Dir - Eli Craig
Overall: MEH
The sophomore full-length Little Evil from filmmaker Eli Craig is an occasionally annoying/occasionally amusing nyuck nyuck take on Richard Donner's seminal The Omen, a horror movie that has been mined countless times in the forty-plus years since it came out. As is the case with many modern day comedies, the problems stem from the overt goofiness in the face of harrowing circumstances, namely how certain characters cannot stop being obnoxiously goofy dipshits no matter how many otherworldly and/or dangerous events are unfolding right in front of them. Such things are inherently tricky to navigate, but the end of days scenario done in an R-rated cutesy parody context never goes completely absurd, detouring into emotionally resonate moments that are endlessly undercut with things like Bridget Everett being Bridget Everett, Adam Scott being Adam Scott, and Evangeline Lilly being a cluelessly devout mother to a fault. At the same time, any of the movie's issues are there deliberately, so it is a matter of locking into Craig and his cast's shtick-above-plausibility trajectory. If one can do that, there are some chuckles to be had, plus the third act plot twist is a refreshing one that leads things to a picturesque ending which in and of itself is taking the piss out of how these Antichrist joints usually go.
Dir - Caroline Labrèche/Steeve Léonard
Overall: MEH
With a Twilight Zone-worthy premise stretched out to ninety minutes, the second collaborative effort Radius from the French-Canadian filmmaking duo of Caroline Labrèche and Steeve Léonard overstays its welcome due to a relentlessly dour tone and an off-putting structure that bounces between flashbacks and the concurrent timeline. Things are downtrodden from the beginning and only get worse when Diego Klattenhoff finds himself wandering around a rural landscape with a severe memory gap after an accident, people and animals dropping dead whenever he gets close to them. It is an intriguing premise that only deepens once the also amnesiac Charlotte Sullivan steps into the mix, her physical presence being the only thing that can stop the bodies from piling up so long as they stay within a fifty foot radius of each other, hence the title. Tidbits of insight are gathered during the aforementioned and frequent flashback scenes that Sullivan and Klattenhoff suffer through, hitting both them and the audience abruptly. These moments are likely deliberate in how distracting they are, and it takes until nearly the end of course before enough pieces are put together for everyone to realize just how harrowing these character's situation actually is. A diluted color palette and unwavering lack of humor further exemplify the bleak trajectory, but the end result is more meandering and miserable than thought-provoking.
Dir - Frank Merle
Overall: GOOD
While it gets a lot right and has a feminist revenge nucleus that will delight many, #FromJennifer suffers from some plausibility malfunctions and an underwritten protagonist. Writer/director Frank Merle exemplifies the double standard surrounding the overall free reign that men have compared to women, particularly where revenge porn is concerned which taps into the age old cultural stereotypes where dudes are high-fived for doing whatever they want to the ladies while the former are ostracized and humiliated. Enter Danielle Taddei's title character who has been called "Jenny" and hit brick walls in her industry far too many times even before her ex boyfriend uploads a sex tape of her, prompting a hilariously elaborate scheme that requires the hiring of the towering character actor Derek Mears who turns in the film's finest performances as an awkward, clumsy, and dim-witted accomplice with a heart of gold. Things are designed so that every viewer will be on the side of Taddei and her master plan since Merle paints every other male on screen besides Mears as a douchebag stereotype. He even manages to make Taddei's perky and intentionally artificial influencer friend Meghan Deanna Smith seem like a hapless pawn, proving no doubt that the agenda here is to single out the guys as the problem, at least when they adhere to the unfair set of principals that reward their recklessly chauvinistic actions. At the same time though, Merle's script shows a flippant attitude towards murder that is not tonally in line the rest of the humor. The movie is ridiculous, but the edited found footage journal framework makes it seem like it should be taken more seriously, causing everyone on screen to not come off as real people. This dilutes the subject matter to a point, but the agenda is so commendable and the tongue so firmly enough in cheek that its imperfect nature is forgivable.
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