Dir - Mitchell Lichtenstein
Overall: MEH
For his first non-comedic feature Angelica, filmmaker Mitchell Lichtenstein instead goes for Gothic, psychological melodrama, only with inconsistent results. An adaptation of Arthur Phillips' novel of the same name, the Victorian London setting is well-realized with intricately detailed interiors and costumes that make for a picturesque aesthetic to hinge a chilling story of postmortem depression, sexual frustration, and good ole fashioned mental illness overcoming a troubled woman who lives out her later years harboring a disturbing secret. Jena Malone technically takes on a dual role as both the title character and her mother Constance, though she only appears as the former via bookending segments since the plot unfolds as an elongated flashback. One of countless gaslit women in genre movies, Malone does an admirable job with the bog-standard material as her character tries to navigate her own unrelenting, diabolical fantasies which only come off as a severe case of helicopter parenting and societal anxieties about no longer having the desire or capability to fulfill her expected spousal duties. There is some terrible CGI that unfortunately gets too much screen time, rendering any and all possible spookiness null and void, but it is competently produced and tonally solid despite having a merely mediocre story line.
Dir - Joe Begos
Overall: WOOF
Independent writer/director Joe Begos begins his sophomore full-length The Mind's Eye with a proclamation that the following movie should be played "loud" and in this respect, the proceeding hour and twenty-seven minutes has enough wide-eyed, face-contorting, volume-jacked aggression to make it an action throwback that is either purposely or accidentally stupid. Nothing to take too seriously by design, (one would hope), it is harmless in a sense to watch several familiar faces from modern, low-budget indie flicks scream and grimace their way through unapologetic schlock, with Graham Skipper, Jeremy Gardner, Noah Segan, Lauren Ashley Carter, and everyone's favorite B-movie maverick Larry Fessenden doing their best with the Scanners/Firestarter/Redbox bargain basement material. Most of the actors here are trying too hard, (particularly John Speredakos as a ridiculous, scenery-chewing, and one-note villain), looking foolish in the process with their hilarious mugging and hackneyed monologues. In these thespian's defense though, Begos script is pure, juvenile, comic-book camp; the kind that fuses with an inherently silly, cinematic sub-genre in only the most embarrassing and bombastic way. Because all of the violent, "fuck"-ridden yelling and a pummeling synth score is clearly "cool" enough to get by.
Dir - Hideo Nakata
Overall: MEH
Hideo Nakata's own remake of his 1996 film Don't Look Up is unfortunately just as subpar, taking a more generic approach to an already bog-standard mystery concerning a haunted mannequin that is plaguing a theater production by sucking the life-force out of its victims. Accurately re-titled Ghost Theater, (Gekijourei), the characters visit an unwelcoming recluse who dumps an expository explanation on them without making eye contact, supernatural activity happens to people who cannot prove it to everyone else that merely dismisses them, an operatic musical score interrupts every "scary" scene, and it all leads to an unintentionally funny climax where the life-sized doll creaks and contorts itself to life while everyone stares wide-eyed at it. Hardly the stuff of nightmares as Nakata seems to be sleep-walking through the proceedings, which begs the question as to why he revisited the material in the first place if he was only going to tweak a few insignificant details and present it in such an uninspired manner. It is hardly terrible, but as far as vengeful spirit J-horror is concerned, this one is as unnecessary and forgettable as they get.
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