• About
  • podcasts
  • Shop

Surgeons of Horror

~ Dissecting horror films

Surgeons of Horror

Tag Archives: thriller

Movie review: The Advent Calendar

11 Saturday Dec 2021

Posted by surgeons of horror in Movie review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

french horror, Horror movie, Horror movies, shudder australia, thriller

Who doesn’t love a bit of festive horror?

And there’s plenty to like about this French horror thriller from director Patrick Ridremont.

Eugenie Derouand stars as Eva, a paraplegic who receives a mysterious box in the guise of the titular advent calendar from her friend Sophie (Honorine Magnier). As expected with ominous gifts with offers of treats that stretch from confectionary to real life rewards, there will be repercussions.  The question though is whether the benefits outweigh these hindrances? How much is one willing to salvage for a better chance at life? For Eva, this temptation proves too great, but how far is she willing to go?

There are three rules to follow.

Eat all the chocolate… Or die.

Do every task given… Or die.

And don’t dump the advent calendar… Or…you guessed it. You die.

The premise is pretty straight up and the performances are solid across the board, allowing the viewer to step into the narrative easily. We’re even presented with a nicely stylised creature who lurks from within the box and comes out when rules are broken or when sacrifices need to be made. This helps ramp up the tension suitably, hooking you further into the drama. And sure enough when things go sour, it does so that stays firmly in believability. A tough thing to do when you’re playing in the realms of fantasy.

The prognosis:

A solid feature with some nice moments that entertains despite some predictable moments.

It helps that the performances from the leads are strong to fuel the the loss of control as the drama unfolds.

  • Saul Muerte

The Advent Calendar is currently streaming on ShudderANZ

Movie review: The Little Things (2021)

16 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by surgeons of horror in Movie review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

crime, denzel washington, jared leto, john lee hancock, neo-noir, rami malik, thriller

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

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016

Categories

  • A Night of Horror Film Festival
  • Alien franchise
  • Alliance Francaise French Film Festival
  • Australian Horror
  • Best Movies and Shows
  • Competition
  • episode review
  • Flashback Fridays
  • Friday the 13th Franchise
  • Full Moon Sessions
  • Halloween franchise
  • In Memorium
  • Interview
  • japanese film festival
  • John Carpenter
  • killer pigs
  • midwest weirdfest
  • MidWest WierdFest
  • MonsterFest
  • movie of the week
  • Movie review
  • News article
  • podcast episode
  • podcast review
  • press release
  • retrospective
  • Rialto Distribution
  • Ring Franchise
  • series review
  • Spanish horror
  • sydney film festival
  • Sydney Underground Film Festival
  • The Blair Witch Franchise
  • The Exorcist
  • The Howling franchise
  • Top 10 list
  • Trash Night Tuesdays on Tubi
  • umbrella entertainment
  • Uncategorized
  • Universal Horror
  • Wes Craven
  • wes craven's the scream years

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Surgeons of Horror
    • Join 189 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Surgeons of Horror
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar