Dir - Takashi Shimizu
Overall: MEH
A follow-up and quasi-companion piece to his 2009 film The Shock Labyrinth in that footage from said film is featured in it, Tormented, (Rabitto horā 3D), is bog-standard psychological J-horror that falls flat due to an undercooked script and low-end production values. One of the few unique angles is that it features a mute protagonist, (Hikari Mitsushima), who after ten years of seemingly having overcome a trauma, faces it again with her younger brother and some ghost like presence in a giant bunny costume. There is more to it than that of course, but nothing that is all that interesting unfortunately. As is the case with most horror stories that revolve around intense hallucinations and plot twists, they are exaggerated to comical extents and even though there is an inherent humorous element to several of the sequences as well as the bare bones concept, it comes off foolish as well as not even remotely scary. Visually, the CGI effects are incredibly poor and add even more unintentional chuckles to the proceedings, plus Shimizu does not offer up enough inventive moments or maintain a swift enough pace to keep everything from dragging. It is not a poor offering, just not a memorable one once the over-sized rabbit costume gag runs its course.
Dir - Michael Goi
Overall: WOOF
An understandably controversial found footage nightmare, Megan Is Missing is a purposely traumatizing experience that probably has its heart in the right place in spite of or because of its unwatchability. Filmmaker Michael Goi self-financed the project in an effort to shine an unflinching light on internet predator child abduction as well as the sexualization of minors, societal peer pressure, and neglected, domestic sexual abuse. While these objectives are likely genuine, Goi's decision to make the final twenty-five minutes a continuous depiction of horrendously disturbing rape, torture, and murder renders it unwatchable to a cautionary extent. Without this final tag that goes above and beyond most sensationalized torture porn, the movie was already making its intended point by exploring the series of events leading up to the harrowing conclusion via in camera confessionals and cell phone footage, (even if the performances are rough and the characterizations are sterotypically obnoxious). Though instead of letting the viewer merely ponder the horrific fates of the two leads while contemplating the first hour of character development, Goi forces us to endure something that inadvertently seems exploitative and sickening. It is a bold move of course and to the director's credit, he has offered up warnings to viewers and allegedly insisted on the actor's parents all being present on set to insure some semblance of emotional security, but this is a movie that is more important just to know about than to ever watch under any mentally healthy circumstances.
Dir - Matthew Parkhill
Overall: MEH
On paper, Matthew Parkhill's The Caller has a fetching, Twilight Zone-worthy premise that remains gripping even if it logically unravels at regular intervals. Filmed in Puerto Rico though set in the US and exclusively featuring an English-speaking cast, the title would suggest a cliched slasher outcome, but this is cleverly subverted as Rachelle Lefevre instead moves into her low-rent apartment in order to get away from her abusive, soon-to-be-ex husband, only to mysteriously and immediately start getting calls from a troubled forty-one year old woman with marital problems of her own. Without spoiling it, the twist in this case is otherwordly and wisely never explained as the focus is instead on a number of traumatic, time-altering scenarios that ruin Lefevre's already nightmarishly stressful ordeal that much further. Unfortunately, most if not all of her troubles could be jettisoned by actions that the script never allows her to take. Excuses are given here or there, but they become more flimsy as things escalate since there are numerous opportunities to notify the police, change cell phone providers, remove a land-line, or just plain old move away that could have stopped such escalation with Lefevre's tormentors. Aside from these dramatic liberties being taken for the sake of suspense-mounting intensity, it is an adequate, well-paced, and well-acted thriller.
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