Movie: Lunamancer (2021) + Video

Premiere:
September 17, 2021 (Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival)
Country of origin: USA
Directed by: Noah Mucci
Written by: Noah Mucci, Matt Patterson
Produced by: Ooze Productions
Distributed by: Indie Rights
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Fantasy
Runtime:1h11min
Starring: 
Jake Pirkkanen, Nicki Clyne, Nick Denning

Sometimes you don’t find a movie, it finds you.

I was digging through filmography connected to Cannibal Holocaust (1980), curious about what
the cast had done before and after. That’s how I ended up looking into Perry Pirkanen. While
browsing, I came across Lunamancer (2021). I checked out the trailer and instantly got a bit of a
Falling Down (1993) vibe from it.

Out of curiosity, I got in contact with one of the writers, who ended up sending me a physical Blu-
ray copy for review. That alone already made the experience feel special.

What I didn’t realize until the movie arrived was something kind of funny. Looking at IMDb, I
noticed I apparently own every movie Perry Pirkanen has ever appeared in:
Not that many, but still.

All good movies too and all physical editions.

Cannibal Holocaust (1980) – Jack Anders

City of the Living Dead (1980) – Blond Gravedigger (uncredited)

Cannibal Ferox (1981) – Paul (uncredited)

Then next he can be seen in this Lunamancer , let´s see if we find him...
 
The film starts strong. I won’t spoil anything, but the opening works as a real hook. It immediately
makes you want to keep watching just to understand what’s going on. Then the music kicks in. Hard. By Composers Evan Michael Brown and Shayon Daniels. It has this powerful retro energy, almost like an epic thriller from the 80s. As the film goes on the soundtrack starts to feels like something straight out of Drive (2011), mixed with the synth-heavy atmosphere of Stranger Things. That blend works incredibly well and gives the movie a strong identity. 

The story follows Isaac Blake, a man driven by a strong grief. He’s searching for his missing sister, trying to understand what happened to her, where is she? Isaac is very unstable and believable. If someone close to you disappears, that kind of emotional breakdown feels real rather than exaggerated.

Based on the trailer, I expected something closer to Falling Down. What I got instead was a better
slower and more introspective drama-thriller with light fantasy elements woven in. The film leans
heavily into psychological territory. There are moments where reality feels uncertain, like memory
itself might be distorting the truth. That aspect gave me strong Silent Hill vibes, where you’re never
fully sure what is real and what is shaped by the character’s mind.

One thing that stood out was the use of VHS-style filters and flickering effects. It’s not overused,
but when it appears, it adds a layer of unease and reinforces the retro aesthetic.
There’s also a short crowbar scene that immediately brought to mind the famous hammer hallway
sequence from Oldboy (2003). It’s brief, but very well executed and visually striking.

Oldboy (2003)

The Blu-ray release includes a commentary and a VHS version of the film, which is a really nice
touch. It fully commits to the retro style the movie is going for and it shows that the aesthetic wasn’t
just a surface choice, but part of the film’s identity, I wonder if this is the original version...

Coming back to where this started, Perry Pirkanen plays Gordon Blake, Isaac’s father. Doing a sweet and nice role. It’s always interesting to see actors from older cult films appear in newer movies. One do miss that mustache right.

On another note the actress Nicki Clyne that played the missing sister Sue is famous for being in the Battlestar Galactica show. 

Overall, Lunamancer is a deeply atmospheric and emotional experience. It feels surprisingly
European in tone, even though it’s an American production. It takes its time, leans into mood and
psychology and trusts the audience to sit with its ambiguity.

Rating: 8/10 A slow-burning, stylish thriller that sticks with you.

 

Links:
IMDb - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13635040
Homepage: https://lunamancer.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/lunamancer2023

A bit extra for this, it is a first even for the blog, a Companion video with the makers, where they talk about the movie, exclusively made for this article. Made after the article was written. 
 

Article written by: Sonny Mikszath

Movie: Merge – 2025

Premiere: Oct 29, 2025
Country of origin: UK
Directed by: Various
Written by: Various
Distributed by: Cine Circle
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Anthology
Runtime: 77min
Starring: Various 

Merge is a sci-fi anthology film exploring a common theme of future technology and its effect on humanity. The shorts span from 2021 to 2023 and come from different countries such as Austria, UK and USA. Rather than feeling commissioned as one unified project, it feels like a carefully gathered collection that fits together naturally. I would love to see more anthology films like this.

One thing I noticed right away was the lack of an opening title card. The film simply starts with the first short, which felt a bit strange.

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01 – Angst (2021, Austria)
Director and Writer: Béla Baptiste
Length: 10 minutes
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11775300

 

This short hooks you immediately with a world that appears perfect on the surface. Beneath that utopian look, something feels wrong. The use of digital backgrounds creates an uncanny atmosphere that supports the story very well. In just ten minutes, it explores how fragile perfection really is and leaves behind a quiet unease that lingers after it ends.

 

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02 – Soulmate (2023, UK)
Director and Writer: Richard Fenwick
Length: 15 minutes
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16310522

We follow Anna, who works at a digital social platform company called “Synaptic – Beyond AI”. She becomes increasingly involved in the virtual world, to the point where it starts affecting her real life. The storytelling is rich and believable, showing a future that feels very close to what we already have today. Platforms like Second Life comes to mind.
 

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03 – When Unfettered (2023, USA)
Director and Writer: Derek Franzese
Length: 12 minutes
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18271646 

This one hit me the hardest. We follow Ash, an AI caregiver for an elderly man. After his death, his daughters no longer want her around. The short raises classic questions about artificial intelligence. Do AI feel? Do they dream? It echoes themes explored by Philip K. Dick.

There are subtle Blade Runner vibes, mostly through the music, while the visual tone feels lighter and reminded me of Detroit: Become Human. The acting is strong and the story is emotionally grounded. It is unfortunately a bit short, but I would absolutely love to see this expanded into a full-length movie.

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04 – The First Time I Never Met You (2024, UK)
Director and Writer: Eric Kole
Length: 14 minutes
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14253218

John has a loving family but is completely consumed by work. Through experiments involving flowers, he finds himself traveling back in time. The reasons are unclear at first, which adds to the emotional weight. This is a tragic and thoughtful story about choices people dream of making but never truly can. It leaves you questioning whether changing the past is something we should ever attempt. Well made. This short could also work very well as a full-length film.

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05 – Subscribed (2022, USA)
Director: Diana Porter
Writer: Mikel J. Wisler
Length: 10 minutes 
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15286106

This short opens like a commercial for an AI assistant company called “Vitalus”. We follow Carol, who is isolated in her home due to quarantine. What starts as helpful AI assistance slowly becomes something more unsettling. What might be the reason?

With real-world AI assistants like Siri, ChatGPT, Gemnie, Grok and more already being part of daily life, this short feels uncomfortably realistic. There was no title card at the beginning, which initially confused me. I first thought the short was called Vitalus. Later I discovered the actual title is Subscribed. The realism here is what makes it scary. An interesting detail is that the director Diana Porter also plays the lead role. 

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06 – The Man Behind the Machine (2023, UK)
Director and Writer: Dalano Barnes
Length: 15 minutes
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21249986

 Another AI-focused story, this one follows an older second-hand shop dealer whose AI assistant is suddenly taken away. The assistant is one of the first hundred of its kind. The story asks familiar but still powerful questions. Do AI have feelings or is it all just programming?

The short moves quickly and ends almost too soon, but the idea is strong. Watching AI struggle with reality always raises the question of what reality even means. 

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Overall Impressions

All of the shorts are well made. Some have higher production value than others, but none felt weak or careless. My favorite was When Unfettered because it feels grounded in a reality that is already forming around us.

 

What really stands out across the collection is how little of this feels like distant science fiction. We are already living in this world. AI assistants are part of everyday life now. I chat with ChatGPT almost every day, sometimes about lingering questions, sometimes just random thoughts. The idea of having an AI assistant moving around my home does not feel out of the question.

 

That is where the real dilemma appears. How safe are we with AI around us. Our phones already observe us constantly. Shorts like Subscribed show how easily helpful technology can shift into something controlling. That is what makes it unsettling. It feels real.

 

All of the directors appear to be indie filmmakers. Some have worked on larger productions in assistant roles or as actors, but none seem to have directed major studio films yet. That is not negative. It actually makes the collection more interesting. I hope several of these filmmakers move on to larger projects, especially a full-length version of When Unfettered.

 

One thing that still stands out is the lack of an intro or closing title for the collection. Seeing the Merge title at the beginning or the end would have helped tie everything together. It was nice to see full credits for all the shorts in the end, appreciated.

 

I give it 8/10, This is a thoughtful and engaging sci-fi anthology that encourages reflection rather than spectacle. These stories feel less like science fiction and more like a glimpse of a very near future. 

Links:
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38793708
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP8EUOzWsJ0
Prime Video Link:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0G2MRLS5Y
https://www.cinecircle.co.uk/

 Article written by: Sonny Mikszath

Movie: AINBO – Spirit of the Amazon (2021)

Festival Release: Imagina Film Festival of Animation 9 Feb 2021 (Peru)
Public Release: 28 May 2021
Written by José Zelada and Brian Cleveland
Directed by José Zelada and Richard Claus
Starring Lola Raie, Naomi Serrano, Dino Andrade, Bernardo De Paula
Distribution: Cinema Management Group | Produced by Tunche Films and Cool Beans

A Surprise Discovery

Movie nights don’t always go as planned. Me and some friends had one movie in mind but for different reasons it didn’t work out this time. Instead we landed on AINBO: Spirit of the Amazon almost at random. None of us were thrilled but we hit play anyway.

 

We watched the Swedish version on DVD, released by Noble Entertainment and for some reason the original English dub wasn’t included. While the film still worked, we all agreed it would have had a completely different feeling in its original language. Some of the nuances, humor and emotional beats were probably lost or softened, which may made certain scenes feel less impactful than they might have in the original version.

At first it felt like a patchwork of Disney influences: a girl called to go beyond her village (Moana), lead talking to a tree (Pocahontas), plus two goofy spirit guides (The Lion King´s Timon and Pumbaa). We thought we knew exactly where it was going.   

 A very pretty concept art photo of a scene.

Then the film shifted. Suddenly it wasn’t just a fantasy adventure. It became a story about the destruction of the Amazon rain forest and the fight of indigenous people to protect their home. That twist turned the film into something much more powerful.

At first the animation style didn’t grab me. It felt a bit rough compared to big-budget films. But as the movie went on, the characters grew on me, especially Ainbo. Her expressions, movements and energy started to feel natural and charming. The supporting characters and spirit guides also gained personality as the story progressed. By the end, the style felt warm and fitting for the story, matching the heart and passion behind the film.  

 

It was also interesting that the spirit guides were not random animals. Ainbo is guided by Dillo the armadillo and Vaca the tapir, both species found in the Amazon rain forest. This choice makes the magical elements feel connected to the real forest it represents. 

The directors José and César Zelada were inspired by their mother and her hometown in the Peruvian Amazon. Knowing this the passion in the film makes sense. It is rooted in real love for land, culture and people.

The Scary Reality Behind the Story

The Amazon is often called “the lungs of the Earth.” Yet millions of trees are cut down every single day for logging, mining or cattle ranching. In the last 50 years almost 20% of the forest has been destroyed. Scientists warn that if this continues the rain forest could collapse in our lifetime. It would turn into dry savanna, release enormous amounts of carbon and speed up climate change worldwide.

 

 

 

 

AINBO uses myth and magic to tell its story but the real story is already terrifying. The Amazon is burning, it is falling and once it’s gone, there is no bringing it back. That is the message at the heart of this movie. 

8/10 for bringing an alarming topic forward while still telling a good story.

Article written by: Sonny Mikszath