Dir - Michael Mohan
Overall: MEH
The latest collaboration Immaculate between director Michael Mohan and actor Sydney Sweeney can be seen as a nunsploitation response to Roe v. Wade being overturned, but the schlock-heavy execution leaves something to be desired. In development hell for a decade, Sweeney got enough recent cred to get it greenlit under her own production company Fifty-Fifty Films. Shooting it in Rome with mostly local actors to the country gives it a level of Euro-trash authenticity that hearkens back to convent horror's heyday. Sweeney is great in the lead, succumbing to a form of, (as the title would suggest), immaculate conception that is more removed from god's divine providence than would be preferable, plus the movie does not skimp on its unflattering brutality and exploitation value, (though anyone expecting lustful nuns engaging in naked behavior will have to look elsewhere). The third act reveal is more silly than gasp-worthy and as Mohan's first foray into the genre, he plays it too conventionally to elevate what is not the most refreshing material in the first place. Inconsistent yet not without some unintentionally goofy charm, (and a nasty ending to boot), it gets a solid B for effort.
Dir - Rahul Sadasivan
Overall: MEH
A black and white, Malayalam folk horror epic from filmmaker Rahul Sadasivan, Bramayugam, (The Age of Madness), is richly photographed and suffocating with ominous atmosphere, but it also extends its dark fairy tale story to the point of over-indulgence. Notable for containing a command performance from the ridiculously prolific actor Mammootty, (whose career is over four-hundred films deep at this writing), it delves deep into Kerala folklore, trapping its two protagonists in a dilapidated mansion by a mysterious and terrifying Master who is likewise supernaturally bound to the place. Details are slowly dished out as to what is going on and by the movie's drawn-out climax, the mystery has been exhaustively covered. While immersive up until a point due to Shehnad Jalal's cinematography, the wet, muddy, and claustrophobic set design, Christo Xavier's persistently foreboding music, and the painstaking patience that Sadasivan exhibits in its pacing, frustration unfortunately sets in as we meander like the characters do in an endless stream of inescapable dread. The narrative falls apart under the presentation's sheer weight and overstays its welcome by at least thirty to forty minutes, but it still weaves a supernatural spell through its themes of power manipulation, fate, and the silence of any intervening god.
Dir - Jang Jae-hyun
Overall: GOOD
For his latest and most ambitious supernatural project Exhuma, writer/director Jang Jae-hyun delivers a folk horror tale that is epic in scope and treats its material with an impressive amount of detail and grit. Though the narrative is broken up into several chapters, it comes off as two films that are run right after each other. The first arc concludes at about an hour in and is already packed with plenty of ominous folklore and a heart-racing climax, making it necessary for the events of the second half to be that much more dark and explicit. While this may prove exhausting for some viewers since Jang never eases up on the grim tone that unveils more and more layers to shaman mysticism and ancient curses, the dire presentation gives this a sophisticated edge that disguises what could have been mere schlock-ridden occult shenanigans. The cast is excellent, particularly Choi Min-sik and Kim Go-eun as a Feng shui master and shaman respectfully, both of whom spend more time confused and paralyzed in their tracks than in displaying otherworldly wisdom and confidence. Some CGIed foxes notwithstanding, Jang's insistence on using practical effects, plus a last act reveal of an imposing presence, (to say the least), are both appreciated.
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