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In a Violent Nature (2024)
Solid Throwback to Old School Slashers
This was a movie that I knew was coming out. I don't watch trailers or follow release dates outside of checking what is playing at my local theaters. I'll be honest, the trailer's sound design caught my attention. The glimpses I saw had me intrigued. I will preface, I'm not always the biggest slasher fan. The title held promise as well.
Synopsis: when a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny (Ry Barrett), a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year-old crime. He is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it.
We start this with the event of the locket being taken from the synopsis. We don't see the people, just hear them talk. We then see this pole in the ground move. That is when something appears from the ground. We don't get a good look at them, just following as they walk. We learn later from a story told by campfire that this hulking entity is Johnny.
This follows him until he comes to a dead animal. It looks like a dog or a coyote that got stuck in a trap. It has since died. Johnny hears arguing so he goes in that direction. This leads to the house belonging to a man named Chuck (Timothy Paul McCarthy), at least that's who I believe this character is. The owner is arguing with a ranger, played by Reece Presley. It is about going into the woods and laying these traps. The owner claims he's not. Johnny walks into the house and with good camera work, he misses being seen by the owner. That is until Johnny reaches for a medallion that he thinks is his. Chuck shoots at him and this draws an attack by the hulking figure. The item isn't what he's looking for though.
Johnny continues to search and this leads him to the campfire. This is where we learn about the lore of this character. What I like here is that this feels like a throwback to things like Friday the 13th Part 2 or The Burning. Johnny listens to them and thinks that he sees one of the people putting something in his pocket. In this group are Kris (Andrea Pavlovic), Colt (Cameron Love), Troy (Liam Leone), Ehren (Sam Roulston) and Brodie (Lea Rose Sebastianis). I think these are the names of characters that are around the fire.
They decide to head in and one of them, Ehren, goes off into the woods. He's stalked by Johnny and then killed. He drags the corpse to a ranger station, where inside is paying homage to firefighters that worked in this area. The lore said that Johnny wore one of their masks with his original massacre and takes one now. He also takes hooks on a chain and an ax. He heads back to where this group is to exact more of his revenge.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is definitely a throwback to slashers in their heyday. There is an argument to be made that it isn't, which I can see. What I'll say though, the killings are brutal when we see them, there is stalking of victims and it is a slow burn.
Now that I've set that up, let's delve deeper into this. As someone who focuses on story, this is lacking in that department. I can also roll with the idea that we had Johnny, who was mentally handicapped. This area had loggers and one of them was injured because of a toy that Johnny left out. Should say that his father owned a store. This is during a time when they would raise prices and indebt the workers to them. That already makes the workers not like him. They did something they shouldn't with hurting the son due to that logger to not being able to work. The lore is that he didn't stay dead though and came back for revenge. This seems to happen periodically. I'm there for that. It feels like Jason Voorhees, Victor Crowley or even Cropsey. There is enough folklore, whether it is true or not is another thing, but that's the great thing about local legends. Hearing that was enough for me to enjoy.
Since this is a considered a slasher film, I tend to rate this on whether we get good characters or good killings. I'll go to filmmaking here and say that when we see the kills, they deliver. They are done practical, which I love. The most brutal would be Aurora (Charlotte Creaghan). It went places I wasn't expecting. There are others that I think go too far with what Johnny is doing, but I also appreciate that this is the character. I also think that the cinematography, framing and sound design help here. There is more that I need to delve into for this last grouping but what they do for the kills is on point.
I will then finish that thought. There is walking here. It is slow and we follow Johnny for majority. I do think that we needed to trim that down a bit since it feels like filler. It makes sense what they're doing. It is building dread to see who is next to meet their fate. There's also another sequence later where we don't know if a character will get away. I thought that this looked good. The framing is interesting, whether we are seeing from 3rd person or showing surroundings change to show progress of time. I'd also say the use of sound was good to help signify that characters are close. It also captures the isolation and where this is set. This is well-made, even though it slows this down.
Then getting back to the other thing that I gauge, which is characters. I do think this falls short. We know that Kris is seeing one of the guys. Pavlovic is attractive so that helps. The problem is that the characters are bland to me. We don't learn enough. There is one of them that had a tragedy strike so they're working through it. Love, Leone, Sebastianis, Roulston and Oliver are fine. I do like Presley as the ranger, McCarthy as Chuck, Creaghan playing as Aurora and the monologue that Lauren-Marie Taylor gives. They were more distinguished due to specific scenes or sequences. I'll also end here by saying that Barrett's size was perfect for the villain.
That should be all that I have so in conclusion, even though I'm not a slasher fan per say, I dug what this did. It is a throwback to these films. We get enough folklore about Johnny to know why he is on a rampage. He then picks off characters in brutal ways. When we see the killings, I love that they're violent and gory. This is well-made. The cinematography, effects and sound design are great there. An issue I have is with the pacing and just following Johnny walk as much as we do. That doesn't ruin this by any stretch. I enjoyed my time here and will revisit before completing my end of year list.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
Maniac (1934)
Interesting Early Exploitation Film that Tries Elements
This was a movie that the poster stuck out to me before seeing the movie. I'll be honest, I was excited. That was until settling in to watch this movie. Seeing the rating and the runtime made me pause. It is fitting that while settling in to write the review, I noticed that Hildegarde Stadie wrote this, as I've seen a movie of hers last year in Narcotic.
Synopsis: a former vaudevillian gifted at impersonation aids a mad scientist in reanimating corpses and soon goes mad himself.
Now this is a hard film to talk about. There are intercuts here of title cards that are talking about different ailments of the mind. The former vaudeville actor is Maxwell (Bill Woods) who is working for Dr. Meirschultz (Horace B. Carpenter). He has this actor pose as the morgue attendant so they can find a body. They're looking to bring it back to life. They find a woman who died by suicide with carbon monoxide. A serum is injected into her and they steal the body.
Maxwell gets mad at his employer and shoots him. He decides to dress up as the doctor. Before he can hide the body, Mrs. Buckley (Phyllis Diller), shows up with her husband. He is played by Ted Edwards. He isn't feeling well so Maxwell, posing as a doctor, is going to give him a shot. He means to give him water, but instead gives him a shot of adrenaline. This drives him mad to the point where he steals the woman they brought back from the dead. I believe that he rapes her while they're out of the house.
We then see Maxwell trying to hide the doctor by bricking him up in a chimney in the basement. Maxwell has visions that are taken from archive footage and overlaid. I take this to show that he loses grip with reality. We also see that he's married to Alice (Thea Ramsey). She lives with two other women, Maizie (Jenny Dark) and Marvel (Marvelle Andre). A man comes around looking for Maxwell. There's also an odd neighbor who raises cats for their hinds.
What I'll say is that this is a wild movie. I had to reference my notes as its been a couple days since watching it before I could write the review. It is one of those films where I know I watched it. Since I can't remember things, it makes me question myself. The true answer here is that this doesn't have a coherent narrative. It plays partially like a PSA as we'll cut over to title cards of explanation of different mental disorders. I take it that they're supposed to correlate with what we see after them. This is just a bit too ambitious for these filmmakers. Having seen a couple of documentaries about exploitation cinema, it makes more sense why this is as crazy as it is.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, it doesn't shock me to learn that Stadie wrote this. The other movie from her that I've seen plays out similarly. That one had more of a coherent narrative, but also had random scenes that are thrown together as well. She seemed to enjoy making these cautionary tales against drug use. This one doesn't use as much there, but the adrenaline brings back the deceased woman. It also drives Buckley insane. This is more about the dangers of mental illness and how it can lead to criminal behavior. What they're presenting is still socially relevant. It just doesn't work as well as they would like for how all over the place this is. It also had to be this way to avoid censorship. They pose it as a PSA in hopes that when the disturbing things happen, it can be explained. I do appreciate that.
What doesn't help either is the acting is stiff or feels amateur. I thought that Woods was good as our vaudeville guy. We see him from the start as demented, before he becomes the morgue attendant. He then changes and acts like Dr. Meirschultz. That was good. He is the bright spot. Carpenter isn't bad either. The problem there is that they focus too long on him when he's dead and someone can only stay still for so long. There are minor movements I noticed. That falls on the filmmakers. Edwards is funny when he goes mad and attacks the woman stolen from the morgue. I'd say that Diller, Ramsey, Dark, Andre and the rest of the cast are solid enough. No one is good, don't get wrong there. Also, shout out to the neighbor who is raising cats and using rats to feed them. He's wild in what he tells the police.
All that is left then is filmmaking. This is hindered by its budget when it comes to the editing. They're putting in filler which are the title cards. I get what they're doing, but I don't know if what is on screen shows that enough. I'll give credit to overlaying footage from adventure movies to just show how wild Maxwell's thoughts are. Other than that, the cinematography is fine. It doesn't do much to stand out. There isn't other effects used from what I could tell. The soundtrack was also fine. It didn't stand out or hurt this for me. I did like what they did with the design though with the cat in the basement. That feels like it was borrowed from Edgar Allan Poe.
In conclusion, this isn't a good movie. It is trying to do things that they don't flesh out well enough. It also feels like the budget is holding it back as well. I will give credit to being ahead of its time exploring mental illness in cinema. That is still socially relevant today, especially when discussing criminals. The acting has moments of being solid. There are decent aspects to filmmaking. Not one that I can recommend to everyone unless you are interested in the history of cinema and want to see an early PSA/scare film.
My Rating: 4 out of 10.
Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001)
Interesting Doc About the Underbelly of American Filmmaking
This was a documentary that I discovered through seeking out other ones with similar subject matter. I believe this was a recommended to me from watching American Grindhouse. It does interview and feature similar people from that one. It also went out to get others that were not featured there as well, which made me happy to see. I watched this at work and treated it like a video podcast.
What I think this one does better is truly give us the history of exploitation cinema. It is funny, it starts off asking that question and Roger Corman does his best to answer it. He gives 2 answers, then states that it is probably something in the middle. Something interesting here is that the breaking of the monopoly for the major studios with the theaters gave life to this sub section of films. We learn about how these started as cautionary tales that had to be creative with how it was presented to avoid censorship. They also credit the horror host, Vampira aka Maila Nurmi, who was one of the first to show low budget horror films on television. We then learn more about the evolution of these from nudist to nudie-cuties and then into other sets of films that would come out after that.
I'm glad that they got legends like Corman, Dick Miller, Nurmi and Peter Bogdanovich to talk about their time, whoever brief it was in films like this. They also talk to greats like David F. Friedman, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Harry H. Novak and Doris Wishman, who are legends in these types of films, just maybe not known by the mainstream. It is also a good touch to interview historians like F. X. Feeney, Michal Copner, Forrest J. Ackerman, Joseph McBride and Michael J. Bowen. Their insight and knowledge help to frames things as well as discussing their cultural impact on the mainstream or what came after.
I'd say that this is a well-made documentary. I like the information presented. Then taking footage, editing it in so to give us a better idea of what they're talking about was a good touch. It doesn't feel like they rushed through things, which makes me appreciate this doc more than others I've seen lately. I thought this was intriguing with what it does and helps to understand the underbelly of filmmaking a bit more. I'd recommend it to fans of movies like this.
My Rating: 8 out of 10.
Fascism on a Thread: The Strange Story of Nazisploitation (2019)
Well Made Documentary for such a Schlocky Subgenre
This was a documentary that caught my attention when searching for ones to watch at work. This is a subgenre, Nazisploitation, that I'm not overly versed in. I've seen ones on the lighter side with Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge. That technically isn't the style of the movie they're talking about here, as this is more about the ones that are venturing into sexploitation, sado-masochism and the like.
Something I've been running into lately with documentaries that I have been watching is rushing through the subject matter. This subgenre having a more finite stretch allows them to delve deeper and explore specific movies more. What also makes this interesting is that we hear from filmmakers or behind the scenes staff like Mario Caiano, Liliana Cavani and Sergio D'Offizi. They also have an archived interview with Bruno Mattei. They are also able to interview the likes of Malisa Longo, Dyanne Throne and Howard Maurer, who have interesting stories to tell about their time making these movies.
What makes this work so well for me are the academics and critics who have watched these movies. It is funny because this subgenre is schlock. That's not to say there aren't things that they can discuss. They also try to figure out why these movies were made, outside of making money. We got the likes of Kim Newman, Allan Bryce, Russ Hunter, Mikel Koven and John Martin. They supply an interesting perspective.
I'd also say that this is well-made. They do a great job of pulling footage, then editing it in to show the movies discussed. There are also clips from other movies showing a similar idea to help show that point. I did appreciate that. This supplies good insight about this odd subgenre. I personally own some of the films here, I just haven't watched yet. I'd recommend it to those that are intrigued like myself for sure.
My Rating: 8 out of 10.
Firestarter (1984)
Classic Novel Brought to Life with Interesting Commentary
This was a film that I originally saw when I started seeking out adaptations of Stephen King's works. That was the first thing I did when branching out into horror that we didn't already own. I saw this film before reading the book, which I did back in high school. I've now seen this a handful of times throughout the years. I've now given this a rewatch as part of my Foray through the Fours.
Synopsis: a couple who took part in a potent medical experiment gain telepathic abilities and then have a child who is a pyrokinetic.
This starts with a father, Andrew McGee (David Keith), fleeing with his daughter Charlie (Drew Barrymore). Three men in a car are after them. We see the chase them along a busy street and our duo gets into a taxi. We learn from the men in the car that they must be careful, due to Andy and Charlie having superhuman abilities. He makes people do things with his mind. He uses this on the taxi driver, making him think that he gave him a $500 bill to drive them to the airport.
What I like here is that we get a flashback while Andy sleeps to explain how he ended up with the power he has. While he was a broke college student, he signed up for an experiment. The doctor in charge claims that this has nothing to do with a shady government agency known as 'The Shop'. Andy does meet Vicky McGee (Heather Locklear), who he falls in love with at first sight. She's smitten with him as well.
At the airport, these two go inside and Andy explains to Charlie that they're going to have to break the law for the good for them to get away. She doesn't like it but understands that they're at a disadvantage. He uses his mind to get a payphone to give up its quarters. While he is doing this, Charlie watches a soldier be rude to a young woman who is pregnant. He is claiming the kid isn't his and this upsets Charlie. This is a good show of how powerful she is and her emotions get the better of her. She sets the soldier's feet on fire. Using the power upsets her and there's a flashback to something that happens that still haunts her.
They're back on the run and we see them getting help from an old farmer, Irv Manders (Art Carney) as well as his wife Norma (Louise Fletcher). We get to see a glimpse as to what Charlie can do to get away from the federal agents. This also shows us the man in charge at the shop, Captain Hollister (Martin Sheen). He enlists the aid of an exterminator, John Rainbird (George C. Scott), who knows he can bring her in. He just wants to be the one who kills her when they're done with their tests.
This becomes an interesting coming of age story for Charlie as she is manipulated and learning just how far her powers can go. She also gets a crash course of who you can trust.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Since I've read the source material and have seen this multiple times, where I want to start is that now that I'm an adult and a parent, this delves into intriguing concepts that hit me harder. There is distrust of the government. An experiment where not all the facts are given. Also, how Rainbird befriends Charlie pulls at my heartstrings. I appreciate this more than I ever have before.
Let me then delve more into ideas I've brought up. The Shop is a fictional group, but there is truth here. Reports have come out secret government testing with things like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study or how the CIA used LSD to see what applications could stem from it. There is also MK Ultra as well. I get the vibe that King knew about things like this so having Andy and Vicky being part of an experiment, then the aftereffects make sense. There's also the idea that this one decision has changed the course of their lives forever. Its even worse for Charlie who didn't have a choice. I like the tension this builds.
Sticking with this character, I'll say next that Barrymore was quite good as little Charlie. She is adorable and her performance is solid. She is limited in what she can do and not everything was great, but I'm not going to fault her. She plays well off the doctors that are asking her to show her power. Rainbird, Capt. Hollister and the Manders as well. Seeing how Rainbird befriends her is heartbreaking. Scott and Barrymore are great together. It is just knowing the character motives bother me in the best way possible, so credit there. I also like how Barrymore looks when she is using her powers.
I should just then discuss the rest of the acting performances. For the most part, it is good across the board. I've already said that Barrymore is good, she just lacks a bit when it gets too emotional. Keith works as her father. There's only one scene where I don't think he nails what he needed to. Freddie Jones is fine as the doctor who is controlling the experiment. Locklear is gorgeous here. She isn't given much to work with. Sheen is good as the leader of the Shop. Scott is great as Rainbird. My only issue there is that he's not Native American. It makes me cringe. Other than that, Carney, Fletcher, Moses Gunn and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
Then over to filmmaking. I'd say that this is well-made. I like what they do to bring the powers to life that Andy and Charlie have. The sound design there works since it would look cheesy without it. How they frame and shoot, bringing Charlie's fires to life was good. I only have nitpicked here and there with something clearly being a dummy. This builds tension, which is good since this runs almost two hours long. It was a tough task to condense a King novel down. Other than that, I love the music that was done by Tangerine Dream. They're such an odd group and it works.
In conclusion, this has always been a movie that I thought was fine. I'm probably the highest that I've ever been on it after this watch and I think it is where I'm at in life now. The conspiracy theory angle of this government group fits today. That distrust adds to the atmosphere. Seeing what Charlie has to go through is heartbreaking and I think Barrymore is good for the most part. The acting around her is solid. Even though he isn't the right ethnic background, Scott is good as Rainbird. I thought this was well-made from the cinematography, framing, effects to sound design and music. There are just slight issues here and there for me. I think this is solid and one that you should see at some point if you haven't, especially if you're a King fan.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
Insane Like Me? (2024)
Explores Interesting Ideas in this Creature Feature, Pacing Issues
This is a movie that I got the chance to see thanks to Justin Cook who sent it over via a screener. Now ahead of watching this, I confirmed that it was in the horror genre. Other than that, I came in blind and was surprised to see what type of movie this is. I will go vague to avoid spoilers.
Synopsis: a combat veteran returns home after a tour of duty overseas. He becomes the lead suspect in his girlfriend's disappearance. He's wrongly convicted and years later, returns home to find the truth as well as to settle the score.
We start this off with Jake Morgan (Britt Bankhead), who is the soldier returning from duty. He is with his girlfriend, Samantha Davis (Grace Patterson). She has a secret that she wants to tell him but isn't sure how he will react. Waiting for them is her brother, Will (Paul Kolker), and his girlfriend, Erica (Marie Wetherell). This is for a surprise party at a local hotel that is closed. It is referred to as 'Massacre Hotel' since over the years so many people have gone missing there.
This night becomes a nightmare though when people are attacked. I won't give away what the cause is, but Jake, Will and Erica are the only ones to get out. The local sheriff is played by Eric Roberts. Will and Sam are his children. He doesn't believe Jake's story and has him committed to a local asylum.
His treatment there isn't good. He sees images of Sam asking him to get out and save her. Dr. Stoker (Jack Maxwell) oversees his care and thinks that the treatments are working. Jake also lies about his hallucinations. He does get out and he heads straight back to this town.
Things have changed though. Sheriff Davis is still in charge but now Will is one of his deputies. There is another sibling, Crystal (Samantha Reddy), who is attending the local college and close to graduating. She is seeing Haydin (River Perkins). They're friends with Josie (Meg Hobgood) and Jon (Blake Higdon).
The disappearances haven't stopped either. This group of teens are attacked at a party. Jake saves Crystal and Haydin. The former isn't sure if she should hate him. Her boyfriend despises him like her father and brother. Jake will do what he can to prevent others from dying, but he needs to find the root of what is causing the disappearances and take it on before others are claimed.
That should be enough to recap what we're getting here and introduce the characters without going into spoilers. What I'll say there is that I'm glad that I came in blind. There's another movie that was released this year that is like what we're getting here. I'll say that it has less of an impact here, because we learn within the first ten minutes. I still would rather play it close to the vest if anyone reading this is interested in seeing it play out.
Now I do think that we have good things that we're using for the story. I love the idea of a soldier returning home and then getting caught up in what happens. He is highly trained, but still going up against something stronger than him. It also makes sense with how easily Sheriff Davis gets him committed. I do know that it isn't that easy, especially since it isn't voluntary. It works for me since this is a small town and with reveals at the end. There's more going on behind the scenes and the idea of PTSD makes it easier to believe. This is a relevant concept that fits.
Having him be in the asylum for nine years is interesting as well. The only issue there is that the characters don't seem to age. I know looking back almost a decade, I look the same, but also different. That is a nitpick since they did that to have Crystal be an adult. She was around 13 at the time of this initial incident.
The last bit of the story will be with the 'Massacre Hotel'. I love that we got introduced to this through a local television host. That was good for a quick backstory. It is later that Jake states how this place has its own 'H. H. Holmes'. The characters around him don't know who that is, but it is a fun thing for those that do. It explains why bodies aren't found. There's another reason with it that we will learn. I do love that small town mentality of taking care of your own and how they cover things up. Makes me think of where I'm from.
I'll then go to the acting. I'm not going to harp too much, but it isn't great. I did think that Bankhead was solid as our hero. I do like blurring the lines of his psyche though so we don't know if it is due to his time in the military. Roberts is fine in his role as the sheriff. Patterson and Reddy are both attractive. They're not given a lot to work with. But they do pass for sisters for me. They're also the catalysts here. Maxwell is fine in his minor role. Kolker, Hobgood, Wetherell, Perkins and the rest of the cast also rounded this out for what was needed.
The last thing then is filmmaking. I thought that the cinematography was fine. It does capture the small town feel that we need. The practical effects that we got were decent. The best are the look of the creatures. It is subdued, but it looks good enough. My issue comes from the CGI that is used for blood spray and other things. This is working with a lower budget, so I get it. It just takes me out of what I'm seeing. The pacing is also off here. I don't feel the urgency and things on camera unfold too slowly. It made sense for the opening. That comes back though later for me as the tension just isn't raised.
In conclusion, I thought that this had a decent premise. We're taking lore that we've seen throughout the history of the horror genre. It is making its own story. There are slight issues with setting up its lore though. The idea of taking a soldier, fresh from combat and questioning his sanity is interesting. The acting performances are fine. No one is great. This has slight issues with filmmaking for me. I like the look of the monsters, but the pacing is off and the CGI doesn't work for me. If you like low budget, independent cinema, I'd recommend this to you. If not, avoid this one.
My Rating: 5 out of 10.
Lowlifes (2024)
Great Movie that Plays with Expectations
This is a movie that I heard good things about. The biggest thing that I took away was to come into this blind. Do not look up the trailer or anything outside of the synopsis below. I rather enjoyed this 2024 horror film that is found on Tubi, just to help convince you to see this.
Synopsis: the survival instincts of a road-tripping family are put to the test when they have no other choice but to stay the night at a remote homestead.
I'm going to give a brief recap of the characters without spoiling anything. We are following a family that is taking their RV to the country. The father is Keith (Matthew MacCaull). He is married to Kathleen (Elyse Levesque). They have two children. The elder is their daughter, Amy (Amanda Fix), who we will learn is gay. She has a brother, Jeffrey (Josh Zaharia), who likes to do Madlibs and has impulse control issues.
This family has a run in with Vern (Richard Harmon) and Billy (Ben Sullivan). They're looking for their missing cousin, Melior (Todd Masters). This is a tense scene as the cousins are seeing if this family has seen Melior. They said they didn't and are ready to head on their way. There is another run in with the cousins after their truck breaks down. Billy hitches a ride to get help.
There is also the family that is at the homestead from the synopsis. The grandfather is Neville (Kevin McNulty). He lives there with Billy and two granddaughters. There is resourceful and talented Savannah (Brenna Llewellyn) and there is also Juli Ann (Cassandra Sawtell). When these two families meet, it will be a night that neither group will ever forget.
Now that I have that set up, I think I'll do a spoiler section at the end. Until then, this is a movie that has twists and turns that I rather enjoyed. It is aided that the characters play with conventions that we've seen before. That is something that impressed me. It is a movie for people who have seen the troupes already and then takes you on a ride.
Where I want to go is to discuss conventions. First, this would be a hixploitation film. We get that through the characters of Vern and Billy from the first interaction. What I like there is that the family are the outsiders. We've seen this quite a bit in movies in this subgenre where they're from the city and go into an area where they don't necessarily belong. I'd also say that we're getting a variation on a slasher and home invasion with the way that things play out. What I like here is that the characters can hold their own, which is something we don't always see in these subgenres.
That should be enough for the story. It is quite simple and it carried more by the acting performances, so that is where I'll go. Again, this helps make this work due to managing expectations. Fix is good as Amy. What I like is that she seems to be getting too old to go on these trips. It turns out to be more than that. I like what she does to bring this character to life. MacCaull is also quite good and Levesque works as his wife. What is interesting here is that the former turns out to be a horrible human being with things that he says as this goes on. The latter is timid, so it works. Zaharia is good for what he brings to his role. The other best performance with Fix and MacCaull though is Llewellyn. I like that when we first meet her and her family, she seems simple. She has the drive and talent to make something out of herself, but she must leave this area. That adds tension to reveals later. Other than that, Sawtell, Harmon, McNulty, Sullivan, Alexander Calvert, Dayleigh Nelson and Masters helped round this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that the cinematography was good to capture where this is set. Being out in the middle of nowhere adds tension since our characters cannot get away easily. The framing is good there as well. This also goes bloody and gory, which was good. They toe that line of not going over the top, which I appreciated. There is something here that also made me cringe with the implications so that works in its favor. Other than that, the soundtrack and design work well for what was needed.
In conclusion, this one I heard good things about it and rather enjoyed what we got. How it plays with expectations was something that I enjoyed. It also uses subgenres that are familiar to do different things with them. Acting helps here. The best performances are by Fix, MacCaull and Llewellyn. The rest are good in support. I thought that this was made well. I like how it captures where this is set and gives us a good amount of gore without going over the top. I rather enjoyed this film and would recommend once again to come to see this one blind.
My Rating: 8 out of 10
Spoilers
Now the reveal here is that our family on vacation are cannibals. They take these trips every year as a group. It almost feels like they are going 'hunting'. What is good though, when we first meet them, it is that tense scene with Vern and Billy. This is playing with expectations, because we've seen in things like Deliverance or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Normally we meet these backwoods people briefly before they attack the group from the city. Our aggressors are this non-descript white family who are the visitors.
It was then from there that we met Savannah, Juli Ann and Neville. Savannah wants to go to community college but is afraid to fail. Her family also relies on her around the house, so she doesn't want to leave them behind. This family is quite nice and we see that hospitality toward the visitors when they show up. I do like humanizing both families. The countryfolk don't have much, but they're willing to share.
Something else that is interesting is the fact that our country family isn't the prejudice ones. Savannah is also a lesbian. Juli Ann picks at her, but deep down accepts and loves her. Keith looks down at the country folk. He mocks their house. He doesn't think they deserve to live. We also see there's an issue here that he discovers his daughter is gay. He is irate about it. I thought that was an interesting idea to play. You'd expect this guy to be the one who is tolerant and he's the opposite. We also get the idea that he is abusive toward Kathleen. I'm not sure if he physically hits her or just verbally. There's also Jeffrey who has impulse controls as he kills Billy. This upsets his parents. Amy is skilled at killing but wants to give it up. I like how it seems like she's just outgrown the family vacations.
I love that all this is in the movie, but we get it as we go on. It sets the stage, makes us think one thing before giving us reveals as we go. That was good filmmaking and the acting performances drive it home.
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Different Take on the Mob Movie, Blending Police Procedural
This was a movie that I'm not entirely sure how I got turned on to. My guess is that my buddy Craig, who I watched The Godfather and Scarface with, probably told me that this was the next one we should check out. Al Pacino is my favorite actor of all time. This is an older role for him. What also adds to this is the fact that we're combining the mob movie with undercover federal agents. My recent rewatch was due to my wife, Jaime, and I doing our podcast - Depp Dive: A Depper Look at Johnny's Feature Filmography.
What I was alluding to is that we have Joseph Pistone posing as Donnie Brasco. He's undercover and has been working on this for two years. The job was only supposed to last three months, so this is straining his relationship with his wife, Maggie (Anne Heche). They also have three daughters, complicating it further. He can get in with Lefty (Pacino), over a diamond ring that Donnie claims to be fake. This leads him to meet the likes of Sonny Black (Michael Madsen), Sonny Red (Robert Miano) and others. It gets more dangerous, the deeper he gets and blurs the lines of who is real, Joseph or Donnie.
Now as I've been saying, this is an interesting blend of mob movie with police procedural. Also being based on true events makes this even crazier to me. I'm sure there are things that have changed and altered to make this more interesting to watch, but just knowing that someone got in as deep as they did while undercover is great. I also think that this gives an interesting look at being in the mafia, how they operated and how dangerous it could be, especially if someone above you suspects something. They don't necessarily have to be correct in what they think. Donnie brings up how this is run like the military. He's not completely wrong, but blindly following orders is a definite similarity.
I'd also say that the acting here is great. What I've come to realize going through Depp's films, he tends to be in movies with a strong cast around him. This is him taking a backseat though to Pacino, even though Depp is playing the titular character. There is the aspect that Lefty keeps getting passed over. Donnie would be another one to do that as Sonny Black gives insight as to why that is happening. Lefty is fiercely loyal, but he's also getting older and just lacks something to make him rise higher. He's an asset still though. I don't want to overshadow that. Pacino and Depp are great as the two leads. Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, Miano and the rest of the mob guys are on point. They feel real. Madsen has something about him that he could snap at any time which makes his character terrifying. I'd say that Zeljko Ivanek, Gerry Becker, Rocco Sisto and the other federal agents are good as well.
Someone that I've purposely left out until now is Heche. Her along with the three daughters are interesting here. Joseph is neglecting them. It is wearing Maggie thin. This humanizes his character. It takes her asking him why he hates her that he finally shows vulnerability. I think that is needed, because he is so hardened throughout. He can't falter or his life is on the line. His family too. I just think this adds a needed dimension.
All that is left to say is that this is a good movie. I like building tension here seeing how Donnie isn't truly all in with the guys he spends most of his time with. Him getting caught is part of that. Being as deep as he is, it seems like Joseph is fading and there would only then be Donnie. The cinematography is good to capture that vibe as well as the era that it is set. We have limited effects, but it also isn't that type of movie. The soundtrack also fit what was needed there. If you like crime movies, I'd recommend this one. It is different from others in this subgenre as I've said, blending mob with procedural. Being based on a true story also adds another element as well.
My Rating: 8.5 out of 10.
New Life (2023)
Different Take on a Difficult Topic and Overused Subgenre
This was a movie that I got the chance to see thanks to Keir Waller from Strike Media. The screener was sent over to me with the press release. Looking into it, I figured out that this was a horror film so that made me intrigued to see this. Seeing that it featured Sonya Walger, from the television shows Lost and FlashForward as another perk. I also realized that Tony Amendola was in this as well. To clarify, this is getting its wide release for 2024 and making its debut at festivals the year prior.
Synopsis: a mysterious woman on the run and the resourceful fixer assigned to bring her in. Their two unique stories inextricably link, as the stakes of the pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions.
We start this with Jessica Murdock (Hayley Erin) walking outside. There's blood on her face. She goes into her place, gets cleaned up quickly and changes. It is then we see two guys come in with guns. She found a ring in her partner's drawer, hidden. She takes it with her and sneaks into the back of a pickup truck to hitch a ride to get away.
The other story follows Elsa Gray (Walger), who is the fixer. The leader of the team is Raymond Reed (Amendola). They believe that Jessica has a new form of Ebola and they're trying to prevent an outbreak. In the makeshift command center is a team of programmers. One of which who works with Elsa is Vince Harding (Jeb Berrier). These two banter back and forth. Something that we learn is that Elsa has ALS and is struggling with coming to terms.
Getting back over to Jessica, we get to see her in the past and the events that led her to being on the run. Her and her boyfriend, Ian (Nick George), went camping. During this, they meet a dog. It bit her and Ian developed a rash. In her present, she meets good people along the journey. There is an elderly farming couple of Frank (Blaine Palmer) and Janie (Betty Moyer). The former catches her stealing canned soup and invites her in. They want her to stay with them, but she can't. The other is a bartender, Molly (Ayanna Berkshire), who is hiding from an abusive ex-boyfriend. Jessica knows she is fleeing from the authorities, but she doesn't know the reason or what she is carrying. Elsa doesn't fully know either and the results could be disastrous.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the story. Something that I want to include here is that while doing a bit of research, the reveal of this disease was spoiled for me. It didn't hurt my viewing of what we got, but I think would have been more shocking when we saw it. What I'll say is that outside of what I've given you, if you can avoid spoilers, I think it carries more weight.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me delve into things deeper. The first is that this feels like the concept developed out of the COVID pandemic. We have this secret group that is trying to stop the spread of what Jessica has. They're not revealing things to the public or even Elsa. She was selected for a couple of reasons. She is great at what she does, but she also has ALS, so if she ends up getting infected, she already has limited time in their eyes. I thought this reveal was a gut punch, as does our character for good reason. I like seeing the depths of how shady the organization is. They're putting her at risk for humanity.
There's also the issue here that Jessica is fleeing. Part of it is that they don't tell her why she's being held. Ian gets sick. The ambulance doesn't take them to a normal hospital. She thinks she's been pursued due to killing someone. Because of that, she is spreading what she has. There is a selfish way of looking at this where everyone has the right to live and be free. The issue here though is that if you're spreading something that could wipe out humanity, where should you stop? In her defense, she doesn't know. It isn't until interactions late that she notices a pattern going back to Ian. Erin is good with her performance so is that as well.
The last thing then is I want to discuss Elsa and Jessica, since the concept is them being similar in what they're dealing with. Elsa has ALS, which isn't a death sentence. It is just that way for her way of life. There's a powerful scene where she is confronted with if she's considering suicide. She was also selected for this job because Raymond knew her diagnosis. Elsa is experiencing the early stages and struggles. Credit to Walger for her performance. Then on the other side, Jessica doesn't know she is a carrier. She is just trying to survive. Her mortality to brought before her as time goes on and it is a difficult decision. An interesting thing here, because Ian is dead and she's on the run, she is starting a new life. There's another way to look at the title as well.
Let's then finish out the rest of the cast. Amendola is cast perfectly here as Raymond. He has a great balance of caring, but also being ruthless. He also gives information on a need-to-know basis which fits the character and their position. I like Berrier who helps to humanize Elsa more. She feels like a villain, but their interactions along with her reveals change that feeling. Berkshire, Moyer and Palmer are all good to help Jessica see there are decent people. George and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed as well.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that how this was edited was interesting. We jump in to see that Jessica is on the run. We don't know if she is a criminal or not. It is then through things that we see that it develops the characters which was good. I thought that the cinematography and how they frame things was solid as well. Something I wasn't expecting were the effects. The look of those that were infected was interesting. It was creepy and I like the take on this type of 'creature'. They do well there. I'd also say the blood we get and the aftermath of the changes was good. Other than that, the soundtrack fit what was needed.
In conclusion, this is a solid film. I'm not going to hold it against what was revealed before I could see it. There is still a good heart here for the story they're telling. It does well in setting up our two leads and then changing our perception as they are good. I'll credit the performances by Walger and Murdock as well. The rest of the cast is good at pushing them to where they end up. This was well made with the cinematography, framing and the effects leading the way there. I'd recommend this movie. It is presenting a subgenre we see quite a bit of in a different way, which is something I appreciate.
My Rating: 8 out of 10.
American Grindhouse (2010)
Just Scratches the Surface
This is a documentary that caught my attention when going through another one called Nightmares in Red, White and Blue. There is cross-over with movies that are discussed as well as people that are interviewed. Exploitation cinema fascinates me, so I decided to watch this while working. I treated it like a video podcast, where I could listen to it and watch when needed.
What this does here is start at the beginning of the film industry in the United States. Something that I knew and still makes me laugh is that at the start, exploitation started soon after. I'm glad that Eric Schaefer, Eddie Muller and Kim Morgan are interviewed. Their film historians who have great insight. Paired with them are legends of cinema like John Landis, Joe Dante, Herschell Gordon Lewis, William Lustig, David Hess and Jack Hill. Oddly enough, this documentary originally was going to be about him, but decided to pivot to do the history of exploitation cinema.
Now, I did see a couple reviews that had critiques of this ahead of watching it. One thought that they moved a bit too quickly through certain subgenres and another thought that it focused more on a highlight real of porn throughout the eras. I can see both arguments. I tend to agree more with the former that this would play better as a series. That's where I agree then with the latter in that there is lot that gets left out that we just scratch the surface.
What I will say is that this is well-made. I like the fact that we see the people interviewed, but this does a great job of incorporating in the films they're talking about as well as showing others from the same era that also fit. That is a good touch. This documentary could be used a bit more, but it still gave me an excellent list of movies to add to my ever growing one to check out at some point. This is more of a surface level one for newer to novice exploitation viewers.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film (2009)
Great to See these Legends Give Their Thoughts on the History of the Genre
This was a documentary that I've known about for a few years. I'm not sure when it popped on my radar, but the title was part of it. Seeing the legends that were interviewed for it was something else. I decided to put this on at work and treat it like a podcast. There were things that I knew already, but hearing more insight from the filmmakers involved, that intrigued me.
From what I've gathered, this is based off a book by Joseph Maddrey. It is one I've added to my list to check out. This is recapping United States horror cinema, starting with the Universal era. I was late seeing those movies, but now that I have, it makes sense that they're based off classic literature and mimicking the gothic style. It wasn't until the late 40s and into the early 50s that we'd get a shift due to the atomic age and threat of nuclear war. I know that German expressionism influenced those early horror films, but it is from there that US filmmakers would influence others.
Bringing back up something I've already said, we have Lance Henriksen narrating. Legends that are interviewed are Larry Cohen, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, Mick Garris, Tom McLoughlin, George A. Romero, Brian Yuzna and Roger Corman. What made me happy is that as these individuals pass away, having this record preserved is good. It is both sad and great to see. John Kenneth Muir is also in this, he's a respected voice in the genre. This also interviews Darren Lynn Bousman, Dennis Fischer and Anthony Timpone, who are more contemporary, but still important.
Hearing how this presents the information of how each decade is influenced by the state of world is interesting. I thought this was well-made with how it was constructed. The number of movies referenced and clips that are edited in to help show what is being said is great. There is one blip where they bring up David Cronenberg, who is Canadian. I get the sediment, but this isn't a North American documentary. Cronenberg is a legend, so I get it as well. I'd recommend it to horror fans as I enjoyed my time.
My Rating: 8 out of 10.
The Girl in the Trunk (2024)
Interesting Premise, Limited by Budget
This is a movie that I got the chance to see via screener thanks to Keir Waller from Strike Media. Now I was leery about checking this out. It is listed on the Internet Movie Database as a thriller. The press release also confirms it as a claustrophobic thriller. It was on Letterboxd that I saw this as considered horror so I agreed to watch for review. It is a concept I've seen before so I was wondering what this would do to set itself apart.
Synopsis: a woman finds herself kidnapped and trapped in the space of a speeding car's trunk.
We begin at a car rental place. There's an interesting camera angle from below the car where we see someone in high heels get out, try the door and find it locked. It is while she is doing this, someone else in heavy shoes sneaks into the car. The person who drove up is Manda (Katharina Sporrer). She gets knocked out by the second person.
She then wakes up as the synopsis says, in the trunk. Her phone is with her so she tries to call for help. Something interesting is that her kidnapper has changed the code. She is also in a wedding dress. While she is trying to figure out what to do, there is a phone call that comes in. The picture is for a man named John (Adam Kitchen). We will learn that they were getting married and she fled.
Manda calls 911. The voice she talks to belongs to Caspar Phillipson. The questions to help her are odd. Manda gets annoyed, but she also wants to get rescued. She soon realizes though; the voice isn't an operator. It is her kidnapper. This person wants to play a game. He offers her the code to the phone if she'll play along. It becomes a race against the clock out and her decisions have reactions.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. There is more I'll get into, but we have a simple story here. It is an idea that I've seen in movies like The Caller or Trunk: Locked In. What is interesting is that this latter movie came out last year and I saw it at Nightmares Film Festival. Being locked in the trunk of a moving car is terrifying and grounded enough in reality where it is believable. There are also movies like The Vanishing where it is done as well.
Now what this one does a bit differently is that we have Manda who fled her wedding. We learn more as we go on, but it comes down to her father is demanding. They were rich growing up. He is the head of a bank. Manda works there. It almost seems like he is friends with the family of the man she is marrying. She doesn't officially say this, but her fleeing the wedding is her taking control in her life. Now I didn't grow up rich. This is a concept that I can still understand and it feels real. Not the most original, but still works in the framework here. I'll say that I thought Sporrer was solid in her performance. I did like the growth that we saw by the end.
Let's then go over and talk about our villains. The main one is our kidnapper, of course. I thought that he had a good, calm voice which is eerie when we see him shoot people or attacks others. He is also messing with her head by giving information. It isn't until they play a game that he confirms that he will tell the truth from that point on. I'll credit Phillipson here as he isn't menacing to look at, but that is more terrifying. I think I should also include Manda's father, Stephen Jennings. He's played physically by Hother Bøndorff and voiced by Christopher de Courcy-Ireland. My guess is due to this taking place in Texas. I did have an issue is that the voice syncing wasn't great. I do like how firm he is in his stance as someone who isn't told no so what his daughter does upsets him more. There are decisions that don't fit for me, but that's more with the writing.
There is one last bit for the story. I do think that this does well with playing with our expectations. We see Manda early on break open the trunk by removing the lock. This annoys our kidnapper. It also causes him to stop and someone to see if they need help. He does things to punish Manda and it involves forcing a tube through the backseat into the trunk. This uses CGI to bring what he does to life. It doesn't look great, but it is also the only way to do it safely. I do like seeing cracks with this villain for sure as she pushes his buttons.
Let me then go over to filmmaking. I'll say that the cinematography was solid. There are slight issues I have with it. First being how big this trunk seems Manda can almost sit up in it at times. Now our actor isn't the biggest size-wise, but I know when I've been inside a trunk, there isn't much room. It has been a while though. I do like getting that perspective. It does good things by going out of the broken lock or through the tube into the backseat. The things that Manda does to learn more information is good. There was more not great CGI as well. When working with a smaller budget, I get it. Other than that, I thought the sound design was solid, especially with hearing through parts of the car. That adds to the atmosphere.
All that is left is the acting. I've already said that Sporrer and Phillipson are good. They carry the movie for sure. Bøndorff brings good size and look to his role. He seems like a Texan. Jennings's voice doesn't necessarily fit him. It was jarring. Other than that, Lianna Taylor and Kitchen were solid. There's another situation where Lars Hammer Andersen is playing a hunter and Danny Thykær does the voice. They don't fully fit when watching this. It doesn't ruin the movie either, but I noticed this for sure.
In conclusion, I thought that this uses a solid premise. Being trapped in a trunk without knowing why is terrifying. There's the added element that no one knows where Manda went so it takes time to find her is another. The two leads are solid, so credit to Sporrer and Phillipson. The rest of the cast are fine. Just slight issues with voices not necessarily fitting. This is made well enough. I enjoy cinematography and framing. The issues for me are with CGI. It doesn't ruin this though as there isn't necessarily another way of doing it. Overall, I'd say that this is solid. It doesn't stand out against other movies with a similar premise but is worth a watch.
My Rating: 6 out of 10.
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Surreal and Arthouse Film that has Things to Say
This is a movie that I heard buzz about from festivals. I know a couple podcasts brought it up and this one went on my list of movies to see to form my 'Best Of' end of year list. What also intrigued me is that the ratings for this have it on the lower end of Letterboxd's Top 250 horror movies as well. I tried to temper expectations, but I caught this opening night at the Gateway Film Center.
Synopsis: two teenagers' bond over their love of a supernatural TV show, but it is mysteriously cancelled.
I'll first look at the younger of the two teens from the synopsis. This starts back in 1996. That would be Owen (Ian Foreman). We first get to meet him on election night where the polling station is at their local junior high school. His mother, Brenda (Danielle Deadwyler), takes him into the booth with her. She hangs out afterwards to talk to other adults while Owen approaches Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine). Owen asks if her parents are voting. They aren't but she tells him that she is allowed to use the black room after school hours. She's reading an episode guide about her favorite show, The Pink Opaque. Owen has heard about it, but his bedtime is before it starts. What Maddy tells him drives his want to watch it.
As kids will do, Maddy gives him an idea to say he's going to stay at a friend's house. He hasn't talked to this other child in years. Owen then sneaks off to Maddy's house, where she has a friend over to watch this show, Amanda (Emma Portner). This changes his life. He doesn't sneak off again, but Maddy leaves recorded VHS tapes of the show for him to take home.
Things progress through the years as Owen grows to be played by Justice Smith. He is now in high school and Maddy is closer to graduation. Owen still has an early bedtime, but he sneaks off again to watch the show with Maddy since Amanda has abandoned her. This night, we see how depressed this young woman is. She tells Owen that she is going to run away and that he should join her. The stress of this causes him to come clean through his friend's mother. It is then years before he sees Maddy again and when he does, his memories of their favorite show and what happened to her messes with the fabric of their existence.
Now this is a hard movie to condense into a synopsis without going into spoilers. Ahead of seeing this, a voice in the horror community that I respect warned people that the trailer shows a different movie than what we got. I'll be honest, it was close to the start of the third act that I wondered if this was going to be a horror movie. By the end though, I do think it goes there. This is a great companion piece with writer/director Schoenbrun's first film, We're All Going to the World's Fair. They tackle similar ideas and concepts in a surreal way.
Where I want to go from there is delving more into what we're getting here. To correlate it with the first film by this Schoenbrun a bit more, they are focusing on two characters who aren't popular. I almost got the idea that Owen might be autistic. There is something about how he reacts to things and how his parents treat him that make me think how he processes information is different from others. Then Maddy is a lesbian. Being in the mid-1990s to start this, it wasn't as acceptable, especially at the age that she is in society. It doesn't help that her best friend Amanda tried out to for the cheerleading team and then accused Maddy of trying to touch her breast. Maddy is hurt by what happened and that rejection adds to it. Her home life isn't great. That is something to do with Owen as well. Brenda loves him, but she has cancer. His father and him do not seem to connect in the limited basis we see. He is Frank and played by Fred Durst. The only thing we hear him ask is if the Pink Opaque is a show for girls. There's also a creepy scene where he stares at Owen with the glow of TV making things eerie.
I then want to go over to something that I could connect with growing up. I'll say that in junior high, I wasn't popular. Now at my high school, it was easy to acclimate back into the popular groups because I played sports. I still had my hobbies that I kept hidden from my friends due to being afraid of getting mocked. Maddy and Owen are in love with this show. There's nothing wrong there. The problem though becomes Maddy cannot separate herself from what she sees, sinking into madness. She wants Owen to be a part of that. He cannot commit to that and it sends him into a panic. What I think we're getting here is showing mental health and how fragile it can be, especially for people that don't fit in. This was uncomfortable to watch, but it also kept me glued.
Now there's another aspect here that I wanted to delve into, which is the idea of interests we have and how they don't always hold up. Owen decides to grow up during the third act. We see how he feels like he's dying inside. There is something he said during his teen years about how he feels different inside as well. This made me wonder if he was asexual with the conversation with Maddy. There is a scene later that made me think of Owen's inner child. We also see Owen's reaction to watching the Pink Opaque as an adult. I'm not going into more detail than that, but I love the point that is being made here.
What makes this work though is the acting. Foreman is good as the younger Owen and I love the take that Smith gives us. This older version carries the burden but plays well off the stage set. We see him from these more formidable years and with makeup, we see the adult version as well. Seeing the stress that is caused to Owen by those around him is something that I understand. Also, being an adult is hard and this shows that. Lundy-Paine also has a great performance. She hates her home life and wants to get out. There is mental illness here with her delusions and what she wants Owen to do. What is great here is that this movie is surreal so it blurs the lines of reality. With how convinced Maddy is, it made me wonder if there was something supernatural happening here. That is a credit to the filmmaking. Other than that, I thought the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed in helping push our leads to where they end up.
Since I've already moved into filmmaking, I'll finish that out. The cinematography, framing and editing are great. The world that this takes place feels real. We are seeing it through the eyes of Owen so I love that we're warping reality slightly. This is how he sees what he's experiencing. Age and life experiences are playing in it. That makes the tone of this work so well for me. This also doesn't necessarily give a definite answer to things so those that look at the supernatural things happening as real can see it that way. There's also this idea that it is mental illness messing with what the characters are experiencing so it could just delusions. I fall into the latter camp, but I like how an argument can be made either way. This is a trippy movie. There is CGI there, but since it might not be real, it works. The soundtrack also helps to build that atmosphere that it needs.
In conclusion, this is a movie that I needed to sleep on before getting my thoughts down. I knew that leaving the theater, I liked it. I wasn't ready to make determinations immediately. What I'll say is that Schoenbrun has an interesting style in both films she's done. They're not traditional horror, but they make you think. That's something I appreciate. The acting here from Smith and Lundy-Paine carry this. The rest of the cast push them to where they end up. This is well-made. I love the uncomfortable feeling from the atmosphere so crediting the cinematography, framing, effects and soundtrack. This will be divisive like the director's earlier movie. If you enjoyed that one, I think you'll dig this. What we're getting is arthouse and surreal, so keep that in mind before seeing this.
My Rating: 8.5 out of 10.
Ed Wood (1994)
Fun Take to Bring the Story of this Odd Character to Life
This is a movie that I vaguely remember coming out. I'll be honest, I didn't have any interest in seeing it until I got older. Seeing that this was a Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up that I hadn't seen was intriguing to me. Learning more about who Ed Wood was in real life has helped. At the time of writing this, I had only seen two of his movies. As a director, I've seen Bride of the Monster. As a writer, I've seen most of Orgy of the Dead. Jaime and I watched this for our podcast, JwaC Presents Depp Dive: A Depper Look at Johnny's Feature Filmography.
Synopsis: ambitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. (Depp) tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.
I'm doing a full review of this due to this movie being listed in the Horror Show Guide Encyclopedia, considering this to be a 'horror film' due to the titular character mostly making movies in this genre. We start out seeing Ed as he is working for a small studio and is directing a play. What turns his life around is when George Weiss' (Mike Starr) production company is looking to make an early exploitation film about a person getting a sex operation change. Ed applies to be the director, but he has no clout and is denied.
What turns things around for him is meeting Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau). He is down on his luck and we will learn about his drug addiction as this goes on. Ed wants to help him and sees an opportunity to get the director's position for this film. His original pitch revealed that he's a transvestite. Now he's able to use Bela as a bargaining chip.
The movie he made there was Glen or Glenda and this strains the relationship with George. Ed now has momentum and we see as he goes about getting his next movie made. This is the one I've seen, Bride of the Monster, but during production it was called Bride of the Atom. Ed has a team he uses including his girlfriend Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker), Bunny Breckinridge (Bill Murray), Paul Marco (Max Casella), Conrad Brooks (Brent Hinkley), his cinematographer Bill (Norman Alden) and makeup guy Harry (Leonard Termo). Along the way he'll meet Loretta King (Juliet Landau), who strains his relationship with Dolores. He also meets a wrestler, Tor Johnson (George 'The Animal Steele) and even Vampira (Lisa Marie). Ed Wood has the dream and the drive, but as the synopsis says, he might be lacking the eye for talent.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I feel bad piling on the real person of Ed Wood. He did something that I'll never do. I know what he made was schlocky and he didn't fully understand how to make a good movie, but credit to him for still doing what he could. Now everything that I'll say from here is going to be looking at this as a fictional piece of work.
Since this is more of a character study of Ed, Bela and their relationship, that is where I want to delve. Depp does a great job at being this quirky guy. Now I've not read the biography that this is using as source material. I've also not seen interviews or anything of this real person. What I do know was that he was an oddball. His movies reflect the budget that they're working with. Having now seen this, I'm intrigued more in seeing the movies that this is referencing being made now that I have insight behind the scenes. Depp was made for this role and from what I've read, Ed's real wife agreed when visiting the set.
Shifting then over to Bela. He's one of my most seen actors of all time. Landau transforms into him which is impressive. I knew that there was a feud between him and Boris Karloff in real life. I'm glad they played that up. I also knew that Bela was addicted to morphine and how it ruined his career, also contributing to his death. That is heartbreaking. It seems like Ed was taking advantage of this aged star, but I don't think that was the case. He truly wanted to help him and give him work. Landau pays homage to this legend well from my point of view.
Since I've been leaning into the acting here, I want to say that we have a great cast here. I'm not the biggest fan of Parker, but I like the role she plays here. There's friction as things go between her and Ed. It is also an intriguing dichotomy between her and the Patricia Arquette character that he meets later when Ed takes Bela to rehab. It is a bummer the decisions that Jones made, because he's solid in this movie and never seemed to have a bad performance. G. D. Spradlin is solid as Reverend Lemon who works with Ed. His character gets upsets Ed with decisions to the film he's making with their money. There's good cameos by Vincent D'Onofrio, Murray, Starr, Cassella, Hinkley, Marie, Steele, Juliet Landau, Alden, Termo, Bellamy and the rest of the cast. It all works to bring these people to life.
All that I have left to go into is filmmaking. I thought it was a good stylistic choice to go black and white. That feels like it is paying homage to the era that Wood worked in. I thought this was lit well, which is a challenge when filming this way. The cinematography is great as well. How things are framed is great as well as capturing things that were in Wood's movies. This is limited in the effects, but it also didn't need them. The peek behind the curtain of what was used in Wood's films was another great aspect to show the charm they carry. Other than that, the soundtrack fit what was needed. I like that they used music from the films that they're showing so credit to that.
In conclusion, this is a fun movie that is capturing real history. There are things left out. There are also probably things that didn't happen or were moved to another place in the timeline. Just knowing that a movie also needs to be entertaining, I'm forgiving. The acting here is great. Depp shows such range. Landau is great as Bela. There's a strong cast behind them as well. I thought that this was well-made. Special credit there to the cinematography. I'm not sure how many fans are out there for Wood today. What I'll say though is that this is an underseen Burton and Depp film, so if you're fans of them, check this out.
My Rating: 8 out of 10.
Dante's Inferno (1924)
Interesting Take on the Epic Poem
This was a movie that I discovered when searching for horror films from 1924. I was able to find a copy on YouTube so I am adding this to my Centennial Club for Journey with a Cinephile: A Horror Movie Podcast. This is the second earliest adaptation of this source material from Dante Alighieri that I've now reviewed.
Synopsis: the tactics of a vicious slumlord and greedy businessman finally drive a distraught man to commit suicide. The entrepreneur is tried for murder, executed and afterward swiftly taken by demons to Hell where he will spend the rest of eternity.
Now for this movie we have Mortimer Judd (Ralph Lewis). He's the father of this family as well as the slumlord. He is convinced that if he isn't ruthless, his family would be in the poorhouse. His wife is Mrs. Judd (Winifred Landis). They employ a nurse, Marjorie Vernon (Pauline Starke). Mortimer doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong with her, but that could be due to him not wanting to pay. The doctor who cares for her is Joseph (Lorimer Johnston). They have a son, Ernest (William Scott). He butts heads with his father due to the condition of the apartments they own.
This then shows us a man who is indebted to Mortimer, Eugene Craig (Josef Swickard). He sends a letter asking for mercy, but he's denied. This makes him want to kill himself. His daughter, Mildred (Gloria Grey), is concerned he will do something bad. She then goes to Mortimer to beg. He ignores her as well.
Eugene did send a book to Mortimer, Dante's Inferno. He starts to read and a Fiend (Robert Klein) appears. The book comes to life, with Dante (Lawson Butt) given a tour of the underworld by Virgil (Howard Gaye). The events of the synopsis then go down where Mortimer is punished for what he's done to these people as one of his apartments catch fire, injuring tenants.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. I want to start by prefacing that the version I watched didn't have a soundtrack synced with it. That makes these silent films much different without something accompanying the images. I was also curious as this started with how they were going to work on this classic tale since the beginning was for the time a modern setting. There was social commentary here that I found intriguing and relevant as well.
Let's start with the story that this is following and its message. Mortimer is a slumlord. I found it intriguing to explore this idea with a movie that is a hundred years old now. I'm not sure if that term was used when this was made, but Mortimer owns apartments that have too high of rent for what is provided. This keeps the tenant poor until the point where they get evicted and then he just allows someone new to live there. There is something that happens here though where a fire breaks out, injuring those that live there and making him libel for not helping. This is the climax and the repercussions follow.
There's another interesting storyline as well dealing with Ernest and Mortimer, father and son, since they don't see eye to eye. They get into fights regularly. We see one where Mortimer is upset that Ernest has a radio. Mrs. Judd can't go out so the son bought it so she could have entertainment. Ernest is interested in Marjorie, but this upsets Mortimer since she is there to tend to his wife. Mortimer believes that if he isn't ruthless, his family is going to spend his money until they're broke. He is exaggerating while I can see his side that they don't have an income so there's pressure on him as well.
The last part of the story to delve into was that I wasn't sure how we were going to connect Dante's poem with the story in the present of the movie. I found it interesting that Mortimer is reading this book that was sent to him from Eugene. It almost seems to come with a curse. There is a concept here that I don't love when it is used today, for the most part. I did find it interesting here and how they are incorporating it. This feels like it is borrowing from a Christmas Carol with it. I'm not going to spoil it beyond that.
Where I'll then go would be the acting. Our lead here is Lewis and I thought he plays the villainous role well. He comes off angry and every time we see him, he is rude. That works well for what happens to him later and where it ends. I did like Butt and Gaye as Dante and Virgil to set the stage for the different levels of hell. Scott works as Ernest. I like how him, Starke, Landis and Johnston push what Mortimer does and believes. The same could be said for Swickard and Grey as this other family that came into the story to change the Judd's lives forever. I did have an issue that Bud Jamison was playing the butler. My issue there is that he is white and made him up in blackface for this role. I get it is the time, but it still doesn't sit well. I'd also say that the rest of the cast was solid for what was needed, especially all those playing roles in hell as either demons or those being punished.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I do have to say that the copy I saw on YouTube was rough. It was too dark to make out details. It also made the early title cards hard to see. There also was no soundtrack synced with it. A cleaned-up version would be nice to give this a true rating. With what I could see though, I thought that bringing hell to life was great. I also love this fiend that is haunting Mortimer. I guessed that it wasn't real, but the implications of it work. The effects that we get in hell were all done in-camera so that it's impressive. This is made well enough from what I could tell for this era.
In conclusion, this is another early version of this source material that I've seen. What is interesting is the two different takes on it. I love setting up this story that is relative today about a slumlord who is living off his tenants without doing what he should to help them. Showing us Dante's vision of hell and then Mortimer being punished was great. I thought that the acting was good. The version I saw was rough, but this looked like it was made well enough from what I could tell. There is a story element used that I don't love now. Using it during this era though it is still new. Not having a soundtrack synced was a bummer as well. I'd still recommend this to fans of this era or looking into the history of the horror genre.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
Night of the Comet (1984)
Fun Campy 80s Horror Film
This is one that I had heard about growing up, but for whatever reason didn't. Thanks to the Podcast Under the Stairs' Movie Club Challenge, it was selected to be covered there. To take part, I watched this. I've also now given it a rewatch for my Foray through the Fours.
Synopsis: a comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls fighting against cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists.
Now coming into this film, I definitely thought there was going to be much more zombies than what we got. We get a variation on the creature, but they're technically not dead. They are people that survived the comet going over. We never see them eating anyone. They can talk and use weapons, which is different was well. I didn't mind this concept for the monsters, but I did want more of them. There are very few. We do see that this is a slow progression as well. I am getting ahead of myself though. Most of the population is turned to dust due to the comet. We never learn why it does, but that is the cause and it seems to be radiation. Those that get a little bit of exposure survive, but eventually turn. I did like the touch is that the last time this one went overhead, it wiped the dinosaurs out overnight.
The characters we follow are a couple of sisters. One works at a movie theater, Regina Belmont (Catherine Mary Stewart). Her sister who wears a cheerleading outfit the morning after the fateful night is Samantha (Kelli Maroney). They are the duo from the synopsis. They're also quite odd to be honest. Both are attractive for different versions. They know how to use guns, thanks to their father who is in the military. Before the world ended, they live with their step-mother Doris (Sharon Farrell). She is a horrible, controlling woman.
They meet up with a Hector Gomez (Robert Beltran). He takes a liking to Regina and she seems interested as well. This bothers Sam, but that seems more that they think they are the only three left alive. There is a group of scientists, who seemed prepared for this event and they are looking for a cure to it. They are led by Dr. Carter (Geoffrey Lewis) and Audrey White (Mary Woronov). She is standoffish and wants to stay inside of their bunker while the rest have other plans.
That's where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I'll start is that this film is quite campy though. It blends comedy, sci-fi and horror. The two girls have great one-liners in this film. It has cheesy fun and a little bit unrealistic. Now I am a big fan of films like this when it is done well, but even this one has a little bit too many things that are unbelievable. I still had fun with it, but there are issues with the writing. I'll coming back to that.
Sticking with what was good, would be the acting. Stewart was good as the smarter, stronger sister, but I also like Maroney's role. They play off each other well. Beltran was okay. He doesn't get much character development or screen time. I'm shocked to be honest because the normal troupe is to make him the hero. I thought the scientists were all played well. Lewis does great as the leader who has nefarious plans for the survivors. I also like Woronov and the role she played. It caught me off guard to be honest in a good way. The rest of the cast rounded out the film for what was needed in my opinion, with special credit to those that get to play 'zombies' or those descending into madness.
Let's then go to filmmaking. The effects are good, but also of the time. What they do with the sky during the comet's pass over are an example. It doesn't look great, but there's charm there that I dug. The zombies look good and when they are killed, I didn't have any issues there. I'll say that the cinematography and framing help. Making Los Angeles seem empty is a feat. That adds to the eeriness. An issue I had with the second watch is that this is a bit slow. There's a good set up, doesn't waste time to get into it and then it slows down when we get to the radio station. We then get solid set pieces, but it meanders between them.
I'll then finish out with sound design. This captures that 80s feel. The song at the beginning of the film was great in a way this decade could produce. I like the montage scene with Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' as well as some of the other song choices throughout the film. It isn't for everyone, but I was a fan of it. It adds charm and fits our leads.
In conclusion, this film has good aspects. I like the overall concept of this comet going over, wiping out most of humanity and driving survivors insane. It feels that it borrows from something like Day of the Triffids there. Our two leads are great with the supporting cast helping push them to where they end up. This is overall a well-made film. The cinematography, framing, set pieces and most of the effects are good. Just minor issues with the pacing and needing a bit more to fully make sense. I would still recommend it as it is a campy, cheesy fun film with good looking stars.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
Direct to Video: Straight to Video Horror of the 90s (2019)
An Intriguing Era of Cinema for the Horror Genre
This was a documentary that I found while searching for ones like this to watch while at work. What I like about these is that I treat them like video podcasts. When I have time or something catches my interest, I can watch. Other than that, I love to hear people from the industry talk. This one also covers a topic that intrigued me since this was the coming of age for me era of going to the video store.
What we're getting here is taking a handful of movies and interviewing people from them, whether it is directors, writers or actors. I did like getting that behind the scenes look at movies that I grew up with or have seen after the fact. This includes Kenneth J. Hall, Jerry Smith, C. Courtney Joyner, Jeff Burr, Tiffany Shepis, Lloyd Kaufman, Fred Olen Ray, Brinke Stevens and Kelli Maroney. They all give interesting insight to this straight to video era of cinema.
I'd also say that this is well-made. The editing is a bit harsh. I'm guessing this could also be an issue with me, since I'm not giving it my full attention. It just felt that we were talking about one and then its hard transitions to the next movie they're going to cover. It doesn't ruin things, but I did have to do a double take. Part of the issue there is a cross-over where an actor is in multiple movies brought up and they're discussing them. I still like giving love to this era of horror films. I would like an extended cut that did more of a deep dive, but for what we got, I enjoyed my time. I'd recommend it to fans of this era of cinema or if you just want to learn more.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
Nick of Time (1995)
Different Type of Role for Depp for this Solid Thriller
This was a movie that I watched as the next in line for Depp Dive: A Depper Look at Johnny's Feature Filmography. What is interesting is that this isn't a movie that I knew about. Now it would have been out during a time when I was young, being 8 years old. I did like Johnny Depp growing up. Jaime hadn't seen this one either.
The basic idea of this movie is Gene Watson (Depp) arrives in Los Angeles with his daughter, Lynn (Courtney Chase), via train. We see at the station is Mr. Smith (Christopher Walken) and Ms. Jones (Roma Maffia). They seem to be looking for someone. Gene catches their attention and they pull him, along with his Lynn, into a van. They want Gene to kill someone. If he doesn't, they'll kill his daughter. He has an hour and half to complete this. What is complicated is that the target is Governor Eleanor Grant (Marsha Mason). This plot goes deeper than Gene realizes and with time being short, he must decide what to do.
Now after watching this and prepping to record our podcast episode, Jaime told me that this was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock. Makes sense since this is a suspense thriller. Gene is pulled into a plot and I love the idea. Mr. Smith is just a cog in a wheel and I believe he's a police officer. I love raising the tension here not knowing who is involved. Members of the security team are. Gene notices people paying attention to him. This stressed me out in the best way possible and I'm glued to see what happens next.
Let me delve deeper in this as well. Something interesting here is that we have a simple reason that he must go through with this plot, his daughter. We learn that his ex-wife passed away so she's all that he has. Gene is willing to die or get arrested if that means Lynn survives. I feel that as a newer parent. Now this film ventures into a political thriller as well since Eleanor is seeking re-election. I love this throwaway line that we got where she made campaign promises to bad people and that is coming full circle. You can see this as the dangers of lobbyist as well as the corruption of the United States political system. That is a perk for me as well.
What also helps here is the cast. This is a more conventional role from Depp than I'm used to. We all know his odd, quirky characters, where this is just a normal guy. He does well with the performance though. Chase is good as the catalyst for him to get caught up. I like Walken, Maffia and the others who are villains, even if we don't know at first. The supporting cast features the likes of Maffia, Charles S. Dutton, Mason, Peter Strauss, Gloria Reuben, Bill Smitrovich, G. D. Spradlin, Yul Vazquez and Edith Diaz, to name just the ones that popped out while looking at the cast. This is strong across the board.
Now I'll say that the story might be a bit convoluted. I still just got lost in it. It is well made with the cinematography and framing. They know how to use the whole frame, which isn't easy to do, especially with this being set at a hotel. I appreciated that. Seeing how Gene does things to help save himself, Lynn and the governor was interesting. I was quite curious as to how this would play out and wasn't disappointed.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
Leprechaun Returns (2018)
Fun Late Installment to a Middling Franchise
This was a movie that I remember coming out. I was getting back into watching new horror movies and doing end of year lists. I'll be honest, I had stopped watching this franchise after the fourth installment. There was positive feedback about this one though on social media. It went on a list to check out and since St. Patrick's Day was coming up, Jake and I decided to cover this on Side Quest Podcast.
Synopsis: the Leprechaun (Linden Porco) returns once again, when a group of girls unwillingly awaken him after they tear down a cabin so that they can build a new sorority house.
We start this off with getting images of how the Leprechaun was defeated in the original movie. This is ignoring the sequels and is directly connected to that first one. It then shifts to Lila (Taylor Spreitler) sleeping on a bus. She is haunted by images of this mythical creature. She arrives at the station. She is joining a sorority and one of the sisters was supposed to get her. There is no one there though. She does meet Ozzie (Mark Holton). She relents to allow him to drive her to the house.
What is interesting is that he knew her mother. This town now has a college. The house where Ozzie and his friends, including Tory, did battle with the Leprechaun is the same place that this sorority is converting. Ozzie is cryptic in the information that he gives to Lila. He does share things he remembered about Tory with her.
At the house, they're trying to take it off the grid. What is funny though is that they're still going to have the internet. They do want to make it self-sufficient with a garden, water supply and I think even using solar panels to generate electricity. Katie (Pepi Sonuga) is doing renovations with Rose (Sai Bennett). They both apologize for no one getting Lila. I believe this fell on Meredith (Emilie Reid). She is the botanist of the group, but everything she does turns into making alcohol. She shows up later with Andy (Ben McGregor), who has history with Katie, and his friend Matt (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins). She comes with pizza as well.
Ozzie forgot his phone when dropping off Lila. He comes back and looks in the well. It shoots water, which gets into his mouth. The piece of gold he swallowed originally is still in his stomach. By touching it, the Leprechaun gets strength back. Enough to return to his form, killing Ozzie in the process. This monster then returns to the house, looking for the rest of his gold. It is a night of terror as these sorority sisters try to survive and defeat this mythical beast.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I'm not always the biggest fan when you do a sequel than ignores other movies in the franchise. What I'll say here though, I can work with it since I'm not entirely sure the Leprechaun we see in the sequels is the same every time. I guess that Leprechaun 5; In the Hood and the immediate sequel, Back 2 Tha Hood are. You can make the case that parts 2, 3 and 4 though are not necessarily related outside of Warwick Davis playing the monster. This movie though does have direct continuity.
I think that is where I'll start. I love that they got Holton back to play Ozzie. This is good as well that this character is setting the stage with Lila. She is leery of him but comes around when she learns that he knew her mother. I can work with the idea that Tory went crazy from her ordeal, worrying that the Leprechaun will eventually come after her. There are other elements like that group hiding the pot of gold. They made a map for it. The old truck and the well are also points that are reused. With how they bring back the monster, I can work with that as well. I like that his power is limited by not having his gold. A plot hole for me would be that the gold piece would still be inside of Ozzie without giving him more issues. I can digress there though.
Now with this movie here, having this sorority trying to take over this remote house and converting it is fine. It does seem a bit too far out of the way to work and I don't think it could be sanctioned. This land doesn't seem close enough to the university. Something that I like is a throwaway line, Rose says that they filed the paperwork recently. They could just easily get denied, which then my problem goes away. This place is isolated, trapping our characters and limiting who can get there.
Let's then talk about the monster. I don't know the full story, but it was a bummer that this series went away from Davis for this one and the last one. He was doing like the newer Star Wars and Harry Potter movies, so I don't know if he was ready to move on or not. Recasting him here is fine. I thought that Porco was good as the villain. He made me chuckle with his one-liners. That is the framework of the character. I do like that he doesn't know things since the last time he attacked it was the early 90s. That did add to comedy for me. I also like that since this creature doesn't have his gold, his powers are limited. He can still do magic, but it isn't until he gets more of it back that he can. I also thought that was good to not make him overpowered to start. Credit there. Also, keeping in line that four leafed clovers and iron hurt him was good. I like this concept that unless he is destroyed fully, he can come back. That adds tension with what needs to be done.
I think that I'll continue with the rest of the cast. Spreitler is a good step in for Tory's daughter. They look close enough. I also like that she's an outsider so she needs to prove herself to others. Sonuga and Bennett are both fine as sorority sisters. They're dumb at times, make bad decisions and have secrets. They don't feel one dimensional and that is good. Reid works as the jerk of that group. McGregor is an idiot and that was fine. I like that Katie is smarter than him, but because she's attracted to his looks, she settles. Jenkins is funny as this film buff guy. I liked seeing Holton reprise his role. Porco is good as this version's monster. I also wanted to credit Heather McDonald. She is doing the voice of Tory and it sounded like Jennifer Anniston. Wanted to give her credit along with the rest of the cast to round this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. First, I'll credit to recapturing this house and the surrounding woods. I'm not entirely sure if either is the same, but it feels like it. It has that isolated sense which is good. The cinematography is solid with framing. This helps with the practical effects. They hide the seams well. Those were also good with the blood and gore we got. This is a Syfy original so they were limited there, but director Steven Kostanski, he knows how to stretch that. There was CGI that came into play later. Not all of that looked good, but it didn't ruin it either. Other than that, the soundtrack fit what was needed. I do like how the Leprechaun can change his voice to mimic people, which adds terror for me since it disarms characters.
In conclusion, this is a fun movie. This is already a franchise that isn't great. I would say to not take them seriously though. I'm not the biggest fan of sequels that ignore other movies, but what I'll say is that what they do here works. I love the nods and homage paid to the original movie. I thought that the cast of characters were good. Porco is solid in stepping into the big shoes that Davis did for the franchise. This is made well enough. Credit there to the practical effects that give us fun deaths. The cinematography and framing helped there. Just have slight issues with CGI. This is a fun, shut off your brain sequel in my opinion. I enjoyed my time here and this is on the higher end of the franchise for me.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.
Vermines (2023)
Engaging and Terrifying Spider Film
This was a movie that had buzz coming to Shudder. It sounds like this did well at festivals and there was excitement. Due to that information, it jumped up to the top of my movies to watch for 2024 to build my end of year list. There also wasn't a 2024 horror film coming to the theater by me so I checked this out as a Featured Review.
Synopsis: residents of a rundown French apartment building battle against an army of deadly, rapidly reproducing spiders.
We start this in a desert somewhere in the middle east. There are guys searching and one of them finds a hole under a rock. There is a bit of webbing in it. They have a method to flush out spiders that are living within. This group is joined by the guy who found it and they're catching the ones that flee. We see that the guy who found it wasn't so lucky.
This then shifts over to France. Our main character is Kaleb (Théo Christine). He is at a local store where he is messing with the owner, Ali (Samir Nait). Kaleb knows that this proprietor has good merchandise hidden and that he should be able to see it since he's a good customer. This turns out to be true. He buys a set of earrings. He also sees a rare spider. Ali thinks it could be poisonous so Kaleb needs to be careful. Our character buys both items.
When he returns home, we get a better idea of where he lives. He helps Mme Zhao (Xing Xing Cheng) who seems like the superintendent or a custodian. He roughs up Moussa (Mahamadou Sangaré) who made a mess. He then goes up to his apartment that he shares with his sister, Manon (Lisa Nyarko). She is remodeling the bathroom and this upsets Kaleb. What we learn is that their mother passed away. She wants to sell and leave. Kaleb doesn't due to all the memories here as well as all the people that knew his mother around them. They are all leaving though.
In Kaleb's room, he has a mini-zoo. He has a range of insects, arachnids and reptiles. He gets upset as the lights and the heater keep getting shut off. He's worried his pets will die. We then see how he can afford all this. He steals shoes and sells them. His partner is Mathys (Jérôme Niel). This guy is stealing bicycles which upsets Kaleb since he's doing it in the area. Since it is low income, Kaleb doesn't want those around him to suffer. Mathys understands and vows to return them. He also does MMA.
Now this spider that Kaleb has. He makes a home for it in an old shoebox. This doesn't hold though and it gets out. He tries to seal his room until he can find it. There is a complication that it is much smarter and its will to survive greater. Kaleb is faced with seeing his ex-best friend as well, Jordy (Finnegan Oldfield). He along with his girlfriend, Lila (Sofia Lesaffre) come over to help with the bathroom. Mathys is there as well.
Things take a dark turn though when this spider reproduces. None of our characters realize what its potential is and how quickly it evolves. This complex is soon overrun and the police need to do what they can to hold it. That leads to a fight for survival.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that if you don't like spiders, this is going to get under your skin. I've heard other reviews crediting this for taking the subject seriously as most using killer spiders tend to go whimsical. Whether that is making them large or just going lighter with the tone. This one is bleak and gave me vibes of REC with the idea that our characters get trapped inside this building and the police are quarantining them until a plan can be made. It is also interesting that this came out the same year as Sting, since this is a similar movie. They would make a good double feature.
Now that I have that out of the way, let's delve deeper into the premise. This is a simple one. We have this dangerous spider that is living in the desert. It is found, captured and brought to France. Ali doesn't know much about it and neither does Kaleb. This ignorance leads to everything. We have an old rundown building, which helps with the atmosphere. Trapping the people inside makes it contained. This legitimately goes terrifying as well with how quickly these spiders take over. It doesn't feel like a cheat though with information that is found about them. Jordy thinks he found what species they are and that they will continue to grow larger to combat their predator in the area they live. In this case, humans. They evolve fast due to how quickly they reproduce.
Those parts of the concept help to make this scary. What aids in that is the development of the characters. We learn enough to the point where my anxiety went up worrying how they would survive. I'll also include here the performances. Christine as Kaleb was good. He is naïve, but he's also a good guy. He cares about this complex and the people inside. There is something that happened between him and Jordy, which is eating away at him. It adds heart when we finally learn what it is. Nyarko is good as his sister. She seems like she hates where they live, but there is more to it. That was good. I like Niel as his best friend. He isn't dumb, but he doesn't think things through. I love that he has his hero moments since we know that he's a former boxer and now an MMA fighter. Oldfield and Lesaffre were also good to round out our main group. Other than that, I thought the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
Before moving away completely, I did want to bring up social commentary here. What I read was that it was intentional to be set in a low-income development. This shows not only that this place needs repairs, but that the police coming to help is delayed. It also shows their disregard for getting people out. I'll say that this is a double-edged sword. Part of it is that they need to ensure no spiders get out. It also feels like everyone living here is expendable. That adds tension knowing that. I thought that was well-done without being over the top.
Let's then finish this out with filmmaking. The big thing here would be effects. My guess is that there were real spiders used where they could be. The rest was CGI. It looks good though. Part of that is this building is dark inside. The shadows help to hide things. That also allows the spiders to run rampant. The attack scenes were great. It made me uncomfortable. I'll also credit the cinematography and the framing. The setting is great. Other than that, the sound design also adds to this. Hearing the noises the spiders make made my skin crawl. I'll credit that as well.
In conclusion, this movie lived up to the hype for me. I thought that it had a simple premise that it took seriously. Taking this deadly spider that the people living in this building don't know about and then it goes unchecked is terrifying. The effects were great, as was the cinematography, framing and sound design. Character development is also a big help. I know info about each one and care about what happens to them. This is one that I'll revisit before the end of the year to see how it holds up with a second watch. I'd recommend this one for sure. Be warned, it is French so I watched it with subtitles. To be honest, there isn't a lot of dialogue so that helps.
My Rating: 8 out of 10.
Mononoke-hime (1997)
Beautiful Animation and Rich Story
This was a movie that I remember hitting the movie channels when I was a growing up. I would have been ten years old. I vividly remember seeing a character fire an arrow and rip the arms of someone. Up until this point, the only adult oriented cartoon I'd seen was Fire and Ice. It was one that I didn't fully understand so it isn't one I watched often. Jaime and I had this on a list of movies to see due to working through an Internet Movie Database poster of the top 100 films according to rating at that time. Jaime was leery, but we got to see this at the Gateway Film Center, so that added something for both of us.
We start this off with a demon heading toward a village. Ashitaka (voiced by Billy Crudup) does what he can to save his people and in turn, he's cursed. He starts a journey to see why this demon was on the rampage. This leads him into the middle of a war between Lady Eboshi (voiced by Minnie Driver) and the spirit of the forest. The former is trying to make Iron Town the strongest and richest. To do this, she needs the forest and mountains around them. Moro (voiced by Gillian Anderson) is a giant wolf who has three children helping her. Two are wolves and other is San (Voiced by Claire Danes). There is also a corrupt monk, Jigo (voiced by Billy Bob Thornton), who is also there to defeat the spirit of the forest for the emperor.
What I'll say is that I think that gives a nutshell recap and introduction to important characters. Where I'll start is that I enjoyed my time with this. Jaime did as well. Her biggest gripe was that seeing this on a Friday, after working all week and the theater chairs not being all that comfortable. She still thought the product was good. Then for me, I was just captivated to how great the imaginary and animation were. I'd get lost in it and forget I'm watching a cartoon. That's a credit to the filmmaking.
There's also a great message here. Ashitaka is torn between both sides. He's a human so he wants to help Lady Eboshi, but not to kill the forest. There are evil samurai here so he fights against them. I'd say if anything, he's not on the side of the emperor and that includes Jigo. He falls in love with San, who even though she's human, doesn't see herself that way. She was raised by wolves. He fights for the forest. I love the message here about humanity and nature living in harmony. It is a battle to find common ground.
I'd also say the different mythology we see is great. There are these cute little forest spirits that are also creepy. I want one to live in my house. We see the forest spirit as an elk with a human face. This entity also becomes a night walker, which was interesting to see. This forest also has talking wolves, boars and gorillas. This is supposed to have taken place in the past. It even feels that the events of this movie are the reason they no longer can. It is an interesting idea to explore.
Now I've already said that this is expertly made. The version we watched was dubbed in English. It was jarring hearing Thornton, Driver or Danes say names like Ashitaka or Lady Eboshi, but I got over that soon after. They all fit their characters. The best being Thornton as it almost seems like Jigo is his Bad Santa character, just a corrupt monk. This is a movie that I'd highly recommend, even if you don't like anime. It is so well done and just toes the line of being out of the realm of believability. There's just a great story in my opinion that makes it come together.
My Rating: 8.5 out of 10.
The 50 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen (2014)
Solid Documentary and List of Movies
This was a documentary that caught my attention when looking for something to watch at work. I was curious coming in as to the number I had seen and if I hadn't, did I at least know of that movie? I'll give my totals, but this was an intriguing doc along with the people that were interviewed.
Where to start though would be assessing the list, I had seen 40 of the 50 movies. Of the 10 that I hadn't, I think only one of them was one that I hadn't heard of. One that I hadn't was Joshua from 2007, that was a completely new one. There were ones like Grace, The Fury, Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural and Burnt Offerings, that I knew of, just hadn't seen yet. They're all on my high priority list for one reason or another. I do think that including the original Wrong Turn, Wishmaster or the original Black Christmas on this list are a disservice. There are more obscure movies that would benefit talking about more. I will credit though the ones that I hadn't seen as well as ones like Alone in the Dark or Tourist Trap that are just oddball ones that need to be seen more.
There are also a solid group of people here, from talking heads to filmmakers and actors. There is like Arnold T. Blumberg, Arielle Brachfeld, Brian W. Collins, Heidi Honeycutt, Kim Morgan, and Brad Miska to name experts/historians in the field. They interviewed scream queens Michelle Bauer, P. J. Soles, Brinke Stevens and Linnea Quigley. I also recognized John Gulager, Brea Grant, Ryan Turek and Philippe Mora as well.
What I'll also say is that this isn't going as in-depth as it could. They give good information, present the film and reactions people have to the work. I like that this one scratched beneath the surface a bit more than others. This runs two hours long and it flew by. I'm not saying that this one is great, but I think it works for what they're doing to offer up less talked about horror gems, for the most part.
My Rating: 8 out of 10.
Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood (2003)
Solid Installment to a Middling Franchise
This was a movie that I'll be honest, I avoided when I saw it hit the movie channels. I didn't see the one before this for the same reason. It wasn't until getting into horror movie podcasts that I decided to work through the series. Since I'm celebrating St. Patrick's Day on the Journey with a Cinephile: A Horror Movie Podcast. This is the next one up.
Synopsis: when Emily Woodrow (Tangi Miller) and her friends happen on a treasure chest full of gold coins, they do not heed the warnings of a wise old psychic, who foretold that they would meet trouble with a nasty and protective Leprechaun (Warwick Davis).
We start this out learning the lore of the leprechauns. There was a king who enlisted their aid to protect his gold. All of them returned to where they came from except for one. That would be the Leprechaun we get here. It then shifts to the present day. We have Father Jacob (Willie C. Carpenter) who battles the mythical creature on the site of what is going to be a youth center. He seems to defeat it as the monster is pulled into the ground.
The movie then shifts a year into the future. Father Jacob died during that battle and the construction of the youth center with him. Hanging outside out of the construction site are Emily with her friend Lisa (Sherrie Jackson). With them is Jamie (Page Kennedy). It is during this that we see Rory (Laz Alonso) who used to see Emily. They broke up when he took money from Emily to start dealing drugs. He is now seeing Chanel (Keesha Sharp). Jamie is also attacked by another group of drug dealers. Their boss is Watson (Shiek Mahmud-Bey) and he rolls up with Cedric (Sticky Fingaz). Jamie owes them money and he's short. Rory comes to his aid and this causes Watson to tell him he had better watch himself.
Emily and Lisa throw a cookout at the construction site. Jamie invited Rory, which upsets Emily. These two go off to talk and she falls through the floor. It is while she waits for Rory to get a ladder or rope that she finds a chest full of gold coins. She decides to split it with the group. She doesn't want Rory or Jamie to use it on drugs, which they do. By them spending this, the Leprechaun wakes up and he searches for his gold. He kills anyone who gets in his way to get it back.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. What I like here is that we get more continuity than other sequels in this series. They don't reference the movie before this, but it also doesn't do anything to violate that one either. Another thing that I'll give this one credit, it is written by a Black man. The references to the culture feel real and less awkward than the previous installment so that helped as well.
A big thing that I also want to credit is that I love the back-story that we have. This idea that a king enlisted the aid of the leprechauns is great. I love that the rest of them left after they were no longer needed. It is just this one that stayed to protect the gold. It feels like this one is rogue which is good. I do still think there is missed opportunities. Something that the synopsis brought up that I didn't know was the idea that Emily sees a psychic with Lisa. The psychic keeps getting names wrong, but she warns Emily about a fortune that will come her way and how she needs to avoid it. She doesn't, of course, so that sets the events in motion. I love that the Leprechaun almost seems to fear the psychic and calls her a witch. He won't even mess with her until she interferes. The idea here though is that the only people who are killed either try to stop him or are showing greed of his gold.
I've already touched on this, but I do love having the Leprechaun attacking this neighborhood. I can't fault the characters that when they find the gold they spend it. This is the same argument that I made when it came to college athletes who were busted for accepting benefits. You normally saw it from teens that came from nothing. They don't know good spending habits so it tracks. The idea that a greedy Leprechaun would have run ins with people who don't have anything so they spend newfound money selfishly makes sense and works. I wanted to credit that.
Let me then shift to acting. I'll be honest, it isn't great. This also isn't working with the biggest budget either. Davis though is once again on point with not only looking menacing but hitting the one-liners. I appreciate him for doing this when he was already taking on Star Wars movies as well as ones in Harry Potter. Miller and Jackson are fine as best friends. Kennedy adds comedy which worked for me. Alonso was fine as this drug dealer who used to be a part of this group. What is confusing there is that he still loves Emily, but he is also dating Chanel. Donzaleigh Abernathy is good as Esmerlda the psychic. This is a limited role. Mahmud-Bey, Fingaz and his crew were good. I'd say the supporting cast are almost caricatures, but that's fine for a supernatural slasher like this.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I'd say that the cinematography is fine. We are capturing that this is a low-income area. Seeing this group buy things that they don't need makes sense. It also fits why the monster is after them. The effects were fine. This leans more into the CGI than the practical ones. I do wish we got more of the latter. This doesn't ruin the movie either though. I'd also say that the soundtrack is fine. It does have rap style music that once again would fit.
In conclusion, I had more enjoyment here than other of the latter sequels. This is a franchise that is middling even with the best ones. The bright spot is Davis's performance as the Leprechaun and the make-up is on point. His comedy also lands. The rest of the cast is fine. I do like the extra back-story we have here. This is made well enough. The practical effects are good, but we get a bit too much CGI in general. Again, this is one of the better sequels which is impressive for being this far into the series. I'd only recommend it if you enjoy these movies and want to see a supernatural slasher being done by a mythical creature.
My Rating: 5.5 out of 10.
Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (1924)
Solid Silent, German Expressionist Anthology Film
This was a movie that I discovered when searching for horror films from 1924 for my Centennial Club. The title was interesting, since I know there is the movie from 1988 that I watched years ago. I saw the cast that we were working with here of Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt and Werner Krauss, who I've seen in other films from the era. I was curious as to what we'd get here.
Synopsis: a wax museum hires a writer to give the sculptures stories. The writer imagines himself and the museum owner's daughter in them.
That synopsis is good in setting how this starts. The writer is played by William Dieterle and I believe he's credited here as the poet. He has a paper with the wanted information for a wax museum within a carnival. He enters and inquires about the position. His audition is to write stories for Harun al Raschid (Jannings), Ivan the Terrible (Veidt) and Jack the Ripper (Krauss).
This is an early anthology where we go into the first story about Harun. He is the ruler of Baghdad. He plays chess daily with his Grand Vizier (Paul Biensfeldt), to help keep him sharp mentally. Assad the Baker (Dieterle) is making bread outside of the palace and the smoke upsets Harun after he loses the game. He wants the baker's head. The Grand Vizier learns that Assad has a beautiful wife, played by Olga Belajeff. Harun has a different wife each day and he flirts with her to steal her away. She fought with Assad over ruining her only dress, so he made a pact to steal a ring from Harun to get back in her good graces. This starts a series of events that will change all their lives.
Then we jump over to the story written about Ivan the Terrible. He has a poison maker, played by Ernst Legal, who writes the name of someone on hourglasses. When the sand runs out, they die. Ivan has his name for good reason. He distrusts those around him and thinks that they're out to kill him. A friend asks him to the wedding of his daughter and Ivan thinks it is an assassination attempt. He hides as the driver of the chariot. This creates an issue as Belajeff is set to marry Dieterle. Ivan's name is also erroneously written on an hourglass when it should be the poison makers.
Our last story is interesting as our poet has a run in with Jack the Ripper or as he writes about him, Spring-Heeled Jack. This was clever as to what they do here.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that it was interesting to see an early horror anthology. Not all the stories fall into this genre, but I think the first one does flirt with it enough. There is something happens with Harun that makes Assad think he's killed him. I also love what they do here with our wraparound of the poet creating stories about these real characters. Even more so that the last one centers around the writer.
Since this has the same team behind all of them, I'll treat this just as a movie overall. The first story is more whimsical, but Harun is the only focal that isn't a tyrant or villain. He's not good though either as he is out to seduce the baker's wife. What he does though to save face as well as to prevent Assad from being killed though is good. It is clever and quick thinking by the wife. The Ivan story is a bit long, but I love how it ends. It shows how evil this character is and it fits where it concludes. It is like a mirror to the first one, but the lead is getting comeuppance.
Then for the last one, even though it feels rushed, I thought it was the most unique. I looked at the runtime and tried to figure out what they'd do. I don't want to spoil it, but it was creative to me. What I'll say is that after telling the first two stories, I could see the poet doing what he does here. It would also be terrifying to be pursued by Jack the Ripper. Being as early into cinema as we are, I like that this idea was used already. This is also not based off specific stories, but we are using historical figures in fictional ways from my understanding.
That should be enough for the story so let me go over to the acting. Our three leads are great. Jannings feels like this jovial Harun who can be quick to anger. It is a different role than what I'm used to from Faust. Veidt is amazing as this villainous Ivan. He does well with his body language and being menacing, if not downright evil. Krauss also works in his limited role as Jack the Ripper. I'd also say that I like Dieterle and Belajeff playing the characters who interact with these figures. They take on different roles so we're seeing their range. I'd also say that Biensfeldt, John Gottowt, Georg John and Legal, along with any other actors helped round this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. This falls into German Expressionism and I love that. It adds a surreal feel, especially since these are three tales that are being crafted by the poet. Since we aren't seeing real life, I love that the world doesn't match that. The last one feels like a nightmare as well. I'm just a fan of the sets when they use this. We don't get much of the way of effects, but this is early into the history of cinema, so they had to be in camera. The makeup to make the actors look like the characters or people from that time they existed worked. The last thing would be the soundtrack. I can't be fully sure if the music synced with the images was what they used originally. I did like what they used for the version on YouTube. It helped build the atmosphere.
In conclusion, I rather enjoyed this early anthology film. We have heavy hitter actors in my opinion with Veidt, Krauss and Jannings, especially for the horror genre. It is creative to have this poet who is writing stories for these historical figures. I thought this was well-made. The sets used capture the surreal thanks to expressionism made me smile. I'm a sucker for them. I also thought the makeup and costumes fit the characters to help capture that allusion. The soundtrack that we got also adds to the atmosphere. I'd recommend it if you are out to see silent era horror films or the history of this genre.
My Rating: 8.5 out of 10.
Tarot (2024)
Good Things, But Jump Scare Fest
This was a movie that I heard was coming out. It didn't come to the Gateway Film Center, so I didn't even realize that it was out until friends of mine were seeing it. I saw that I could catch it at the AMC by me and checked it out on the Sunday of opening weekend. The ratings and thoughts were in the middle to not very good. I was still curious, especially after learning it is from a pulp novel from the 1990s.
Synopsis: when a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings, they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death.
The group from the synopsis are college age and staying at a house they rented for the weekend in the Catskills mountains. This takes place in the New England area and it sets this up by everyone drinking Sam Adams beer. Our lead is Haley (Harriet Slater). She was seeing Grant (Adain Bradley), but they recently broke up. None of this friend group even knew. Both are here, which makes it awkward when this gets revealed. Also, there is Madeline (Humberly González) who has a crush on Lucas (Wolfgang Novogratz). Another couple here is Paige (Avantika) and Elise (Larsen Thompson). It is the latter's birthday as well. Then our last friend is the comedian of the group, Paxton (Jacob Batalon).
They end up running out of beer. Paxton is convinced there must be a secret stash. This leads them to a room that is locked. Lucas breaks the lock and it goes to the basement. Inside is astrology items. They also find a box with runes carved into it. They find a creepy set of tarot cards within. Haley got into card readings to tell horoscopes and her friends want her to do one for them. She declines, saying that it is bad luck to use someone else's deck. They convince her though.
This is their entertainment for the night. Haley takes what she is doing seriously. The readings she does seem to have ominous omens, especially since they end with cards like the hermit, the magician, the countess, the devil and death. These cards don't necessarily have the same direct meanings. Everyone goes back to their normal lives, but something seems to follow them back. Something supernatural seems to be after them, even though it can been seen as unfortunate accidents. They need to figure out the history behind this deck before it is too late.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I'll start is that this has good aspects here. I like the idea of doing tarot card readings to tell horoscopes and then something bad happen to these people. There is a nitpick that I have and I'll get into that shortly. I can also explain it away easily enough. This deck being as creepy as it was great. Having now seen this, I can see the gripes that others have and they're like mine.
Now that we have that out of the way, let me delve deeper. I'll go in order. I've already said that I like the premises. Finding this old tarot deck and telling 'futures' from it works. It does feel like subbing out a Ouija board for the cards and then something supernatural coming after our characters. I'll give credit here still. My nitpick is that Haley says about how you're not supposed to use someone's else's deck to tell readings. Then she just goes ahead and uses them anyway. She seems to believe in what she's doing and takes the outcomes of the readings seriously. I don't buy that she would do it then. This is a nitpick and peer pressure is something that I could see changing her mind so I'll digress. I don't believe in astrology or that cards like this tell the future, but I know people do so I'm not going to rain on their parade. I do like this entity of the Astrologer (Suncica Milanovic) and how she factors in as well.
Next, I think I'll take this to filmmaking. I'll say here again, I love the card design for this tarot deck. I've seen cool ones in the past and have seen classic designs. Having them being as horrific as they was great. That adds to the atmosphere. Then bringing these entities to life was something else that as great. My guess is that they went CGI. I still thought they looked creepy so I'll credit there. My bigger issue is that instead of working more on the atmosphere, they chose to go more for jump-scares. It also feels like it is borrowing from Final Destination with how hauntings play out. This is designed more for mainstream audiences and it doesn't work as well for me. The sound design fits in there. This isn't poorly made. I thought that the cinematography and framing do good things. It gets creepy at times. They just don't build on that as well as they could.
I'll go over the acting then. No one is bad here, let me say that. I just got annoyed with how the characters were written. For me, I think part of that is these are college age people now. If I was still that age, I think I could connect better. I thought that Slater was fine as our lead. Bradley works as her ex, but we know there is still feelings there. Their breakup is fresh so that contributes. They both are attractive so that helps. Batalon adds humor which was good. Avantika, González, Novogratz and Thompson round out this group. They don't do well in fleshing them out either to help me care when things happen to them. Their horoscope seems to be the extent of what we know about them. That is creative way to introduce them, I'll say that. Olwen Fouéré works as this expert they seek out to learn more. I liked seeing that James Swanton was here to take on a couple of the entities. I'll also credit Nikolic, Milanovic and Carter there as well.
There isn't much more to say here. In conclusion, this is fine. I'm not the target audience as this is designed more for mainstream fans who are in that PG-13 range. We get jump-scares instead of atmosphere. That's not to say this is all bad. I thought the look of the tarot cards were great. The concept that by doing readings with the deck, it has cursed this group of friends. The acting was fine. Our characters just lack depth in my opinion, outside of what we learn from the readings. The framing and cinematography were fine. Even though they went CGI mostly for the entities, they still looked creepy. This just doesn't do enough to set itself apart and I think this will be forgotten unfortunately. I'd recommend this to fans of more of the more conventional horror films.
My Rating: 5.5 out of 10.