Mark Thibodeau

Visually compelling, propulsive and thought-provoking documentary that explores an issue that is going to be of greater and greater cultural importance over the coming years and decades. For people who are already intimately aware of the issues involved, this may seem somewhat superficial (and thus worthy of 3 1/2 stars), but the novice should prepare to have his or her mind blown (4 1/2 stars for the normies).

It is a rare thing indeed when a film as broad in its scope and ambitious in its goals as The Empty Man doesn't fail somehow, considering all the things that can go wrong. Everything from studio interference to surprise budgetary shortfalls to a first time director's vision promising more than his talent can deliver, there is no end to the potential pitfalls that can doom a production like this one. Lucky for us, director David Prior has both vision and talent to spare, and with his first full-length (2h20m!) offering, he has served up a gourmet, 12-course feast of genre delights that will leave the attentive, thoughtful student of horror cinema paradoxically sated yet greedy for another heaping helping. The less you know about this movie going in, the better, so all I'm going to say is that you should avoid all trailers, spoilers, and Youtube review videos, ignore the idiotic 48% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, PAY for your download at Amazon or Youtube (or wait until it reaches one of the legit streaming sites), and when you watch it, for Pete's sake, PAY ATTENTION to the entire film. If you're anything like me, when you're done watching The Empty Man, the strongest emotion you're going to experience is the deep and powerful urge to rewind and watch the whole thing one more time. Give it a day or two between viewings, though. Trust me on this!

A cult movie that has yet to find its cult, My European Dream (or, as it has recently been re-titled: Descent into Darkness: My European Nightmare) begins as a charming, low-key, slice-of-life version of BORAT if that film were set in Paris. Then, about halfway through, it turns into something else, entirely. As disturbing as anything Lars von Trier has produced in the last few decades, this difficult-to-locate film breathes disturbing but vital new life into the found footage genre, and enters into the annals of those films, such as MARTYRS, FUNNY GAMES, SALO and A SERBIAN FILM, wherein reaching the end in a single, uninterrupted viewing confers bragging rights upon the viewer. Be the first kid on your block to freak out your pals by suggesting you all watch this film together. People will never look at you the same way again.

An excellent addition to the Folk Horror canon, of which the prime exemplar is The (original) Wicker Man, which also happens to be a heavy influence on this film. It's been a good couple years for this genre-within-a-genre, starting with The Witch and hitting definite peaks with The Ritual, A Dark Song, and now Apostle. Although not as rooted in actual philosophies, beliefs and ritual practices as some of the best in occult cinema, Apostle does a good job of presenting what life must have been life in some of those far flung turn of the century religious communes, some of which you can still find in the darker parts of both North America and the Old World. As a horror film in the Western tradition, I consider it one of the best of the year so far... richly envisioned, convincingly acted, beautifully designed, and both thrilling and intriguing. Some might find it a bit long, somewhat confusing, and more gruesome than necessary. Horror fans should DEFINITELY see it and, if they like it, help to spread the word, because one takes from a work of art only that which one is capable of taking, and a lot of dummies are putting up bad reviews that sound a whole lot like the cracking of piggish teeth on the pearls cast before them.