We posted the trailer and poster for Curry Barker’s darkly whimsical horror comedy, Obsession, earlier this week. However, the key art, from design house grandson, bears a bit more discussion in today’s column. Sometimes, simply an iconic still from the movie does indeed make the perfect poster. As the lead stares uncertainly at the ‘magical object’ that is about to turn his life upside-down in a ‘monkey’s paw’ kind of way, his would-be girlfriend ominously stands in the background as a shadow bathed in light — a superb visual storytelling image in a film filled with them. Meanwhile, the title card comes literally between them, with a hint of chromic aberration. Much like the work of Akiko Stehrenberger, the credit block eschews its formal marketing placement…
We are, admittedly, a couple of days behind on this announcement of the first wave of titles for this year’s tenth edition of the Overlook Film Festival. Shame on us. But there is no shame to be had if you’re a programmer at the festival. They have announced a first wave packed with festival hits like their opening film, Obsession, and centerpiece, Leviticus. And what we imagine will be a hit on the circuit, Damian McCarthy’s Hokum, will close out this year’s festival. Larry Fesseden’s new film, Trauma, or Monsters All, will have its world premiere at the festival. In addition to that treat, three more of Fessenden’s films will be screened during the event. Other films that have been in the news lately…
Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell star in Taylor Sheridan’s latest series.
After escaping her transphobic hometown, Anna meets goth tattoo artist Gen. They bond over shared supernatural abilities, but Gen’s tattoo work accidentally conjures a demon before their romance can bloom.
Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman, Thaddea Graham, and Michelle Pfeiffer star in the Apple TV series.
Timid dork Edie makes waves when she starts a punk band with her fellow “turds,” becoming an icon to the rest of the losers at her Catholic school while pissing off the hot girls, the nuns, and the horniest altar boy you’ve ever seen.
James Van Der Beek and Mason Gooding star in a new racially charged thriller.
A weekend couples’ excursion the Australian woods goes hellishly awry in director Richard E. Williams’s experimental POV horror, Dead Eyes, premiering this week at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Sean (Rijen Laine) and his fiancée Grace (Ana Thu Nguyen) are meeting up with couple friends Eric (Charles Cottier) and Kate (Alea O’Shea) for a camping outing to kick back and have a bit of fun, sadly, the fun doesn’t last long when their true intentions – to search for Sean’s missing and estranged father – come to light. When childhood friends Sean and Charles begin to explore a remote shack they frequented in their youth, its current resident(s) turn their optimism into a nonstop, bloody nightmare, and no one is safe from the terror. Shot entirely…
Amy Wang directed; Shirley Chen, Mckenna Grace, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Fang Du, and Vivian Wu star.