Tag: Horror Comedy

SEND HELP – Review

After last weekend’s brutal winter storm, aren’t you dreaming of a getaway to a tropical island where you’re not wrenching your back shoveling snow or scraping ice off of your car’s windshield? Ah, but what if it’s deserted, with little to no chance of leaving (if only that old boat that’s got “S.S. MINNOW” painted on its side didn’t have that nasty hole in it hull)? And forget about any rescue ships arriving. Perhaps you’re not alone, at least that makes things more bearable. But what if it’s that co-worker you can’t stand? Or trust? These are all things to ponder while basking away in the warmth of your multiplex while watching at least one of these “stranded castaways” make several attempts to SEND HELP.

One part of that duo is introduced in the film’s opening scenes, Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams). She’s a thirty-something single lady who spends most of her evenings devouring episodes of the TV series “Survivor” with her pet bird, when she’s not prepping for the next day. She’s “workin’ 9 to 5” as a bean counter “cog” at a big investment firm downtown. Its owner has just passed, leaving the company to his arrogant, entitled son, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien). Linda’s all prepared to be appointed the new vice-president, due to her skills, seniority, and a promise from the late Mr. Preston. But naturally, the VP promotion goes to one of Bradley’s “frat bros”. Linda confronts Bradley, who really wants to axe her. However, he’s told of her invaluable “number-crunching”, so she’s spared. This also gets her an invite on the private jet to Bangkok to help seal the deal on a big merger. But these skies are far from friendly, as a storm cripples the aircraft, plunging it into the sea. Linda survives and awakens on the shore of what appears to be a large, lush, deserted island. As she has been researching and training to audition for her fave TV show, she’s in her element. And…she’s not alone. Further down the beach is her injured boss Bradley. Linda tends to the wounds of the ungrateful CEO, while locating food and building a shelter. The two clash, as it becomes clear that in this place, Linda is the boss. Can they work and live together? And does Linda really want to be rescued and return to her dreary life slaving for the obnoxious BP?

As you’ve probably guessed, this is basically a two character study, though enlivened with plenty of action and suspense. At the heart of it is Linda Liddle superbly brought to life by the talented McAdams. Though she’s mainly known for dramas, she expertly delivers her best comedy performance since the original MEAN GIRLS (that can’t be 22 years ago). She’s endearingly awkward and klutzy in the story’s first act, establishing Liddle as socially inept and dripping with “flopsweat” through her “bargain basement” attire. I was reminded of Michelle Pfieffer’s Selina in BATMAN RETURNS. And like her, trauma changes Liddle (the plane crash here) into someone completely different, full of purpose and drive. And often very intimidating. McAdams succeeds at turning our chuckles into gasps, almost reaching through the screen to pull us in (I’m guessing the 3D version works well). Luckily she’s got a superb scene, and island, partner with the versatile rising star O’Brien. I sang his praises a couple of years ago for his remarkable recreations of young Dan Aykroyd in SATURDAY NIGHT. Since then, he was also compelling in TWINLESS (but let’s forget ANNIVERSARY, shall we). As with McAdams, his take on Bradley is a comic horrible boss straight out of many workplace romps in act one. We even see some of his snark and venom-spewing attitude in his beach rescue. Somehow, O’Brien is able to turn it around, and have us in his corner, for a bit. Then we see that his seeming change of heart masks plenty of dark intentions. His vulnerability his another mask to cloud his cruelty. These are two charismatic screen actors in top form.

And who’s “pulling their strings”? Why, it’s none other than the glorious genre movie-making mastermind Sam Raimi. Actually, he’s got his fingerprints all over it, delighting and engaging us with his manic storytelling style, full of dark, almost pitch black, comic set pieces (somehow the plane crash is harrowing and hysterical), heightened by his still energetic compositions that careen from big close-ups (that tuna fish on Linda’s chin) to the sweeping island panoramas (take in the ragged cliffs). Those paying close attention will be rewarded by several of his endearing “call backs” (look at the office wall and the parking garage) that clearly set this in the quirky “Raimi-verse”, much like his last foray in the “Marvel-verse”. Be forewarned that he doesn’t hold back on the blood, guts, and mayhem (yes, there are native wildlife in the tall grass). And there are still lots of narrative “tricks” up the sleeve of this directing “prankster” as he makes good “pop pulp” out of the clever, twisty script from Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. Plus, two of Raimi’s stalwarts, cinematographer Bill Pope (making both the gleaming offices and lush beaches glisten) and composer extraordinaire Danny Elfman lift the film up with their artistry. Couple that with some vibrant visual effect magic and startling stunts and Raimi, along with McAdams and O’Brien, bring lots of energy (Sam’s been at this for five decades now) and a very entertaining take on cinematic castaway tropes (a nice mix of the Hanks classic, along with SWEPT AWAY and MISERY) in SEND HELP.

3.5 Out of 4

SEND HELP opens in theatres everywhere on Friday, January 30, 2026

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD – Review

Last week, the big Summer cinema season kicked off with another trip to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with another Impossible Mission and a Disney remake debuting in just a few weeks. So, does that mean that horror fanatics (AKA “gore-hounds”) will have to wait for the cooler temps for their “fright fix”? Well, ROSARIO gave up some scares last week, and that late April “sleeper smash” SINNERS is still dishing up some plasma with its blues soundtrack. So, why not a new chiller featuring the “go-to” thriller icons of the last couple of decades? No, we’re not talking about more vampires, werewolves, or zombies, but less supernatural creeps. Yes, it’s those brightly garbed, painted-on-smiles, former kids entertainers, that are now nightmare “fodder” after several “Jokers” and Pennywise of the IT flicks. And how about seeing their oversized feet tromping about the usually tranquil heartland? Who wouldn’t dash back into the barn after spotting a CLOWN IN THE CORNFIELD? Maybe they can squirt some seltzer on those dry crops.

It all begins with a flashback to 1991 when the “title terror” struck at a wild teen party (think an “ocean-free” JAWS opener). Flash forward to modern-day Kettle Springs, MO, and the arrival of the new town MD, widower Dr. Glenn Maybrook ( Aaron Abrams), and his sixteen-year-old daughter Quinn (Katie Douglas). She’s pretty bummed about being “stuck in the middle of nowhere”, but her papa thinks that they need a “fresh start” after losing Mom. Plus, their new house is a “fixer upper” that needs wifi (Quinn’s #1 priority). The next morning, she’s about to leave for school when the spooky stoic “down-the-road” neighbor Rust (Vincent Muller) shows up at their door to walk with her. Quinn’s late for her first class and gets detention along with a rowdy group thought to be behind a prank on testy teacher Mr. Vern (Bradley Swatsky). She bonds with the quintet who invite her to join them that night at the old burned-out Baypen Corn Syrup factory, where they make viral videos about the company’s creepy old mascot, Frendo the Clown. Quinn likes them all, but feels a romantic connection with the dreamy, rebel Cole (Carson MacCormac), who happens to be the son of the town’s Mayor Hill (Kevin Durant). Excitement is in the air since the big Founders’ Day Festival is days away. Ah, but gruesome murder is also in the ether, as the “real” Frendo begins killing some local teens. Everything builds up to the big post-parade moonlight teen party at the old factory as Quinn and her new friends, and possible BF Cole, must try to survive a near-endless night of “clown carnage and chaos”.


As with many classic horror flicks of the last fifty years, the story’s main character is (perhaps a cliche now), the final girl, as in Laurie Strode in HALLOWEEN. Here, it’s Katie Douglas as Quinn, who is a bit of a mix of nice and slightly naughty. Ms. Douglas generates great empathy as the little town’s “new kid” while offering up big doses of snark and sarcasm, while still never losing an endearing charm. And she has good chemistry with MacCormac as Cole, who is the resident “dream guy” who also appears to be hiding a few dark secrets as he begins putting the “moves” on Quinn. The rest of the “teen pack” are comprised of young “camera-ready” actors who could fit in on a 2010 CW TV show (they’re going to reality now), though Verity Marks shines as the surprisingly “meta’ sidekick to the blonde “queen bee” (being the tanned bruinette she states, when the blood flies, “You just know I’ll be next!”) along with Muller as the off-kilter awkward Rust. As for the adults, Abrams is the warm, sometimes stern but always sympathetic “daddy doc”, who tries to give his spirited teen a “limited freedom”. Plus he’s a dream compared to the town’s surly other elders, best represented by comic actor Will Sasso as the growling chief of police who’s quick to point his pistol at theose “brats”. Much can be said of Durant, who almost breaks into the old “bye Bye Birdie” standard tune “Kids!” while bemoaning the next “gen”. Perhaps he could make that song a “duet” with Sawatsky’s twitchy, always esasperated Mr. Vern.

This often familiar terror tale is directed confidently by thriller veteran Eli Craig, who brings a fun vibe to the ghoulish mayhem, though he never hits the heights of his earlier genre-flipping classic TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL (hmm, one of the teens is named Tucker here…). Craig conveys the small town “dread” as Quinn is suddenly out of her urban ‘comfort zone” in the creepy quiet of the midwestern “corn country”. And the “kills’ action secquences have lots of energy and creative stunt work paired with several gruesome “practical effects”, though the CGI plasma erupts into our laps. Unfortunately, the tone wears thin as the final act (the big “death derby”) commences as the screenplay wants to have it both ways, existing as a campy thriller satire while trying to send tingles up our spines and work as a legit terror tale. The idea of a corporate “mascot” becoming a nightmarish butcher is a neat twist, but the SCREAM films have had more success at mixing humor and horror (though they often stumble). And, as is often with these films, the finale lurches along with multiple endings while the big master plan of Frendo feels devoid of logic and “future-thought”. Much like SNAKES ON A PLANE, this title promises more fun than is on screen (I wonder if the source novel delivered more), but fright fans may “reap” some rewards from that spooky and often silly CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD.

2 Out of 4

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD opens in theatres on Friday, May 9, 2025

BLOODY AXE WOUND Review

A scene from BLOODY AXE WOUND. Courtesy of Shudder

BLOODY AXE WOUND is a darkly comedic gore-fest that may be sporting my favorite title in recent memory. The product, alas, does not reach those heights for the genre. Still, this plays out with enough splatter to feed the beasts within us.

Our star and narrator is Abbie (believe it or not) Bladecut (Sari Arambulo) – a young woman trying to rise in her dad’s failing business. Roger Bladecut (an unrecognizable Billy Burke, behind his character’s  scarred, discolored face) runs a shabby little video store that primarily exists on the sale and rental of the vividly gruesome snuff films he makes in their otherwise quiet small town of Clover Falls. All the Bladecut flicks focus on savagely slaying local teenagers, significantly depleting the high school’s population. Roger does the choosing and killing. But Abbie yearns to take up the reins, since daddy’s getting too old and unwell to count on as the slaying star for the long haul.

Writer/director Matthew John Lawrence’s plot both follows and spoofs the genre, as Abbie awkwardly strives to follow in daddy’s maniacal boot steps, but starts feeling conflicted about her career choice. Once she starts getting to know the intended victims by posing as a new student, her devotion to the task begins to waver. Kids are always told not to play with their food. Similarly, wannabe slashers shouldn’t play with their prey, although for different reasons.

The essential killings are done with some clever, often humorous, touches, and plenty of fake blood and viscera. But one must suspend an inordinate amount of disbelief, which I found distracting. They never show who is filming the murders or how they’re toting cameras into all the places where the slayings occur without the victims noticing. Unlike the SCREAM franchise, there’s no accounting for how so many kids from one school could be getting offed without any police or media attention. Or how could they be renting a huge series of videos in the same town as their victims without anyone making a connection? Even though realism isn’t a defining trait of slasher flicks, this one stretches its premise a bit too far.

On the plus side, Arambulo and her new bestie Sam (Molly Brown) deliver very appealing performances. Arambulo evokes empathy despite her vicious aspirations, and shows Abbie’s emotional roller coaster with ease. Her character might star in a reboot of JUNO, playing the title role as psychotic, rather than merely sarcastic. The future looks bright for both actresses. Just don’t let yourself think too much about the logic behind what you’re watching.

BLOODY AXE WOUND streams on Shudder starting Friday, Mar. 21, 2025

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

GET AWAY – Review

A scene from GET AWAY. Courtesy of IFC/Shudder

Despite a growing sense of fatigue from too many serious and darkly comic gore-fests, I signed up to cover GET AWAY for two reasons – Nick Frost and Aisling Bea. Glad I did. Frost became a celeb primarily from serving as Simon Pegg’s lovable sidekick in SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ (one of my all-time faves). Both were written by Pegg and Edgar Wright, leading to several other worthy collaborations from the three pals.

This time Frost as writer and star proves he can stick the landing in that genre just fine on his own. Delightful Irish stand-up/actress Bea plays his wife, as they and their two (typically surly) teenagers travel from England to Sweden for the eponymous vacation. They decided on a remote island, timing the visit with an arcane festival and program that’s an homage to its history.

Before even reaching the island, they’re given the usual warnings from the usual sort of creepy locals on the landward side of the ferry that it won’t be safe to go there. A wave of hostility from the island’s denizens greets them as they disembark. It starts to seem as if 2019’s MIDSOMMAR will be a romcom by comparison to what’s in store for these innocents abroad, and another gut punch to the Swedish tourism industry. Maybe that’s why they shot it in Finland.

The title serves double duty as describing the break from routine they’re seeking, and the wisdom of doing a 180 before boarding that fateful boat. No more details can be included without spoiling what I found so enjoyable about the proceedings. It’s every bit as twisted, hilarious and gory as the aforementioned titles, while simultaneously delivering on and spoofing its morbid, grisly genre. See it before you learn more about the plot. And don’t bring the faint of heart with you.

GET AWAY, in English and Swedish with English subtitles, opens Friday, Dec. 6, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

COURTNEY GETS POSSESSED – Review

A scene from COURTNEY GETS POSSESSED. Courtesy of Paramount+

As the odd little horror comedy COURTNEY GETS POSSESSED opens, we meet Courtney (Lauren Buglioli) sitting alone and bored at someone else’s wedding when a jaunty fellow named Dave (Jonathon Pawloski) approaches her and arouses some interest in the lass. Fast-forward five years, and Courtney is now the bride about to marry Glen (Zae Jordan) while coping with her lifelong nemesis of a sister, Caitlin (Madison Hatfield). The latter has always resented her more popular sibling and done all she could to mess with her, from swiping jewelry to boinking her boyfriends. At the bachelorette party, Dave turns up at her door. Courtney tries to keep him out, but Caitlin – if only to annoy her sister – invites him in. The group soon learns that Dave is actually Satan, that Courtney naively had a fling with him several years earlier, and now he wants her back, body and/or soul.

The rest of the film is one long night of Courtney and her friends trying to purge Dave from their midst, and periodically from their possessed bodies. None are skilled at this, and not all share the same goal. Mayhem ensues, including several casualties along the way. The result is a mix of THE EXORCIST (even using background music similar enough to trigger the association but different enough to avoid owing royalties), BRIDESMAIDS and the legion of witchcraft and demonic comedies – especially those with Faustian underpinnings.

The early going seems more silly than engaging, as squabbles among the humans grow rather annoying. But a couple of twists in the latter half turn that around, resulting in a fairly satisfying offbeat comedy. For a low-budget production, the cast is surprisingly good. Dave and the two sisters shine. Among the supporting cast, the snarky best man/bride’s brother Chuck (Steven Reddington) adds the most laughs, followed closely by the hapless aforementioned groom and maid-of-honor, Lexi (Aditi George).

But the most admirable aspect is all the hats that Madison Hatfield wore – writer, director and co-star. I didn’t check on whether she also handled craft services but it wouldn’t surprise me if she did. Though she’s penned a dozen or so shorts and films, this is her first time directing a feature-length production. She keeps things moving well despite the limitations of spending almost all the running time within one house. Plus, one must admire a creator who casts herself in the bitchiest, most antagonistic role, and dives headlong into milking the worst from her character’s character. That reminds me of prolific TV series creator Stephen J. Cannell, whose biggest acting gig was playing the corrupt, sadistic antagonist of hero Lorenzo Lamas throughout the long run of his “Renegade.” Cannell’s vicious, relentless pursuit of Lamas made Lt. Gerard of “The Fugitive” seem like Dr. Kimble’s bestie.

COURTNEY GETS POSSESSED is not a great film, and may not be completely weird enough for eventual cult status. But it’s worth a look if only to get acquainted with Ms. Hatfield. She seems poised for success on both sides of the cameras.

COURTNEY GETS POSSESSED opens in theaters on Friday, Nov. 3.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

TOTALLY KILLER – Review

(l-r) Kiernan Shipka as Jamie and Olivia Holt as young Pam, in TOTALLY KILLER. Courtesy of Amazon Prime Video

It’s the spooky season, and teen thriller TOTALLY KILLER looks to satisfy that itch for scares. But what appears to be a horror film spoof at first, suddenly morphs into a mash-up of HALLOWEEN and BACK TO THE FUTURE, when a sixteen-year-old girl goes back in time to the 1980s to solve a Halloween triple killing by the “Sweet Sixteen Killer.”

A HALLOWEEN – BACK TO THE FUTURE mash-up isn’t a bad idea but that idea gets bogged down in 1980s nostalgia that sucks the energy out of the horror scares, and even the humor, like a vampire. Do you long for the ’80s? Even if you don’t remember them? Well, someone wanted to revisit that era of big hair, big shoulders, garish fashions and John Hughes films, so we get TOTALLY KILLER. The mind behind this teen horror/time travel adventure is director Nahnatchka Khan, whose works include ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE, and TV’s “Fresh Off The Boat,” working from a script by David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver and Jen D’Angelo.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE too, but TOTALLY KILLER just doesn’t have that same human appeal or humor, or even much life in it, at least not until the last few minutes. Director Nahnatchka Khan has a following, so I imagine fans still will want to check this one out, but so much ’80s kitsch means you had better be a big fan of that era too.

The whole thing starts out on Halloween, in a quiet small town as kids in costumes fill the tree-lined streets. But around one corner is something odd – a man holding one of those flags that tour guides carry, and leading a group of people all dressed in the same black leather and wearing the same mask – the grinning face of a blonde-haired man.

It is, in fact, a tour – a Halloween tour of the sites associated with the town’s one infamous crime, the “Sweet Sixteen Murders,” which took place back in the 1980s. Three sixteen-year-old girls were each stabbed 16 times, in murders that took place, one by one, over several days, with the last one on Halloween. The killer was never caught, so the unsolved murders have become myths or urban legends, of a sorts, since then. This macabre tour is led by the local expert on the crimes, who also does a podcast about them.

Sixteen-year-old Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) knows all about the killings from more than 30 years ago, because her mother knew the victims back in high school. But then that’s not surprising, since everyone knows everyone in this little town. Jamie’s mom (Julie Bowen) is still nervous that the unknown killer might return, and she wants her 16-year-old daughter to stay home on Halloween, to help her hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. But Jamie has other plans so, rolling her eyes and snarking, she marches off to go to a concert with her best friend Amelia (Kelcey Mawema). To appease her worried Mom, she reluctantly agrees to let her Dad (Lochlyn Munro) drive them there and wait around for them until the concert’s end.

What starts out looking like a HALLOWEEN spoof suddenly switches gears and goes BACK TO THE FUTURE, when that long-missing killer does reappear. Jamie finds herself in a long-abandoned amusement park, and hiding inside a photo booth. But it is actually a time machine, which is unexpectedly activated and propels her to the 1980s, setting her on a path to try to prevent the “Sweet Sixteen” murders.

Yeah, about that. Turns out Jamie’s bestie is pretty bright and the time machine is her science fair project, but her mom is even smarter, because it was her notebook that had instructions for building a time machine. So, more than a little suspension of disbelief required here. Plus, this little town is filled with oddities – like an abandoned amusement park that isn’t fenced off, and in fact, where the school science fair is held. Umm, OK.

Sounds like there is potential for comedy, right? But it sounds funnier when described than it actually is in the movie. Once we go back to 1987, the movie’s pace slows to a crawl, to give us time to savor all that 1980s stuff – Molly Ringwald references, the wild-looking designer clothes, dodge-ball, and a school with a complete lack of privacy or security concerns. Like in the original BACK TO THE FUTURE, things are a lot different back in the past than Jamie thought they would be, and stopping the murders is harder than she imagined too. And then there is that thing about how to get back to her own time period.

There is less comedy than you expect and the horror sequences are similarly surprisingly low-energy. The movie’s leisurely pace doesn’t even pick up much when things turn murderous. There is some blood but not many real scares, or even comedic relief. The pace finally does pick up in the last 15 minutes, as Jamie is trying to get back to the present, making for some good pulse-pounding moments that are definitely exciting, and the movie finishes strong at the end. But there is a whole lot of movie before you get to that point. At one hour and 43 minutes, it feels longer.

If you love everything 1980s, TOTALLY KILLER might be for you, as just wandering around in the 1980s seems the point more than solving mysteries or preventing murders, much less scaring the audience or making them laugh. However, Shipka does a nice job as Jamie, adding a little welcome bit of snark to liven things up, and the film has a heartwarming message by the end. But there is a whole lot of time where not much of anything happens, scary, funny or otherwise.

TOTALLY KILLER debuts opens Friday, Oct. 6, streaming on demand on Amazon Prime Video.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

RENFIELD – Review

(from left) Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) and Dracula (Nicolas Cage) in Renfield, directed by Chris McKay. Courtesy of Universal

The horror comedy RENFIELD gives the Dracula story gets a modern twist by re-imagining the vampire’s servant Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult, as in a co-dependent relationship with his demanding boss/ master Dracula, played with scenery-chewing glee and comic menace by Nicolas Cage. A big part of the real fun of this very bloody horror comedy is in it fabulous recreations of Tod Browning’s classic 1931 DRACULA with Bela Lugosi. Hoult does an impressive Dwight Frye as Renfield impression, including that crazy laugh, in these sequences (and occasionally throughout the movie). Nicolas Cage mimics the elegant Bela Lugosi in the recreations of Tod Browning’s classic but otherwise Cage’s Dracula is his own mix of monsters, drawing on more on Christopher Lee and others than Lugosi.

Actually, a lot of the fun for classic movie fans in director Chris McKay’s bloody vampire comedy are the beautifully-executed recreations of that classic monster movie. McKay also alludes to various other Dracula movie incarnations, and references how the monsters in monster movies tend to get bigger and more powerful in sequels while still having the same kind of showdowns with the forces for good battling them. The film alternates between comedy and bloody cartoon violence action scenes, while Renfield grapples with his toxic relationship with Dracula, and his longing for a normal “life” (even though he is also undead).

The film opens with Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) at a self-help group for people with co-dependency issues. He isn’t there to talk about his relationship with his controlling boss, the Prince of Darkness, Dracula (Nicolas Cage) but to hunt for victims for his master. But Renfield tries to play nice guy by not targeting the people at the session, but their tormentors, along with whatever criminals he comes across.

Dispatching one of these tormentors brings Renfield in contact with a drug-dealing crime ring, and the drug lord Teddy Hobo (Ben Schwartz), who runs that part of the Lobo crime family business for his powerful crime boss mom, Ella (Shohreh Aghdashloo), and then in contact with straight-arrow cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), rebelling against corruption in the force, and her partner (Adrian Martinez), who is less committed to that fight.

The story is set in New Orleans, a perfect spot for this tale, where Dracula is in hiding as he recovers from a very nasty encounter with a van Helsing-type and a priest, which leaves Renfield to do the hunting (or should that be shopping?) for him. Before the tale really gets underway, narrator Renfield gives us a quick recap of that and how he and his boss Dracula met.

This launches us into that wonderful flashback with a marvelous recreation of early scenes Tod Browning’s 1931 black and white DRACULA, either sampling the Universal monster classic (and not that this film is the same studio as distributor) and inserting Nick Cage and Nick Hoult in to the Dracula and Renfield roles. These bits of homage to the original sound film are worth the ticket price alone and there are more snippets later. The classic movie recreations are followed by a quick summary of how Renfield and Dracula ended up in New Orleans, where the story takes place and where Dracula is in hiding as he recovers from a nasty encounter with a van Helsing-type and a priest, which leaves Renfield to do the hunting (or should that be shopping?) for him.

However, Renfield is growing tired of his long life of servitude – and his temperamental and demanding master, and longs for something like a more normal life. When Dracula complains about the quality of the victims, all baddies, that Renfield is bringing him, and demands a better quality of blood – like from nuns and cheerleaders – Renfield reaches a new low. Maybe it is time to admit he is co-dependent.

You can see the comic potential in that, and the script dives right in. In between the drama between Renfield and his toxic boss, we get plenty of action sequences, of the cartoon violence variety, and in the horror movie “buckets-o-blood” vein (ahem). This is over-the-top stuff, with spurting red stuff and limbs severed and heads popped off, but those sensitive to blood and guts should take note.

The film has some great comic moments but overall it suffers from too-slow pacing and a tendency to repeat or draw out some scenes, as if wanting to extend the running time. Generally the comic and relationship scenes work better than the action ones, where the slow pacing and a lack of inventiveness does not work well with a blood-and-gore horror, where speed is needed. While there are some delightful moments between the two Nicks, and an especially funny and spot-on for relationship humor where Cage questions Hoult when Renfield is trying to conceal information from the Prince of Darkness, but the best parts of the film are by far the classic movie recreation scenes, where both Cage and Hoult reveling in the parts with winking humor.

Both Nicks are excellent in this, milking their scenes together for comedy, as Nick Cage’s Dracula plays the worst boss ever with hints to everyone kind of toxic relationship. Where the film falls short is in the action sequences. RENFIELD subscribes to the Buckets-O-Blood school of horror, with cartoon violence that involves spurting founds of red and limbs torn off and heads popped off in the most exaggerated manner. The problem is that the action is a bit slow and repetitive, not nearly fast enough to make it work, and has lackluster, almost generic music under it, which doesn’t help. Oddly, the sound track to the more comic relationship parts is excellent.

Renfield is taken with officer Quincy’s unshakable ethical standards but the scenes between Hoult and Awkwafina don’t always completely work. Hoult plays the smitten Renfield well, with a sweetness and innocence, but Awkwafina seems less comfortable in her narrowly defined role which does not give her enough room to shine. The casting seemed a good idea but as the part as written is too confining, although Awkwafina does get some drama mileage out of it, regarding avenging her father and protecting her sister. Among the supporting characters, Iranian American actor Shohreh Aghdashloo is the elegant and coolly-powerful stand-out in her few scenes. As her son, Ben Schwartz is more noisy and blustering than scary, like an overgrown teenager determined to show how bad he is, while still trying to impress his mom.

RENFIELD serves up gory horror comedy fun, very much on the bloody side. Although some scenes seem to repeat points already made and the action scenes could be energetic, the impressive classic film sequences more than make up for any flaws.

RENFIELD opens Friday, April 14, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

COCAINE BEAR – Review

As the forced hibernation of an often (in some parts of the US) ends lots of folks, besides the college kids, are making plans for the big “Spring break”. Aside from hitting the beaches, a good percentage will haul out the camping gear and make their journey into the woods to commune with Mother Nature. Oh, but what if “mama’ is not very welcome, especially those animal residents? These “humans vs. the wild” showdowns have been film thriller fodder for decades with the “king” JAWS, FROGS, NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY, and DAY OF THE ANIMALS, And you remember how THE REVENANT grabbed a load of Oscars in 2015. Perhaps its most shocking scene pitted the story’s hero against a ferocious bear (the producers tagged as “Judy”). Now she was protecting her cubs, while the title star of this new flick, which is “inspired by true events” has a very different motivating “fuel”. This tale’s forest is truly frightening because it’s the lair of the COCAINE BEAR (sniff)!


This weird bit of recent legend begins in the hard-partying year of 1985 when a drug smuggler tosses dozens of duffel bags full of bars of blow out of his rapidly descending twin-engine plane (gotta’ lighten the load). Oh, but he still crashes in Tennessee, which sends a local narcotics officer on a mission. Bob (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) believes it’s connected to a St. Louis drug kingpin named Syd (Ray Liotta). And he’s right since Syd has assigned his best “muscle” Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and Syd’s depressed son Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) to head to Chattahoochee River National Park, home of Blood Mountain, to recover the “merch”. As the cop and the “crew” hit the trail, a good deal of the “product’ has been consumed by a rampaging black bear, about which the locals are clueless. That includes the park’s oblivious ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) and “nature advocate” Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). Also in the dark is single mom Sari (Keri Russell), who heads off to her nursing job as her preteen daughter Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) joins her pal, the nervous Henry (Christian Convery) for a day of “hookey” in the nearby park to “paint the rainbow”. Throw in a trio of local toughs (a gang dubbed “The Duchamps”), and that over-medicated ursine predator could enjoy a tasty buffet, once he mellows out (if ever).

As you might’ve guessed, this is pretty much a raucous rowdy farce, which the talented cast fully embraces. However, a couple of the actors also get a chance to flex their dramatic “chops”, especially Russell as the struggling single mom who has to channel her own inner “mama bear’ to find her only child. She conveys the spirit of an average woman suddenly facing down her fears. And then there’s Jackson’s Daveed, who begins to see the despair of his henchman role as he must become a big brother to Ehrenreich’s Eddie, who’s going down for the “third time’ as the grief over his wife’s recent passing suffocates his spirit. Their adversary is the engaging Whitlock as Bob, the low-level cop determined to finally capture his “white whale”, Syd played with grit and gusto parodying his iconic gangster roles by the much missed Liotta in his final film performance. The comic MVP might be Martindale as the gruff, Yosemite Sam-like ranger with a short fuse and an itchy “hair trigger” temper. Ferguson also scores some laughs as the “tree hugger” who is ill-prepared for the full fury of the forest. Kudos also to the comic duo of Kristofer Hivju and Hannah Hoekstra as the Nordic hikers who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time (“Ve are lucky wit’ nature!”). Ditto for the “kids in peril”, Prince as the sassy, smart Dee Dee, and Convery as the “desperate-to-seem-cool” Henry.

With this, her third feature film, actress Elizabeth Banks is proving to be an equally talented director. She keeps the pace brisk, spacing the frantic action sequences with bits of character dialogue, giving us a chance to catch our breath before the beast strikes. Sure, this is almost a live-action cartoon, though closer in spirit to the old EC horror comics (this story would make Dr. Wertham’s eyeglasses shatter) like “Tales From the Crypt”, with several of the characters enduring Wile E. Coyote-style injuries, though they lack his “rejuvenating skills”. However, Banks doesn’t go for the splatter stuff too much, perhaps to make it a bit more “kid friendly” (but it’s really not a family flick). Those audiences jazzed by the high (oops) concept title are getting just what they want, but at around 95 minutes it begins to feel a bit forced. much like an extra-long SNL sketch stretched to feature length (I could almost hear Chevy’s “…land shark.”). Plus there’s a nagging feeling throughout that the producers really want this to be a “super-sized” and big-budget “midnight movie” to inspire a cult (maybe wearing big furs to showings), and trying to be “edgy” (really, ten-year-olds dropping “F-bombs”). But the “core demographic’ will be pleased with the CGI “mo-cap” critters, even as the star gets revived by the “nose candy’ much as Popeye did with the smell of spinach (I’m aging myself). So, if you’re in the mood for a campy horror comedy, the best “pick-me-up” may be the chemically chaotic COCAINE BEAR (so he snorts and s*#ts in the woods).

2.5 Out of 4

COCAINE BEAR is now playing in theatres everywhere

STUDIO 666 (2022)- Review

This weekend’s big film release might just remind you of a classic TV candy commercial: “Hey, you got rock ‘n’ roll in my horror!” “Well, you got horror in my rock ‘n’ roll!”. But the big question is whether they taste great together. Maybe it’s “delish” or perhaps it’s a big loud gooey mess. It’s not like the two haven’t mixed in the past. Countless monster chillers have used pounding metal music in their soundtracks, while many a “head-bangin'” band have lifted imagery from several classic and modern terror flicks (I think versions of Freddy and Jason have popped up, if not the real “things”) for their video shorts on MTV. Now, this flick goes several steps further by having a very popular group playing themselves and confronting the “forces of darkness”. Sure the Monkees were chased around by clones of Frank, Wolfie, and Drac in their 60s TV series, but nothing like this! They may be because they wisely opted against recording in STUDIO 666.

All the monster mayhem begins in that title space, actually a dingy, once opulent Encino mansion, way back in 1993. We’re placed right at the end of the massacre of the heavy metal band Dream Widow as its lead singer/drummer (Jenna Ortega) struggles to survive. Jumpcut to the modern-day music biz as label exec Jeremy Shill (Jeff Garlin), maybe that last name is a bit “on the nose”, implores Dave Grohl and his Foo Fighters (yes, the real guys playing themselves) to finish their big tenth album. Dave insists that the music is all in his head, but needs the right recording venue for the proper sound and…ambiance. Aha, Jeremy and his eager real estate agent Barb (Leslie Grossman) have just the perfect spot…you know where. After she gives a quick tour of the place, Dave agrees (though the guys need a bit more persuading). Soon the band’s road crew is setting up their equipment as the guys are picking their rooms (they’ll stay there while recording). Then tragedy strikes their electrical guy (you can guess) and the fellas wanna’ bolt. Despite this, and the overly friendly, overly chatty next-door neighbor Samantha (Whitney Cummings) Dave convinces them to “stick it out”. But things get even weirder as he sees a mysterious “caretaker” skulking about with a pair of very sharp shears (nobody else spots him). Then later that night strange noises lure David to the basement where shadowy smoky black figures with glowing red eyes and teeth surround him and…Well, maybe number ten could be the final Foo Fighters work. Or will it?

Perhaps after Lady Gaga’s dazzling turn in A STAR IS BORN, followed by her great work in HOUSE OF GUCCI (Oscar got it very wrong), many might think that singers would be natural thespians. And with this film…they’ll rethink that. Grohl is probably the most natural actor of the band, though he often swallows his words, then leaps to the other extreme with contorted histrionics to convey his metamorphosis. That’s when he’s not manically bobbing his head up and down for comic effect, perhaps (Wayne, Garth, and the gang did it the best thirty years ago…yikes). The other bandmates stiffly recite their lines, mug as though they’re a revamped Little Rascals cast, or merely offer a blank stare until they can drop an “F-bomb”. They might have thought the addition of comic actors would “up the ante”, but they merely have us wishing them to be more prominent in a worthy script. Garlin tempers her usual affable exasperation with unnerving aggression. Cummings is a welcome relief with her take on the next-door wacko who loves to “spill the tea” while getting her “Fatale/groupie” vibe going. Grossman does a nice spin on the whole straight-laced real estate super-agent cliche. And SNL vet Will Forte scores some laughs as the rock star-wannabe’ food delivery guy who really wants to hand over a demo CD with the “extra ranch”. The most offbeat casting may be that of Ortega who’s almost redoing her big scene from a horror franchise reboot from just last month.

So were the filmmakers hoping for sort of a romp similar to the Beatles follow-up feature HELP? Well, this isn’t even KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK. Horror film vet (HATCHET III) B.J. McDonnell tries to straddle the line between show biz satire and a sort-of greatest hits (like many music acts) of horror. Many hard-core “gore-hounds” could almost tick off a list of “tributes’ from their Fangoria-festooned clip-boards: EVIL DEAD-check, HELLRAISER-check, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE-double check. They might have intended this to be a loving parody/nod to the VHS slasher “nasties” of the 1980s but it just becomes repetitive and tiresome as the entrails ooze and the body count rises. Yes, fans of the old latex Savini-esque disembowelings will enjoy how CGI helps to sell some of the tricks and stunts, but it’s in service of a plot that spins its wheels until a truly dopey-dumb denouncement (and it’s based on a story by Dave himself). Couple that with the awkward acting and you’ve got an hour or so better spent listening to the group’s infectious rock anthems. And that’s the foul 411 on STUDIO 666. Forsake the cameras and keep fighting Foo, fellers’!!

1 Out of 4

STUDIO 666 is now playing in theatres everywhere

WEREWOLVES WITHIN – Review

Since Summertime is the movie season for both horror flicks and rowdy comedies, how about a new addition to the growing genre subsection that’s best known as (duh) the horror-comedy? Of course, it’s changed quite a bit since Hollywood’s Golden Age in which a popular comic actor, or team, would scurry away (usually in “undercranked” fast motion) from a billowing sheet or, often, a crook in a rubber “fright mask”. As monster flicks have become more gruesome and graphic, the “comic takes” have followed suit with the comic heroes frequently covered in gore and viscera by the final fade-out. This week’s new release harkens back to the older days as it involves a “new take’ on one of the classic monsters. But, it’s also based on a fairly recent video game, one that tosses in another element: mystery. In the tradition of TEN LITTLE INDIANS, the viewer, along with the characters, must figure out which of them is “offing” the others. Imagine, you’re stuck in a spooky mansion, during a “dark and stormy night” when you discover the shocking fact that there are WEREWOLVES WITHIN! Get to the kitchen and scoop up that silver!

The setting is tiny Beaverville (really), Alaska (best guess) as things are beginning to pop in the sleepy burg. The weather service is warning folks of an approaching “mega-snowstorm” while the town is deeply divided over a proposed gas pipeline that would uproot many homes (but many are hoping to be “bought out”). Oh, and there’s a newly transferred park ranger arriving. Finn (Sam Richardson) checks into his new digs at the Beaverville Inn, meeting the accommodating owner Jeanine (Catherine Curtin) whose hubby is AWOL (gossip has it that he ran off to warmer climes with a waitress), brusk oil-company rep Sam (Wayne Duvall) and the fairly new (four months in) postal carrier Cecily (Milana Vayntrub). She takes him on her route where they encounter many of the locals. There’s ditzy craft-store owner Trisha (Michala Watkins) fawning over her tiny toy-like dog as her “touchy-feely” hubby Pete (Michael Chernus) tries to swoop in on Cecily. Across the way are big-city transplants, longtime married couple Joaquim (Harvey Guillen) and Devon (Cheyenne Jackson) Wolfson who run a new age spa. Further down is an auto repair shop run by “herb enthusiasts” Gwen (Sarah Burns) and Marcus (George Basil). Later, as they enter the wooded secluded outskirts Finn and Cecily run afoul of local unsociable “mountain man-hermit” Emerson (Glenn Fleshler). Finn’s peaceful first night at the inn is shattered when Trisha bursts through the lobby screaming that someone has grabbed her adored pooch “Cha-Cha”. Worse, while searching for the pet, Finn stumbles upon the eviscerated body of a prominent citizen. A research scientist staying there, Dr. Ellis (Rebecca Henderson) takes some fur samples, and after some testing concludes that the killer is a man/ wolf hybrid. Can werewolves be on the hunt? When the powerful storm takes out the town’s power, most of the villagers gather at the inn, believing it to be a “safe spot”. But as the killings continue, Finn tries to figure out who might be the shape-shifting lycanthrope lunatic before he becomes its next meal.

Richardson makes a goofy, but likable everyman hero as Finn, a slightly more capable riff on his best-known role Splett on HBO’s “Veep”. However, as the story progresses, Finn’s anxieties ‘amp up” making him distractingly manic, and a bit of a “motor-mouth”, spewing dialogue too rapidly to comprehend. It’s a compliment to his skills that we’re still rooting for Finn by the ferocious finale. And he’s got some nice, easy-going chemistry with Vayntrub whose Cecily is the snarky “cool girl’ of anyone’s dreams, delivering withering insults under her breath while taking no “guff’ from any of the leering locals. Most of the town citizens embody several social and cultural cliches, often “screeching” over each other’s lines and squelching any charm of the “old-fashioned” mystery elements. It’s a shame that so many terrific talents from other projects are so underused. Watkins is a true double threat, at ease with comedy (an SNL vet) and also adept at drama (Hulu’s “Casual” and as Ben Affleck’s sis in THE WAY BACK), but she has little to work with as her missing critter sends her into constant shrieking hysterics. Ditto for Guillen, so good as the vampire familiar Gullermo in the FX series “What We Do in the Shadows”, as Joaquin camps it up as he sneers at the “hayseeds” while waiting to be either a “red herring” or a “dead duck”. These two deserve a script as witty and sharp as their small-screen work.

But that’s certainly not the case. as director Josh Ruben films the cliche-filled script from Mishna Wolff (for real) based on the Ubisoft video game of 2016 with a leaden hand and little style. Gags are foreshadowed, while an overload of “jump scares’ pummels us into slumber. Ah, but we’re soon kept alert by the constant scenes of the many characters, crammed into the frame, and shouting over each other like a junior college improv group (“I heard Alaska…and mutilations…and…go”). Despite the caterwauling, none of the many comic “tope” stereotypes dominate or even capture our interests. My annoyance with them caused my mind to drift back to a much more enjoyable twist on the same premise, 1974’s THE BEAST MUST DIE, which has a “low-rent” almost “grindhouse charm, though I doubt it’s 30-second “Werewolf Break” (to figure out the killer) would help this clucnky mess of a movie. And if you’re looking for some nifty tranformations or monster make-ups, well rent those early 80’s classics. The final “reveal” looks like something you’d pick up at one of those Halloween “pop-up” stores that occupy empty retails spaces in the Fall. Yes, there are WEREWOLVES WITHIN, but there’s also very little wit or whimsy. More of a dog than a wolf.

1.5 Out of 4

WEREWOLVES WITHIN opens in select theatres on Friday, June 25, 2021.