Chattanooga Film Festival 2025 Round-up
We’ve already looked ten films recently screened as part of 2025’s Chattanooga Film Festival. You can find our non-spoiler reviews by clicking on the following links:
Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma
The Misadventures of Vince and Hick
We still have a few more festival films to give a quick look. These films don’t all quite fit the horror genre…but are worth sparing a note or two, nonetheless. From the survivor of a cult trying to find her place in the world to a couple dealing with a monumental loss to a fantastic mockumentary…Chattanooga Film Festival 2025 had something for everyone.
Abigail Before Beatrice
Directed by Cassie Keet
Written by Cassie Keet
Starring Olivia Taylor Dudley and Riley Dandy
Plot Summary – An isolated woman is confronted by her past when a fellow former cult member reaches out with news that their leader has been released from prison early.
Abigail Before Beatrice is an effective performance-based drama. It uses an extensive flashback to fill out the backstory of a troubled young woman who has survived a cult…but can’t get past the brainwashing. It’s a slow-moving story…but it gives the actors room to create fully realized characters. Beatrice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) returns to the site of her trauma unaware that she’s suffering from it. Abigail (Riley Dady) has fully escaped the hold that Grayson (Shayn Herndon) had on the group…but she also knows that he’s been released from prison.
The performances are strong across the board. Abigail Before Beatrice uses a unique format to tell the full story. It places an act long flashback in the middle…bookending it with what happened after the fall of the cult. Grayson is a terrible enough person to make for a dynamic character…but it does make it hard to see why Beatrice is unable to see the truth about him. We rarely see him in a light where we can understand her point of view. Still…Abigail Before Beatrice offers an interesting, hyper-focused drama with some great performances.
American Comic
Directed by Daniel J. Clark
Written by Joe Kwaczala
Starring Joe Kwaczala
Plot Summary – American Comic is a fake documentary that follows two up-and-coming stand-ups, who, despite being from opposite sides of the comedy cultural divide, are nearly identical in their shittiness.
Along with The Misadventures of Vince and Hick, American Comic was my favorite movie streaming at this year’s Chattanooga Film Festival. A mockumentary about two very different comedians struggling to make their name in the industry. It’s full of uncomfortable and awkward comedic moments while they’re working…and genuinely funny ones when they aren’t. Jovan (Joe Kwaczala) is an image obsessed comic…style over substance. Jay (also Kwaczala) is an anti-woke comedian who is tired of the ringer his career has led him through. I didn’t realize that Kwaczala was playing both parts until further into the movie than I care to admit. That’s how different the characters he’s created are…and how incredibly well he plays them.
American Comic is a clever, entertaining movie that I found delightful from beginning to end. Watching two completely different viewpoints on the same struggle is a great concept. There’s no one way to succeed…or fail. American Comic succeeds by immersing us in not one, but two different ways to do both.
Crossword
Directed by Michael Vlamis
Written by Kyle Anderson and Michael Vlamis
Starring Michael Vlamis and Aurora Perrineau
Plot – Following the death of their daughter, Tessa focuses on her acclaimed children’s book series, “Lily Learns,” while her husband, James, attempts to find solace in the daily crossword, but quickly unravels as it takes on a mind of its own.
The feel-good story of this year’s Chattanooga Film Festival…a movie about a couple dealing with the death of their child. Ok…so the first half of that is a lie. But this movie about a man slowly losing his mind believing the daily crossword puzzle is taunting him is a notable one. James (Michael Vlamis) is struggling to stay sane throughout Crossword. Though the crossword concept sounds funny…his descent is not. His wife Tessa (Aurora Perrineau) has thrown herself into her work. James has nothing to distract him from his constant pain. That’s where the daily crossword comes in.
Crossword is an increasingly dark story. It’s a sad story, obviously. Most stories that deal with the aftermath of a child drowning are. James’s unresolved guilt and depression are represented by the answers he thinks he’s finding in the crossword. As his life crashes down around him…Tessa tries to keep him upright while dealing with her own problems. Like I said…the feel-good story of the fest!
Foul Evil Deeds
Directed by Richard Hunter
Written by Richard Hunter
Plot – A collection of short stories showcasing the wide variety of evil behavior human beings are capable of.
The plot summary above oversells what Foul Evil Deeds really is. Do you remember in 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return when David Lynch made us watch a man sweep the floor for like three minutes? Foul Evil Deeds is that as a movie. Except it was awesome when Lynch did it. You can watch a guy wait for his dry cleaning before watching a different guy wait for the copy machine to print his copies. The movie jumps through small moments in a rotating cast of people’s lives. We view things from a fly on the wall perspective. The problem is that no one is doing anything interesting. It’s like flipping channels when there’s nothing on.
The film’s perspective seems to simply be that there’s bad behavior everywhere. A preacher watches porn. A boss deals with the fallout of unwanted physical contact at work. Everything plays out slowly. Slower than real-life unfolds. I try to give experimental films the benefit of the doubt…but Foul Evil Deeds stretches my limits on doing so.
I Really Love My Husband
Directed by G.G. Hawkins
Written by G.G. Hawkins
Starring Madison Lanesey, Travis Quentin Young and Arta Gee
Plot Summary – A newlywed’s tropical getaway to Panama takes an unexpected turn when she finds herself drawn to their charismatic rental host, leading her to make a bold proposition that could change everything.
I Really Love My Husband probably has the most sellable premise of any movie streaming at this year’s Chattanooga Film Festival. Teresa (Madison Lanesey) and her husband Drew (Travis Quentin Young) head out on a belated honeymoon at a tropical resort. While there…they both find themselves attracted to Paz (Arta Gee) and decide to experiment a little. The story eventually deals with the fallout of that decision.
This is a weird movie to explain. It’s credited as a comedy/drama/romance movie, but it doesn’t really feel like any of those…or an amalgam of all three. It has its own unique beats that work for what it wants to do. The trip doesn’t go as planned…and your investment in the characters will decide how much you take home from the trip.
