As our coverage of Fantastic Fest continues, here are some quick thoughts on the shorts block, Shorts With Legs...but first, a quick preface...I was not smart enough for many of these shorts. A good majority of the underlying messages and symbolism went right over my head. And with that knowledge, reader, please forgive my interpretation of the stories, for I feel if I don't at least make an attempt to assume the intended message, I won't have much to review at all. So, let's

The Boy Behind the Door follows a boy who must rescue his best friend after he manages to escape the clutches of their kidnapper. The Boy Behind the Door Review The Boy Behind the Door manages to carry the emotional weight of its material and deliver on the intensity native to the horror/thriller format. While the plot brings with it some unique wrinkles to the kidnapping/cat-and-mouse structure, it still tends to sit within the realm of safe and/or familiar scenes. Thankfull

The feature length film of the short of the same name, The Stylist follows a...well...hair stylist who murders women she envies and/or covets, removes their scalps, and wears them in secret as she attempts to take on the persona of the deceased. When a client she loves contacts her to do her hair for her wedding, her socially-stunted behavior is brought further into the light and she begins to unravel. The Stylist Review The eternal struggle of the "short film to feature film

Welcome to our Day 2 coverage of Celebration of Fantastic Fest 2020. Let’s chat about what we watched to day! Fantastic Shorts Blocks - one morning a mom starts throwing up legos and she cannot figure out why till one night she has an epiphany and figured out not only how to cope with her husband and kids, but also how to fix her lego problem. Nice commentary on what it is like to be a new parent and how everyone needs a break sometimes. I Love Your Guts - Two girls working

Fantastic Fest is here in 2020 and as with most festivals this year it has gone digital, but in a very interesting way. Here at Sickle and Efrit, we absolutely adore Alamo Draft house, so when we heard they teamed up with Fantastic Fest 2020, we were stoked! If you don’t know, the Alamo has a streaming service called Alamo On-Demand. Check it out if you haven't, but long story short, if you have an account the majority of the films are free as long as you RSVP. And you should

It is finally upon us...Telluride Horror Show (#telluridehorrorshow) is back! Sadly, we won't be able to enjoy beautiful Telluride this year and have the joy of hanging out with fellow horror fans together. BUT, we still have THS virtually, and still get to enjoy their finely curated feature films and shorts! In true THS fashion, they have released their first wave of films and shorts to preview ahead of the festival, and in true S&E fashion, we are here to mention our person

Antebellum follows an African American rights activist as she is seemingly transported to a slave plantation in the South during the Civil War. As more innocents are dragged to the plantation, she must find out what's going on and how to get out. Antebellum Review While films that discuss race and the atrocities of the past are not a modern practice, Antebellum still manages to feel incredibly pertinent to our current condition, making it an important film with a valuable mes

Alone (2020) follows a young woman who packs up and leaves home following the suicide of her husband, and soon finds herself terrorized by a strange man while on the road. Alone Review Firstly, we want to thank Telluride Horror Show for this awesome opportunity to jump in early on one of the films for the upcoming 2020 festival! As THS will be virtual this year, we are all offered access to two advance screenings as a rehearsal of the event (Alone was the first, and the secon

Host follows a group of friends that perform a seance over Zoom, only to accidentally summon an evil entity that hunts them down one by one. Host Review Horror can adapt to almost any trend, circumstance, or cultural environment, and there is no further proof necessary than that of Host. This film is nothing more than a clever idea that was well executed with a modest (almost nil?) budget and some heart amidst times that simply aren't permitting to film productions. Much like

Some films just try too hard to pay homage to films of old. The Barge People could be a good example of that, though saying that it was maki