Atlas Obscura and Epic Magazine have teamed up for Monster Mythology, an ongoing series about things that go bump in the night around the world—their origins, their evolution, their modern cultural relevance. In the village of Atuga, Ethiopia, on any given night in late October, the local farmers make sure to return from tending their…
Atlas Obscura and Epic Magazine have teamed up for Monster Mythology, an ongoing series about things that go bump in the night around the world—their origins, their evolution, their modern cultural relevance. A dead woman, her face disfigured by poisoned makeup, returns to take revenge on the husband who murdered her. A samurai is beheaded…
The SS1 Aurelia highway runs along Italy’s Tuscan coast, which makes it one of the most familiar holiday routes in the nation. Among the sites along the road is an oddity that never fails to catch the eye of drivers and passengers: a sign, at kilometer 273, on the edge of the city limits of…
There are a great number of documentary filmmakers who immerse themselves in the lives of their subjects, but few embed themselves as deeply as Steve James. From his longitudinal masterpiece Hoop Dreams to the change-making urban violence doc The Interrupters to profiling the late, great Roger Ebert in Life Itself, the city of Chicago and its…
Amazon revolutionized 21st century commerce, but that’s only part of the story. Amazon Prime, the company’s streaming arm, is the closest competitor to Netflix’s digital dominance. Plus, Amazon allows users to pay for individual movies via its Video on Demand (VOD) component. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThat’s where things get sticky…
★ Directed by: #VeltonJLishke Written by: #VeltonJLishke #DavidJKeogh Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #RobLeach #VeltonJLishke Film review by: William Hemingway Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’The thing about irreverent humour is that it has to be funny in a knowing and shared manner; the…
If there is one thing in history that is set to be examined from multiple perspectives it will be the 2016 election. The ramifications have rippled out over the last four years, its effects touching every element of democracy and fight for equality. But how did it happen? When it came time to cast the…
The stunning island of Palmarola is the second-largest island in the Pontine archipelago. Due to its steep cliffs and spectacular rugged landscape, the island is mostly uninhabited during the year except for the summer months. The French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau described it, “as the most beautiful island in the Mediterranean Sea”. Read moreA Guide to…
October is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “31 days of horror.” Don’t bother looking it up; it’s true. Most people take that to mean highlighting one horror movie a day, but here at FSR, we’ve taken that up a spooky notch or nine by celebrating each day with a top ten list. This article about…
The southern Swedish island of Öja was a strategic location the Baltic Sea when it came to the country’s shoreline defense. Fearing a Russian invasion by sea during the Cold War, the military decided to replace many of the old shore defenses with a new system: the ERSTA artillery battery. In the 1970s, the military…
On Canova Drive in New Smyrna Beach, a grave lies in the middle of the street. The memorial is dedicated to Charles Dummett, a teenager who died in 1860. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe son of Douglas D. Dummett, a landowner, and Leandra “Anna” Fernandez, an enslaved woman, Charles Dummett died…
For her debut feature film, the British director Jennifer Sheridan decided to make a vampire movie. Or did she? Is the unsettling, deeply felt horror/drama Rose: A Love Story really a vampire film? Or even a horror movie? It isn’t that scary or that gory, and the focus for the most part is on a bickering couple….
Just north of Paliza Canyon and the Paliza Group Campground are a few unique features of high desert geology. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonUnlike other hoodoos, these volcanic rock formations are filled with eroded holes that resemble distorted human faces. Those who have happened upon this elusive area dubbed the space,…
Twenty years ago, Harrison Ford played a murderous villain in Robert Zemeckis’ gaslighting supernatural thriller “What Lies Beneath.” The success of Ford’s performance as the manipulative Dr. Norman Spencer hinged on viewers’ expectations of his two most common character types: The upright father figure seen in projects like “The Mosquito Coast,” “Patriot Games,” and “Air…
It wasn’t like the last time I’d visited the British Film Institute. The buildings were all the same, massive cubes of concrete sitting along the bank of the Thames. Their façades were aglow with pink and blue lights, as I remembered them last time, glinting off of the river as we crossed Waterloo Bridge. But…
The Battle of Gettysburg was the deadliest conflict of the Civil War with more than 20,000 casualties. However, only one was a non-combatant. Jennie Wade was just 20 years old when she was struck by a stray bullet inside this house on July 3, 1863. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWade lived…
Over the last few months, critics and film enthusiasts alike have traversed the country, the world even, without traveling a single mile. Festivals have been reimagined virtually for a reality that prevents us from physically convening. In truth, as convenient as they are, home viewing can never fully substitute for the real experience, but festivals…
★★★ Directed by: Ambz Negro Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Ambz Negro Starring: David Farrell, Paulie Kren Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’,,Film Review by: ,,Jason Knight Sometimes it can be difficult for people to deal with their inner struggles. A young man…
“This is terrible!” says the director, appearing onscreen for the first time after the sequence of haphazardly shot, the off-kilter dialogue of the opening minutes of the film. Only the first delightful surprise of experimental fiction-documentary Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, this unexpected commentary sets the stage for a spectacular and very odd 75 minutes. A Bad Idea? Symbiopsychotaxiplasm:…
“You guys shot the wrong man, didn’t you?!” Dark Star Films has debuted a new official US trailer for the New Zealand dark comedy called Lowdown Dirty Criminals, made by filmmaker Paul Murphy (Second Hand Wedding and Love Birds). This already opened in New Zealand & Australia a few months ago, and should make its…
Atlas Obscura and Epic Magazine have teamed up for Monster Mythology, an ongoing series about things that go bump in the night around the world—their origins, their evolution, their modern cultural relevance. Imagine you are on your own, deep in Colombia’s central Andean region. Perhaps you are cutting down lumber in the lush forests, or…