By Michael Talbot-Haynes

SLAMDANCE 2024 FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! Heaven is a moving target that drug addicts try to hit with a spike in the gritty noir-tinged drama Bliss, directed by Joe Maggio.

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Bliss, which Maggio wrote with actors Jordan and Amadeus, is billed as the second film in a trilogy. The first installment is Maggio’s Virgil Bliss from 2001, also starring Jordan as the same character. It is absolutely not necessary to see the 23-year-old’s first film to totally get hooked on Bliss. Maggio strikes the perfect steel guitar chord of the Call of the West. Its tonal landscape has an intravenous Sam Shepherd feel, with people rolling like tumbleweeds off the end of the Earth.

The stark beauty of the desert enshrouds everything, thanks to the cinematography of Harlan Bosmajian. At one point, Amy says this little patch of paradise is heaven on earth right after the dope hit her system. The brilliant location shots build a barren Eden of narcotic isolation. The score composed by Sam Bisbee weaves into the imagery a throbbing field of energy, with each note exactly what is needed—also, a big shout out to Katie Mills dead on target costume design. The authenticity of the wardrobe worn at the world’s edge is awe-inspiring, as real as rust on a fender. You feel like you are slowly fading away with the characters onscreen into the deafening silence. Oh, and the lead singer of Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid, David Yow, has a cameo as a Pizza Boy. How fun is that?

The big picture for Bliss is that it is crafted as a drama. However, it has the black blood of film noir running through its veins. This keeps things very lively while we make our way to the emotional crescendos. The issues of hiding the corpse are dark enough, but the picture takes a surprisingly deep, dark dive in the middle. Also included are the noir gold standard visuals, such as the Venetian blind shadows. My favorite eerie imagery was the amazingly dark feel of the hazy images of a woman’s silhouette that is put to use. I am also impressed by how seamlessly the noir thriller elements meld with the serious character drama. But that is the future for you. 

At this point noir is not just normal, it is also everywhere. The opioid epidemic ushered in a new era of noir, where thousands were turned into outlaw couples on the run. This feeling of floating desperation is perfectly shown through Jordan’s performance. He does a masterful job of hiding from his demons until they eat him raw, and he makes sure you feel every sore inch of it. I really want to go back to the first movie to see how he started off as Virgil, as he totally breathes through him. Amadeus is a wonder in her dual role as the two sisters. She radiates respect for them when she is inside both, while a lesser actress would have ridiculed along the faults. The performances press the plunger down to the hilt with this film. Bliss guides you to strange emotional haystacks that you would not expect to find hidden in all the needles. 

Read whole review at Filmthreat.com

PARK CITY, UTAH – JANUARY 19: (L-R) Clint Jordan, Joe Maggio, Faryl Amadeus
attend the Slamdance Film Festival at Yarrow Hotel Theater on January 19, 2024 in Park City, Utah.

PARK CITY, UTAH – JANUARY 19: (L-R) Clint Jordan, Joe Maggio, Faryl Amadeus, Paula Killen, and Larry Fessenden attend the Slamdance Film Festival at Yarrow Hotel Theater on January 19, 2024 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images)

THE DEMONATRIX; written and directed by GEP pal Aurelio Voltaire and Jeff Ferrell.
Cast includes Hannah Fierman (V/H/S, Siren, Creepshow TV series) 
and Fessenden, more to be announced!

A dominatrix unwittingly summons an incubus demon and
joins forces with a priest to defeat it.

Contribute to the project today and be part of the making of THE DEMONATRIX.

The False Start River of Grass Planted the Seeds of Kelly Reichardt’s Career

From Alex Lei at SLANT:

The case is sometimes made that 1994 is the “The Greatest Year in Film History.” It’s in no small part due to the preeminence of a number of IMDb Top 250 list-toppers like The Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction. While largely a pedestrian collection, the latter’s reputation is essential in cementing a memory of the ‘90s as a decade of cinematic “independence.” As every year does, 1994 started with Sundance. There were a couple notable debuts: Kevin Smith launched promisingly onto the scene with Clerks, character actor Tom Noonan won the whole show with his directorial debut What Happened Was… and, unfortunately, David O. Russell also competed with his first feature Spanking the Monkey. Most oddly of all though is the first film by someone not often associated with the ‘90s indie film boom: Kelly Reichardt. Her debut River of Grass not only played in the main competition at Sundance, but garnered three Independent Spirit Awards nominations—on top of Reichardt being awarded “Someone to Watch.” While Smith and O. Russell would go on to rapidly climb the early Indiewood ladder, Reichardt faded into obscurity for years after her second feature failed to get off the ground. Yet, 30 years on, River of Grass has more to offer than was apparent at its premiere. It gives us a glimpse at Reichardt’s latent prowess and opens a window to how much Reichardt changed as an artist through her hiatus.
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Unlike those later films, River of Grass is also shocking for its stylistic predeparture, with its jazzy, almost New Wave Godardian editing (done by Fessenden) lying in stark contrast to the textured realism Reichardt has become known for. Languid images of lazing about can be interrupted by fast, poppy editing or drumming hi-hats. A bar robbery is presented in rhythmic shot/reverse shot. A revolver firing is pushed almost to abstraction, like when Jean-Paul Belmondo guns down the bike cop in Breathless. It’s almost like the work of a different filmmaker. 
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It has always been an uphill battle to get any of her films off the ground in an industry as apparently indifferent to art as the worlds her characters inhabit are to them. The false start of her career with River of Grass was no doubt discouraging, and saw Reichardt re-emerge over a decade later as an ostensibly different kind of filmmaker, but the seeds of what make her one of America’s best were there from the beginning.

Read full article at SLANT

Sharing this moment with fans and collaborators Nelson Bakerman (photos), Brian Spears and Peter Gerner (makeup), Barbara Crampton, Ti West, Jim Mickle, Jenn Wexler (contributors) Asta Paredes, Clay von Carlowitz, (actor victims), Alex Hurt (actor and wolfman) John Mitchell, James Siewert (painters) and of course, Fangoria (Phil Nobile Jr. and Michael Gingold)

get your copy at your favorite brick and mortar store today!
Also Featured in the issue,
GEP pals Jenn Wexler, Clay McCleod Chapman, The Adams Family and more!

by Meagan Navarro 
Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein remains as influential as ever, with numerous notable adaptations and horror movies inspired by the literary classic released in the last year alone. With news of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Bride of Frankenstein-inspired feature on the horizon, it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.
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These five titles use the base story to explore new terrain, whether through comedy, gore, or explorations of contemporary themes.

DEPRAVED (AMC+ & TUBI) Larry Fessenden returns to the director’s chair with this modern update to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. And with it, a very thoughtful approach to the relationship between the mad scientist and his creation. In this version, the creature’s creator, a PTSD suffering field surgeon named Henry (David Call) never abandons his creation. He names him Adam (Alex Breaux), and spends a lengthy span of time teaching motor skills, language skills, and normal daily functions so Adam can survive in civilization. This is a Frankenstein style story so things go awry, naturally, but this time Adam has an easier time articulating his confusion, naivety, and inner pain. It’s a unique and emotionally gripping journey, presenting a refreshing twist to a familiar story with surprising new depth and poignancy.

Read full list at BLOODY DISGUSTING

On this day GEP shares this pitch video for a series entitled FEAR NATION by Glass Eye Pix and Rob Kuhns (BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD). A chilling reminder of our nation’s past at a time when our future is uncertain and a tribute to the horror genre’s ferocious power to explore terrifying truths about ourselves.

Kate Lyn Sheil Is a Perfect Actor Who Deserves Your Attention

By Matt Mahler

Sheil stars in the new film, The Seeding, but has an immaculate career worthy of your attention. She’s the best.

Kate Lyn Sheil is a one-of-a-kind actor, like one of those rare lunar events you better grab the telescope for, lest you wait 60 years for that true blue moon. From her early mumblecore days when she seemed the Anna Karina to Joe Swanberg’s Godard, or the Michelle Williams to Amy Seimetz’s Kelly Reichardt, through intense horror films, myriad shorts, and quirky dramedies, Sheil has made a career out of tipping scales. A good film becomes very good when she crosses over, and great becomes greater.
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Perhaps the greatest instance of this is in Rick Alverson’s masterpiece, The Comedy, perhaps the apotheosis of ironic detachment. Starring the brilliant comedian Tim Heidecker in one of the most stunning dramatic performances given by any comedic talent, the film follows a wealthy man-child lost in the depths of anhedonia. He is constantly searching for a feeling, often going to disturbingly uncomfortable lengths to try and capture one, insulting cab drivers, acting like an idiot in a church, and generally disrupting people’s lives.
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As is evident, [Joe Swanberg’s] Full Moon trilogy is very much about the art of acting and the fiction of filmmaking (with acting as a kind of lycanthropy). It’s an interesting facet of Sheil’s career, a kind of meta tendency toward self-reflexive trickery. Of course, some of this is because of the family affair of mumblecore, where actors and directors blended into each other, often making movies about themselves. Swanberg and Seimetz, Lawrence Michael Levine, Kentucker Audley, Lena Dunham, Sophia Takal, Ti West, Jane Adams, Larry Fessenden — they were all starring in and directing each other’s films (while Gerwig, Bujalski, Duplass, and Duplass were doing the same, mostly elsewhere). It was a truly special time in cinema that feels sadly over.
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Read full tribute at Movieweb

Fessenden appears with Sheil in YOU’RE NEXT and SILVER BULLETS. THE COMEDY is a Glass Eye Pix production featuring Sheil. Sheil performs in the TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE episode “The Stranger.” And as always there have been unrealized collaborations too.

I have just learned (from Ted Geoghegan on X) that David J. Skal was killed by a drunk driver on Jan 1st. Skal wrote some of my favorite books on the horror genre and Halloween. Essential reading for horror fans to understand the context in which the iconic monsters were born and popularized.

Glass Eye Trivia: in the TALE FROM BEYOND THE PALE episode entitled THE VAMPIRE PARTY, which was based on a true story, the movie “critic” that the filmmakers were hoping to meet was in fact David J. Skal whose attendance was assured by our hosts. In real life, he didn’t show.

Fessenden on location in Iceland shooting aerial shots for THE LAST WINTER