Author: Stephen Rui

If you’ve seen his previous work, you’ll know that Curry Barker, at the tender age of not quite 27, is an unyielding pessimist. After uploading the bleak found-footage film Milk and Serial to YouTube (no one wanted to buy it), he produced Obsession with A24, a film that hit theaters just a few days ago and which, if possible, is even darker and crueler than his first feature film. Barker, who—along with Cooper Tomlinson—forms a comedy duo much like Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, clearly has a twisted mind, a fierce dark sense of humor, and a deep-seated distrust of…

For at least a couple of decades, road horror films were the best the United States had to offer to the delight of fans of the genre—just think of gems like The Hitcher (the 1986 version starring Rutger Hauer, of which there is also a 2007 remake). Bringing the subgenre back into vogue is Passenger, in theaters starting May 21, by André Øvredal, a Norwegian director (like Tommy Wirkola of Dead Snow) who previously helmed the witch story The Autopsy of Jane Doe, the mythological Mortal, and the vampire film Demeter: The Awakening of Dracula. As Jeepers Creepers teaches us,…

Although Harry Potter has become a cultural phenomenon that, 15 years after its conclusion, remains hard to top, the film series has installments that fans prefer over others, and one that frequently tops the list is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third adaptation that hit theaters in 2004, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The story depicted in J.K. Rowling’s novels hit theaters in 2001 with the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, an adaptation followed by the second installment, also directed by the same filmmaker: Chris Columbus. The American director had brought the magic of Christmas…

Antoine Fuqua’s musical biopic Michael, dedicated to Michael Jackson, topped the box office this weekend with $26 million in ticket sales, but its reign may be coming to an end as an unlikely independent horror film is gaining significant momentum. We’re talking about Curry Barker’s Obsession, which ranked third on its opening weekend with a $17 million debut… however, it saw a surge in the following days and has now grossed nearly $3 million compared to Michael’s $2.7 million—an incredible overtaking, given the production differences between the two films. Barker’s film has great potential, fueled by excellent word-of-mouth, including an…

Masters of the Universe is returning to the big screen with Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man in the reboot of the beloved saga, and although the film tells an original story, the director has openly stated that he wants to pay homage to the original stories, including the beloved 1980s animated TV series. Specifically, in addition to teasing the role of She-Ra, director Travis Knight revealed to SFX magazine in its latest issue that he’s found an original way to pay homage to the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series in his new film: “If you watched the Filmation…

Christopher Nolan should have seen this coming: adapting The Odyssey into an epic Hollywood film is a more ambitious undertaking than any Trojan War. Beyond the considerable narrative and production challenges—especially given this director’s standards—perhaps even he didn’t expect the sheer volume of criticism and raised eyebrows that have followed since the release of the very first trailer. The tone is too dark, too intellectual, too glossy. And then there’s the cast, which boasts names like Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron: too Hollywood! In fact, upon closer inspection, Nolan’s aesthetic vision—even in this…