Editorials
A Double Feature of What We Love About Indie Cinema
I’ve always been able to say that I loved, love, and will forever love movies. I haven’t always been able to say that I understood how most of the polished talent being showcased in the huge multiplexes, actually was culled from more humble beginnings. Where would we be without the honesty of independent film? Think of it as big budget films being processed and genetically modified through studios and rewrites, and indie films are the organic stuff, locally produced with love and careful diligence. Another plus side is that the organic stuff, in this case, is actually more affordable. The irony of it all is that all too often, independent filmmakers almost have to give all that film goodness away. It may be the only industry where a customized product doesn’t enjoy high demand at a premium price. Then again the sheer will of wanting to tell a good story or doing something innovative that ripples through the larger framework of the medium isn’t always about money. Shallow pockets for me always up the “wow” factor, and when someone does something clever or groundbreaking on a break from their day job, well color me impressed. I recently discovered two films from filmmakers on opposite coasts that excelled in different avenues, but still flow into the same confluence of substance over style. One for telling a good story and the other for technical innovation.
THE LISTING
Director: Mario Cerrito III
Anyone that’s had to weather the challenges of house hunting can attest that finding a new place to live is a killer. It’s all about location, location, location, granite countertops and hoping that weird smell in the basement is only temporary. It can be very stressful on both sides of the deal. Absolutely anything could happen, good or bad, and the real estate agent dynamic has been utilized in a few horror and suspense films before. It’s not new to use the old bait and switch of using home turf advantage to lure potential victims into a convenient kill spot. So to take on such a trope-y hook to hang a film on requires some faith on the writer’s part that there’s a sharper hook in there somewhere else. New Jersey filmmaker Mario Cerrito III’s latest, THE LISTING, is the tale of a very average realtor that finds himself in a very extraordinary situation. He’s got the biggest sale of his career nailed down, and everything seems to be perfect. All is well until his son is kidnapped and his captors issue a very complicated ransom. It’s not money they want, but six dead bodies in 24 hours or his son is dead. The logistics alone seem impossible, but he’s got an ace in the hole with a house listing and several prospects interested in coming by to take a look at it. If killing strangers isn’t hard enough, he also besieged by visits from acquaintances and even family members as the deadline rapidly approaches, and the body count is still lacking. It’s a solid tension builder that gauges the limits of human desperation over morality, and what bad things a good person may do without any other options. Why this happened to such a normal guy is also a nice bit of dysfunctionality that seals the deal with a very elegant twist.
Genre favorite Jessica Cameron also makes a cameo.
THE SECRET OF 40
Director: Kourosh Ahari
Death is the life’s blood of horror. Someone is either dealing it or getting the business end of it. The best thing about horror films is the catharsis of dealing with the imminent specter of death whittling away at our mortality. No one gets out of life alive, and some of the most thought provoking films deal with the denial that death is final. That angle seems to push the most buttons because it’s outside the realm of accepted possibilities, and always poses the question of if “dead is better”. West Coast filmmaker Kourosh Ahari’s THE SECRET OF 40 follows a son who lost his mother in a horrific car crash. While at her house, he finds an incantation that could bring her back. The most striking thing about this film is the revolutionary way in which it is presented. THE SECRET OF 40 is the very first horror film to use the Barco Escape three screen technology. It utilizes the three screen system that not only immerses the viewer in a panoramic field of view for a single scene, but also simultaneously displays two separate, but related scenes in a way that a conventional split screen never could.
The technology could be a refreshing alternative to the mixed blessing and the divided camp of contemporary 3D. An indie movie that shares the same platform with more widely released notables is definitely noteworthy. I opted not to watch the screener on a laptop, and waited until I had access to three screens proper, and it is very immersive and works perfectly in a horror film. A wider field of vision keeps the viewer unsettled by a peripheral assault on the senses. With the prevalence of virtual reality, three screen technology is encompassing, but still, has the comforting tether to the material world. Another side note to THE SECRET OF 40 is that it features Judie Aronson (FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER, WEIRD SCIENCE, AMERICAN NINJA) and Robert Rusler (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2, WEIRD SCIENCE, THRASHIN’).
There’s so much talent in the indie film industry, and the beauty of it is that it gives that talent an opportunity to shine without being diluted by the politics of movie making. Nearly every independent filmmaker’s end product has the true representation of their vision that the funding will allow. That alone can yield some pretty revolutionary stuff. After all, most of the classics started with someone that had a good story to tell, and a distinctive way to do it.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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