Author Archive: Jason Coffman
Jason Coffman is a film writer living in Chicago. He writes reviews for Film Monthly and is a regular contributor to Fine Print Magazine (www.fineprintmag.net).
Manborg
Canadian comedy collective Astron-6 has built a devoted following over the last several years thanks to its hilariously bizarre internet output of short films and faux trailers. Their following has boomed over the last year thanks to the release of two features from the troupe, Father’s Day (released by Troma) and Manborg (released by Raven [...]
Nobody Gets Out Alive
Film technology keeps getting cheaper and cheaper, and more and more people crank out more and more movies every day. A lot of these are takes on familiar tropes, and “kids in the woods with a killer” is a highly popular one since it only requires a few things: “kids,” woods, some fake blood. It’s [...]
Mimesis
It’s not unusual to watch a film and be reminded of other films that may have– or obviously have– influenced it. However, to be reminded of an influence and to actually watch a film where that influence is actively woven into the fabric of the new film is rare. One of the reasons for this [...]
Cherry Tree Lane
UK director Paul Andrew Williams first gained the attention of worldwide horror audiences with his 2008 feature The Cottage, a mix of crime comedy and slasher film. Many fans were charmed by Williams’ patchwork monster of a film, although others found both parts of the film somewhat lacking. Williams had a story credit on Tom [...]
Jason Coffman’s Top 20 Films of 2012
Here they are, folks, in excruciatingly overthought order. My 20 favorite films of 2012, with intermittent commentary. May God have mercy on my soul. 20. Manborg (dir. Steven Kostanski, Canada, 60 minutes): This was, all things considered, a pretty great year for Canadian comedy collective Astron-6. They released two feature films– Manborg and Father’s Day– [...]
The Possession
Exorcism has been a hot topic in horror film for the last few years, and the field eventually got so crowded that The Possession had to bring something different to the table. And it literally does bring something different to the standard possession/exorcism story, an interesting bit of Jewish mysticism called a “Dibbuk Box.” Allegedly [...]
House at the End of the Street
It’s entirely possible to make a great horror movie without shedding a single drop of blood, but is it possible to make a passable slasher movie without doing so? Whether this is a question that needed to be answered is up for debate, but the PG-13 House at the End of the Street takes a [...]
Sleep Tight
Many films live and die by the quality of their villain. Sometimes, though, filmmakers take a different approach and make the character who would normally be the “villain” of the story into the protagonist. This can be an interesting exercise when done well, but it can also be an unpleasant experience if done poorly. Sleep [...]
Silent Night
Looking back at the original Silent Night, Deadly Night, it’s difficult to imagine that anyone could have taken the film seriously at all. It’s even more difficult to think that anyone could be genuinely offended by it– despite some nasty moments, the film is basically a ridiculous parody of the very idea of a Christmas-themed [...]
The Night of the Devils (1972)
Since launching their US imprint, Raro Video has consistently delivered excellent releases of little-seen Italian films that had somehow eluded legitimate releases here in the States. Their DVD releases of such rarities as The Perfume of the Lady in Black and To Be Twenty nicely complemented their slate of lesser known works by major names [...]
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