This is another one of those titles that really should have been better than it was. On paper, the concept is actually kind of awesome. The sad thing, however, is the execution of it all. It could have been a very visceral horror movie with some pretty original ideas, but instead, it really does come off as some kind of made-for-TV horror, despite some of the more gory scenes. But, I'll cut it at least a bit of slack, as it's director Toby Meakins' film debut as well as a Netflix original. We meet a family of three; Laura (Kate Fleetwood) her son, Gabe (Pete MacHale), and a reclusive father named Hal (Eddie Marsan), who obsesses over retro video games in his... mancave? Hal receives an interaction fiction game entitled "CURS>R", and gives it a try. It ends up being a text-based adventure game with a catch - decisions in the game affect the world around you. We learn how sinister this software is when, while playing it, Hal accidentally brings harm to his family with a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" question. Then we never see any of these people again until near the end. The film then introduces us to a college student named Kayla (Iola Evans), who's trying to improve her skills at school with coding. Her friend, Isaac (Asa Butterfield), helps her with this, as she provides him with various technology in return. Her home life is awful, with her drug-addicted mother, Thea (Angela Griffin), and their rent collector, Lance (Ryan Gage), who may as well be an evil pimp. We learn here that Kayla is the tough daughter who faces all of their problems head-on, takes care of her mother, and gives Lance the right amount of attitude to show she doesn't fear him. One day, Kayla finds the 'CURS>R' game in Isaac's apartment while visiting, and discovers a hotline number with the game, offering a prize of $125,000. Upon calling the number, Kayla gets the voice of the one and only Robert Englund telling them to play the game, which will give them a code, which will get them the money. Kayla, tempted by the offer, decides to play, promising to split the prize money with Isaac. However, it pretty much becomes a horrific version of 90s 'Jumanji', where the game's various "yes/no" options get deadly in real life. My biggest problem with this is how unrealistic it is. I'm not talking about the game's supernatural powers either. I think the idea of a cash prize still existing from a retro text-based game is kind of ridiculous. I know there were games out there that did involve the concept of grand prizes - the most famous probably being the unfinished 'Swordquest' games for Atari. Check that link out, it's actually pretty interesting stuff! Anyway, besides that elephant in the room, there was something about Kayla that truly bugged me, and I can't really put my finger on it. It's almost as though her "girl power" felt forced somehow. Nothing against the actress, but some kind of combination of writing and direction with her felt... off. Pushing my criticisms aside, however, there are still a few things one can appreciate about this. In some ways, aside from hearing Robert Englund's voice, there was a bit of a 'Nightmare on Elm Street', dream-like quality to this, and I have to admit that a lot of it made me squirm. On top of that, I actually did kind of like the climactic sequence, where she faces a "final boss". As I mentioned before, I think they have the right idea for something somewhat original here. But the execution left a little to be desired. Elsewhere, it's fairly heavily criticized, but between a new director and it being a Netflix original, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. It's certainly no type of must-see, though. 3/5
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Throughout the month of July, Netflix has been entertaining a lot of us with the new hit exclusive movie trilogy 'Fear Street', based on the best-selling books by 'Goosebumps' author R.L. Stine - except this series is much more adult, portraying things like sex, drugs, and a fair amount of colourful language. Things have also somewhat cleverly been reflective of different eras of horror, first reflecting on the teenage horror era of the late 90s, then the slasher era of the early 80s, and now we take a peek at period piece horror with '1666'. The film picks up where the last one left off. If you haven't made it this far, spoiler alerts ahead. The series bases things on a divided community between the towns of Shadyside (where all the bad stuff happens) and Sunnyvale (an image of snobbish perfection). Shadyside seems to have a history of murders which are often blamed on the curse of the Fier Witch - a girl named Sarah Fier accused of witchcraft in 1666, and eventually hanged. '1994' involves a group of teens investigating recent murders, leading them to the home of C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs) who recaps another story of mass murder at her camp when she was younger in '1978'. This all leads to the trilogy's lead, Deena (Kiana Madeira) flashing back to 1666 and seeing things through Sarah Fier's (Elizabeth Scopel) eyes for the first half of this film. That may have been a poor recap, but getting to the point, '1666' tells of how Sarah used to live in a small village called Union (Shadyside and Sunnyvale before it was separated). When she stumbles on an evil book in a reclusive widows home, she soon learns that dark magic lies within those pages. Crops and food supply is destroyed, and things just seem downright cursed. This eventually leads to finger-pointing towards Sarah for her devilish ways (which, in 1666, meant the same as being gay - so there's a bit of a "woke" theme going on here). Anyway, this all unfolds up to Sarah's death, but the right secrets are revealed in order for Deena, her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) and C. Berman to try to end the Shadyside curse. I liked this one just about as much as I enjoyed the second one, but for different reasons. '1978' I really liked mostly due to the fact that it was reflecting on some of the old school slasher flicks I'm so into - always more so than the teen horrors of the late 90s. But with this one, I appreciated that it did its period piece horror (and did it pretty well), but then came back to 1994 to give us some closure on everything. And I will admit that the climax to this chapter was one of the more interesting things this series had about it. The solution to everything seemed very simple, and even a little obvious, but the execution was actually something I had fun with. I probably still prefer the second one, just for what it was along with my particular tastes, but this chapter certainly held its own. The period piece horror was kind of spot on, in that things get pretty perverse and gruesome, and a lot of that type of horror has to do with shock value of the extremes of the times. Think of it as taking its hints from 'Game of Thrones', just not quite as brutal (but is anything?) When it circles back to 1994, I'd say that's where things start to get into fun horror. You can tell that this doesn't take itself too seriously, and as one might expect, this really is a 'Goosebumps' series for adults. On the whole, the series is honestly pretty good in its overall execution. The only thing I think I'd have to overlook for it to be really good are, again, these characters. The mains are better here than they were in the first one, each playing different characters from the past (for example Deena is in the shoes of Sarah Fier), but there's still no one here I can really get behind and route for. For me, this is sort of a modern take on the classic horror I used to like, and a lot of the time it gets it right. Sadly, characters do tend to be quite a large part of those movies as well, so I suppose I can't really be too picky about that. All in all, it's a decent series to tide us over between seasons of 'Stranger Things'. I can say that this was something I may not have been head over heels for, but I certainly appreciated it for what it was. 4/5 Moving right along with the 'Fear Street' trilogy, here we have something I very much prefer over the first chapter. Not that I thought the first one was particularly bad or anything, it's just that the slashers this chapter pays tribute to are more reminiscent of one of my favourite horror series - 'Friday the 13th', or *insert camping horror movie here*. This felt more intense, the kills were actually pretty brutal (in a good way - straight to the "point", like Jason), and I guess to give some honesty, I'm just a bit bias towards that style. We pick things up with the twist ending to '1994', in which Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) seek out a woman named C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs). She's known to have had visions a long time ago of the so called Fier Witch who supposedly cursed the town of Shadyside. The reasons behind it spoil the ending to 'Part One', however, so I'll hold off and just say they need her help. Berman brings us back to Camp Nightwing on the night of an infamous incident known as the "Nightwing Massacre" (which honestly sounds more like the title to a 'Batman' comic, but here we are). We are then introduced to Ziggy Berman (Sadie Sink) who is chased down by a crowd of Sunnyvale bullies, accusing her of stealing. Things start to get pretty dark until counselors Nick Goode (Ted Sutherland) and Kurt (Michael Provost) step in. Almost right away, we see an unspoken thing between Ziggy and Nick. Meanwhile, Ziggy's sister, Cindy (Emily Rudd) and her boyfriend, Tommy (McCabe Slye) are cleaning the mess hall when Nurse Lane (Jordana Spiro) warns Tommy that he will die that night. Sunnyvale campers believe her to have been possessed by the witch, but no one gets how real things are about to become. When Cindy and Tommy stumble on her former best friend, Alice (Ryan Simpkins) and her boyfriend, Arnie (Sam Brooks) in the infirmary to investigate Nurse Lane's motives, the group soon unveils something that leads them to the Fier's house. Soon enough, this leads to one of them getting possessed and wielding an axe while the others make their escape. From there, a generous body count starts to rise that leads back to Camp Nightwing, ultimately putting Ziggy and Nick in danger. And what can I say? The result is that I had more fun with this one than the last one. This felt a bit more like a love letter to movies like 'Friday the 13th' than a straight up mimic of 'Scream'. My only real complaint moving forward with this is that the characters still aren't particularly likable. Most of the characters portrayed throughout this series are pretty much assholes, and if I can't have a character to get behind and route for, it's not quite as entertaining. However, I suppose in this case, I have a tendency to route for the killer. Not because violence is good or anything, but those kills are what make movies like 'Friday the 13th' and 'Halloween' earn a whole bunch of sequels. We're not in it for the teenagers so much as we're in it for the killer. All in all, I had more fun with this than the last one. It was a pleasant surprise, and I'm curious to see where they are going to take it next. 4/5 Let's take a trip back to the late 80s, early 90s with R.L. Stine's 'Fear Street' book series. This was Stine before he got around to the more child-friendly 'Goosebumps'. This was straight up teen horror. While 'Goosebumps' had its time in the spotlight, however, 'Fear Street' is still alive and well, constantly pulling a 'Ninja Turtles' and reinventing itself. Originally ending his run in 1999 with a spin-off called 'Fear Street Seniors', things were revived in 2005 with the 'Fear Street Nights' three-part miniseries, and revived again by 2014 with six new stories - the last one being 'Give me a K-I-L-L' as recently as 2017. There could be more that I'm missing about the history of 'Fear Street', including an incredibly failed pilot episode for a series. But the real point to make here is that, at least to me, when Netflix announced bringing out a 'Fear Street' series, it felt like some sort of revival. It struck me as a chance to basically watch a more adult version of a 'Goosebumps' story, complete with language and gore. So what better place to start than 1994, having the first film of this trilogy take its hints from 'Scream'? Funny story, I almost rethought doing these 'Fear Street' reviews because frankly, I thought this was too much of a 'Scream' ripoff, and I was quite honestly not viewing it in the right way. This is to say that when things didn't make sense, it got annoying - I even got down to the inaccuracies of the release dates of some of the music chosen for its (honestly really good) soundtrack. But, don't worry, I came back to this in the exact way I should have; viewing this as a satire of late slasher horror, using 'Scream' as its source. It was, after all, perhaps the most memorable slasher horror flick of the 90s (which is saying a lot), so the fact that this is satirising a satire while still not being 'Scary Movie' is sort of just something we need to get around. It does work if you look at it in such a way, the way it utilizes such corny tropes and is able to get away with sheer stupidity sometimes. It all starts when a mall bookstore employee named Heather Watkins (Maya Hawke) is surprise-killed by a man sporting a skeleton costume, revealed to be her friend Ryan (David W. Thompson). She is the last of several victims around the mall before he is shot through the head by a cop. According to most, this is just another case of a Shadyside, Ohio resident gone crazy - especially to those of the neighbouring town of Sunnyvale. The two towns provide an interesting personality to the movie, in that just as the names suggest, Shadyside is where dark and terrible things keep happening, but Sunnyvale is, in a word, "perfect" (and yeah, they're snobs and we don't like them). Some Shadyside teens believe it to be the work of the Fier Witch, who cursed the town in 1666 before her execution (incidentally, the title for the third upcoming film). Enter our lead, Deena Johnson (Kiana Madeira). Her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) is a believer of the witch while she thinks its ridiculous; her friends Simon (Fred Hechinger) and Kate (Julia Rehwald) have gotten back into the drug game, and she has recently broken up with her girlfriend, Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) largely based on Sam feeling the need to remain closeted because her Mom is awful, and her moving away to Sunnyvale. During a candlelit vigil for the victims of the mall killings, a brawl breaks out between Shadyside and Sunnyvale school representatives - basically football players, cheerleaders and school band members. Eventually this gets to an accident that causes Sam to see visions of the witch before she's taken to the hospital, which ultimately leads the five "stereotypes" down a rabbit hole while trying to solve the mystery of this apparent town curse. I was able to respect this movie on a parodic level, and I think that's really what they were going for. And for something released as a Netflix original instead of some kind of big screen trilogy, it holds its own. My main problem with it was the characters - I really wasn't a big fan of anyone here, except maybe Josh, who plays the role of geeky guy no one wants to listen to, but knows the truth. For the most part, everyone else was either too angst-ridden, or too over-the-top. For example, Simon is a character you wish could just sit and shut up down for two seconds, trying very hard to be Matthew Lillard's character from 'Scream'. To be fair, the film is playing on those horror stereotypes, but sometimes its a little much. Deena needed to take a chill pill one too many times in this with her intensity. All in all, I can't really deny that I got pretty much what I expected, so I can't get too nit-picky about things. To me, this is definitely 'Goosebumps' for grownups - but if I'm honest, I enjoyed that original Goosebumps movie a bit more (call me crazy). This doesn't quite have the same fun factor 'Goosebumps' had, or to be more fair, 'Scream' for that matter. It all ends with a sneak peek into the next chapter for '1978', which seems very much to be playing on 'Friday the 13th', taking place at a camp, and maybe a little 'Halloween' due to the year portrayed. But more on that with my next 'Fear Street' review! 3/5 Before Zack Snyder was known as the DC Universe guy, and everyone was craving his extra special cuts, he may have been best known for breathing new life into 2004's 'Dawn of the Dead' remake - one of the few remakes in existence than paralleled or, to some, even outdid the original. For me, 'Army of the Dead' has quite a few similarities, and I think there's definitely something here for those who enjoyed his 'Dawn of the Dead'. On a personal note, I appreciated seeing Snyder go back to his roots after his much anticipated cut of 'Justice League' here. But did it pay off? It all opens with a military convoy, transporting something confidential from Area 51. They collide with a recently married couple, and unleash a genetically-engineered zombie in the process. Infection starts with a couple of soldiers, and soon spreads throughout Las Vegas. However, before the spread goes haywire, things are eventually contained, and Vegas becomes one big quarantine for the undead. This is all shown in the opening, which is actually a great homage to Snyder's work on 'Dawn', complete with Richard Cheese and Allison Crowe singing their rendition of 'Viva Las Vegas' while the chaos ensues in slow motion. This is very similar to 'Zombieland' as well, but given the musical choice, it's definitely Snyder asking us if we missed him - and the answer, for me, is yes! An ex-mercenary named Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) works as a fry cook now since the quarantine. Like many, he lost his wife to the zombie attack, and became estranged from his daughter, Kate (Ella Purnell) after having to put her mother down. He is approached by casino owner, Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) with an offer; he assembles a team to go into Vegas and retrieve $200 million from a casino vault before the city is destroyed with a tactical nuke. Agreeing, Ward assembles a team; former colleagues Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguera), Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick) and helicopter pilot, Marianne Peters (Tig Notaro). He further brings in safecracker Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer), sharpshooter Mikey Guzman (Raúl Castillo), and Guzman's partner, Chambers (Samantha Win). Last additions to the team include Martin (Garret Dillahunt) who will allow them access into the casino, a smuggler wo knows the city named Lilly, known as "The Coyote" (Nora Arnezeder) and, upon learning that her friend Geeta is trapped somewhere in there, Kate joins up too, much to Ward's dismay. What follows is essentially exactly what one might expect as the team heads in for the cash, risking their lives in order to live well for the rest of them if they manage to survive. That said, one can't exactly say that you get they typical zombie stuff going on here. This time around, the zombies for a sort of "kingdom" in their quarantine, and have grown somewhat intelligent - right down to them essentially having their own king and queen. But if that's not enough, we also have a zombie tiger named Valentine who highlights this movie in the same way that guitar freak did for 'Mad Max: Fury Road'. I enjoy a good zombie movie, but I enjoy them much more when they bring something new to the table. I have never seen a zombie tiger before, myself (although I understand one might appear somewhere in 'Walking Dead'; a show I stopped paying attention to after Season 5) but that was total badassery. I further enjoyed seeing Dave Bautista in something where he can flex a bit more of his serious acting skills, and it's interesting how this can be seen as another take on society. If 'Dawn of the Dead' was a comment on consumerism, this could be seen as a comment on gambling; the idea being that it sort of zombifies our brain, or we become "brainwashed", if you will. So while it does, in a way, remain just another zombie movie, I felt like there was something a little bit more special about it on a personal level. In a weird way, this made me somewhat nostalgic, as so much of it actually did remind me of 'Dawn of the Dead'. I might suggest that 'Dawn' was what sparked the recent zombie craze, 'Walking Dead' brought it to its peak, and this almost represents a look back on things over the past decade plus. There is still some originality to this as well, proving that certain simplicities still haven't been done with the genre - in this case, a heist. So for those of us who like Snyder's take on the zombie trend and really know how to have fun with a zombie gore-fest, I can highly recommend checking this one out. It's kind of a blast. 4/5 Here's a title that has sort of been lingering on Netflix as a suggestion for yours truly. I finally decided to check the trailer out after realizing that it featured Rafe Spall, who I recognize most from his role in 'Hot Fuzz' as Andy Cartwright, but most would probably sooner recognize as the writer in 'Life of Pi'. Sure enough it ends up being a British horror movie, and I tend to be a sucker for those if I can manage to find them. So I dove right in. The movie kicks off with the sudden death of a young man named Robert (Paul Reid). In his memory, a group of his friends, Hutch (Robert James Collier), Dom (Sam Troughton), Phil (Arsher Ali) and Luke (Spall) decide to take a hiking trip on Kungsleden (King's Trail) in Sarek National Park, in northern Sweden. When Dom slips and twists his ankle, they end up taking a shortcut through the woods where they are stalked by a strange creature who seems to feed on their fears, and give them horrific nightmares. For the most part, I enjoyed this. But I have to admit there were moments of confusion from time to time. I'd have to say there's more going for this movie though, than against it, especially as a horror movie. Whatever's stalking them is a mystery up until the end, but we can't really tell if it's a creature, fear itself, or some crazy twist. The characters all play off each other pretty well, and I have to admit that it did a good job at making me uneasy. There's definitely something unsettling about a dark forest at night, and this movie utilizes that eeriness quite well. Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from this, however, was that through most of it I kept wondering to myself if maybe this was what 'Slender Man' should have looked like instead. Or at least something very similar. I mean, that movie isn't even out yet, but I've seen the trailer, and I don't get much of a 'Slender Man' vibe from it as opposed to what this movie pulled off. For as much praise as I give it, however, the very end of it is actually unfortunately kinda lame. It's one of those instances where the movie feels like it just stops. And yet, you sit there trying to figure out how you would have ended it any better. It's an odd one. I would equate it to something like the ending of 'The Amityville Horror'. But the rest of the movie is actually not bad at all as far as the horror aspect of things go. It was very unsettling at times, especially with the perpetual use of tortured screaming off screen. I always say the imagination is more powerful than anything physical, and what we picture in our heads is far worse than whatever makeup effects they can splash about. I'd recommend this one to people like myself who are, in fact, fans of British horror specifically. But I wouldn't get your hopes up too high either. This is something to throw on if you're in the mood to be creeped out by the strange and unusual some stormy afternoon. Ending aside, I quite enjoyed it 4/5 I'll just cut to the chase here. This film starts in the year 2028, where Earth is in the middle of an energy crisis, on a global scale. As a result, the Shepard particle accelerator is to be tested on board the Cloverfield space station. Some believe it to be a new source of energy that can fuel mankinds needs for an infinite amount of time. On the other hand, some worry about the "Cloverfield Paradox", which suggests that they could open dimensions, allowing for things like the Cloverfield monster to come through and terrorize Earth. It even goes so far as to suggest demons. Long story short, they test the accelerator, shit happens, and that's the basic time travel/interdimensional travel story behind where the Cloverfield monster comes from, and that's pretty much all you get. The rest of it is a rough, mish-mash of horror elements taking place on board the Cloverfield station, including a crew member of the same ship from another dimension, and for whatever reason, the ship goes after Chris O'Dowd (by the way, he's in this), seemingly trying to eat him alive, or at the very least kill him. And I just don't get it. I'll buy into interdimensional travel, I'll buy into time travel, but I can't buy into the ship just starting to do weird shit. I mean, I guess we're to assume it's possessed? After all, the crazy guy on the TV suggested it. The bottom line is that pretty much everything that happens on the ship is it's own little horror show, very closely following varying 'Firefly' plot threads. On the other hand, we get the thing that I always thought a 'Cloverfield' sequel should be; the monster attack from a different perspective. If it were me, I'd have tried to make this a trilogy about the attack that night, each time revealing more and more important information about the creature. Perhaps even filmed in different styles. But hey, they decided to give us angry John Goodman in a vault instead. This here, is about as close as it comes. That story follows our lead, Hamilton's (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) fiance, husband, boyfriend... partner? Michael (Roger Davies). I can't reember if it was explained. Anyway, Hamilton's up in space in another dimension in another time... This is actually where it gets super confusing. 'Cloverfield', I believe, took place in "modern day", which would have been 2008. 'The Coverfield Paradox' takes place in 2028. So when the whole disaster scenario goes down, there's reason to believe that on that particular Earth that they're floating above consists of Hamilton's partner. But the on-Earth scenes have the Cloverfield monster wandering around, suggesting that it's suddenly 2008? It broke my brain. I finally gave it the benefit of the doubt, I GUESS, and said "screw it, it's all a different dimension whenever something stupid happens". Anyway, for my money, this was mostly a throw-away. I didn't particularly like '10 Cloverfield Lane' either. For my money, the first one was the only one that held any weight, and that was mostly due to how it was made at that time. The overall story of that movie is very simple and obvious. But at the same time, it's hard for me to be too entirely mad at it for at least offering a bit more of an explanation behind the creature. It never upset me in the first movie because the mystery, intrigue and the found footage lent itself an explanation not necessarily needing to be offered. That said, I always hoped there would eventually be one. And this nudges it forward, but doesn't do it justice after all this time. I haven't given a bad rating in a while, so this is a pretty good place to start. 1/5 Just a little something extra for the Halloween season, 'The Babysitter' is the latest mainstream dose of comedy horror fun. Timed just before the release of 'Stranger Things 2', chances are that this isn't quite as "under the radar" as advertised. That said, not everyone has Netflix, so not everyone has heard of this. 'The Babysitter' starts off with a bunch of bullies pestering a kid named Cole (Judah Lewis), headed by his neighbor, Jeremy (Miles J. Harvey). A lot of the bullying has to do with the fact that Cole is 12 and his parents still get a babysitter for him. However, said babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving) shows up and scares the bullies off. From there, we clearly see that Cole and Bee have one hell of a fun-loving friendship between them. Sort of an unspoken "best friends" deal. Cole perhaps has a bit of a thing for her, but he seems to respect her whole position in his life. However, encouraged by a classmate named Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind) via text, Cole decides to sneak down toward the living room after he goes to bed, in order to find out what Bee gets up to after hours. What seems like an innocent high school game of 'Truth or Dare', involving Bee and several of her friends, suddenly turns into a cold-blooded murder that Cole ends up witnessing. Long story short, it essentially turns into an R-rated survival version of 'Home Alone', where Cole has to overcome his paranoia to outwit these killers. This one comes out pretty good overall, but I can't deny that it's got a few moments that leave you scratching your head. For example, one of Cole's potential killers tells him at one point how he's gotta go stand up to Jeremy, or else be picked on for the rest of his life. So the guy trying to literally slice and dice him to pieces pauses everything, giving him fatherly advice. I guess it's supposed to add to the comedy factor, but it really just comes across as confusing. However, ignoring that strange aspect, the movie's still a lot of fun, and can simply be treated and enjoyed as a funhouse movie. There's plenty here for the gore hounds, and it carries a pretty great dark sense of humor with it, despite it's confusion at times. If you have Netflix and are looking for something goofy but horrific at the same time, this is a pretty good way to go. There are definitely better horror comedies out there, but this manages to hold it's own quite nicely. 3/5 This title comes from Eli Craig. For those unfamiliar with the name, he brought us a couple of the best horror comedies out there; 'Tucker and Dale vs Evil' and 'Zombieland'! Truth be told, this almost ended up on my 'Screening Suggestions' list, but I decided... well... I just didn't really like it as much as the others. But stay with me, 'cause it's not all bad! It centers on a real estate agent named Gary Bloom (Adam Scott). Recently married, he moves in with his new wife, Samantha (Evangeline Lilly) and son, Lucas (Owen Atlas). Despite the fact that Gary keeps trying to reach out to Lucas as his new father figure, he goes ignored. One day, Gary is called to the school to discuss Lucas' erratic and violent behavior. Being seen as the source of it, Gary's informed by a psychiatrist that he and Lucas should both seek counseling. This all upsets Samantha, claiming that Lucas' behavior is something he can't help as he's a kid, etc. So, Gary takes one for the team to prove his love for them both, and heads to counseling for fathers. He's met there by his transgender friend, Al (Bridgette Everette), and meets some other fathers with their own troubles. However, in Gary's case, a lot of Lucas' behavioral problems make Junior from 'Problem Child' look like a Care Bear. All the while, Gary's suspicions build, believing more and more than Lucas is, indeed, the Antichrist. This is helped along with some pretty solid evidence from his wedding videographer, Karl (Tyler Labine). However, with all of this, the film takes an interesting twist. It works well enough for what the film is trying to say, and for that, it's forgivable. However, is sadly spares you some of the potential a horror comedy take on 'The Omen' would otherwise have. It's not without it, but by the third act, the mood kinda just changes. Again, it was what they were going for though, and it's strange the way it works out. It's an idea that's original enough for a movie like this, and actually has a good message behind it. But if this were some romantic comedy about a stepfather trying to get along with his new wife's son, it would be very typical. Negative nitpicks aside though, I did personally find a lot of the dialogue in this is pretty funny. I kinda have to hand it to Owen Atlas for his performance as a creepy kid as well. It's a fun enough time with some good laughs, and in it's own way, it's clever. I'm glad to see that Eli Craig has flexibility in his films though. He's an interesting director who takes a look at horror situations from a comedic perspective, and generally away from the typical. Out of what I've seen though, I'd say this is the weakest. Still though, a good time nonetheless. 3/5 |