Goldbeater

Dream Scenario is a satirical fantasy comedy that follows the fate of a shy and curmudgeonly college professor who suddenly starts appearing in the dreams of hundreds of people. While he initially enjoys his bizarre fame, reality slowly begins to turn into a nightmare. The film subtly opens up the theme of cancel culture and is a solid addition to quality films like The Hunt or Tar, even though it approaches the subject with lightness and humour (quite dark, it must be said). Nicolas Cage shines in one of his most ambitious projects in recent years, and you'll love his neurotic goofball. Finally, I'll add a little warning. If you see the trailer, you'll be given away significant parts of the film, including some of the funniest scenes. So be careful how much you dose yourself with information about this film before watching it.

At its core, the Toxic Avenger is a material that is simply suited to the ultra-low-budget waters of Troma Entertainment, a studio that has never been afraid to be provocative, wild and unbridled, which was one of its main charms. Transferring him to a mid-budget project from big studio Legendary Entertainment fails already on paper. The result is wannabe edgy, but in reality it’s quite tame, tidy and unsurprising compared to the original four-film series, and I'm not even sure what type of audience it's actually targeting. What's also bizarre is that although the reboot was given a more generous budget, apart from the casting of more familiar actors, you won’t notice it, especially in terms of the action, which is notably absent. It lacks ideas, playfulness and daring (compare that to the Dadaist explosion of ideas and razor-sharp wit that is Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV). Instead, it has lots and lots of deaf spots, and also attempts at humour that hardly ever hit the ground running.

The superb supporting actor David Dastmalchian shines as the host of a late-night talk show whose 1977 Halloween special is disrupted by a sinister uninvited guest. The entire film is formatted as a newly discovered account of the show's fateful episode, its footage gradually weaving a thread of chilling unease and tension between the show's machined jokes, variety acts and artificial stunts, which builds and builds as the minutes tick by until the startling finale. It's reminiscent of the British cult hit Ghostwatch, also set in a television studio, but which pushed authenticity first and foremost. Late Night with the Devil doesn't try to fake it completely and instead, by deviating from the format, reminds the viewer that it is still primarily a narrative film, and a very impressive one at that. You know all along that something terrifying is coming. And when it comes, it's worth it.

Hundreds of Beavers is a low-budget film set in snowbound 19th-century Wisconsin that combines the visuals of classic silent films with the dynamism of Warner Brothers animated slapstick, takes something of the video game aesthetic, and mixes all of these styles into a well-crafted whirlwind of bombastically funny ideas and curious situations. It's a masterclass in script construction and, in particular, the creation, repetition and expansion of individual gags, which abound with an inventiveness like no other film in a long time. I can't remember the last time I laughed in a cinema like this. For the two main filmmakers, this is a seven-mile leap forward from their previous Lake Michigan Monster, and at the same time, we have once again a wonderful demonstration that you can get a lot of value for money if you have solid ideas in your head. And that some of those ideas have the chops to make this little flick an instant comedy classic.

Vermines is a bit like Arachnophobia in the French way. You get rather unconventional and not very likeable characters, a grimy slum setting and a very limited amount of humour, but you also get solid action, very indiscriminate spider terror and a few scenes that will make you uncomfortable in your seat. The film uses real creatures in many scenes, and when it goes into computer-generated effects, it's not noticeable at all, so the realistic visuals do a lot for the viewer's effect. There probably aren't that many good spider horror movies historically, but this one can easily count among them.

The Daughter of Frankenstein and her emancipatory odyssey across Europe and the Mediterranean. Once again, Yorgos Lanthimos presents us with a fragment from a twisted fantasy world, but one that bears more parallels to our own than one might first expect. The story focuses on the development of the character Bella, who is brought back to life after death by a peculiar scientist, whereupon, with the brain of a child, she learns about the world and gradually develops in all directions, even those that could be described as taboo. Emma Stone gives a masterful performance, and her character packs on more and more layers as the minutes pass until the triumphant finale. This engaging, visually extravagant and humorous film about the journey of an original protagonists of real-world discovery and gradual emancipation will definitely not bore you for a moment.

The Primevals is a project by Full Moon Features, the bulk of which was filmed in 1994 after the considerable success of Jurassic Park, but remained unfinished after funding problems and was shelved for nearly three decades after the death of director David Allen. It wasn't until a few years ago that producer Charles Band decided to pay for its completion, and so in 2023, after 29 long years, we finally have a finished product that is a downright genre relic from the mid-90s, using stop-motion animation techniques to a great extent. Plot-wise, it's a sort of Lost World with a little genre twist, and a rather silly, laugh-out-loud film to boot, but it definitely has the guileless charm of Band's productions, and if you're a fan of Full Moon's trashy stuff, it'll definitely fit the bill.

After so many positive first reactions, When Evil Lurks is a solid disappointment for me. The premise of demonic possession spreading like an epidemic is great, but as is unfortunately the case, the translation of a promising premise to the screen and especially the ways they chose to go with it went more and more off the rails as the minutes ticked by. Characters make bizarre decisions influenced by motives we don't understand, they disappear from the plot and reappear as the script sees fit, and the whole thing is so oddly constructed that after the climax of the entire film, I was convinced that there had to be at least one more act to follow to pull it out of its lackluster sub-par state and add some proper resolution. It didn't.

The Last Stop in Yuma County is practically a mix of the best of Tarantino and the Coen brothers in an intimate, minimalist fashion. And I mean that in a good way. Heated situations are interspersed with fatal misunderstandings, distinctly specific and interestingly outlined characters get a solid and indiscriminate beating, and the film definitely has more than a few plot surprises in store, too. It's kind of a small, playful, fun festival flick.

Grindhouse Releasing's iconic theme song lures you into an unpretentious, trashy horror film in the first seconds, but despite initial expectations, Insanity is not really about that and fans hungry for blood and violence will be disappointed, even though it's a restrained prototype of William Lustig's Maniac. The film is more drama than horror. An underground drama that shows how Hollywood's dream factory sweeps up ambitious young people who come to Los Angeles with big plans and find themselves chewed up, broken and alone. It's practically exploitation in the most romantic sense, because it works on multiple levels. The film is fascinating for its footage of Hollywood in the early 1970s, where the characters are drawn to the scenery, the culture in the streets, the street art, or even the architecture of the old buildings that will soon be torn down, so the film also functions as a kind of time capsule of that era. In terms of plot, it's slow and literally mind-numbing, but a patient and perceptive viewer with a sense of ambitious low-budget genre production can immerse themselves in it, and then be rewarded by the final scene, which combines a rather abrupt and shocking conclusion to the story with a perfect tight camera shot from a helicopter across Hollywood, in addition to several thought-provoking themes.