In ‘The Pandemic Anthology,’ filmmakers try to make sense of a world at standstill [Chattanooga Film Fest Review]

A review of the horror anthology, world-premiering on the #ChattFilmFest now

From May 22nd to 25th, the Chattanooga Film Festival is streaming its lineup over the internet for cheap. I’ll be reviewing films from the fest all weekend!

Two months ago, when the world came to a halt, the Fantaspoa Film Festival invited filmmakers from around the world to film and submit short films about the pandemic to a contest. The 14 best have been assembled into The Pandemic Anthology, which has its world-premiere this weekend at the Chattanooga Film Festival. It’s a fascinating collection for how disparate all of the approaches to the pandemic are, but also for what trends emerge across several films, revealing certain anxieties that are being felt around the world.

It’s an odd experience to watch an anthology of horror films about a global horror that the world is very much still experiencing. Seeing characters driven insane by isolation, worriedly checking in with each other on video chat, and succumbing to the uncertainty of the overwhelming news about the virus all hits extra hard right now. A lot of times, there’s a tendency to say certain topics are “too soon” to…