Don’t Look Down

Made for a very, very reasonable budget of only three million dollars, co-writer and director Scott Mann’s Fall (2022) became not only a minor box office success, grossing just over eighteen million dollars, but is also a film that is not for anyone who might be suffering from acrophobia – also known as a fear of heights. Following twenty-something Becky Connor (Grace Caroline Currey), she was an avid rock climber until the day her husband Dan (Mason Gooding) fell to his death while on one of their climbing trips with fellow enthusiast Shiloh Hunter (Virginia Gardner).

The third and final film in Dario Argento’s gialli ‘Animal Trilogy’ – following The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and The Cat o’ Nine Tails – 1971's Four Flies on Grey Velvet, like the others, aren’t truly connected by anything other than their quirky titles and mystery thriller themes. A vexing conundrum for our protagonist, rock drummer Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon), he constantly seems to be tracked by a shady looking individual (Calisto Calisti). Finally having enough, he does his own stalking, following the individual into an empty hall.

There may be no better film to fit within the ‘What Could Have Been’ category than New York Ninja. Filmed all the way back in 1984 by famed martial artist John Liu in the Big Apple, as things progressed, they really didn’t... as 21st Century Film Corporation Inc. was going through financial issues and internal changes – meaning the money dried up. Soon, the movie, though relatively close to completion, was shelved, leaving it to sit ignored for close to 35 years. Never edited into any sort of complete form (nor having a soundtrack created for it), as the years passed, all the sound that was recorded was lost to time – leaving just the raw footage (there wasn’t even credits or notes for any of the actors who worked on the project).

You know, it is pretty rare to have a critically acclaimed comedy movie coming out of Canada – other than Bon Cop, Bad Cop (as well as its sequel), Starbuck, and perhaps a few others (and that might be a stretch)... somehow, despite all the funny people to come out of the country north of the United States, it just doesn’t happen – perhaps because so much of the talent relocates to either New York or Los Angeles. Well, another rare funny film has to be added to the short list: co-star, co-writer, and director Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (2025). Not at all related to the 90s grunge band Nirvana, the concept is actually based upon a web series that ran between 2007-2009, its tv adaptation which spawned in 2017-2018, only for it now to evolve into its current film form.

A revisionist feature that in many ways is the closing bookend to the classic western, Clint Eastwood directs and stars in (notably his last picture in the genre he helped make famous again) 1992's Academy Award Best Picture winner Unforgiven. Throwing the traditional rhythm out the door, David Webb Peoples writes a tale set at the end of the Wild West where in every characters’ mind, they are the ‘good’ guy. Centred around a town called Big Whiskey, Wyoming, Sheriff ‘Little Bill’ Daggett (Gene Hackman – The Replacements) runs the town with an iron fist – banning any guns in the place (if they don’t listen, he makes an example of them). Also of note, the lawman, though not a great craftsman, is trying to build his own home.

You know, it is always energizing attending a first year event. Being part of the birth of something new, feeling the excitement of a fresh hunting ground, as well as seeing the scaffolding being set up for the growth of an event that will likely thrive for years to come, is always a sight to behold... and that was certainly the case with Nepean’s first ever Horror-Fi, hosted at the Nepean Sportsplex on June 13th and 14th, 2026. Brought to vivid life by Geeked Out’s Shannon and Patrick O’Neill, they’ve certainly done their research