Dir - Mike Disa/Shūkō Murase/Yasuomi Umetsu/Victor Cook/Jong-Sik Nam/Kim Sang-jin/Lee Seung-Gyu
Overall: MEH
A boatload of directors and a boatload of production companies join forces on the full-length adult animated adaptation of the same year's Dante's Inferno game from Visceral Game and Electronic Arts. Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic therefor shares an identical plot with its playable counterpart, making this both a redundant watch for fans of the game yet something that should suffice for people who would rather skip out on said game. Though it only runs for just shy of ninety minutes, (and as the title would suggest), it is epic in scope where our Knights Templar title character returns from the Crusades only to venture into the nine circles of Hell with the poet Virgil at his side in a quest to rescue his beloved Beatrice from Satan's clutches. Each director takes on a different layer of the underworld where Dante confronts his past sins and slices up some demons and/or condemned souls in overblown gory detail. The animation style is consistent and impressive, plus the voice over work is appropriately grandiose, (Mark Hamill even collects a paycheck as Dante's gluttonous and abusive father), but the film still overstays its welcome. This is due to its bare bones narrative which allows for a repetitive structure that is mind-numbingly bombastic from frame one to frame last. The finale is oddly underwhelming, but at least it all looks great and may hit the spot for those who just want some loud, violent, and non-stop netherworld action.
Dir - Matthew Avant
Overall: MEH
An indie mockumentary project and debut from filmmaker Matthew Avant, Lunopolis weaves an absurd tale of UFOs, time travel, government conspiracies, cults, clandestine string-pulling organizations, and 2012 prophesies, all thrown into a blender and done within a format that hardly suits the material. As always, the use of consistent music and cinematic editing comes off as laughable at best since we are witnessing wild phenomenon caught on camera, but this is actually one of the movie's lesser problems. The main issue is the way in which Avant puts the footage together. Large portions go by where we are following the exploits of an aspiring team of researchers as they film everything, follow some coordinates, and uncover a mysterious contraption in a subterranean bunker, all while a talking head in a French accents interjects with some commentary. Eventually though, this format is abandoned and we get an extended sequence that comes off as your average Ancient Aliens episode or a pseudoscience equivalent thereof, bombarding the viewer with ridiculous conspiratorial information that is legit in such a scenario. A clumsy finish that reinforces the amateur level performances does not help matters, but despite the film's multitude of faux pases, there is a better movie lurking in here that could have been compelling instead of just awkward and goofy if it had a heftier budget and acceptable production values.
Dir - Michael Steiner
Overall: MEH
This live-action reinterpretation of the Swiss mountain legend of the same name is a rarity in the fact that Switzerland has never delivered much in the way of horror cinema, but the results are equal parts satisfying and disappointing. Sennentuntschi, (Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps), it technically told in flashback since it bookends with modern day segments, the main narrative set in the mid 1970s when a mysterious feral woman arrives in a small village and also appears to three Alpine herdsman who seem to drunkenly summon and abuse her. Timelines eventually converge, and director/co-writer Michael Steiner utilizes James Wan-style rapid cuts in the third act, just to catch up any viewers who are missing enough brain cells concerning the mind-blowing revelations being delivered. Sadly, these quasi-twists are more convoluted than gasp-worthy, plus the characters all range from unsympathetic, to underwritten, to inconsistent, to downright idiotic. Roxane Mesquida turns in an admirable performances as the mute title character who is both brutalized and frightening depending on the situation or how much her suffering has warped her. The presentation borders on schlock here or there, plus the ambitious structure renders the entire affair about twenty minutes too long, but at least it goes for something bold and heavy within its bloody folk horror playground.
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