Earlier this month, the 2020 Nightstream Film Festival offered up genre fans a ton of amazing online offerings to enjoy throughout its four-day festivities. Here’s a look at two of the films I had the opportunity to watch during Nightstream: May the Devil Take You Too from Timo Tjahjanto (which hits Shudder soon) and Jesse Blanchard’s puppet splatterfest, Frank & Zed.
May the Devil Take You Too: Two years ago, Timo Tjahjanto unleashed May the Devil Take You, his demonic thrill ride pitting a young woman named Alfie (Chelsea Islan) and her step-family against sinister forces that want nothing more than to claim their souls. Now, Tjahjanto is back with his follow-up effort, May the Devil Take You Too, which feels slightly more ambitious and polished than its predecessor, and once again evokes a Raimi-esque sense of banana pants filmmaking that delivers up a ton of devilishly fun gore and violence.
May the Devil Take You Too: Two years ago, Timo Tjahjanto unleashed May the Devil Take You, his demonic thrill ride pitting a young woman named Alfie (Chelsea Islan) and her step-family against sinister forces that want nothing more than to claim their souls. Now, Tjahjanto is back with his follow-up effort, May the Devil Take You Too, which feels slightly more ambitious and polished than its predecessor, and once again evokes a Raimi-esque sense of banana pants filmmaking that delivers up a ton of devilishly fun gore and violence.
- 10/22/2020
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Frank & Zed enjoyed its world premiere as part of the virtual film festival Nightstream. It's an irresistible movie, a cocktail of horror, gore, humor, mythology and values, such as friendship, starring puppets. A couple of centuries ago, a castle and the evil Moroi emerged to terrorize the inhabitants of a town. Getting rid of the danger came at a very high cost because their king made a pact with the God of Death. At the present time, the royal line is dangerously ending, which would mean the consummation of an "orgy of blood" as dictated by the agreement. Legend says that in the ruins of the old castle, something is alive. We know that two monsters are there, Frank and Zed, whose origin is directly...
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- 10/16/2020
- Screen Anarchy
Centuries ago in a small kingdom ravaged by evil wizard The Moroi, a king made a pact with the God of Death to usher in what he believed was his only chance at peace. By giving them cursed weapons with the power to vanquish their foe, Death also bestowed a prophecy that foretold an orgy of blood fated to take tenfold the blood spilled by the king’s hand the moment his royal line is ended. And it worked. The wizard was destroyed and the weapons long-since buried in the graves of those who fought with them. The kingdom carried on with legends of a monster patrolling the forest and a hope that the townspeople would never have to pay the steep price their former leader set for them.
This is the backdrop of Jesse Blanchard’s seven-years-in-the-making all-puppet horror feature entitled Frank & Zed. The latest king is on...
This is the backdrop of Jesse Blanchard’s seven-years-in-the-making all-puppet horror feature entitled Frank & Zed. The latest king is on...
- 10/12/2020
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Back in 1999, when a character in Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich proposed that the future of the arts lay in puppetry, everybody laughed. Amongst cinema fans there was general appreciation for the role of puppeteers in creating special effects, but little beyond that. Now, however, times have changed. The brilliant expansion of The Dark Crystal into a series awed viewers worldwide and reminded us of what great puppet work can achieve. It also restored the old tradition of using puppets to explore dark subjects. Jesse Blanchard's Frank & Zed takes that one step further, presenting us with an unalloyed horror tale.
It is set, like The Dark Crystal, in a fantasy world, and uses some similar animation techniques, but with the rougher edges one would expect from a project made without the backing of a big studio. The atmosphere here is folkloric. We have a village built around.
It is set, like The Dark Crystal, in a fantasy world, and uses some similar animation techniques, but with the rougher edges one would expect from a project made without the backing of a big studio. The atmosphere here is folkloric. We have a village built around.
- 10/11/2020
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
I love when puppets are naughty. Ironically, I’m also a huge fan of the Muppets, who are somewhat more wholesome, but the concept has always thrilled me. As one of the few who enjoyed The Happytime Murders, I’m always down for a puppet engaging in some weird shenanigans. Now, we have Frank & Zed, a truly unique fantasy horror movie with puppets. A seven years in the making passion project, it’s utterly odd and incredibly gory, making for something you’ve almost certainly never seen before. Folks, if it sounds like something you’d be into, it’s one to truly be on the lookout for! The film is a horror flick, all done with puppetry. The protagonists are a pair of reanimated corpses, the Frankenstein-like Frank, as well as the zombie Zed. They’re both dependent on each other for survival, with a symbiotic friendship ensuing...
- 10/11/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
A kingdom lives under the shadow of impending doom that has been tied to the bloodline to the throne for centuries. The wheels are put in motion by conniving individuals in the village, looking to save their own necks, no matter how many villagers may die by the end. When the caretaker of the castle on the hill, Frank, and his ward, a zombie called Zed, are mistaken for this returning evil the village takes up ancient weapons against them in a showdown for the stitched velvet ages. Frank & Zed is the demon spawn of more wholesome puppet movies. It’s as if Jim Henson had an evil brother, Seth (or any other random evil name - look it up!) who took it as...
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[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/11/2020
- Screen Anarchy
“Frank & Zed,” a seven-year passion project from Portland, Oregon-based filmmaker Jesse Blanchard, is an old school horror throwback made with puppets, practical sets, and miniatures shot on the Red camera with Stanley Kubrick’s favorite Cooke lens. It’s like Jim Henson on acid (watch the exclusive video below). The gory, Gothic delight premieres October 10 at the virtual Nightstream Film Festival (through October 11), a compendium of five festivals — Boston Underground, Brooklyn Horror, North Bend, Overlook, and Popcorn Frights — where screening access can be purchased online.
Riffing on “Frankenstein,” “Frank & Zed” concerns two former servants to a wizard — Frank, the monster, and Zed, the zombie — who tend to themselves in a rundown castle in a forest. But their peaceful existence is shattered when the villagers come for blood to avoid a demon curse that turns everyone into undead servants.
“They were the lowly servants to make the master’s life easier,...
Riffing on “Frankenstein,” “Frank & Zed” concerns two former servants to a wizard — Frank, the monster, and Zed, the zombie — who tend to themselves in a rundown castle in a forest. But their peaceful existence is shattered when the villagers come for blood to avoid a demon curse that turns everyone into undead servants.
“They were the lowly servants to make the master’s life easier,...
- 10/9/2020
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
You’Ve Never Seen Anything Like Frank & Zed World Premiering A sprawling gothic horror story set in a far-away fantasy kingdom, Frank & Zed is an unbelievable DIY passion project from Portland-based filmmaker and puppeteer Jesse Blanchard. Conceived and filmed over a period of six years, this love letter to classic terror is filled to …
The post Nightstream Film Festival: Puppets get gory in Frank & Zed ( World Premiere / d. Jesse Blanchard ) appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
The post Nightstream Film Festival: Puppets get gory in Frank & Zed ( World Premiere / d. Jesse Blanchard ) appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
- 10/6/2020
- by Adrian Halen
- Horror News
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