Dir - Vincenzo Natali
Overall: MEH
In development for several years and finally heading underway as part of a series of Stephen King works to be adapted for Netflix, In the Tall Grass is an adaptation of the short story of the same name, itself the second collaboration between King and his son Joe Hill. A passion project for filmmaker Vincenzo Natali and his first full-length in six years, it is a faithful enough reworking of the source material that boasts one of the author's trademark, expertly unnerving premises based on something so simple as to seem obvious. The topsy-turvy narrative is intriguing to a point as two groups of people find themselves supernaturally lost in a country field full of grass, but it all gradually succumbs to a big messy pile of convoluted schlock by the time that the credits hit, (and this is not just because the characters are literally rolling around in the wet mud whilst fighting with each other). Performance wise, everyone does their best with the inconsistent material and Patrick Wilson is particularly enjoying the scenery-chewing that is afforded him. Though it conceptually bites off too much with a loosey-goosey plot that purposely goes everywhere but in a straight line, Natali maintains an ominous tone and the otherworldly specifics are thankfully left ambiguous.
Dir - Mattie Do
Overall: GOOD
The latest from the husband/wife, writer/director duo of Christopher Larsen and Mattie Do, The Long Walk is a solid yet obscured work. Once again shot and taking place in Laos, the story is set in the undisclosed future where people have been equipped with data chips in their arms to trade digital currency, though this sci-fi angle is barely touched upon and arguably inconsequential to the rural setting that exists in a ghostly limbo which is far removed from technological advancement. As the unnamed old man who has the ability to both communicate with the dead and to time travel, Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy has a grief-weary demeanor that slowly unveils a type of selfish lifestyle brought on by his own traumatic past that he is unable to alter. In this world, the dead may be comforted by the living and visa versa, yet neither are allowed to move on from either their physical or ethereal plane of existence. Nearly two hours in length, some of the side arcs and ideas here could have been jettisoned to make the already deliberate pacing more agreeable, but the minimalist, low-key atmosphere and universally melancholic themes that it explores remain gripping.
Dir - Scott Beck/Bryan Woods
Overall: MEH
A flimsy yet inevitable premise HAUNTS, (har, har), Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' Halloween haunted house slasher Haunt, which is enough times in one sentence to use the word "haunt". Throwing an obvious final girl and her mostly douchebag-adjacent friends into a scenario where maniacs in creepy masks deliberately play cat-and-mouse with them is all nothing new obviously, nor is setting it in a festive haunted house location as Bobby Roe's 2014 found footage film The House October Built likewise did. Still, this is ideal material for a by-the-books horror movie and the predictable beats are all hit. Obvious foreshadowing, inane dialog about "taking off" or "whats under" your mask, a laughably sketchy location that moronic characters willingly plow into, mortal wounds that people walk off, the ole "Oh no, I murdered my friend thinking it was one of the killers" gag, the ole "Someone is here to save us...oh never mind, he's dead" gag, and an ending that is meant to be badass yet comes off as schlocky audience pandering. All of the complaints that one can launch at a movie like this are there by design, so it comes down to one's particular tastes and preference for everything following a not-at-all-challenging pattern. So if your brain wants a break and nothing clever is needed for a night's ghoulish entertainment, this has you covered.
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