Dir - Abdelhamid Bouchnak
Overall: GOOD
A rare horror film out of Tunisia, Dachra serves as the feature-length debut from writer/director Abdelhamid Bouchnak and it is an effective, (and relentlessly), unsettling one at that. Many of the narrative motifs here have been bedrocks in the genre for some time; the secret, psychotic lady in a lunatic asylum who refuses to speak, the eager/doomed college students playing detective, the priest, (or in this case imam), to the rescue, an extremely creepy kid, psych-out nightmare/hallucinations, figures in black robes standing around at night, an isolated community where everyone is weird, getting stranded with no cell phone service after a series of "friendly" people lead characters to spend the night in a less than ideal location, etc. On paper, these might be enough egregious cliches to sink the ship, but Bouchnak's commitment to an incredibly dreadful and sombre tone goes a long way, plus the lead, emotionally demanding performance by Yasmine Dimassi is excellent. She and her cohorts endless bickering does get a bit annoying after awhile, but it simultaneously comes off as natural, providing the movie with its only source of humor, be it minimally. The film also pulls of the nifty trick of going a foreseeable route as far as things escalating from concerning to extremely bad, yet still with a few surprises regarding the plot specifics that leave things off in an uncompromisingly frightening place.
Dir - Erik Kristopher Myers
Overall: MEH
An ambitious, meta take on the found footage sub-genre, Eric Kristopher Myers' first horror film Butterfly Kisses takes a noble attempt at cracking the code, yet it ultimately stumbles down the stairs in the process. The concept is simple and convoluted at the same time; an unknown would-be-hot-shot independent filmmaker "discovers" a box of footage in his in-laws basement, footage that just so happens to be from another aspiring filmmaker from a decade and a half earlier. Yet another filmmaking crew then begins to film him assembling and trying to get verifiable cred for his discovery, turning the whole thing into an essay on how far someone is willing to go to receive legitimacy amongst their peers. The problem is in the melding of spooky, faux-urban legend concepts ala The Blair Witch Project, (plus countless others), with the struggling frustration of a rather unlikable protagonist who is persistently thwarted in his attempts to try and get both paranormal experts, other mockumentarians, and the general public to take his work seriously. Myer's supernatural fable may not be the most unique out there, but it is far more interesting for the average horror enthusiast than all of the behind the scenes/on screen drama that gradually overtakes the proceedings. In its documentary within a documentary within a documentary format, (where the scary bits are ideally placed for maximum popcorn munching value), it just comes off as being silly.
Dir - Federico D'Alessandro
Overall: MEH
Art director Federico D'Alessandro's full-length debut that sits him properly behind the lens is the mildly entertaining though ultimately hokey A.I. thriller Tau. The film's problems pretty much all come down to the script by Noga Landau which gets a jogging start with some bog-standard ideas in the first place and then messily runs through a number of convenient, poorly established plot points to get to the finish line. Certain rules are established concerning the Gary Oldman-voiced, sentient title-computer, but such rules are routinely broken in an attempt to humanize him and bring forth a connection between he/it and Maika Monroe's down on her luck thief who is held captive by Ed Skrein's heavily underwritten, one-note villain. The interaction between Monroe and Oldman is at times touching and provides the movie with its humane core, but the loosey-goosey chain of events that brings them together breaks verisimilitude and will have audience members chuckling while having a difficult time buying into everything. Not surprisingly coming from D'Alessandro and his major budgeted, CGI-heavy resume, the movie is visually pristine and creates a solid, near-futuristic, high-tech atmosphere. Still, there is very little if anything unique being brought to the table here and though it steers shy of being insultingly derivative, it only ends up being a pretty yet forgettable/mildly suspense-laden techno-yarn.
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