Dir - Michelle Garza Cervera
Overall: GOOD
Similar to a handful of noteworthy genre films yet refreshingly presented, Michelle Garza Cervera's Huesera: The Bone Woman is an exceptional full-length debut. The fundamental "fear of pregnancy" theme most famously goes all the way back to Rosemary's Baby, yet the questions that Cervera's story raises equally if not more prominently concern a woman's place in conformative domestic life. In this instance, Natalia Solián's protagonist suffers a traumatizing ordeal almost immediately after finding out that her own motherhood is impending, as she questions her many life choices in getting there. Everything contributes, from closeted lesbianism, to a dysfunctional upbringing based on tragedy and cripplingly judgemental attitudes from her family, to her own youthful aspirations that she neglected to pursue out of fear, to her partially insincere attempts to find happiness in a conventional marriage. It makes for a complex tragedy that is respectfully handled even as it utilizes the age ole "everyone thinks that an upset woman is just crazy" tropes. Solián is terrific in the lead and carries most of the weight, plus Cervera bypasses hackneyed stylistic tropes, which makes the frightening supernatural moments more satisfying and unsettling.
Dir - Travis Stevens
Overall: GOOD
A part-throwback hybrid of Greek mythology and slasher movie, A Wounded Fawn is the latest from filmmaker Travis Stevens and probably his strongest genre effort to date. Told in two acts with a protagonist/antagonist shift halfway through, it goes deep inside the mind of a brutal serial killer who is compelled to do away with the beauty and power that he jealously finds threatening in women. A common excuse/psychological assessment of male rapists and murders who target the opposite sex, it is shown through a mythological lens here, involving the chthonic Erinyes deities of ancient Greece who are given adequate screen time once the movie dives full into the killer's sociopathic psyche. Bright red blood and an absurdist, Euro-horror dedication to weird and garish nightmare visuals pay fitting homage to the work of Italian gore masters Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento, but Stevens has an accomplished eye of his own that keeps the audience guessing as to what ridiculous spectacle we will witness next. Along with the unorthodox plotting, quick pace, and solid performances, this makes for a refreshing work that is brutal, funny, and freaky as it deconstructs familiar motifs.
Dir - Danny Philippou/Michael Philippou
Overall: GOODWhile there are refreshing attributes to Danny and Michael Philippou's debut Talk to Me as well as some stellar performances, the movie also crumbles under its flimsy supernatural logic and loose plotting. Shot in the brother filmmaker's native South Australia, it presents a unique tweak on the seance motif that is deliberately rooted in the contemporary age where young adults contact the dead for shits and giggles, capturing the ensuing mayhem on their phones with little to no regard for the mysterious forces that they are playing with. Once the cards are laid out, things follow in a foreseeable manner where Sophie Wilde's fun yet deeply grieving protagonist falls prey to the predatory nature of the spirits or so we are likely lead to believe in such a cautionary, "don't fuck with the dead" tale. The Philippous sprinkle in a number of wonderful set pieces, even if they just as often succumb to tired scare tactics and tropes involving ghosts behaving arbitrarily. Everyone on screen gives it their all as to keep the film captivating despite its increasingly heavy and downer tone, which at least does not insult the audience with a syrupy and melodramatic sense of trauma recovery, (cough, Michael Flanagan, cough). Unfortunately it takes too many liberties with narrative cohesion, getting from point A to point B with a couple of cheap maneuvers that undermine the more inventive presentation aspects and sincere themes. It is still a solid offering, just imprecise if one is to be fair.
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