Category Archives: Movie review

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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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.

Movie review: The Tank (2023)

27 Tuesday Jun 2023

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Creature features are always a bold enterprise to undertake; reveal the beast to soon and you lose all suspension of disbelief; bring the creature into the fold too late, you may lose the interest of the viewer; and if once it is revealed, the monster has to satiate one’s desires or lose impact entirely. Thankfully writer, director Scott Walker (The Frozen Ground) is in good hands for his sophomore feature length outing, teaming up with Weta Workshop to bring the wretches to life on the screen. 

To harness his vision, Walker fuels the narrative with a small family unit, thrust into the wilderness against a dark presence to tie our interests and connect with them in their plight.

When we meet the trio of father, Ben (Matt Whelan – Narcos); mother, Jules (Lucianne Buchanan – The Night Agent); and daughter Reia (Zara Nausbaum) they are fighting to make ends meet in a rundown pet store, when they inherit an abandoned coastal property with its own secluded beachfront. What seems like an opportunity to reap from their new abode, the family look to fix it up and sell for a tidy profit, but there is something sinister lurking beneath them. As Ben sets to work repairing the water tank that is tied to the property and reconnecting the fresh water supply, Jules begins to unearth a disturbing past that is tied to the house and Ben’s family. What lies dormant, finds new life and begins to rise to the surface, stalking and laying claim to its territory. 

As Walker carves out a fairly satisfactory tale, building up atmosphere and introducing neighbouring characters that can be suitably killed off by the wee beastie, he also chooses the approach of saving the creature reveal until the characters on screen have time to be established. The indicators set up to the final climax are a little easy to spot however, including initiating Jules’ own strength and resilience earlier on when we witness her capturing a pet rat in the afore-mentioned pet store. Sure she can handle herself against smaller creatures but how will she fare when she comes face to face with a far greater foe? 

The Prognosis:

There is plenty to draw you in on the surface value, with strong performances, beautiful scenery, and decent creature effects, and the story weaves an ecological moral with greater depth than The Black Demon deigned to inflict upon us. The execution however, stays a little too close to predictability with some of the plot choices. It’s engaging enough however and sits nicely in the middle of the road. playing it safely, placing the family under threat, despite not offering anything new.

  • Saul Muerte

The Tank is currently streaming on Shudder.

Movie review: Bad Girl Boogey (2023)

23 Friday Jun 2023

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Alice Maio Mscksy is fast making conversation with her much needed voice for the transgender community. Where she made a significant impact with her low budget directorial feature debut, So Vam, Mackay has evidently built on her learning to tackle her next outing, Bad Girl Boogey with a lot more swagger, and a tightly knit package from which to orchestrate her vision. There is still some edge to her guerilla style shooting tactics though to ground the supernatural narrative into a believable world, as she weaves a topical and relevant dialogue with characters that ooze raw appeal.

Using the slasher genre as her playing field, Mackay is able to cut to the bone on a subject that seems close to the heart; one of oppression and ostracisation. Where So Vam focused on the victimisation of drag queen culture through vampiric lore, Bad Girl Boogey opens up the vein of societies’ so-called misfits to expose the dark side that all of humanity is vulnerable to. In fact, the facade that is placed on the characters and us voyeurs to the ordeal, make us all subjectable to the atrocities when we are left to feed on these human deficiencies while  it is left to fester. We have masks that we wear, to try and conform to society, but if we rely on hiding behind them and not facing up to what it means to have empathy and understanding of our fellow People, then we’ll be forever doomed as a society.

As we follow our lead protagonist, Angel (Lisa Fanto) following her own traumatic experience in the wake of losing her mother from a brutal murder. The trauma that Angel carries with her is still crude in its healing, and has left her drifting through life. It also leads her on the path of a deranged killer, who wears a parasitic mask, fuelled by dark magic to curse anyone who should wear it. If this isn’t a metaphor for Mackay’s whole agenda, I’m not sure what is. The audience are then treated to a troubling tale that identifies us all as potential killers unless we face up to the demons of a traumatic or scarred past and deal with it head on. The darkness can shed light on our most harboured trepidations and give rise to greater fears, but in doing so fosters conversation and in some cases hope. Alice is forced to do so when her best friend is killed and is suddenly subjected to overcoming her struggles, find the killer, and stop them before all those she holds dear are left in the toils of malice.

The Prognosis:

Alice Maio Mackay’s sophomore feature is just as painful and raw as her predecessor, but armed with knowledge and a strong core message, she manages to craft a tale that resonates. The gritty and dark side of humanity is exposed behind the mask we all wear, and Mackay proves once again that she not only has a message to share, but can do so with an impact that will make you sit up and listen. 

  • Saul Muerte

Bad Girl Boogey is currently available on DVD at Umbrella Entertainment while stocks last and will release on digital platforms July 4 and DVD release on July 11 through Dark Star Pictures.

Movie review: The Boogeyman (2023)

20 Tuesday Jun 2023

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We need a name for a genre of horror that features a supernatural Macguffin that latches itself onto someone and puts them through hell, to the – and this can’t be underlined enough – disbelief of all
those around them.
In these films the outcome for the lead actor (or usually actress) is that they die. Or they “beat” the phantom thing only to be taken out in the coda, because these creatures are supernatural herpes.
You can put ém down, but they’ll always come back…
Anyway – we can cite a number of these movies, which I’ll leave Saul Muerte to fill out…

Gee, thanks Ant, I’m guessing from your description that you’re talking about Supernatural Horrors. In which case, here’s a bunch of descent ones… (SAUL)

  • The Orphanage (2007)
  • The Innkeepers (2011)
  • The Babadook (2014)
  • Under The Shadow (2016)
  • His House (2020)

… but suffice to say The Boogeyman is the latest iteration.
Based on the Stephen King short story of the same name, it follows the above formula to a tee, and so threatens to be a snooze fest of paint-by-numbers proportions. What it does – being an adaptation from the Master of Horror himself, and therefore makes total sense – is make it character focused. Which on paper straight away causes it to be better for the effort alone. Or it would be if it were not for a few irritating touchstone cliches that the film hits pretty hard (but more on that later).
The lead is Sadie Harper (Sophie Thatcher who played the young Regan in The Exorcist TV Series) – a teenage girl whose mother was killed in a car accident a year earlier.
Her father is a psychiatrist, Will (Chris Messina), who of course deals with the passing of his wife by NOT talking about it with his children, which equals cliché #1 – a psyche doc who is terrible at being a
psychologist to his own family.
Sadie has a younger sister – Sawyer (Viven Lyra Blair – Birdbox) – who can’t sleep at night without a nightlight (and is a bed wetter to boot) and of course is afraid of monsters lurking in her closet. (Although not enough to CLOSE the door and barricade it with a chair or anything… but kids are notorious non-planners).
So what happens to these Harpers? Well, the dad gets a visit from a clearly disturbed man wanting
to make a walk-in appointment – Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian – Boston Strangler) (has there EVAH been a more Stephen King sounding name than “Lester Billings”? :P). Lester tells Will his three children have died. The first from what would appear to be natural but tragic circumstance (SIDS) but the other two… not so much.
So of course, all eyes are now on him ala Kathleen Folbigg (for non-Aussie readers out there, please
feel free to Google) and poor Lester is at his wits end. Especially once he reveals that what he believes killed child 2 and 3 was… not of this world…
Once that’s done – Lester, now that he has served his story purpose – promptly kills himself (or DID
HE…..? Dun dun….blaaaaah!!!) and we are off to the races.
Because of course what’s really at play here is a demon like creature that is visible only in shadow. It
attacks you and makes you seem crazy as it’ll only present itself to victims it targets. After running
through Lester’s kids like a laxative through a colon, it soon finds the Harpers a delicious temptation because it likes to zero in on a family struck by natural tragedy (remember the mum?) since such
pain leaves them “vulnerable” (or sum such) and it wants to feed off their terror. I honestly may
have zoned out at that point, ‘cause when do they don’t do that?
Anyway, the stage is set, from small scares to bigger ones, as Sadie & Sawyer slowly believe the
creature is real …to finding out more about it….to fighting off the scepticism of all the disbelieving
side characters around them (including their dad. Natch).
And of course, we get The Plan to defeat the creature, followed by the inevitable climax as we see if
this film is one where the plan works, or doesn’t, or does, then doesn’t… (you know how the
variables go).
Sadie is ably played by Sophie Thatcher and Sawyer is excellently played by Vivien Lyra Blair.
Sadie has a best friend who is a pretty poor one as she aligns herself with a clique of nasty bullies
straight out of the mean-girl formula playbook, and Lester’s distraught wife provides the movie with
the monster exposition scenes that tell us (in vague terms) what it is, and what can be done to kill it.
Although just once it’d be nice for these sorts of films to break the format and have the demon
creature do its shit in front of cops and a news crew. That way a concerted effort can be made to
capture/kill it by more than a single exhausted & terrified protagonist.
Mind you, in this day & age, even if the media filmed such a creature half the world would instantly
brand it fake news.
Maybe that’s what a really smart Boogeyman would (& should) do? Attack its victim by first
confusing them, and then gaslighting them. Big time.

The Prognosis.

Starts slow. Starts cliched. Starts too hard. But you do stick around to see how it ends.

  • Antony Yee

Movie review: Aged (2023)

16 Friday Jun 2023

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Anubys Lopez (Those Who Call) has been slowly crafting stories that unfold dark and disturbing mysteries for the low budget horror film scene. His sophomore feature, Aged, is no exception building a slow, tense thriller with a harrowing climax. 

There are paranormal elements at play, constantly lurking beneath the surface of the narrative, be it spiritual or fantastical. These facets unfold with bitterness, shifting and changing the audiences’ perspective and leading us to a conclusion that poses questions around your character allegiance. 

Veronica Grey (Morgan Boss-Maltais – Stray) seems to be drifting through life with no clear direction. Her name even suggests how she may have faded from her surroundings, becoming pale in contrast to what life can offer. So when she is offered a temporary job as a caregiver for the elderly Mrs. Bloom (Carla Kidd – Black Widow Murders) from her son Charles (Dave McClain – The Curse of Professor Zardonicus) she reluctantly sets off for the remote abode. When she arrives all appears well, but before too long, the nooks and crannies start to expose a sinister and supernatural force at play.

The Prognosis:

Aged drifts along at a painfully slow pace, and the quiet and solitude of the sound editing echoes with unnerving stillness at the sacrifice of the script. 

The performances are solid, despite the dialogue proving weak in places, there is a powerful conclusion that sparks a strong and definitive resolution.

  • Saul Muerte

Aged is available on streaming platforms from June 15.

Movie review: Brooklyn 45 (2023)

04 Sunday Jun 2023

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I wonder if there will ever be a time when the word Nazi or its image will ever be the go-to for symbolic evil? While WWII was one of the darkest times on human history, the subject is something of a tired cliche and almost lazy int the realms of Horror.

Having said that, I like the approach that Director/writer Ted Geoghegan (We Are Still Here; Mohawk) goes for in order to twist our expectations by trapping his characters in a sealed room during a seance. Not only does this amplify the tension and play with the concept of life in the trenches, but also exposes the darkest secrets through post-war trauma at its heart.

All five characters that unite are military veterans and all have experienced the trepidation of war in their own unique way. So when one of their group, Lt. Col. Clive Hockstatter (Larry Fessenden – Depraved) invites them to his place, in the wake of his wife’s passing, the childhood friends drop it all to be with him. Little do they know that Hockstatter has plans to reunite with his love through the psychic medium of a seance. Once they have opened the portal to the other side, other forces come into play and the group are forced to expose their demons or spend their eternity in psychotic limbo. What extremes will they go to to win ther freedom and at what cost, in this microscopic scrutiny of humanity.

The feature takes some time to ramp up to the seance in question with characters that are a little hard to engage with. It feels a little forced and laboured to get to this point but once it does, the shifts and changes start to resonate and a truly harrowing ordeal lay before them. By the films’ conclusion you’re even left pondering the choices made and whether we can ever be forgiven for our sins. Is redemption possible no matter how disturbing our past actions may be?

The Prognosis:

You have to be patient with this potboiler as it can be quite easy to zone out in the first act. If you stick with it though, an entertaining period crime drama starts to sizzle with nice effects and strong performances from Anne Ramsay, Fessenden and the cast.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: The Black Demon (2023)

03 Saturday Jun 2023

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The Black Demon threatened to dominate the big screen cinemas with its theatrical trailer and megladon of epic proportions tied in with a family under threat vibe. The casting of Josh Lucas as its lead was also a relatively safe choice as he knows how to deliver in front of the camera. Yet the appointment of Director Adrian Grunberg was a worrying one despite being no stranger to action he clearly struggles with a decent execution if Rambo: Last Blood was anything to go by.

Oilman Paul Sturges has grand plans for an idyllic family holiday off the coast of Baja, Mexico whilst combining with a job trip to quality check an oil rig called “El Diamante’. The name given to this derrick should serve as a metaphor for the film; a facade that is all glitz and no glamour.

Likewise Sturges is not all he seems to be, harbouring a secret that has helped fuel the lifestyle that he has provided for his family.

The location itself is one that Sturges and his wife Ines (Fernanda Urrejola) hold strong memories with, having shared some quality time there, but upon arrival they find that it has been run to the ground and unsavoury characters are ruling the roost. 

While the family in peril provides the bait for viewers to hook onto, the mode that we are expected to traverse soon becomes tiresome and predictable and this paint by numbers approach to the story combined with dire dialogue is tiring to watch unfold. While I applaud the idea of the local paganistic views being explored, this theme is saturated by the ecological viewpoints of the writers, who continuously ram them down our throats to the point that you wish they just take us out of our misery with a carefully triggered shot with a strategically placed scuba tank. Instead we’re subjected to painfully overplayed fodder with a mega shark that only casually graces us with an appearance when the tension needs to be mounted. 

The Prognosis:

The films’ creatives need to seriously go back to the drawing board and reevaluate their storytelling methods because this film is seriously going to need a bigger plot. 

The Black Demon slaps its morals and predictable narrative round the face like a… a 60ft gigantic megaladon.

  • Saul Muerte

The Black Demon is in cinemas from June 8th and streaming on VOD from June 21st.