Cults are all the rage 📿, Alyssa Bonanno guests ✍🏻, 'Don't Log Off' dials in 💻, & more!

In the vein of Unfriended, co-directors Garrett Baer and Brandon Baer's Don't Log Off wields modern technology to elicit chills and thrills. When a group of friends, led by Annie (Ariel Winter), connect over a video call for a birthday celebration, one of their own goes missing and leads to a frantic search to find her. But little do they know, eyes follow them wherever they go and they each vanish, too. A sinister force is not playing games, and the result is a danger cat 'n mouse game. While it doesn't hit the same high as Unfriended or The Den, Don't Log Off unpacks its own kind of terror. [written by Bee]

Some of the most fascinating characters in film are complex, deeply flawed individuals. Protagonists with baggage and skewed morals allow for richness in the performances. With Robert LaSardo’s American Trash, the writer/director strikes an alarming balance between fighting against society’s apathy toward nature and one another, and the intrigue around cult leader and killer Charles Manson. These central themes propel the story to barrel down the tracks of revenge and acceptance, ultimately crashing into catastrophe. [Read Bee's review]

Found footage and slashers provide direct lines to my heart. Each subgenre possesses its own conventions, tropes, and expectations. Writer/director Samuel B. fuses the two in his new film, A Whisper, A Scream, and A Cut to Black. He balances both styles without compromising the chills and thrills they elicit on their own. What results is a gnarly, terrifying beast that’ll leave you gasping and in shock. The mark of a great craftsman, Samuel B.’s ability to deliver something so intensely impressive on a meager budget proves that indie filmmaking can be great, or even surpass big-budget theatrical releases. [Read Bee's review]

Access:Horror was created as a space to explore and celebrate the history, impact, and future of disability in the horror genre, through conversations, connections, and various artistic forms, including film. We acknowledge the interwoven nature of identity and media representation, and celebrate the many intersectional identities that have been at the heart of horror cinema since the beginning. We believe in horror as an agent of change, and seek to elevate discourse that uplifts marginalized creators and gives them space to create new work that imagines new worlds.

Access:Horror film festival will return this year, a hybrid festival and industry summit, both online and live in New York City, to celebrate disability in horror and genre cinema. Named as one of the most accessible film festivals in the nation by Forbes,  Access: Horror will kick off events on August 1st  with a 6-hour program at DCTV Firehouse Cinema (87 Lafayette St.) in New York City. The festival is happening in partnership with the George A. Romero Foundation, and features the tagline, “So Inclusive, It’s Scary.”