Movie review: The Seed (2021)

19 Saturday Mar 2022

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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.

Movie review: Fresh (2022)

12 Saturday Mar 2022

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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.

  • Saul Muerte 

Fresh is currently streaming on Disney Plus.

Retrospective: Scream 4 (2010)

12 Saturday Mar 2022

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Wes Craven: The Scream Years Part 8 – Scream (2010)

As I rounded out the final retrospective, looking back on Wes Craven’s latter movies, which I have dubbed ‘The Scream Years’, I had a moment where I thought that I had criminally missed out on watching what was then the last instalment of the Scream franchise, Scream 4.

I admitted as much to a friend online, as the film unfolded, only to realise that I had seen it, and my recollection came flooding back.
So why this absence of memory, regarding the movie?

Was it so bad that I had blocked it from my mind?

Or had the franchise run the gauntlet and exhausted any further possibilities to keep Ghostface and his multiple personalities to haunt Sidney Prescott and those who survived the original Woodsboro Murders?

The recent outing Scream (2022) would suggest otherwise.

For Scream 4, Craven would once again reunite with writer Kevin Williamson, suggesting that the old formula was still ripe for the making. Set fifteen years after the initial murders, the premise was to look at the impact that this had on the wider circle of friends and family, including Sidney’s cousin Jill (Emma Roberts). When a double murder occurs once more involving high school students in Woodsboro, Sidney becomes prime suspect (laughably) as a way to promote her new book. She is forced to stay until the murders are solved, but when Jill gets a threatening phone call from Ol’ Ghostface himself, things start to heat up again and the body count starts to pile up.

Meanwhile, Dewey (David Arquette), who is now the town sheriff tries to restore order, but struggles to contain his wife Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox) from doing her usual undercover sleuthing. 

There are the typical traits that we had now become accustomed to from the franchise with film geeks, Charlie (Rory Culkin) and Robbie (Erik Knudsen) who annually throw the Stabathon festival in Woodsboro; the ex-boyfriend of Jill, Trevor (Nico Tortorella); the snooty, highly opinionated character, Rebecca (Alison Brie) as Sidney’s publicist; and the best friend Kirby (Hayden Panettiere); and that’s not to mention some of the early cameos from the Stab movie series snippets including Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell among them.

As the sands sift through Sidney’s serial turmoil, and the audience weaves their way between numerous whodunnit style investigations, we’re left with a film that boasts some sharp dialogue and humour to match, plus some pretty decent kills that are delivered by the hands of a highly experienced craftsman in Craven. What it lacks though is any satisfactory scares as we’re swallowed up by some typical horror tropes; a surprise considering Craven had once re-invented the genre with the original movie. The final reveal also feels tired and weak considering the twists and turns we take to get there. Having said that, there are some elements that the impact of social media can have on people, which shows just how cutting edge and forward thinking Craven could be in his film-making; a testament to how fundamental and important he was for the horror genre.

  • Saul Muerte

Related Links:

Movie Review: Scream (2022)

10 Scream inspired movies

Retrospective: Vampire in Brooklyn

Retrospective: Scream (1996)

Retrospective: Scream 2 (1997)

Retrospective: Scream 3 (2000)

Retrospective: Cursed (2005)

Retrospective: Red Eye (2005)

Retrospective: My Soul To Take (2010)

Retrospective: Tales From The Crypt (1972)

07 Monday Mar 2022

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During the early 50s, EC Comics ran a successful horror series known as Tales From the Crypt of which 27 issues were produced on a bi-monthly basis. When co-founder of Amicus Productions, Milton Subotsky came into the position of securing the rights to produce a movie-length feature based on the comics he loved as a kid, he didn’t hesitate.

For me, criminally, I would blur the lines of recollection between this and Creepshow, both franchises having a crypt keeper / the creep taking on hosting or segway duties. It’s iconic status however was not lost on me and for those who have followed my writings or musings through the Surgeons of Horror podcast may know, I’m a huge fan of Peter Cushing’s work, especially with the Hammer Horror scene. Here he teams up with director Freddie Francis, who has been attached to films by both Hammer and Amicus in their history, and another creative with whom I admire. Francis does incredibly well with the 5 segmented stories, all drawn from the TFTC archives. And Cushing actually turned down the initial role offered to him from the script, which was part of The Monkey’s Paw inspired tale, “Wish You Were Here”, instead taking on the role of Grimsdyke in “Poetic Justice”.

The segments are weaved together with 5 souls trapped in a state of purgatory to face up to their evil deeds, by The Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson). One by one we witness these individuals recount their tales which lead to their death, from Joan Collins as Joanne Clayton in “…And All Through The House” in a Christmas inspired murder of a woman killing her husband and trying to hide the evidence form her daughter only to be sprung from a psychotic killer on the loose dressed as Santa.

Then there’s “Reflection of Death” where Carl Maitland (Ian Hendry) tries to run away from his family life with his lover, Susan (Angela Blake) only to crash in his car and be taken on a living nightmare where he believes he survived, only to find out that this is far from the truth. This is followed by the aforementioned segment with Cushing, where he plays the loveable, elderly figure Grimsdyke, who is the subject of jealousy by his neighbour James (Robin Phillips) believing him to be a waste of space, and bringing down the neighbourhood. When he takes action to strip down Grimsdyke’s life to bare minimum, he doesn’t expect the repercussions that occur beyond the grave.

The fourth segment, “Wish You Were Here” as stated before is heavily inspired by The Monkey’s Paw and the ramifications when you are not careful or specific about what you wish for when presented with three wishes. The last segment, “Blind Alleys” has Nigel Patrick as a self-entitled Major who gets his razor sharp comeuppance in a dog-eat-dog world where he attempts to rule the roost over the occupants in a home for the blind. The residents also include Patrick Magee hamming it up as always.

There’s a certain appeal to this anthology movie that lures you into each tale. Yes there are some obvious flaws but these can be forgiven for the atmosphere created by the creative team and the actors that give substance to the tales from the crypt.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie Review: No Exit (2022)

06 Sunday Mar 2022

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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

Movie review: The Scary of the Sixty First (2021)

05 Saturday Mar 2022

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When I first heard about The Scary of the Sixty First I was intrigued about the premise and highlighted it as a must watch for 2021.
Living in Australia sometimes means that things slip through the cracks during the time of global release.
Thankfully though, the streaming platform has picked up the slack in some cases and TSOTSF has been released through their Exclusive and Original content.
Unfortunately the anticipation didn’t live up to my expectations.

I had heard comparisons to Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and 1970s thrillers of which Roman Polanski was such a prominent figure in. These collations are far-reaching I fear, as these auteurs of the the celluloid craft are some of the greatest, and with all due respect to Director Dasha Nekrasova, this is her feature debut, and while their are elements of appeal to her final cut, there are flaws to her offering that can’t quite allow her to fall in with such pedigree.

The film setting takes place in the Upper East Side of Manhattan where two women, Noelle (Madeline Quinn) and Addie (Betsey Brown) move into an apartment with ominous ties to Jeffrey Epstein and his nefarious sex trafficking activities.
This subject alone is hard to connect with as a viewer and Nekrasova forces us to endure the provocation that such a subject carries with it. Always a hard subject to explore and pose thought around, and Nekrasova doesn’t shy away from tackling this and the trauma that surrounds it head on. It’s probably the reason she cast herself in the role of The Girl, who is investigating the issues around Epstein’s activities and the apartment in question.

The narrative then takes us through a cobweb of fractured moments surrounding the three women as they explore, investigate or come under the influence that the strange apartment block and a hidden energy that possesses them at various stages throughout the film.
By the journey’s end the murkiness lifts if but for a moment to try and tie up any loose ends, by this stage though, the wading through the mystification has been hard work and the audience is left feeling stagnant by the subject and the effort to shock or shake a response from us.

The Prognosis:

Dasha Nekrasova tackles a tough subject for her feature film debut before the lens.
There are moments that intrigue, but all too often the film struggles through disillusion and bewilderment, that forces us to disconnect with the material.

Yes, we should definitely keep Nekrasova’s name on your watch list, but for now this film gets lost in confusion and drowns in a topic that may be too tough to develop for a first time director, not that the subject should be ignored all together. 

A bold attempt.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: My Soul To Take (2010)

04 Friday Mar 2022

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Wes Craven: The Scream Years Part 7 – My Soul To Take (2010)

Wes Craven’s penultimate movie before his untimely passing would be the first time directing, producing, and writing a feature since A New Nightmare.

Where A New Nightmare would be leagues ahead of its time, setting up a metaverse (no, not the Zuckerberg kind) that still stands up today, My Soul To Take struggled with what was essentially a weighty vision from the horror auteur.

The title taken from the prayer, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, once spoken with eerie effect by Nancy Loomis in the Nightmare franchise.

So, looking to repeat the success with a new world as his playing field, Craven had to first set up the rules from which to create within. Here is where the problem arises. The playing field in question is one that Craven likes to explore in as suggested by his previous films and his love for the psychological state of the human mind.

The subject in question is a little hard to connect with in the first place (no pun intended), as it deals with a man who has Dissociative Identity Disorder. We then witness said man discover that he is the Riverton Ripper and responsible for the murders of several people. In his unhinged state, he murders his pregnant wife and his psychiatrist before being gunned down.

But on the way to the hospital, he then goes on the rampage once more killing the paramedic (Danai Gurira), but is final killed when the ambulance crashes and explodes into a gulf of fire.

All of that is just the prologue to the film, setting up the narrative years later, a significant anniversary since the Riverton Rippers death. We then meet the Riverton seven, a group of teenagers who were all born on the same day; a group of stereotypical misfits, harbouring different personalities that will in turn form the resurrection of the Riverton Ripper once their souls are taken. But which if them has the soul of the serial killer possessed to slowly kill off their number one by one.

The prime suspect is Bug (Max Thierot – Bates Motel), a shy and timid person who often finds himself on the outskirts of the social scene because of his nature. The only exception is his best friend and loser, Alex (John Magaro). The fact that Bug keeps having these episodes and visions, throws him further into suspicion even from the audience’s perspective as we journey to the climax.

It’s a decent enough concept but a convoluted one, as with seven personalities, it’s hard to attach ourselves to any within the timeframe, especially once the exposition is delivered.

The pace of the movie is also slow which adds to our detachment. Perhaps the screenplay needed more work to flesh out these flaws but the final product, leaves us waning from its core. This is understandably why it didn’t resonate with its audience and has fairly low Rotten Tomatoes score.

  • Saul Muerte

Related Links:

Movie Review: Scream (2022)

10 Scream inspired movies

Retrospective: Vampire in Brooklyn

Retrospective: Scream (1996)

Retrospective: Scream 2 (1997)

Retrospective: Scream 3 (2000)

Retrospective: Cursed (2005)

Retrospective: Red Eye (2010)

Retrospective: The New York Ripper (1982)

03 Thursday Mar 2022

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Having delved into the early 80s Lucio Fulci scene last year with podcasts on City of the Living Dead, Black Cat, The Beyond, and The House by the Cemetery, casting the Italian auteur as the director whose films I most watched last year, I was eagerly anticipating sitting down to watch his next venture, The New York Ripper. 

The afore-mentioned movies had made me a fan of Fulci’s work and as such I had grown to admire his blend of humour and gore. 

Originally TNYR was given to Ruggero Deodato to direct before being passed across to Fulci. Deodato would eventually make the movie in his own steam under the title Phantom of Death in 1988.
The tale is set in the big apple, although the interior scenes would still be shot in Fulci’s homeland of Italy. These exterior shots of Americana though would stem away from the style and images that we would have become accustomed to in the work that had elevated Fulci into the limelight.
What we are left with is a stark, and oppressive look at the underbelly of the States, there is no glamour or shine, just straight up nastiness, where women are subjected to misogyny at the hands of the slasher scene. 

The police investigation that initially lures us in as Lieutenant Fred Williams (Jack Hedley) is handed a murder case involving the severed hand of model Anne Lyne, is driven with care and precision. We’re hooked by Hedley’s performance of a downbeat cop, worn down by his years of service. This combined with the follow up murder of a young woman on the ferry, shot in typical pov that has become generic for slasher films, also gets us shifting to the edge of our seats, but from here on in, the film starts to come off the hinges, through a convoluted and messy plotline. The narrative becomes jagged and ripped apart, only to be stitched back together in a form that doesn’t quite connect in the right places, leading us to a conclusion and its explanation surrounding the motive, a weak attempt to wrap things up.
There are moments throughout the film that resoundly resonate with Fulci’s macabre mayhem on screen and ordinarily I have clicked with the scenes he has subjected his audience to in his previous films. In this instance, however, it feels like he has overstepped the mark of taste and placed us in an uncomfortable world. This world may suit some lovers of this sub-genre, but without the style, the substance becomes too forced and disconnected.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Black Friday (2021)

02 Wednesday Mar 2022

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There was a 21 year absence on the screen for Ash Williams between Army of Darkness and Evil Dead (2013), but the appeal of this character would generate a three season arc in Ash vs the Evil Dead shortly after, such was the hunger for more.
Behind Ash’s charisma though is the actor who portrays him, Bruce Campbell has drawn people into his aura ever since. So it is probably no surprise that Black Friday would be the seventh most pirated movie Stateside at the time of its release last year.

As the name would suggest, this horror comedy feature would be a sweeping, tongue-in-cheek stab at consumerism at its worst.

Our story centres on the storefront workers of a generic All-Mart store ahead of the biggest shopping event of the year across Thanksgiving weekend. There are real-life tales of just how barbaric these days can be, but the horror will take on new means as a mutant, parasitic organism lands at said store, and begins to consume both workers and shoppers alike.

The ragamuffin staff must learn to put aside their differences to not only keep shoppers at bay, but also fight for survival and somehow make their way out of this nightmare.

Campbell’s chops are fairly sedate in this one as the store manager and play-by-the rules kinda guy, Johnathan Wexler. A man that despite his appearance, truly does care about his co-workers. 

To beef up the cast, we have some strong players too, with Devon Sawa (Hunter, Hunter) as Ken, a down-and-out family man who is now separated from his wife and struggling to still be a dad to his two daughters; Ivana Baquero (Pan’s Labyrinth) as hard-hitting, streetwise Latino, Marnie; bumbling newbie, Chris (Ryan Lee) and takes-no-shit, and guy who gets things done, Archie (Michael Jay-White).

Amongst them, they must learn to vanquish this entity that seems to take over its hosts, and keeps on mutating to eventual epic proportions.

The prognosis:

The effects are pretty decent, and the acting is solid, but the laughs are few and far between and not even The Chin himself can lift this movie beyond mediocre.

This B-Movie inspired film doesn’t disappoint as far as keeping you entertained but neither does it deliver anything new or inspiring to lift its grisly head in order raise the roof, happy to sit in its own comfort zone.

If you’re looking for a bit of entertainment for the night with pizza and whatever your poison may be, then this will satisfy to a degree, but don’t expect anything outside of the box.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: All The Colours of the Dark (1972)

27 Sunday Feb 2022

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Just when I thought that I couldn’t fall more in love with the Giallo scene, I stumbled across this gem.

Directed by Sergio Martino, All The Colours of the Dark celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and is simply sublime.

Often overlooked and wrongfully compared with Rosemary’s Baby, purely for its association with the occult and horror entering into the suburban household.

Since then. ATCOTD has been struggling to pry itself free from this shadow.

This is a shame because the film lives out to the Giallo name with it’s slick and decisive visuals, peppered with a convoluted story around the psychological state of mind.

Our lead protagonist and potentially unhinged lady, Jane (Edwige Fenech) has just cause for her trauma, with her mother tragically dying when she was just five years old and recently losing her baby, it’s no wonder that life has weighed down on her soul.

When she starts to see a strange, blue eyed man following her, those closest to her, Jane’ sister Barbara (Nieves Navarro) and James’ husband doubt her story, passing it off as a psychotic state.

With no one believing her, not even her doctor, and with Jane’s nightmares of a knife-wielding man becoming all too real, she turns to a neighbour and potential confidante out of the doldrums of suburbia.

Willing to try anything, Jane’s neighbour entices her to attend a black mass and from here on in her troubles amplify.

There’s plenty to tantalise here, with seduction, betrayal, bloody killings, and a satanic cult. Martino crafts a sublime story with stunning, over-the-top and at times psychedelic visuals.

I can’t wait to delve into my next Giallo film off the back of this.

– Saul Muerte