Jackson Stewart's silly throwback Beyond the Gates deservingly garnishes the same complaints that other such movies do. Namely, the nostalgia-for-nostalgia's sake presentation the fuses an overtly goofy premise with retro aesthetics and clashing tonal issues. Campy horror does have its place of course, but when it is in a movie that features serious character arcs that are completely pointless to the camp, (and ultimately take screen time away from more over-the-top goofiness that could be on screen), it is a matter of trying to have its cake and eat it too. Trying to have realistic characters with relatable problems with a concept such as a 1980s video board game coming to life with details like a cartoon character creep straight out of a Goosebumps episode operating an all-things-occult store too, is just insultingly dumb. Barbara Crampton's welcomed return to genre cinema deserves better material than this, that is for damn sure.
Dir - Joel Potrykus
Overall: GREAT
One of the more inspiring horror/comedy/whatever outings in recent memory is Michigan-based filmmaker Joel Potrykus third offering The Alchemist Cookbook. Minimally and entirely shot in the woods with a barely two person cast, most of what unfolds on screen seems improvised and one would be hard pressed to spot any typical, overdone genre staples. The slow-boil approach is taken here which can be tricky to pull off, even more so when almost just Tysheeb Hickson is onscreen nearly 100% of the time and never ventures too far from his living quarters. Hickson's performance as a man suffering from a mental breakdown where his eccentric and erratic behavior is as funny as it is increasingly unnerving to watch, is fantastic though. Better still, there is something else going on in those woods that becomes increasingly unnerving to watch and listen to. The sound design in this film is outstanding and the small number of "those" moments deliver on every level of horror movie enjoyment. What Potrykus and his tiny crew and cast accomplish with such minuscule ingredients here without any need to shoot it as yet another hand-held-camera film, is very, very admirable. This is the kind of outside the box thinking and execution that the horror genre more than any other can benefit from.
Dir - Babak Anvari
Overall: MEH
What differentiates Iranian Babak Anvari's feature length debut Under the Shadow from other "stressed out mother protecting her daughter from supernatural forces" type fare is essentially the specifics of the premise and setting. That setting being the Iran-Iraq War, namely the War of the Cities period of air raids regularly bombarding various urban areas. The cast is caught right up in all of this and similarly to how most people watch haunted house films while getting aggravated and thinking aloud "leave the house already", such is the case here even with no evil specters interfering with their sleeping schedule. The bombs are enough to convince one to leave or so one would think. Anvari gets away with crafting kind of enough of a backstory and motivation to keep his characters where they are and keep them tolerating what they tolerate, but there sure is a whole lot that has been incredibly played out at this point here. This inclues but is not limited to far too many boo scares, imaginary "friends", a kid with a doll, nightmares that seem real, the main protagonist possibly just going crazy, a sinister fairy tale, and a "this ain't over yet" ending. The movie never derails itself though and keeps it together in the final act, so it gets a competent if still predictable pass.
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