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Apocalyptic infection flicks rarely show the initial chaos of their respective outbreaks. In fact, most zombie movies tend to skip over the downfall of civilization entirely, focusing on what happens after society has already collapsed. And even when these stories dare to take place during the immediate aftermath of a global crisis, most filmmakers (like George A. Romero in his seminal Night of the Living Dead) prefer to place their main characters in isolated locations where they’re only shown brief snippets of how the rest of the world is dealing with the calamity.

Obviously, there’s a simple explanation for this. Large scale stories need large scale production budgets and few studios are willing to bet that amount of money on a gory genre flick. Even World War Z had to be tragically neutered in order to justify its blockbuster financing, and indie filmmakers can’t exactly pay out...

Indie filmmaker Onur Tukel has a lot to say in his latest, Poundcake, a horror satire that mixes slasher with political discourse.

Fans of Tukel know that his films have always been heavy on commentary, and this one is sure to get a rise out of people.

In the slasher satire, a hulking beast preys on straight, white men in New York City.

“No one seems too concerned about the victims, because, you know, they’re straight, white men. But if everyone can drop the hate and embrace their differences, they might find a way to ‘kill the beast!'”

Tukel stars alongside Ron Brice, Eva Dorrepaal, Pia Paez, Zarius LeGrand, and others.

Poundcake is inspired by slashers of the 80s and icons like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface, Tukel previously told us. “In a slasher movie, the villain murders someone every eight or nine minutes and there’s...

Indie filmmaker Onur Tukel has a lot to say in his latest, Poundcake, a horror satire that mixes slasher with political discourse.

Fans of Tukel know that his films have always been heavy on commentary, and this one is sure to get a rise out of people.

In the film, there’s a madman loose in New York City. Late at night, he stalks the streets looking for straight white men to punish. When he finds them, he kills them in unspeakable ways.

Tukel stars alongside Ron Brice, Eva Dorrepaal, Pia Paez, Zarius LeGrand, and others.

Poundcake is inspired by slashers of the 80s and icons like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface, Tukel tells us. “In a slasher movie, the villain murders someone every eight or nine minutes and there’s a climax where the killer is revealed and/or dispatched.” Other inspirations include Spike Lee’s 1998 feature film...

"...Around" is directed and written by David Spaltro and inspired by his experiences attending the film program School of Visual Arts (Sva) in NYC from 2001-2005. The film follows Doyle Simms, who at the age of 18 decides to finally live his dream of crossing the Hudson river and escaping a life of potential drudgery in his native New Jersey. Over a period of 4 years Doyle struggles to keep himself in film school while living on the breadline.

Thats the synopsis but at the same time its not really what "...Around" is about. Essentially a character study, "...Around" concentrates more on the introspective thoughts of it's main character. The world is full of people who like the idea of being seen as creative, rather than being driven by any creative vision. People like that tend to turn to talking about themselves or regurgitate clichés, photographers taking pictures of prostitutes and homeless,...

Trailer for "...Around", which is directed and written by David Spaltro and inspired by his experiences attending the film program School of Visual Arts (Sva) in NYC from 2001-2005.

The film stars Molly Ryman, Marcel Torres, Ron Brice, Berenice Mosca, Veronica Heffron and Robert W. Evans in teh lead as Doyle Simms.

"one of the most powerfully moving and genuinely uplifting films I’ve seen in a very long time." ... PulpMovies

Review at LateMag

www.aroundthefilm.com

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tags: drama, independent film, low budget...

Like many other film critics of my generation, I learned the ins and outs of my unpaid trade at film school (Emerson College in Boston, to be specific). Being thrust into a snake pit of not-yet adults competing against one another with their poorly constructed ideas sharpens you in a way that merely watching films cannot, so I am optimistic about film criticism’s future. If, however, you are unable or unwilling to attend film school, but would still like to know exactly what I’m talking about, I suggest that you get your hands on a copy of the film …Around. While it’s not an especially good movie, it is perhaps a perfect representation of the so-called ‘film school instinct,’ or that youthful artistic compulsion that causes so many misguided, unilluminating, self-indulgent short films to be made. Except this isn’t a short. It’s a whole damn movie.

I’ve been a Fangoria reader ever since the first issue found its way to the local newsstand in Helena, Montana, and a Famous Monsters Of Filmland reader for years before that. Back then horror flicks seemed so…straight, I couldn’t imagine other gays like myself being genre fans. I was the only gay in the village (of the damned). Or so I thought.

Years later in the mid-‘90s, Clive Barker came out. I remember he was on the cover of Genre magazine with the tagline “Devil Doll.” I was thrilled. At last! Another gay guy into horror! I couldn’t imagine how Fango would handle this news.

To my surprise, editor Tony Timpone wrote a really wonderful Elegy in Fango all about Barker coming out, and how his sexuality should be irrelevant. I almost cried. I immediately wrote a letter to the mag, expressing how amazing it...