Cheap Thrills
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‘Cheap Thrills’ fails to capitalize on its gruesome social commentary
How much credit does rudimentary social commentary buy a film? You may find yourself pondering that question if you can distract yourself from the barrage of indignities that not only frequent but actually make up the constituent parts of the latter half of Cheap Thrills, a social satire by-way-of cruel lark that takes the makes a case against the way capitalism ferrets out and rewards our worst impulses, and does so in the crudest, most straightforward fashion imaginable. More
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Fantastic Fest 2013: My Top 5 Anticipated Films
There are just two—count ‘em, two—days until Fantastic Fest 2013 kicks off in Austin , Texas, at the Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline. In case you hadn’t been keeping track, I’ll be there for the majority of the festival covering as many movies as possible. (I will be a movie-watching/reviewing machine, just you watch.) If you’ve been […] More
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Film4 Frightfest – Day 3: ‘Cheap Thrills’ reimagines the American Dream as a savage contest
Frankenstein’s Army is the closest thing thus far to a live action Bioshock adaptation. The second Frightfest feature to resemble a video game – albeit in a positive light – the film forgoes the tiresome trademarks of the found-footage format, its curious lens rendering the entire escapade a thrilling a first-person adventure. We begin among a troupe of Russian soldiers during World War II as they delve deeper from the outskirts of the forest and into a laboratory of mechanical nasties, eventually confronting the mad scientist responsible for their creation. All the while, the camera never skirts from its responsibility as a steadfast explorer. More
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‘The Conjuring’ and Fantasia Film Fest 2013 – Sordid Cinema Podcast #62
Long live James Wan: the undisputed box-office king of mainstream horror (Insidious, Saw, Dead Silence) is only accelerating, with the critical and commercial success of The Conjuring presaging his insidious sequel later this year. The film also graced the early days of the Fantasia Film Festival, where it was joined by reams of other like-minded genre outings from all […] More
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Fantasia 2013: Additional First Wave highlights
We recently posted three big announcements from the Fantasia Film Festival which included Edgar Wright’s The Worlds End (closing the fest), a special Live theatre event for Clive Barker’s A History of the Devil, and a lifetime achievement award for Andrzej Żuławski. Additional first wave highlights have also been announced, and so far the line-up […] More
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SXSW Announces Midnight Slate
As if the line-up for SXSW wasn’t already incredible; the fest just announced their Midnight slate, which includes Rob Zombie’s The Lords Of Salem, V/H/S/2, You’re Next and the latest from director Vincenzo Natalie. SXSW runs from March 8-16. Here is the main lineup. You can see a complete list, which includes short films, over […] More