(2023)
Dir - Sophon Sakdaphisit
Overall: MEH
Another unabashed horror outing from Thai director Sophon Sakdaphisit, Home for Rent bites off a lot for a schlock fest and it wastes no time in doing so, pummeling the audience with "bump in the night" occult scare tactics and trying to have its emotionally ravaged outcome at the same time. It can be seen as the country's answer to a James Wan movie; one that is so over the top that it becomes unintentionally goofy yet also one that diligently stays in its genre in the most aggressively popcorn-munching manner. Broken up into three sections, (the latter two filling in each last nuance of mystery that was thrust upon the audience in the first one), Sakdaphisit and co-screenwriter Tanida Hantaweewatana throw every super scary detail that they can think of into the mix and never let the momentum simmer for an instant. Old grandma witches, "white eyes equals creepy", chanting cult members, sinister symbols and alters bathed in blood, not one but two creepy dolls, psychic children, dead children, crows, mysterious behavior, shady characters, concerning tattoos, evil red books with no writing in them, CGI monster-faced ghosts, a continuous musical score, and jump scares a plenty; the entire thing easily tip its toes into a laughing stock on paper. The performances are wonderful though and such a ludicrous supernatural story somehow defies the odds by being able to tug at the viewer's heartstrings by the heavy finale.
Dir - Cameron Cairnes/Colin Cairnes
Overall: MEH
The latest Late Night with the Devil from Australian sibling writer/director duo Cameron and Colin Cairnes gets by to a point on its bold premise and throwback aesthetic, but it also misses too many shots at the basket along the way. First off, the found footage gimmick is half-assed, throwing in a stylized prologue and then presenting a complete recording of an alleged, 1977 late night talk show broadcast that also inexplicably has polished, black and white handheld camera sequences during the commercial breaks. Also because of course, the digital effects and camera operators crosscutting between things that are inexplicably supernatural does everything in its power to further break verisimilitude, pummeling the viewer with the age-old found footage faux pas of "Who is editing all of this and why are they still shooting all of this so cinematically?". That is a shame because other elements of the movie are fun, including a dedicated cast, a nifty concept, and a mostly authentic period presentation. Many horror tropes are toyed with, as well as backstage politics and even a Bohemian Grove tie-in that provides plenty of juicy Easter eggs to nibble on. The Cairnes' script leaves much to be desired though. Despite its persistent flaws, it deserves props for still managing to keep the audience invested as to what diabolical and strange place everything is headed in, but the finale drops the ball, the intended humor never lands, and it clumsily bites off too much to chew.
Dir - Teresa Sutherland
Overall: MEH
Though its unwavering mood is commendable, writer/director Teresa Sutherland's full-length debut Lovely, Dark, and Deep ends up spinning its wheels in an abyss of traumatic nightmare logic. Georgina Campbell is becoming a scream queen as of late, appearing in a number of horror or horror-adjacent films and she does stoic work here as a park ranger in the Pacific Northwest who is drawn to such a line of work due to her sister disappearing at her current job's location, where a steady stream of people have also vanished to the point of even podcasts apparently trying to uncover the Bermuda Triangle-esque conspiracy of the place. Campbell is aloof and says little, but this fits the trajectory of a person with Bruce Wayne determination to right a childhood wrong, yet her ultimate destination leaves much to be desired. The mysterious tone serves the story better in the first of the film's two halves where the expansive woodland location has an effortlessly chilling and intimidating quality that could harbor any number of supernatural things. Once we delve into them though, the momentum drags with an endless stream of shifting hallucinations that offer no satisfactory closure for our protagonist and instead just bring about a frustrating acceptance of the unknown.
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