Change Your Image
yugidean
Reviews
Creepshow: Twenty Minutes with Cassandra/Smile (2023)
Half delightful, half codswallop
The first segment definitely isn't for everyone. It starts out intense and intriguing then slides into dark comedy and finally lands in a philosophical/psychological rumination on fear. I enjoyed it but the tonal shift would leave many people frustrated (as evidenced by the reviews...).
But the second segment is appallingly bad. The premise of the episode is already poor, so there's not much hope for the execution. And any hopes you might have are dashed on the rocks as we are assaulted by "plot stupidity" at every turn.
The story begins with a couple out for a celebratory dinner who then venture across the street because...a street photographer's Polaroid looks like it was taken from farther away? Gimme a break.... It gets dumber and dumber from there. What a way to ruin an otherwise perfectly good episode.
Alone with You (2021)
Overdone Horror Trope Done to Death... Again
I have a high tolerance for overused horror tropes, but there's one I simply can't stand: when mental illness (or a psychological "break") is meant to explain all the bizarre goings-on.
To be fair, I've seen a few movies that have made this work well. "Alone With You" is NOT one of them...
Self-indulgent, repetitive for no good reason, and utterly lacking in any originality whatsoever, this movie takes that trope and says, "How hard can we beat our audience over the head with this idea?"
VERY hard, as it turns out. At every turn and in every moment, we are beleaguered by the writers/directors team who clearly cared very little about bringing something new to the table.
Worse, their kitchen-sink approach means we get all kinds of horror staples without any point or purpose. Lights flicker, shadowy figures pass by in the background, technology malfunctions, doors won't open, religion is shoved down a character's throat... None of it sticks together, and none of it has one iota of a payoff.
But worst of all (to me) is that this is all played off as a complete mental breakdown without any thought to how or why the character might perceive ANY of this stuff during a psychotic fugue. I'm not expecting reality here, just for the story to make sense. At all.
Skinamarink (2022)
Self-indulgent drek
The audience for this movie is limited to 1. The self-indulgent director, 2. People who like "artsy" snoozefests, and 3. People who don't like "artsy" snoozefests but say they do.
This movie is the most worthless pile of nothing. The pacing isn't slow, it's nonexistent. The plot is so threadbare your gram's couch from the 1970s has more to it at this point. The directing is so pretentious it's offensive.
Given the choice to rewind time sp I didn't waste it on this movie OR getting slap the director, I'd really want to choose the latter but would reclaim my time because the director doesn't even deserve that much of my time or energy.
The Invitation (2022)
Charismatic leads save a floundering story
Our two leads are engaging and charismatic with electric chemistry. I can't say the same for the story, which certainly begins strong enough, but devolves into nonsense at the big twist's reveal. Not because of WHAT the twist is but because of how it's handled.
From there, we find ourselves in a bit of a third act free fall that's thankfully brief and salvaged only by Nathalie Emmanuel's continuing powerhouse performance.
There's an unnecessary stinger at the end of the movie that does nothing. It acts like it's meant to set up a sequel but doesn't even manage that. A waste of time, sure, but doesn't detract from the movie at all.
***One last thought: the movie is watchable, but the trailer seriously undermines that watchability. It spoils quite literally everything about the movie, including the final moment of the final confrontation. Strongly recommend staying far away from the trailer if you have even a passing interest in watching this movie.***
Marionette (2020)
Cinema's plot twist addiction claims another flick
The general premise of this film presents us with a variation on the evil child where instead of being the antichrist or possessed, the viewer is posed with the question, "Is he god?"
It takes a loooong time to get there, but this movie leverages the philosophical implications of that concept in an interesting way. We finally get some weighty theological debates around the 90-minute mark just before the film nose-dives straight through what should've been it's climax and into a half-hour plot twist that undermines all the hard work the film did up to that point.
Without giving anything away, this plot twist is just a simple variation on one of the most hated, most parodied, most insulting plot twists in TV and film. A twist that, in spite of how much nearly everyone hates it, continues to pop up in serious (non-parody) projects with baffling frequency.
It ends up feeling like the filmmakers wanted to explore theology from a critical vantage and either backpedaled out of fear or were otherwise order to by some meddling producer. Either way, the film loses its bite, its meaning, its power, and its quality.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018)
Delightfully Dark
This new iteration of an old comic book series is crafted with a dark morbidity that I adore. Don't come here if you're looking for the fun, campy, finger-pointing-heavy kitsch of the original series (which I loved, excluding the abysmal final season, anyway...).
This series gets everything right, from the awesome, diverse cast to the deft blend of horror and old-school styling/aesthetic.
My only real gripe is the way the series gets a bit hokey in the way it flips the morality script (e.g., "For the love of God" becomes "For the love of Satan," etc...). It's not bad, per se, but it feels a little silly sometimes for a show that's being as serious as this one tries to be.
Regardless, I am delighted at how well this series has turned out, and I look forward to more!