Articles by Alisha Mughal

'Thanksgiving' Is Basted in Blood

Directed by Eli Roth

PUBLISHED Nov 17, 2023

In 2007, Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell wrote a short film called Thanksgiving, with Roth directing what was effectively a two-minute-long spoof...

Yukon Blonde's 'Shuggie' Asks More of Life

PUBLISHED Oct 10, 2023

What does it mean to write in the second person? In literature, it means a great many hefty things, mostly to do with ascription. But in po...

'The Exorcist: Believer' Is Possessed by Being a Terrible Movie

Directed by David Gordon Green

PUBLISHED Oct 6, 2023

Near the end of William Friedkin's 1973 groundbreaking masterpiece The Exorcist, based on William Peter Blatty's electrifying book of the s...

Highlands Music Festival Stopped Time at Camp Walden

PUBLISHED Oct 5, 2023

Cell reception is lost about 10 kilometres before you need to turn off the two-lane highway curtained by thick wilderness — trees changing...

'The Nun II' Director Michael Chaves Ramps Up the "Horrific, Blasphemous" Terrors of 'The Conjuring'

PUBLISHED Sep 8, 2023

From the first incendiary moments to its unflinchingly raucous end, The Nun II is fearless. Directed by Michael Chaves, the film takes a no...

Dizzy's Self-Titled Album Is a Silk-Wrapped Dagger

PUBLISHED Aug 17, 2023

A few months ago, with hot tears stinging my eyes, I told a person I loved in a hungry sort of way that I hated them for destroying me. "I...

Castle Frank's Powerful 'In Your Blood' Is a Steady Hand to Hold

PUBLISHED Jun 21, 2023

I often ask people whether they have a person or a place to turn to when they feel so alone that life doesn't seem possible anymore. Having...

Sister Ray Is Free to Be Anything on 'Teeth'

PUBLISHED May 9, 2023

There's something about Edmonton-born and Toronto-based songwriter Ella Coyes's voice that feels like a flag in an ardent breeze. On their...