Dir - Jung Bum-shik
Overall: GOOD
A spiritual and ultimately superior cousin to the Viscous Brothers' 2011 film Grave Encounters, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum stretches illogical human behavior and arbitrary ghost activity to a breaking point, yet it also simultaneously provides a bone-chilling roller-coaster bombardment. One of a handful of works in the genre from co-writer/director Jung Bum-shik, there is a narrative through-line of a YouTube series hellbent on scoring a million views for their live stream inside of a notorious haunted establishment, thus serving as an explanation for why they embark, (and more to the point), continue to embark on a clearly unsafe and otherworldly journey. The plausibility is eyeball-rollingly thin in this regard, but it serves its purpose just enough to get from one freaky set piece to the next. Formulaic in structure to virtually all haunted house stories, everything gets gradually ramped-up instead of immediately dire, but Bum-shik maintains the appropriate tone and the amount of fun that he and the crew are clearly having in delivering such spookiness proves infectious. Some could argue that the found footage framework is wearing thin by recycling age-old horror tropes is such a similar fashion to each other, but this example still has some creepy, popcorn-munching fuel left in the tank.
Dir - Mike P. Nelson
Overall: MEH
A nasty post-apocalyptic outing from writer/director Mike P. Nelson, The Domestics makes solid use out of its modest budget with a good amount of CGI-free bloodshed, yet its story line may be too dour for most tastes. After a chemical warfare outbreak has been unleashed in order to mitigate population control, society collapses into a survival of the fittest landscape where both loners and gangs either roam the country-side or set up camps to engage in rape, murder, torture, or to just getthrough one more day intact. A radio DJ provides some cynical humor that is hit or miss, as are other attempts at lightning up such a miserable affair such as Kate Bosworth headbanging to Goatsnake and a couple of other quirky musical cues that are scattered about. Otherwise, scenes like a demented, (is there any other kind?), game of spousal Russian roulette, Lance Reddick nonchalantly feeding his family and new friends human meat, and David Dastmalchian chewing the scenery in an ultra-violent cameo are more icky than entertaining, making this one of the more down-trodden Mad Max rehashes out there. Its barbaric outlook on humanity is anything but feel-good, yet the performances are solid, every deplorable character gets their gruesome comeuppance for those who are keeping count, and its gritty aesthetic is heightened by good ole practical effects work, stunt performers, and squibs.
Dir - Kirill Sokolov
Overall: GOOD
Russian writer/director Kirill Sokolov's full-length debut Why Don't You Just Die! is a wonderfully violent and convoluted comedy full of morally broken characters engaging in ill-intended shenanigans that spiral into absurdity. Clearly inspired by the firmly established aesthetics of Quentin Tarantino, it is better than the plethora of Pulp Fiction clones that emerged in the 1990s. This is possibly because enough time has gone by that this ultra-gory take on doomed individuals getting in over their heads with a topsy-turvy series of events gone awry seems more like a fresh homage than an uninspired knock-off. Focusing on five characters, (most of which get a recent flashback to bring us up to date), the layers are dished-out in an engaging fashion that throws in one more complication after the other to not only jack up the tension, yet also make the whole thing more absurdly humorous. Knowingly playing on Russian tough guy and gal stereotypes, everyone goes through enough physical and mental traumatic abuse to keep this far enough from reality to laugh at, even if there is a palpable emotional core that audience members may find themselves sympathizing with against their better judgement. Even if Sokolov is hinging his stylistic temperament on another filmmaker's instead of carving out his own, it still delivers the mayhem in an entertaining fashion.
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