Kate Plays Christine
Robert Greene’s Kate Plays Christine brilliantly uses the actor’s journey to investigate the 1974 on-air suicide of newscaster Christine Chubbuck. This documentary and fiction hybrid follows actress Kate Lyn Sheil as she prepares to play the role of Christine in a faux film production. The captivating Sheil understands that to truly embody Christine Chubbuck it’s not enough to know how this tragedy happened but more importantly why, and her ephemeral bouts of frustration only highlight a desire to arrive at a place of emotional truth. Her comprehensive research leads the film deep into the heart and soul of its subject capturing an extremely honest and complex meditation on depression and media's tendency to overlook mental health stories in favor of blood and gore news. Kate Plays Christine revives a long forgotten tragedy and could have very easily come across as cheap exploitation, but Greene handles the shocking material with an incredible level of respect and insight.
In a Valley of Violence
Known for his horror films, director Ti West makes his first foray into the western genre with In a Valley of Violence. When Paul (Ethan Hawke) and his adorably skillful dog Abbie make a pit stop in search of food and a bath, a chance encounter with a gang of bumbling fools gets them booted out by the town's marshal (John Travolta). Paul has sworn off his killing ways and just wants to peacefully exist with his canine companion, but the marshal’s son Gilly (James Ransone) and his equally inept cohorts decide to enact their own brand of justice upon Paul, setting off a chain of bloody violence. Unlike a traditional western, not a single person living in the town is prepared for or skilled enough to handle the impending violence which results in a much messier and true to life affair. Playing like John Wick in the desert, In a Valley of Violence is a darkly comedic revenge western that breaks convention in refreshing fashion.
Goat
After a brutal car robbery leaves him bedridden and traumatized, Brad (Ben Schnetzer) seeks redemption by pledging to his older brother Brett’s (Nick Jonas) fraternity. In order to prove his strength and masculinity, he’s willing to subject himself to the most demeaning and torturous of acts that Phi Sigma Mu has to offer. An uncensored look at the horrific realities of fraternity hazing, Andrew Neel’s Goat is a graphic and unsettling display of abuse and the lengths to which young men will go to gain acceptance. Anchored by outstanding performances from Ben Schnetzer and Nick Jonas, the film’s heart resides in its depiction of brotherly affection and the strength of family. A coming of age tale set in an environment that is seldom ever depicted in such raw detail, Goat questions the meaning of true strength.
Another Evil
A well-balanced horror-comedy, Carson Mell's debut feature Another Evil is a clever and highly entertaining variation on supernatural horror. Upon discovering their vacation home is haunted by possibly malevolent ghosts, Dan (Steve Zissis) and his wife Mary (Jennifer Irwin) call in Os (Mark Proksch), a professional exorcist. Not long after he’s hired, Os confides in Dan about his recent divorce. A reckless night of drinking and lap dances proves to Dan that Os is more concerned with earning a new best friend than ridding the home of ghouls and he pulls away. The unstable Os grows more disturbed after this rejection and soon it becomes unclear which presence in the house represents the greater threat. Steve Zissis and Mark Proksch have great comedic chemistry, frontloading the film with humor before it treads into serious territory with equally effective results.
