Category Archives: Movie review

Movie review: A Quiet Place

08 Sunday Apr 2018

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Here’s the thing with zombie like apocalypses. What happens to all the snorers?

From My Name is Legion to your basic Walking Dead – if you suffer sleep apnea or have half a bender (and when the world is effectively nuked, why wouldn’t you?) then how can you realistically expect to survive a night when sleep finally takes you? If they hear you chain-sawing, they’re gonna find you!

So straight away that’s an interesting twist on the twist that is the premise of A Quiet Place.

Specifically – what if the apocalypse you’re trying to survive hunts through sound and nothing else?
And by that we mean anything louder than a sneaky cheek squeak, and you’re toast. OH! Farting! That’s another one! Everybody does it. Eventually.
It’s an apocalypse…food is scarce… you’re down to your last can of beans and starving… it’s not an unrealistic scenario in a scenario that’s unrealistic (ish. We are still only 1 year into this presidency after all).

ANYway… A Quiet Place. Its set in generic country-town USA, and sometime after an unknown global catastrophe.
Although the time scale is hard to judge, as what has wiped out humanity in this case – you get the impression – was WAY swifter than your basic zombie attack.

So, for our leads – The Abbott family – finding viable supplies is not that much of a problem.
Stressing about other human survivors forcefully taking what’s theirs (something all writers automatically assume will happen when things go to shit) isn’t a worry either. Because what few pockets of humanity there are, give each other a LOT of space.

For when people congregate, they make noise. And as established above, noise is death.

In this case, fast and brutal death that will eviscerate you like a hangry landshark on steroids. To elaborate any more than that would be to miss the point.

For the joy of AQP is not in the minutiae of its premise (if you look hard enough there are holes, but when aren’t there in any concept film?) but in the preciseness of its execution.

It’s a brilliant and ridiculously simple idea that right from the start sets the tension to a certain level that does. Not. End. Because to be quiet is to hold your breath, and as an audience member, you find yourself doing this a lot.

It is tightly written, tightly directed and beautifully designed – especially audio wise. Which you would expect from a film that is about silence, but the way it is crafted here belies the experience of its director.

John Krasinski is no stranger to saying “action” on a film set, but in this case he had to write (well, more specifically re-write) a studio creature feature where he had to carry the Male Lead as well. PLUS direct his offscreen wife Emily Blunt into the bargain.

That’s a delicate balancing act, yet he has come away with a story that is smart, tense, and relentless; but doesn’t leave you exhausted.

Just in love with film, because this is a fantastic example how a neat sci fi premise, executed through a smart horror lens can cross over into a great movie-going experience.

The Prognosis:

Don’t Breathe was an impressive example of how silence can be a wonderful horror device. This is even better. And people who won’t like this film will do so for the wrong reasons. Everybody else will just “get it”.

Who knew Jim from The Office had it in him? I’d love to see if the guy from Chuck can do the same. Maybe he already has? You know – considering they’re the same guy…

– Antony Yee

Movie review: Thelma

04 Wednesday Apr 2018

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Last year, a little-known Norwegian movie created something of a stir.
Thelma plays out more like a supernatural thriller than an out and out horror, but don’t let that fool you as some moments are positively chilling.
At its heart Thelma is a coming-of-age drama as the titular character struggles with her independence from a smothering religious family whilst trying to connect with her sexuality.

On paper, this film could be easily dismissed but there’s a darkness that lies within Thelma’s soul that has been suppressed for so long that it yearns to break free and be unleashed onto the world.

At times feeling like a distant cousin to the X-Men universe. Where the TV series Legion, delved into the fantastical, Thelma beats along with intensity.

Much like the French horror movie Raw, which covered similar terrain in a refreshing way, Thelma doesn’t shy away from the pain and reality that comes with womanhood.

It’s this bold approach that allows Danish director, Joachim Trier to stylise an atmospheric and engaging narrative that hooks the audience in and is no doubt why the Norwegian production team felt confident about entering Thelma into the Foreign Language category at The Academy Awards.

Eili Harboe cuts a fine performance as Thelma and each subtle nuance and emotion is portrayed as she effortlessly guides her character through her metamorphosis. I’d be surprised to not see her go on to better things in the future.

It helps that her support cast are equally captivating and the way the audience oscillates between liking and disliking Thelma’s father and mother is a testament to their skills as actors and the continual shifts in storyline, eking out little nuggets of the past to gain a richer perspective of the family and the levels they have gone to.

The Diagnosis:
This is by no means a blood and guts horror movie, so fans of this side of the genre may find it disappointing, but if you like things more psychological, then Thelma is definitely worth a visit.

– Saul Muerte

Movie review: Insidious – the last key

03 Tuesday Apr 2018

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It’s interesting how a certain film – when it ends – you know that tonally it. Has. Ended.

All films can continue of course, as happily ever after is a myth no matter how you look at it. But there are certain movies that – when they become franchised – make you not only go “why?” but “how?”. Ie: It’s original ending has a decisiveness that makes it very clear This Story Is Told.

A great example is The Matrix. If they truly intended Neo to continue being a protagonist they wouldn’t have made him Superman at the end of the first film. It was a problem that painted the Wachowski siblings into a corner for the sequels, and what’s more they never got around it. Not satisfactorily anyway. (Fortunately, they covered over that crack by making both sequels so incomprehensively bad you almost didn’t notice the pointless 10-minute fight sequences).

Another example is Insidious. The franchise that colours the letters of its logo randomly white and red. (well…if they’re not random, then they spell out INDOS SIIU – which sounds like a Star Wars character. Probably a Jedi of some sort).

At the end of the first film it pulls a now very classic/hackneyed (depending on your point-of-view) trope of having the bad guy “come back” (after being dealt with) to kill off a character when everyone thinks the terror is over.

In this case a side character who was sweet, old and psychic.

They then decided to make this character the lead in subsequent sequels – which was a problem. A problem compounded when they set movie 3 & 4 in the past, thereby making an elderly actress (Lin Shaye) play a dead woman who inexplicably looks older the younger she gets.

It would have been an easy fix had they planned it through better, but who knew that their tact to focus the sequels on the adventures of an elderly minor character would be a stroke of genius? Because Insidious is one of those rare birds that gets slightly better with each sequel.

Although a lot of its success can also be attributed to the fact that in terms of how they construct their scares, this series is an absolute masterclass in the James Wan Way. (Or JWW for short – it’s the MMA of horror film making!).

So where does this leave us with Insidious Chapter 4: The Last Key?

Setting wise we get to learn more about Shaye’s character (Elise) as it opens on her family life in 1953. It’s not a happy one. As a young girl she lives with her younger brother Christian, mother Audrey and father Gerald. Gerald is a security guard at the prison next door – the one that carries out executions of its death row inmates. Regularly. And for a budding psychic like Elise, what better way to hone her craft than being fed a steady stream of floating electrified (and terrified) souls who were more than likely NOT very nice people in life?

Things escalate when Elise encounters a being that is something other than fried convict – her first demon – who she calls Key Face.

Key Face then does something very bad that, safe to say, scars Elise for life. That is when we fast forward to present day, which – for the afore mentioned reasons above – has to be a little before present day, as Elise was (will be) killed in 2010. It’s weird that none of these characters will ever get to use an iPad. Sorta like how the best mobile phones the people in the Matrix will ever use are Motorolas…

But I digress.

Elise and her ghost busting crew of Specs and Tucker are approached by a man called Ted Garza. He resides in Elise’s former house and sure enough, weird stuff of the paranormal kind have been plaguing him of late. And Elise – in a bid to confront her demons (literally and figuratively) agrees to go back and help him sort it out.

As a ride The Last Key twists in a satisfactory way whilst continuing the fine work of the last 2 sequels. The scares are finely crafted and (to differentiate them) a tad more relentless this time round.

The JWW use of shadows and sound effects are on full display here, and (has been the case with the others) this film ties itself into the first one, although this time it does imply that the series MAY be gearing up for another change in direction. How? One word. Nieces.

And officially a 5th Insidious IS in the works, although it may not have creator Leigh Whannell’s hand on the typewriter. (Mind you, if you were responsible for a 4-film franchise that has grossed over $536 million to date, you too could probably afford to delegate a little).

The Diagnosis:

Certainly The Last Key was able to unlock a profit margin well over 10 times its modest budget of 10 million, and if you can read anything into that, it would be that these guys have the keys to a money making kingdom that is… INDOS SIIU.

– Antony Yee

Movie review: Still / Born

01 Sunday Apr 2018

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There’s something uncomfortable about the co-existence of newborn babies and demons. Something wrong. Something taboo. That’s what makes this film so deliciously frightening. Director Brandon Christianson blends purity with terror in this devilishly delightful film.

Young mother, Mary (Christie Burke) gives birth to twins but only one of them is alive.
While looking after her remaining child, Adam, she thinks that a supernatural entity, has chosen her child and will stop at nothing to take it from her.

I anticipated Still/Born to be a cheap and nasty horror. I actually found myself jumping on multiple occasions and having to watch an episode of Friends to get to sleep. After watching countless horrors these effects are rare for me. I think this is thanks to an excellent performance by Burke. She is flawless in her portrayal of a mother coming to terms with the grief of loosing a baby. Her slow but evident decent into insanity is nothing short of chilling.
It’s a shame the film doesn’t quite hit the mark at the end and there are moments where you wonder what the intention and overall twist might be. Nope, no twist. Perhaps that was the point? I’m not sure it was a point well made.

The film explores postnatal depression and the helplessness new mothers experience.
Viewers are constantly wondering if the demon she fears is real or simply a result of her illness.
Horrors that deal with mental illness have to be crafted carefully.
Christianson hits the nail on the head with Still/Born. Postnatal depression is handled with care and shines a bright light on the stigma surrounding the illness.

The Diagnosis:

The film is not groundbreaking or one I’d reserve a Friday night for but it certainly is a chilling and unsettling focus on real issues with a supernatural flavour.

– Breana Garratt

Movie review: Long Weekend

28 Wednesday Mar 2018

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Celebrating 40 years this year is this little known gem of a movie.
Scribed by Everett De Roche, who produced some cracking screenplays for classic ozploitation flicks such as Patrick (which also celebrates 40 years this year), RoadGames, Razorback, and Snapshot. (The latter of which is due for a DVD release in April)

The film centres on a couple who are going on a camping trip for one last attempt to reconnect. As the story unfolds though, the couples marriage problems are the least of their concerns as director Colin Eggleston crafts an intricate tale of ecology.

At first it would appear that we are facing a typical story of a couple forced to unite against some strange, psychopathic local, which has been predominant in recent Australian movies like Wolf Creek or Killing Ground.

Instead we see Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia’s (Briony Behets) blatant neglect and destructive behaviour towards animals and the environment become so paramount that Nature fights back.

Now, we’re not talking about some trumped up science fiction narrative like M.Night Shyalaman’s The Happening, but a well structured slow-burner of a movie that eats away at the core of what is left of the lead characters humanity.

Some may feel that the characters grate too much and admittedly their flaws as people can find it difficult to connect with them, but it only makes their plight when things turn dire all the more pleasurable as you seriously hope that they receive their comeuppance.
They are so caught up in their own lives that they fail to see the bigger picture around them and the tangled web of paranormal and paranoia that surrounds them with every fateful action they take.

The Diagnosis:
The pace may turn you off as well as wishing that Nature acts more swiftly in dispatching the characters, but stick with it as the labyrinth of despair unfolds.
It’s a cracker of a movie which has as much relevance today as it did back in 1978 about the world and humanities destructiveness.

 – Saul Muerte

Movie review: Annihilation

20 Tuesday Mar 2018

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Annihilation is an all female-led science fiction film about guilt, biology, and the human tendency for self-destruction. So I guess its no wonder Paramount dumped it on Netflix after loosing sleep over its box-office appeal.

It copped some controversy after being caught up in a battle between the studio and director Alex Garland (Ex Machina) for being “too intellectual.” While financially the studio’s fears were confirmed, visually its damn lucky they didn’t water it down. This is a film with a cool plot and some downright lush visuals.

Natalie Portman is Lena, a cellular biology professor who is recruited along with four others to study a quarantine zone in a swampy corner of America called The Shimmer. Lena’s reasons for accepting the mission are more personal than scientific: her military husband is the only person to enter The Shimmer and come out alive. You just know this is going to be a twofold journey: a trek through an alien landscape, and the dark emotional landscape of the protagonist.

The first scene we’re given after entering The Shimmer is the inside of a tent which feels like an odd and underwhelming decision by the director. But when Lena emerges from the tent and announces she remembers nothing since passing through the shimmery wall, it feels like the perfect way to introduce this strange new world.

Without giving too much away, something is seriously not right within The Shimmer. As the scientists begin to join the dots, the film shifts gears into “thriller” mode. But don’t get too excited; while there are some excellent tension-filled scenes – one in particular involving a bear-creature that echoes screams of agony from its latest victim – Annihilation never crosses fully into the horror genre. It’s an enjoyable ride, but nothing to write home about.

It’s the ending that’s the kicker. Garland tackles some complex conceptual territory (at least for this High School Science flunker) that will probably require a debrief with a mate, or at the very least a quick Google. Up until this point Annihilation was lingering dangerously close to being mediocre, but the last few scenes cement it as a Sci-Fi classic.

The Diagnosis:
So is it as amazing as you’ve heard? Probably not. Should you see it? Absolutely.

 
– Ellin Williams

Movie review: Mom and Dad

19 Monday Feb 2018

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Most parents will identify with the struggles that they encounter when raising children, and that strange balance of absolute despair and unwavering love that they have for their own kids.

It’s this balance that writer, director, Brian Taylor scrutinizes and tinkers with, asking the question, what happens when that need to protect and care for your offspring has a switch that is flipped and the desire to kill takes over.

It’s a controversial topic that Taylor lifts the lid upon and not only singles out one family, but makes this a global issue. It’s one that needs to be addressed with no real answer offered up by the director, which is interesting position that he chooses to go with.

Whilst choosing to tell the tale as a global epidemic with parents heading out to murder their children, we’re hit with troubling images head-on when a mother deliberately abandons her child in a car upon the railway tracks, as a speeding train plows into it.
A shocking image that as a parent myself, I found deeply uncomfortable to view, and sets the tone throughout the film, and pushes me to areas that I found hard to take as a result. For that end the movie certainly does its job in presenting some horrific scenes, notably when one mother attempts to kill her newborn in a birthing suite.

The global epidemic plays out like something from Dawn of the Dead, with news bulletins, chat shows, and reports playing out on screens in stages as the story unfolds.
One particularly glorious scene involves a ‘zombie-like’ rampage as hordes of parents scale the school gates and chase their own throughout the grounds, with some disturbing scenes unfolding before you.

Part of this film’s appeal comes with the killer casting of the storylines Mom and Dad, with Nicolas Cage suitably restrained and playing to his age, whilst still giving his ‘ham and cheese’ moment which had become his schtick over the years.

It’s the refreshing presence of Selma Blair though that steals a lot of the scenes, showcasing her delicate, caring mother, to a murderous, gleeful, maniacal figure, who is hell-bent on destroying her kin. Blair’s delivery is wonderfully subtle and as a viewer she plays with your desire for her to show that loving spirit her character displayed in the earlier scenes, and cruelly pulls away from that every time. It leaves you wanting to see more of her on screen again.

It’s worth noting that the children, Zackary Arthur and Anne Winters pull off some strong performances that keep you rooting for them to survive their ordeal, but the final scenes are almost completely stolen away by a Lance Henriksen’s cameo.

 

The Diagnosis:

Some of the director’s style allows the movie to come across as quite sparse in places, but Taylor clearly has a knack for allowing the actor’s room to breathe on screen, whilst delivering a hefty punch.

The subject matter can make you feel uncomfortable in places, but this only makes the movie all the more stronger as a result.
Potentially this film may fall under the radar, which would be a shame as it’s a decent entry into the genre.

 

– Saul Muerte

Movie review: The Ritual

15 Thursday Feb 2018

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A thick Swedish forest looms ahead; dark and foreboding. Four hikers on a boy’s trip decide to cut through it, veering off the path, to get help for their injured mate. Spoiler: this turns out to be a very bad idea. Like the promotional tagline warned; they should have gone to Vegas.

The Ritual is based on the novel by Adam Nevill. It’s the sort of book that plants deep roots into your head that won’t let go. The sort of book that makes you think; “someone should really make this into a film.”

And someone did.

Director David Bruckner (V/H/S) does a killer job creating a genre film of the ancient-Nordic-folk-horror variety. He excels at creating glimpses of things that may or may not be there, unseen things darting between the branches. You’ll find yourself nervously squinting at a wall of trees along with the protagonist.

At first, the bad omens occur in the form of a gutted deer dangling from a tree, then come creepy carvings and a Wicker-Man style twig effigy. But these are nothing compared to the true evil lurking deeper into the shadows.

As the intensity of their situation increases, the already rocky relationship between the men becomes more and more strained. They panic and lose their grip on reality, while we the audience clap our hands in glee from the sheer horror of it all.

You almost don’t want to know what’s stalking them; there’s a wonderful sense of building dread that gets somewhat tarnished when the cause of their distress is finally revealed. This is where the film loses its footing, and the conclusion won’t knock your socks off either.

The Diagnosis:

Not every genre film has to be ‘clever.’ The Ritual proves that when done well, there’s nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned, straight-up scary story.

 

  • Ellin Williams

Movie review: Hellraiser: Judgement

13 Tuesday Feb 2018

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Before we even begin to dissect the latest outing from the Hellraiser franchise, we must first look to its writer and director, Gary J Tunnicliffe.
If ever there was a guy completely immersed in the world of Pinhead and his fellow cenobites it’s Tunnicliffe.
Having provided the make up effects for all the Hellraiser films since Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, Tunnicliffe has also written the previous instalment, written and directed the surprisingly decent short, No More Souls: One Last Slice of Sensation. Hell, he’s even played a cenobite in one of the movies.
Now he turns his attention to the director’s chair, which may have horror enthusiasts a little concerned due to the fact that he’s only really dealt with kid friendly films outside of Hellraiser.
But the very fact that he has been so integral to the look and feel of this world, would lead you to believe that he could very well be the man for the job…

However, as much as Judgement is his movie and the look and feel of it is actually quite beautiful and gloriously bloody in places, it never manages to lift itself from the straight-to-video Budget that we find ourselves.

Ignoring, (if at all possible) that Doug Bradley once again has been left in the darkest recesses of the Leviathan’s domain, never to be Pinhead again.
Instead, we’re left with Paul T. Taylor to take on the notorious role, and although he does an ample enough job, it just never feels right, and you’re left hungry for more as a result.

We are treated to a mere 15 seconds or so of Heather Langenkamp playing the landlady of one of the victims, but her presence is soon forgotten as we forced back into the somewhat rickety plot line.

Speaking of which, here is my main grief about this picture.
We’re treated to a fairly decent beginning, introduced to a character called The Auditor, (played by Tunnicliffe) as he goes around reaping the world of demented souls through a fairly grotesque and torturous process, much to the delight of fans no doubt.
The Auditor soon becomes secondary as we follow two brother detectives and a third female detective as they try and uncover who this serial killer is.
The more we deviate away from the sexual, violent, and depraved world of The Auditor, the cheaper and less authentic the film becomes.

Ever since we were introduced to Craig Sheffer’s Detective Joseph Thorne in Hellraiser: Inferno, it feels like filmmakers are compelled to include some downtrodden and beaten detective into the fold, as they try to uncover clues into the hidden world.
This feels to me like it’s completely missing the point of Clive Barker’s original creation.
Detailing people’s obsession with searching for the ultimate in satisfaction and pleasure; pushing themselves beyond the state of ecstasy into a world of no return.
It is this compulsive, addictive personality that is sadly lacking in these later films, and because of this, Pinhead feels more like a voyeur in his own land, and unable to enact the sheer desolation that sent chills to the bone from the original movie.

The Diagnosis:

It’s a brave attempt to lure people back into the world we came to love, but Tunnicliffe’s vision starts with a good pulse, but whimpers out and dies as he drowns in the history of previous outings.
As a result, we’re forever shackled to the walls without ever feeling like we’ve had our souls torn apart.
Instead, like Pinhead throughout this movie, we’re left wallowing and yearning for the days of yore.

 

– Saul Muerte

Movie review: Day of the Dead: Bloodline

11 Sunday Feb 2018

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I’m not sure what it is about the Day of the Dead storyline that jars so much.

On paper, it boasts an interesting premise of science vs state. Always at conflict in the real world and makes sense that they would come under close scrutiny when faced with a post apocalyptic world full of zombies.

Arguably though, it is the weakest movie from George A Romero’s original trilogy, and yet, it has now mastered two remakes, one released back in 2008 and one Day of the Dead: Bloodline tries to make its own mark on the subject, leaving many to ask, ‘what’s the point?’

The bones of the original film are still present, with an underground bunker containing some civilians reside under the rule of military personnel.

The changes are significant though. The first is a strangely confusing beginning marking the initial outbreak in a typical American street before taking us to a scientific laboratory to essentially show us the outbreak again, but from the viewpoint of lead character Zoe Parker (Sophie Skelton) a medical student who witnesses her friends and peers all wiped out as carnage ensues within the facility.

Before all this occurs though we are introduced to Max (Johnathon Schaech, a creepy patient who has a serious crush on Zoe, and in case you missed the heavy hint, also happens to have a mysterious blood type. Like that’s not gonna come back later.
Just as Max forces him myself in Zoe, the living dead make their entrance, forcing Zoe to go from one ordeal to another.

Both of her worlds will collide again though, as we pick up our story again as we time jump to a few years down the track, where Zoe lives in the afore-mentioned bunker, and formed a relationship with Baca, the younger brother to the Lieutenant running the military outfit, Miguel.
Cue conflict both internally and externally.

It is on a medicinal run back to the laboratory when their troubles really begin as Max who has somehow partially survived, becoming both walking zombie and human, (essentially this version’s Bub) and perhaps the answer to their salvation.

Of course it won’t go swimmingly for the survivors, but by this point everything feels so bland and blah, blah, blah, that we have gone beyond the point of caring.

Schaech gives a decent performance as the ‘villain’ of the piece, but the one small thread that we can hang onto is that Skelton actually gives a solid performance as Zoe, and this keeps you intrigued enough to push you towards the films conclusion, but just barely.

The Diagnosis:
It’s a fairly stable effort, but neither diminishes or improves upon the original film. Characters are two-dimensional and the plot line is weak, leaving you ultimately back to your original thought… what’s the point.

 

  • Saul Muerte