The first film I saw of Anthony DiBlasi was the adaption of the Clive Barker short story, Dread.  It was a small film that hasn’t seemed to have found its audience, but I enjoyed it and thought that DiBlasi showed some promising signs of becoming a name in horror to look out for.  In his new release Cassadaga he continues to show his signs of promise, though I feel he’s still got a way to go before he releases the film that is truly going to wow us and have him become a major player in horror cinema.

With the latest horror entry from DiBlasi we meet Lily (Kelen Coleman), who early on suffers the loss of her younger sister in a tragic accident.  Lilly ends up relocating to a small town, Cassadaga, for an art fellowship program, but like all quaint small towns in horror films, nothing is ever as innocent as it may seem.

“Insanity, it’s a disease that spreads through the mind. Generating twisted and deranged thoughts inside the human brain, making us do awful horrendous acts, much farther beyond the normal sphere of the imagination.”

A collection of ghost stories set in a sanitarium suitable for a Halloween horror screening told in a Tales from the Crypt style. Terrence Stamp acts as narrator for three tales of people driven mad and committing horrific acts. Stamp is the head doctor at sanitarium and introduces us to three guests of his facility, informing us of how they came to become guests. The scream factor on the tales isn’t that high, and the atmosphere for each of the stories is a bit on the tense side, but as a whole the collection has value. John Glover, Lacey Chabert, and Lou Diamond Phillips star in each of the tales, but it actually Terrence Stamp’s intro that sets the stage for each story.

The subject of terrorism is almost impossible to easily analyze. It certainly deserves films that try to understand the complex psychology behind such acts. American Bomber is an interesting take on the subject. It is not a successful film, but it has a sincere desire to get to some hidden truths. The main point that comes out is that many people who become suicide bombers are more interested in suicide than making a political point. Many terrorist acts come from a basic need for revenge because the person feels cheated, neglected or traumatized by life itself.

American Bomber is a typical super-low-budget film. The acting is poor to fair, and overall, the approach is not very imaginative. Some moments are better than others, but it is the process of making a film for very little money that causes most of these problems. The film has numerous commentaries, and it's clear the process to get the film made was long and torturous.

One of the easiest ways to shoot a small independent film is to film in your own real life environment. That means you don't have to think about a lot of the details that go into making most films. You already have and know thoroughly the sets and locals of your shoot. It's even easier if you don't have to build sets, since you just use the real locations of your life. It's even easier if you just remove all pretense and you just make the movie about a guy who is making a movie about a guy who happens to be himself. It makes it even easier when the guy is a casting director, because then you have a ready supply of talent at your disposal. It certainly would be nice if this was about a Hollywood casting agency, but it takes place in South Africa. I had a hard time figuring out where it took place, since most of the movie takes place in nondescript lofts and apartments. The accent could be British, but I'm no Henry Higgins, so I'll take their word that it takes place in South Africa. South Africa is pretty much the other side of the world, and most of what I know about South Africa has to do with apartheid and its aftermath. There is no sign of that in this film since everyone is white.

Casting Me... is basically a Woody Allen-type film with a young insecure guy who is trying to make a film about a guy like himself in his spare time. He's still in love with his ex, and she might be interested in playing herself in the movie if he finishes the script. The girl is very cute and attractive in a zaftig way.
None of the actors have shown up on any radar of mine, but the production looks professional and everyone does a good job. The writer/director Quinton Lavery has included tons of commentaries and extras, including a day in the life of the director and the cinematographer. I only wish most classic films had this much commentary.

It’s always difficult to watch a stand-up from a guy you know nothing about. No matter how hard you try, you will always have preconceived notions about the guy based solely on what he chooses to title his stand-up. I’ve said it once and I will say it again, titles play a big part in whether or not a person is going to take a chance on something they know nothing about. It is what makes the first impression of a perspective audience, and it is the deciding factor on whether a person picks up and buys or picks up and puts back on the DVD rack. With a title like My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend, Mike Birbiglia gave himself a nice advantage; however this stand-up is a good example of how looks can be deceiving.

Not a very captivating stand-up, if I’m being honest; Birbiglia does project this image of being a regular joe, your basic everyman. In fact for the first part of his set, I spent my time racking my brain to trying to recall where else I have seen him. However despite my original belief that I recognized the comedian, after an extensive check of his IMDB filmography I can say with confidence that I had never encountered him before this disc. That said, this is not a stand-up that stayed with me even as I watched. The topics are relatable, with Birbiglia tackling a subject that anyone could easily relate to, love. The trouble is in the delivery; there is no attention-grabber. This is simply a biography about a man who appeared to have no luck when it came to dating.