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Movie review – Leave (2023)

15 Wednesday Mar 2023

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Much like Morgan Saylor’s performance in Shudder’s exclusive and original feature A Spoonful of Sugar, the horror streaming platform has released another gripping lead performance in its latest outing, Leave. In this instance the performance in question comes from Alicia Von Rittberg, better known for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth 1st in Becoming Elizabeth. Unfortunately though, this is the only redeeming strength in an otherwise slow plodding, unfulfilling film.

Essentially the premise is bound by Rittberg’s Hunter character yearning to find the missing piece of the picture, namely who her parents and real family are. Having just graduated to University, Hunter embarks on a detour to discover her true origins. All she knows is that as an infant, she was left abandoned in a cemetery, wrapped in garments emblazoned with satanic symbols. This probably would be enough warning for anyone not to venture down a seemingly treacherous path to resolution, but Hunter continues pressing forward, even when a malevolent spirit appears, warning her not to do so. 

As we journey alongside Hunter, the audience endures some slow, moving scenes aimed at adding tension to the piece, but instead feels too close to grinding to a halt. Despite Rittberg’s efforts, and she pulls up all the stops to ground her character and add depth to her trauma, we are left ambling along with little care to connect with her inevitable plight. 

The Prognosis:

For all his best efforts Director Alex Herron struggles to add enough atmosphere to his psychological thriller, a necessary ingredient for the subgenre. Where he tries to apply a dark and moody setting, he loses sight of building up tension for admittedly a substandard script. Alicia Von Rittberg is a joy to watch, and potentially the only ray of sunshine in a pretty mediocre narrative.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review – Spoonful of Sugar

28 Tuesday Feb 2023

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Once you get past the nagging thought of trying to place the face of the lead, Morgan Saylor before pausing the film, googling and then cursing the fact that you should have known that she was Dana Brody from Homeland, you can finally settle into this warped variant on the Mary Poppins nanny with an ulterior motive theme of the movie. 

Spoonful of Sugar takes its name from that upbeat warbling song is the juxtaposition to the remedy riddled answer to life’s woes. Millicent (Saylor) is working on a thesis on children with severe allergies. Believing that she may have the perfect insight when landing the role of looking after Johnny (Danilo Crovetti), a mute child with a plethora of allergies and severe Mummy issues. It helps that part of the appeal to her idyllic job happens to have a hot father figure (yes, this movie is ripe with oedipal-like situations), Jacob (Myko Oliver) who walks around shirtless most of the time to show off his carpentry skills. 

With all the amped up sexual tension drifting around the place, it’s little wonder to find out that this is a mask to greater obstacles in the household. But who or how many of the central characters are wearing masks to protect their true intentions plays an integral part to the proceedings. And more importantly one that relies upon which of these facades will slip away first and what will the cost be when it occurs? 

With the mother, Rebecca (Kat Foster) clearly the main breadwinner in her pursuits as a successful author, and the reason for her continual absence, it paves the way for Millicent to play out her own fantasies as a Florence Nightingale figure, and delusions of fulfilling her own desires. 

The Prognosis:

Writer Leah Saint Marie and Director Mercedes Bryce Morgan have a clear vision in twisting the playing field of the human mind combined with the warped sexual drive that we have. When that playground is the home of a bandaged couple, healing their psychological wounds whilst raising a heavily dependent child, there is a dense and macabre world to drive a hefty wedge in and expose the inner most desires that can harbour deep inside. 

Spoonful of Sugar stretches the realms of believability which can distance the audience from the content, but this is Saylor’s showpiece and she shines as the delectably macabre Millicent. She is ably supported by a creative team willing for her to stretch her acting abilities, allowing her to explore every facet of an intriguing character.

  • Saul Muerte

Spoonful of Sugar will be streaming on Shudder from Thu 2nd March.

Movie review – Attachment (2023)

28 Tuesday Feb 2023

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Philophobia can be a powerful thing and consume your waking soul to the point of constant rejection of any would be partners. Perhaps it’s the fear of being rejected yourself, or that the fear itself is so overwhelming that you feel constricted and lose any sense of your own identity.

Sometimes the anxiety levels can run so high that you begin to question everything and you’re already deemed a bit quirky or a loner, so why break this habit?

Or this loss of control leaves you amped up and fueling a violent relationship that could potentially put you or your partner at risk.

All these things become moments of scrutiny in Gabriel Bier Gislason’s feature Attachment. Guiding this area of focus is a Danish has-been actress Maja (Josephine Park), who has a chance encounter with Leah (Ellie Kendrick, who eagle-eyed viewers may recognise as Meera Reed from Game of Thrones).The attraction is instant with that early flicker of awkwardness which soon becomes embroiled in lust. 

Then there’s those little clues, hints that something is awry, like when Leah starts walking around in her sleep. Or when she has a mysterious seizure that leads her to returning home in London. Still driven by this desire, Maja follows Leah to England where she is greeted by a strange and overbearing mother, Chana (Sofie Gråbøl). 

As the days pass, the curiosities rise. Is this just a case of an overprotective and smothering parent, but is there more lurking beneath the surface. Why are there so many secrets being held, and who is this Uncle Lev figure? (David Dencik). 

The film plays heavily into the realms of xenophobia, tapping into the unknown. As an outsider, Maja constantly questions with genuine curiosity whether the devout Jewish practices are what segregates and isolates her from finding the true connection with Leah, or is there an occult operation at play? If it’s the latter, then  is there a greater fear to be had? And who is the one that is really needing the protection?

The biggest question is will Maja be willing to go to extreme lengths in order to pursue love?

The Prognosis:

There’s some great performances to be found here, in what is essentially a straight down the road piece. The twists and turns that the audience face are navigable and in some cases predictable. Despite the road ahead seemingly transparent in places, the talent on show and the depth of character is weighty enough for you to be carried along to its final destination.

  • Saul Muerte

Attachment is currently streaming on ShudderANZ.

Movie review – Skinamarink (2023)

19 Sunday Feb 2023

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I’m caught between minds about Skinamarink, this experimental directorial feature debut from Kyle Edward Ball. In part it leans heavily into minimalism to explore the finest examples of terror through the eyes of two children, who wake up in the night to find their father missing and strange things happening around the house. The fact that we never see the children, nor their father, with Ball stripping the viewing experience down to its bare bones and denying the audience a window into the depth of the film. Instead, the idea is to focus on the empty space, a phrase coined by theatre director Peter Brook, for his book of the same name. In it he expresses, “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged”.

If we take this aspect or perspective and that the space is merely a place that means nothing until something enters its domain, then it bodes to mention that Ball is willing to explore a similar concept within the location or setting of his movie. If the space is a vessel in which spirits or beings pass through, then we surely can’t connect with the space until something or someone interacts within it.

As such, the viewer is poised through endless frames of emptiness, only to be treated with nuggets of movement or sound to stimulate our senses and push the boundaries of fear.

In reality however, these absences of action only switch off our interests, and slowly the audience will struggle to remain captivated. Is this the fault of the director though, when we as a society have become so engrained in action on screen, that to take this away or prevent us from this engagement, speaks volumes about how we interact with life. If we take note of the smallest of intricacies, then and only then can we really acknowledge the beauty that surrounds us?

The question though is, Is Horror the right genre to explore such an abstract playing field? Sure, Horror has been known to be forgiving, but when it comes at the cost of engaging with the audience, then you are left pondering its purpose.

The Prognosis:

While I applaud (Director) Ball for a bold approach to filmmaking which at times is reminiscent of The Beatles own exploration of music in Revolution No. 9, the outcome is all too repetitive and a struggle to connect with. It’s hard to believe that the content has been stretched to feature length when a short would probably have sufficed, Having said that though, his experimentation would not have been explored without pushing the boundaries of time.

It’s hard as a viewer to go beyond the limits of conception when we are being forced to observe its formulation. What constitutes horror and is it enough to hint without explanation? A question that may frustrate most who come to watch.

  • Saul Muerte

Skinamarink is currently streaming on ShudderANZ.

Movie review – The Lair (2023)

17 Friday Feb 2023

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Watching Neil Marshall’s (ahem) descent from action horror pioneer to low grade fluff has been a painful process to watch. Ever since he hit the ground running with werewolf, military action thriller, Dog Soldiers and swiftly followed this with the female empowered cave shocker, The Descent, I’ve been eagerly awaiting his next big moment to arise. Instead, we’ve seen him slowly repeat similar incarnations of these movie highlights in a decline into lesser quality. That’s not to say there hasn’t been glimmers of hope, especially with his foray into the Game of Thrones series, and perhaps it’s this that keeps on bringing me back.  I should have known to be cautious however following his previous venture The Reckoning, a sadly lacking tale of witchery and persecution. 

Which brings us to The Lair, an amalgamation of the aforementioned Dog Soldiers and The Descent, but instead of remote Scotland as its setting, we find ourselves in Afghanistan. And instead of werewolves or The Crawlers; cave dwelling humanoids, our protagonists come face to face with souped up human/alien hybrids that are being tooled as biological weapons. 

Charlotte Kirk returns as Marshall’s kick-ass muse (as well as a writing credit) to take on our heroine Lt. Kate Sinclair. Sinclair, along with a handful of militants and an Afghan hostage, seek refuge in a bunker facility to escape confrontation only to come into conflict with the beasts below.

So far, so promising right? 

The issue comes in its delivery. Yes there are action sequences on display, and a couple of typical one-liners that make you groan, the collaboration of a mix-match group, strung together to fight a common cause are all on display, but there’s nothing new on show. It doesn’t help that the dialogue is incredibly two-dimensional and clunky when delivered. When the tension shifts, the audience struggles to connect as a result and are left trailing along to what becomes a predictable and tired conclusion.

The Prognosis:

Neil Marshall’s descent into woeful movies continues to sink into greater depths. Average action, a worn out narrative, and ropeable dialogue only adds weight to his plummet. 

  • Saul Muerte

The Lair is currently screening on ShudderANZ

Movie review: Sorry About The Demon (2023)

17 Friday Feb 2023

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We’ve all been there right? Coasting aimlessly through life with no set direction, happy to drift into oblivion with no real aim to find or improve our lives for the better, only to be dropped by your girlfriend for apparently having no prospects. Then you’re left ruminating and wondering if there is anyway to win back your love’s heart, but get hoodwinked by a real estate agent and his family to move into a house as a means to sacrifice oneself for a demon, just so that they don’t have to deal with the crap themselves? You’ve been there, right? Right?

Such is the premise of this horror comedy from writer, director Emily Hagins (VHS, Scare Package) who is fast making a name for herself in the off kilter genre scene. And with Jon Michael Simpson as her muse to enact the downbeat, hapless romantic character, Will, she is able to tap into a rift that is entertaining albeit hit and miss in the humour department. Oh the irony in a name, to be called Will when you have no will of your own.

Simpson (Scare Package) is ably supported by Jeff McQuitty (more known for his work behind the lens) as the faithful best friend Patrick. When Will’s girlfriend Amy (Paige Evans) ditches him as he clearly struggles to commit to anything including her, Will once again plunges headfirst into another project, by moving into a huge house and great living costs. The catch? It’s possessed by a demon. But we’ve all had that one flatmate to share an apartment with yeah? 

If you haven’t, you probably were that demonic housemate.

Anyway, I digress. Now stuck with this problem, Will has to face up to his problems, one that another Aimee (Olivia Decayen), who just so happens may be able to rid the house of the demonic spirit. Can he amount himself to anything and find his place in the world or will he lose it all to the detriment of all those closest to him?

The Prognosis:

Sorry About The Demon has some moments of delight in this absurd horror comedy to make one grin, but these aren’t laugh out loud flickers of gold. There’s enough there to entertain and the performances are solid, but the characters and humour doesn’t always hit the mark. 

If your looking for something to pass the time, and go in with low expectations, then you’ll be pleasantly delighted. The magic is a little lacking, and much like its lead character, happily coasts along in its own sphere, unaware of just how savage life is on the exterior when we don’t pay mind to the small details.

  • Saul Muerte

Sorry About The Demon is currently screening on ShudderANZ.