How Can You Sleep at Night?

This June on Shock, were having nightmares.

I hope youre enjoying Shock Till You Drop in the months since Ive taken over as Managing Editor. One of my goals, alongside an emphasis on fun, meaty film writing next to the news, was a zine-like quality with thematic content and connective tissue throughout each month. We really pushed that in May, looking toward Poltergeist to explore remakes and branch off into other areas like PG & PG-13 horror.

This June sees the release of both Rodney Aschers sleep paralysis horror-doc The Nightmare and Romain Bassetts lush lucid dream tale Horsehead. The two films, as well as this falls Before I Wake, give dreams or a dream-like state a real prominence in the narrative. They arent simply used as sequences for scares, or quick trips to a characters psyche; though theres nothing wrong with that, as youll see in We Are Still Here.

Maybe its nothing, but I do find it a bit fascinating to see this resurgence. Were currently entrenched in an online atmosphere of outrage. Though many with truly horrid intentions can reveal themselves via public comment and social media, simple missteps in language for others can snowball to something much greater, while words are actually being weaponized. Its worrisome, and Im interested in the idea that our unconscious, our subconscious and our dreams might feel like the last safe space to let everything roam free. To pervert that, to invade that like a nightmare, well thats just scary.

Am I on to something? Who knows? But were going to run with it and explore nightmares in scary movies, with pieces on nightmare sequences, waking nightmares, dissociative states in horror, Elm Street and more.

Well also be getting into the big June releases, which just June 5^th includes Hungry Hearts, Insidious: Chapter 3, The Nightmare and We Are Still Here. Thats not to mention this months absolute must-sees, the dreamy metaphysical tale The Midnight Swim and the challenging, feminist thriller Felt. Well also be kicking off summer camp season and taking on whatever else pops up along the way.

Below, find Junes releases and let us know which youre most interested in seeing and hearing about. Again, I hope youre enjoying and discussing Shock, and I thank you for reading.

June 2015

June 2015 #1

Hungry Hearts (dir. Saverio Costanzo)

June 5th: NY, LA, VOD (IFC)

New York City newlyweds Jude (Girls' Adam Driver) and Mina (I Am Love's Alba Rohrwacher) have a seemingly perfect relationship. But things take an unsettling turn with the birth of their son. Convinced that the baby must be kept free of all contaminants, Mina develops fanatical obsessions with veganism, cleanliness, and purity that may kill the child unless Jude can stop her. With stunning performances from Driver and Rohrwacher, this intense psychological drama suggests that sometimes a parent's love can be the scariest thing of all.
June 2015 #2

Insidious: Chapter 3 (dir. Leigh Whannell)

June 5th: everywhere (Gramercy/Focus)

The newest chapter in the terrifying horror series is written and directed by franchise co-creator Leigh Whannell. This chilling prequel, set before the haunting of the Lambert family, reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl (Stefanie Scott) who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.
June 2015 #3

The Nightmare (dir. Rodney Ascher)

June 5th: Theaters and VOD (Gravitas)

From Rodney Ascher, the director of “Room 237”, comes a documentary-horror film exploring the phenomenon of ‘Sleep Paralysis’ through the eyes of eight very different people. These people (and a surprisingly large number of others) often find themselves trapped between the sleeping and waking worlds, totally unable to move but aware of their surroundings while being subject to frequently disturbing sights and sounds. A strange element to these visions is that despite the fact that they know nothing of one another, (and had never heard of sleep paralysis before it happened to them), many see similar ghostly ‘shadow men.’ This is one of many reasons many people insist this is more than just a sleep disorder. THE NIGHTMARE digs deep into not only the particulars of these eight people’s uncanny experiences (through elaborate, sometimes surreal dramatizations), but it also explores their search to understand what they’ve gone through and how it’s changed their lives.
June 2015 #4

We Are Still Here (dir. Ted Geoghegan)

June 5th: Theaters and VOD (Dark Sky Films)

After the death of their college age son, Anne and Paul Sacchetti (Barbara Crampton and Andrew Sensenig) relocate to the snowswept New England hamlet of Aylesbury, a sleepy village where all is most certainly not as it seems. When strange sounds and eerie feelings convince Anne that her son's spirit is still with them, they invite an eccentric, New Age couple (Larry Fessenden and Lisa Marie) to help them get to the bottom of the mystery.

They discover that not only are the house's first residents, the vengeful Dagmar family, still there - but so is an ancient power. A primal darkness slumbers under the old home, waking up every thirty years and demanding the fresh blood of a new family.
June 2015 #5

Der Samurai (dir. Till Kleinert)

June 9th: DVD & Blu (Artsploitation)

Unlike any other horror film you'll see this year, DerSamurai is a surreal mix of dark comedy and eerie creep-out that recalls David Lynch. Set in a small village, a bloody game of cat-and-mouse ensues between a young, repressed young police officer and a cross-dressing villain with a large sword and a predilection for beheadings. Completely bizarre yet wildly entertaining, it is a horror must-see.
June 2015 #6

The House with 100 Eyes (dir. Jay Lee, Jim Roof)

June 16th: DVD, Blu, On Demand (Artsploitation)

It’s Henry – Portrait of a Serial Killer meets This is Spinal Tap in the gory mockumentaryTHE HOUSE WITH 100 EYES, the grisliest, darkest horror-comedy ever imaginable. Ed and Susan are just your average, middle-class American suburban married couple: they have their quirks, their romantic moments, their hobbies. One of these hobbies has even turned into a small business venture for the couple…because Ed and Susan are also serial killers who sell snuff videos of their crimes through the internet underground. Since Ed is determined that their next video will surpass all of their previous work, he has decided that it will feature three kills in one night – but after they abduct their intended victims, things don’t go as planned. Filmed entirely through the perspective of Ed’s many cameras, and labeled “one of the greatest horror films of the century” by Film Radar, this film is as shocking as it is slyly satirical about violence and media exploitation.
June 2015 #7

Burying the Ex (dir. Joe Dante)

June 19th: Theaters, VOD, iTunes (Image)

It seemed like a great idea when all-around nice guy Max (ANTON YELCHIN, Star Trek) and his beautiful girlfriend, Evelyn (ASHLEY GREENE, Twilight Saga) moved in together. But when Evelyn turns out to be a controlling, manipulative nightmare, Max knows it’s time to call it quits. There’s just one problem: he’s terrified of breaking up with her. Fate steps in when Evelyn is the victim of a fatal, freak accident, leaving Max single and ready to mingle. Just as Max is thinking about moving on with what could be his dream girl, Olivia (Alexandra Daddario, True Detective) – Evelyn has returned from the grave and is determined to get her boyfriend back...even if that means transforming him into one of the undead.
June 2015 #8

Horsehead (dir. Romain Bassett)

June 23rd: On Demand, DVD & Blu (Artsploitation)

Haunting and horrific, surreal and shocking, HORSEHEAD is a new horror-fantasy that pays tribute to the classic European shockers of Dario Argento and Mario Bava while also remaining a unique film with its own vision, delivering unforgettable images that both disturb and enchant. Director Romain Basset’s tale follows beautiful young Jessica (Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux) as she returns to her family’s countryside estate for her grandmother’s funeral. Haunted by recurring nightmares of a horse-headed monster, Jessica attempts to put her studies of “lucid dreaming” to good use, as she semi-consciously navigates through this dream landscape, trying to discover the secrets behind this sinister apparition. But Jessica must also cope with a hostile mother (The Beyond‘s Catriona MacColl), and the growing realization that the death of her grandmother was actually a suicide triggered by the woman’s past traumas and visions. HORSEHEAD is a feverish, ethereal journey through the world of nightmares.
June 2015 #9

Felt (dir. Jason Banker)

June 26th: Theaters / July 21: VOD (Amplify)

Amy is hanging on by a thread. Struggling to cope with past sexual trauma and the daily aggressions of a male-dominated society, she creates grotesquely-costumed alter egos that reappropriate the male form. While giving her the sense of power she craves, acting as these characters pushes her further into a world of her own making. When she begins a new relationship with a seemingly good guy, she opens herself up to him - but that vulnerability comes at a dangerous cost, and her alter egos threaten to lash out in explosive violence. Based on the real experiences and art of co-writer/star Amy Everson, Felt doesn't just point a finger at rape culture; it takes a full on swing at it, creating a feminist psychological thriller that audiences will be hard-pressed to shake off.
June 2015 #10

The Midnight Swim (dir. Sarah Adina Smith)

June 26th: Theaters and VOD (Candy Factory)

Spirit Lake is unusually deep. No diver has ever managed to find the bottom, though many have tried. When Dr. Amelia Brooks disappears during a deep-water dive, her three daughters travel home to settle her affairs. They find themselves unable to let go of their mother and become drawn into the mysteries of the lake.