Monthly Archives: July 2023

Movie review: The Pope’s Exorcist (2023)

18 Tuesday Jul 2023

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If you’re familiar with the works of Julius Avery, you won’t be surprised that his latest endeavour starring Russell Crowe is filled to the brim with cigar chomping action sequences that stretch the realms of believability to the nth degree. Whether it;s gold heists in Son of a Gun; American soldiers taking on experimental Nazi zombies in Overlord; or Superhumans in Samaritan, Avery likes to bend our receptions and tantalise the visual senses with implausibility and a mixture of delight. You’re alway guaranteed to have an entertaining time, no matter what subject the Australian director turns his attention onto.

For his latest outing, The Pope’s Exorcist takes inspiration from the real life personality Father Gabrielle Amorth, an Italian Catholic priest who was an exorcist for the Diocese of Rome. The tales that Amorth has to tell and his endeavours with the paranormal are to the extreme, so a perfect playing field for Avery and for Crowe to portray the titular character.

Amorth is introduced as a down-to-earth, practical man whose methods are questionable (as highlighted in the opening scene when he tricks a demon to possess a pig and then promptly shoots it) and a constant ache in the heart of those wishing to wield power in the Vatican community. When he is asked to investigate the curious possession of a boy in Spain, Amorth uncovers something much darker lurking beneath the refurbished castle abode, something that the Vatican had wished to remain dormant. 

The Prognosis:

Avery tempts us in with a curious tale, weaving together a buddy relationship between the cavalier veteran, Amorth and the local priest Father Tomas Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto) and the mother in plight, Julia (Alex Essoe – a little underused here playing second fiddle to the testosterone on show). 

If you’re willing to let the far-fetched, and attempted humour of an action-packed exorcism, then you will definitely be entertained. Crowe certainly appears to be having fun chewing up the scenery at any given opportunity, but the fanciful and extreme measures taken to amuse jolts far too often, thrusting you out of the picture in the process.

  • Saul Muerte

The Pope’s Exorcist is available to Rent or Buy from Jul 19.

Movie Review: Pensive (2023)

15 Saturday Jul 2023

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Carrying the candle for the first slasher movie to be filmed in Lithuania, director Jonas Trukanas draws inspiration from one of the keystone features from the genre, Friday the 13th and its iconic killer, Jason. Mainly the artistry is built around a group of kids in a remote location and being picked off one by one by a masked assailant. Pensive makes its own mark in its fresh and original approach to the field; a protagonist who is far from likeable and in danger of being lost in a sea of ordinary.

We begin with an introduction to our intended victims; a group of classmates at the height of their graduation with all eyes on the after party. Everyone seems to have an identity, a mark that makes them stand out from the crowd. All that is except Marius (Sarunas Rapolas Meliesius) who has walked through life without anyone really noticing him. Even his own mother and father have lost interest in him. If it wasn’t for his best friend Vytas (Povilas Jatkevicius), he would simply not exist. So, when the proposed location for the party (organised by the budding athlete and alpha male of the group, Rimas (Kipras Masidluskas) falls through, Marius sees an opportunity to to not only rise in his classmates estimations but also win the heart of Brigita (Gabija Bargailate). Marius learns of a cottage through his mother’s estate agency that would be perfect, and so our journey begins. Will it be one of redemption or ruin?
When they arrive, it seems like paradise for the partying to ensue, but there are these strange wooden sculptures, which serve as the instrument of destruction and the resurrection of a killer, lurking in the woods.

The Prognosis:

By thrusting a nobody at the heart of the carnage, questions will be raised about a protagonist’s approach to be somebody at the detriment of those around him. This makes Pensive a noteworthy entry into the slasher genre and one that potentially provides Lithuania with not just its first entry but one that provides a bold new direction.

  • Saul Muerte

Pensive is screening at the A Night of Horror International Film Festival on Saturday, September 30th at 9.30pm. It is screening with short features, Red Wedding, and My Scary Indian Wedding.

Movie review: Quicksand (2023)

14 Friday Jul 2023

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDa5b2xf75Y

The latest offering from Shudder’s original and exclusive platform pits marriage as the focus of turmoil and lurking doom.

The subject of marriage has been one placed under high scrutiny over the years with a high statistic of failure across the board. With such a great percentage deemed to expire within a short time frame, it seems perfect fodder for the horror genre to play with. The notion then to thrust a troubled couple Sofia (Carolina Gaitan) and Josh (Allan Hawco) literally into a quicksand , where any hope for survival is as slim as their relationship prospects is one ripe for exploration. If you pardon the expression, there’s depth to be explored, if the characters are strong in substance (as the more detail unearthed during their trepidation, the more likely we will side with their plight and will for them to pull through.

The first trick that the director Andres Piltran has to achieve this goal is to make the ordeal believable and to get our lead characters to land themselves in the titular quicksand. There’s a lot of leg work needed to get to this point, partly in building up Sofia and Josh’s backstory, casting them on a hiking trip through a Colombian rainforest  This is by no means an unusual location, as not only is this a place familiar to Sofia, but both are present to run a lecture at the local university. With time to spare beforehand, they decide to venture into the jungle and as seasoned hikers, have no fears about what lay ahead, little knowing that the weather and darker elements will lead them to confront a more tragic and troublesome conflict, each other. Can their relationship survive or will it be at the cost of one of their lives?

The Prognosis:

Both Gaitan and Hawko provide compelling depictions of their character, and Director Piltran does their best to weed out a decent thriller in a fairly rigid script. It’s hard for the talent on show to wriggle out of such a tight and singular point in time. With more depth applied to the narrative and indeed each character’s perspectives, then the journey towards the climax would have been easier to endure. Ultimately this is no easy task to pull off and Piltran has just enough experience to keep it on the right side of bearable.

  • Saul Muerte

Quicksand is currently streaming on ShudderANZ.

Movie review: Run Rabbit Run (2023)

11 Tuesday Jul 2023

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Run Rabbit Run begins with an incredible vista of shallow flooded plains, white bark trees protrude out of the sheen, it’s an incredible and eerie sight. We find our lead, Sarah (played by Succession’s Sarah Snook), lying on a muddy bank. There is no indication of what has happened but it is a foreboding promise, a promise which the film never really keeps.

Flashing back we learn that Sarah is a healthcare worker specialising in fertility, she is co-parenting her daughter Mia (Lily Latore), nicknamed Bunny, with her ex-husband (Damon Herriman) who is starting a new family with his partner; and Sarah’s father has recently passed away. This full serving of life is only intensified when a white rabbit appears on their front doorstep which Mia adopts in more ways than one. Making a crude pink rabbit mask (that serves are the main imagery used in the films marketing), Mia begins her transformation into “Creepy Horror Kid”, insisting that she is actually named Alice (the news of Sarah’s younger sister who had disappeared when they were children). Mia regularly haunts doorways and windows watching Sarah, drawing disturbing drawings on the backs of all of her art projects and insists that she wants to see her “real mother”. Sarah relents and takes Mia to visit her grandmother, who is living in an aged care facility, suffering from dementia. As the film progresses Sarah is pulled further back into her past as her mind unravels.

Written by Australian author Hannah Kent (her first feature screenplay) and directed by Daina Reid (The Handmaid’s Tale, The Secret River), the film is a poetic, almost lyrical exploration of grief and guilt and feels very literary. There a few key allusions to Alice in Wonderland, that feel like they may spiral into something more fantastical but never do. For the duration, the movie walks a fine line of madness and metaphor that may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The horror tropes that are deployed are well trodden ground and may even feel a little uninspired. It’s hard to keep The Babadook out of your mind while watching Run Rabbit Run, the same kind of motherly decedent into grief and guilt stricken madness is explored but where The Babadook thrived in creating its own mythology and closed circuit world, Run Rabbit Run feels more scatter shot.

Cinematographer Bonnie Elliott (These Final Hours, The Turning) creates such a rich atmosphere and features some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve seen in an Australian film, the flood plains, the rivers, cliffside beach. Elliot and Reid showcase and integrate the landscapes into the film, there is no feeling of them being tacked-on second unit shots. It is a wonderful advertisement for Victorian tourism, which is a bit of a backhanded complement for a horror film.

The Prognosis:

Ultimately the film is beautifully shot, strongly performed and manages to carry a sense of dread throughout most of the run time, giving us a few solid scares, but it feels like a shallow adaptation of a book with so many threads that deserve more investigation and a hollowness that the prose would certainly fill. 2.5/5

  • Oscar Jack

Movie review: Insidious: The Red Door

07 Friday Jul 2023

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Movie review: Insidious: The Red Door

It’s been 10 years since Lee Whannell created a universe that opened up a portal into The Further. There’s been a further three instalments since then to expand on the disturbing journey which has seen The Lamberts face untold evil beyond the realms of our known realm; we’ve shared the pains of loveable medium Elise (Lyn Shaye) and her struggles to rid the torment of the lady in black; and the goofy sidekicks, Specs (Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson) to supply the chuckles amongst the sinister and creepy paranormal events that unfold.

Where there has been ups and downs in the franchise so far, straying deeper into the world in order to flesh out and lure audiences back into the fold, arguably the creative have struggled to recapture the initial vision set out by Whannell combined with the directorial eye of James Wan.

The horror genre has always been one for experimentation though and often has provided a vessel for those to try out new things in order to create or spark the imagination, so when the news came that there would be a fifth instalment, it didn’t come with groans or grimaces as it not only posed the question of what happened to the Lamberts following attempts to suppress the memories of patriarchal figure, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins), but it also offers Wilson the opportunity to sit in the Director’s chair. Wilson is ripe with experience before the lens, and has been as close to the source material throughout the past years, so is in prime position to carry the lantern back into The Further once more.

The premise is something of a double-edged sword however, as there was so much balance placed on the Lambert’s upheaval and band-aid solution to sealing up The Further from their lives, that it is inevitable when returning to this world that there will need to be a shift in equilibrium. 

Whannell returns once more to helm writing duties alongside his creative partner Scott Teems to weave a story that examines what happens when we repress our emotions and in this case the connection to astral projections. We learn that Josh’s mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) has passed on, along with some secrets that she thought she had taken to the grave; and Josh and Renai (Rose Byrne) have separated, which is a little predictable, but also inevitable when repression has been forced and skeletons welded in the closet, or behind the red door. With the relationship strained, so too has Josh and his son Dalton. What once was a bond united by their paranormal abilities, has been severed along with their binding. The impact that this has takes its toll and seeps to the surface at a key point in Dalton’s life; leaving the family home to go to University.

As Dalton tries to find himself in his art studies, unlocking the very thing that has been kept at bay, Josh goes in search for the reason his world has been turned upside down, and the reason behind his foggy mind. Both these pursuits will take them on a dangerous turn, that could take them on a descent from which not only will contain their souls but will come at the cost of those they hold dear.

The Prognosis:

While there is still promise contained within the world of The Further, this could be one step too far for the Lamberts. There is a decent plot at hand, crafted by Patrick Wilson for his feature length directorial debut and Whannel offers another venture into the world with his penmanship.

On face value, it works, but delve a little deeper and you soon realise it lacks the chemistry of the first film. The absence of Wan is noticeable, and the humour is a little too forced in places. Without the heart and soul of what initially drew us to Insidious, we’re left stumbling around in the dark, waiting for someone to flick on the corpse light and lead us back home.

  • Saul Muerte

Insidious: The Red Door is currently screening at cinemas nationwide.