Dir - Jane Schoenbrun
Overall: GREAT
As their follow up to the exemplary low-key We're All Going to the World's Fair, writer/director Jane Schoenbrun tackles many complicated facets of the transgender experience with a more explicit pallet to play with. For those unfamiliar with the fact that Schoenbrun their-self is non-binary, I Saw the TV Glow may read more readily as a frightening metaphor for aging out of what gets us through our youth, in this case a fictitious television show that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer in all but name, (slammed home by the fact that Amber Benson herself makes a cameo). Any teenagers or adults with high anxiety or any other spectrum afflictions who lament the fact that life keeps cruising by to a bleak outcome can relate to what Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine are going through here, which is a testament to Schoenbrun's broad ambition that this is not exclusively akin to those who struggle with gender or sexual identity. Make no mistake though, those theme are at the forefront of a vividly photographed and designed, (as well as beautifully acted), work that is one of the most poignant genre films about what we feel our life should be compared to what we settle on making it.
Dir - Matt Bettinelli-Olpin/Tyler Gillett
Overall: MEH
The latest from the Radio Silence filmmaking duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett is a mostly fun, R-rated horror romp, but it lays on the bombastic schlock to ruining levels in its unsatisfactory ending. Somewhere along the line, (possibly always?), vampires are required to chew the scenery as much as they do their victims and up until a point, Abigail works its comedic shtick appropriately with all of the blood-suckers gaining superhuman quipping and smirking abilities. While the characters and all of the plot points list more like a series of cliches than anything inventive, the cast knows the assignment and it is hard not to fall for Alisha Weir in particular as the ballerina-dancing undead of the title who proves to be a badass amongst a wise-cracking gang of criminals that are trapped in a mansion with her. There are no loose ends in the script department as it plays out to popcorn-munching payoffs and setups the whole way through, but as is often the case with contemporary genre hybrids, the character's emotional hooks are handled too seriously and prove to be arguably unnecessary when the whole thing could have benefited from an exclusively goofy tone. That said, the finale does go big and dumb, but even with its imperfections in tow, there are still several laugh-out-loud moments to get a kick out of.
Dir - Thea Hvistendahl
Overall: MEH
Relentlessly still and ultimately just as unwavering in its misery, Handling the Undead is the latest cinematic adaptation of one of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novels. Sadly, it is weaker than both Let the Right One In and Border since its perpetual tone offers up nothing more than ninety-odd minutes of people quietly suffering the emotional trauma of first having their loved ones die and then getting false hope that they are miraculously spared that loss. Still, the film and the story are not entirely wasted on barely-written characters that we never get to know or a lingering feeling of pointless dread. The first act is expertly handled by director Thea Hvistendahl, this being her full-length debut and continuing the trajectory of Lindqvist working with a different filmmaker on each of his projects. Since we do not know where things are headed, the lack of dialog and bouncing between three different and seemingly mundane narratives that may or may not be happening simultaneously gives it a fascinating sense of unease. Sort of like what Chantal Akerman's take on a genre film would be. Unfortunately once we arrive at what type of horror category this falls into, the movie stops dead, (pun intended), in its tracks and then it is only a matter of time before it arrives at its predictably dismal conclusion. It works to a point as a mood piece, but it is too undercooked to deliver on its potential.
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