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The psychological horror film I Saw the TV Glow released this past weekend from director Jane Schroenbrun. Their previous work on their narrative debut film We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was absolutely groundbreaking, perfecting the medium of webcam storytelling onscreen and telling a story that uses the internet as a tool to elevate its already disturbing aspects rather than as a marketing gimmick. With a spectacular score provided by Alex G, the film resonated with many of its viewers as it portrays an accurate look into deep web culture and pressure like no film before. With as successful an experimental film as The World’s Fair, Schroenbrun was a great pick for A24 to take notice of and distribute their next film, as well as production work provided by Emma Stone’s production company, Fruit Tree. I Saw the TV Glow plays most of its shots fairly straight—no webcam shots here—but pushes them past their limits to highlight the heart of the film and amplify the uncanny and familiar feeling of a niche interest that goes so much deeper than it initially appears.

Online, there seems to be a divide between those who find the film overrated and confusing and those who think the message couldn’t be more obvious and reprimand those who think otherwise. Personally, I feel even on a shallower scale the film sends a well-mannered message about how humans can bond over even the most obscure things. When it comes to the fictional show, The Pink Opaque, Owen and Maddy (played by Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine respectively) find their whole lives forever changed by its very presence. Yet, despite its seemingly unending reach across their entire lives and irreversible mark on their mentalities, the two of them seem to be all they have in regards to thinking, talking, and acting on it. Having an obscure special interest like Owen and Maddy share in the film is portrayed in an incredibly real, mature way. It can feel like a lonesome, unique experience, whether you truly feel alone in your investment or if you have people willing to listen, but not to understand.

Of course, the deeper meaning of the film comes down to the exploration of self-identity, finding yourself and who you are, and how that correlates to your place in the world. The film makes it clear from the start how Maddy views the world as whatever someone makes of it, and wants Owen to feel the same. However, Owen is apprehensive about fully immersing himself into The Pink Opaque, feeling self-conscious about even dropping the show’s name in front of his parents as he knows they wouldn’t understand. With the film being through the eyes of Owen from start to finish, we even get a few glimpses of the life he would be living if he listened to Maddy fully, embracing who he truly is and how the show truly makes him feel. It’s a clear enough allegory for one’s own identity in regards to gender, sexuality, and personality that it hardly even feels allegorical at times. Just as The Pink Opaque feels realer than a show for Owen and Maddy, the viewing audience will be able to feel the genuine pain portrayed by the two in how they respond to the show’s storylines, and how no one else quite seems to understand. In my own opinion, that’s what really drives a great psychological horror home, when it feels as if the lines between cinema and reality are blurred together just enough to stick with its viewers far past the drive home from the theater.

I Saw the TV Glow is now playing in theaters nationwide.

It’s a big day for fans of indie animation as Glitch Productions (Murder Drones, Meta Runner) has announced that the next episode of The Amazing Digital Circus, created by Gooseworx, will release to their YouTube channel on May 3rd.

The Twitter post published today reveals the central location of the next adventure, the Candy Canyon Kingdom. It appears that the cast introduced in the pilot will be present on site, with the exception of Zooble who noticeably lacked a drive to join them last time.

The Amazing Digital Circus lit the world on fire when it initially released back in October of last year, amassing over 300 million views as of mid-April and being almost immediately greenlit for a full series order by the indie animation company, Glitch Productions. They alongside other independent animation studios such as SpindleHorse Toons (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss) have been able to offer content to animation fans and animators in need of work in light of the industry’s recent layoffs and contract disputes. The funding for said content mainly comes from merchandise sales on their respective websites, which fans of both studios have happily been supporting for years.

Episode 1 of The Amazing Digital Circus is available to watch for free right now on YouTube, with the next episode releasing two weeks from today. We’ll be here to cover it when it arrives.

Like many other recent years of coverage, the internet is bubbling with speculation and discussion as CinemaCon 2024 coverage spreads. Major motion studios like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Universal have been dropping new info left and right on their upcoming slates, as well as others such as Lionsgate and Blumhouse. The latter’s panel on Wednesday ended up revealing all sorts of information for its loyal fans, such as the release date of the highly anticipated sequel to Five Nights at Freddy’s—Fall 2025. Whether or not this will be Halloween of that year as the last one remains to be seen. Though, hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy the sequel just as much as we did the first film in the franchise.

Another piece of information revealed by the studio at the convention on Wednesday was in relation to the Blair Witch franchise. The original Blair Witch Project lit America on fire, causing a boom in the found footage horror subgenre as many questioned whether or not its depicted events and corresponding footage was real or not. No matter the original film’s quality to some and despite it not inventing the genre, it was one of the first in the subgenre to get things right and popularize its format. There will never be another film quite like the original Blair Witch Project.

So is there a reason Blumhouse is so confident they’ll be able to replicate that success?

The marketing, speculation, and contents of the original film worked together in a way that only could have worked that first time. Advertisements marketed its stars as missing, and the footage as when they were last seen. The stars in question were relatively unknown, as was the directing/writing team behind the film, all of whom were credited by their own names a la documentary format. This all blended together to make speculation about its authenticity run rampant, which only fueled the fire more. Now that this perfect storm has come and gone, it’s been hard for any subsequent entry in the Blair Witch series to drum up nearly the amount of publicity the original did.

This isn’t to say that Blumhouse as a studio lacks the talent or drive to crank out box office successes. Recent endeavors such as The Black Phone, M3GAN, and especially last year’s Five Nights at Freddy’s have seen extremely impressive returns, both in terms of revenue and reception. The studio is at its best when producing engaging screenplays directed by filmmakers with complete creative control over the project. Though, with a director still unannounced for the studio’s Blair Witch film at this time, a morbid curiosity looms over whether or not the studio can helm a director/writer team that can put a twist on the concept and subgenre as engaging as the 1999 film.

We’ll be covering more news from CinemaCon 2024 in the coming weeks as the news from the event materializes and expands.

The 21st of March brought with it the premiere of Peter Five Eight, a noir action-thriller featuring Kevin Spacey in his first role of 2024. Invincible Entertainment’s newest release stars Spacey as the titular Peter, a mysterious assassin sent on a mission to a small town to investigate Sam, a real estate agent living a double life, played by Jet Jandreau.

The film, named after the verse of the same name from the King James Bible, excels in its masterful direction by Michael Zaiko Hall, who also served as the writer and one of the producers on the film. Despite its dark themes, the film feels extremely alive and vibrant due to Nigel Galt‘s excellent editing and color grading of every scene. This choice makes the small town Spacey explores feel notably homely, which sells the fish out of water dynamic he has with each of its inhabitants.

Every character Peter interacts with during his stay in the mountain town feels distinct, with the supporting cast bringing every location to life. The dialogue between those onscreen feels natural, allowing for the audience to get invested in their lives and how Peter’s role in the town will interact and coalesce into them. This makes it all the more shocking when action-packed scenes begin, as we watch Peter chasing Sam through familiar locations we’ve previously associated with this calm, familiar hometown.

With assassins and killers as charismatic as Peter and Sam cast perfectly, Peter Five Eight has something for everyone who enjoys a good action-thriller. The air of mystery in a small town is reminiscent of shows like Twilight Zone, and it’s a great time watching Spacey and Jandreau make the story feel so alive and turn the town’s usual way of life upside down.

Peter Five Eight is now available to buy/rent on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and YouTube Movies.

When The Walking Dead ended its run on AMC in 2022, it felt as if there were no major active efforts left in the zombie film scene, save for a few of the show’s spinoffs that weren’t doing very well. With 11 seasons worth of content there, it felt hard to breathe new life into a genre so conceptually predictable. The world population falls to the infection, there are a few small groups of survivors left traversing the planet, et cetera, et cetera. Personally, I find the genre the most interesting when there are factors to keep me entertained besides the clear threat of zombies. I’ve had a good time with films like Zombieland and the likes of the Cornetto trilogy, as they zero in on a group of strangers who absolutely do NOT belong together in this situation having a great time. As these two films (among others) have aged, artists who’ve grown up with them have had a chance to contribute to the genre with the inspiration received from said films. Enter Haro Aso with his 2018 story, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead.

The story focuses on Akira Tendo, a film production worker who, upon discovering he’s woken up to a zombie apocalypse, quits his job for an indefinite vacation to do everything he’s always wanted to do but never had the time for. Accompanied by his childhood friend Kencho, the mysterious Shizuka, and the eccentric foreigner Beatrix, the four face the road ahead with an open mind and a collective bucket list to complete before they succumb to the infection.

The story asks the question, would you rather despair until your known inevitable demise, or make the most of the time you have until that fateful day? The four main cast members all have a layered background explored in the episodes, comparing and contrasting their mundane lives prior to the start of the virus. Kensho had a similar miserable work experience to Akira, Beatrix always dreamed of visiting Japan, and Shizuka’s troubled past leads her present journey to pump some life back into her flawed perspective. They all learn, and more importantly, live, in the face of the danger this fearsome new world presents.

The story takes a strangely positive outlook on the prospect of a zombie pandemic, making it stand out in the crowd of other attempts to take on the genre. The blood spilled by those infected upon the survivors has the aesthetic of a paint can, multiple colors gushing out across the streets of multiple cities and countrysides of Japan. It’s almost reminiscent of the Danganronpa series’ infamous pink blood, though tonally both serve their series equally well. Danganronpa‘s pink blood adds to its eerie tone of mystery and deceit, making each body discovery all the more shocking. Zom 100 utilizes the multicolored blood splatters to its fullest potential, creating the most colorful, dynamic landscapes for any piece of zombie fiction I’ve ever seen—besides maybe Plants vs. Zombies. The intro is a force to be reckoned with as well, boasting flash mob-esque visuals alongside said colorful splatters.

The first season of Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead is now streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.

When I saw the reception to Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One was so overwhelming that it extended its stay in American cinemas, I knew I had to check the film out. Despite a lack of knowledge on the genre, what I did know was that many of my friends were fans of Godzilla films, namely Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s Shin Godzilla film in 2016. So, when the opportunity arose to check out the new film in theaters with them, I accepted, and can confirm that from that day forward I’ve become a massive fan of the Godzilla films. It’s that good.

Godzilla Minus One is a combination of genres I haven’t heard before. Obviously it’s a kaiju film, Godzilla’s name is right there in the title, but the film also leans heavily into the war genre and nails the mental and emotional toil that comes with it. The main protagonist Kōichi lives a life full of unending trauma, torture, and tragedy that he eventually feels personally tied in with the titular Godzilla. The film is largely comprised of preparation for the monster’s attack, intercut with lower-scale attacks he makes prior to surfacing on the main islands of Japan. It’s gripping the whole way through due to the horrors of war Kōichi faces early on. The audience wants him to succeed, because they’ve already seen what failure has done to him.

The effects in the film feel so real and consequential, with both digital and practical effects meshing together in a way that refuses to break immersion. It’s hard to tell at times which is which, instead letting the actions of Godzilla speak for themselves as a team of dedicated veterans and engineers plan a counterattack. I’ve seen films these past few years in theaters with hundreds of millions of dollars poured into their budget only for their visual effects to come out unpolished and unreliable. Godzilla Minus One has an alleged budget of less than $15 million, and yet its gorgeous effects put even the highs of most modern Marvel releases to shame.

As mentioned at the beginning, Godzilla Minus One has recently extended its stay in theaters due to its immense success in the West, alongside another Japanese film The Boy and the Heron. Our review of the latter is linked here, and I highly encourage you to see both while you can. They’re both unforgettable theater experiences in their own right.

Godzilla Minus One is now playing in theaters worldwide.