Dir - Juan Fernando Andrés/Esteban Roel
Overall: MEH
The predictable, bloody, and bleak Shrew's Nest, (Musarañas in its native Spain), is the debut from the director duo of Juan Fernando Andrés and Esteban Roel, both having made three shorts beforehand. Agoraphobia, Catholic guilt, Stephen King's Misery, and severe, horrifically unwholesome family dysfunction go head to head in a single Madrid flat and things get more depressing than interesting as it all reaches its violent, inevitable conclusion. Because it is very conventionally structured as a psychological thriller, (with twists, nightmares, and hallucinations a plenty), there is not much of a unique payoff though you cannot say that it is not expertly performed. Macarena Gómez, (Dagon), is over the top in the emotionally distressing lead, but adequately so and the monstrously-eyebrowed Luis Tosar, (Sleep Tight), is yet another diabolical presence, doing what he does best. Andrés and Roel may be sticking to a tried and true formula here, but the tone stays in check with only maybe the final showdown riding the line of illogical horror movie silliness ever so much. It is certainly heavy in many areas, but understandably has an audience for those who enjoy competent, blood-soaked carnage.
Dir - Justin Benson/Aaron Moorhead
Overall: GREAT
A solid case can be made that often times the best horror films only just happen to be horror films in an off-hand manner. Meaning that they utilize certain genre aspects simply to enhance what is otherwise an already compelling and moving cinematic experience. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's second collaborative full-length Spring is a strong example of this. It is essentially Before Sunrise with...something extra. The way that the horror elements are presented are perfect, meaning they appear naturally and unexpected and the film never lingers or depends on them. When an explanation is finally given, the writer/director team pull off a downright amazing trick in that it almost seems illogical or even goofy. Yet by the movie's final, fantastic scene before the credits hit, all of the emotional impact truly sets in and the the plotty details barely seem to matter. This will depend on the viewer of course, but Spring ends up being a genuinely powerful film and its romanticism is easily justified. It is really just a plus that every shot looks beautiful, the performances are superb, and that it is so completely unique as a horror movie in general as there is not a single, solitary worn-out genre trope to be found. Yet again, it is much more than that.
Dir - Adam Brooks/Matthew Kennedy
Overall: MEH
Astron-6, (Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy), follow up their revolting and absurd Troma-romp Fathers Day with the far, far scaled-back and far better looking The Editor. Whereas their previous effort had all the amateur filmmaking trappings of a typical Troma production, they utilized their wildly larger budget here to make a throwback giallo, equipped with intentionally bad dubbing, zooms, a synth soundtrack, and a bright Argentoian color scheme. The references to the Italian horror sub-genre are playfully sprinkled everywhere, (there is a book called The Three Mothers that makes an appearance, as well as Udo Kier himself), but The Editor does go for a far more ambitious plot in an attempt to elevate it over being a mere pointless, nostalgic rehash. The problem there lies in just how ambitious the film tries to be as it collapses under it's weight. The story increasingly goes off the rails, but the insistence on tongue in cheek silliness actually ends up getting in the way of the pretentious and macabre story. Its potential to be an actual interesting and creepy supernatural giallo is undermined by its inability to take itself serious enough to stop being juvenile. Or if you come at it from the opposite angle, all the atmospheric and weird horror elements hamper it from being just a moronic, over the top parody. The Editor tries to have both and just comes up short, making the experience a little awkward and frustrating.
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