THE INVITATION
Dir - Karyn Kusama
Overall: GOOD
Filmmaker Karyn Kusama's latest offering The Invitation is an interesting departure from her previous, horror/comedy entry Jennifer's Body. Any humor that can be found here is in witnessing how odd some of these people behave during a dinner party. This is one of the main themes of The Invitation; how social niceties both can blind people to apparent danger and ease others into subtle or even blatant manipulation. There is plenty more than that though, particularly how the dealing of one's grief can further make that person susceptible to harmful influence. As is often the case, it is impossible not to inject a viewer's own emotions into such things and more often than not, we can get annoyed that the protagonists are not acting the way we think we would act in such a situation. Yet Kusama handles her lot here rather well, even if some of their behavior is a little too eccentric and the endgame is a tad thin, plot-wise. When the reveal does hit at the end, the tension has been very slowly mounting to the point where the finale is easy to spot at least several scenes if not many scenes earlier. Regardless, everything holds up due to good acting all around, good atmosphere, and only one kind-of jump scare.
Dir - Jeremy Saulnier
Overall: MEH
It is not necessarily fair to give Jeremy Saulnier's Green Room a negative review as it is certainly not in the ballpark of being bad, nor even sub-par really. The premise itself is rather uncomfortable, be it deliberately so. A run-of-the-mill punk band getting a last minute gig at a skinhead club and then some murder happening, Saulnier plays it virtually humor-less which becomes quite increasingly heavy. The Patrick Stewart led, Portland based Neo-Nazis are without any question the bad guys here, but this is not a message movie and refuses to beat one over the head with how evil beliefs beget evil people. Similar to Saulnier's previous Blue Ruin, the best moments here are the unexpected ones where characters start to make cleverly scripted speeches or give us some crucial plot points only to get cut-off with a shotgun blast to the head or a ferocious dog attack instead. Such subverting shocks coupled with some well-handed suspense make it a successfully intense watch. Then again, the elephant in the room questions are A) why would you take a last minute gig to play for an exclusively white supremacist crowd in the first place and then B) proceed to open your set with The Dead Kennedy's "Nazi Scum Fuck Off"? Kinda playing with stupid fire there
Dir - Michael Dougherty
Overall: MEH
Having CGI gingerbread men with Alvin and the Chipmunk voices attacking someone with a nail gun and an alcoholic, fat Aunt using a firearm while the camera zooms up on her to deliver a groan-level one-liner are just a few moments that set the comedic tone for Michael Dougherty's holiday horror romp Krampus. The overboard elements are not limited to the well-thought-out schlock though, as even the opening title credits depict what can only be described as Hollywood's version of what Christmas shopping from hell would look like. The amount of decorations and scenery on display to make the whole thing Christmasy are exactly on par with how ridiculous the town in Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat looked, so this all seems to be the director's intended style. In such a PG-13 context, things can never get too disturbingly dark, but the would-be creepy imagery jives somewhat lukewarmly with the over-the-top hokiness of everything else. Numerous low-to-no-budget horror films based off the same Alpine folklore have littered Redboxes, dollar DVD bins, and steaming services elsewhere, so in a way this more generously budgeted attempt can be seen as the be-all-end-all version. It is not for everyone's tastes, but for those who prefer subtlety left at the doorstep, this will certainly suffice.
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