This year, the Women in Horror Film Festival had an interesting variety of feature films, from the comedic to the very dark. Here’s a rundown of the ones I saw!
The Dark Red
dir. Dan Bush
Sybil is a woman in a psych ward claims to have been kidnapped by a secret cult who stole her baby. Why? Because that baby carries the same supernaturally-powered blood that she does. It’s almost a cross between X-Men and a (very white) Get Out, which I realize makes it sounds ridiculous, but it actually works quite well. A series of therapy sessions tells her backstory, which makes you (and Sybil) question the reality of the situation. Her history is pretty scary, but it almost becomes an action film when the story shifts into hardcore revenge mode. The movie is well shot, has great music and sound design, and some solid performances. While there are some thematic ideas that I don’t think are satisfyingly used (fallible memory, the mention by the evil father of their history with Native Americans), overall the film is definitely worth seeing!
Mass Hysteria
dir. Arielle Cimino and Jeff Ryan
This horror-comedy starts with a great concept that immediately had me hooked. A group of Salem Witch Trial re-enactors find themselves living the part when a bunch of rowdy Halloween tourists go insane and try to hunt them down. It’s a really fun idea, bolstered by strong comedic performances by the two leads Geena Santiago and Jeff Ryan. While there are some pacing issues and budgetary limitations, the film largely succeeds at what it’s trying to do. I’m definitely interested to see what this crew does next. Follow the film on their Facebook page.
Cold Wind Blowing
dir. Dionne Copland
When six friends hold up in a remote cabin over Christmas to avoid their families, they find themselves fighting for their lives as an ancient, deadly creatures stalks them. There’s a great moodiness to this one that really takes advantage of the dark, snowy setting. I really enjoyed the way the film slowly introduces you to the characters and their relationships. You gradually find out that nearly everyone has had some sort of romance with nearly everyone else, which creates some tense situations even before the monster shows up. There are some interesting ideas at play, and although I wish it was a little clearer how it all comes together, it’s definitely worth the ride.
Black Lake
dir. K/XI
K/XI (K. Pervaiz) writes, directs, produces, and stars as Aarya, a painter who goes to a secluded house in the country to relax and find inspiration. She receives a scarf from her aunt, however, that she finds is haunted by its former owner. The synth-heavy score for this film created by BurningTapes is fantastic; unfortunately, the music is the only enjoyable thing about the film. Black Lake is a self-indulgent work that falls into nearly all the traps that indie films are prone to. It’s extremely overlong, uses distracting, frustratingly zoomed in framing, and most importantly fails to adapt what could be an interesting story into a feature when it very clearly ought to be a short film. If you like a series of music videos with slow motion painting and doing yoga, maybe this is for you, but it wasn’t for me.
See our picks for the best short films of this year’s fest here!