The Retreat marks an important entry into the genre scene with its representation of queer scene without subjecting either of its lead characters to being a perpetrator, hellbent on revenge. Instead it flips this archaic notion by having the LGBTQi community the subject of eradication by a group of people who wish to rid them from society by means of gruesome torture. There are times I was guilty of second guessing the film’s direction expecting it to sink to predictability by having a twist in one of our lead characters that would reveal them to be the instrument of torment. Thankfully however, Director Pat Mills along with writer Alyson Richards play it straight down the line with the focus on the couples’ relationship and the test that they must endure in order to survive, united or doomed to failure.
The film however does fall foul of tripping over the usual tropes in its representation of our protagonist couple, where one has commitment issues and the other is hoping for more from her partner to cement their future together. Renee (Tammie-Amber Pirie) has some depth to her character as the more reserved partner, potentially harbouring some old wounds or trauma. As the story pans out there is intrigue to be found in her past with a hardened past that could also be her strength if she is able to overcome her demons. Valerie (Sarah Allen) however is a little two-dimensional at times with her optimistic outlook on life, which is set to be quashed if she is to endure the ordeal.
On a weekend getaway, Renee and Valerie set off for the idyllic retreat, only to find this bnb style hideaway is nothing but a trap to lure non-heterosexual people into a lair of uncertain return. The tormentors then inflict all kinds of pain and punishment on the victims while filming it for their own sadistic means.
The Prognosis:
The Retreat treads lightly in an all-too-familiar terrain, but is bold enough to place a queer couple at the helm of this survival torture horror. The narrative is enjoyable enough, despite being content with a middle of the road affair. It would have been interesting to go deeper with the characters and provide a more meaningful journey for them to take on their road of endurance.
Luke Boyce has steadily been making a name for himself in the film industry behind the camera as a director or producer, namely in making promos for the big sporting teams of Chicago. His latest outing sees him in the Director’s chair for his first feature length movie and with a promising hook.
The premise has a stripper, Angie (Caito Aase) trapped in a peep show booth along with a religious protester, Sally (Shaina Schrooten) when the world is hit by an apocalyptic event. Oh and it has a retro fit of 1980s Chicago as a setting for good measure.
Unfortunately, the film struggles to meet these bold expectations, providing the audience with tired and two-dimensional characters for us to champion their desire for survival.
If you’re going to have a primarily two person feature to keep you captivated for 1hr and 26 mins, then you have to provide a weighty script with characters that have depth to their personalities.
All of this is sadly lacking and we’re left with a lacklustre narrative that is far from apocalyptic.
Our two leads manage to fight their way out of said phone booth when faced with a zombie, only to be tested further when they venture into a labyrinth of snake type nasties in an underground world. This underbelly of Chicago feels like a cheap attempt to replicate the upside down in Stranger Things. The effects are fairly good however, showing that there is promise in Boyce’s vision, and that hope may lay in his next feature, Revival.
For Revealer though, these tests of mental will and endurance seem pale and much like the story itself, on a road to nowhere.
The Prognosis:
There are nuggets of potential in this flick but too often the dialogue is weak and doesn’t offer enough to support a decent premise.
Described as the world’s pre-eminent stop motion animator, Phil Tippett has been harnessing his craft through such fine works as the original Star Wars trilogy; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; Robocop; and Dragonslayer.
Such is the talent that he brings to his craft, a long dormant vision, 30 years in the making, has finally come to fruition, thanks in part to a kickstarter campaign to aid in the funding.
Mad God is a beautifully bleak dystopian tale filled with a blend of industry, machine-like creatures, in tune with the organic infestations that embody the landscape.
This outlook is something straight out of the insane mind of Dr. Frankenstein, with some of these creatures born out of assembled body parts, adding to its appeal.
Whilst I do love the artform of stop animation, it can deter in places and feel fragmented as a result. Mad God can feel like this at times when viewing which can be due to the production time frame.
Weaving together these surreal images is The Assassin, shrouded in a jacket and a gas mark, who is charged with a mission to destroy the world as we know it. His journey of descent into an inferno of lust, power, greed, and the destruction of life is a cyclical and hellish one. It bears a light on the shadowy side of humanity, forcing the viewer to face its brutality.
The Prognosis:
Through all its fragments and destruction, is beauty and evolution at its core. Director Phil Tippet is a master of his craft and his labour of love is a must see for all fans of stop animation.
The dystopian landscape is a visually striking and harrowing masterpiece that captures the dark heart of humanity in a way that this style of art form and an auteur of his field can truly supply.
Having launched into the film industry as an intern through hit or miss horror production studio, Blumhouse, Mickey Keating has now directed six feature films including Darling, Carnage Park, and Pod.
HIs latest outing, Offseason, now streaming on Shudder, much like his other movies is drenched in inspirational nods to the films of yester-year. Most notable here is 1973’s Messiah of Evil, a supernatural horror that follows the pursuit of a young woman’s lost father.
Similarly here, we journey alongside Marie (Jocelin Donahue) who receives a letter to attend to her mother’s grave, which has been vandalised on a remote island. Accompanying her is George, played by a criminally underused Joe Swanberg (You’re Next), known for his involvement with the mumblegore movement. It’s important to stress this link because much like those movies a similar style is at play with a guerilla style improvisation in the dialogue that never quite hits the mark on this occasion.
Once the couple brave the storm and cross the only bridge from the mainland, they encounter a strange and isolated town that strikes as if it was pulled straight out of Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth. There are legends of a demonic creature from the sea, a cult that are ensnared by his command, and all this ties to a pact that involves Marie’s deceased mother. Are these all figments of a deranged collective? Or is there truth to it all, and Marie is part of a trap, lulled to fulfil a prophecy?
It is clear that Keating has a vision in mind with some stylistic set pieces that weave together Marie’s plight into a strange world. There are moments of promise, but in his execution Keating fails to string together these moments of confusion to form any sense of clarity. We, like Marie, end up lost in the exposition, struggling to navigate our way towards the films conclusion with any sense of satisfaction.
The Prognosis:
Despite having a great calibre of actors to fill his cast, Director Mickey Keating struggles to harness any weight to this Lovecraftian inspired horror.
There are some promising set pieces but it fails to produce any cohesiveness and instead wallows in its narrative mire.
The My Super Psycho Sweet 16 TV movie trilogy aside, Director Jacob Gentry has been slowly carving out credible genre movies that have been entertaining the On Demand platform audiences. His latest outing, Broadcast Signal Intrusion has tapped into the mainstream with its eerie psychological elements that has been likened to the works of Cronenberg the elder, notably Videodrome as both movies deal with underground conspiracies and the infiltration of what is now an aged medium, the video tape. The similarities end there however, as all due respect to Gentry, he ain’t Cronenberg and lacks the in-depth intelligence that the directing auteur brings to his work and the study of the human mind and the physical degradation/rehabilitation of our species with that of another entity.
Gentry is able to play a little on the psyche though, with this slow burner investigation into these mysterious and sinister pirate broadcasts that have infiltrated transmission stations. The trouble I found though is that the eerie and strange was set far better in Channel Zero’s Candle Cove. The masked presence in the videos does shock but fails to go deeper with the scares and flatlines with every other appearance. The 90s setting also helps to set the mood and provide an ample backdrop to the narrative, which sees video archivist James (Harry Shum Jr. – Crazy Rich Asians) driven by obsession to unearth the mystery behind these dissemations.
James himself, plagued by his past, seems set on this Sisyphus-like pursuit and is damned by the consequences. He is heeded numerous times by those he encounters along the way but is hellbent in ploughing ahead regardless.
There are some choice decisions that James makes along the way that does make the audience question why he is so insistent in finding the truth and some of the reason behind this is provided to a degree but like the plot, it’s thinly veiled and lacks substance. This is in essence, the movie’s achilles heel; not enough smoke to hide the plots and twists of intrigue. And thus it falls short and struggles to keep our attention.
The Prognosis:
There is promise here from Director Jacob Gentry, but the psychological horror is left wanting, content to skim across the surface without delving to the darkest depths. There is enough to play with the senses only to be let down by a fairly straight forward conclusion followed by an odd twist component.
Saul Muerte
Broadcast Signal Intrusion is available to own or rent from AppleTV, Microsoft Store and Google Play in Australia & NZfrom March 30.
While I may not have been the most athletic kid growing up, I did enjoy taking part in games. Be it in physical sports or the tabletop board games.
For their latest Exclusive and Original features, Shudder have launched Italian director Roberto Zazzara’s film The Bunker Game onto their platform.
The premise is that a Live Action Role Playing Game set around the rise of the Third Reich buried underground and living the life of the Nazi’s regime. When the games’ creator disappears, the line between game and reality blends and the players are forced into a battle for survival.
The idea of a live action role-playing game seems ripe for a bloody scene. By playing with the idea of realism the game and the horror element is heightened but the problem comes from no clear understanding of what the rules of this game may be. Is it set in the now, or a warped future where the Reich have sneaked underground with the means of a new uprising? Or is this world merely the stuff of some rich man’s playground? By throwing into the mix, a paranormal element that could be behind everything, then we start to get into really murky and convoluted territory.
This isn’t the only real issue however, as both characters and the performances therein are borderline dry. There’s two-dimensions and then there’s flatline. The writers couldn’t do much more in order to shirk their audience away from the content. The narrative is like wading through treacle, but unfortunately nothing sticks so that by the films conclusion we’re beyond caring about whatever they may have concocted to draw the movie to a close.
The Prognosis:
Unfortunately, March hasn’t been too kind for horror streaming platform Shudder. So far the exclusive and original content has been underwhelming. In the case of The Bunker Game, it simply struggles to hold your interest and falls on so many crucial elements along the way.
Last week I joined up with fellow Surgeon Myles Davies to watch Ti West’s latest turn behind the camera with his seventies inspired horror slasher flick, X.
A couple of days later, my colleague fired up the following tweet to cast his judgement before the world.
I went to a screening of this awesome new slasher last night and holy moly if this is not the best horror of 2022 then it’ll probably be it’s sequel – due out later in the year… fans of horror, this is a must-see!! https://t.co/Lg2tkRvyZD
But what prompted this response from our slasher surgeon guru?
What compelled him to go Cujo frothing crazy?
Was he merely spouting foreign tongue, possessed by Satan’s work?
Or was there a method to the madness and perhaps people should sit up and take note of his prophecy?
Well, let’s throw the beast onto the mortician’s slab and dissect the film to get to the heart of it.
It’s been about six years since West sat in the directors chair for a feature length movie, and his subject of choice is a love song to the late sixties and early seventies with the infusion of sex and slasher horror.
There are obvious nods to the porno scene that had infiltrated the movie Plex with films such as Debbie Does Dallas, opening to dorr for adventurous and risky filmmakers to make their mark with cheap, low budget, guerrilla style approach to the medium.
Similarly the slasher scene was starting to raise its head, notably through The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, directed by Tobe Hooper and from which West draws the bulk of his inspiration from.
West is clearly a man who knows his field though with suitable nods to Hitchcock’s Psycho, Kubrick’s The Shining, and even early 80s horror flick Alligator.
X follows a group of young filmmakers intent on making an adult movie that could launch them to stardom; whether it was through escapism, to be famous, or for the money. Leading the stakes with that certain X factor is Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), a stripper and pornographic film actress. Joining her on their filming expedition is her boyfriend and producer Wayne (Martin Henderson), fellow actors Bobby Lynne (Brittany Snow), and Jackson Hole (Kid Cudi), Director RJ (Owen Capbell), and his girlfriend Lorraine (Jenny Ortega).
Their choice of location happens to be a farmhouse in Texas (of course) and much like its inspiration, there’s more than meets the eye from its occupants, but not necessarily how you would expect… an elderly couple. Pearl (also Goth) is unwilling to let go of her sexuality just because of her age; and Howard (Stephen Ure) who will stop at nothing to satisfy her needs, but time may not be on his side.
There is a fine line between pleasure and pain, and all it takes is one simple flip to turn our intrepid pioneers in filmmaking to be pushed into a world where they may not return from. Once the characters and setting take hold, West then lets loose with a slasher frenzy of delight, painting his celluloid brush with the artistic style and grace that the genre lends its name from, dabbing from a palette of iconic horror visuals to stimulate the audience with.
X is more than a homage to films of yester-year though as West immediately lures us in with the style from the era, both visually and auditorily, scintillating the senses. As he subjects us to the charm of the movie, West then pulls us in further with rich characterisation, who on face value appear to be stereotypes of the decade, but beneath the surface are more than their appearance depicts. In fact, West’s masterstroke is in forcing the viewer to look beneath the surface of these characters, delving deep into their personalities and forcing their true selves to the fore. The biggest component that Wast dapples with is the social stigma that age has on society, and how sex can diminish when time plays its part on us all. Does age damage the psyche? When we are left with our souls, and our body begins to fail us, what makes us worthy then when we aren’t able to let go of our sensuality?
The Prognosis:
So what is the conclusion? Is this as Myles states, a potential contender for horror film of the year?
Ti West serves up a beautifully shot movie that sparks nostalgia and awakening to the slasher genre. The performances, especially from Mia Goth in her dual role are an absolute delight. And the slow burn tension that flicks with humour and horror is perfectly balanced throughout the film. Plus the use of age and fear of ageism in the wake of losing one’s sexuality as the central theme is a bold but rewarding one.
West has always proved to be a quiet achiever from the mumblegore movement, but deserves more praise for his efforts.
X has just elevated his profile further and with the promise of turning the movie into a trilogy and a prequel called Pearl due later in the year, West could very well have made the best horror film of the year. Stay tuned 2022.
A few weeks ago the horror streaming platform Shudder released The Seed as part of their Exclusive and Original content.
The film sees Sam Walker in the director’s chair for the first time overseeing a feature length movie, and is centred in the Mojave desert where 3 girls are settling in for a weekend retreat. Their plans however, would be disrupted due to a bizarre alien invasion.
The choice of location may seem a strange choice but is packed with promise for it’s remoteness and ripe with tapping into dealing with a crisis when isolated from society.
What surprised me though is that The Seed gets swamped in vacuousness, both in narrative and character depth. There is simply nothing here for the audience to grab hold of.
The girls in question are some of the most frustrating characters I’ve seen on screen in some time with no redeeming features whatsoever, particularly from Deidrie (Lucy Martin) and Heather (Sophie Vavaseur).
These so called friends are so self-consumed (which I get is the point) that any grace we would have for their predicament dies along with their performances. Any vein attempt to dilute their negative energy with our lead protagonist Charlotte (Chelsea Edge) who at least has some sense and is in touch with reality, is lost in the mirth of pained scripting choices.
What is does boast is some creditability in the effects department, creating some suitably gross visual creature effects in the alien life forms design. If this is anything to go by there is still potential from Sam Walker to produce something worthy, but we’re too bogged down by it’s obvious weaknesses for this area alone to warrant any high praise.
The Prognosis:
Quite simply, this movie is dull and lifeless
The characters propel you from the narrative and there is little care to hold your attention beyond some fairly decent visuals.
When looking ahead at the horror movies set to be released throughout 2022, I didn’t predict that a film released through Hulu would set the benchmark in a cannibalistic, black comedy sub-genre with its Disney umbrella hat on.
Adam McKay, known for his time as head writer for Saturday NIght Live produced this film for Mimi Cave’s directorial debut. With Lauryn Kahn on screenwriting duties, we’re provided with a creative team that are able to tap into a vibrant, and at times brutally shocking script.
As the movie begins, we follow Noa (Daisy Edgar Jones) as she struggles to meet the right guy though online dating sites. When Noa has a chance encounter at a grocery store with Steve (Sebastian Stan), and a little flirting, there is the illusion that she has found Mr. Right after all.
It takes the first half an hour of playing in a rom-com domain before Cave takes a drastic turn in proceedings when Steve suggests a trip away with just the two of them. What could easily slip into the usual kidnapping, hostage scenario with a leaning into Stockholm syndrome is delivered on a much harder palette to swallow when it is revealed that Steve has a penchant for human flesh. This rather sadistic twist proves to be a strong benefit to the film’s narrative, forcing the viewer to grimace at the premise with morbid fascination and the lengths that Noa must endure to win her potential freedom. Despite her ordeal, Kahn slices up some delightful passages of dark humour that are handled and performed with delicacy, and at times during surprisingly warm scenes that conflict with the drama of the moment.
There is hope and despair, implemented with a friend everyone wishes they had looking out for them in Mollie (Jonica T. Gibbs), who also discovers that Steve harbours another life with his wife, Ann (Charlotte Le Bon), but how much does his wife really know? And what dangers lie beyond if Mollie dares to proceed with her pursuit in finding Noa?
The Prognosis:
Fresh is so much more than your average psychological, survival thriller. It is delivered with heart, soul, and a dash of dark humour that pushes the notion of survival to the extreme. It leaves you questioning just how much you would go to in order to outwit your assailant when your ass is literally on the line and on the dinner table.
Highly impressive outing from Mimi Cave who proves that she can offer a film that has edge, thrills and lighted-hearted moments in the darkest of scenarios.
As the first quarter of an hour rolls by in Damien Power’s sophomore outing in the director’s chair, I was immediately lulled into a false sense of security and my expectations of what lay in store was grossly misunderstood on my part. I should have known better, as Power has more than proved himself in the dark thriller terrain with his debut feature Killing Ground; a must watch if you haven’t caught it yet.
Part of my initial interpretation of the early moments in the film fell to my preconception that I had the movie pegged, or should I say the character Darby Thorne (Havana Rose Liu) sussed as the down and out recovering addict, stuck in rehab without much care for the world around her. So far, so two dimensional.
The trick that Power pulls off here is that nothing is what it appears to be, and no one should be judged on face value.
When Darby hears that her mother has been taken to hospital, she breaks out of rehab, steals a car and hightails her way to try and be by her side, but as the film’s title suggests, to escape is easier said than done. And our demons will always be with us unless we face up to them. Sometimes that takes a crisis to occur in order to shift the balance towards resolution, for good or ill.
The barrier in this instance to Darby’s goal comes with a heavy snowfall and she is encouraged by Corporal Ron Hill to take refuge at the local visitor’s centre until the weather blows over. Begrudgingly she does so and encounters four other refugees seeking shelter; married couple Ed (Dennis Haysbert) and Shandi (Dale Dickey), Ash (Danny Ramirez), and Lars (David Rhysdal). Naturally, when strangers meet there is the awkwardness thrust upon them as they are forced to share the space together. The icebreaker comes in the form of a came of ‘bullshit’; and with it the symbolism inherent throughout where they must try and work out who is telling the truth and who is harbouring a dark secret.
Darby then uncovers one of these secrets when she unwittingly finds a girl tied and bound in the back of one of the vans outside. Now she must work out who is behind this kidnapping and find a way out of this snowbound nightmare.
The Prognosis:
Once again Damien Power proves masterful when it comes to directing a thriller that pulsates along with gripping unease. The balance of power shifts and undulates throughout the film leaving the viewer pondering if there will be any rest for our protagonist. If Darby is to have any hope of doing so, she must battle tooth and nail to do so.
While it falls short in some places, No Exit offers enough ebbs and flows to keep you entertained to its conclusion.
Saul Muerte
No Exit is currently streaming on Disney Plus in Australia
Surgeons of Horror 