Author: Megan Williams

Livescreamers: Popcorn Frights Film Festival Review

‘Livescreamers’ follows a group of livestreamers as they sit down to play a brand-new horror game. However, they quickly discover there’s more to this game that meets the eye, and it may be more connected to reality than they realised.

Written and directed by Michelle Iannantuono, the film is a brilliant mix of the horror game ‘Simulacra’ and the 2006 film ‘Stay Alive’. Iannantuono has previously written three short films based on the video game ‘Detroit: Become Human’, all of which were fantastic and very well executed adaptations of its source material. Plus, ‘Livescreamers’ serves as a sequel to 2018’s ‘Livescream’ which carried a similar concept. So, she has an understanding of how to adapt a video game as well as an understanding of how livestreams work. As a Youtuber and someone who used to livestream myself, the way in which the film progressed in terms of its writing and acting felt very realistic.

Right from the start, all the members of the focal streaming group Janus Gaming are preparing for the upcoming stream and talking amongst themselves about their channel and their sponsors. It’s evident that they’ve been doing this as their job for a long time to the point where it’s gone from something that wanted to do because they enjoyed it, to something that’s their job, bowing down to the pressures and tiresome sponsors that come with it. And they’re all fantastic; each character has their own personalities, but also their own personas that they’ve built up on the channel: Nemo (Michael Smallwood – Detroit Evolution, Halloween Kills) has kept social media private for an important reason while Davey (Evan Michael Pearce – Chronicles of Chromaria) and Jon (Christopher Trindade – Detroit Reawakening) joke that they’re a gay couple to increase viewership. And the game takes pleasure in exposing all of that. Each character has their own issues and past traumas they have not only wrestled with but is, unfortunately, reflective of real-life scenarios.

‘Livescreamers’ looks fantastic and commits to a certain environment, which is that of a livestream. My experience of this was watching it on a laptop on full screen and, while this would look incredible on the big screen, watching it on a smaller screen made it all that special. The film fully commits to this visual style, and it works brilliantly because not once did it break away from that. The acting is the same; even when the situation is turning sour, their reactions to what is happening still felt real, despite the strange circumstances that is occurring around them. 

The game itself looks fun to play (minus the haunted/cursed aspect of it!). With Michelle Iannantuono having a filmography of video game adaptations, it makes sense that the focal game has a lot of inspirations in itself, from 2010’s horror ‘Amnesia’ to even ‘Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes’. It not only deserves a spot in the death game sub genre, but those mini games, and the haunted game’s setting, work brilliantly because of the mix of gaming inspirations that are on display and how well they are blended together. And, while the film does have stereotypical jumpscares, complete with high pitched stinger sounds, these scares are well executed because they’re displayed through the game itself. It’s supposed to be a familiar horror game set in a haunted location, reflecting that of games from the mid-2010’s, so it makes sense for it to have those types of scares. 

‘Livescreamers’ is a fantastic and, at times, scary journey and is sure to become a beloved film from the horror community. Not only is the focal game interesting, but it wears its video game inspirations proudly. Plus, the cast are all brilliant and the writing provides them with different and interesting personalities; this, along with the commitment to the live-streaming layout, makes ‘Livescreamers’ an extremely entertaining watch. 

Drive Back: Popcorn Frights Film Festival Review 

‘Drive Back’ follows a couple returning from their engagement party, only to find themselves on a seemingly endless road. If that wasn’t bad enough, a killer who calls the road home is pursuing them.

Upon reading this, I thought the synopsis was fun and interesting. As a fan of time travel, paradoxes and time loops in films and TV shows, I really enjoyed that aspect and it was utilized fantastically; the couple having their memories and their realities tested meant that they and, furthermore the audience, couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. It held an aspect of mystery as the film brought up questions regarding the couple’s situation and the workings of the road. On top of this, the killer itself was threatening and the costuming choice was really well done; its outfit was chosen for a specific reason, and was ultimately important to the film’s plot. 

With all this in consideration, I expected the film to be a fast-paced B-movie style slasher film on a unique road. But that’s not what ‘Drive Back’ offers.

The film focuses on recently engaged couple Reid (Zack Gold – Psycho Brother In-Law) and Olivia (Whit Kunschik – Country Gold) and their acting is good enough for what the film offers in terms of its writing; it’s very reminiscent of a B-slasher movie. Reid is a comic artist who seems constantly beaten by life and, as a result, has lost confidence in himself and his relationship with his father is strained due to past traumas. Furthermore, he’s lost confidence in his relationship with his fiancé. Olivia, meanwhile, has secrets of her own which get revealed as the film goes on. Beside this, she’s mostly written as the pregnant fiancé, a plot point that doesn’t go anywhere similarly to the focal road. And, while their past comes back to haunt them as they continue to travel, it would’ve benefited the film to see Olivia take on more of a role in comparison to Reid and what’s asked of him. 

But the characters aren’t the only aspect that makes ‘Drive Back’ a disappointing film; it’s also tedious and takes pleasure in grabbing every horror film trope that it can. The first act contains nothing but horror film tropes; the dead phone signal, meeting a creepy old woman in the middle of nowhere, a hitchhiker who warns them not to go further, stopping the car to help a stranger, plus both characters not looking where they’re driving when they’re talking. The latter is especially used a few times to help push them to the next part of the plot but it’s just a dull way of executing the story. And it isn’t fast paced like I was hoping; it’s slow and doesn’t get to its actual premise until the halfway mark. And, while that works with other films, it works because the first half is used to develop the character the film will be following, whereas ‘Drive Back’ does not do that. 

‘Drive Back’ has an interesting premise and has a great second half, but it’s getting to that second half that’s a chore. The film desperately tries to be scary on occasion with random jumpscares and tired horror film tropes but falls flat on its face with this. And while Zack Gold and Whit Kunschik are acting their way through this well enough, the characters themselves are uneven in terms of their writing. It seems like Reid was written and fleshed out first, while Olivia was a second thought and is only written to be the pregnant fiancé. ‘Drive Back’ would’ve worked better as a 10–15-minute short film, thus making the writing and pacing more concise but, as it stands in terms of a feature film, drive back and far away from this one. 

The Lonely Man With The Ghost Machine: Popcorn Frights Film Festival Review

‘The Lonely Man With The Ghost Machine’ stars Graham Skipper (Sequence Break, Bliss) as Wozzek, a man who has created a machine that is able to resurrect people. With this, he hopes to resurrect his deceased wife while he deals with his own sanity in a post-apocalyptic world.

The film is both a beautiful and heartbreaking tale of grief, loss and a question of mortality. The majority of the film focuses only on Graham Skipper as he lives out his days in a lonely world, and he’s phenomenal. He’s a fantastic actor who’s proven to fit into any role perfectly and this is no exception. This particular film is especially challenging due to it taking place in one location with a very minimal cast. This means that Skipper has the responsibility of carrying the near 90 minutes duration on his shoulders, but he does this effortlessly. It’s both mesmerizing and sad to watch him try to keep hold of his sanity, with his only hope being the return of his wife.

Christina Bennett Lind (Wolverine Podcast, All My Children) plays Nellie, Wozzek’s wife and, despite the small role she has, she fully embraces the small amount of time she has until she becomes the star of the show at the end. Lind and Skipper have fantastic onscreen chemistry, making their relationship believable but, furthermore, it makes Wozzek’s desperation even more convincing-it’s evident through flashbacks and his emotions that they had a loving relationship at some point before the ‘calamity’. 

‘The Lonely Man With The Ghost Machine’ can be likened to a play; there’s one location, a very small cast and the film has one primary focal character which is Wozzek, who monologues his way through the duration. And his situation is due to the previously mentioned Calamity, an event that led to the world becoming nothing. What’s appreciated is that the film sprinkles various clues as to what happened throughout its runtime instead of showing the full extent of the event, which works in its favour. Some of the clues are through flashbacks while others are demonstrated with incredible visuals of a changed sky. 

But its not just the sky that uses colour to its advantage; the use of colour throughout the entirety of ‘The Lonely Man With The Ghost Machine’ plays a huge role in the story. The film occasionally changes from black and white to colour and vice versa, but it’s utilized in a way that is reflective of a situation and emotion. This filming style has meaning and a purpose to be the way that it is and isn’t just there to look pretty (even though it is). And, even then, the colours give the visuals a slightly washed-out picture inspired by that of an 80’s film. The colours and lighting not only indicate that the visual style is influenced by films from the 1950’s, but also from the 1980’s, giving it a unique and wonderful look. Not only that, but these aspects are almost a character itself because of what they indicate and symbolize. 

‘The Lonely Man With The Ghost Machine’ is both a beautiful and heartbreaking tale that gracefully utilizes the techniques of a play. Graham Skipper and Christina Bennett Lind are phenomenal, and Skipper effortlessly carries the film on his shoulders. The use of colours and lighting play an important role and the film takes its time to tell its story. ‘The Lonely Man With The Ghost Machine’ deals with grief, loss and mortality in an interesting way and is not one to miss. 

After last year’s release of ‘The Boogeyman’, another short story by Stephen King is being adapted for the big screen.

‘The Monkey’ is a short story written by Stephen King and was featured in the collection ‘Skeleton Crew’. After twin brothers Hal and Bill (Theo James – Divergent series) find an antique monkey toy in their attic, a string of mysterious murders starts to occur around them.

The teaser only serves as an announcement of the film, but it does a fantastic job at getting moviegoers excited. Not only is Theo James starring, but Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) will be too. Another exciting aspect to the film is the crew: ‘The Monkey’ will be written and directed by Osgood Perkins, who’s just found success with the creepy horror ‘Longlegs’, and will be produced by James Wan (Malignant, Saw, Insidious). 

While it was a short teaser, ‘The Monkey’ has a fantastic cast and crew attached to it, and the focal visual of the antique monkey toy is both striking and terrifying. With Osgood Perkins writing and directing, this is one film that’s sure to be really frightening when it arrives to cinemas next year.

The Monkey is an upcoming American supernatural horror film written and directed by Osgood Perkins, which is based on the 1980 short story by Stephen King. It stars Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy.