Written and directed by Marc Price, Dune Drifter begins during an ongoing battle for humanity. A rookie space fighter pilots become assigned to join a pivotal battle against an armada of unbeatable enemy ships.
A trainee pilot, played by Phoebe Sparrow, navigates a combat ship called Gray 6 as part of the Gemini unit and the Dune squadron, hence the movie title. She and her gunner, Daisy Aitkens, are shot down. They crash land on a nearby planet called Erebus. With the gunner mortally wounded and her life support only set to last two days, her only option is to fix her ship.
The sudden appearance of an enemy craft offers the answer, but as the pilot looks for parts to use on her ship, she’s horrified to spot another survivor. An enemy alien soldier, Simon Dwyer-Thomas, has no intention of letting her escape.
The low-CGI effects remind me of the science fiction movies Roger Corman produced, where some talented directors such as James Cameron and Joe Dante emerged. Price keeps the film fast-paced, including twists to keep me interested in the story. Price uses low-budget backdrops to keep the post-production down. Sparrow holds her own, convinces me she’s a survivor and gets the bad guy. Though the story is not original, it held my attention, focusing on the story more than the special effects.
I must admit, I needed help reviewing this movie because I am not a big science fiction fan. I looked at Erik Mortensen’s review on Geeky Hobbies, and Camillo De Marco’s on Cineuropa. Both helped me understand the excitement of this movie.
Science fiction movie fans are sure to rave about this movie. It’s an indie, a sci-fi film that they can pull the DVD from their library and share with their friends in the comfort of their home theater.
Written and directed by Nicholas Winter, A Dark Path follows sisters Abi and Lily on their way home from a party in eastern Europe. They get lost. With no signal and an unreliable GPS, they try to navigate their way out using road signs. Their front tire suddenly blows out along a narrow road through a deep forest.
They find themselves completely cut off from the outside world with no spare tire or cell service. Soon they discover that this is no ordinary forest. They understand why no cars come here because the locals know what lives in the woods. They’ve woken it, and there is nowhere to run.
The movie lacks a lot of essential elements. All the reviews I saw were negative.
Written and directed by Ciro Sorrentino, Time Loop follows a father and son team of scientists played by Mino Sferra and Sam Gittins, respectively.
They unlock the secret of time travel while researching time movement. When the father and son perform their first test, they get trapped in a time loop. The result is their past actions have grave consequences in the present and future.
The story takes place in in a quiet Italian village, as the story unfolds the son has to face consequences for choices he hasn’t made yet, which is a nice spin but not original.
Ellie Poussot also stars as Celestine Dijoux.
The movie won several awards, including the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival for Best Horror and Science Fiction Film, MedFF for Best Photography, Toronto International Spring of Horror and Fantasy Film Festival for Best Film, and Virgin Sprint Cinefest for Gold Award as Debut Filmmaker.
The sci-fi and psychological thriller follows a mother and her son, who is affected by a genetically engineered plant. The red-flowered plant mysteriously shares its scent while the story twists and turns until the end.
Directed by Jessica Hausner, Little Joe follows Alice, played by Emily Beecham, who won the Best Actress award at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Alice is a single mother and dedicated senior plant breeder at a corporation engaged in developing new species of plants. She engineered a unique crimson flower, remarkable not only for its beauty but also for its therapeutic value. If kept at the ideal temperature, appropriately fed and spoken to regularly, this plant makes its owner happy. The story gets interesting when Alice goes against company policy and takes one home as a gift for her teenage son, Joe, played by Kit Conner. They christen it “Little Joe.” But as their plant grows, so too does Alice’s suspicion that her new creation may not be as harmless as its nickname suggests.
Don’t believe this mumbo-jumbo, but it explains how the plant influences people.
Hausner states, “In this sense, Little Joe is a parable about what is strange within ourselves. This becomes tangible in the film by means of a plant, which is apparently capable of changing people. As a result of this change something unfamiliar emerges, and something believed to be secure is lost — the bond between two people.”
The plant traumatizes those it pollinates with foreboding, austere colors and energetic drums and strings as a soundtrack. Throughout, you sense an awkward interpersonal relationship. It comes across in Alice’s contact with her colleague Chris, played by Ben Whishaw, who is devious and calculating while he tries to romance her. Having Whishaw play against type is ominous since we’re familiar with him as Q in the James Bond franchise and Mary Poppins Returns as the amicable father and brother. Chris courts Alice, demonstrated by uneasy offers for an after-work drink, then faltering struggles at kisses. Still, the red plant remains in the background, adversely affecting Chris’s ordinarily friendly and playful dog, bringing more tension to the story and jolting me out of my seat.
As a parallel, we watch human Joe begin his first romantic relationship with his first girlfriend, Selma, played by Jessie Mae Alonzo, another source of anxiety. Alice realizes her little boy is becoming a young man and more of his person, spending less time with her. It’s a sad moment for Alice, but something more profound is happening, and she discounts it. Perhaps she shouldn’t, giving the message to parents that they need to connect to their kids.
Hausner associates the film as more abstract and artificial than real life, even though scenes occur in greenhouses, laboratories, and real locations. Shot with mint green and white with the red flower. “We chose these almost childish colors to give the film the characteristics of a fairy-tale or fable.”
The movie sounds simple but is more complicated, and the story is driven as a psychological thriller about a plant that undermines a young boy’s life.
“Every working mother is familiar with being asked the question, which is often led with accusation: ‘So, who looks after your child when you go to work?’ Little Joe is about a mother who is tormented by her bad conscience when she goes to work and ‘neglects’ her child. A mother whose feelings are ambivalent because the plant is Alice’s other child: her work, her creation, the product of her labor. And she doesn’t want to neglect this child either or lose it. But which of her children will Alice choose in the end?” explains Hausner.
Take a workplace robot named Auto, the company jerks his chain, and he transforms into a killing machine when he discovers a more efficient model will replace him.
Before Garo Setian directed, produced, and edited Automation, he co-wrote the screenplay with Rolfe Kanefsky and Matthew L. Schaffer.
The film stars Elissa Dowling, Parry Shen, Graham Skipper, Sarah French, and Sadie Katz as office employees assail into danger by a vindictive robot.
The storyline caught my attention, but I didn’t think the movie would be intelligent as a sci-fi thriller. Sure, it’s low-budget, and the script is witty. But, more heart in this movie and the creative team’s performance would have been good. But, it’s hard to do so within the financial means.
Then, it’s revenge time for the robot, and he is not messing around. I liked the movie’s unorthodox chills.
The Blu-Ray release of the movie includes separate commentaries with Setian and Writer Rolfe Kanefsky and Setian and Anahit Setian with Producer Dan Bowen, deleted and alternate scenes, bloopers, Behind The Scenes featurettes Writing The Screenplay and Building “Auto” with “Evil’ Ted, “Auto’s Voice” An Interview With VO Artist Jim Tasker and bonus interviews with cast and crew.
Harris, played by Gino Anthony Pesi, is fatigued without peace with the world. He makes a living as a taxi driver. His next fare, Penny, played by Brinna Kelly, intangles themselves trapped in a neverending ride that loops and loops, eventually changing their lives eternally.
Written by the lead actress, Kelly, and directed by D.C. Hamilton, when Harris picks up a lovely woman named Penny as his next fare, he finds himself captivated. Notably, right up until she disappears from the back seat without an imprint. As he frantically tries to come to terms with what happened, he resets his meter and is promptly back to the time she first climbed into his cab. He and Penny find themselves entangled in an endlessly circling ride that transforms their lives eternally.
The Farescreened internationally, taking many awards, such as the Director’s Prize for Overall Concept and Execution at FilmQuest, the Special Mention Jury Award at Fantasporto, and Best Dark Fantasy/Supernatural Film at the Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival.
Overall the story is intriguing with believable acting and unpredictable. I expectations of what I thought would happen didn’t. I could not figure out what was the cause of the looping. The movie is romantic and worth seeing as an indie film. It reminds me of a Hitchock film or an episode from The Twilight Zone.
Written and directed by Mathieu Turi, Hostile takes place when a worldwide epidemic pretty much killed most of the population on Earth.
Those few who survived the epidemic struggled every day, trying to find food and shelter. With that, a creature, unlike them, proves that they are not alone. The beast is super creepy. Take a look at the poster and Blu-ray/ DVD cover. You get a good idea of what this thing looks like in the movie.
Juliette, played by Brittany Ashworth, is driving on her way back from a scavenging mission. She experiences a terrible accident. She is trapped in her car, with a broken leg, in the middle of an unforgiving desert. That is not the entire story. There are a couple of stories within the story itself.
As you can see in the two movie clips, Ashworth’s acting skills shine as she tries to deal with and outsmart the creature. The story is about how she must survive the dangers of the post-apocalypse world while a strange creature prowls around her car.
Another part of the movie is a love story told in flashbacks while Juliette tries to survive the car crash and creature. The story is between her and a Frenchman named Jack, played by Gregory Fitoussi. The love story is a bit slow and twisted to the horror-thriller and science-fiction aspects of the movie. All in all, I think horror fans will like watching this movie because it is not your usual horror movie. There is even a nice twist at the end.
Turi’s directing credits include two shorts and another feature called Meander, which is in pre-production at this writing. He paid his dues in the business, working on sets as assistant director of several movies.
Directed by VFX artist Matthew Santoro, Higher Power is a visually rich sci-fi thriller. The movie stars Ron Eldard and Colm Feore.
Santoro makes his directorial debut with the story of Joseph Steadman, played by Eldard. Steadman suddenly finds himself under the command of a mad scientist, played by Colm Feore. The mad scientist is on a mission that will alter the fate of his family and the world.
Because of the scientist, Steadman becomes equipped with new superpowers. But, he remains under the thumb of the seemingly omniscient scientist, and Steadman does all he can to protect his daughters from the man who bargains with their lives. The scientist’s warped mind overshadows his mysterious quest meant to save all of humanity. When the Universe decides what it wants, it’s pointless to resist. With his family’s life at stake, Joseph Steadman finds himself the unwilling test subject of a maniacal scientist in a battle that could save the world or destroy it.
Santoro uses his professional background in crafting an impressive movie filled with special effects. He directs a stunning a world of supernatural abilities and consequences. Santoro immerses you in the movie like a trippy journey. Spending most of the time going through the experiences of the main character, Steadman, as his life is engineered and disfigured to turn him into something stronger. I wasn’t sure what to expect watching this movie. It’s quite different from other movies that are similar in character. Higher Power is a refreshing concept with a trippy story.
The acting is decent and the story starts off slow. But, hang in there because as the story unfolds the movie becomes a rocket ride in which a reluctant man must overcome his past in order to find his higher power. The ending makes watching the movie worth it.
The movie clips show a good deal of what the movie emulates. The special effects are awesome but basic. Only someone like Santoro can pull it off.
Directed by Thierry Poiraud, Don’t Grow Up, is not your typical young adult story. It’s almost brutal and disgusting. The unique movie is a horror movie that might mesmerize horror fans because it brings a whole new level of horrifying.
If you are a horror fan, you might be familiar with Poiraud’s Goal of the Dead. Like Dead, Don’t Grow Up flourishes in a world of terror where the possibility of survival is limited.
A group of teenage delinquents living in a youth center wake up to find themselves all alone with no one to watch over them. The teens celebrate their newfound freedom by partying, playing loud music and visualizing a life without guardians.
After the excitement fades, they decide to leave the group home for good. Upon arriving in the nearby town, they find the streets deserted, and in a post-apocalyptic state. Now, the real story brings us to the outskirts of London, where six teens find themselves without supervision and immediately take to making the most of their new privilege. No longer limited to the space of their detention center, they explore the inner city with Liam, played by McKell David, as their self-appointed leader.
After Liam’s girlfriend, played Natifa Mai, walks off after an argument, she has an aggressive confrontation with the group’s supervisor that leaves her wounded. Discovering that the attack is not isolated and is the result of a widespread epidemic that leaves children and adolescents unaffected, the group must defend themselves against manic adults, paranoid children and, ultimately, their own maturity.
The few adults they do encounter all seem to be infected by a mysterious epidemic, making them blood-thirsty and psychotic. They try to discover a way to survive against the zombie-like adults while helping the destitute children. In order to survive, they realize the importance of growing up and taking responsibility. They need to band together and find a route to safety. These zombie adults are nothing like the kind you typically see of late. These are fast and can think on their feet, which adds even more to the horror.
The undercurrent that some of the teens are older than the others and those older will turn into zombies before the others. The unspoke words are subtle and savage with each other. Hence, the movie’s fitting title – Don’t Grow Up.
The Blu-ray includes behind the scenes with director Thierry Poiraud, “Making of Don’t Grow Up,” and I found it interesting following the director’s perspective of the movie. There is another feature, you get a behind-the-scenes look at the cast and their characters.
Written and directed by Jacob Gentry and earning the L’Écran Fantastique Award at the 2015 Fantasia Film Festival, Synchronicity is considered a stunning science fiction adventure. The movie stars Chad McKnight, Brianne Davis, and Michael Ironside.
It is a fascinating thriller that blends time travel and romance with corporate espionage. The musical score takes you even farther than the story itself. Compose Ben Lovett’s music is spellbinding.
The story follows physicist Jim Beale, played by McKnight, who invents the world’s first ever time machine. He quickly finds himself fighting to prevent a takeover from his largest benefactor, Klaus Meisner, played by Ironside. In order to keep the rights to his invention, he must journey back in time himself to prove that it works. On his travels, he soon meets a beautiful, yet dark and mysterious woman named Abby, played by Davis. He believes she may be working with Klaus to gain control of his life’s work. What he discovers in the past brings the story to full fruition.
Gentry starts the story while it is already underway, which offers a voyeur perspective of what is happening to Beale. At first, I felt like I was intruding, then I felt comfortable and understood what was happening in the movie.
The movie, in its own way, hooked me because I wanted to know what would happen next.
