Finding tenants is easy when you welcome the dead. Getting them to pay rent is another matter, and Welcome to Ghost Mansion turns that predicament into a spooky, surprisingly sweet comedy.
If Welcome to Ghost Mansion (訳アリ心霊マンション, Wakeari Shinrei Manshon) ever happens to get an animated adaptation, I can imagine it being something like Maison Ikkoku. Although the setups differ, there are some amusing parallels: the building is a worn-down apartment complex whose residents are hardly conventional. They are spirits! The resident manager, Kaoru Shinonome, is hardly fazed by that, and rather than try to convince the living to share the space with the undead, her advertising welcomes spirits who need a place to stay. No, this story isn’t Hotel Transylvania. There’s no young daughter coming of age here, but there is a family gradually coming together.
There’s no big threat yet, but across the three volumes released so far in English, I’m finding that this supernatural comedy has room to grow. In fact, the original Japanese edition is still ongoing as of October 2026, with six volumes, and the English publisher is moving quickly to get the first four volumes out this year. The other two may well be planned for later in 2027 to keep pace.
When a strange brew gives Ricardo superpowers, and he doesn’t know what to do with them, what’s presented in Matapanki turns his frustration about life’s smelly roses into a gloriously scrappy rebellion, fuelled by punk rock and punches that send heads flying.
Played at Toronto After Dark Festival Thu, Oct 15th, CineCycle
If there’s ever a crazy, primal, rage-fuelled desire to punch someone out and you know it’s best not to, may I suggest watching Diego Fuentes’ Matapanki (2026) do the work instead? It’s so punk rock, some viewers may well wonder why this film hasn’t arrived in theatres before. After a huge debate with a certain telecom company, I’m with Ricardo (Ramon Galvez) in wanting to get that frustration out, stick it to the man, and not worry about the ramifications. With a wonderful soundtrack from the anti-monarchist punk-rocker Brits of Idles, I can scream “oh yes” and hope the corporations get what’s coming to them.
Here, our young hero lives with his grandmother, and he loves her dearly. After meeting up with Claudia (Antonia McCarthy) and Mella (Diego Bravo) and having a good time out, he finds a strange brew that changes his life around! It turns out the bottle was planted, and after being made a guinea pig, he’s ready to hand out his own brand of justice!
From Disney ballrooms to vampire masquerades, Nocturne Gala founder Anna Stankevich discusses the magic of formal dances and bringing the Vampire Ball to Victoria, BC.
Get your passes for the upcoming Blood Moon Ball in Victoria here.
Formal balls may seem like a thing of the past, something only seen in cinema, but that’s not the case! Based in the Greater Vancouver region, Nocturne Gala is an operation that wants to change that perception. Founder Anna Stankevich (pictured right) is a ball enthusiast and she says they are still ongoing. When she and her husband immigrated to Canada in 2022 and didn’t find anything similar, she started up this business. Balls still happen across Europe and as for why they never took off here, not even historians have an answer.
This organizer said, “A good number of guests attending Nocturne Gala events have a European background and recognize the format immediately, while others are discovering it for the first time. What I particularly enjoy is that these dances can be accessible and easy to learn.”
Depending on the generation, some will fondly recall either Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera and others Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula. But other films, like Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard predate both, and this is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. For anyone who knows the song, “The Music of the Night,” the following lyrics say it all:
Slowly, gently
Night unfurls its splendor
Grasp it, sense it
Tremulous and tender
Turn your face away
From the garish light of day
Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light
And listen to the music of the night
In the animated front, it began with a certain Disney princess, Cinderella, and that movie set a precedent future films from this studio must follow. Anna believes it’s about how the feeling, the music, the costume, and the magic come together. She also believes it’s essential not to go over the top.
When asked about the animated, theatrical, and live-action versions of Beauty and the Beast, Anna noted a difference. She said, “Compared with the polished, formal balls in earlier Disney films like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, the 1991 Beauty and the Beast ball scene feels warmer and more inviting and real due to more realistic ballroom layout, sweeping camera movement, and the use of 3D. The 2017 live-action version is different. It’s at the end of the movie, and feels more like a theatrical vision of a royal court, perhaps something you could imagine at Versailles, not polished, sometimes even a bit quirky.”
The man behind The Secret of Nimh is a legend! In Don Bluth Somewhere Out There, we will soon see how this mind works and more!
Coming to Amazon Prime: Nov 20, 2026 Other Platforms: Dec 4, 2026
The filmmakers behind the acclaimed documentary I Am Big Bird (movie review), has a new documentary, and this time, they are focusing on a man ahead of his time. In Don Bluth: Somewhere Out There, Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker will be looking at the life and times of one of animation’s most influential and uncompromising artists. Some may only know him for the groundbreaking interactive animated video game Dragon’s Lair, but others, he’s the creative mind behind fond favourites like The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time and Anastasia. His distinctive story telling approach and animation style says it all.
From the Press Release:
An early animation prodigy, Bluth dreamed of working for Disney and achieved that goal at just 18 years old when he was hired to work on Sleeping Beauty during his freshman year at BYU. Following the death of Walt Disney, however, Bluth became increasingly concerned about the direction of the studio. Along with fellow animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, he ultimately left Disney and set out to build an independent alternative to the animation giant.
Kevin Rottaris brings his special effects experience to Rotty’s Creations in Victoria, where collectibles and original creations are just the beginning of a shop with plans for gaming and hands-on workshops.
Holding an original creation, an Alien facehugger mask!
791 Fort St.
Victoria, BC V8W 1G9
Phone: (250) 590-1418
Tues to Sun 11am to 8pm
(10pm Sat/Sun)
Kevin Rottaris wears many hats. He grew up on a farm, served in the military as a combat engineer, and has always had a passion for the geekier side of life. Whether that is with Aliens or Star Wars, he certainly has a love for the movies of the 70s to 80s more so than any other era. During my sneak preview of Rotty’s Creations, a maker space and retail store that will be opening Oct 16th, his interests were easy to spot on the shelves. Anything newer, like Pokémon and the TCG market, came from his business partner, Reese Bourdon.
But this is more than a store. Cinematic nostalgia is everywhere, and there are plans for a makerspace that will be the second level. Before coming to Victoria, he spent about a year and a half running the operation in Red Deer, Alberta, hoping to return to more work in the film industry as a special effects artist. Sales were terrific, but he wasn’t doing everything he’d hoped to get back to after “settling down.”
A vampire’s body count doubles as an influencer’s engagement metric in I Love Paris, a mockumentary with a clever hook that wears thin long before the credits.
Having grown up on the classic vampire movies, and skipping the back half of Twilight for good reason, there’s something to be said for how this member of the undead keeps pace with changing times. But when a film tries to be Gen Z, or wants to reinvent the wheel and call itself I Love Paris, it had better not just be headquarters for Vampire: The Masquerade. Yes, I’ve played that role-playing game, and I even have a character I fondly named Amadeus.
After Dark Shadows, Interview with the Vampire, Dracula, Forever Knight, and the various Nosferatu remakes, I feel well-trained on the classics. But after this movie, I may well have to change expectations. So when this movie, written and directed by Nicky Murphy, showed up wearing its mockumentary conceit proudly, I figured I was in for something special.
Coming to Amazon Prime: Nov 20, 2026
