Dir - Yoon Joon-Hyeong
Overall: MEH
In the wake of Kōji Shiraishi's Noroi: The Curse, several ominous mockumentaries have emerged from the East, none of which have boasted the type of bone-chilling ingenuity of Shiraishi's masterpiece. Marui Video from South Korean filmmaker Yoon Joon-Hyeong is yet another faulty entry into the sub-genre, making the usual blunder of mixing standard editing and incessant incidental music within a found footage framework. This failed approach of a conventionally put together, true crime program makes it impossible to induce the type of immersion that found footage movies at least on paper are capable of doing. More problematic though is the convoluted plot. There are too many characters to keep track of as the documentary crew side-steps into poorly explained avenues, to the point where all of the showstopping set pieces are head-scratching instead of scary. Yoon seems to have a difficult time committing to an ending as well, presenting us with about a half dozen of them in the closing moments before yet another scene starts up, all coming off as inconsequential as opposed to being "Whoah!" revelatory.
Dir - Rob Savage
Overall: WOOF
For any Stephen King fans that were jonesin' for a cinematic adaptation of one of his earliest published short stories, the resulting The Boogeyman should logically disappoint as it arrives in the era of obnoxious jump scares, laughable CGI monsters, stoic children who speak almost exclusively in whispers and ergo do not act like any actual children anywhere on the planet, characters witnessing supernatural activity and keeping the details all to themselves, and traumatized people overcoming their grief in the most schlock-laden and syrupy manner. King's written works are no stranger to having everything getting wrapped up in a nice little package where the sufferers defeat the evil that has befallen them with a newfound sense of acceptance and empowerment, but such an outcome is broadcast from miles away here in one of the most hack-laden presentations in recent memory. Appallingly unoriginal, it is as if the entire production was completed by an A.I. algorithm to include every cheap horror genre aspect that is guaranteed to make sure that all audience member can check their Instagram accounts on their phone or text their buddies while only half paying attention to what is happening on screen. Sadly, the committed performances from a top-notch cast are wasted on such tripe that cannot even nail the seemingly idiot-proof concept of a creepy thing living in the dark; a concept that should be universally chilling instead of insultingly stupid.
Dir - Gary Shore
Overall: MEH
The latest from Irish-born director Gary Shore, (and his first solo full-length since 2014's ill-received Dracula Untold), Haunting of the Queen Mary is a stylized tour de force that collapses under its narrative ambitions. Ten years in development from producer Brett Tomberlin, it is allegedly the first in a trilogy of films to be loosely based, (and presumably highly exaggerated), upon the RMS Queen Mary; a famous British ocean liner that sailed between 1936 and 1967. Whether or not this turns into a proper franchise is to be determined, but the first crack at it wields conflicting results. Bouncing between two timelines and often in long, elaborate single shots, Shore also incorporates documentary footage while increasingly cranking up the arbitrary, supernatural set pieces. It oddly has the kinetic energy of schlocky, late 90s horror ala William Malone's House on Haunted Hill remake and is it is also a visual bombardment of horrendous violence, glossy/digital sheen, and ornamented set design. Sadly though, it fails as a compelling viewing experience due to the murky-at-best plot which sluggishly spins off into no man's land. Trying to balance about half a dozen ideas that could have carried their own narrative on their own, it is all instead thrown into one bloated, two-hour mind-trip. It gets points for its wild grasp and retro callbacks, but viewers may need an aspirin afterwards to fight off the headache.
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