The Actor’s Cure brings us into the world of low-budget filmmaking with its horror anthologies approach. (In which case, shouldn’t the title be Tales of Twisted Fate instead of a tale?) Admittedly, the concept is great, each of the four shorts, as well as the wraparound story featuring people who work in the film industry. The film begins with a bitter washed-up actor (Jon DeBartolo), discovers an old journal outside his apartment door. The man decides to write and tell some fictional stories about people who he has worked with in the past that he attributes to the cause of his personal downfall, and thus begins the tales.

Ted Bunny kicks off Jeff Miller’s “Twisted Serial Killer Universe”. A series of films which take inspiration from famous serial killers. Ted Bunny follows the crazed heir of Ted Bundy. The inspiration for this film actually came from another one of Michael Fredianelli’s films, Bury ‘EM Deep. One of the extra’s was wearing the bunny mask and the producer liked the look of it that he wanted to use in a full length film. The other film currently being planned to release is Jeffrey Dollmer (about a possessed doll with the spirit of Jeffrey Dahmer). It’s quite an interesting idea for a cinematic universe of sorts, aiming to overlap between the horror and true crime communities.  I am hoping Jeff Miller has plans for a movie called H.H.Homes about a Airbnb filled with traps. (This universe does have some fun possibilities)

The Ritual House gets a lot right on paper. Our main lead, Donna Winters (played by Donna Spangler) inherits her father’s home after his passing. Only problem is, she also has a lot of debt to pay off. So, her best friend Ling (played by the director of the film Huang herself) gives her the idea to Airbnb her newly acquired home to get some income. Only problem is, this house be haunted. It’s a simple set up that provides opportunities. The Ritual House has all the right ingredients at it’s disposal, but it’s final mix comes across off.

2026 kicks off another busy year for the Wild Dogs, with their first film of the year being delivered with Straight Fire! This film marks the return of Maralynn Adams (Michael Fredianelli’s movie making partner) back on writing duties. Her second film since Frankly A Mess back in 2018. This means we are something a bit different from Wild Dog’s normal vibes as Maralynn takes us on another raunchy over the top comedy adventure. What makes this film fun is it clearly takes inspiration from actual filmmaking experiences and struggles that Michael and Maralynn have been through during their many years of movie making.

Hassan Zee is back with another story set in his favorite city, San Francisco. Possession of Mara is a exorcism possession film, which is a tough challenge for any indie filmmaker as the genre is quite vast and filled with more duds than bangers. The film begins as Christopher encounters a strange women who appears to possessed by the vengeful spirit of Iblis (the name for the Devil or Satan in Islamic terms).  Unfortunately here, the horror elements here strike the viewer with all the power of a penne lisce noodle, cooked al dente.

Where Heroes Die finds Michael Fredianelli in another one of his favorite genres to explore, the World War II era. I am not sure if the movie is a reference to or inspired by the 1970 title, When Heroes Die, a Euro war flick with a similar set up/title or just one of those weird coincidences. Anyway, the movie does begin in the somewhat present day of 1989. Where a grandpa is recounting a story of an Air Crops pilot to his two grandchildren. It follows the Princess Bride structure of a flashback, where we have the grandpa’s voiceover to help aid us context and humor over the story.

Michael Fredianelli returns to the world of crime thriller’s with Die by Law. In a way, this feels like a spiritual successor to Justified Force (2019). The movie features the detective duo of Bailey and Russo, with Michael Grayson and Michael Fredianelli delivering a solid performance as the two leads. Michael Fredianelli here fires off quick one-liners and monologues at an impressive clip, making him engaging to watch. (He also cracks a joke about a waifu pillow in the opening scene, perhaps a reference to Scorned Waifu, who can say?). Where Michael Grayson plays more of the stoic straight man, he compliments Fredianelli’s energy well and the two make for a humorous and fun duo.

Cole Wagner definitely had a battle during the production of "Moontoken: A Snow White Story". Some actors dropped out during production and the film had to have reshoots with some new cast in order to finish. As a filmmaker who was also put in a similar situation, I applaud the cast and crew who saw the production through. Finishing a film is never easy, that said, how did Cole Wagner’s first feature film turn out?

Here we go with another round with Big Spence, time to finish what we started. This is the last Big Spence film I’ll be reviewing (at least until he puts out something new in the future) and boy, did we save something special for last. State of Consciousness is like the “Big Budget” film of Touch the Heart Productions, with a wide variety of cool looking locations and extras. Marcus Spencer also worked with a different cinematographer and editor for this one, making for some improvements in those areas. But the sound work for the dialogue still suffers in this one at times. (So baby turn on those closed captions)

Eduardo mentioned that Catfished was inspired by watching 90’s comedies and he wanted to make a feel-good movie. The film is about three friends who dive into dating apps, hoping for romance, but their experiences turn out to be far more unexpected than planned. (Hence the title of the film). The three main subplots all do have a unique take on catfishing. You have the guy who doesn’t look like his online picture, a man who lies about his job and a girl who shows up pregnant with twins. 

All right, I’m back for another round of Big Spence action. If you have been following along, I had a good time with the flawed but charming murder mystery of “A Murder in Oakland: Beauty is Deadly”. But then was almost put to sleep with “Who Needs It?”, a therapy experiment that misfired and missed the mark. So I wasn’t to sure what to expect with Tormented Revenge. But the good news is, the characters are not confined to their chairs and one location for the whole movie, so we’re off to a much better start with this one.

In this movie, Marcus Spencer and Eduardo Castrillo decided to experiment with a “Tell, don’t show” approach. You have to enjoy the opening logos where for some reason, Touch The Heart Productions has two different logos shown, and the opening credits which uses exterior drone shots of the bay area. Because after that, we are trapped in ONE location for the rest of the film. The therapist room.

A Murder in Oakland does get right to the point, opening up with a girl Mercedes getting strangled to death in a park in board daylight. The murder then gets pinned on the Seaside killer, a guy who strangled four other women. But something doesn’t sit right with Mercedes death as the Seaside killer is not taking credit for this one, and so it’s up Detective Williams and his new panther to find out the truth behind her death. Sounds great on paper, but the films execution is lacking in this “whodunnit’ mystery.

The plot ends with a twist, as most of these movies in this genre do. It’s predictable, but it does the job. The film has a lean runtime of 66 mins, so nothing drags on to long. The small cast of actors is devoid of any real bad acting. Intrusive just needed more of a strong start, as I feel as it is now, people will hop off of it before they get to the better 2^nd half.

Dark Feathers: Dance of the Geisha does have some interesting ideas on paper. The film follows Kate, who is a ballroom dancer. Seems like a normal hobby right? Only problem is, each of her dance partners who has taken a interest in her have disappeared or died. Remy, a private investigator, decides to take interest in Kate and see where the mystery goes. The film combines samurai culture with ballroom dancing, and the potential is there, but the film can’t quite fire on all cylinders.

Well you at least gotta give Eduardo Castrillo props for trying such a ambitious idea. Bears on a Ship is obviously a parody on Snakes on a Plane, even with a character in this film riffing on the famous line by shouting “I’m tired of these mother&$%& bears on this mother&$%& $^% ship!”. The film doesn’t take it self seriously and really does not have a deep narrative to it per say, as the title suggests the movie puts a bunch of stranded travelers onto a ship and then there are bears that attack people.

Michael Fredianelli returns to the western genre for the 4^th time in his 60^th feature film. What can I say, guy has a love for the filth and grime of the western age. Bury ‘Em Deep stars Robert Broniz, who plays Link Maddock. Link is a fitting name for the character, as Robert Broniz feels like a video game protagonist of few words. He wonders around as he meets a cast of eccentric people who often monologue to fill the silence on his journey. He doesn’t have much dialogue, and his Hungarian accent does make some of his delivery hard to understand.  I recommend watching this one with closed captions.

Three Directors. Six Writers. Sixteen Producers. Eight Cinematographers. Five Editors. Taking a look at the credits for Gone with the Dead is quite crazy. This collaboration has been in development since 2017 since my knowledge and finally sees the light of day. How did it turn out? It's a bit all over the place. 

Stupid Games is an interesting take on the board game horror genre. Directed by Nicolas Wendl and Dani Abraham, the film is about a game night which goes horribly wrong.

Wild Dogs Productions returns to end the year with their lasted film, Frist Rites. Their 58th Feature length and 3rd film for 2024. This film sees them going full on guerilla filmmaking in the state of New York and New Jersey. This change of location does help add to an exotic vibe and tone and is fun to see.