Category Archives: Movie review

Movie Review: Koko-di Koko-da

06 Tuesday Apr 2021

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Despite being released in the festival circuits back in 2019, Koko-di Koko-da deserves a bigger audience, and thanks to Shudder’s Exclusive and Original distributions, Swedish director Johannes Nyholm gets to see his sophomore feature receive greater access.

There are some that may instantly be turned away from the subtitles, but if you’re not averse to this, then you’re in for a disturbingly surreal tale about grief.

The film begins with a couple, Tobias and Elin take their daughter, Maja on holiday to the coastal town of Skagen for a holiday. What should be an idyllic occasion soon turns sour though when Maja is struck ill from an allergic reaction to eating seafood. This swiftly becomes fatal and Tobias and Elin are left rocking from this tragedy.

The real holiday begins though three years later when the now estranged couple try to rekindle their relationship, having felt the strain that the loss of their daughter has had on them both. Embittered and self-destructive, the couple have reached their limits, but somehow they find it in themselves to find a way to reunite in one of the most dire things that a couple can do… go camping!

It seems an odd choice considering their torment, as anyone who can attest to that may have gone camping, it’s not the most relaxing of things to do, and can generate ill-feeling when things go awry. 

Driven by the desire to see the trip through, Tobias strays off the road and decides to camp in a remote woodland location. Never a good idea, but they never thought that they would encounter a strange a sideshow troupe made up of an elderly man in a white suit who serves as a sort of emcee to the macabre and twisted events that he forces the couple through; a large muscle man character, and a thin gothic looking woman. 

The nightmare becomes stranger still when it becomes evident that the couple have fallen into some kind of time warp and no matter how hard they try to change the course of events are forced to endure. They must work together and find a path that unites them both and not born out of a selfish need to survive, if they are to make any way out of their suffering.

The Prognosis:

This is definitely one for fans of surreal horror infused with dark comedy. It is stitched together with short shadow play depictions of the grief that lay at the centre of their ordeal, which also slips Koko-di Koko-da into artsy terrain and may turn people away. 

However, I enjoyed the reality that Nyholm plays with the subject of grief and the depth that this can take on the central characters.

It’s an emotion that can send you transcending downward in a spiral of destruction, often willing to subject oneself to the agony and guilt of it all. 

For this, Koko-di Koko-da is a tough but fascinating watch.

  • Saul Muerte 

Movie Review: Stay Out of the Attic (2020)

01 Thursday Apr 2021

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My immediate reaction to the opening 20 minutes of this movie was admittedly a struggle as the performances were grinding and felt forced, painfully trying to shift out of first gear. In many ways it smacked of low-budget b grade execution and I had a moment of wondering if I were going to be able to endure the 80 minute running time. 

The premise of Stay Out of the Attic follows two convicts Imani and Carlos, who are promised a second chance in life outside of prison walls when they work for fellow ex-con Alber Schillinger’s removal company. Each of them have their own demons to exorcise and on their first job get more than they bargained for and are forced to confront their past haunts and misconceptions, which is also incredibly two-dimensional in its delivery.

Filled with hopes over turning a new leaf, the intrepid trio venture into the house where they are greeted by Vern Mueller, an elderly man with a sickening past. Basically he’s a psychologically deranged Nazi medical practioner carrying out fucked up experiments. We later learn that he is practicing the works of Josef Mengele and has been torturing people in both the attic and basement of his house in a crazed search for a rejuvenation serum. 

Mueller manages to trap the trio in his mansion where he then inflicts pain, torture and carnage in order to act out his malicious will. Admittedly this is where Director Jerren Lauder manages to step away from the realm of predictability and serves some delightfully macabre moments. By the time he plays this hand though, the film has already slipped into mediocrity.

The Prognosis:

Stay Out of the Attic is both painful to watch in its failure to deliver anything masterful and gut-wrenching in the manner that it inflicts salacious ways for the main characters to endure. 

Most of the time, it’s incredibly slow and meticulous but there are some glimmers of inspiration that stop this film from being a disaster and hangs on the right side of watchability.

  • Saul Muerte 

Movie review: Lucky (2021)

05 Friday Mar 2021

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Saturday night on Shudder:

It’s Saturday night! Time for a venture onto the Shudder platform with their latest Exclusive and Original feature.

This week’s focus is on Lucky, directed by Natashsa Kermani (Imitation Girl) and starring Brea Grant (Eastsiders), who also took on writing duties for this movie.
Brea stars as May, a self help novelist, who is being stalked on a nightly basis by a threatening figure in her own house.
On face value, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Lucky feels like a standard made-for-tv feature due to its low budget and slow pace in delivery, but the deeper you delve into its narrative, the more complex and smart it becomes.

The character of May is an intriguing one, and as our lead protagonist, serves as a portal into the universe that is created around her. The intricacy involved in the narrative however also rests on this point of view; because we view things through May’s perspective, we are reliant on this depiction of the events that surround, but here’s the ticker… May is a trauma survivor, and trauma itself is an incredibly complex thing. No one person experiences trauma the same way, and as such, can experience fragments of these memories that have mentally scarred her discernment of the world. Like her, the audience is left to put these pieces together and figure out why she keeps seeing this violent presence each night and why those around her become distant and withdrawn, especially her husband Ted (Dhruv Uday Singh).

If you have the patience to journey through these fractured events that May is traversing, it can lead to a climax that has been building throughout the film towards a revelatory conclusion.

Some may spot that conclusion coming, and the dots that are formed slips easily into predictability but in some cases this allows the viewer to scrutinise the message further and for this reviewer, that feels like the most relevant expression that Kermani and Grant are aiming for. A subject that is ripe for conversation and through Lucky have provided a mode of thought that feels like a strong and passionate project on behalf of the creative team.

The Prognosis:

Don’t be misguided by the “artsy” mode of delivery that this film goes for.
Nor the low-budget style of direction that the feature is subjected to.
Lucky is a relevant and poignant film that strides to tackle or expose a subject that we should all be paying attention to and discuss. That subject is trauma and not only the shockingly commonality that violence has become in society, be it domestic or otherwise, but also the absence of support or understanding that is out there for survivors of a traumatic episode.
Often, those victims are termed lucky for surviving their ordeal, but the mental scars that are left over have a resounding effect on all facets of their lives. It can be an isolating experience where it feels like no one can understand what they are going through, and yet with so many cases, why are we not able to address and confront these issues together?
This may sound like a deep analysis of what is on show, but it’s a subject that absolutely needs to be addressed and I think that both Kermani and Grant have produced a solid, entertaining movie that takes on this tough issue and presents a solid representation of what it means to be forced into a world where the remnants of trauma is with us in every waking moment of our lives.

  • Saul Muerte

To listen to the audio review please click the link below:

https://anchor.fm/saul-muerte/embed/episodes/Movie-review-Lucky-2021-ernl7v

Movie review: The Dark and The Wicked

02 Tuesday Mar 2021

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There is an ongoing belief that isolation can have damaging consequences on the human mind. While there are those that repress their emotions and adamantly believe that by placing a rift between ourselves and society or community, we are less likely to encounter any harmful or negative experiences and therefore be safe from the dangers that the world can expose.

And yet the fear of being alone or dying alone is incredibly prominent in some circles and can signify the feeling of a life not yet lived or to the full.
This is why it is often the subject in horror films and can stir the trepidation of being stranded or stuck in the middle of nowhere, far from any hope or signs of life, tormented by an evil presence.
Sometimes this is done well but often can fall prey to horror tropes and jump scares with little or no lasting effect on its audience.

The Dark and The Wicked, the latest Exclusive and Original feature from Shudder is happily from the former and delivers a deeply psychological and disturbing feature.

Set on a secluded farm, two siblings Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott. Jr) return to the family homestead to help their mother (Julie Oliver-Touchstone) with their dying father, whom we are told is at death’s door.

Their mother though appears distraught and disconnected from everyone, and warns the siblings that they shouldn’t have come. Before long, she snaps, cuts off her fingers and then hangs herself.
The siblings are then left trying to figure out what could have possessed their mother with the help of their father’s nurse (Lynn Andrews) that a demonic spirit is trying to take the soul of their father.

Spun out by the overwhelming and perturbing manner in which their mother took her own life and the threat that there may be something dark and sinister lurking in the shadows, that is driven to bring all those in the vicinity into its wake.

Are they experiencing a group hallucination? Is there more to the mysterious priest (Xander Berkley) or has something else taken up residence among them?

The Prognosis:

Director Bryan Bertino (The Strangers) is clearly drawn to the subject of isolation, fractured lives and what the fear of the unknown can have on the psyche.
Here, he crafts and wrangles out every last ounce of agitation from a small, yet strong cast by wallowing them through grief and the brink of despair until they are consumed by their emotions.

It is a slow-burn, but the strenuous ordeal through which both its leads and the audience is drawn through is well worth the payoff.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Sator (2019)

23 Tuesday Feb 2021

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It’s clear to say that Sator was a labour of love for director Jordan Graham who would take six years to complete.
Apparently, this was due to budgetary limitations, and when you are the writer, director, and producer of your sophomore outing in the field, this is completely understanding. Being a lover of the craft, especially one where the vision is clear and the passion evident, I can only applaud Graham’s efforts.

The slow-paced, stylized depiction of Graham’s vision however will not suit everyone’s tastes, and perhaps consider it too “artsy”, especially for mainstream horror lovers.

Shot entirely in black and white, Sator emphasises both fields of being a low-budget film, but looking smart because of the association to ‘highbrow’ entertainment.

Essentially this film is a supernatural occult horror that uses the subject of a broken family as its heart, slowly being ripped apart by Sator, an entity that eats away at each of their souls before it can claim them.

With any known demonic force, it will find the weakest chain and begin to wear it down until it breaks loose and exposes the frailty of us all.

It may be laboriously slow in the manner of its delivery, but Graham’s depiction is masterful in places and the essence of it is incredibly strong and harrowing.

The choice of setting also cements this further as the family are based in a desolate forest, isolated from the real world with only each other to depend upon, but combined with this separated from reality.
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The Prognosis:

It’s said that isolation can lead to depression and dissolution will set in with doubts and self-loathing, all fodder for demonism to take hold and seep its way into the humanity mainstream, fracturing any hope of surviving.

Here Jordan Graham crafts a deeply dark and disturbing tale, which will resonate for some, or find the stylisations too much to bear and ultimately turn them off.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Awoken (2020)

22 Monday Feb 2021

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I gotta say that I was pleasantly surprised by Awoken. I had prejudiced this Horror, Mystery, Thriller on face value because of its quiet film release here in Australia where it premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival and has been subjected to the Straight to Home Entertainment release.

This is an unfair judgement on my behalf though, as Awoken is one of those admittedly middle-of-the-road movies, but it does just enough to keep you hooked and entertained to its conclusion, which is a testament to Director Daniel J. Phillips and his writing partner Alan Grace.

Phillips chooses to keep his setting simple, predominately in one location and in doing so, can heighten the tension surrounding his key players, whilst keeping the budget low.

HIs storytelling is also strong, flicking from past and present with the use of old medical tapes that the research team slowly trickle through to gain an understanding of what they are up against.

And the choice of subject matter in Fatal Familial Insomnia is also one that sparks the imagination of terror in us all as this disorder affects the thalamus, part of the brain structure that controls our emotional expression and can lead to lack of sleep and dementia. 

With a select group of subjects, a small medical team, led by leading doctor, Robert (Erik Thomsen), go all flatliners and try to do some underground research in literally an underground laboratory in the hopes of finding a cure or a breakthrough to help those suffering from this condition. Robert has had previous experience in conducting similar experiments and serves as  the chief advisor and patriarchal figure of the group.

Our lead protagonist, Karla (Sara West – Ash Vs Evil Dead) is one of these medical students, who’s brother Blake (Benson Jack Anthony – Cleverman) suffers from the genetic insomnia condition and is subjected to this observation trial. The clue here is in the genetics component as it its revealed that their mother also had the same condition and was subjected to similar medical trials.

It is through their studies though that things begin to escalate. Cut off from the world above and incredibly sleep deprived, both patients and medics alike begin to hallucinate.

Is this the instabilities of the mind though? Or is there demonic possession at play?

The Prognosis:

Awoken doesn’t break new ground in the realms of science vs religion and suspected demonic possession, but what it does do well is construct a tight knit, well crafted storyline that drip feeds the tension whilst building up the paranoia and uncertainty of reality.

Some of the effects are a bit tried and tested, falling into the fairly predictable terrain, but Director Daniel J. Phillips has carefully positioned the audience into a false sense of security and then dialling up the entertainment level, whilst spinning a strong thriller that poses all the right questions towards a highly amped ending.

Surprisingly good and well worth checking out.

  • Saul Muerte

Awoken is currently streaming on Shudder ANZ

Movie review: Boss Level (2021)

21 Sunday Feb 2021

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Director Joe Carnahan has already shown us the lengths that humankind will go to in order to survive an horrific ordeal in The Grey and Smokin’ Aces.

In his latest offering Carnahan brings a movie that does exactly what it says on the tin: An action-packed, time-loop thrill ride that is filled with humour and plenty of heart.

Carnahan provides his spin on Groundhog Day for the action genre.

The premise is a simple one, but told in a unique twisting delivery of the story that pulsates as it captivates.

Frank Grillo (The Purge franchise) stars as Roy Pulver, a washed up, drinking and desperate man, who despite his cavalier ways, still yearns for the love of his life, Jemma (Naomi Watts).
Pulver is so broken that in his mind, his life is beyond fixing, but that all changes when he starts to relive the same day, which just so happens to be the day he died. And no matter how much he weaves and turns, his fate always remains the same. It doesn’t help that his death appears to be at the hands of trained assassins, so he must learn to outwit, outsmart, and outpunch them all to find out who is behind this tirade of carnage and reach that ultimate ‘boss level’ and maybe, just maybe win back the heart of Jemma.

The script is sharp and funny, whilst providing some fun and bloody ways for Pulver to die each day, but much like similar gaming platforms, it appears that he has an infinite amount of lives,  and with every life lost, his strength and wisdom to the laws of the land grow.

But is time inevitably running out for Pulver?

“TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN. BUT WAIT TILL TIME MEETS FRANK GRILLO”

Providing the powerful impact that Boss Level has on the audience is a cracking cast supporting both Grillo and Watts.

Mel Gibson quips his way through the movie as the delectably evil boss, intent on pushing his staff to the limits, bending all the rules in order to get what he wants.

Annabelle Wallis (Peaky Blinders) as the femme fatale, harbouring a secret, Ken Jeong as the comic relief with Chef Jake, and Michelle Yeoh as… you guessed it, a martial arts expert Dai Feng, who will provide the necessary skills to complete his quest.

The Prognosis:

Boss Level doesn’t shy away from its core.

Taking ownership of the fun-thrilled, action thriller with a Groundhog Day gamification structure.

Joe Carnahan takes delight in turning Frank Grillo’s Roy Pulver into a punchbag of entertainment, pulling out all the stops to twist the genre on its head and inside out in the name of a gut-wrenching, hell-bent and humorous ride through time, and humanity.

It’s been a while since I’ve had this much pleasure in watching a movie. 

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Shook (2021)

20 Saturday Feb 2021

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Shook, the latest Original offering from Shudder attempts to examine the vacuous nature that Social Media harbours from reality.

Unlike previous films that have tackled a similar subject in Spree or Cam, this home invasion prank gone wrong, misses the mark by a country mile.

Writer, director Jennifer Harrington has a difficult task to pull her audience in by projecting her lead character Mia (Daisye Tutor) as a social media star, who has turned her back on her ailing mother in pursuit of recognition and fame.

The cost of which would come back to haunt her.

By painting Mia in such a dark light from the get go however, the audience struggle to connect with her and feel for her plight. In many ways, this same mould is what turned me off another social media horror film, Unfriended, where all of these characters were instantly likeable.

So as much as Harrington puts Mia through the wringer, we’re always going to struggle with caring for her.

The majority of the film centres around Mia’s family home, where she has come to look after her sister’s dog. Her sister, Nicole (Emily Goss) has flown to San Francisco for medical tests, for a crippling disease that her mother died from. At first the audience are completely unaware of the prank as Mia hooks into her various social platforms, ironically feeling isolated from the world despite being connected in the cyberworld.

To use yet another couple of films as referential points, there are elements of Scream and When A Stranger Calls when Mia receives a telephone call from the mysterious Kellan across the road and with it, our primary suspect looms large.

Slowly it is revealed that the sinister phone calls and threats to the dog and her “social” friends was just a prank, which is where we the audience are then meant to feel sorry for Mia, subjected to bullying tactics for the sake of money and online recognition. The twist then hits when someone has turned the prank on them all and begins to subject Mia to a torturous game of choice. 

Here, Harrington really labours the point further about how neglectful Mia was towards her mother during her time of need, marking this as a personal vendetta and once again subjects our protagonist onto the pile of the damned. 

And when our reveal occurs, Shook falls so swiftly and easily into predictable territory that we’re beyond caring about the outcome.

The Prognosis:

It feels like a slow start for horror streaming platform Shudder, with the painfully slow A Nightmare Wakes and now the lack of originality in Shook, this year doesn’t seem to have been able to shift out of second gear.

Shook is a middle of the road fair which fails to ignite anything beyond the flatline of a thriller, straining to find a resemblance of a pulse.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie Review: The Dustwalker (2020)

18 Thursday Feb 2021

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Having lived on this Great Southern Land for the past 16 years now, a land that I love to call home, I feel an enormous sense of pride when this country produces some of the stellar horror films that Australians can lay claim to. From The Babadook, The Loved Ones, Razorback, Killing Ground, Lake Mungo, Relic, Cargo, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, Wolf Creek, and Patrick to highlight just some of the great films produced in the genre over the years.

So when I hear of a new Aussie horror film in the works, I sense that tingling of excitement that brims to the surface and the majority of the time, that feeling is met with satisfaction. More recently The Furies was a gloriously produced hell fire film and proved to have that wicked sense of humour that Australians relish and inject into their films to give them some sense of character.

I say all this to give you, the reader, a sense of my mindset when I approach these films.

So when I heard about The Dustwalker, set in a small isolated town in Australia. Nice.

Infected by an insidious bug. Double nice.

That turns the local residents into killing machines. And there’s the trifecta.

I was triply keen to see how this film would pay out.

Now the cast are no strangers to quality drama. Jolene Anderson (Harrow) plays the town sheriff, Richard Davies (Offspring) plays her deputy, and Cassandra Magrath (Wolf Creek).

So it’s not necessarily the players that are at fault here.

The director, Sandra Sciberras is also into her fourth feature behind the camera and armed with a bucket load of producer credits to her name is no stranger to the industry.

The film never really manages to lift itself off the ground though.

It had plenty of promise as a meteor crash lands and we get our first victim, who comes across the object and is immediately infected. 

As the locals slowly become infected, our leads try to figure out what is going on, but the issue arises in the weakness of the writing.

The script offers nothing for the actors to work with, reduced to simple dialogue and when charged with an action sequence, only have it fizzle out into nothing.

I really wish the film was packed with vigour to keep the pace high and the entertainment levels projected up alongside what we are so used to with the calibre of talent that Australians have on show, but the ending says it all as we’re left scratching our head and wondering what it was all in aid of.

It’s hard to tell if Scribberas was trying to pay homage to sci-fi thrillers of yester-year, such as The Body Snatchers, or Tremors to a degree, but she unfortunately misses the mark on so many counts and the audience is left stranded with little or no connection to the movie.

The Prognosis:

It’s a bitter pill to swallow this one.

Lots of promise, but ultimately there’s no sizzle or bite for any appeal to originate from.

A bland story that could have been so much more.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: The Little Things (2021)

16 Tuesday Feb 2021

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On paper, The Little Things boasts some pretty big elements.

First up the cast.

Denzel Washington, who always brings an essence of suave and cool to his roles without showing any effort at all. Here is provided the perfect canvas to etch out his craft playing deputy sheriff Joe “Deke” Deacon lured back into the sin city of Los Angeles with a potential serial killer on the loose that could potentially spark the same kind of fear that was drawn by The Night Stalker.

Accompanying him is hot shot detective Jimmy Baxter (equally hotter than hot right now, Rami Malek) who strives to put an end to the suffering inflicted by this seditious killer at all costs. 

And Jared Leto as the chief suspect in the two detectives investigations, Albert Sparma, an eccentric recluse, who is just a little too out of sync with the world that he instantly draws your attention. Leto’s performance is once again a stand out, proving that he can easily shift into the quirky state of mind and pull you in. So much so that he rightfully earned his Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Supporting Actor.

Secondly, The style and setting.

LA will always project a certain amount of style onto the screen, with its vast spreading landscape and the golden charade promised at the lands west, but is and always will be shrouded by its corruptibility and dark past.
The city and its landscape slips easily into the neo-noir crime world painted by director John Lee Hancock (The Rookie, The Highwaymen). In many ways it is the perfect place to mould the dark etchings of life and shed light on the most darkened souls.

In doing so, Hancock is constantly posing the question of what drives a person to reach their end? Are we all blinded by our own pursuits to reach our goal that we fail to see the bigger picture? And even when we believe that we have attained our needs and salvated our lust for success and exposed our inner hedonistic tendencies and the narcissist that we believe lies dormant at our core, we simply get blinded once more. The circle continues as we spiral into the murky terrain.

All of these elements are to be applauded including some stunning shots by cinematographer John Schwartzman, but there’s something that doesn’t quite sit right that lurks beneath the surface of this incredibly lush and stylised story.

The Prognosis:

Yes we are lured in by the intelligence of Washington’s inquisitive mind combined with the fiery, passionate temperament of Malik, but ultimately the dots don’t join together and the plot doesn’t hold enough substance to grip you into its fold.
Instead we’re cast around carelessly from one lead to another and expected to forgive these missteps towards an admittedly bold and decisive ending. But by the time we’re presented with that compelling turn off the narrative highway, we’re too lost in the searing heat of confusion, trying to make sense of it all.

  • Saul Muerte