Tag: Horror

SCREAM VI – Review

Melissa Barrera (“Sam Carpenter”), left, and Jenna Ortega (“Tara Carpenter”) star in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s “Scream VI.”

In my reviews last week I mentioned a new installment coming soon from a big horror film franchise. Well, the time is now. It might just seem that we were in this scary “cinematic universe’ and you wouldn’t be too off the mark, since the last one filled the multiplexes a mere fourteen months ago. The timing’s also a bit quirky since this March has no Friday the 13th and we’re several months away from Halloween (also weird since that major holiday figures into both the setting and overall plot here). Oh, and unlike that last year’s entry, which reused the original’s tile, we’re back to the “digits” with the “slicin’ and dicin'” of SCREAM VI.

As with the other flicks, it all starts with a flirty phone conversation that quickly turns creepy and very deadly as the Ghostface killer claims another victim. Now there are some new twists, as he switches his “stalking ground” from Woodsboro CA to the Big Apple (insert fruit-cutting metaphor), mere steps from a bustling street filled with pre-Halloween revelers (perhaps the Saturday mere days before All Hallows). And that’s the first of many alterations to the “formula”. Oh, this is also the new locale of the Carpenter sister from the last flick. Tara (Jenna Ortega) is a college freshman, who’s making risky choices at the campus parties, and her older sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) is her hovering protector, working a couple of jobs while going to therapy sessions to deal with her haunted past. Plus they’re sharing a big off-campus apartment with the “frisky-flirty” student Quinn (Lianna Liberato). Did I mention that two more Woodsboro transplants are there, sibs Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding)? When word leaks out, the Carpenters are naturally called in for questioning. But on the way, they have their own deadly reunion. Luckily the sisters make it to the police station where they meet Quinn’s PD papa, Bailey (Dermot Mulroney), and GF survivor now FBI agent Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere). But she’s not the only alum, as Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) charges in, complete with a news crew. Luckily she guides them to a shuttered movie theatre that’s been turned into a serial killer shrine complete with stolen police evidence. Despite this break, can this “united front” discover who the copycat is donning the black robes and long white mask before his (or her) blade claims the Carpenter sisters?

Aside from the masked murderer, the Carpenter sisters are the story’s main focus. Particularly Barrera’s Sam who may be having more than a twinge of survivor’s guilt. leading to her “hovering” her kid stepsister. She shows signs of exhaustion and PTSD in her near-lifeless eyes, even as Sam must deal with an online campaign saying that she “got away’ with the last Westboro bloodbath. Ortega, coming off a real “breakthrough” year culminating with her star turn as teenage Wednesday Addams, has a more prominent role in this one as she strains to break free from big sis, while also dealing with her own still healing flesh (and psyche) wounds. As for the returning “vets”, Cox treads a fine line between exploiter of tragedy and the avenger of a lost love. Her Gale is the ultimate reporter-heroine who’s always ready to throw down the mike to take down her nemesis. As for the other “grad”, Panittiere is a most welcome ally, who wears her own GF scars as a badge of honor, strengthening her resolve as she “bends” the laws to stop the legacy. Brown brings in the shark while laying down the “meta manifesto” as the cinema-savvy Mindy, while Gooding brings his beefcake nice guy charm to Chad, who’s now quite smitten with Tara. Mulroney is a sympathetic father figure as the grizzled plainclothes cop, while Liberato scores lotsa’ laughs as his “playa” daughter. Also of note, are some entertaining cameos from Samara Weaving, Tony Revolori, and Henry Czerny as Sam’s rattled therapist.

Also returning from the last outing are the “tag-team” directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet who infuse some new energy into the franchise by the big city locale and the “up-ended” opening sequence. They also appear to be having some fun with new high-tech devices while taking welcome jabs at social media “trolling”. And they ease up a bit at the “aren’t-we-clever” self-awareness this time out, although Mindy’s long “franchise rules” monologue starts spinning its wheels and dragging down the pace. Ah but soon it’s back to “slasher city” as the near-unstoppable Ghostface “did that thing” (much like Ms. Bassett) in attack/action set pieces that go on and on (it takes a long time to finally hear those sirens). A crowded subway attack has involving claustrophobic energy, but it cuts (literally) to a mind-numbing final showdown that’s dulled by a villain speech explaining everything in exact detail and a fight to the death where everyone now has rubber bones and the slashing “butcher” knives inflict scratches and pin-pricks that cause little loss of plasma, perhaps to have the option of more returning characters in a hoped-for part seven. But with the series now a teenager (sweet seventeen already), it’s feeling more than a little tired. Hardcore fans may get a kick out of the lingering shots of old props and photos in the hidden museum, but the rest of us may be longing for its final exhibit, just before the gift shop, to be the more tiresome than terrifying SCREAM VI.

1.5 Out of 4

SCREAM VI is now playing in theatres everywhere

HUNT HER, KILL HER – Review

Natalie Terrazzino in HUNT HER, KILL HER. Courtesy of Welcome Villian Films

There have been dozens of films in which an innocent woman is forced to summon previously untapped toughness and resourcefulness to fend off a group of assailants. An early example is a blind Audrey Hepburn in WAIT UNTIL DARK whose home is invaded by thugs mistakenly thinking some drugs were stashed there. Among the grittier, bloodier explorations of the premise is 1978’s I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, which spawned a slew of sequels and imitators including its next-generation return bout, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE: DÉJÀ VU, in 2019.

In HUNT HER, KILL HER, Natalie Terrazzino plays a woman on her first night as the janitor in a large industrial facility. She’s worried about her sick child left in the care of a neighbor. She starts hearing sounds that are troubling, since she’s supposed to be the only one there for the whole night.

A mysterious package is delivered by a rather dodgy courier. She soon finds herself under attack by a handful of masked intruders, with no idea who they are, or why they’re after her. Is she just unlucky enough to be in the way of a heist? Are they using the premises for some criminal enterprise? Or could she be the target? Her life depends on defeating them, no matter which motive is driving their lethal engines.

What ensues is a typically unlikely set of dodges, defenses and counterattacks throughout the large, labyrinthine building. This plain, mild-mannered woman must become the “Die Hard” version of Bruce Willis, with a touch of MacGyver, to survive the night. What happens isn’t all that surprising. These flicks are all about the methods by which the woman survives. Ruby Rose headlined something similar in 2020’s THE DOORMAN, though that one established her character’s trained fighting skills up front. Terrazzino appears far less qualified for this unexpected survival struggle.

Fans of gore-fests will find plenty of ickiness in the proceedings. The whole ordeal is about as disorienting for the audience as the star, since we never get a full sense of the size, configuration and contents of the premises as she frantically scrambles to hide, set traps and fend off the attackers. Nothing special about her or the mostly-anonymous assailants. Or the plot. This one, which was directed by Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen from a script by Swinson. just scratches a particular cinematic itch of tables being rightly turned by an underdog in the bloodiest of displays.

HUNT HER, KILL HER opens in theaters on Friday, March 3, and is available for streaming on multiple VOD platforms as of April 14.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

KNOCK AT THE CABIN – Review

Well, we’re past what is considered the worst (bitter cold and snowy) months of Winter (for some parts of the country), which may get many folks thinking about a nice getaway. Y’know an out-of-the-way place, miles from the bustling city where you can recharge and re-connect with your partner, and maybe your expanding family. You can almost smell the embers and feel the warmth from a fireplace in that cabin deep in the forest, yards away from a clear blue lake. Ah, but your pessimistic side may wonder about predators. Could that twig-snap ending the quiet be bears, wolves, wildcats, or, worst of all, people? In this new thriller, they’re wanting more than money or your vehicle. And since a particular “name-above-the-title” director helms this, we know that we’re in for lots of turns and “twists” when we hear a KNOCK AT THE CABIN.

Over the opening credits, we’re treated to an odd “art show” with a montage of pen and pencil sketches of doom and destruction drawn on take-out menus, receipts, and other bits of “scrap paper”. From there we’re sent deep into the woods as a sweet little girl, perhaps seven or eight years old, collects grasshoppers for a big glass jar. Her eyes dart up to spot something much bigger than any insect, namely a massive bald man (resembling a giant from one of her beloved fairy tales). He stops his walk a few feet from her and quietly introduces himself as Leonard (Dave Bautista). She hesitantly responds with her name, Wen (Kristen Cui). As they converse she sees three other people strolling up into view. Leonard tells her that she should tell her parents to let them into their rustic retreat. Wen scurries away into the log house and frantically tells this to her two daddies, Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge), on the back patio. Just after they go inside and bolt the doors, Leonard tells them to open up and that they won’t be harmed. Through the windows, the men see that these intruders have odd makeshift weapons (a pick/mallet with a long chain, a pitchfork/axe, etc.). Andrew tries to scare them off with his own weapon, a gun, which unfortunately is in a locked safe in the back of their SUV yards way in the driveway outside.. Finally, the quartet bursts thru the windows and doors, instigating a wild struggle that leaves Eric knocked cold. When he comes to, one of the strangers is tending to his head wound. Oh, and he and Andrew are tied up, with Wen sitting at their feet shivering with fear.

Things get really weird as the “gang” takes turns introducing themselves (almost as though they’re at an acting audition). Leonard is a second-grade teacher, Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird) is a nurse, Ardianne (Abby Quinn) is a chef and single mother, and Redman (Rupert Grint) is a utility worker with a dark past. Oh, they’re not there for a robbery. The men are stunned as Leonard explains that the quartet has a shared vision of several disasters that will culminate in the planet’s end. And the only way to prevent it is for the family trio to become a duo, willingly (the foursome can’t execute them, nor can suicide be an option). When a TV newsflash tells of several horrific simultaneous global tsunamis, the invaders perform a violent act to “drive the point home”. With the clock ticking, and more reports trickling in, the captured men plot an escape, while pushing aside thoughts that their captors may not share a doomsday madness. Could humanity’s fate rest with their decision?

Since the film studios’ marketing team is highlighting him in all the TV spots and posters, I suppose Bautista is the lead here (not surprisingly, given his years in the MCU). Though his Leonard is the least animated of the invading quartet, his quiet, mannered line delivery, and towering physical presence help bring a real gravitas to the offbeat premise. We know that Leonard will reject cruelty, but his demeanor shows us that he’s prepared to handle his mission. Almost the opposite of Redman played with a snarl by the usually jovial Grint (another castmate with a big franchise history). Perhaps to compete with Leonard’s bulk, Redman gives in to his ugliest impulses, “chomping at the bit” to unleash his demons, making him the gang’s dangerous “wild card”. As for the defending duo, Aldridge’s Andrew seems to “handle the reigns” as the family protector, fiercely spitting out retorts to the gang when they have the upper hand (while his own hands are tightly bound). Aldridge’s hyper-focused glare illustrates his smoldering anger at the world’s dismissal of his life and love. Goff’s Eric shares some of that passion, but tries to keep it in check, not wanting to “mix it up”, but this new crisis leaves him little choice, though he’s more questioning than his mate. Back to the intruders, Amuka-Bird as Sabrina can’t quite set aside her altruistic “healer” habits and has to truly push herself to carry out the “agenda”. And that’s much the same for Quinn’s Ardiane whose maternal instincts aren’t jettisoned for “the greater good”, especially when dealing with Wen whose sweet, open-eyed innocence is the fuel that nourishes Andrew and Eric’s will to survive and triumph over near-impossible odds.

No doubt you “got’ that the “twist” director is M. Night Shyamalan, who is directing from the screenplay adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s novel “The Cabin at the End of the World” which he co-wrote with Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman. It’s a quirky remix of DESPERATE HOURS and ON THE BEACH with a modern marriage spin, though this may play better than the same-sex duos of last year in STRANGE WORLD, BROS, and SPOILER ALERT (which co-starred Aldridge). The cast makes the opening act very tense as we shift from the slow-rising tension of Wen’s bonding with Leonard to the outright terror of the home under siege. Unfortunately, things go a bit wonky with each of the captors’ “get to know me” monologues which have a forced whimsical stagecraft feel (as though a spotlight clicks on at the start of the character’s bio). And though the film’s been slapped with an R rating, the most gruesome acts occur “off camera’, with cuts to reaction close-up and the camera “drifting aside’ as though a PG-13 label was desired. This doesn’t help the story’s pacing problem as the flow of suspense is diluted by flashbacks to Eric and Andrew’s trials (a “meet the parents” disaster) and triumphs (adopting Wen). A much-needed jolt is gained with the news reports, though the footage captures more than most “as it’s happening” possibly could). This leads to an ending that just comes to a thudding halt, made more awkward with a shoehorned mythology reference. Though this only clocks in at 100 minutes, these tonal shifts make it feel closer to the bloated “end of last year’s duds”s. As the lights go up, we’re left with a feeling that this may have worked better as an installment of one of the classic TV anthologies like “Thriller” or either of the Rod Serling-hosted shows. Now that’s a real knock on KNOCK AT THE CABIN.

1.5 out of 5

KNOCK AT THE CABIN is now playing in theatres everywhere

M3GAN – Review

If 2022 could be known as the year of the male puppet, with two different versions of the fairy tale classic PINOCCHIO, then 2023 is shaping up to be the year of the female doll. A few weeks ago the internet nearly broke with the first teaser for BARBIE, which looks to be a candy-colored comedy. Oh, but that’s still months and months away, isn’t there any new toy-themed flicks out right now? Oh yes, there is, and she’s a terror. And though she looks like the kid cousin of Mattel’s queen she’s closer in spirit to Chuckie. Well, she’s lifesize and like last year’s movie subject, she’s “got no strings” on her. And unlike “Talking Tina” from TV’s Twilight Zone, she doesn’t just whisper threats. The “follow-through” is one of the upgrades on the interactive, and homicidal, doll called M3GAN.

To throw us a bit off-kilter, the story starts with a commercial for another toy. A talking fuzzy troll-like, puppy-sized toy has the kids flipping out, and their parents doling out the dollars. One of the toy’s fans is ten-year-old Cady (Violet McGraw) who is driving her parents crazy with its constant chatter. Mom’s regretting that her sister who helped invent the toy gave them such a good deal on it. But that’s the least of her worries as hubby can’t seem to navigate a curvy mountain road during a snowstorm. Which leads to a horrific tragedy. Meanwhile, the sister earlier mentioned, tech inventor Gemma (Allison Williams), is prepping her newest invention to show the toy company’s prickly prez, David (Ronny Chieng). It’s a life-size (for a preteen) human-looking doll dubbed M3gan ( Model 3 Generative Android). The unveiling is a disaster, so she’s tasked with making the current furry toy cheaper to produce until…she gets a fateful call. Gemma’s now the guardian of Cady who survived the crash that claimed both her parents. Unfortunately, the two just aren’t “bonding” until Cady sparks up when Gemma shows her an old robot she keeps in the garage. Cue the light bulb above Gemma’s head. In secret, after hours at her work lab, she and her team complete the repairs on M3gan. Soon Cady is introduced to the “project” and the toy “bonds” with the child in order to fulfill its main function: protect Cady. All’s going well until several odd disappearances and accidents begin popping up in the area. Could M3gan’s advanced programming include murder?

Williams shines in a modern female spin on the Dr. Frankenstein persona. Her Gemma has the best of intentions which indeed “pave the road to Hell”. Facing pressure at work, she’s thrust into parenthood and is terribly ill-prepared. The toy’s a quick fix, but it also bonds her to the new daughter in unexpected ways, developing real empathy. With this role following her great turn in GET OUT, Williams could be part of a new era of “scream queens”. She’s got a good rapport with McGraw, who ably handles Cady’s emotional shifts, going from a grief “numbness” to her euphoria over her new pal to an obsessive mania when Cady tries to become the defender of the bot. Chieng scores some solid laughs as the profit-minded big boss with a really short fuse and little time for considering the consequences of what he’s sending out into the world. And praise must be given to the people that bring the title character to life. Annie Donald gives M3gan an interesting style of movement, opting for brisk fluid moves with any mechanical stiffness, even making her rampages into aggressive dance steps and motions. Jenna Davis supplies her calm, sing-song-type voice which helps makes M3gan’s “descent’ more disturbing as she tosses off an oddly cheerful threat. And all this works due to the tech artists who give real expression to the vinyl-like doll’s head with those expanded glowing eyes.

Director Gerald Johnstone smoothly steers the story through bits of satire and into moments of real suspense. And much of the comedic beats from screenwriters Akela Cooper and James Wan do land, especially in their swipes at marketing with TV ads that seem right from SNL. Unfortunately, many of the characters feel a bit cliche such as a nasty neighbor who feels out of place on Gemma’s upscale block (she’s a modern Mrs. Kravitz from TV’s “Bewitched” with a vicious pet and a “Karen attitude”), and a school bully straight outta’ “juvie”. The sequence with the latter had real terror potential, but the filmmakers seemed to back off in order to hang on to the “PG-13” rating (it’s rumored that several reshoots were needed to keep the flick away from an “R”). This may be a problem for the hordes of horror fanatics who also may be put off by the “slow burn” of the set-up. Several awkward family dynamics are presented before the doll goes “wonky”. Luckily some interesting ideas involving connected tech liven up the action-packed finale. It all makes for a fairly good modern cautionary fable about keeping off “the screens’ and making human connections rather than bonding with algorithms. By that fiery finale, most viewers will be happy that they didn’t look under the tree a couple of weeks ago to see those yellow glowing orbs from the face of M3gan.

3 Out of 4

M3GAN is now playing in theatres everywhere

BONES AND ALL – Review

(L to R) Taylor Russell as Maren and Mark Rylance as Sully in BONES AND ALL, directed by Luca Guadagnino, a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. Photo Credit: Yannis Drakoulidis / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures. © 2022 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

“My Cannibal Romance” or “The Fine Young Cannibals” might be alternate titles for this film except that it suggests comedy rather than the high-concept horror film that BONES AND ALL really is. Starring Timothee Chalamet and Canadian actress Taylor Russell as a very different kind of star-crossed lovers, BONES AND ALL does two surprising things: combining romance with horror in a very different way and creating a new kind of monster beyond the usual vampires, werewolves and zombies. The characters at the center of this tale are born as cannibals, compelled to eat human flesh the same way vampires are compelled to drink blood. However, despite the image that evokes, BONES AND ALL is surprisingly restrained in what it shows on screen. There are bloody scenes, but the like in a film where the gory is the point. That will probably disappoint the torture porn crowd or those looking for buckets-o-blood violence. There are no Jeffrey Dahmer-like bone-cracking or cooking scenes. Instead, these compulsive cannibals are treated more as people with an unfortunate affliction, something they have no say in. The focus is on people living lonely, isolated lives, people who have a compulsion they would rather not have, but something they unfortunately must do, periodically, in order to live. Their only choice is when, and who. That gives this unusual horror story a completely different tone.

Set in the upper South and Midwest of the mid-’80s,Maren (Taylor Russell) is a lonely high school senior living with her dad (Andre Holland), who is “the new girl: who doesn’t fit in at her new high school – again. The father and daughter have moved around a bit but Maren longs for friends, and here she is finally forming some tentative friendships. Yet we get a sense she is hiding something, although it might just be that she is living a trailer park, unlike her new friends.

Her dad sets strict rules for her, including no nights out, but one night she sneaks out anyway, to go hang out at her new friend’s sleep-over. All goes well as first, until it doesn’t. What happens sends daughter and dad on the run.

In her new rundown rental home, she wakes one day to find dad gone, but an envelop of money and a tape and recorder left behind. Dad’s tape answers some questions about why she is different, while leaving others unanswered. Maren decides to seek those answers by finding the family of the mother she never knew.

Already you see the parallels to any young person who is different in some way, where bi-racial (as she is) or from a different country or religion, or born with a “condition” although not likely to be like her particular affliction. On the road, she is surprised to meet others like her, such as Sully (Mark Rylance, in another striking performance), an oddball, colorfully dressed man with a Southern drawl, and later another young person with the same affliction, Lee (Timothee Chalamet).

It’s Timothee Chalamet, so of course, they will fall in love, although it takes awhile. Also in the fine cast are Michael Stuhlberg, Chloe Sevigny, Jessica Harper, Jake Horowitz and David Gordon Green. Director Luca Guadagnino’s impressively varied credits include CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, SUSPIRIA, A BIGGER SPLASH and I AM LOVE. Here, the director shows a firm hand and fills scenes with tension, sadness, yearning, and a sense of the tragic by turns, always making the most of his fine cast.

Like all horror films, realism and the plausible are not priorities. The acting is the film’s standout strength, but the concept deserves credit. as a fresh way to show people who exist on the fringes of society, as these people, as well as a new horror creation. By making these characters into people rather than monsters, the film turns the usual horror film structure on its head. Other than their compulsion and “dietary needs,” and how that forces them to live, they are completely ordinary people, who would rather not do want they must. They are filled with revulsion by encountering an ordinary human turned cannibal, as they do at one point. The young couple try to create something like a normal life for themselves, with starry-eyed dreams of avoiding their need to eat, as they inevitably must.

It makes for an unexpectedly heartbreaking story, and the film is in many way more a tragic romance of star-crossed lovers than a horror film. Timothee Chalamet and Taylor… as the star-crossed lovers, who are what they are without choice, give marvelous performances. The two develop a convincing chemistry, and their shared problem

But the most unforgettable performance is Mark Rylance’s. The already lauded British actor, who some may recall from BRIDGE OF SPIES, is having quite a year – with wide ranging performances. He plays a charming British eccentric, a sparkling comic role, like the delightful PHANTOM OF THE OPEN, and a shy unassuming tailor bullied by gangsters in the twisty mystery thriller THE OUTFIT. Here, Rylance plays Sully, whose smooth Southern accent and mix of menace and loneliness sets us on edge in very scene, and a performance that sears its way into our memory. Whenever he is on screen, we are uneasy, even though what he says is often pitiful. When he pops up unexpectedly, “stalker” is the word that comes to mind.

Any film that makes these kinds of bold choices deserves credit for creativity and courage, even while the film’s subject is inevitably squirm-inducing. There is blood and blood-covered faces, and we know that these folks are doing, but it is less about that, about gory effects, than the complicated characters at the center who were born with this awful curse. That makes for a fresh kind of horror film, one that invites thought about something more that how they did that effect.

BONES AND ALL opens Wednesday, Nov. 23, in select theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

HALLOWEEN ENDS – Review

Michael Myers (aka The Shape) in Halloween Ends, co-written, produced and directed by David Gordon Green.

Wow, that time of year snuck up on us once more, much like the creeper of this looooong-time horror franchise. Yes, Fall is fully here and that big holiday is mere weeks away. And this is the (unlucky) thirteenth entry in the series that began 44 years ago (feels like we just marked its big 4-0). As though we’ve not been bombarded with horror flicks the last few weeks, from THE INVITATION to current box office champ SMILE. Ah, but this is different since it’s being treated as a major release from a big-time studio, and it stars the original’s “break-out” actress, who has had a career way beyond that early label of “scream queen”, though many genre stars proceeded her. But this was a true “game-changer” back in 1978. But will its implied “conclusion’ tingle the spines of twenty-first-century moviegoers? More importantly, will they accept the idea that HALLOWEEN ENDS?


Oddly, this ending begins with a flashback to 2019. It is that holiday setting, and another teenage babysitter Corey (Rohan Campbell), a fella’ this time, endures a deadly prank that will impact his life. Cut (natch’) to today. Well, here’s where it gets a bit confusing as it is four years since the events of KILLS which was released a year ago (wonky movie timelines). That original sitter, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), seems to be on the road to a healed psyche. She’s not training in a wooded “bunker’ any longer, instead, she resides in a nice cozy house (the old family “house of horrors” was torn down) with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), who has begun a career as a nurse. And much of Laurie’s time is taken up with her writing as she types away at an inspirational memoir. Things are pretty quiet since it has been a few years since “you-know-who” stalked Haddonfield, Illinois. But there’s lots of drama left there as Laurie befriends Corey when some local hooligans gang up on him, which leads him to a “bloody cute” (literally) meeting with Allyson. They even hit a pre-holiday party at a local bar. But then he takes off his scarecrow mask and the “haters” break them up, which leads to him taking a tumble off an overpass. When he wakes up Corey hears grumbling from someone in a drainage tunnel. This empties into an underground level that is now the lair of a very weak “shape”, or “boogeyman” Michael Myers. Yet somehow he spares Corey when their eyes meet and they seem to share a twisted spiritual connection. Soon this unlikely duo is erasing names from Corey’s “s*#t list” as his romance with Allyson heats up. But Laurie sees a change in his eyes and fears that the “evil” may have a new host. Can she save her family from the new threat and a very old enemy?

Aside from “the Shape” the main reason for this “new trilogy” is the white-hot stat power generated by the formidable Ms. Curtis. And for her many fans, well to put it bluntly, she brings it, all of her skills and strength, to what she insists is her final waltz with Laurie. The last entry was a bit of a letdown as her character was mostly confined to a hospital room (much as in that second flick from 1981), happily here she’s in the “thick of it”, action-wise. But she’s more than the grim avenger of four years ago. We see her sweet side as Curtis lets a shy smile emerge while flirting with the charming Will Patton, who’s back as Hawkins. Plus there’s the maternal dealing with Allyson, pared with lots of conflict and remorse (Laurie’s not going to blow this second chance at parenting). Matichak captivates as the “final Strode sibling”, though too often she’s regulated to being the “good gal” defending the “bad boy” she adores because nobody else “understands”. Until it devolves into a cliched angsty star-crossed romance, she has a nice initial rapport with Campbell’s Corey who deftly turns from dweebish teen to haunted twenty-something as he slowly succumbs to the darkness of the small-town taunts and torments. Ultimately the script calls for him to emote via sneers and snarls when away from Alyson and as he falls fully under the spell of the Shape.

The best thing say of this “finale” is that it does indeed feel like one, and it’s miles above last year’s dreary. overwrought “message-y” misfire (none of this “the town is the real evil” hoohah). It’s odd since most of the same creative team made this one, led by director and co-writer (it took a quartet) David Gordon Green. He keeps the third act moving briskly, from one gore-fueled set piece to another, which should satisfy the fans who may grow restless waiting for their masked “hero” to do his “business” after the Corey subplot and the more “mellow” Laurie. Actually, this one’s main problem might be a script that’s too ambitious as it tries to meld a thrill ride with bits of family drama and an unlikely mentoring saga. Plus the final “throw-down” is marred by the off-kilter actions of a major player. Well, at least the “hit list” is made up of some really awful folks (though maybe not deserving of such extreme reprimands). Another plus is the always sinister musical themes that have been given a tweak or two by the master, John Carpenter, and his audio crew. And as I said, it feels like a final farewell, but only the box office can guarantee that HALLOWEEN ENDS.

2 Out of 4

HALLOWEEN ENDS is now playing in select theatres and streams exclusively for 60 days on Peacock beginning on 10/15/2022

HELLRAISER (2022) – Review

Jamie Clayton as Pinhead in Spyglass Media Group’s HELLRAISER, exclusively on Hulu. Photo courtesy of Spyglass Media Group. © 2022 Spyglass Media Group. All Rights Reserved.

So, we’re now officially a week into October. Ready for a spooky flick? Well most hardcore “horror hounds’ are game any time of the year, but this month is…special. And what better way to get “in the mood” than revisiting some iconic and shocking characters in a big reboot, though their creator calls this a “re-imagining” (um, okay). Oh, and we’re not reaching back to the Universal icons of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. They skip a few decades to get into the scream kings (and queens) of the 70s and 80s. It just feels like all of them have gotten a nice new coat of gore. Hey, even Michael Meyers will be back in a week for his final rampage (heard that before). And much like Chucky, these horrors spring from a toy, a puzzle box specifically. As we learned 35 years ago, and over ten flicks, when you solve this puzzle you don’t get a prize because it’s a real HELLRAISER.

This “new take” begins on the streets of Serbia as a woman named Menacker (Haim Abbas) does an exchange in a dingy alley, handing over a briefcase full of cash for a nondescript box, which its former owner warns her not to open. Cut to the impressive mansion of a pleasure-seeking reclusive billionaire named Voight. There’s a party in progress, clothes optional. Menacker meets a handsome young man at the bar and invites him to a private audience with Voight, in his secret gallery. Inside a case, he spots a detailed puzzle box, the Lament Configuration. Voight appears (Goran Visnej) and instructs his guest to solve the puzzle. When he does a spring-triggered needle pops out and punctures his hand. The box seems to suck up his blood which initiates a portal to another dimension that shoots out long chains with sharp hooks that dig into his flesh before hoisting him up. From there the story shifts to a grungy bedroom as Riley (Odessa A’zion) and her new beau Trevor (Drew Starkey) enjoy each other’s company. As they leave the sprawling apartment they’re confronted by her straight-laced brother Matt (Brandon Flynn) He’s angry that she’s dating somebody she met while in rehab and thinks she’s using again. Oh, and she’s behind in her share of the rent. Back at Trevor’s place, he suggests a way to make some quick cash. He makes delivers to a warehouse owner by some “rich dude”. They could use the security code and take something in his safe. And they go through with it, acquiring, yup that deadly puzzle box. Later, when it whisks away Matt, Riley is on a mission to find out the secrets of the box and rescue her sibling. But will she along with Trevor and their friends become victims to the box and the other-worldly demons known as Cenobites?

In an interesting spin on your typical horror heroine. or scream queen, A’zion as Riley is a woman who seemingly has her hands, and mind, full battling her own inner demons, let alone some true terrors from another dimension. And she’s up to the challenge even as the script has her screeching in her opening act like a spoiled petulant pre-teen. But her missing bro forces her into detective mode and A’zion is a formidable force as she slowly uncovers the truth about the “box”. Starkey has a low-key seedy charm as the tempting “bad boy” of many fantasies. But he’s a piker compared to Voight who is given a sinister grinning snarl by Visnej, whose leading man looks mask his perverse machinations. And making a mark (in more ways than one) is Jamie Clayton as The Priest (often referred to as “pinhead” which irks its creator), her passive aggressive delivery, much like one of those home AI devices, clashes with the sadistic punishments it unleashes.

So, has director David Bruckner (THE NIGHT HOUSE) delivered a terror trek that surpassed the 1987 original? Well, there are a few new interesting spins (the attire of the Cenobites particularly), but there is little of the campy fun of that trippy late 80s flick that surprised us. And the new script from Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski, and David S. Goyer (yup, it took a trio) doesn’t deliver new shocks, but rather tepid variations on familiar scary set pieces inspired by the Clive Barker classic. It’s amusing that Voight’s mansion itself is also a puzzle box, but its contrivances just feel…contrived, though the art direction is done well. This is something like the tenth film in this series, but it just might be time to put that nasty puzzle box in storage until someone can twist and turn it until it becomes a truly horrific HELLRAISER.


1.5 Out of 4

HELLRAISER is now streaming exclusively on Hulu

DEADSTREAM – Review

Joseph Winter as Shawn Ruddy in DEADSTREAM. Photo Credit: Shudder.

DEADSTREAM is a little comedy horror flick that looks as if it were made on the cheap (which it probably was) but which turns its limited budget into an asset. Joseph Winter wrote and directed with wife, Vanessa Winter, and stars as an internet celeb named Shawn Ruddy who’s made a living by putting himself in danger. In each episode, he faces one of his fears for fun and profit. Apparently, that kept food on the table until he went too far in one adventure and lost his sponsors in disgrace. For his comeback after a six-month exile, he chooses to live-stream his night alone in a reputedly haunted house. That makes up the entire movie.

On the plus side, Winter makes this more visually interesting than most of the hand-held camera productions flooding screens ever since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, by using multiple cameras. He’s got a POV on his head, plus a selfie stick so we can alternate between what he sees and his reactions. He’s also planted cameras around the house’s reported hot spots (alleged previous deaths and spectral sightings) which he and we can follow on his tablet. We can also read his audience’s comments as they scroll, and even watch some of them talking to him.

As expected, spooky and gory things occur. A couple of people turn up who may, or may not, prove helpful. Winter’s character scares easily, and overreacts to the slightest sound and movement. A lot. Your enjoyment of the film will turn on whether he holds your empathy, or just becomes annoying. There’s nothing subtle or low-key in Winter’s performance. He’s wired electronically and emotionally throughout, which befits his character in the situation, but might prove as exhausting to follow as it was for him to film.

Be prepared for more blood, guts and jump starts than giggles as the protagonist’s long night of terror unfolds. It’s not rated by the MPAA as of this writing, but serves up enough frights and icky sights for an R. In his acting hat, Winters shoulders a big burden, since he’s almost always in frame, and delivers most of the lines in the spouses’ script. There are elements of humor and some social satire in the feedback from his fans’ and detractors’ reactions to what they’re witnessing in real time. The F/X part of the budget was spent wisely, providing plenty of scary and yucky bits of bang for the buck.

It ain’t great cinema but that was certainly not the goal. Enjoy this piece of escapism on its own terms. The Winters are early in their careers, and seem clever and resourceful enough to attract investors and keep their production wheels turning.

DEADSTREAM is available for streaming on Shudder starting Thursday, Oct. 6.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

SMILE – Review

Caitlin Stasey in a Paramount Pictures Presents, in Association with Paramount Players, A Temple Hill Production “SMILE.” Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

October is the perfect month for scary movies, and horror fans can get their fix with SMILE, a creepy tale in the style of haunting “contagion” horror flicks like THE RING. While the horror film SMILE might make scary-movie audiences happy, seeing this particularly sinister smile is not a happy thing for the unfortunate characters in this new horror genre offering.

This horror film is getting some buzz among horror fans, and SMILE deserves credit for a being fresh scare and not just another horror-movie sequel (how many HALLOWEENs are there, anyway?). But to be clear, this near-October release is basic entertainment, not a high-concept chiller like HEREDITARY but SMILE does offer some good jolts although it breaks no new horror ground.

Now, full disclosure, this reviewer is not a fan of the modern horror genre, preferring psychological thrillers and more classic monster movies, so serious horror fans may have a different take on this one. That said, SMILE did offer some scares, with jumps and some blood, but without more the gruesome “torture porn” scenes of some horror. Further, it deserves extra credit for offering something different from the endless sequels. SMILE should please those who like a good popcorn-tossing jump for most of its nearly 2-hour running time, although its failure to pick up the pace and tension in the second half makes the film feel longer than it actually is.

There are no big names in this scare-fest, apart from Kal Penn who appears briefly as the main character’s boss. Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) is a dedicated psychiatrist who works long hours in a mental health hospital that takes in patients in crisis, instead of running a cushier private clinical practice with more regular hours. The film opens with a unsettling scene that gives us insight on the good doctor’s dedication, as she awakes from the nightmare sparked by her childhood memory of finding her drug-addicted mother, who died from an overdose. We see Dr. Colter in a therapy session with a frequent patient, Carl (an excellent Jack Sochet), who obsessively repeats that everyone will die. Carl is a “regular” at the hospital, considered harmless, as his morbid litany just part of his periodic manic phase.

But a new patient Laura Weaver (Caitlin Stasey) comes in who presents something different. When the therapist enters the room, the patient is cowering in a corner, terrified. She had witnessed a gruesome suicide a few days earlier, and the assumption is that she is reacting to that trauma. But the frightened patient is a young woman, a graduate student, who insists she is rational, but that she is being harassed and attacked with a being that takes the shape of people around her, revealing that it is the creature by smiling the creepiest of smiles. The patient becomes angry and hysterical when the doctor makes the reasonable assumption that what the patient is seeing is a hallucination. The young woman vehemently insists that what she is seeing is real and a danger that threatens not just her, but everyone. Then she screams as she sees the presence. The doctor turns, seeing nothing there, but when she turns back to the young woman, she is smiling, a remarkably creepy smile, and then a gruesome suicide takes place.

While there is little realistic in this hospital scene, it sets the pattern for the what unfolds, with the “infection” of the thing that was haunting the young woman now “transferred” to the therapist. After her rough day, the doctor goes home to her modern house in the country, where she is greeted by her purring cat. When her live-in fiance Trevor (Jessie T. Usher) comes home, she is somehow startled and drops the glass of wine she has poured herself. It is not the only broken glass in this scary movie.

Jump-inducing scares like that happen throughout this movie, and writer/director Parker Finn has a little extra fun throwing in little scares with camera shots and weird angles, including some clever ones, plus a nerve -jangling musical soundtrack.. The little scares sent waves of nervous laughter through the audience at the preview screening, although there is little direct comic relief here. There are some bloody scare scenes but it has more psychological jumps, as neither we or the character can be sure what is seen is real.

Another thing the film gets right is rejecting the usual Victorian haunted house or cabin in the woods settings, going instead for an isolated and run-down low-cost mid-century ranch house for some spooking doings, which is both refreshing and more believable.

Despite the disturbing things she is experiencing, Rose is determined to figure out what is really happening to her. Most of the people around her have to same reaction to her seeing things that most people would – they believe she is delusional. But like in a classic 1940s film noir, she does find one ally who believes her and she is able to uncover some facts about the smiling “entity.”

Sosie Bacon, who is in nearly every scene, does a nice job as the distressed doctor, alternatively vulnerable and confused or masterful and determined to find a solution. Kal Penn isn’t called on to much more than look alarmed but other actors get more of a chance to show off their stuff. Caitlin Stasey, in her brief scene, gets things rolling with a big splash as the troubled patient haunted by the smile. Gillian Zinzer is a scene-stealer as Rose’s neurotic sister, adding a touch of comic relief along with Nick Arapoglou as her sister’s equally hysterical husband. Young Matthew Lamb is touching as their young son.

Jessie T. Usher underplays as Rose’s emotionally cool fiance and Robin Weigert has a more pointed presence as Rose’s ex-therapist. Kyle Gallner plays a cop who is also Rose’s ex, with a mix of romantic longing and detective efficiency. Jack Sochet shines as death-obsessed patient Carl, and Rob Morgan makes a memorable impact as a prison inmate with some insight into what is happening to Rose.

SMILE is a moderately entertaining scary movie that might satisfy the itch for horror fans. While it stays within the lines of the genre, it has the bonus of not being a recycled story or another sequel.

SMILE opens Friday, Sept, 29, in theaters.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

PEARL – Review

So, it’s looking like 2022’s box office final returns will be dominated by a film that’s already nabbed a spot in the all-time “top ten” earners, that’s TOP GUN: MAVERICK of course. Ah, but will the year be mainly known for one big sequel? No, perhaps not since a prequel did very very well, the last Gru/Minions outing while another did, hmm…not so well (LIGHTYEAR). But we’re about to get another prequel that’s not animated and it’s from a flick that was released just six months ago. And since its focus is on a character from the earlier film, it could also be considered a “spin-off”. Oh, that March film was titled simply X. And I have not seen it. So this puts one of my staunchest movie beliefs to the test: you shouldn’t have to see the original to enjoy (or not) a follow-up. Naturally, I hold the same belief for novels, plays, and even old TV shows (never saw a single “ep” of “Downton Abbey”, but liked the first feature film). So I’ve got “fresh eyes’ to gaze upon the gleaming gem that )maybe) is PEARL.


The A24 logo fades into an idyllic Texas farm, bathed in, some might say, oversaturated colors, way back in 1918 (maybe the pseudo-Technicolor evokes nostalgia). Oh, but the gloom in the house offsets the rosy hues. Eighteen-year-old Pearl (Mia Goth) has dreams of worldwide fame and fortune, but for now, she has to deal with her “uber-stern” German-born mother Ruth (Tandi Wright) and tend to her near-comatose mute quadriplegic papa (Mathew Sunderland). She also has to tend to the animals in the barn that she’s named after movie actresses (the lamb is Mary, natch’). And there’s another animal she “provides” for, a ravenous alligator named Theda, who glides through the nearby pond in the woods. Luckily Pearl has one human friend that occasionally visits, her upbeat blonde sister-in-law Misty (Emma Jenkins-Purro). Yes, sister-in-law. Pearl’s married to her brother Howard who’s serving his country in the last months of WWI, while back home everyone’s in a panic, or pandemic, over the Spanish Flu outbreak. Yet somehow Ruth allows Pearl to bicycle into the nearby town to pick up medicine for papa. Of course, Pearl has to take in the newest “flicker” at the movie palace where she can dream of being one of the chorus girls on the screen. It’s there that she encounters the theatre projectionist (David Corenswet), whose matinee-idol smoldering looks inspire more fantasies. Soon, Misty tells Pearl of the auditions at a local church for a dance troupe that will tour the country. But when word of it reaches Ruth she forbids Pearl from trying out and promises to keep her locked in her bedroom. Oh, she doesn’t realize that nothing’s going to stand in the way of Pearl’s quest for stardom. Nothing and no one, so Pearl will take whatever steps, even….

Well, you can probably guess, even if you were in the dark like me. And that’s just one facet of the “go for broke” performance in the title role by Goth (what an apropos last name for someone doing horror flicks). In nearly every scene, her animated face nearly leaps off the screen (no 3D needed), so you can imagine that Pearl would be a silent screen siren. Her upbeat smile adds to the comic interludes while her tears elicit sympathy for the put-upon heroine. But then the light goes out of those eyes and Pearl switches into a relentless being of chaos and sends chills down our spines. Her energy is almost matched by Wright, who seems to spew Old World venom (much of her dialogue is in German) as she unleashes her anger over “the bug” and the hatred towards her birthplace on her daughter. Counter-balancing that intensity is the “laid-back” laconic delivery of Corenswet who tries to trap Pearl in a web of his lusty charms. His cool, yet creepy demeanor doesn’t result in the “love em’ and leave em'” scenario that may have worked in other tiny burgs. Jenkins-Purro is the light to Goth’s darkness, a kind soul who only wishes to offer a helping hand and is dragged into the mire instead. It seems there’s no room in this world for her warm glow. And several scenes work due to the restrained work of Sunderland who gives weight to the adage that “the eyes have it”. His widened moist glare says more than any histrionics.

Word is that director Ti West concocted the screenplay via Zoom with Goth during the making of the first flick, X. This enabled them to go right from the previous one to this in a matter of days, which is pretty unique. And I’m thinking that the “behind the scenes” story might make for a more compelling film. Despite my admiration for Goth’s emoting, the rest of the flick just seems “all over the place” in tone and style. It starts as “high camp” with Golden Age Movie titles superimposed over the candy color farm and enhanced by the overly-lush orchestral score by Tyler Bates and Tim Williams. Then there are the tragic dramatic elements of soul-draining family life as Ruth squelches the joy from Pearl’s spirit. It’s then a sharp turn into an erotic thriller as Pearl watches a real silent “stag film” while the projectionist looms over her to savor her reactions. This all builds up to a third act packed to the gills with patricide, “gross-out” imagery (that pig), and mean-spirited cruelty in lingering close-ups, proclaiming once more, that in the “edgy” modern horror flicks, evil must triumph and the good are punished for their compassion. And to nitpick a bit, what 1918 theatre had a synchronized record for their feature.?And why do the audition judges dress in old wild west costumes? To sum it up, Goth’s great didn’t need to see the original (if it’s streaming on a rainy day…maybe I’ll catch up), wildly uneven, though it’s got more style than most of these thrillers. It’s not unflawed, but there are a few sparkles found in PEARL

1 and a 1/2 Out of 4

PEARL is playing in theatres everywhere