The Sacrament
Blu-ray l DVD l Instant l Netflix
Directed by Ti West
Written by Ti West
Starring Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Gene Jones, Amy Seimetz, and Kentucker Audley
Magnet Productions
Rated R | 99 Minutes
Release Date: May 1, 2014 (U.S.)

It is such a welcome feeling to a horror nut like me to watch a movie and actually feel unnerved and uncomfortable. That was how I felt just minutes into Ti West‘s The Sacrament. In a genre as cliché driven as horror, ominous foreshadowing is par for the course. “Let’s investigate,” “I have a bad feeling about this,” “I’ll be right back”… we’ve seen it all before. But there’s something about real-life plausible situations that can be much scarier than possessed dolls and masked killers. Enter Eden Parish.

Patrick (Kentucker Audley) works for Vice, a multimedia company from New York that specializes in controversial stories mainstream news outlets won’t cover. His sister Caroline (Amy Seimetz) is a recovering addict who joins a reclusive parish that ups and leaves the U.S. to an undisclosed location outside of the U.S. This seems like the perfect story for Vice so Patrick, lead reporter Sam (AJ Bowen), and cameraman Jake (Joe Swanberg) set out via helicopter to meet Caroline and the residents of the “heaven on earth” that is Eden Parish.

V/H/S
Netflix | Amazon | Google Play | iTunes | SEN | Vudu | YouTube
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg
Starring Calvin Reeder, Hannah Fierman, Joe Swanberg, Norma C. Quinones, Helen Rogers, Chad Villella
BloodyDisgusting.com / Magnet Releasing
Originally Released: January 22, 2012

Combining Creepshow with Paranormal Activity, V/H/S is an anthology horror film, comprised of 5 stories and the bumper frame narrative that ties everything together, telling the tales via "found footage" format. The conceptualization is to take a step back and explore the realm of VHS tape, the domain in which horror dominated during the 1980’s, but is more a mish-mash of an assortment of mediums.

Bridging each of the separate tales is an ongoing narrative that ties them together. A number of young men involved in varying criminal activities (some unbelievable) begin filming their escapades, and take on a high paying job to retrieve a VHS tape from a house. While there, they discover the corpse of an old man”¦ and hundreds of tapes. As they search and gather all of the tapes, some of the tapes get played, forming the anthological display of the stories.

You’re Next
Director: Adam Wingard
Screenwriter: Simon Barrett
Cast: Sharni Vinson, AJ Bowen, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton, Amy Seimetz, Ti West
Lionsgate Films
Rated R | 91 Minutes
Release Date: August 23, 2013

Coined by Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, the “Final Girl” is a popular trope in horror films that refers to the last woman alive to fight the killer.

Sally Hardesty from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Ellen Ripley in Alien; Halloween‘s Laurie Strode; Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street – all of these are resilient women who are masculinized through “phallic appropriation” by taking up a weapon, like a knife or chainsaw, against their would-be killer.

The “Final Girl” convention forces the male audience to identify with a female character in a male-oriented genre associated with exploitation, voyeurism, and brutality. Think about horror movies – slasher films in particular – how many of them end with a lone male survivor?

If you haven’t read Clover’s book, I would highly recommend it, as it raises some interesting questions about the nature of horror films and their relationship to feminism. It seems that for a horror film to be successful, it’s necessary for the surviving character to be female – even if she is masculinized.

This brings us to Adam Wingard‘s latest film, You’re Next. Written by Simon Barrett, You’re Next isn’t interested in deconstructing the horror genre or mocking its tropes, but rather reinvigorating them. The “Final Girl” is resurrected in the form of Erin (Sharni Vinson), a survivalist who fights a gang of axe-wielding psychopaths in creepy animal masks.

You’re Next
Director: Adam Wingard
Screenwriter: Simon Barrett
Cast: Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton, Amy Seimetz, Ti West

Synopsis: One of the smartest and most terrifying films in years, You’re Next reinvents the genre by putting a fresh twist on home-invasion horror. When a gang of masked, ax-wielding murderers descend upon the Davison family reunion, the hapless victims seem trapped… until an unlikely guest of the family proves to be the most talented killer of all. — Lionsgate

Directed by Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die, V/H/S), You’re Next had its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival only to collect dust on a shelf for two years. Luckily, after a successful screening at this year’s South by Southwest film Festival, Wingard’s home-invasion horror flick will be released by Lionsgate in August.

Strap in, kids! Here’s your first look at the 2013 SXSW Film Features Lineup: 109 films, including 69 world premieres, 14 North American and 5 United States premieres. Amazingly enough, 68 of these titles are from first-time filmmakers.

Highlights include Stephen Finnigan’s Hawking, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, John Sayles’ Go For Sisters, Jacob Vaughn’s Milo, Penny Lane’s Our Nixon, Zak Knutson & Joey Figueroa’s MILIUS, Ryan White’s Good Ol’ Freda, Sini Anderson’s The Punk Singer, Josh Johnson’s Rewind This!, and Bryan Poyser’s The Bounceback.

These movies join the previously announced, Opening Night film The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Joe Swanberg’s Drinking Buddies, Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, Evil Dead, and Alex Winter’s Downloaded.