Tag: low-budget

MOTHER OF FLIES – Review

MOTHER OF FLIES is a low-budget horror flick that plays out as a sordid endurance test for both the cast and audience, as it straddles the fence between the psychological and supernatural, without delivering on either. It’s a product of the Adams family, written and directed by John, daughter Zelda and wife Toby Poser; starring that trio, plus their other daughter, Lulu. They are not to be confused in any way with the more familiar, and noticeably superior, Addams family. The missing “d” seemingly makes quite a difference.

The plot follows a grieving woman who retreats into isolation after a personal loss, taking refuge in a decaying rural house that quickly becomes less a sanctuary than a cauldron. As her mental state deteriorates, the environment reflects it: rot creeps into every corner; flies proliferate; her own body becomes another site of infestation. That dangled suspense of insanity vs. the supernatural remains vague – presumably by design.

What could have been a marketable premise turns out confusing and dull. Scenes stretch on forever, not because they’re tense or meaningful, but because no one apparently was objective enough to do some editing. No member of the clan could snip another’s dialog or screen time without offending the rest of the household, and ruining the next Thanksgiving. The camera lingers with more familial pride than dramatic purpose. Grotesque images feel inserted or exaggerated for shock value, more than narrative enhancement.

In terms of the performances, the cast is trapped in monotones. There’s no escalation, no modulation—just suffering, presented as a moral achievement. Dialogue is mercifully sparse, but the visuals between talky bits are nothing special. They rely on tropes – rot as metaphor, insects as symbolism, silence as seriousness, etc.

By the time MOTHER OF FLIES slogs its way to the finish line, it brings more relief than enlightenment, leaving us a package that’s less disturbing than exhausting. This one’s unfortunately short on both the sizzle and the steak. All of which is really a shame. This is the family’s fourth collaboration. I haven’t seen the previous three, but note they earned favorable ratings on IMDb, which supports my belief that they have more to offer than this one displays. Enough so that I plan to check out the others.

MOTHER OF FLIES is available streaming on Shudder starting Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

RATING: 1 out of 4 stars

GHOSTS OF RED RIDGE – Review

A scene from GHOSTS OF RED RIDGE. Courtesy of WellGo USA Entertainment

Between movies and series episodes, I’ve probably seen a few thousand westerns. Some have crossed over with sci-fi and the supernatural, like COWBOYS & ALIENS, JONAH HEX or a number of totally forgettable flicks pitting cowpokes against vampires, zombies or other things that go bump in the night. This low-budget affair, THE GHOSTS OF RED RIDGE, breaks a bit of new ground… more uniquely, perhaps, than laudably.

Red Ridge is a dusty, nowhere little town of dashed hopes. It was founded on the promise of a gold rush that never materialized, leaving a handful of bored residents with nowhere better to go. Even the local outlaw gang that harasses the folks can’t rustle up enough loot to make a decent living. The sheriff (Owen Williams) and his deputy (Trent Culkin – apparently no relation to the other Culkins in the biz) seem like good guys, but hardly the stuff of which legends are made. Adding to the sheriff’s sense of being over-matched are ghostly hallucinations that start driving him nuts. He sees dead people (none of whom look anything like Bruce Willis) and doesn’t know why. Or handle it well.

As events unfold, there are a few holdups and shootings, with a couple of unlikely deaths. The small gang gets smaller and the town’s sparse population takes a few hits. The sheriff is more of a thinker than a doer. Oddly, his only book is about thermodynamics.  But the most unusual part of this isn’t the ghosties. It’s the only western I can recall in which absolutely no one rides a horse! A couple of them pull the stagecoach in one scene. But no one’s ever in a saddle, and none are even tied to any hitching posts along the street. (Maybe the Equine Actors’ Guild was on strike when the shoot was scheduled. As Westerns have gone out of favor, most of its members may be heavily saddled with debt, and that ain’t hay. Jus’ speculatin’ here.)

The cast of actors I’ve never seen do a competent job of filling their roles under the tutelage of director Stefan Colson, whose prior work behind the camera is equally unfamiliar. They collectively keep things interesting enough to stick with despite the low level of action. Writer Brandon Cahela and several of the credited producers also donned outfits for supporting roles. Another sign of limited funding.

All in all, the film is a low-key curiosity that might work for you, now that you know not to expect much in the way of F/X or adrenaline stirring.

GHOSTS OF RED RIDGE debuts on digital formats on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

NEW STRAINS – Review

A scene from pandemic-set lockdown dramedy NEW STRAINS. Courtesy of MEMORY

The low-key indie dramedy NEW STRAINS either succeeds or sucks, depending on what you’re seeking. For starters, do you want to recall the early days of the Covid pandemic through the eyes of a few others? That’s what co-directors, co-writers and co-stars Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan serve up here. They portray, respectively, Kallia and Ram – a young couple staying in her uncle’s New York apartment as a getaway from their recent hassles and frustrations. Unfortunately, rather than explore the city honeymoon-style, the initial quarantine kicks in, sticking them in what becomes an unbearably claustrophobic situation.

She’s more energetic, romantic and sociable than her partner. He plunges into Woody Allen-esque anxiety, with a large dose of Howie Mandel-level germophobia, as this new peril with its unknown parameters shatters their plans… and moods. She’s horny; he’s paranoid. She goes out to breathe to the extent she can. He stays in, obsessing over the news and any unfolding information about the contagion.

As the quibbling and nitpicking escalate, it soon becomes apparent that these two have too little in common for forced prolonged cocooning. Their personalities are so disparate that one may even wonder why they got together in the first place. The film is short at under 80 minutes but will seem much longer to the viewer, as the imposed cloistering grates on the couple. Their different ways of handling this physically and emotionally widen the gap between them. Considerably.

Neither of them remains particularly likable, also adding to the downer factor. She lies about some things due to restlessness and frustrations with him; he gets more clingy. Both creators deserve credit for not making themselves characters who would be anyone’s idea of a role model. Though unrated as I write this, there’s probably enough non-erotic nudity (mostly Kallia’s breasts) for a likely R rating. Very little progress occurs, though there are minimal interactions with others; similar to what we all had to do in the early weeks of the outbreak. About 90% of the running time occurs in the apartment. It’s more likely to make you feel better about how you handled it compared to them than to elicit fond memories of mid-2020.

For a shoestring budget, they do a pretty good job of presenting a slice of life from that time – especially for a pair wearing so many hats despite little feature-length experience. The title serves double duty as the new strain of virus puts new strains on relationships. Whether audiences find it entertaining will vary widely.

NEW STRAINS debuts exclusively on the Memory VOD platform as of July 19.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

THOSE WHO WALK AWAY – Review

Scarlett Sperduto and Booboo Stewart in THOSE WHO WALK AWAY. Courtesy of VMI Releasing

As low-budget horror flicks go, THOSE WHO WALK AWAY, begins intriguingly as it establishes the two lead personae via their awkward chatting during the first meeting, resulting from their on-line dating connection. Booboo Stewart plays Max, a shy lad tentatively re-entering the social scene after a long preoccupation with caring for his mother during a severe illness. Scarlett Sperduto’s character Avery is relatively cool, though carrying her own set of baggage, as the two verbally circle each other like wary boxers at the start of a match.

As they wander through their small town, gradually opening up to this new potential partner beside them, it soon becomes apparent that Avery will be the Alpha if they become a couple. She persuades him to join her in exploring a reputedly haunted house. Odd choice for a first date but it’s one way to skip past the usual facades people bring to such encounters. So far, so good. We’re getting to like them as they are warming to each other, thanks to believable dialog and spot-on body language.

Once they enter the creepy dwelling, events turn ugly for the characters and the audience. The place houses a hideous creature with a homicidal agenda. We’re supposed to be scared by what happens, but mostly I found myself disoriented.

Apparently working on a low budget called for camera and lighting gimmicks that cost little and achieved less. Even worse, they didn’t invest what they saved on the filming in further writing efforts to make the script more coherent. I can’t be more specific without spoilers but I’d have remained more emotionally engaged with better understanding of how this all came about, including more of the backstory and abilities of the evil entity driving the whole thing. Three credited writers, including director Robert Rippberger, needed more time together. Or a fresh fourth set of eyes before they started shooting.

Whatever energy the latter half might have contained was dampened by a combination of pointlessly weird cuts and angles within the house, and excessively lingering shots of nothing in particular happening. The two leads were well cast. Stewart is presumably popular with younger viewers, since he was featured in the TWILIGHT series. I have no idea what his career aspirations may be but choosing the name of Yogi Bear’s sidekick over his birth name (Nils) and limitless alternatives seems to indicate a lack of ambition. “The name’s Bond; Booboo Bond” would only work on “Saturday Night Live.” Sperduto could clearly carry her weight in better films, and most certainly will.

Bottom line, Stewart and Sperduto are worth getting to know. She impresses me as a younger version of an Aubrey Plaza. I’m mildly curious about what Rippberger, whose directing career has been mainly shorts and documentaries, may yet accomplish with better scripts and bigger budgets. This effort is a reasonable choice for a mildly gory horror flick when you’re in that mood. But nothing here is particularly unique or memorable.

THOSE WHO WALK AWAY is available streaming starting on Friday, Feb. 11, on Apple TV, Amazon, Hoopla, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu and Microsoft, and in theaters in selected cities.

RATING: 1 out of 4 stars