Dir - Michael Sarnoski
Overall: MEH
Many a franchise can spring forth from a terrible initial film and this is more the case in horror than with any other genre. A Quiet Place: Day One is the latest in John Krasinski's series of movies that that pit the last remnants of society against an extraterrestrial race that sometimes come attacking at the slightest whisper and other times ignore much louder noises, depending on what the screenplay needs to happen. In most respects, this prequel is a "same shtick, different movie" scenario, with more flimsy logic, nail-biting set pieces, and nuanced character-building moments sharing screen time with each other. So in other words, it is bound to both please and frustrate those who either hated or loved Krasinski's original since three movies deep now, it strictly banks on familiarity. The immediate trauma bond that our two main characters Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn undergo has enough heart-string-pulling glue to keep things together, which is helped by both actor's fine performances. As before though, it is the egregiously stupid details that break things down, plus a lazy structure that offers nothing new to ponder. It does everything that it is supposed to do and professionally at that, but what it is supposed to do is pointless at best.
Dir - Robert Eggers
Overall: MEH
It was inevitable that writer/director Robert Eggers would some day stumble in his otherwise consistently stellar oeuvre, and the long-awaited Nosferatu is his first frustrating exercise that misses the mark. Originally announced as the follow-up to The Witch, (a movie so good that even if he only managed to churn out embarrassments afterward, such blunders would be forever forgiven), it instead arrives as his first unmitigated return to supernatural horror after two other films that were strikingly and effectively different than his auspicious debut. One could never accuse Eggers and his well-suited crew of phoning it in, as the movie is suffocating with deliberate style and respectful adherence to a century's worth of vampire yarns, aside from the two other stellar Nosferatu interpretations that have come before, (F.W. Murnau's silent original and Werner Herzog's arthouse version from 1979, respectfully). The problem is that Eggers' evokes more of a Bram Stoker's Dracula via Tim Burton vibe here, which is a polite way to say "unintentional schlock". The sound design is atrocious, with ear-splitting volume swells arriving in insulting number and often times within seconds of each other, an equally bombastic musical score, and Egger's usual penchant for grandiose dialog is hit and miss in its tone-maintaining effectiveness. Many moments simply come off as silly, (the aforementioned jump scare-adjacent tactics, bouts of absurd character behavior that spring up out of nowhere without proper context, scenery-chewing from nearly every actor, Bill Skarsgård's mustache, etc), and it is a shame that a project which was redundant by its very design, (as well as done by a filmmaker who has steadily proven himself to be a master of his craft), comes off as more of a mess than a justifiable and visionary re-imagining.
Dir - Steven Soderbergh
Overall: MEH
For his first horror work since 2008's Unsane which was shot entirely on cell phones, director Steven Soderbergh utilizes a different gimmick, this time filming an entire movie from a first-person perspective. It is a nifty angle to take when tackling something in the supernatural vein, and in this respects, Presence bares similarities to David Lowery's awful A Ghost Story except thankfully not awful. The set up is one that has been done a billion times where a family moves into a new house that is too good to be true, only to come in contact with an otherworldly "presence". Poltergeist activity takes place, one of the two teenage kids proves more sensitive to the ghostly goings-ons, a kind-of psychic lady makes a visit, and it has a gasp-worthy reveal that is far-fetched in those types of reveals that movie scripts love to have. Screenwriter David Koepp is no stranger to churning out popcorn fare and has himself gotten behind the lens on a few supernatural thrillers, (most of which are not any good), so if there is one complaint that can be leveled at the end result here, it is in the script department. That said, the small cast make the material seem better than it is, especially when it comes to moments that shine a subtle to blatant light on the family's growing dysfunction. As far as frightening elements are concerned, there are zero present, but the viewpoint shift is the main attraction for anyone looking for a differentiating angle on a haunted house movie.
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