Olga Kurylenko stars as “Alice” in the horror thriller OTHER, directed by David Moreau. Photo credit: Jerome Prebois. Courtesy of Shudder
Ready for another spooky Halloween warm-up? In OTHER, Olga Kurylenko stars as Alice – a veterinarian with a boyfriend, Charlie (Philip Schurer), and an abiding loathing for her estranged mother. When she hears that mom died rather gruesomely, she’s far from upset, but flies to her home to do her daughterly duty. Mom’s huge home is far from any neighbors and heavily insulated against the outside world by an elaborate security system worthy of a CIA “dark site.” A paranoid’s idea of Heaven.
We gradually learn why Alice hated her mom through flashbacks and saved videotapes showing that the old gal had been the uberbitch of stage moms, forcing her kid into performing and parading in beauty pageants with Draconian diet and training demands. Alice is a beauty, so she probably had some success despite her wishes to do something else – anything else – during her formative years.
While on the isolated, gated estate, Alice is besieged with strange sounds and movements just teasing the margins of her range of vision. She senses something trying to harm, if not kill, her, though remaining clueless as to what and why. Throughout her ordeal, there’s virtually no other human activity on screen. Charlie is mostly involved by phone. A neighbor kid with a drone pops up a few times, both scared by and drawn to whatever evil forces there be, offering little help to our heroine.
The good news is that for its 95 minutes, the camera is almost always on its exotically attractive star. And at the risk of being labeled sexist, the fact that she’s bare-legged and in tight t-shirts for most of it makes up for a chunk of the film’s considerable shortcomings. Kurylenko is probably best known as one of James Bond’s paramours in 2008’s QUANTUM OF SOLACE. She does not appear to have aged in the intervening 17 years. Most of us wish we could say the same.
There are a generous number of jump scares: some gory bits; and the extremes of security features and other happenings that keep her housebound are intriguing. The fact that I never figured out the WHY of it all was frustrating. I really can’t swear to how much of that was the script’s defects or intention vs. my own failing. You’d have to ask director and co-author David Moreau; I’m not sure that Kurylenko was even privy to the explanation. Perhaps your brain will catch what I missed, or appreciate the unanswered questions more than I could.
OTHER debuts streaming on Shudder on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025.
Hey, Halloween’s just a couple of weeks away, Hollywood studios! So where’s the new spooky, scary flicks? Well, we’ll have to wait another week or so for the new version of Mary Shelley’s classic, so how about a sequel to one of the surprise horror hits from four years ago? And it’s from the classic “monster-maker”, Universal by way of the “ghouls” that dwell in the Blumhouse. Concerned about the number in its title? Perhaps knowing that they got “the band back together”, namely the cast along with the directors and co-writer, should erase your worries. What’s that ringing noise? Do you dare to pick up the receiver and answer the call of BLACK PHONE 2?
It all actually starts with a flashback set in the late 1950s. A teenager trudges through the snow to a desolate telephone booth, somewhere in a frigid forest clearing. After a very odd, even cryptic conversation, the story springs forward to 1982 Colorado. Just outside the high school, a young man is viciously pummeled by Finn Blake (Mason Thames). Luckily, his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) pulls him off the lad. Despite being the young hero who ended the murderous reign of “the Grabber”, Finn is still challenged by bullies. But that’s not their only problem. Though papa Terence (Jeremy Davies) is finally sober, Finn is now the substance abuser, numbing his damaged psyche with bags of weed. Yet somehow he’s alert enough to stop Gwen from her dangerous sleepwalking excursions. Yes, she’s having visions again, this time of three boys murdered in the cold white woods. Could this be the spirit of their nemesis? Gwen’s dreams lead the duo to look into getting jobs at the Christian church “winter camp” called Alpine Lake. Luckily Gwen’s “wannabe BF” Ernesto (Miguel Mora) agrees to drive them there during a blizzard. At the camp’s front gate, they’re met by the horse “wrangler” Mustang (Arianna Rivas) and her father, the supervisor Armando (Demian Bichir). He tells them that other new workers called ahead and cancelled due to the fierce storm. But the trio can stay in the cabins until the roads are cleared. Gwen’s nightmares start up as things get even more weird for Finn. He answers the “out-of-order” payphone and speaks to the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) before seeing the horned, masked demon himself. Soon, Gwen’s visions give her a portal into the fiend’s deadly origins at the camp. Can the Blakes guide the campers in their mission to stop the Grabber and send him back to Hell?
Though he’s prominently featured in the marketing, the participation of Mr.Hawke raised some questions. Since the Grabber is usually masked up, or seen in various stages of gnarly wounded decay, Hawke is really delivering more of a vocal performance. It doesn’t help that the glimpses of him as the magician/balloon twister at the wheel of that old black van are that of a different actor (but then they’re part of Gwen’s visions). Mind you, Hawke delivers a threatening growl, but I recalled the rumors about the 1940s Mummy movies “starring” Lon Chaney, Jr. As for the other “originals”, the very busy Thames (this is the middle of his three 2025 flicks) makes a steadfast horror “hero” as the young man who is paying the mental “price” for his victory over evil. The memories (and grass) have dulled his eyes, but a return match seems to “jump start” his fighting spirit. That, and in protecting his adored lil’ sis’ played with equal parts sass and snark, with a touch of trembling vulnerability, by McGraw. She somehow can make most of her clunkier put-downs (this from a 15 year-old) work. Davies is also strong as a man struggling to rectify his past behavior and reconnect with the kids that will soon drift away from the nest. Mora also provides a good connection to the first flick, while scoring some chuckles as he pines for Gwen. The most compelling new character may be the grizzled Armando, played with a gravitas and protective charm by the always watchable Bichir ((love when he scolds Finn over his “goodie bag”).
Returning to the director’s chair is Scott Derrickson who co-wrote the new script with C. Robert Cargill, based on Joe Hill’s 2004 short story. I will give them kudos for not returning to that dingy basement (it does make a cameo) for a new rash of abductions and escape attempts. Though the first entries had supernatural elements, this one truly goes “all in” allowing for lots of creative effects, some CGI and many practical make-ups (even a bit of puppetry, I’m guessing). But once the Blakes get to their new setting, the story becomes fairly repetitive as Gwen drifts off to sleep in order to be menaced by the Grabber before Finn arrives just in time. And many set pieces are also derivative, as though we’re watching a late 80s Freddy Krueger knock-off set near the Overlook from THE SHINING (the red-coiled space heaters do give the cabin interiors a Hellish glow). The need for new scares and gross-out clutter up the big finale showdown as the “camper’s quest’ finally limps to a frozen finish. The fans have the original will probably enjoy seeing the “OG” cast, but for few new fans will want to jump in that icy glass booth for BLACK PHONE 2.
1.5 Out of 4
BLACK PHONE 2 is now playing in theaters everywhere
(L-R) Logan Lerman and Molly Gordon in OH, HI! Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Modern dating is the focus of writer/director Sophie Brook’s OH HI!, in which a couple, played by Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman, take a weekend trip to the country. The film is billed as a comedy about a relationship, or as the film has it, a “situationship,” but comedy/rom com/horror might be more accurate, as the comedy designation is undermined from the start. The film opens by flashing forward to the end, as Iris (Gordon) confesses to the camera about her “bad decisions,” before we flashback to the beginning of the couple’s weekend trip to the country.
That opening gives the dark comedy a bit of horror film edge right at the start, and we are never sure which way it is going to go as it unfolds. Comedy/horror may be a common genre but the rom com/horror combo is a more challenging match, no matter how dark the rom com, but Sophie Brook does raise some interesting modern dating questions, and the strong cast certainly does everything they can to help it work. OH, HI!, which debuted in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival, is undeniably weird, although whether that weirdness works for you or not depends on individual taste, but at least some audiences may find this ambitious film exhausting and fizzling by the end.
The film follows up it’s unsettling, edgy opening by flashing back to the beginning of the story, as the couple, Iris (Gordon) and Isaac (Lerman), are happily driving through the Upstate New York countryside, on their way to their farmhouse rental for their first weekend trip in High Falls (Iris’ misreading of a road sign gives the film’s title). Along the way, they pass red barns and idyllic scenery, while bubbling Iris playfully teases more reserved Issac. They stop at a roadside stand selling strawberries, where they have a little rom com incident, and a surprising bit of flirtation between Isaac and the strawberry lady, right in from of Iris.
Arriving at the rental farmhouse with plenty of strawberries, the film’s tone returns to blissful rom com, as Iris and Isaac settle in for their romantic weekend. Isaac cooks an elegant dinner of scallops, they drink wine, and dine out on the porch under the stars and string lights. Their conversation reveals their relationship is fairly new, and they are still getting to know each other.
The film’s set-up is interesting if unsettling, part comedy with a tense horror undercurrent, as it deals with the pitfalls and challenges of dating through apps, and raises intriguing questions about relationships, interpersonal communications, expectations, honesty, and romantic dreams. But OH HI! gets increasingly dark as it goes, with an unnerving encounter with an angry neighbor (David Cross) and a series of bad decisions on the part of the couple, particularly after discovering some S&M items in a locked closet leads to a situation that seems headed towards a contemporary MISERY and full-blown horror, as Iris becomes increasingly crazy and Isaac reveals bracing level of arrogance. Why such a beautiful, intelligent woman as Iris would want to hold onto this spoiled, privileged man is puzzling. Nearly as puzzling is Isaac’s sense of privilege, as he clings to the idea that his dishonesty isn’t deceitful and somehow justified by a careful parsing of words.
Yet director Sophie Brooks flips the switch again, and heads back to comedy and farce, with the arrival of some surprise intruders, Iris’ best friend Max (Geraldine Viswanathan) and her boyfriend Kenny (John Reynolds), both wonderfully funny, providing a much needed interruption.
Whether you like this switching back and forth between rom com and horror is up to your individual taste but it didn’t appeal to this reviewer. Further, it seemed like the repeated switches became wearing, and even caused the story to fizzle by the end.
The one thing that does lift this film out of the corner it has painted itself into is the arrival of Geraldine Viswanathan and John Reynolds. They offer a bright, outright funny turn that gets things back on track. At least until the script again jumps the rails, and becomes tedious and nonsensical as it stumbles towards an awkward end.
While the script goes down its rabbit holes, one cannot fault the actors themselves, who turn in excellent performances that often lift the film above the script. Gordon and Lerman have nice chemistry between them, which allows the actors to bring depth to their characters and scenes in increasingly strange situations. But Geraldine Viswanathan and John Reynolds are the real standouts, marvelous in their roles as a functional couple, Max and Kenny, and the have great comic skills and chemistry to boot. They really do rescue the whole film midway, breaking it out of what looks like a descent into an inescapable pit of creepiness, although their efforts aren’t enough to save the film in the end.
Still, OH, HI! deserves credit for it’s high-concept intentions, even if it ultimately is brought down by its constantly-switching, mixed-tone script. Certainly, the film has something to say but it also has some weird ideas about how to say it. Despite all that, OH, HI! has its moments of humor, insight and brightness, often thanks to its strong cast.
Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) in Columbia Pictures’ 28 YEARS LATER. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures
28 DAYS LATER was a terrifying horror hit about an viral infection that ripped through Britain, rapidly killing its victims and turning them into angry zombies that spread the infection. Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland followed that up with 28 WEEKS LATER, with the Rage virus morphing and spreading to Europe. Now Boyle and Garland are back for a third round, but this time set farther into the future, with 28 YEARS LATER.
Set much farther in the future from 28 WEEKS LATER, 28 YEARS LATER is not a true sequel that continues the story line of 28 WEEKS LATER, but a new full-on post-apocalyptic story set in the same world. After a prologue that loosely ties this new film to the previous one, in which a boy evades to zombies who kill his parents, the film updates us on the situation 28 years later. The Rage virus has been fought back on the European continent but Britain has been declared a quarantine zone, with the remaining people abandoned to their fate and the waters around Britain patrolled by NATO to contain the virus.
Cillian Murphy was the star of the first two horror films, doesn’t appear in this one (although he is one of the film’s producers). Instead, the main character is a 12-year-old boy named Spike (Alfie Williams), who lives in a colony of survivors on an island off the northeast coast of England.
The people on the island are pretty self-sufficient, growing food and raising domesticated animals, with a structured society with assigned jobs and a store of scavenged items for things they can’t or don’t produce themselves in a pseudo pre-industrial life. Being an island helps keep them safe but they also guard against intruding zombie with a force armed with bows and arrows. The island does have an access to the mainland, a causeway that is accessible only at low tide. which they guard with a gate and sentries. The villagers seem to have created a pretty comfortable life but the one thing they lack is a doctor.
Spike lives with his parents Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Isla (Jodie Comer), and his grandfather. Isla is sick with a mysterious illness that comes and goes, leaving her with terrible headaches and confused when she is in the grip of a bout, but a lively, fun-loving person when she’s feeling well. With mom not feeling well, Spike’s dad Jamie decides his son is ready for the colony’s coming-of-age ritual, at trip to the mainland with his father, to kill his first zombie. Although as the other villagers remind Jamie the usual age for this ritual is 14 or 15, he insists his son is ready, although Spike seems less certain about this, and mostly trying to please his father. Leaving his ailing mother Isla in the care of Spike’s grandfather, father and son load up their arrows, grab their bows and make the trek across the causeway at low tide to the mainland, with a four hour window before the tide covers the causeway blocks retreat.
You know something has to go awry but at first all goes well. Weirdly, while they are on the mainland, Jamie and Spike do not forage for supplies to supplement their meagre ones at the store, but instead mostly stick to the forest, hunting slow-moving zombies.
They come across some, pitiful fat slug-like zombies who crawl slowly across the ground but are still capable of infecting people if they manage to sneak up on one. Spike does make his first kill – shoot them in the neck, dad says – but a few more almost sneak up on dad while he is focused on coaching his young son. The pair encounter some faster-moving zombies and even spot a dreaded Alpha, a large fast zombie with more of a brain than the rest. There are harrowing moments and frightening mad dashes, and they are even forced to hide out in a structure, something they had avoided, and while hiding in an attic, catch sight of a puzzling huge bonfire in the distance, not something likely created by the zombies.
Eventually they do make it back to the causeway. Back on the island, the villagers have planned a celebration for Spike but the boy is both rattled by his experiences and his father’s bragging and exaggerating about his prowess as a zombie-killer, and sneaks off to see his mother, accidentally glimpsing something that rattles him even more. Back home with his grandfather, Spike learns something his father concealed from him, that the bonfire they saw was probably built by a doctor. When Spike, concerned about his sick mother, asks his father about it, the father insists that the doctor has gone mad and isn’t really a doctor anymore
Spike, unsettled by his experience on the mainland and even more by his father’s behavior goes on a quest to the mainland with his sick mother, hoping to find the doctor to cure her.
The doctor is played by Ralph Fiennes, in an excellent performance, although we have to wait quite a while for his appearance which is too brief overall. The rest of the cast is good too, especially young as Spike and the wonderful Jodie Comer, as the sick mother who is charmingly funny, strong-willed and capable in her moments of lucidity. Aaron Taylor-Johnson does a fine job as the father, trying to project an bravura image but revealing a selfishness underneath. A surprise character who makes a brief appearance is a Swedish sailor who was stranded on the mainland by a shipwreck and runs into Spike and Isla on their quest. Coming from Europe, where cell phones and other benefits of modern life still exist, he has strange conversations with young Spike who has known only the medieval-ish world he was born into, making for an interesting bit of post-apocalyptic commentary.
28 YEARS LATER has its moments, with high tension moments and scary zombie attacks and chases. but there is more that is unsettling and even disturbing in the non-zombie human story that unfolds in this post-apocalyptic world. However, the script has its problems, and not everything that happens really makes sense. For example, why would the villagers risk a trip to the mainland only to shoot zombies, and not forage for supplies, which a high-risk for low-yield decision. There are other odd missteps in logic (a pregnant zombie?), while other details are carefully thought-out. It gives the story an unevenness, which is exacerbated by it’s bit episodic nature, with different sections that seem rather disconnected, and finishing with a last scene that mostly just sets up for a sequel (who knows what they would call that one).
On the plus side, along with its fine cast, the film has beautiful, even haunting locations shots, as it was largely shot where it is set, with wonderful north and northeastern locations, although weirdly, they filmmakers chose to shoot on cell phones. The island of Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast of England and connected to the mainland by a low-tide causeway, stands in for the villagers’ island. The setting is lush, green and dotted with ruined castles, abbys and cottages, as well as more modern derelict buildings
28 YEARS LATER is mixed bag, likely to divide audiences, satisfying those who can’t get enough of its zombies more than some others. Still, there are fewer zombie scenes and less pure horror of that type, while it focuses more on the subtler horror of post-apocalyptic life. While it does feature a strong cast and lovely locations, it also has an unsettling, uncomfortable and disturbing non-zombie human story. Add to that, the film’s final sequence is pure set-up for yet another sequel, which also tends to undermine it, although that might be welcome news to those who crave more Rage virus zombies.
28 YEARS LATER opens in theaters on Friday, June 20, 2025.
Psycho slasher flicks are hard to predict on the quality scale. Some viewers only care about the gore level. Others look more for novelty in the methods of dispatch; the more studious types may seek more in the plot and character vein to understand they whys of the situation. PRETTY BOY is pretty good on the first two, but weak on the third. What I didn’t know before watching was that this 2021 movie is a sequel, picking up right after the events of 2019’s BLIND. I then watched it, too, and probably would have liked this one better if I’d seen them in the correct order. But not by all that much.
The eponymous masked murderer has a fixation on a blind former starlet (Sarah French). As this one opens, he’s schlepping her body around Hollywood Hills for reasons I still don’t understand after seeing both when he comes across a Valentine’s Day party at someone’s home, and starts killing those folks.
We learn a bit about them, but not enough to care who might survive. Despite his lack of dialog, we also learn more of Pretty Boy’s backstory, which is suitably sordid, if not fully credible.
Gore junkies will be more satisfied by the sights and sounds of the slaughter, including plenty of blood and a few unique methods of offing the co-stars. The body count is higher and more visceral than in BLIND. Other plot and character details matter little.
Now that you know what to expect, make your own decision on which parts of the genre you find most motivating, and choose accordingly. That’s the best non-spoiler advice I can offer.
PRETTY BOY is available VOD and on digital platforms starting Tuesday, May 27, 2025.
For many people, the perfect Valentine’s Day date movie is a horror one. For others, it is a rom-com. So naturally someone decided to make a movie that combined them, HEART EYES.
Directed by Josh Ruben from a script written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy, HEART EYES focuses on the “Heart Eyes Killer,” a serial killer who murders couples on Valentine’s Day, who pops up suddenly in various cities. The silent killer wears a mask with glowing red, heart-shaped eyes as he stalks and kills couples in love, in a variety of gory and creative ways. How the police, or the media that reports breathlessly on every attack, know he wears this heart-eyed mask isn’t clear, since everyone who sees him, not just the romantic couple, gets murdered. But logic isn’t the aim in this Valentine’s Day-themed popcorn movie.
HEART EYES isn’t very scary and it isn’t very romantic, but it does try to have a bit of fun, of the silly, gory type, with both the horror movie and rom-com genres, and it does have some nice special effects. How much you enjoy this holiday-themed popcorn offering will depend on how much you love movies that pile on genre tropes and references, some of which are clever and others less so. Still, there should be an audience for this genre hybrid, particularly for those who do love seeing how many tropes from each genre it can cram in. And, boy, does it try.
The main focus of other story are a pair of co-workers, played by Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding. They just met, don’t really like each other, and certainly aren’t a couple, but who the killer mistakes them for one. It’s the ultimate meet-cute twist, mixed with the horror movie trope of strangers thrown together who have to find a way to survive.
The movie opens with a gory murder, of a couple at a winery for an overly-planned marriage proposal, complete with camera man hidden in the bushes to capture the moment. But the carefully staged and scripted romantic moment is interrupted by the appearance of our colorful wordless killer, with his knives and his un-cupid-like arrows.
With news reports of the killer all over the TV, Ally McCabe (Olivia Holt) pitches her latest advertising campaign to her hypercritical boss. But Ally is still getting over her break-up with her boyfriend, and her campaign is more romantic tragedy – think Romeo and Juliet – than romance. Not going to sell much perfume with that.
She doesn’t lose her job but her boss does bring in a specialist contractor to revamp the ad campaign. Handsome and charming, Jay Simmonds (Mason Gooding) wants to meet with his new co-worker Ally to discuss the work – over dinner. Ally resents him and resists the meeting but, of course, he persuades her. He arrives late at the restaurant, and then seems more interested in her than the work, or maybe it just seems that way to the broken-hearted Ally. She is put off by the over-friendly approach of this outsider who is essentially taking her job.
The meeting doesn’t go well, and to make things worse, when they leave the restaurant early, they runs into her ex and his new girlfriend. To cope, she pretends her new co-worker is her new boyfriend. Unfortunately, the Heart Eyes Killer is lurking nearby.
So now the two co-workers, who just met, find themselves on the run and continually repeating they aren’t a couple. A team of homicide detectives, who just happen to be named Hobbs and Shaw, played by Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster respectively, add a surprising amount of tongue-in-cheek fun to the mix. Gigi Zumbado plays Olivia Holt’s character’s best friend, and their conversations, often by phone, allow Holt’s character to discuss her shifting feelings.
HEART EYES leans more into the comedy than any real romance or scares, although it is plenty gory. Again, how much enjoyment you get depends on how much you like piling on the tropes of both genres. Director Ruben also adds a little fun with the music choices, one of the best parts of the movie, along with the fine horror effects.
The problem is that both the film’s horror and romance are a bit too predictable, stiff even, despite the movie’s well-crafted special effects. The attacks rarely take you by surprise and even jump scares are rare. Another problem is that there is no detectable romantic chemistry between the stars, as attractive as each may be. In fact, there is more chemistry between the police detective couple than between the not-a-couple leads. With a little more originality in the horror parts and maybe different casting for the romantic part, this horror/rom-com might have been more of a SHAWN OF THE DEAD romp classic.
Rom-com/horror movie hybrid HEART EYES isn’t non-stop hilarious, nor it is very scary or romantic, but it is kind of fun, as a bit of light, popcorn holiday entertainment. Those who will enjoy it most are fans who love movies that play around with both genres’ formulaic elements.
Before Bela Lugosi created the image of an elegant Dracula in Todd Browning’s film DRACULA, F.W. Murnau made the brilliant silent film NOSFERATU, the first film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s eerie novel. Stoker’s estate refused to let the legendary German director use the book’s title but Murnau made the film anyway, renaming the vampire Count Orlok and re-setting the latter part of the story in Germany rather than England. Director Robert Eggers’ NOSFERATU is an outstanding film that both honors and recreates Murnau’s great classic, while also adding a modern horror edge as well.
Fans of Murnau’s incredible silent horror film will delight in Eggers’ new NOSFERATU, which faithfully recreates several of the striking scenes in the original. NOSFERATU is visually astounding, with gorgeously eerie scenes and set pieces, often using the central, symmetric framing typical of the silent movie era. Scene after scene opens with either a perfect recreation of Murnau’s atmospheric composition or a sternly creepy vista that sets the tone for the horror to come. The dark, brooding scene of a coach wending its way through stark looming mountains, to enter the sinister castle, which is featured in the movie’s trailer, is but a small taste of the visual delights to come. Leaning into the visual power of the silent is the perfect choice.
Although there have been countless Dracula movies, only a handful have gone back to Murnau’s great silent, with his Count Orlok. Those exceptions have included SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, a chiller about the making of Murnau’s silent, and Werner Herzog’s NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE, with the great Klaus Kinski.
While Eggers’ based his script on Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Henrik Galeen’s screenplay for the first NOSFERATU, there are a few changes. The source of the vampire Count’s fascination with his real estate agent’s fiancee (his wife in this tale) is different and references to Vlad the Impaler, the blood-thirsty Eastern European Medieval prince who was Bram Stoker’s partial inspiration for the vampire in his novel.
The cinematography and the script are near flawless in this homage to the brilliant original, and the modern horror elements added by director Eggers, including leaning into the psycho-sexual aspects of the story, help bring the story into the current era without violating its late Victorian gothic setting. However the pacing is a bit slow for modern horror fans. Further, Bill Skarsgard’s Count Orlok, after his first appearance, looks more like a bulky if decaying Prince Vlad than Max Streck’s skeletal Orlok, making Orlok seem more intimidating than truly scary.
The cast includes a splendid Willem Dafoe as the Van Helsing-like Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz. Nicholas Hoult plays Thomas Hutter, the first victim to aid Count Orlok’s escape from the castle, and Lily-Rose Depp plays his wife Ellen, who in this retelling is the reincarnation of Orlok’s former lover. Lily-Rose Depp’s performance is bold and over-the-top, sometimes veering into the absurd, but Nicholas Hoult’s more grounded, sincere performance helps balance things. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin do fine work as the Hutters’ friends Friedrich and Anna Harding, but the other supporting actors give the horror tale its real fire, with outstanding work by Ralph Ineson as Wilhelm Sievers and Simon McBurney as creepy Herr Knock.
This remake/update NOSFERATU is a treat in particular for fans of Murnau’s original, but may not connect for all horror fans not familiar with the silent classic. Hopefully, they will remedy that by seeing the Murnau film, ideally on a big screen with live music.
Naomi Scott stars in Paramount Pictures presents A Temple Hill Production A Parker Finn Film “SMILE 2.” Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Usually an infectious smile is a good thing but not if you are in a SMILE horror movie, where a creepy smile is the last thing you see before a contagious form of deadly of madness infects you. The first SMILE scared audiences, with an actress sporting one creepy smile in the poster and trailer, even before they saw the movie. In the original hit horror movie SMILE, that creepy smile was the signal that this infection about to jump from one person, as the smiling victim commits suicide in front of a hapless soul who becomes the next victim. In SMILE, we followed the path of the horrific infection as it jumped from victim to victim, but in SMILE 2 we concentrate more on one person.
Writer/director Parker Finn never really explains what causes this infectious madness as we follow the trail of carnage, although the film suggests some possibilities – a demon, a contagious madness, an evil being from another dimension. It really doesn’t matter anyway, as it’s a kind of horror MacGuffin. If you see that creepy smile, you’re next, and then you’re dead.
In SMILE 2, the smiling, um, thing, continues to spread, but the sequel switches to mostly following one person. After an opening sequence tied to the last film, which seems to end things with a twist, the film takes a turn, towards an international pop star, Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), who is trying to restart her career after recovering from addiction and a horrific car accident that left her scarred inside and out, and killed the other person in the car, her pop star boyfriend Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson). Skye is off drugs but still struggling in many ways, under the pressures of fame, of preparing for a world tour and doing rounds of publicity, while haunted by her experiences and still in pain from her injuries. Skye seems both fragile and driven, supported by her manager mother Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt), and eager-to-please assistant (Miles Gutierrez-Riley).
After lingering pain from her injuries is aggregated by rigorous training for acrobatic dance sequences for her upcoming tour, Skye reaches out to a friend from high school, Lewis (Lukas Gage), looking for some pain killers. That visit goes all kinds of wrong, sending Skye running back to her posh apartment with more trauma.
Meanwhile, Mom has encouraged Skye to reach out to her childhood best friend Gemma (Dylan Gelula), to ask if she’d be willing to join her on the tour, as emotional support. But Mom seems unaware that Skye had alienated her friend during her addiction crisis, and now Skye is unsure Gemma will even want to hear from her now.
When Skye starts having nightmares and shows signs of extreme stress and possible breakdown, it is hard to tell if what is happening is the result of all the pressures she is under or if something else is in play. No matter the cause, a series of increasingly bizarre and frightening events ensue. What’s real and what’s not gets pretty blurry.
First, full disclosure: this reviewer is not really a fan of gore-fest horror like this film and its predecessor. Although I have a fondness for classic horror, in the Vincent Price and Frankenstein vein, and I do like a good head-twisting psychological or science fiction thriller – think “Under the Skin” – but generally, suspense, mystery and psychological thrillers are more to my taste.
On the other hand, for those with a higher tolerance for gore who do like this kind of film, SMILE 2 does a pretty good job of scaring audiences throughout and delivering regular doses of gross-out effects. SMILE 2 does deliver on plentiful jump scares, shocker twists and nightmarish sequences to scare the bejesus out of you.
The pop star theme lets the film showcase British singer and actor Naomi Scott, who performs several songs and gets plenty of chances to go through a wide range of emotions. Scott does well in the film, as does the rest of the cast, and the whole production is well-crafted and effectively terrifying.
While we never learn what is causing this fatal infectious madness, it really doesn’t matter anyway. In this sequel, writer/director Parker Finn seems to hint at a link between the pop star’s own inner demons and the “demon” or whatever inhabiting her. Or maybe it’s just an excuse for a lot of fairly effective jump scares and abundant buckets-o-blood gore.
Using a pop star as the lead character, especially one in recovery from addiction, survivor guilt and more, allows another level of tension that makes the scares a bit easier to conceal as they creep up on us, and also opens the door to some commentary on the price and pressures of stardom, although it says nothing new.
If you liked the first SMILE film, or like that kind of horror generally, SMILE 2 seems to tick all the boxes for a gory good nightmare ride.
L to R: (from left) Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) in Speak No Evil, directed by James Watkins. Courtesy of Universal
In the chilling thriller/horror drama SPEAK NO EVIL, James McAvoy delivers another striking performance as character who shifts between charming and aggressive. No one does this like McAvoy, who has played roles from sweet heroes to madmen, a range that means audiences are never sure which McAvoy they will encounter, creating an edgy tension from the start.
In this story, two couple meet on vacation and hit it off. One couple is American, Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben (Scoot McNairy) who have an 11-year-old daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler), and live in London. The other couple are British, Patrick (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their shy, mostly mute son Ant (Dan Hough), who live in scenic, rural west England. The Brits are fun, lively, and adventurous, particularly Patrick, who goes by Paddy, a breath of fresh air for the Americans. The two families have a great time in Paris, and the kids seem to hit it off too, despite the age difference and the fact that the boy has difficulty speaking, due a problem with his tongue. “Congenital aglossia,” says the British dad, who tells the Americans that he’s a doctor. When the British couple later send the London-based Americans a postcard with a photo from that trip, and invite them for a weekend visit at their home in the west England countryside, it doesn’t take much to persuade Ben and Louise.
SPEAK NO EVIL is an English-language remake of the Danish horror drama of the same name. In the Danish original, the couples are Danish and Dutch, and meet in Italy instead of France, but the Dutch couple lives in the country and invites the Danes one the visit. Like many such remakes, it varies from the origin – for example, in the original the children are about the same age – but in this case several scenes early on follow the original closely, even down the the dialog, although the last portion diverges.
One thing that is different – very different – from the start, and that is James McAvoy’s character. Rather than a harmless-seeming fellow, very like the other couple, McAvoy’s Paddy is alternately charming and a bit unsettling from the start, put us much more on edge from the start. No one does this kind of character like the talented Mr. McAvoy.
McAvoy is a big reason to see this film, which once it diverges from the original morphs into something that plays on a lot of horror tropes. But McAvoy always keeps us off-balance, being unhinged at times, while even touching at others, charmingly persuasive and rational, but always exuding power and a sense he’s in control – even when he’s not. It is thrilling just to see this actor work.
The tension develops slowly, apart from McAvoy’s character’s occasional flashes of scary. In the original, the couples feel more alike, which is a bit part of the appeal for the Danes. In the remake, it is the differences, the hints of excitement and adventure in the British couple, that is part of what draws in the Americans. Chalk it up to cultural differences.
This remake diverges significantly from the original, so they end up as very different films, although starting from a common premise. In both, the first half of this film feels more like psychological horror but finishes up in more taut thriller territory. For one thing, there are more weapons in this one, although not more gore. The original Danish film is more philosophical, more nihilistic, but this remake adds more rationale motives for what happens. It also adds more complicated relationships for the couples, and how those dynamics interact heightens interest, even when the newer film makes a turn into more conventional horror film territory, with a siege reminiscent of the classic STRAW DOGS. The last half is more rational, and the resolution is different, with the characters in American couple undergoing changes that are the opposite of what happens in the Danish film.
What lifts the film in this turn towards more typical horror is the cast. James McAvoy is splendid but the rest of the cast bring it too. Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy as the American couple struggling in their marriage deliver fine performances as their relationship dynamics shift under the challenges they face. Likewise, the kids are both very good, particularly newcomer Dan Hough who plays a larger role in this version despite his near-muteness. Aisling Franciosi is also good as Paddy’s seemingly harmless wife, and she and McAvoy bring a complexity to their relationship too, none of which appears in the first one.
Ultimately, SPEAK NO EVIL is less groundbreaking and unconventional than the Danish original but it is still a well-made, nail-biting, satisfying thriller, that is mostly elevated by its psychological thriller set-up and the strong performances of the cast, who are good on all levels.
SPEAK NO EVIL opens Friday, Sept. 13, in theaters.
A scene from THE BECOMERS. Courtesy of Dark Star Pictures
Start with the classic, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Flip the perspective to that of the aliens who take over human bodies. Then tell the story from the ETs’ point of view in a darkly comedic package. Now you know what you’ll be getting in THE BECOMERS.
The film is narrated in a dreamy, romantic tone by a male voice (Russell Mael), rhapsodizing about its great love for its partner who has also come to Earth, both landing somewhere in the Metro Chicago area. We don’t know what they look like, since they must take over a human’s body, killing the original occupant in the process. The result is a new mind in an old body, with the only visible difference being bright colorful lights emanating from their eyes. Their goal is to blend into that person’s life without being noticed, which is complicated by not acquiring their individual memories or general knowledge. That need for on-the-job training makes it hard to maintain stability in any given flesh bag long enough to find each other.
The host’s age and gender don’t matter to the visitors. They mask their ocular glow with colored contact lenses or dark sunglasses. Most of the comedy comes from trying to cope with what they don’t know in convincing others they are who they seemingly were. Some of the personae come with surprising complexities. And bits of gore, here and there. As Deadpool said through the fourth wall in his first feature, it’s a love story despite all the mayhem about to ensue.
We don’t sense malice in the visitors, but also are kept in the dark about who they really are and why they’re here for most of the running time. Spearheading an invasion, or escaping from some personal danger back home? Among the cast, Molly Plunk gets most of the screen time as the narrator’s temporary host. Writer/director Zach Clark gets admirable mileage from an obviously small budget and a cast of relative unknowns. He also maintains a droll tenor by having most of the gory stuff occur off-camera. I imagine that was a creative choice, not just a way to save money on fake blood and viscera.
Disclosing more would spoil your viewing. I’ve provided the mind-set for optimal enjoyment. The rest is up to you. Now that UFO sightings have been formally acknowledged, this may have become essential preparatory viewing. Insert your own low, eerie moan here.
THE BECOMERS opens in select theaters on Friday, Aug. 23, and on Video on Demand Tuesday, Sept. 24.
