motion animation element but the story never feels very creepy, maybe macabre and bizarre might be more correct to describe it. The different creatures that are in the sanitorium for the nature of the location definitely feels fitting and what Quinn sees suitable is also rather specific.

The Temple (Le Temple)

Director: Alain Fournier

The Temple is an animated short film about the crew of a German U-boat that sinks into the depths to avoid an enemy attack when they realize they can no longer go back up to the surface. As the U-boat drops into the depths, madness strikes the staff until he drops to the bottom and sees a temple.

The Temple is a really well-done short. The story it tells at the beginning with the war and attack creates a good start for the story. It combines both a narrative style and dialogue between conversations. As they sink lower underground, the imagery that is shown is pretty good since they start seeing all kinds of creepy thing, much like how the crew also slowly falls into their own craziness. The titular Temple isn’t really part of the film but rather shows up very late in the film and yet, it manages to feel meaningful to the story and the purpose. The animation, the visual, the premise: The Temple does a really good job in all these elements to create a memorable film experience.

The Fore-Men (2022)

Director (and writer): Adrian Bobb

Weeks after a mysterious time-compression event violently splices environments from the past and future into the present, two survivors encounter the foreboding figures responsible for the event and experience firsthand their sinister nature. – IMDB

The Fore-Men is one of the more mind-bending and future apocalypse sort of feeling to the whole story. It follows a woman who is a researcher to see what the world has suddenly become and what lurks in the land creating this new environment. Its one of the shorts that feel like its a snippet of a much bigger scope and world building which would be suitable to expand into something much bigger to explore. This world is rather fascinating. At parts feeling a little like the enchantment of Annihilation with its big snails and creatures hanging around while there is something much more dangerous lurking around and while that form seems to be made up of many table lamps combined together, it still has this interesting imagery at the last scene when the camera pulls away that is very neat.

Nude (Nu, 2022)

Director (and writer): Olivier Labonté-LeMoyne

Nude is a French Canadian short that follows a couple driving into the woods looking for a secluded spot to make love. When they finally feel like they have found it, they start to realize they are being watched.

Nude is an odd and creepy short. In some ways, the couple themselves have some interesting dialogue but once things start getting weird the story gets a little creepy. There are some unsettling moments as what the man is worried about comes true in abundance. Not to mention, as they try to escape, the whole process has a certain creepy element to it. The film does jump from daytime to evening very quickly which is something that feels a tad odd in terms of flow of events but overall, the story itself while doesn’t quite explain what happens in the end, it gives room for the audience to draw their own conclusions (unless its just me not getting the point). However, the atmosphere is well created that the shadows and darkness are used to their advantage.

The Trunk

Director: Travis Laidlaw

The Trunk is a short about a father and daughter who finds a chained up trunk in the woods and brings it home to see what valuables are inside. Right from the poster above, you can tell that what they found is not valuable and pretty horrific in general. While its never quite explained, it sure feels like what they unleashed is some kind of witch (or something along those lines).

The Trunk is an interesting one to talk about. While the premise of the trunk and the unknown of what’s inside is what creates a lot of mystery especially against the dark backdrop as its set at night. The story does have a certain level of predictability especially when it comes to what appears in the trunk is sinister and what happens afterwards to the father and daughter.

In The Shadows (Dans l’ombre)

Director (and co-writer): David Emond-Ferrat

Melanie, a newly separated mother, is spending a weekend at her mother’s house with Tom, her 8-year-old son who is still unaware of the breakup. In the shadows, a creature in search of fresh flesh lies in wait for them, examines them and searches for their loophole in order to lure them into its lair. – IMDB

No doubt the best short of the entire program. Dans L’Ombre packed in some well-executed horror moments and had a really good flow to their story and its pacing. For a short, it had a solid narrative structure and a few nice tricks up its sleeve that made it truly stand out. There were some decent unsettling and creepy moments and some other moments, the atmosphere had this dread and impending danger feeling throughout. The use of the danger that lurks in the shadows created some nice scary moments as well. Well-executed, well-acted and a good story: Dans l’Ombre is an exceptional horror short.

The Community

Director: Milos Mitrovic

The Community is about two men who go to find a secret in the woods which goes a bit against their expectation when they end up finding something else more than they expected in the process.

The Community is a comedy short. It tries to build up some mystery as to what they are looking for in the woods which basically has its big reveal when they meet other people in the woods doing a similar act. What they find is a community as the titles hints at of a group of men having a shared hobby together. You go and piece together what the possibilities are. This one’s downright silly and not exactly my type of humor but that’s just how it is with comedy, it just doesn’t work for everyone.

TADFF 2022: Day Zero (2022)

Day Zero (2022)

Director: Joey De Guzman

Cast: Brandon Vera, Pepe Herrera, Mary Jean Lastimosa, Joey Marquez, Freya Fury Montierro, Yohance Levi Buie, Ricci Rivero, Jema Galanza

When society breaks down due to a violent outbreak that turns victims into undead monsters, a former elite soldier breaks out of jail to find his family. – IMDB

Having only seen one horror short film from Philippines before and nothing else, Day Zero is my first feature film to break into Philippine cinema. Day Zero is an action horror film which spends most of the viral outbreak in the apartment building where the main character Emon’s (Brandon Vera) family resides as he tries to get to them with the help of his inmate friend, Timoy (Pepe Herrera). Focused heavily on the action element, the horror element is mostly with its zombies. Zombies have been done to death at this point and yet as another film is made, we still try to figure out the nature of these zombies which creates most of the horror elements when it first is introduced with its first attack on screen in the opening scene.

Day Zero isn’t exactly a unique zombie film. In fact, both the nature of the zombies and how they move feel very familiar to other films that have been done. However, the undead can have its own frightening element. Adding to the apartment building, it revolves a lot around neighbors that the female lead as Emon’s wife Sheryl (Mary Jean Lastimosa) know and paired with taking care and eventually losing their mute daughter Jane (Freya Fury Montierro) who summons them with a bell, its where the tension builds even if you can see where the potential dangers will occur. The narrative of the film has all the elements it needs and in execution, is pretty fast-paced as well. The drama element of the film is definitely not lacking as well when there are necessary sacrifices and human nature is one of the things that come into play in the end.

If there was something to criticize more, it would be that the acting is not quite too good here. There are some highlight moments but basically no one really the supporting cast is only there as a means to an end whether to save Jane or to push forward some danger element. Looking at the main cast, Timoy is one of the more memorable characters as the script gives him a very nice and touching trajectory especially since his loyalty is one that exists when Emon helps him out without considering his consequences in prison at the beginning of the film. Being the main focus, Emon played by Brandon Vera isn’t exactly really a great actor but much like he reminds me a lot of an Asian version of Vin Diesel appearance-wise, his background in real life as an ex-MMA fighter does come in handy to create some great action scenes with bare-fist combat against zombie which obviously is risky business in the first place.

Honestly, I don’t believe that zombie films need to be complicated in plot in the first place. Day Zero knows exactly what it wants to deliver in its action horror and while the balance is a little off and the horror eventually fades away into drama by the end, the action element is done in a fast-paced and gripping way especially when it gets to the final act and the story needs to pan between three people as danger lurks closer by the minute. While its nothing too unique in terms of zombie film, my first venture into Philippine cinema is a pretty decent one.

TADFF 2022: The Lair (2022)

The Lair (2022)

Director (and co-writer): Neil Marshall

Cast: Charlotte Kirk, Jonathan Howard, Jamie Bamber, Tanji Kibong, Leon Ockenden, Mark Strepan, Hadi Khanjanpour, Troy Alexander

When Royal Air Force pilot Lt. Kate Sinclair is shot down over Afghanistan, she finds refuge in an abandoned underground bunker where deadly man-made biological weapons – half human, half alien – are awakened. – IMDB

Its been almost 20 years since The Descent and yet, its still the bar we set when we talk about Neil Marshall’s films. When his latest film The Lair, its sold as a revisit to the underground caves in this action sci-fi horror film which shows a lot of promise. If it were to be more accurate, The Lair feels a little more like a blend of Dog Soldiers and The Descent and pretty much a creature feature.

It starts off with the film being a recount of disturbing events that happened prior to it being bombed. That being said, it already sets up the story that there is going to be some kind of time sensitive situation in play right from the get-go. The film feels like a B-movie as a whole and one that probably might have that eventual cult classic sort of feeling, something like Deep Rising. There’s some pretty odd dialogue in places and the camera work has fun with some of the scenes moving quickly from one person to the next in the room. However, the film has this comedic undertone (actually, it might be a step higher than an undertone and some bits being pretty obvious). The deal is that with a film like this, it always dials down to whether its meant to be funny which I wholeheartedly believe the humor is meant to be there.

The film stars a strong female lead Sinclair (Charlotte Kirk) who doesn’t hold a lot of backstory other than a little bit on her family. She gives off a bit of Milla Jovovich’s vibe both in her outfit and the way that she delivers her lines. Her character has the most backstory from the beginning scene to her array of abilities. The film takes the direction that this group is there solely gathered to get through this situation together so all the characters are built based on how they react to it from the decisions they make. The US army group is a ragtag team of soldiers that all have their own set of issues and along the way, they end up picking up a man Kabir (Hadi Khanjanpour) who is on the enemy side but turns out to be forced into it as well and ends up teaming up with the team as well. Kabir is not exactly a main character but he gets some of the best dialogue of the entire film and there’s some really great action moments for him also.

As for the creature, I don’t want to go into detail too much. Its a bit sad that the poster that I’ve opted to not use does reveal it so its not exactly a spoiler to talk about the appearance itself. The creature basically looks a bit like Venom. The moments with this creature is where we see all the blood and gore. This is probably where the horror lies in the film even though I personally don’t think its a particularly scary film as a whole.

Overall, The Lair is an average film. It touches lightly on sci-fi and horror but delivers in spades with the action. Its tight runtime and fast-paced action does it a lot of favors as the film never slows down enough for you to reflect too much on the whole situation but just takes its audience for a ride. While there is some clunky dialogue and below average acting, the film itself does have some fun elements. Looking at it from a B-movie perspective, a lot of the elements slot into place especially with the dark humor that it carries throughout. Its far from a great film but as a B-movie creature feature, there’s some entertaining elements here.

TADFF 2021: The Free Fall (2021)

The Free Fall (2021)

Director: Adam Stilwell

Cast: Andrea Londo, Shawn Ashmore, Jane Badler, Michael Berry Jr., Elizabeth Cappuccino, Dominic Hoffman

After attempting to take her own life, a young woman must wrestle with an overbearing husband. – IMDB

The big finale for my coverage of Toronto After Dark Film Festival is also the high point of the entire festival with this clever, thrilling and tense psychological horror film. There is so much to love about it and yet, what really pulls it together is its fantastic twist that gives this movie such a unique concept that pulls together the whole film in a way that hasn’t been done before (at least in my film experience). I don’t want to dive into the details as that will definitely ruin what makes this so cleverly structured and written. With any film which relies heavily on the ending being able to pull all its pieces together in a rewarding way for its audience, it also comes with a lot of mysteries and questions built out throughout that will definitely be very mindboggling and confusing. However, trust me on this one, if you stick it out, the ending is well worth it.

Moving away from the element that I can’t talk about, there’s a lot of other things that make this film pretty well-executed. The first has to be its one setting. One setting films are really quite fun as it works well to use its space efficiently, having spaces left to be explored and in this case, with a main character suffering from amnesia also brings in going into spaces that may or may not bring in new memories and create different atmospheres.

The atmosphere is also built up pretty well especially when it comes to the imagery and visuals. The house itself having a lot to do with how some shots are set up in an appealing way. The atmosphere also changes with the fluctuation of the main character Sara as she struggles with what she is seeing in reality or her imagination. It brings in a lot of darker and sinister moments that create the horror lurking in the background whether its through reflections or dark spaces. At the same time, there’s a nice control of how to use some of the scenes repeatedly but also expanding on them to add more to the story as it progresses.

A lot of credit does have to go to the cast here. Andrea Londo as Sara does a great job right from the start as she experiences the trauma that drags her into this situation where she struggles with recovering from amnesia and dealing with all the odd and suspicious things that seems to be happening in her home. Andrea Londo has a good control over her role which is ever so important here as it makes sure there isn’t any overacting. Much like Shawn Ashmore who also delivers a good performance as the husband Nick. Nick’s character is suspicious right at the beginning and in some ways, its meant to have that feeling especially when amnesia and suspicious husband roles come into play as they are estranged characters that haven’t been introduced until that moment. His character develops and changes over the course of the film especially in its character’s intensity and calmness that delivers a different layer.

Overall, The Free Fall is an outstanding psychological horror film. Thrillers are so hard to do great and this one manages to make the ending so rewarding and gives such a unique angle to the horror subgenre that its tackling. The writer Kent Harper deserves a lot of credit. The cast, the cinematography, the writing are all really well-executed, making this film well worth a watch.

TADFF 2021: Ditched (2021)

Ditched (2021)

Director (and writer): Christopher Donaldson

Cast: Marika Silas, Mackenzie Gray, Kris Loranger, Declan O’Reilly, Lara Taillon, Shawna Pliva McGill, Reamonn Joshee, Lee Lopez, Michelle Molineux, J. Lindsay Robinson

After a routine prison transfer crashes in the forest, young Inuit paramedic Melina finds herself surrounded by murderers with a mere 100 feet to climb out of a ditch to escape. When they are attacked by an unseen force in the forest, Melina’s short journey to safety becomes the ultimate contest of wills. – IMDB

Ditched is a 2021 Canadian survival horror film where it almost feelings like Panic Room but in an isolated country road but instead of an actual panic room, its the insides of an overturned ambulance. As the people involved in the accident both in the police car and the ambulance wakes up, they start to realize that there is a group of brutal killers outside waiting to kill each one of them one by one.

The isolated ditch in the middle of nowhere at night is a wonderful horror/thriller setting. It brings in the helplessness and the fear even more as the unknowns lie in the dark. The mystery also comes from why this group has targeted them specifically: Is it for the prisoners that are being transferred or is it just for the hunt itself? The questions that build up do get answered gradually towards the middle which does feel like the reveal is a little bit early at times as this leads into this long face-off period which loses steam as the final confrontation is also drawn out as it faces down to almost monologue moment that also feels a little tedious. This is definitely a pacing issue with the script itself as perhaps the entire plot was structured a little straightforward in the beginning that there isn’t as many angles to play with in execution.

With that said, the tension that is built in the first act is done really well and does trail into a good portion of the second act. A lot of it also comes down to some well-structured kills as they go through them one by one while they try to survive in their own way. Its a rather psychological battle for the most part as well as a battle of the wits in the final act. While there are quite a few characters in these interactions, the main few do focus around Melina the paramedic, the strapped down manipulative prisoner as well some other paramedics that make it out. As they use the resources in their tight ambulance space to survive, it does make for some nice fight back moments.

The main element with Ditched is that where it works and doesn’t work is in its plot. Where is doesn’t work is in how it seems to get to the reveal point of what the goal is as mentioned before. However, it also works in the plot as it creates this more conflicted view towards people in general where it makes the audience think about whether the killers are actually bad and the survivors are actually good. In more simple terms, the gray area gets explored here in human nature and probably how some people aren’t exactly what meets the eye completely while also leaving some room at the end for a little further contemplation about whether what is done as the big finale is actually justified.

Overall, Ditched is a decent horror thriller. It does show a lot of low budget elements. It also does feel like it has a lot of influences in terms how certain moments are treated. The director’s message at the beginning does talk about his intentions of creating something that feels like it been the missing 80s film that no one ever saw before but finally get a 4K release and in many moments, it definitely feels like an 80s film whether in dialogue or the effects or how certain scenes are structured.

TADFF 2021: Nightshooters (2018)

Nightshooters (2018)

Director (and writer): Marc Price

Cast: Adam McNab, Nicky Evans, Rosanna Hoult, Jean-Paul Ly, Richard Sandling, Kaitlyn Riordan, Mica Proctor, Nicholas Aaron, Ben Shafik, Doug Allen

An action thriller about a group of filmmakers who find themselves on the run from a violent horde of criminals after witnessing a brutal gangland execution. Unable to flee the derelict building they have been shooting in, the hapless film crew must use their technical skill and cinematic knowledge to defend themselves. The stunt man is a martial arts master, the special effects guru disregards safety and sets lethal traps, and the sound department strategically lay radio mics to detect when the hoodlums are on their way. Cue lots of thrills in a cat and mouse game of survival. – IMDB

For fans of The Raid and Snatch, there’s a lot to love about Nightshooters, a low budget action thriller that takes place in one location, a soon-to-be demolished building which almost feels like some kind of the real situation being reflected in a more fictional setting but similar as the story also features a group of filmmakers making a low budget film in a soon to be demolished building with a few hours countdown. This right away sets up this urgency that this will come into play as the two groups goes up against each other. While there is not actual counter, its a little detail that really does bring the setting as a constant reminder.

When the crew ends up witnessing a crime execution in the other side of the way and the criminals goes after them in this building, its all a great set-up in the first act which sets the tone especially in terms of the dark comedy and the characters involved and their basic characters and abilities. Much like how it naturally flows into some fantastic action sequences and choreography when it gets into the criminals against filmmakers running and hiding through this building which is both dangerous as it already has all its demolishment explosives in place which could easily be triggered but also the criminals being rather a wide group of characters and lethal in their own ways as well.

Talking about the characters, there’s so much to love about them as well especially when it comes to the film crew themselves. This group is definitely the characters which are meant for the audience to connect to a lot more. Their different roles and their abilities and know-how come into play as they try to survive the chase from the other criminals. With a lot of the action sequences powered by a fantastic action choreography and sequences with Donnie played by Jean-Paul Ly (also, could the name be a nod to Donnie Yen?), there’s some exceptional moments here through these fight scenes.

However, not only their more professional fight sequences are great to watch but also a moment where the more amateur fight moments like one with the character Kim (Mica Proctor) which was a lot of fun but the other character encounters also leading to some creative death sequences as they defeated the criminals one by one. There are some really cool effects executed there. The stand-out characters has to be the three girls of the film crew as they are very resourceful especially Ellie (Rosanna Hoult) who has some foreshadowing in what she will use at the beginning but also a lot of other know-hows that effectively come into play. Of course, for much more personal reasons, Kim is a character I rooted for (considering I’m also a Kim and she kind of reminded me of myself).

Overall, Nightshooters is a really entertaining low budget action thriller. Its effective in what it achieves as the setting and the tone is used really well. There are definitely nods to other films throughout that are rather apparent but also fit incredibly well and adds to the film itself. There’s a cast of characters that have their own value and personality which adds contrast and makes them all stand-out and fun to watch. Nightshooters has a very straightforward plot which works well with what they are trying to do.

*Nightshooters is available on Toronto After Dark Film Festival from October 13th to 17th on their virtual platform. You check it out HERE*