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The Old Ways
USA 2020
produced by Christa Boarini, T. Justin Ross, David Grove Churchill Viste, Christopher Alender (executive), Marcos Gabriel (executive), David A. Smith (executive), Scott G. Carr (executive) for Soapbox Films
directed by Christopher Alender
starring Brigitte Kali Canales, Andrea Cortés, Julia Vera, Sal Lopez, AJ Bowen, Weston Meredith, Julian Lerma, Elizabeth Phoenix Caro, Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez, Graciela Guerrero
written by Marcos Gabriel, music by Ben Lovett, creature design by Keith Thompson, special makeup and creature effects by Josh Russell, Sierra Russell
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Cristina (Brigitte Kali Canales), an American journalist of Mexican
origin, travels back to her ancestral home to report about the odd local
cults and rituals ... and suddenly finds herself chained up in a shed,
cared for by an old man, Javi (Sal Lopez), who doesn't seem to speak her
language. Cristina insists to see her cousin Miranda (Andrea Cortés), and
against all hope her wish is granted - only that Miranda is part of those
who hold her captive, as apparently Cristina is possessed by a demon, and
she needs to undergo an exorcism to be healed. Of course, Cristina
believes none of this and makes numerous attempts to escape - but finds
out she cannot cross the place's threshold, held back by some magic spell.
What's worse, the local bruja and exorcist, Luz (Julia Vera) pulls creepy
shit out of her body, and Cristina coughs up hair and things, and slowly
it dawns upon her that she might indeed be possessed, especially when she
also starts to remember how she got here - and that's a dark memory. So
she wills into the exorcism after all. Only every exorcism comes with its
own risks ... Granted, it's more than likely that one might not
understand each detail of the story, especially when it enters esoteric
territory - but that works in the film's favour, really, as its story is
much more told via moods and via visually pretty impressive setpieces
rather than following a strict narrative structure, and director
Christopher Alender sure shows a hand for the grotesque along the way. And
solid performances by the small ensemble really ground the movie, to make
it one creepy piece of genre cinema.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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