Dir - Jacob Aaron Estes
Overall: WOOF
Part found footage, part creepypasta, and part incoherent student movie, He's Watching is a frustrating viewing experience from writer/director Jacob Aaron Estes. A COVID-19 lockdown family production, it almost exclusively stars Estes' children Iris and Lucas who play fictionalized versions of themselves haphazardly filming a video journal of their time alone at home while their parents are in the hospital due to some mysterious illness that is never explained along with everything else that happens. The found footage gimmick is used poorly as well as being unnecessary here during the first half where everything is edited together conventionally with "The following day" style title cards, scary music, and a barrage of clips from some unknown entity all mixed in together. This throws the the viewer off quickly, but things only get more aggressively nonsensical from there as Estes goes for a low-rent David Lynch vibe that rambles in unintelligibly without any humor or purpose. It all becomes an aimless bore which would make for a trippy and atmospheric viewing experience if not for its arbitrary mix of cinematic sub-genres and embarrassing scare tactics.
Dir - Nico van den Brink
Overall: GOOD
A contemporary-set folk horror outing and the sophomore effort from Dutch filmmaker Nico van den Brink, Moloch has a conventional structure yet wields successfully ominous results. While the specific legend frequently mentioned throughout the story is fictitious, the film's title has numerous origins in ancient Hebrew and Canaanite religions of a bull-headed deity that demands sacrifices, which in turn provides ideal fodder for an unsettling genre movie. The film strictly plays within the confines of such a genre, all without being insulting even as it lingers on fog-ridden shots of the woods, punctuates the soundtrack with muffled percussion, a part-throwback synth score, and wide-mouthed screams, plus throws in some creepy, pagan-styled eye candy during the finale. An emphasis on character during the slow boil approach is appreciated, with wonderful performances from the leads, (especially Sallie Harmsen as a traumatized mother who increasingly realizes just how much of the town's celebrated fables are directly linked to her cursed bloodline). It may not pack any inventive scares into the mix, but it is impressively atmospheric and stylized.
Dir - Gabriel Bier Gislason
Overall: MEH
Tonal inconsistencies ultimately undo writer/director Gabrial Bier Gislason's full-length debut Attachment, (Natten har øjne), but there are still admirable qualities herein. On the surface, it is a quirky romantic comedy between a lesbian couple with one of them having a doting, Jewish mother that fits the stereotype of being overprotective and disapproving of her daughter's new love interest. Even before this bare-bones/misleading premise is established though, Gislason interjects a sinister undercurrent that grows more prominent as things roll along. Talk of dybbuks, golems, and the Witch of Endor provide some interesting mysticism and because no one in horror movies can ever just plainly spell anything out, various odd behaviors and rituals are picked up upon until their true meaning finally is unveiled within the last set piece. Though the humorous elements are genuinely funny and the creepy elements are unnerving, the problem is that they do not gel together. Most of the comedy disappears for large periods of time, only to inappropriately pop back in to remind us that the movie is trying to be two different movies at once. This is a shame as far as considering the big picture here, but it is still a noble, genre-fusing attempt by Gislason that at least becomes unique in the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment