DiesIraeComing Reviews

Demonic (I) (2021)

Unique, creative possession movie.

[7/10 · 30 January 2023]

I watch a hundred horror movies a year. No exaggeration. More if you count the films I quit out halfway through. So it's rare to find something I haven't seen before....spoiler ahead.

I've never seen an exorcist swat team who tracks demons using computer simulations generated by a mass murderer's coma dreams. That, my friends, is an original idea. If you are someone who enjoys original ideas in your horror films, read no farther, go watch it.

Still here? Okay, the atmosphere, the visuals, the acting, the pacing is all good, to very good. The special effects were hit and miss. I wasn't a big fan of the dream world visual effect, though it did make it clear that they were in a simulation. I thought 'Firebase' had better special effects. (That's the movie that brought me here.)

I'm not saying this is a flawless masterpiece. It took about 20 minutes to get going and I really wanted to see the exorcist swat team in action, but that didn't happen. I feel like it was a mistake not to show this part and it hurt the film's momentum. Yet, as a horror film junkie, there were enough original ideas and 'i don't know what's going to happen next' moments that I didn't get too hung up on the flaws.

In my opinion, the 'aggregate score' is off by at least a star, maybe two. It seems possible, that--in an industry that churns out hundreds of films dedicated to evil priests and evil nuns-having Catholic characters who try to help people, is discouraged. It also seems possible that there are people who are triggered by Catholic imagery and when they see it presented positively in a movie, might give that movie a lower-than-deserved score. Are there enough of these folks to drive down an aggregate score down by a star or two? I don't know. But 4.2 is too low for a movie of this quality. (It's closer to 5.6. Or 6.6 if they'd given us an exorcist swat team action scene).

Final note-In this decade, opinions are so politicized and agenda-driven, it's very hard to tell if people genuinely liked or disliked a movie because of its story, or if they had a reaction to the identity of ancillary characters. It's a chore to dig through the comments and try to weed out the insincere. So, I'd recommend ignoring all 'aggregate scores' for now. (On all movies.) If you like the intro blurb, give a movie 15-20 minutes of your time. You can always quit-out. I do it a lot.

To the director/crew, please keep taking chances and making films. Real movie fans are hungry for original ideas. You appear to have a lot of them.

Snow Falls (2023)

Interesting dialogue, but plot holes

[7/10 · 19 January 2023]

I enjoy psychological horror more than rubber monster movies or slasher films. But psychological horror can be heavy on dialogue and light on action, and this is indeed the case here. But what made me want to leave a review, is the following...

THE GOOD. This movie took risks with its dialogue. For example, there's an exchange about mass psychosis--a topic that upsets some people and can often be 'fact-checked' into oblivion in the digital world. But others would argue it is demonstrably real and appropriate after the last few years of world events. Additionally, the story has characters believing they are sick and try various, unhealthy methods of 'curing' themselves, including quarantining themselves to death. In general, this movie successful demonstrates the horrific, self-damaging consequences of people giving in to fear, specifically fear regarding illness. I found it encouraging that a film would talk about these subjects knowing they are often mocked and ridiculed on popular forums. It takes guts to go against popular opinion.

THE BAD. How to trap your characters in a single location is a common problem for smaller budget films. Here we have a snow storm. Fuel runs out and firewood runs out and they start to freeze and this is what starts the second act. EXCEPT, they are surrounded by trees. Here begins the 'horror film decision making' that hurts these kinds of films. The leader-girl tells everyone they can't fall asleep because they'll die from hypothermia. But they know it's going to be days before they can leave, so that's horrible advice. And you're SURROUNDED by trees! Go break off some limbs, start a fire and warm up. The sleeplessness causes hallucinations and amplifies their fear-induced decision making, and we downward spiral to the climax.

CONCLUSION. This is probably a 5 or 6 star movie for me. But I'm giving it a 7 because of the risks they took with the dialogue and the inevitable low star rating they'll get for that.

Whoever made this, I hope you keep making movies.

C.B. Strike (2017– )

Completely different show than the first couple of seasons

[4/10 · 26 December 2022]

Brits are the best at who-dun-its and I very much enjoyed the few seasons, though I thought the endings were rushed. Solid build up, good atmosphere, likeable main character, tolerable secondary character, and then boom, here's 60 seconds of lightning fast exposition with 10 character names you forget and it's case solved, roll credits. But that's an argument for the show being longer, because I enjoyed it.

Seasons 4. Robin starts lying to everyone and her home drama gets more screen time than the actual case. Are we supposed to be impressed by how she cleverly tricks people into telling her things by lying about getting them insurance benefits? Because she came off as the bad guy. Her character starts becoming less likeable in season 4.

Now we are in Season 5. The titular character, Strike, just follows Robin around, carrying notebook, while Robin conducts all the interviews herself, lying to basically everyone, and other characters talk about what is or isn't feminism. The crime we are solving is, of course, very important to feminism as well. So yeah. This isn't even a who-dun-it anymore. Now its another platform to talk about feminism and social issues....like so many other shows. TV is turning into long form twitter/facebook posts.

First 3 seasons - 7.5 stars.

Season 4 - 5 stars.

Season 5 - 1 star and a disappointed eye roll.

Future Fear (2021)

Sci Fi shor stories...some better than others

[5/10 · 17 December 2022]

I watch a lot of super low budget films and find sci-fi and horror can still be entertaining at the zero budget level. Because an idea, even with poor special effects, is still interesting to me.

One or two of the segments are student grade, but a couple of the others had something to say and I appreciated that. The "Isolation" short, in particular, had something to say that will probably ensure that filmmaker won't be working in Hollywood any time soon. But that's exactly the kind of thing that makes watching these small independent films worthwhile. They say things the big boys won't/can't say.

Cinematography and production values are hit and miss, but if you're the kind of person who watches low budget indie sci fi/horror, hoping to find humor or alternative world views, then you might enjoy this.

Overall, it's probably a 3 star effort, but I'm adding two stars out of support for the higher effort segments that took risks.

Something in the Dirt (2022)

If you liked Resolution and The Endless, don't watch this...and maybe avoid future films by Justin and Aaron.

[2/10 · 2 December 2022]

"Resolution" and "The Endless" are two of my favorite movies. Aaron and Justin did so much with so little. Slow building, creepy atmospheres supported by strong ideas that drove those films. (Despite small budgets.) It was inspiring. So, I was very excited to find another film by these two. Halfway through "Something in the dirt", the atmosphere was there, but I was starting to worry that we weren't progressing at the same pace as their previous films. But Aaron and Justin have always finished strong, so I kept watching.

The editing was starting to remind me of youtube videos, with the constant visual cutaways during monologues. But those constant cutaways helped hide the fact that most of the movie is just two guys smoking cigarettes and chatting in a single room.

I'm two thirds through it and it's becoming clear that the 'magical crystal thing' has no real purpose other than to keep the viewer watching, while two guys sit around and give their opinions on random stuff.

By the end, I realize there's no story here. It's just a 2 hour long reddit-fueled argument regarding conspiracies, and more to the point of the movie, conspiracy theorists.

And it appears, based on how they wrote the conspiracy theory character, Aaron and Justin would like you to view conspiracy theorists as egomaniacal, fame-seeking, cult-level fanatics. Sigh.

If you like Justin and Aaron and want to continue to like them, don't watch this movie. Because it appears, two of our favorite indie sci-fi filmmakers gave up storytelling and have joined the mob making 2 hour long, youtube-grade videos to voice their personal opinions. Like so many others 'filmmakers' today, they appear to be caught up in the social engineering zeitgeist and couldn't be bothered to also write a compelling story. Et tu, brute?

2 stars for atmosphere and old time's sake.

Dark State (2021)

Independent film about thinking indepedently.

[9/10 · 14 October 2022]

I can't say I agreed with all of the filmmakers choices. Music, editing, cinematography were all hit and miss. But the script was focused, the acting was surprisingly good for a film with this kind of budget, and most importantly, the story gave me the creeps.

I can't say I enjoy thinking about the topics covered by this film. In fact, I generally avoid these subjects as I find them discouraging. But for anyone who's never considered the conspiratorial nature of power, fame, and large sums of money, this is worth your time to watch.

I am not surprised at the low score or sarcastic reviews. In a way, it proves the point the movie is trying to make. I applaud the filmmakers for making a movie they believe in, even though they knew it would get a low score. Not many people are willing to do that kind of thing.

Wander (I) (2020)

Who is this for?

[3/10 · 6 December 2020]

It's like the script was written by someone who wanted to make money off the popularity of 'conspiracy theories' but they didn't know anything about conspiracy theories. So the writer(s) got together one weekend and surfed a conspiracy theory message board for a few hours, jotted down a few frequently used phrases, then forced them into a nonsensical story.

I finished it wondering who it was made for...because people who loathe conspiracy theorists aren't going to like it. And actual conspiracy theorists are going roll their eyes at all the cliches.

Lastly, I'm a fan of Eckart's but his bug-eyed 'crazy conspiracy theorist' character looked like something I'd see at my local community theater.

Fargo (2014–2024)

Another favorite show devolves in 2020

[2/10 · 7 October 2020]

Fargo was one of my favorite tv shows of all time. I've rewatched the first 3 seasons multiple times. In the first 30 seconds of season 4, it is painfully clear, this isn't really a Fargo TV series anymore. Where there was once dark comedy, witty dialogue, and weird violence, now there's more of the political/social lecturing which has infected and destroyed so many great tv shows over the last 2 or 3 years. If you want to laugh and be entertained, I got some bad news for you. If you're looking to be outraged and angry about race stuff, then this your show.

You Should Have Left (2020)

From a book...a plagiarized book.

[2/10 · 21 June 2020]

The reason this movie didn't work, is because it is a collection of other people's ideas. The 'writers/thieves' cobbled together a lot of creepy scenes from other people's works...and then put their names on it to cash in. Most notably, they stole ideas from Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves. Many people have been begging for an adaptation of that book and I came here to see if he finally worked out a deal, after seeing the scene where Kevin Bacon measures the inside and outside of the house. I was disappointed to see this Daniel Kehlmann person is claiming credit for the creepy house with regular doors that lead into a dark, nightmare realm. The maniacal writings, which seem out of place in the movie, were also stolen from House of Leaves. This is a good example of how a plagiarized collection of other people's ideas causes them to lose the essence of what made them creepy. Stop stealing people's ideas. Pay the original writers and get a more coherent story.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Mike Flanagan his awake

[10/10 · 9 December 2019]

Is this movie about the "Finders"? Because it sure reminded me of the real life group of 'eccentric intellectuals' with high level connections, who have a habit of traveling around from place to place, with kids that don't belong to them. Enjoy that rabbit hole, if you so choose. It's encouraging to see movies like this, where the filmmakers are fully aware of what's going on. The newest Dark Crystal told a similar story.