Games People Play (Ready or Not, 2019)

Grace is engaged to Alex, a son in the Le Domas gaming, uh, Dominion. Alex is quickly revealed to b very unlike his family. Kind and rather unhappy with his family’s status as ultra-rich. The family is quirky, save Alex’s mother who seems to understand Grace’s nervousness at marrying into the family.

The night after the wedding ceremony, Alex explains that there is one last ceremony. The family has a tradition in which the new member of the family selects a game that the family must play. While most of the time it is something casual like checkers, on this night, Grace draws a card Alex dreaded… “Hide and Seek”. At first, Grace finds it all silly…until it is clear that losing the game means she dies. If she survives the night, the family is certain something unknown and truly awful will befall the family.

Ready or Not is a film with its tongue firmly in cheek. The family is rich and inept, having gone for years without actually having to have played Hide and Seek. One of the family members struggles to learn use of the crossbow. His coked up wife is so freaked out she cannot shoot straight. They argue over the value of tradition.

Grace, on the other hand, is trying to find her way out of a house full of hidden passages and no idea who she can trust. The help? Alex? Alex’s brother who seems to be struggling with his conscience? Alex’s nephews?

The humor is dark, but effective. Its targets being ultra rich fools obsessed with keeping their wealth, their actions often have comical results. The film is so stylish, and the character and set design so full of personality, it really enhances the film. The visual sense of Aunt Helene perfectly encapsulates this. Her hair is strikingly short and spiky. She wears a permanent scowl and really stands out. Nicky Guadagni is wonderfully dark in the film.

I also found Samara Weaving’s performance really good. She often gets mocked as being indistinguishable from Margot Robbie, which I think is unfair to both actresses…for one thing? Weaving has spent most of her career getting drenched in buckets of blood. But she is great as Grace.

Ready or Not was a surprise gem of a film this year, deserving of someday being a cult classic among thrillers.

October 3, 2019 1

Blood On Screen (Kolobos, 1999)

So, in the early 90’s, MTV decided they needed to expand their programming. One of their first greatly successful experiments was an “unscripted show” that put a bunch of young people from all over the country into a single house that would film the events. The Real World became a phenomenon.

In the late 90’s, three young filmmakers were trying to make their first film…their original idea was a road movie which was then ruined by weather that would have made outdoor shooting really tough. The filmmakers came up with a horror movie idea that could be set in one location and mostly indoors.

The result the thriller Kolobos. Several reality show wannabes seeking fame show up at a home and goof around, but then things get serious. Not like on the Real World, where personalities clashed-not that clashes don’t happen- but rather the sudden terror that they are trapped in the house and it has a who lot of traps meant to kill them.

At the center of the film is Kyra, a withdrawn artist, who keeps seeing faceless killers. Has Kyra lost connection to reality? Is she the killer? Or is there someone else? Is the hulking scarred man real?

Long before Saw, Kolobus explored the potential of watching people suffer horribly for entertainment (and honestly, are less preachy about it, the filmmakers do clearly have fun coming up with crazy death traps). The film has decent gore effects, and the acting is passable for the horror genre.

So, why does nobody talk about the film? One of the first to toy with the idea of reality-TV based horror? Well, it got released directly to DVD…right before this little movie called the Blair Witch. Blair Witch ushered in the era of found footage and steam rolled right over Kolobos. Arrow films recently re-released the film on Blu-Ray (for the first time in HD, it had been out of print for some time otherwise).

I recommend the disc and the movie, it deserves wider recognition. A lost indie horror film from the late nineties, you really should check this one out.

October 2, 2019 1

History Repeating.. Again (Happy Death Day 2 You, 2019)

So, Happy Death Day had a pretty simple premise. Groundhog Day with a serial killer. Tree woke up on her birthday, is killed by a serial killer. She had to solve the mystery of the killer and become a better person. She succeeded and the loop was over. Until now…

Happy Death Day 2 You opts to explain what actually caused Tree’s time loop. The result is a change to the film…rather than being horror Groundhog’s day, the film goes on a sci-fi bent involving parallel universes.

The cause of the loop is a science experiment being conducted by students. When the time loop begins for Ryan, Tree and Carter to help him close the loop. But in the middle of their attempts, the Dean interrupts and the end result is an explosion.

Tree wakes up to find herself in her original time loop…or so it seems. She discovers that there are many subtle differences…and at least one that makes her hesitant to return to how things were.

I liked this part a lot, as Tree finds herself torn between her family and her boyfriend Carter. The cast is enjoyable, and I generally liked the characters. The film has some good twists on events and characters in the previous film.

While I largely enjoyed the film, there was some problems. Even though the previous film established that each time she dies and returns, she is weaker…and one too many deaths, she may not wake up again. However, while this plays a role somewhat late in the film, Tree has a montage of “wacky suicides”. This borders on slapstick (and one death borrows directly from Groundhog’s Day) to the point of ruining the tone.

Also, the final tag of the film during the end credits seems unnecessarily cruel.

But I largely, as with the first film, enjoyed this one. And the switch to sci-fi is a pleasant surprise.

August 1, 2019 0

History Repeating (Happy Death Day, 2017)

Tree is apparently the child of hippies, cause who else would name their kid Tree?

But seriously… Tree is a popular and all around unpleasant sorority girl. On her birthday, she wakes up in the room of some random guy. She storms out and has a generally annoying day that culminates in her murder by a masked killer (the mask is the school mascot… which is a pretty creepy choice for a school to make).

She wakes up to the same day, confused as events repeat themselves…including the masked killer murdering her. She then wakes up and realizes it is the same day. As she pieces it together, she tries to figure out why, but decides she has to solve her murder.

Of course, the problem is, Tree is just a jerk, she has a lot of suspects to work her way through.

To be blunt…and the film admits this outright…it is basically Groundhog’s Day, but with a serial killer. And it really…well, works.

The film starts adding progressive stakes, forcing Tree to face the fact that she may, in fact, not survive the experience. And this causes her to look inward and not like the person she sees. While Bill Murray’s Phil decides to use his time loop to woo Rita, Tree looks at the bigger picture. And I think this is something the film does pretty well. Jessica Rothe does a convincing job of showing tangible change in Tree’s personality. The gimmick feels pretty fresh, even though it is clearly lifted from a very specific film.

Happy Death Day is a fun horror film that I think even folks who don’t care for slashers might enjoy.

July 31, 2019 0

Apex Predators (Crawl, 2019)

Haley is somewhat estranged from her parents, but when her father is unresponsive to calls from her and her sister in the face of an impending hurricane, she drives into the storm to find him. When she finds him wounded in a crawlspace beneath the home, she discovers they are trapped by alligators. As water fills the crawl space they struggle to find a way out.

Director Alexandre Aja delivers a very tight thriller. It is exciting and dramatic, rarely slowing down. The performances from Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper are quite effective. Their relationship feels real as a father and daughter whose relationship is strained by unspoken issues-but they still love each other.

Really, Crawl is a great B-Movie in the man vs nature vein. It has some good scares and keeps a brisk pace. I definitely recommend this for folks wanting a good thriller.

July 29, 2019 0

New Model (Child’s Play, 2019)

The Child’s Play franchise is seven films in and has a TV series in the making, so when a remake of the 1988 original, it was met with…skepticism. Especially as the film has no real ties to the original film via writer or director.

Here we get the basic story idea. Andy gets a doll that turns out to be dangerous and homicidal.

Here, Andy is a bit older. His mother gets a Buddi Doll that has AI and can connect to your Smart Home devices. It was returned as defective, and Andy’s mom takes it to give her son, as Andy is becoming more and more withdrawn. At first, the quirks do not seem to be to big a deal…until Chucky tries to kill the family cat after it hurts Andy. Andy forbids Chucky from killing. And for awhile, they become close friends.

But after some other kids discover that Chucky can swear and be generally rude, they want to hang with Andy. It is only after Chucky murders someone that they all realize how dangerous Chucky actually is.

And a lot of the film is pretty effective. I like Andy and his mom. And I think the AI take actually works in some interesting ways. Chucky is not inherently homicidal. He becomes increasingly so, desensitized by his environment and working as a stalker. He is not killing people out of a love for murder…but rather a warped ideal of his relationship to Andy. And while this comes at the sacrifice of Dourif’s memorable characterization, I really appreciate the new approach.

Andy’s friends are a bit obnoxious, and honestly, it seems like much of the film they made sure to give Chucky victims who were pretty morally reprehensible. I mean, there is only one character he kills that I genuinely liked. I appreciated the attempt they made with Brian Tyree Henry’s Detective Norris, making him a friendly face in story…but the character is kind of dull (which is definitely not Henry’s fault, we saw him be pretty wonderful in Into the Spiderverse in a similar role.

And…well…Chucky’s design should have gone through a few more revisions. He looks genuinely goofy sometimes.

But I found myself largely entertained by the film and felt it has far more positives than negatives. I walked out feeling pretty satisfied with a film that I confess to having not had a lot of hope for.

June 23, 2019 0

Rebirth of the Demon (Hellboy, 2019)

For a time it appeared as if 2008’s Hellboy and the Golden Army was the last time we were going to see Hellboy on the big screen. But then, a few years ago, new talk of a third Hellboy film emerged. Guillermo Del Toro and Perlman both had expressed plenty of interest. But then something happened. Creator and owner of Hellboy, Mike Mignola and Del Toro could not come to a unified vision and Mignola brought his character to a new creative team.

Rather than continue the story began with the Del Toro films, Mignola, Director Neil Marshall and screenwriter Andrew Cosby start fresh. Hellboy is tasked with fighting the all powerful Blood Queen to save the world. Dismembered by King Arthur, an evil creature who seeks revenge on Hellboy starts to piece her back together. Once she regains all her power, she will be able to unleash monsters upon the world that will bring about the end of humanity.

But Hellboy is the key to her goals, so not only is Hellboy having to fight the bad guys, the good guys largely do not trust him and some are actively out to kill him. Hellboy also struggles with his relationship to his earthly father Professor Broom and their goals. If their purpose with the B.P.R.D. (Bureau Paranormal Research Defense) is killing monsters, why did he save Hellboy at all?

It is hard not to compare this with the two prior films. All three had good casts. Harbour is pretty good in the role. Ian McShane is a very differy Professor Broom. He offers similar sentiments about Hellboy’s potential, but he is a far gruffer father figure as opposed to John Hurt’s kindly old man.

Sasha Lane is an interesting addition as Alice Monaghan, a psychic and medium with a long friendship and connection to Hellboy. His main conflict within the team is Ben Daimio. A military man who hides a big secret and has no trust for Hellboy, Daniel Dae Kim manages to avoid the cliche of the guy with a big secret not get annoying. It is hard not to miss Abe Sapien in the film, as he was such an integral character in the previous films.

Milla Jovovich is, honestly, playing a pretty stock evil character, but it works in the context of the story. I appreciate that the film continues to use the creatures of myth, such as faeries and bizarre ancient looking gods.

I think the new Hellboy design largely works and does not feel like they are just trying to imitate the Del Toro looks. And yet…

Well, the film treads some similar territory as the first. We are getting a new beginning… but the plot is hinged on Hellboy possibly bringing about the end of the world and his temptations to do so. We get some of the same visuals we have seen in the previous films, with no real fresh approach. Growing horns, flaming crown…but the story just never feels like it finds it’s footing as a new and exciting role. I never felt a real rush of excitement or engagement- in spite of liking the characters.

While some of it works, there is also a lot of really dodgy CGI that is, at best, about as good the stuff we saw in the previous two films over ten years ago.

Finally…the film is ridiculously more gory than is necessary. It is full of digital blood and absurd levels of violent gore. Where as the Del Toro films delighted in the monsters and fantasy, this film seems to find its joy in simply being gory. I guess this should not surprise us, as the filmmakers did talk about the freedom of an R-Rating…and just a few days before the film’s release the studio released a trailer all about how the film is an awesome orgy of violence and language…full of grossness and gore…and the swears.

I actually hate having to say that this film is a real disappointment. While I was disappointed when the work with a third Del Toro film fell apart, I still hoped the new team would create a memorable and fun film. It has a great cast, some fun ideas. And with a better story? We could have gotten something great…both fresh and familiar…and it just is not.

April 14, 2019 0

You Happy Puppet (Possum, 2018)

Possum is the tale of a disillusioned puppeteer who lives with his stepfather. He decides he must rid himself of the puppet that he keeps in a bag. But the puppet keeps returning to him.

This film has a constant state of sadness. It is less scary and more creepy. The puppet is super disturbed looking. Like a spider with a human head.

Honestly, I am not sure if I liked this film or not. It feels like someone captured depression in a bottle and then trapped it within film.

It moves at a quiet pace, relying on the dreadful creepiness that questions if the puppet is truly a living evil or if Philip is just broken from reality. Is someone messing with him? It may be so. This is a dark and bleak film, that is unrelenting in its gloom.

April 7, 2019 0

I don’t Want To Live My Life Again (Pet Sematary, 2019)

It seems like Stephen King is seeing a Cinematic Resurgence. The new It film was a hit with a highly anticipated sequel on the way this year. Also coming this year is In the Tall Grass, while there are announced adaptions of Firestarter and the Tommy Knockers.

And so here we have a an updated adaption of the novel. The original film is a classic exploration of parental grief and the horrors that follow.

The new film begins much like the book and film. The Creed family arrives to their new home, they meet Jud when daughter Ellie discovers the Pet Sematary. There are some early differences, the story introduces a ritual of children wearing masks when they go to bury their pets…this seemed mainly to introduce a creepy mask for later.

If you have seen the last trailer they released you know the new film diverges…wildly…from the book and the previous film. For those who have not seen it, I will not say a word.

I like that they focused on a friendship between Ellie and Jud. His attachment causes him to make the choice to show Luis the ancient grounds. Although, this change in direction hurts the relationship between Luis and Jud in the story. It is less fulfilling.

The film also does not retain certain important plot points. Jud never tells the story of anyone who returned. Sure, there is his dog, but he never reveals any big tragedy that tells of the power to resurrect more than pets.

On the other hand, I do appreciate that they played up the Wendigo myth in this version.

The performances are good, and my biggest concern was, thankfully, perfectly good. Fred Gwynne was iconic in the role. I am a fan of Lithgow, and he does not try and repeat the Gwynne take.

The final act is much more gruesome, and almost unrecognizable to fans of the 1989 film and it also rushes to the finish line. I did like the film generally. There are some interesting changes, but there are also some things that should have been explored better, such as grief and the dark temptations of the sour lands. And some of the changes work nicely, but they could have made the film a bit longer and explored more.

April 5, 2019 0

Sometimes Dead Is Better (Pet Sematary, 1989)

When Stephen King wrote Pet Sematary, the publisher rejected and King himself felt it was such a dark tale, he shelved it. He ended up submitting it to complete a deal with his publisher.

And, understandably, Pet Sematary is a dark book that explores life, death and trying to overcome death. The Movie also struggled to get to the screen, ultimately only getting greenlit because of an impending writers strike in Hollywood.

Luis and Rachel Creed have moved their family to a home in rural Maine. They meet their neighbor Jud, who warns them about the dangers of the road in front of their home. Their young Daughter Ellie discovers the local Pet Cemetery.

Jud tells them about the history of the cemetery, which has been around since he was a child. When the family cat Church is hit by a truck, Jud takes Luis past the Pet Sematary to an ancient and sour ground. They bury the cat and Luis is shocked when Church returns to the house. Church is not the same pet, and Luis tries to reconcile the “miracle” with his rational mind.

The family faces a traumatic event which causes Luis to spiral into desperation and…poor choices.

With a screenplay by Stephen King, the film keeps its core tragic tale. It downplays some of the heavier sinister supernatural stuff. Specifically, while there is a scene where Jud and Luis pause and hear something loudly moving through the forest, it is never really addressed. In fact, when the moment passes, a fearful Jud claims it is “just a loon”.

On the other hand, the film keeps the terror and the ultimate human horrors parents face. And there is Pascow. According to actor Brad Greenquist, Director Mary Lambert told him Pascow is less a ghost and more of an angel. And this really is a pretty accurate view of the character, as he is constantly trying to guide the Creed family away from the awful path they are facing.

Of course, the thing most people remember about the film is Zelda. Zelda is the sister of Rachel who died from meningitis when Rachel was a child. Zelda is a force of both fear (of death) and guilt, as Rachel confesses that she wanted Zelda to die.

The film makes great use with its locations. I love the houses in the film.

The performances are all strong. Of course, the most memorable is Fred Gwynne as Jud. It is amazing that the studio opposed this casting, because they believed people would just see Herman Munster. But Gwynne proved Mary Lambert’s instincts to be very correct. He has a genuine kindness. And it makes everything that much more painful when you realize that his attempt to spare little Ellie the pain of losing her beloved cat results in the suffering of this family.

Pet Sematary is at times dread inducing and has a gory finale. But it is a film that attempts to explore some painful themes through a horror fantasy story. One of the crew recounts how he had once worked on a Friday the 13th film and swore off horror movies. But Gwynne convinced him, in part sharing the tale of his own loss of a child. And I think this is a fear most parents have, and tend to suppress. This is the power of the film.

The film was recently released on 4k and Blu-Ray, so it is a perfect time to catch up on the film if you have not seen it or revisit it if you have not seen it for a long time.

April 4, 2019 0