Title: M is for Madame-Kali
Year: 2013
Country: Canada/UK
Director: Jazz Virk
Writer: Jazz Virk
Producers: Dov Weiss, Jazz Virk, Swarit Jajal, Vandana Sidhu, James Antonio
Director of Photography: Nigel Akam
Plot Summary: A woman’s revenge is Kali Ma, the Hindu goddess of death and destruction.
Virk’s latest piece raises awareness about violence against women. The story is inspired by and is dedicated to Jyoti Singh Pandey, India’s ‘New Delhi gang rape victim’ who was brutally raped and murdered in 2012.
This short was submitted as part of the ABCs of Death 2 26th Director Search. Learn more here. A longer version of the film will be coming out in Winter/Spring 2014.
The movie follows Angel, a young girl that is forced to work in a house that specializes in supplying young prostitutes to various military personnel. Initially planned to be put to work as a prostitute, Angel instead becomes the assistant to Viktor, who runs the brothel. During the day she is given the duty of cleaning the prostitutes up after their often violent encounters with various men, but at night wanders the walls and crawlspaces of the house. It’s when she befriends newcomer Vanya and witnesses the aftermath of the regular and brutal rapes that Vanya is subjected to that Angel begins to plan revenge, especially after the squad of soldiers responsible for her abduction and the murder of her family arrives.
Per Wiki: The film had extremely mixed reviews. The horror press loved the film and got very positive receptions at many festivals around the world and was selected as opening film at Film4’s Frightfest 2012. However, not surprisingly the UK mainstream press hated it. Empire magazine gave the film three stars calling it ‘stylistically bold and brutally compelling’, it also had rave reviews from HeyUguys who said ‘Beautiful, exhilarating and exhausting’. Radio Times also said ‘Highly effective suspense shocker, this hard-hitter is influenced by Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski’. FearNet said ‘Aggressively entertaining, a stark and ferocious new revenge thriller, both unflinching and compelling’, Dreadcentral also said ‘The Seasoning House is a lyrical, bleak, and deeply wounding exploration of brutality and inhumanity that cries out to be seen’. Brutal as Hell exclaimed ‘In many ways The Seasoning House reminded me of the recent wave of French horror: visceral and unrestrained, but with a fierce intelligence at work behind the camera’. The Seasoning House won the critics award at Fantasporto, Portugal, the critics award at Mile High Horror Festival at Denver, Colorado and best actress for Rosie Day at Fantaspoa, Brazil.
Title: Click
Year: 2010
Country: United Kingdom
Director: William Prince
Writer: William Prince
Producer: Tony Dixon, Kate O’Hara, Catherine Jeffrey
Production Company: UK Film Council and Screen Yorkshire
Plot Summary:
At the end of a long day, five children look to fill in the remaining hours of sunlight before they return home. Bored, and looking for a new playground, they enter an imposing, decaying building that has been empty for years. Abandoned and distressed, the building stands alone in its surroundings. No other buildings dare approach. A warning to visitors the children should have noticed as one by one they discover why we are afraid of the dark.