CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Simon Rumley
Blu-ray Review: ‘The ABCs of Death’ Mistakes Endurance Test for Entertainment
Submitted by mattmovieman on June 5, 2013 - 11:16amCHICAGO – “The ABCs of Death” may easily rank as the most repugnant two hours I’ve ever had the displeasure of being condemned to review. But don’t let that entice you, gorehounds. It’s also uninspired and thoroughly monotonous. The only thing that scared me was my realization after the first short film had ended that I still had 25 films left to go. This isn’t entertainment. It’s an endurance test.
DVD Review: ‘Red White & Blue’ Plays on the Mind, Not the Gag Reflex
Submitted by mattmovieman on May 20, 2011 - 10:36amCHICAGO – There are few modern horror films that possess the power to shock an audience into a state of dazed, mouth-gaping awe. Audiences of increasingly young ages are well-accustomed to copious amounts of blood and gore. The excess of violence quickly and irrevocably numbs the senses. That may be why Simon Rumley’s “Red White & Blue” works so well. It plays on the mind rather than the gag reflex.
Interview: Simon Rumley Shocks the Senses in ‘Red White & Blue’
Submitted by mattmovieman on May 17, 2011 - 10:04amCHICAGO – The scariest aspects of a Simon Rumley picture aren’t in the form of ominous monsters or buckets of blood. They are instead hidden within the corners of a tormented human psyche. It’s the impulse for destruction that haunts every one of his characters in “Red White & Blue,” a deeply unsettling drama that transforms into a galvanizing horror film during its final act.
Film Review: Unsettling ‘Red White & Blue’ Creeps Under the Skin
Submitted by mattmovieman on October 12, 2010 - 7:54amCHICAGO – “Red White & Blue” is a deviously effective horror film precisely because it doesn’t appear to be one. There are subtle stylistic hints here and there, but nothing that truly signals the horrors to come. They emerge not from left field, but out of the character’s own pent up rage, and their increasing desire to inflict pain upon the world that has failed them.