News
Review: ‘#FromJennifer’ Is a Social Media Horror Movie That Delivers
As technology advances, and society shifts to accommodate, leave it to the horror genre to come up with stories to make these changes and our anxieties about them tangible and terrifying. Such as ‘Christine’ for cars, ‘Frankenstein’ about the line between life and death, or even ‘Black Christmas’ for phones, horror is always representing the shadow cast by these everyday tools. Social Media is on the forefront now such as with ‘Unfriended’ and ‘Friend Request’, but it’s with #FromJennifer that the mundane yet overbearing fear that such a platform has so much control over us now.
Image: Youtube
Directed by Frank Merle entirely in a 1st Person Camera POV, #FromJennifer follows the titular Jennifer Peterson (Danielle Taddei) who is trying her damndest to make it as an actor in Hollywood with a positive attitude. But don’t call her Jenny, a Jenny is a female donkey. After being fired off a low-budget horror movie, her manager, Chad (Played by ‘Candyman’s Tony Todd) encourages her to try and establish a stronger social media presence in order to find more work, like her bright and shiny best friend Stephanie (Meghan Deanna Smith) who has a million subscribers and does daily sketch videos.
She gets a web presence- thanks to her ex-boyfriend uploading revenge porn of them and essentially sinking her career when Chad drops her as a client. Determined for fame and revenge of her own, Jennifer continues. Recording everything as a part of her plan with a Go-Pro camera Stephanie gifted to her. She recruits Butch (Derek Mears of ‘Friday The 13th’) off of Craigslist as her henchman. A giant, well-meaning, socially anxious man who’s just getting over being broken up by his boyfriend and being laid off from his job at the DVD factory (Topical!) Together, they embark on what will be either a massive viral hit… or a deadly spree.
Image: Youtube
It is a tale that is sadly all too often today. The search for fame at any cost. Even after having her acting career thrown for a loop, she becomes focused on reaching the masses directly through the internet. Recording EVERYTHING. Even the crimes and deaths she and Butch commit in the name of their project. Though distinctly a dark comedy, there are some great scenes of tension as Jennifer’s plot unfolds and her mind unravels, and you just don’t know who will become a casualty along the way. Jennifer and Butch are distinctly sympathetic and complicated characters outside the usual ‘killers’ of horror movies. Having more in relation to the protagonists of a Coen Brothers’ movie, whose ignorance and determination get people killed. There are some really funny characters and jokes that only further juxtapose how dark and brutal things get.
Image: IMDB.com
The characters are an eccentric group. From Jennifer’s well intentioned but violent manservant, Butch, to the sleazy dates she entraps in her internet dating scheme, everybody who appears makes an impression. Unlike a lot of horror movies, and especially with the themes of social media, the plot is a pretty slow build-up through most of the first half, but when things go wild, they go wild! If you’re looking for a pitch black horror comedy of fame in the internet age, you can get it #FromJennifer.
#FromJennifer is now available for VOD and digital download.
Feature Image: Youtube
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Movies
Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month
Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.
Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.
According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.
Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.
Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.
Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.
While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.
According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”
The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.
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Movies
Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released
In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.
The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.
The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.
Here is the fresh trailer:
According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.
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News
Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers
Warning: This is a disturbing story.
You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.
This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400.
If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing.
Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction.
“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”
She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.”
At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.
“She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”
If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.
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