As our world becomes increasingly horrifying in new and unfathomable ways, there is no better time than now for horror to help us seek out a distraction from them. Unfortunately, this January’s releases have not provided as helpful of a distraction as I had hoped for — except for one film from one of my favorite directors that presented a fresh take on the traditional haunted house story.
Although “Thanksgiving” meets the quota of what a holiday slasher should do, it’s a bit frustrating that it has no aspirations to carve a fresher take from the bones of its subgenre –– sacrificing characterization for carnage and proving that a great idea doesn’t always translate to a great feature-length film.
“Light the candle to open the door, blow it out to close it.” This is one of the most important rules in the movie “Talk to Me” where main characters Mia, Jade and Riley, along with other characters close to them, play a new party game involving an embalmed hand and demon summoning which quickly turns deadly.
Tod Browning's 1932 "Freaks" was blacklisted in its time. Today, it is held up as one of the only films in the country where the majority of the cast are individuals with disabilities. Thursday, the Coolidge Corner Theater hosted an event about the film and disability representation with speaker IndieWire TV Editor Kristen Lopez.
