UTUKKU **** Canada 2018 Dir: Mathieu Laprise. 15 mins A bite size mini-series, unfolding here in three 5 minute chapters, this has an affecting performance by Leanne Desilets as a downtrodden high school student, frequently bullied by Principal’s daughter Zeneb Blanchet and initially seen forcibly shut in her own locker.…
THE SPOONS: THE FIRST AND LAST TIME *** Canada 2019 Dir: Peter Sacco. 5 mins For the uninitiated, The Spoons is a new wave Ontario-based band that, in varying incarnations, has been around since the late seventies. “The First and Last Time” is the first song from their 2019 album…
HOW TO BE ALONE **** USA 2019 Dir: Kate Trefry. 13 mins This is the filmmaking debut for writer Kate Trefry, a staff-writer on Netflix’s STRANGER THINGS. Maika Monroe, so good in both THE GUEST and IT FOLLOWS, is typically excellent as a photographer stuck at home while her husband…
CLICHÉ ** USA 2020 Dir: Royce Freeman. 23 mins A Jacksonville-shot slasher satire from editor / writer / director Royce Freeman, this has a fabulous, rhyming opening crawl that establishes a legendary menace that “seems to have no end”. It’s a welcome tribute to a select few 80’s slashers that…
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (BFF) **** Canada 2018 Dir: Emily Gagne, Josh Korngut. 13 mins An atmospheric, stylish distillation of the American modern horror film’s vengeful / bullied teen trope, this has three teenage girls sharing the story of Nancy (Jen Pogue), a cruelly pranked, unpopular late-90’s student who disappeared after…