It Feeds

This Canadian dropped last year and it's a banger of a horror movie - a cross between Smile and Stranger Things. Ashley Greene plays Cynthia, a woman who runs a psychiatry practice out of her home and when traditional methods don't work, Cynthia has a gift, the ability to go into her patients' minds. Her daughter Jordan (Ellie O'Brien) has this power too, as did her late husband. One day a young girl, Riley (Shayelin Martin - from Wild Goat Surf), bursts into Cynthia's home begging for help. She sees a creature, and it's feeding off of her. The creature is terrifying - similar to a blackened version of Smile's entity. The visuals in this movie are great. The set pieces are top notch. Horror fans should love this. Cynthia is reluctant to help as it did her husband in for doing something similar - there is a Conjuring feel to this also. Cynthia's ability to enter the mind leads to an Inception dream-within-the-dream scenario. So when I say the visuals are great, we get all this crazy Nightmare on Elm Street/Dream Demon imagery too. Cynthia also has a friend, Agatha (Juno Rinaldi) who is there for comic relief. Rinaldi's performance is great and gives off a goofy Scooby-Doo Daphne vibe; I loved her. If you are hungry for horror, It Feeds will fill you up. Catch it streaming on CRAVE or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

Wild Goat Surf

The U.K. has Andrea Arnold. The U.S. has Sean Baker. Who is the Canadian equivalent? Turns out it's Caitlyn Sponheimer. Never heard of her? Me neither. She is the writer, director, and star of Wild Goat Surf, a 2023 Canadian film which seems to have gotten overlooked by everyone. This one is about Goat (Shayelin Martin), a young skater-girl/tomboy who lives with her waitressing/hairdressing mother Jane (Sponheimer) and every summer they illegally sublet their apartment and go live in an Okanagan trailer park to make a little extra cash. Goat hangs with the other kids in the trailer park and they get up to some trouble. Part American Honey, part The Florida Project, this coming of age tale breathes like a harmonica in a Neil Young song around a campfire. Everyone seems to have a beer on the go and is always a little tipsy. Shayelin Martin (Goat) is excellent as she dreams about becoming a surfer - her world slowly crashing around her. Caitlyn Sponheimer has crafted a beautiful looking film. Catch this streaming on Crave, though I'm not sure where else you can find it. It's a shame because I think it's a film that deserves a bigger audience. I hope Ms. Sponheimer gets another chance to make another beautiful film.