2019 Horror Part Seven

VIVARIUM

Dir - Lorcan Finnegan

Overall: GOOD

A highly effective if not all together unambiguous delving into the seldom tapped realm of soccer mom horror, Vivarium paints a puzzling and disturbed picture of domesticated suburbia.  An international production directed by Lorcan Finnegan and authored by screenwriter Garrett Shanley, (both Irish and both of whom also worked together on their collective debut Without Name), it explores themes of parenthood and complacency and skews things to Twilight Zone level extremes.  In the process, people's humanity is brought to the brink of collapse by such surface level idealness becoming an increasingly, unavoidable nightmare.  Besides three enormously creepy performances from actors both literally and probably playing the same character, Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg are essentially left to carry the entire film and their descent into despair is effectively harrowing.  Visually, the movie makes its picturesque and sterile setting full of identical, perfectly maintained homes and a never changing, sunny skyline quite unwholesome.  Rather appropriately then, the ending is tightly wrapped up only on a surface level as the deep, dark secrets lie underneath it all and are as impenetrable as when the film began.

Z

Dir - Brandon Christensen

Overall: MEH

 

Generally, the imaginary friend horror trope is one of many utilized in haunted house stories again and again, so singling it out as the basis for an entire premise does not set things up in a very unique fashion.  Sadly, it does not get any more singular from there in director Brandon Christensen's Z.  Everything from spontaneous and ill-advised baths, to a kid behaving like a brat and the father finding nothing wrong with it, to no one believing the hysterical woman, to supernatural forces arbitrarily fucking around and wasting time, it all provides the film with the most lazy methods to create a would-be creepy mood and bring things from point A to point B.  While it is surprisingly low on jump scares, it makes up for it by punctuating nearly every single scene with loud ambient swells to the point of annoyance.  In any event, the movie is far too formulaic in both cinematic presentation and from a narrative standpoint to spark much interest outside of providing just a small handful of boilerplate, predictable jolts.

GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR

Dir - Travis Stevens

Overall: GOOD

The full-length debut from filmmaker Travis Stevens, Girl on the Third Floor initially sets itself up as a typical "family from the city moves into a creepy old house" movie, yet it consistently ventures into unexpected terrain.  Mostly well scripted and featuring an often funny, toxic masculinity-parodying lead performance from CM Punk, it technically takes a slow boil approach while avoiding all of the commonplace, supernatural pratfalls that such films often abuse.  Though it ends up taking a full hour until things start to go especially cuckoo, once it does, the results are a fun combination of gross-out spectacle, WTF aesthetics, and disturbing creepiness.  With so much on its plate, things easily could have become messy or poorly focused.  Stevens controls it all rather effectively though, due to the increasingly surreal nature that lends itself well to when things get laugh-out-loud absurd.  The ending is a bit rushed and awkward though again, it is not particularly disappointing due to the strange nature of the entire presentation.  Imperfect perhaps, but easily refreshing and odd enough to single out.

2019 Horror Part Six

THE LODGE

Dir - Veronika Franz/Severin Fiala

Overall: MEH

The latest from Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, (Goodnight Mommy), The Lodge was original scripted by Sergio Casci, then reworked by the Austrian director duo after Hammer Films got them on board.  For a considerable while, the movie works wonderfully as an unnerving psychological nightmare that patiently builds its ominous tone.  Though it uses some familiar narrative tropes like an isolated location in the middle of winter, a mentally unstable, medicated protagonist who is quick to disturbed, walking dreams, and an ideal situation for a haunting to be taking place, these conventions are weaved compellingly.  A bold move is taken though in how the mysterious plot points are ultimately explained.  By slowly cranking up the tension and letting the character's religious struggles overtake them, an attempt was made to make the final rug pull gloss over the now apparent plot holes and "Oh, that's all that was going on?" disappointment of such a reveal.  What follows though is just staggeringly depressing and clashes in a more uncomfortable way than what was being previously established.  While it fumbles the ball when it counts, the lead performance by Elvis Presley's granddaughter Riley Keough is excellent and forgiving viewers can certainly get enough out of what is expertly done before the final act.

DOGS DON'T WEAR PANTS

Dir - J-P Valkeapää

Overall: GOOD

 

For J-P Valkeapää's dark, quasi-thriller/comedy Dogs Don't Wear Pants, (Koirat eivät käytä housuja), that often strange and primarily unspoken bond between dominatrix and pet is fascinatingly explored.  The film has obvious elements of eroticism, but also moments that dip into torture porn for those squeamish about more things than whips, leather, erotic asphyxiation, and water sports.  Akin to Bernardo Bertolucci's masterpiece Last Tango in Paris though, its primarily a deeply harrowing drama about extreme grief manifesting itself through sexual taboos.  Some of the film is played for laughs, but these moments wisely come from not just the audience finding amusement at the on-paper absurdity of certain moments, but the characters as well that seem to be comprehending in real time how such seemingly unhealthy kinks have zombiefied their very lives.  Valkeapää does not let the viewer off easy by thinly riding some intentionally awkward, comedic beats as they are all accompanied by a rather desperate despair that causes some quite disturbing events to snowball.  If the movie ended on more of a downer, than it would likely be too much to bare.  Instead, the characters seem to find a sort of happiness or at least fittingly odd acceptance of where their journey has brought them.

THE CLEANSING HOUR

Dir - Damien LeVeck

Overall: WOOF

Ill-fated with a hokey premise and an almost criminally schlocky presentation, Damien LaVeck's The Cleansing Hour is a full-length adaptation of his earlier short of the same name.  LeVeck is clearly going for such a trashy, loud, messy, bloody, B-movie vibe, but the hack-level comedy jives in a most embarrassing fashion with the more modern day, disturbing qualities that it simultaneously launches into.  It is a common tonal issue problem of not being silly or serious enough in either direction, instead just lingering awkwardly and stupidly in the middle.  While it is impossible to take the movie seriously then, one has to have a craving for not just gross-out gore, amateurish CGI, and demonic possession stereotypes left and right, but also bro-centric posturing and the concept of an evil spirit that spouts incessant, groan-worthy cliches in a distorted voice.  All of this is meant to be bad-ass and amusing, but instead it is neither of those two things.  Not by a long shot.

2019 Horror Part Five

THE PLATFORM
Dir - Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Overall: GOOD

A bold, quasi-horror/science fiction film and the full-length debut from Spanish director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, The Platform, (El hoyo), takes a savage, uncompromising look at socialism and the distribution of wealth.  Based off of a script for a theater production by screenwriters David Desola and Pedro Rivero, the premise becomes unsettling rather quickly and Gaztelu-Urrutia does not make things easy on the viewer at virtually any point, lest of all as the story progresses.  Things never become gratuitous though; instead there is a definite purpose to the brutality.  While numerous movies feature a prison with a disturbing gimmick to overcome, The Platform does not make such a gimmick its primary focus.  Instead, it is the social and economic themes that take center stage.  Featuring unflinching violence and torture porn aesthetics, few punches if any are pulled and those who are squeamish may find it an unpleasant experience that is not worth the complicated questions it raises.  For those that can stomach the highly uncomfortable proceedings though, it is an impressive work.

SWALLOW

Dir - Carlo Mirabella-Davis

Overall: GOOD

Taking the wildly overlooked premise of pica, (a disorder where individuals are compelled to consume inedible objects), Carlo Mirabella-Davis' Swallow is off to a unique start.  While its classification as a horror film is murky at best, it works far better as a psychological study of not just the rather bizarre mental condition, but more importantly such topics as narcissism and emotional belittlement.  In the lead role as a woman who came from trauma only to be "lucky" enough to end up as the complacent housewife to a wealthy, handsome future CEO of his even more well-to-do father's company, Haley Bennett is consistently sympathetic even as her behavior spirals recklessly.  At times, Mirabella-Davis' script seems to portray its less agreeable characters too broadly, but then moments will arise that humanize them just enough to make them less one-dimensional by not outright condoling their actions.  This all grounds the movie considerably, showing the human flaws of everyone involved.  The open-ended finish may not necessarily bring proper narrative closure, but it is uplifting all the same and lets the audience ponder things themselves.

I TRAPPED THE DEVIL

Dir - Josh Lobo

Overall: MEH

 

The debut from independent filmmaker Josh Lobo, I Trapped the Devil is fiendishly atmospheric yet bogged down by amateurish plotting and performances.  The premise leads itself to some sinister, psychological manipulation for its characters, but the script does not take quite enough advantage of this aspect.  Lobo is instead primarily concerned with curating a very tense, eerie mood, though he does so at the expense of believable storytelling.  Minor, unnecessary plot holes spring up and everything is left so cryptic that the whole thing garnishes a half-baked kind of feel.  At times the three leads in A.J. Bowen, Scott Poythress, and Susan Burke seem properly weighed-down by the suffocating ambience, but at other times their line readings are a bit stiff.  Loblo ultimately leaves too many things ill-defined and wide open though not in a successfully pondering way.  What the film achieves in maintaining a slow-boil, heightened type of dread is indeed admirable, but everything else about it does not quite come together satisfyingly.

2019 Horror Part Four

DANIEL ISN'T REAL

Dir - Adam Egypt Mortimer

Overall: GOOD

The sophomore effort from writer/director Adam Egypt Mortimer, Daniel Isn't Real is an adaptation of Brian DeeLeeuw's novel In This Way I Was Saved, (DeeLeeuw co-writing the screenplay here as well).  Staring two sons of famous actors in Miles Robbins and Patrick Schwarzenegger, it plays with an interesting premise of mental illness manifesting itself both literally and disturbingly.  Mortimer lets loose with some freaky, body horror visuals, preferring to tease many of them almost subliminally in a tripped-out fashion as the story becomes more and more unraveled.  Though the film plays heavily on its psychological elements, things do become more directly supernatural after awhile.  Thankfully, Mortimer peels back these layers in a stylish and controlled manner as not to make things fall apart too much as they easily could have.  While it does not follow its own narrative rules 100% consistently and both Robbins and Schwarzenegger may be a bit too dashing and pretty to be as relatable as would be preferred, it is a solid work that does more than enough cleverly to recommend.

COLOR OUT OF SPACE
Dir - Richard Stanley
Overall: GOOD

It ended up taking Richard Stanley twenty-three years since the legendary debacle that was 1996's The Island of Dr. Moreau, (for which he developed and was then fired from a mere three days into shooting), to get another full-length project off the ground.  With such an outrageous gap, the resulting H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Color Out of Space may as well be a debut and a vividly demented one at that.  Using such source material, it pulls off a nifty trick by having increasingly ridiculous performances and dialog fit the steadfast Lovecraftian theme of madness.  The more things unravel and the more comical they become, the more the author's work faithfully comes to life.  In a role tailor-made for him, Nicolas Cage once again goes full Nicolas Cage, indulging in numerous scenes where he screams, becomes violent, screams some more, changes his accent, and then follows it up with more screaming.  Elsewhere, Stanley lays on the cliches too thick at times, with a couple jump scares, a creepy kid talking to invisible things, (seven year old Julian Hilliard who has to date appeared exclusively in horror movies playing creepy kids), and predictable shots that are all meant to be scary yet have been tediously overused to the point of no longer connecting.  Still, it is a mostly satisfactory work and always nice to see a filmmaker returning after so very long with a fully-formed vision in tow.

VEROTIKA
Dir - Glen Danzig
Overall: WOOF

Only every so often does a cinematic trainwreck gem come along that truly deserves a standing ovation.  Verotika, (the directorial debut from Glen Danzig), is just such a gem.  Awkwardly void of self-awareness with every last frame, Danzig employs a lack of talent behind the lens akin to such contemporary non-filmmakers such as Tommy Wiseau or Neil Breen.  It is a baffilingly hilarious experience more than could even be expected.  Of course when you are talking movie-making incompetence, it is not just bad acting on a criminal level, cheap sets, clueless cinematography, asinine dialog, and incoherent or even non-existent screenwriting, all of which this has in incalculable spades.  It is also just the complete inability to pace any of the scenes in a remotely engaging manner.  The three vignettes that make up this anthology "film" rely on a short, sentence long premise and continue to go virtually nowhere in every single instance as they are played out on screen.  Often times the dialog is as embarrassing as the "actors" delivering it, which is hard to imagine upon viewing.  By an overwhelming majority though, Danzig just refuses to yell "cut" and these poor people on screen are simply left to their own devices.  This makes every single moment that the camera keeps staying on them more and more uncomfortably ridiculous.  Whatever he was trying to accomplish, it is impossible to comprehend how he was not making an intentional comedy.  You really have to see it to believe it and even then, you still will not believe it.

2018 Horror Part Six

WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE

Dir - Colin Minihan

Overall: MEH

This solo venture from writer/director Colin Minihan of the Vicious Brothers fame, (Grave Encounters), takes a slow boil approach that unfortunately leads into borderline insulting rubbish.  What Keeps You Alive makes some interesting moves, focusing on a same sex couple for one thing and pulling off one thoroughly exciting rug-pull early on.  Outside of that though, it stretches plausibility to a breaking point and quickly becomes an exercise in illogical storytelling and the type of slasher movie tropes that have long aggravated viewers.  In fact it manages to push such moronic cliches even further, spending its last two acts letting both victim and pursuer get away with schlock-level nonsense.  That said, Minihan handles everything in a fairly respectable way.  The movie is artful in many instances and the lead performance from Brittany Allen, (who also composed the effective musical score), is quite strong.  It is a shame that the film could not continue in the more singular direction that the first act may have hinted at, but its few redeemable qualities are worthy of some recognition at least.

CLIMAX

Dir - Gaspar Noé

Overall: MEH

 

The latest from contentious, Argentinian filmmaker Gaspar Noé is on the one had both simple and wildly ambitious.  Climax is an exercise in style over substance to be sure and features the type of confrontational, brazen approach the director is routinely known for.  Featuring an ensemble cast made up almost entirely of dancers with no previous acting experience, no script or written dialog, the ending credits at the very beginning, the opening credits midway though, some of the on screen text backwards, some of the cinematography upside down, and one continuous take lasting over forty-two minutes which makes up nearly half the total running time, it is about as conventional as a Naked City live performance.  One can scarcely deny the technical skill on display and the dance sequences and overall visual spectacle of it leads one to at least champion Noé's bold creative moves on a surface level.  As far as actually being able to enjoy watching the movie though, that is a different story.  While certainly fascinating, it is unavoidably tedious far before the extended descent into chaos takes center stage.  At that point there is literally no break from the improvised insanity on screen so sticking it out is an exhausting experience.

 

POSSUM

Dir - Matthew Holness

Overall: MEH

The full-length debut Possum from English comedian/writer/actor Matthew Holness seems to have been made with respectable intentions, but is almost obnoxiously unwatchable.  Based off of his short story of the same name which appeared in the 2009 anthology book The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease, Holness draws direct inspiration from silent, German Expressionism, Dead of Night, George A. Romero's Martin, and old British public information films.  The simple premise is ideal enough to warrant an unnerving end result, the lead performance from Sean Harris is rather committed, (though his mumbled dialog is literally unintelligible throughout), and the cold, grimy look is appropriately atmospheric.  Two very persistent issues undermine the entire thing though.  One, the sound design is eerie and un-melodic yet annoying punctuated by deafeningly loud bangs and shrieks literally EVERY SINGLE TIME the very creepy title monster appears on screen.  It is highly disturbing enough to look at in its own right and the fact that we are never allowed to experience it without such gross overuse of jump scare tactics is unforgivable.  Secondly and even more problematic is that the pacing is comatose-inducing.  Very little happens and with so many ear-piercing noises increasingly screaming at you, good luck even getting a nap in while you are waiting for the whole ordeal to be mercifully over with.

2018 Horror Part Five

CAM

Dir - Daniel Goldhaber

Overall: GOOD

 

Despite one or two semi-annoying plot conveniences present in order to propel things along, Cam, (the debut from director Daniel Goldhaber and screenwriter Isa Mazzei), is an effectively creepy tech horror outing.  Apparently, Mazzei originally intended to make a documentary about the camgirl industry, (herself having previously been one), yet as there has already been an influx of those in recent years, her and collaborator Goldhaber wisely chose to craft a horror movie around such a premise instead.  The script does not quite convincingly sell us on the fact that no one will help the odd yet easily provable predicament that Madeline Brewer's protagonist faces, but this does lead to concerning questions revolving around the sex industry in general.  When not taken seriously, women in it can be easily preyed upon and left hanging without a safety net and parallel to this, one's identity can be lost amongst such a competitive, toxic environment.  Mazzei maintains a strong, feminist angle and the movie does not exclusively denounce the camgirl lifestyle.  Instead, it is part cautionary tale, part social commentary, and part good ole spooky and disturbing horror movie, all done rather inventively.

 

HIGH LIFE

Dir - Claire Denis

Overall: MEH

The latest from French writer/director Claire Denis, High Life is the type of tranquil science fiction that unmistakably hearkens back to Andrei Tarkovsky's landmark Solaris.  Rather exclusively concerned with weighty, human-centered themes in place of compelling storytelling, Denis indulges in a profound level of patience that will easily perplex most viewers.  The film is not dialog heavy to begin with and when most of it is spoken in a barely intelligible mumble, this coupled with the ethereally vague, non-linear plotting makes for a challenging ordeal.  Denis is too good of a filmmaker to let such a lackadaisical approach to her material be for naught though.  Concerning the characters' hopeless isolation and crumbling turmoil under such a strain, the fact that the movie assuredly feels its one-hundred and ten minute running time is entirely intentional.  It is beautifully photographed by Yorick Le Saux and the design work by Danish/Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson is appropriately lived-in and unassuming.  The film ultimately does not have enough unique ideas to justify how demanding it is to experience, but it is a commendable work that may reward those with the diligence to try and unearth what its layers may be hiding.

OUR HOUSE

Dir - Anthony Scott Burns

Overall: MEH

 

While it seems positively ridiculous that we have arrived in an era in horror banality that film's are getting remade in their native country a mere eight years later, the Ghost in the Machine redo Our House is not altogether regrettable.  Ignoring the fact that its mere existence is rather unnecessary at best, there are the standard issues with modern horror in a staggering amount of loud jump scares, predictable supernatural set pieces, and a severe lack of anything remotely frightening taking place.  Some of this may come down to the user-friendly, PG13 rating which is conventionally streamlined to follow most of the rules.  That said though, director Anthony Scott Burns and British screenwriter Nathan Parker offer up a few somewhat surprising upsides.  For one, the characters actually let each other in on the ghostly activity they witness almost immediately, making for a consistent stream of logical behavior from them.  Though it takes quite a long time for anything spooky to start happening, this benefits the story as it provides ample opportunity to make everyone likable which they thankfully remain throughout.  It stays too cookie-cutter to make it anything close to memorable, but there are far worse offenders being regularly churned out so it is also not nearly as big of a waste as it easily could have been.

2018 Horror Part Four

SUSPIRIA
Dir - Luca Guadagnino
Overall: GREAT

Luca Guadagnino's well-intentioned Suspiria remake can be seen as a poster boy for the "Why have it be a remake in the first place?" conundrum.  The film is so wildly different from its predecessor in so many capacities that it is a shame that it cannot be its own thing.  Instead, all the ambition, interesting themes, remarkable performances, elaborate cinematography, beautiful Thom Yorke score, and grandiose style need inescapably be compared to Dario Argento's supernatural giallo benchmark.  Guadagnino and his screenwriter/collaborator David Kajganich are at once concerned with paying homage to the film that they are reworking, but there is also simultaneously a definite determination to make it as unique and singular from it as possible.  Changing the character names and removing a couple clear nods to the 1977 version would essentially be all it would take and voila, THIS Suspiria could instead be a mere tribute in spirit instead of something permanently linked to that version.  What Guadagnino and everyone on board here has crafted is a highly challenging art film that should belong in its own universe and be judged solely by its achievement as a movie; not as something that is co-existing with one of the most lauded and individually outstanding works in the horror genre.  Unfortunately "flawed" from the get-go then, it is a frustrating accomplishment that flies close but can never achieve the legendary status it otherwise might.

ANTRUM

Dir - David Amito/Michael Laicini
Overall: GOOD

Points at least must be given to David Amito and Michael Laicini's Antrum, (Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made), for its uniqueness if anything else.  While it is assuredly a mess, the presentation is so unorthodox that it remains fascinating in spite of or because of its bizarre construction.  Beginning as a mockumentary about a 1979 cursed movie that until recently was presumed lost, it quickly shifts gears and simply shows a possibly tampered-with print of said movie in its entirety.  While the film within a film is puzzling enough and seems to embellish multiple sub-genres, it also has an extended post credit scene and then more faux-documentary footage interrupting the real ending credits.  The sound design is rather fantastic as is the equally ethereal and unnerving music from Alicia Fricker.  There are also enough strange, creepy visuals almost subconsciously thrown in to further emphasize the movie's alleged, dangerously mystical quality.  At the same time though, the pacing is largely comatose, the plotting borderline incompetent, and the jumbling of styles could come off to some as if Amito and Laicini were trying to have their cake and eat it too by making several movies at once at the expense of each.  An argument can be made that it overextends itself, but its boldness is admirable.

THE MEG

Dir - Jon Turteltaub

Overall: MEH

 

A by the books, B-movie with enough action film cliches to consistently roll ones eyes at, The Meg has the dumb in all the appropriate places.  Stuck in development hell for two decades and run through both Disney and New Line Pictures before ending up at Warner Bros. with Jon Turteltaub of 3 Ninjas, National Treasure, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice fame directing, its schlock level is adequately mainstream-friendly.  Jason Statham plays the only character he is ever allowed to and fits the well-trodden mold of "misunderstood tough guy with a heart of gold who reluctantly goes back into action because he's the best of the best".  Amongst all of the hammy-to-terrible platitude-laden dialog, ill-timed comic relief, and textbook plot points that only happen in the movies, (like why is Rainn Wilson's paycheck-signing billionaire consistently putting himself directly in danger along with actual trained professionals?), there is also an odd, reoccurring theme of characters making the immediate decision to sacrificing their own lives unnecessarily.  Anyway, it is everything one would expect in a big, loud, splashy monster movie so enjoy your popcorn folks.