2021 Horror Part Eight

THE SADNESS

Dir - Rob Jabbaz

Overall: MEH

 

The debut from writer/director Rob Jabbaz is the ruthlessly ridiculous and incredibly on the nose The Sadness, (Kū bēi), yet another movie that is desperately trying to squeeze some sort of individuality out of the criminally over saturated zombie outbreak market.  Noticeably inspired by the comic book series Crossed, the differentiating quality here besides its blunt tie-ins to the COVID-19 pandemic and its politicized ripple effect is that the infected victims break out into depraved rages, maintaining their ability to speak and gleefully acting like all-around moral-lacking sociopaths.  They bite and eat any and all body parts that they can get their hands on yes, but they also rape and torture with reckless abandon, even amongst themselves if they cannot find any innocent pedestrians to violate.  All of this leads to unflinching amounts of gore, even if Jabbaz spares us extreme closeups of the rape at least.  The tone quite frequently indulges in all out camp, but the entire presentation is so overblown anyway that throwing sentimentality to the side rather fits when oceans worth of bloodshed are fighting for screen time.  The highly derivative nature makes it unmistakably redundant, but it is a knowingly nasty mess that will undoubtedly delight splatter hounds.

THE DEEP HOUSE

Dir - Julien Maury/Alexandre Bustillo
Overall: MEH

The latest from the French horror writer/director duo of Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo The Deep House takes a somewhat ambitious and gimmicky approach to age old spooky cliches.  A haunted house movie except underwater, it finds an excuse to use a contemporary found footage framework where the two leads are ghost hunting YouTubers.  While logical then from a narrative standpoint, unfortunately this also provides an excuse for absolutely wretched dialog as James Jagger's obnoxious and unlikable character narrates to his audience in the most unnatural of ways when cartoonishly creepy things are happening all around him.  Two thirds of the film take place in such an environment and sadly, this cornball approach makes it a serious offender of "dumb people in horror movies" nonsense that has long, long become hack.  This is a shame since the basic premise is rather clever and Maury and Bustillo are adept enough as filmmakers in the genre to deliver a multitude of freaky set pieces.  Nothing is underneath the surface though, at least nothing all that interesting, plus coupled with the tripe aspects, the movie kind of undermines itself.

BLOOD RED SKY

Dir - Peter Thorwarth

Overall: GOOD

There is a hefty amount of ingenuity in Peter Thorwarth's Blood Red Sky, (Transatlantic 473); a high tension action movie that fuses enough wild ingredients together to make it pretty consistently gripping.  Part airplane heist and part vampire film, the most impressive aspect is how Thorwarth and Stefan Holtz' script toys with familiar tropes.  The two-hour running time only occasionally feels monotonous in its claustrophobic setting since so many fresh plot points keep popping up to wrack up the increasingly off the rails stakes.  Movies that feature blood-sucking creatures of the night have been regularly pumped out since the silent days and it is nice to see a human element so prominently on display here.  It often feels more like a zombie film, with this particular brand of vampirism coming off as more of a plague that spreads alarmingly fast, putting characters in fight or flight, (pardon the pun), scenarios as to how they manage it.  While appropriately ramped up, the last act unfortunately indulges in too many loud, animalistic vampire squeals on the soundtrack and stretches plausibility to borderline schlock-level, but this is otherwise a fun ride that delivers on its ambitious premise.

2021 Horror Part Seven

BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION

Dir - Jacob Gentry

Overall: MEH

 

Following in a long line of conspiracy thrillers and utilizing many of the tropes therein, Jacob Gentry's Broadcast Signal Intrusion makes a noble yet bland attempt at getting under its audience's skin.  In order for the film to properly work, one has to be considerably forgiving of forced creepiness and ambiguity, as well as being unencumbered by easily recognized horror staples.  As the title would suggest, it uses the factual backdrop of broadcast signal intrusions, perhaps made most famous by a still unidentified Max Headroom hijacking that happened in Chicago around the same time that some of the tapes here were set.  Which is most likely not a coincidence.  Throwing in more contemporary creepypasta influences and referencing everything from All the President's Men, to Possibly in Michigan, Silence of the Lambs, 8mm, and The Poughkeepsie Tapes, the script here fails to break any new ground under its large, identifiable pool of ingredients.  Furthermore, the busy, jazzy, prog-esque score by Ben Lovett is occasionally hip, but it is also tone-clashing and as equally genre-pandering as the story.  The central theme of grief-fueled obsession leading us to dangerous destinations is sufficiently convened, but it is done so in a rather on-the-nose fashion.  The whole thing is a bit overbearing in this very capacity actually.

TITANE

Dir - Julia Ducournau

Overall: GOOD

 

The full-length, sophomore effort from filmmaker Julia Ducournau continues engaging in some of the unflinching and uncompromising visual motifs that her debut Raw did.  Titane is pure body horror in many respects and again similar to Raw, it does not spoon-feed its audience with many of the narrative components.  Fantastical elements hardly serve as mere MacGuffins though.  In fact much can be debated as to their effecting inclusion, all the while the core examination of grief-bonding is thoroughly unmistakable.  Stylistically, Ducournau successfully fuses some humor into the proceedings while maintaining a very severe tone with occasionally squeamish violence and uncomfortably bizarre set pieces pushing it further into bold, Midnight Movie terrain.  It is beautifully photographed throughout and the performances are flawless from top to bottom.  In her feature debut, model/journalist/actress Agathe Rousselle is particularly fearless, making a character sympathetic who logically should garnish zero such sympathy.  Vincent Lindon could even be more impressive though as a deeply traumatized father, enabling the duo's connection to be as increasingly captivating as it is highly disturbed.

LAMB

Dir - Valdimar Jóhannsson

Overall: GOOD

This Icelandic, uniquely strange arthouse debut from filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsso and poet/novelist Sjón plays as an equally beautiful and perplexing folktale.  On paper, the premise seems ridiculous, but never once is it played for laughs.  There is plenty of heart and even some humor present at irregular intervals, yet by treating the material absolutely straight, Jóhannsson creates a haunting and appropriate mood.  Deliberately paced with minimal dialog, an endless array of lingering shots, and sparse musical accompaniments, the film manages to create a present yet almost stagnant level of tension.  Because so little dramatically happens, it consistently feels as if the remarkably strange situation at hand is going to meet some kind of tragic end at any moment.  The three person cast is strong and in a less controlled setting overall, the story's inherent bizarreness would become too distracting to take seriously.  The sudden and dour finale could be seen as confusing let alone overly simplifying any intended message, (if in fact it has one), but the film is captivating, singular, and ethereally powerful all the same.

2021 Horror Part Six

OLD

Dir - M. Night Shyamalan

Overall: MEH

At this point, going into an M. Night Shyamalan movie has become a predictable endeavor.  Meaning that the standard, botched end product that is Old hits all of the frequented, frustrating notes.  An adaptation of the graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, Old is photographed lushly, with beautiful scenery and inventive camera work doing its best, (yet failing), to distract from the abundance of problems at hand.  These problems are well established, Shyamalan trademarks; comically unnatural performances, often preposterously silly dialog, numerous plot holes, and a forced, twist-ending that fails to land.  There is something to be said though for this round in that the nature of the premise, (which again, like all Shyamalan films, is adequately strong), does somewhat lend itself to the messy presentation.  For a film that examines the emotionally devastating nature of the passage of time, the cruising pace does have a bombardment quality that narratively "works", at least on paper.  With all of its components fairly taken in though, it is a distracting movie to say the least.  Well-intended and plenty stylized yes, but when you are simultaneously scratching your head, laughing, and getting annoyed at what is on the screen, such issues are difficult to forgive.

ANONYMOUS ANIMALS

Dir - Baptiste Rouveure

Overall: MEH

 

The full-length debut Anonymous Animals from filmmaker Baptiste Rouveure presents its one-note premise in a rather meandering way.  Enormously heavy-handed, it is the type of movie that one can theoretically get the gist of within the first five minutes, at which point they can then leave well enough alone.  Featuring no dialog and running just over an hour, it takes a highly simplified, moral high-ground in its humans vs animals role reversal.  Though to the film's merit, it may not be trying to convert the unconverted.  Instead, by transposing a Homo sapien point of view to abused pets and terrified livestock, it goes for visceral impact exclusively.  There are no nuances presented as far as the ethical merit of free-range, population controlled hunting per example.  While the blunt themes are just as easy to forgive as they are wholly easy to understand, sadly the presentation itself is faulty.  Even with its no-dialog gimmick, Rouveure largely relies on criminally played out tropes like white-noise build ups on the soundtrack followed by abrupt cuts to black, plus the stock, horrory musical score would have served far more effective if it was turned on mute.  Worse, the hand-held cinematography is probably intentionally claustrophobic and off-putting, but it is also frustratingly dizzying.  This is a bold, serious attempt at something bold and serious, but it falls considerably short in too many ways.

THE FEAST

Dir - Lee Haven Jones

Overall: GOOD

The Welsh, theatrical debut The Feast from television director Lee Haven Jones and screenwriter/producer Roger Williams may be too much style over substance, yet it is still boldly enticing.  There is a dark fairy tale undercurrent to the story, one that is never at least directly explained and it produces a barrage of bizarre, unsettling moments.  Such moments can be chalked up to the repercussions of man's insistence on interfering with nature to enhance their own personal wealth and prosperity, yet Jones is much more interested in concocting a cinematically ethereal mood as opposed to slamming home an obvious, moral message.  Numerous scenes are designed for gross-out and/or bewildering shock value, yet they fit the gradual, sinister tone.  The more disturbing that things get, the more that the film leans into its surreal atmosphere with little to no concern for spelling too much out for the audience.  It is certainly arty in an unapologetic sense where it is probably just best to just sit back and enjoy the evocative, supernatural nastiness, all while trying to shake some of the images from your brain hours after finishing it.

2021 Horror Part Five

OXYGEN

Dir - Alexandre Aja

Overall: GOOD

The latest from French genre filmmaker Alexandre Aja is the claustrophobic sci-fi thriller Oxygen, a movie that manages to bypass its gimmick in a rather engaging way.  Premise wise, a character waking up in a mysterious location and spending the entirety of the film trying to unlock the mystery of where they are and how they got there has an aura of familiarity to it, but the gradual unveiling of information here also has a riveting payoff that primarily hinges on Mélanie Laurent's wonderful performance.  Virtually the only character on screen, it is a challenging role to be sure and one that she thankfully excels at by making the audience invested in her desperate plight even as both we and her have the same extremely limited amount of knowledge to work with.  Aja maintains a literal ticking clock level of suspense and Christie LeBlanc's script is basically one incremental plot twist after the other.  A rather tight, polished production all around with some attractive futuristic visuals to boot, it essentially checks off all of the boxes for what one would expect for an enclosed "nightmare in space" movie.

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

Dir - Edgar Wright

Overall: MEH

Edgar Wright's first direct foray into horror, (forgoing the comedy of his most famous work in Shaun of the Dead), is the dark, bloody, swinging 60s, London love letter Last Night in Soho.  Considering that the counter culture drug scene had one of its home bases around said era, it is a clever move to take a psychological approach here that becomes almost overwhelmingly trippy.  By the third act in particular, the incessant visions suffered by Thomasin McKenzie are quite exhausting, which is mostly a problem due to the fact that they are also not very frightening.  Hallucinations of jittery, obscured zombie creatures mixed with monotonous flashbacks of Anya Taylor-Joy and Matt Smith provide more annoyance than anything.  The messy, twist ending also does not really land, coming off a bit bloated.  Though the script and horror elements are ultimately underwhelming, Wright's flashy visual aesthetic is rather impressive as he seamlessly weaves his two lead actresses together in an engaging manner with a retro soundtrack that is persistently used to wondrous effect.  The cast is all around sufficient as well, with veterans Terrance Stamp and Diana Rigg, (in her final film appearance), turning in performances that are subtle in their disturbing quirkiness.  Wright is too good of a filmmaker to drop the ball completely and there are definitely some effective qualities present, but the sum of all of the parts fails to fully elevate it above its flaws.

 

ANTLERS

Dir - Scott Cooper

Overall: MEH

 

Based off of Nick Antosca's short story "The Quiet Boy" which was published in a 2019 edition of the online magazine Guernica, Antlers is a rather sub-par monster movie.  The first foray into horror, (at least from behind the lens), for co-writer and director Scott Cooper, it has a pedestrian presentation and premise of a small town besieged by a torso-mutilating creature.  Other tripe details like a stupid school bully, a dark secret locked up in a room in a house, Native American legends, ghostly flashbacks, and an emotionally disconnected teacher with a traumatic past ultimately bonding with an emotionally disconnected child who also has a traumatic past means that there is certainly a lot of familiarity on display.  Cooper's direction is sufficient in a standard, point A to point B context, but nothing is done with the well-worn tropes to elevate them anywhere above providing a casual yawn from the audience.  On the plus side though, the performances are fine and the atmosphere is consistently drab.  Plus the practical effects are rather excellent, benefiting further by having the monstrous wendigo kept primarily unlit and ergo, more mysterious.  Too bad that the film's narrative is far too boring and half-baked to engage with, making the whole far more forgettable than anything else.

2022 Horror Part Twelve

NANNY

Dir - Nikyatu Jusu

Overall: GOOD

 

The full-length debut Nanny from Sierra Leonean-American filmmaker Nakyatu Jusa is a strong, female-centered examination on the back-breaking struggles of motherhood and the ravishing anxiety that comes with it.  Gaining some horror mileage out of the Mami Wata from African folklore, (specifically centered around the West African Wolof people), Jusu's story paints the water spirit as a neutral force that can be terrifying to encounter yet only when the beholder is undergoing extreme emotional distress.  Anna Diop's title character suffers from the overbearing guilt of leaving her only child back at home while she dedicates herself with a caretaker position for a detached, less than happy Upper East Side, New York couple and their daughter who she has an instant, mutually loving relationship with.  Wisely, the film does not make obvious commentary on simple white and black racial dynamics, comparatively focusing more on women's hardships with both Diop and the mother that she is employed by, (played by Michelle Monaghan), experiencing their own remorse over the lack of time spend with their own children.  Jusu takes a slow-boil approach to her material here which is necessary in both establishing and soaking in the richly emotional complexities at hand, which makes the very gradual, intensified tension and otherworldly elements hit their intended impact.

BONES AND ALL

Dir - Luca Guadagnino

Overall: GOOD

 

For his follow up to the surprisingly, (and profoundly), excellent Suspiria remake, Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino and screenwriter David Kajganich have adapted Camille DeAngelis' novel Bones and All into a beautiful, grotesque genre mash-up.  The criminal road movie ingredients may bring deliberate whiffs of Badlands or Bonnie and Clyde, while the metaphoric horror aspects recall Let the Right One In or Thirst, but the film is both stylistically enthralling and impressive in its focus.  By presenting the horror aspects matter of factly save for a few rapid-fire nightmare montages, Guadagnino mostly focuses on the detailed characterizations of his two leads in Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet, though every other person that we meet is treated sympathetically enough to resonate with, at least on some level which keeps the grounded tone in check.  It is consistently nuanced in its exploration of outcasts who find themselves in a world where extreme bonds are forged between the people that share their burden of loneliness and a biological need that is both helplessly unavoidable and horrific.  The musical score by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor is equally on point, (plus a hilarious Kiss reference is always appreciated), and thankfully its borderline excessive length proves justified as nothing feels rushed and the full tragic, yet empathically melancholic atmosphere is properly in place.

 

M3GAN

Dir - Gerard Johnstone

Overall: WOOF

 

Though James Wan is merely relegated to providing the story concept along with screenwriter Akela Cooper, the latest collaboration M3GAN between he and producer Jason Blum continues in both party's trajectory of delivering the most textbook, unoriginal horror films of the modern age.  It is the usual stew of tongue-in cheek humor, actors taking the material way too seriously, on-the-nose social commentary, and every form of predictable storytelling humanly possible which utilizes foreshadowing and standard genre cliches that mere casual horror partakers will still immediately notice.  Even though the finale gives up and goes for full black comedy and awkward, dumb for the sake of dumb set pieces, the one-dimensional characterizations and emotional hooks are borderline insulting in their simplicity and make for a tonal conundrum that is nauseating at worst and eyeball rolling at best.  Defenders of such tripe will probably utilize the ole, "It's a stupid horror movie about a killer doll, what do you expect?" excuse and that is all fine and good for those that just want to see how silly it will all play out while ignoring that way better such movies exist out there.  Christ, even Child's Play's concept of Brad Dourif using black magic to cheat death and jump inside of a Good Guys doll is less idiotic, let alone more interesting.  For the rest of us who uncomfortably cringe while a creepy doll sings and dances out of nowhere while trying to be threatening at the same time, this is some highly avoidable crap.

2022 Horror Part Eleven

MASTER

Dir - Mariama Diallo

Overall: MEH

A thought-provoking, full-length debut from writer/director Mariama Diallo, Master expertly explores quite complex racial dynamics within the American university system, yet it unfortunately does so while clumsily trying to meld a handful of hack-laded genre tropes into the mix as well.  As opposed to most horror films where the first act is enticingly creepy, Diallo frustratingly piles on the cliches early on as she bounces between two African American protagonists that are privy to numerous supernatural occurrences which they of course fail to mention to virtually anyone throughout almost the entire movie.  One or two of these moments are handled in a relatively fresh fashion, but they predominantly bog down a far more interesting story with manipulative scary music, hooded figures, nightmare sequences, vague witch curses, and characters investigating things in spacious, dimly-lit libraries.  A compelling about-face occurs closer to the finish line which is where the real issues are raised concerning manipulative diversity tactics and the awful, traumatic toll that it takes on those who struggle to navigate both subtle and blatant prejudices.  It is a shame that the sinister forces afoot here do not properly connect with the very real and troubling ones, but there is still definitely some merit to what it accomplishes.

GATLOPP: HELL OF A GAME

Dir - Alberto Belli

Overall: MEH

 

After nearly a decade and a half making shorts, filmmaker Alberto Belli delivers his first full-length with Gatlopp: Hell of a Game, (GATLOPP); a quirky, horror-tinged supernatural board game movie that probably gets a little too heavy on the emotional end of the spectrum to balance its silliness.  In recent times, the concept of a bunch of friends being forced through supernatural means to reveal embarrassing and shady truths about themselves to each other has been seen in both Takashi Miike's As the Gods Will and Levan Gabriadze's Unfriended, so the "truth or dare" framework here is hardly a singular one.  At first, the cast of characters come off a bit obnoxious, partying like best friends in an exaggerated fashion that bares no resemblance to how actual human beings even in their raging, alcohol-fueled early twenties realistically behave.  As the stakes grow more dire and an unholy light gets glaringly shown on their less than admirable deeds, the movie sacrifices its comedic inventiveness which crates a tonal issue that weighs everything down.  This does bring out some more vulnerability to the performances though, which is lacking when everyone is simply carrying on like cut and paste characters in an R-rated comedy.  The whole thing may be more to some audience member's tastes than others, but there are a few chuckles and some wacky details to make it acceptable.

THE PALE BLUE EYE

Dir - Scott Cooper

Overall: GOOD

 

The third collaboration between filmmaker Scott Cooper and Christian Bale, The Pale Blue Eye is a slick, enticing adaptation of Louis Bayard's novel of the same name, yet it is also one that cannot resist the urge to out twist the murder mystery competition in its final minutes.  Bayard's source material has a fetching enough concept of a military cadet-aged Edgar Allan Poe assisting an exceptionally efficient detective in a string of occult-styled murders in West Point, New York.  The dialog is quite rich in its vernacular and the entire cast's enthusiasm for the material thankfully shines through.  Both Bale as the aforementioned, stoic, and deeply troubled Augustus Landor and Harry Melling as a piss and vinegar-filled Poe steal the show, with an almost unrecognizable Robert Duvall showing up for two scenes being a highlight as well.  While the Satanic ritual motifs seem almost shoehorned into the proceedings, they at least help contribute to what is a unique hybrid of period-set police procedural and Gothic horror film, with the latter genre's most famous author thrown in as a protagonist simply adding a delightful component to the proceedings.  It is a minor shame that the narrative tries to outsmart its audience with an unnecessary twist after an already fully-stuffed delivery, but aside from that, it is a solid production.

2022 Horror Part Ten

HYPOCHONDRIAC

Dir - Addison Heimann

Overall: GOOD

The first directorial effort from screenwriter Addison Heimann, Hypochondriac takes a dark and occasionally comedy look at severe mental illness and childhood trauma.  Things largely hinge on the devastatingly multi-layered performance from Zach Villa who plays a good-natured, silly, and compassionate potter that is struggling to deal with a schizophrenic mother, emotionally neglectful father, and benevolent boyfriend who all exhibit wildly different methods of trying to take care of him.  As is often possible in the horror genre yet only achieved with a sincere filmmaker at the helm, incredibly troubling real world events and personal afflictions can be exaggerated for emphasis while not becoming either exploitative or insulting to the viewer.  Thankfully, such things are handled respectfully here as Villa's protagonist spirals into more and more detrimentally crippling hallucinations where we never feel that the terrifying outcome of his suffering is played up for anything but sympathy.  The supporting cast is well in-tune to the material as well and Heimann shows a considerable control over a difficult tone that cinematically showcases the sort of bi-polar mood swings which are in question.

THE MENU

Dir - Mark Mylod

Overall: GOOD

 

It is not too often that a horror-tinged comedy emerges that uses the very concept of soul-sucking pretentiousness as its source of nightmare fuel, which is what makes The Menu an amusing genre detour.  The concept stemmed simply enough from screenwriter Will Tracy's visit to an upscale restaurant during his honeymoon and the finished production eventually took on consultants Dominique Creen and David Gelb to give it a foodie connoisseur aura of authenticity.  Playing off of the premise that a "fine dinning as art" mentality, (at east in some respects), is inherently ridiculous, the deadly serious presentation of Ralph Fiennes' exclusive, pristine-tiered, island-set establishment is deliberately amusing as the filmmaker's utilize the horror framework to hint at a sinister, underlying threat in the first act.  When the WTF card is actually reviled, some viewers may have a hard time staying with everything that follows as it hinges on a whole crop of people doing either the bare minimum or nothing at all to relieve themselves of their increasingly dire predicament.  Even this though is brought up in some of the dialog which along with the strange scenario that plays by its own aloof rules, allows for the film's narrative to work somewhat in spite of itself.  It is a difficult tone to maintain since much of the humor may only appear subtle to those that are either not playing closer attention or simply unable to meet it on its own terms, but for everyone else down for some macabre wackiness, it hits the spot.

 

HATCHING

Dir - Hanna Bergholm

Overall: GOOD

A full-length debut from Finnish filmmaker Hanna Bergholm, Hatching, (Pahanhautoja), is a satisfyingly strange and demented take on the age old doppelgänger concept.  The story has a clear agenda of showcasing the trauma of self-consumed parenting, yet it does so in an utterly unique fashion that treats the serious aspects of the subject matter in an intelligent way which impressively shines through the more absurdist aspects.  Bergholm's plotting moves rather quickly, with a number of scenes coming off as so jarring that one would assume that they would quickly be revealed to be mere nightmaresor hallucinations.  Instead, the circumstances here are presented matter of factly and are that much more alarming in their impact.  Backed with excellent performances and nuanced characterizations which even manage to make Sophia Heikkilä's obnoxious, influencer/blogger/mother from hell garnish some level of sympathy from the audience, there is plenty going on here about not only the combination of overbearing pressure and neglect put on children, but also the reason that certain damaged parents exhibit such desperate, detrimental behavior in the first place.  For the monster movie fan, there are some halfway decent animatronic effects as well, though the loud, screechy noises still unfortunately hammer-home the fact that they seem to be the only scary vocalizations that anyone can come up with nowadays.