Connect with us

Indie

[North Bend Film Fest Review] ‘Braid’ is a Hypnotic Tale of Horror and Make-Believe

Published

on

One of the most unique and exciting offerings of the inaugural North Bend Film Fest was Mitzi Peirone’s debut feature. Braid is a hallucinogenic mind-fuck of the highest caliber. Beautiful, entrancing and dangerous, it gets its hooks in immediately and doesn’t stop for the next 90 minutes.

The film opens as Petula (Imogen Waterhouse) and Tilda (Sarah Hay) are working to sort and pack the $80k worth of drugs that they recently acquired for sale. When the cops start beating down their door, they escape through a window, take a train out of the city and head to the palatial home of their childhood friend, Daphne (Madeline Brewer). The pair decide to find the safe hidden deep within the walls of the house and rob Daphne of her inheritance in order to pay back their supplier.

What seems like a reasonably simple task is made much more complicated by the fact that Daphne, who has lived alone since the untimely death of her grandparents, is certifiably insane. The only way into the house is to agree to play a game that has gone on since the women were young. As Tilda and Petula step back into their roles, they embark on a dangerous and surreal game of make-believe at the hands of Daphne, who, like when they were little, rules the game with an iron fist.

Braid is a film that dives deep into the darkest corners of imagination. Tilda and Petula join Daphne in the game simply as a means of getting into and searching the house. Over time, the game begins to take hold, and it becomes less and less clear just what is imagined and what is reality.

Peirone utilizes bright, rich color palettes, a lavish location, and kinetic camera work to enhance the dreamlike nature of her story. Reality shifts and bleeds so slowly and subtly here that after awhile, we don’t quite know where the characters stand. It’s a beautiful, hypnotic nightmare that is completely unpredictable. She directs with a confidence that gives the film a real backbone – her story may not tie together perfectly, but it doesn’t really need to. When the realm of reality overlaps with the realm of fantasy, the best thing we can do is just hang on and enjoy the ride.

So much of the beauty in Braid is not in the narrative itself, but in how that narrative grabs onto the feel and execution of childhood games and imagination. Granted, it takes the imagination to some pretty dark places, but watching these characters slowly devolve to embody their childhood roles is fascinating. Childhood and make-believe, in their essence, have an element of insanity to them. Something that we grow out of and abandon as we grow more accustomed to the real world. Here, that insanity is harnessed and lived in with a ferocity we don’t often get to experience.

Braid is an exciting and noteworthy debut feature. While it never goes full Alice in Wonderland by leading us straight into impossibilities, it does dive far enough down a rabbit hole to leave us feeling disoriented in the best possible way.

Indie

“Bite Size Short: Her House of Horrors” Announce Short Grant Program!

Published

on

Her House of Horrors, the horror division of Independent Production House WOMXNOGRAPHY, has launched its Bite Size Short Grant Program, ahead of its film festival Dollhouse of Horror, which will take place in March 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.

The Bite Size Short Grant Program awards $2,000 film grants to female-identifying and queer horror filmmakers. Shorts must be able to be made for $2,000, with a minimum runtime of 8 minutes. Submissions are now open on Filmfreeway, and are being judged by a panel of horror lovers and content creators.

The 2024 Bite Size Short Grant Program judge lineup is as follows:

“James H. Carter II- A documentary director, film producer, podcaster, marketing specialist, and writer. James is the founder and co-owner of Creepy Kingdom. Creepy Kingdom was founded in 2011 and is a multimedia website, and production studio specializing in creepy content. Their primary focus lies at the intersection of childlike fantasy and the macabre, covering horror films, theme parks, haunts, and much more. Beyond their extensive media coverage, Creepy Kingdom hosts events, offers original merchandise, and engages in film production under the Creepy Kingdom Studios brand producing original films like “Foolish Mortals”, exploring Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” fan culture, and “Georgie”, featuring Tony Dakota from the original “It” miniseries.

“In addition to founding Creepy Kingdom, James has won awards for his documentary work, including the award-winning “Foolish Mortals,” which has earned him recognition. He has been featured on Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween special.

“Ashleeta Beauchamp is the editor-in-chief of Peek-A-Boo! Magazine, a cheeky horror magazine created to uplift marginalized writers, artists, models and other creators within the horror community. She also runs The Halloween Coalition, a community group to provide support and marketing for horror and Halloween events around the Southern California area.

“Titeanya Rodríguez is a multi-hyphenate creative, and the founder and owner of HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, home of DOLLHOUSE OF HORROR and the horror division of WOMXNOGRAPHY. As a fellow storyteller and a self-proclaimed artivist, Titeanya’s mission is to create opportunities for women of color and queer women, across film, tv, sports, music, and beyond. She is also the creator of the BITE SIZE SHORT grant program.”

Winners will have a one-night theatrical screening at Regal Cinemas. Submissions Close April 8 at Midnight. Winners will be announced on May 27, 2024. Shorts must be shot and through post-production by June 30, 2024. The screening will take place on July 8, 2024, in Los Angeles, CA.

WOMXNOGRAPHY, HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, and Rodriguez are represented by Azhar PR, Granderson Des Rochers, and Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir.

To submit your short to the Bite Size Short Grant Program, go to the FilmFreeway link here.

Continue Reading