 I haven't been paying close attention to the slasher genre lately, and I have more than bloody likely missed out on some gems I have yet to explore (like most horror movies in my life, it's usually about catching up). But I can say that speaking for myself, this is one of the best slasher flicks I've seen in a long time. There's something about it that feels more of the 80s slasher genre I love so much, as it's complete with a sense of humour, has a cheesy edge to it, and has a 'Scream' feel to it; a movie which parodies 80s horror altogether!
Like with most slasher horror out there, plenty of critics will give it some digs, but if there's one thing I know about director Eli Roth, he's not in it much for critical recognition as opposed to making his fans cringe in all the best ways possible. With that in mind, my overall familiarity with the man was the torture porn bar-raiser, 'Hostel,' the film that ultimately made me realize torture horror was not for me. Although I still say the ending of it was kinda badass. Anyway, I kinda thought I would be getting more of that here. But I was pleasantly surprised! It's not without a bit of the torture that makes me so squeamish, but Roth otherwise does a great job with the variety in his kills here. It's definitely one for the gore hounds! In Plymouth, MA, on Thanksgiving, 2022, a crowd gathers outside a "RightMart" department store, positively rabid for a Black Friday sale. The crowd then notices off to the side that film lead Jessica Wright (Nell Verlaque), daughter of store owner Thomas Wright (Rick Hoffman), lets her boyfriend, Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks) and friends Evan (Tomaso Sanelli), Gabby (Addison Rae), Scuba (Gabriel Davenport) and Yulia (Jenna Warren) in through a side door. This invokes a riot, chaos happens, and it's a brutal reminder of why shopping online for Black Friday is a much better idea. It may not be as big a problem now, but I still can't be mad at Roth for putting his horrific spin on the concept. One year later, as RightMart prepares for another sale, ignoring what happened the previous year and ignoring protesters, mostly fuelled by Thomas' new wife, Kathleen (Karen Cliche) and her desire to put money above anything else. Meanwhile, a social media post tags Jessica and her friends, showing a Thanksgiving table with place settings with their names on them. It's soon discovered that this poster is a mysterious man dressed as John Carver, who is seemingly getting some kind of revenge on several people involved in the Black Friday sale of the previous year, according to town sheriff Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey). I think that perhaps the biggest standout of this movie is the kills themselves. As morbid as it may sound, this brings some originality and "Hollywood Meat" to the forefront and does a great balance between making you cringe and making you say "Oooh! Damn!" This is just a me thing, but I would say that I haven't seen kills this original since probably 'Final Destination 5', which did an amazing job with its fake-out kills. But again, remember that the horror I've missed over the past few years could probably fill half a video store (for those of you who remember them). But on top of a bunch of crazy kills, it should also be noted that there's a pretty solid comedic aspect to this flick as well. One scene in particular, around the middle of the movie, is almost guaranteed to have a laugh to lighten the mood. I won't say what it is, but you'll know when you see it because it stands out that much. But even with the solid kills and sense of humour, Roth still expands on things with a touch of father/daughter drama that takes nothing away from anything and a climactic scene that allows Roth to turn up the intensity levels. Before wrapping this review up, I have a few things for readers to consider. For starters, this feels like a major callback to the era of 80s slasher, where viewers come to see some kills and not take the film seriously. You're not going to have much fun with this if you're going to try taking anything about it seriously. It's pure horror entertainment at its finest, and one can think of it almost as a 'Scream' movie with the gore factor cranked to eleven. This is definitely one for fans of the slasher horror genre who aren't looking for any kind of seriousness attached to it because, after all, this DID come from a 'Grindhouse' trailer in the first place. 4/5
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NOTE: The following review will eventually be moved to a special 'Saw' page.  When it comes to my familiarity with the 'Saw' franchise, it goes a little something like this. I've seen parts 1-3, missed parts 4-7, and seen 'Jigsaw' and 'Spiral.' I quoted the last two as "just another 'Saw' movie" and "Fine if you're into that kind of thing." Speaking personally, I felt it lost its overall quality during the third one, in which *SPOILER ALERT* John Kramer (Tobin Bell) passed away due to his brain cancer. From there, I just kind of wondered why they bothered to keep going other than the obvious "cash-in."
The franchise carries on from there, and to be fair, I didn't really bother with it at all, and a lot of that was because John died - a character who, by the way, I strongly considered the next big thing in horror after Part 2. I figured the rest were pretty much more of the same thing - torturous traps that the victim has to put themselves through to survive with an underlying message of appreciating the life that one is given and not wasting it on whatever crimes or wrongdoings John has you trapped for. I can appreciate the tactic these traps use in which the victim CAN ultimately survive; they just have to sacrifice something big to do so. 'Saw X,' thankfully for yours truly, presses the rewind button and gives us back the somewhat brilliant mind of John Kramer with a story taking place between Parts 2 and 3. This movie is far less about Jigsaw's traps (even though there's plenty here for those who have come to see some new inventions) and more about the man himself. Until now, I always found the first two to be my favourites (out of the five I saw), and the second is high on the list for allowing us to see John Kramer, aka "The Jigsaw Killer," and the way his mind works. This aspect returns in this film but humanizes the man even further. In the film's beginning, Kramer is told that he only has a few months to live. Later, at a cancer support meeting, he meets a man named Henry Kessler (Michael Beach), who is also evidently terminal. A short time later, John and Henry cross paths, and Henry tells him of a miracle cure he had done to him conducted at a research facility so secluded that we find out they basically have to stage a kidnapping just to bring you there. Interested, John calls Dr. Cecelia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund) and is scheduled to travel to Mexico City to complete the procedure. Without major spoilers, however, let's just say things don't go as planned. Now, I should probably forewarn the people here who come to see the torture porn that, even though the traps come, it is a bit of a slow burn for the viewer to get there. This is frankly something I admire, but not everyone will be into it, and I totally get that. But I will say that it makes room for some kind of empathy towards John Kramer, someone we know as a really twisted sicko at this point. But we see him engage in casual conversations about hope; he befriends and helps out a child with his bicycle, and we get more of his human, relatable side. And when you really give that some thought, that's scarier than any trap. To expand on that a little bit, this movie drives home the point any true crime podcaster has officially absorbed: the typical psycho killer usually wears a friendly face, and they're not the physical monsters movies make them out to be. Remember, even Ted Bundy had an insane amount of charm. So, for me, the film's true quality shines with the study of John Kramer's character instead of the creativity of some of his traps. While the horror aspect is most definitely still here, I daresay that this might be the only 'Saw' movie that adds a good dramatic edge to it. I might suggest that this isn't exactly your typical 'Saw' movie, and the viewers will have to decide for themselves whether they appreciate the fact that there's depth to this chapter. As far as I'm concerned, these movies have a weird connection with me in that Jigsaw is one of my all-time favourite movie villains, but the 'Saw' franchise is far from my favourite horror franchise. Jigsaw is one of those villains, like Thanos, in that you understand what he's doing. You might disagree with him, but you get why he's doing it. There's a "point" to it all. And this movie reinforced my appreciation for this particular villain for the first time in years! 4/5  It could be said that director Robert Rodriguez is a bit on an acquired taste. Having said that, I think the first thing I should lay out about this movie is that one probably shouldn't be on the lookout for a solid Ben Affleck movie so much as a decent Rodriguez movie. If you want a good Affleck movie, hit rewind just a little bit and check out this year's 'Air' (now streaming on Prime). Otherwise, even as a Rodriguez film, we don't entirely get the epic, Grindhouse-like fun here we do with most of his films either.
We follow Austin PD detective, Danny Rourke (Affleck), who we learn from the get-go has a missing daughter, Minnie (Ionie Olivia Nieves) 7 years old at the time of her abduction. This leads to his marriage eventually falling apart; thus, we have our fairly typical brooding movie cop. He's picked up from his therapist by his partner, Nicks (JD Pardo), who has received an anonymous tip about a bank robbery, which leads them to seeing a mysterious man (William Fichtner) seemingly giving random people odd orders, and these random people carry out said orders. Danny eventually connects this with the possibility that it could have something to do with his missing daughter, so investigates further. His investigation soon leads him to fortuneteller Diana Cruz (Alice Braga), whom the mysterious man seems to have been a client of. She reveals that his name is Lev Dellrayne and that he and Cruz are actually powerful hypnotics who have managed to escape a government division specializing in mind control. This is obviously something we've seen a bunch of times before in some way shape or form - the escaped "superpower" people. Perhaps the most recent and best example is Eleven from 'Stranger Things', but odds are, my readers have seen something along these lines before. Anyway, it's not long before all the puzzle pieces start falling into place, and to some degree, the whole thing becomes fairly predictable. Although I will say that it takes a couple of interesting turns here and there, in the end, nothing really catches you off-guard or surprises you as things go. The film even brings the superhero (or at least superpower) element into it all, adding once again to a piling list of things to add to people's exhaustion. Granted, I'm generally not one of these people. But I can't say it's not blatantly obvious that the superhero thing has sincerely taken things over, and even I'm getting a tiny bit tired, especially when it comes from examples like this. Not only does this play with that superpower element, but it also feels like it takes from many different things. I've already mentioned 'Stranger Things', as far as the corporation trying to create super-humans goes. But then the movie also plays with the idea of the lead having memory problems, the mistaken identity, etc... you know, that whole 'Bourne Identity' concept, at least to some degree. It's another one of these dark mysteries that has a better version of it, or at least, something like it, to watch somewhere else. Having said that, I didn't hate the movie. I just think it would have done better to come straight to streaming because it's nothing special. So, just in case you're sitting there reading this, asking yourself "What even is this movie?" this is thanks to a complete and total lack of advertising for it. I was only really interested because of Rodriguez's name being attached to it, and I wondered how he'd handle something like this. Not something I was psyched for, but mildly curious for. Also, it opened alongside 'Book Club 2', and that one's just not in my wheelhouse. But if you can believe it, this was actually the worst opening weekend of both Rodriquez and Affleck's careers, being a fairly considerable bomb, coming in at #6, opening weekend. So, if you're still curious about it, it'll likely be streaming soon enough, somewhere. I'm gonna go ahead and say that this is the first mildly bad movie I've seen this year if only because so much of it was me going "Oh, we're doing this again?" Even still, I'm not gonna sit here hating on it. It was just too familiar to me is all. If you're into this kind of thing, it might be fun to check out on a lazy Sunday afternoon on some free (or perhaps not-so-free) streaming platform. But I would say that Rodriguez fans might come out of it more disappointed than some. Again, this is a completely different style for the guy. But as far as Affleck goes, 'Air' is still the title to watch this year. (so far... expect a review sooner or later!) 2/5  When it comes to the twist-fetish director, M. Night Shyamalan, I have a very "hit-or-miss" opinion of him. I quite like a handful of his movies, a few are decent, but some are just bad. Because of this, I tend to go into any one of his movies with the expectation that it could be just as bad as 'Lady in the Water' (which I consider his weakest work), and I don't look for the next 'Sixth Sense' (which I consider his strongest work). Speaking personally, Shyamalan has established himself as the epitome of a "middle-ground" director.
With that in mind, 'Knock at the Cabin' is the epitome of one of Shyamalan's middle-ground movies. For one, I'm admittedly not usually that good at calling movie twists, but this was one I managed to call from the get-go to some degree, and the actual twist isn't all that shocking. It's also a fairly basic plot, and I have to admit that the way it ended kind of left me wanting much more detail about what the hell just happened. The silly thing is, there are explanations for everything, but the explanations don't feel like enough or are even kind of cheap. Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge), dual fathers to their adopted daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui) are vacationing at a remote cabin in the woods. While Wen is outside catching grasshoppers, she is met by a man named Leonard (Dave Bautista). Although a threatening presence, Leonard actually comes across as quite friendly, and soon explains that he needs her and her parents' help to save the world. But when three others start approaching with what look like weapons, Wen runs back into the cabin to warn her parents about the creepy strangers. However, it's all for not, and eventually, the surefire home invasion aspect comes into play. Leonard, along with three others, Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Adriane (Abby Quinn) and Redmond (Rupert Grint) explain that in the last week, the four of them have been having rather specific visions of a forthcoming apocalypse, and some unknown force has led them to this cabin to find this family. They further explain that in order to save all of humanity, the family must sacrifice someone. If they don't, the three family members can continue to live, but the rest of the world falls apart and leaves them alone to walk the earth. With each failure to say "yes" to this sacrifice, one member of the invading group has to make their own sacrifice, and a part of humanity is judged, leading to some kind of horrible global disaster. In the end, this really just felt like a movie's take on one of those impossible questions; in this case, if it meant saving the world, would you kill a family member? And of course with that are all of the questions that come with it, which are pretty well answered throughout the film. But one should know that it's a very basic premise with not a whole hell of a lot of depth to it. The film goes by pretty quickly and gets to its final point, and even when it gets there and it's all one saying what it needs to say, somehow it feels like there's something still missing. It's the type of movie that ends and you say "oh, is that it?" even though when you think about it, they've actually covered everything. I think if I was to say that anything stood out in the movie, it would probably be the acting involved. We're not talking about Oscar-worthy performances, necessarily, but it is a film that allows us to see a bit of range on some of the bigger names like Bautista and Grint. But beyond that, I sort of admired the acting chops of young Kristen Cui, who gives us a pretty damn convincing performance. I've done this a couple of times before and been right about it, but I do predict big things for this girl's future, just as I did with Hailee Steinfeld after seeing 'True Grit', and Saoirse Ronan after seeing 'The Lovely Bones'. Now, Saoirse has four Oscar nominations under her belt and Hailee is a part of the MCU AND 'Transformers' universes. Anyway, the film is by no means what I'd consider "bad", but it's an extremely middle-ground movie for Shyamalan. I took it as a bit of a cocktail of some of his other films. I saw some of 'Devil' here (with the extremely predictable twist), some of 'The Village' (with a world of unseen and unknown surrounding them), and some of 'The Visit' to some degree (questioning who you can trust). In the end, it's by no means a great movie, but it's definitely not the worst thing Shyamalan has come up with either. Quality-wise, I might suggest this is one of the most middle-ground films he's ever made. The ideas are cool, the acting is well-done, and I daresay it does make one think. Worth checking out of you're a Shyamalan fan, but it may be for the more dedicated fans than the merely curious. 3/5  This one comes to us from writer/director Brandon Cronenberg; son of David Cronenberg, the undisputed king of visceral horror, holding such titles under his belt as 'The Fly', 'Scanners', 'eXistenZ' and 'Naked Lunch' just to name a few. With that comes the knowledge that this is probably going to be a weird and messed up kind of movie with that Cronenberg name, and sure enough, this doesn't fail in its delivery. And while there's a fair share of body horror, most of the horror here is psychological. It's good for those seeking the next "WTF did I just watch?" title.
Taking place in the bizarre seaside country of Li Tolqa (fictional), writer James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård) and his wife, Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are enjoying a getaway, but do face a few marital problems during their stay. One night, Gabi Bauer (Mia Goth), a fan of James' work, invites the couple to hang out with her and her husband, Alban (Jalil Lespert). Despite fair warnings to stay on the resort in such a place, the four eventually travel the countryside and have a good time (some more than others). However, on their way back, James ends up hitting a local with the car, killing him. Being in a rather corrupt country, this essentially means facing execution. The next day, James is arrested and sentenced to death, which, in this country, means the first-born son of the victim gets to carry out the sentence. As luck would have it, though, James married into money and is able to afford a certain procedure that will allow him to live. Said procedure involves paying to have a clone made of yourself to be executed instead, while you get to live on. And this is where the movie takes a crazy turn. James pays for the procedure and, along with Em, actually sits to watch the execution. But while Em is understandably horrified by the spectacle, James is kind of into it, presumably realizing the power he's been given. While Em is convinced to go back to America, James extends his stay by a week and hangs out with Gabi and Alban a little more. Here is where James and Gabi meet a group of similar tourists who have undergone the same procedure. Without going into spoiler territory, things really take off from here, as the group has this realization of invincibility, as long as they can keep substituting clones for their crimes. Soon, they go after the very people who sentenced them in the first place with thoughts of revenge. But certain questions come into play with all of this, such as obvious morality, but also questioning whether one of these death-row-worthy crimes ever lead to the death of the original person, knowing the clones still retain memories. It should probably be noted that I'm personally not the biggest fan of body/visceral horror, but as I mentioned before, this feels much more psychological. Things most definitely get 'Game of Thrones' level messed up in this movie, and that goes beyond this idea of cloning yourself and then watching a version of yourself get killed in front of your eyes. Like, if that's not truly messed up, I dunno what is. But having said that, I really did feel a sense of symbolism about this idea. I didn't take it as a way to commit suicide and keep living, which I think is what some took away from it. In that case, yeah, it's a WTF kind of flick. But bear with me on this one. My takeaway was that every version of James he saw killed was some part of his personality that he wanted to do away with. When you pay close attention, each one is very different in the way they act, and once killed off, James seems to get some sort of satisfaction from it (usually). I see it as a cautionary tale, in that if we do away with those versions of ourselves that we hate, it doesn't really make us "us" anymore. Even the way it ends sort of lends itself to this idea (I think). But of course, that's a simple interpretation of someone's work of art. Whether that's what Cronenberg meant by it or not, only he knows for sure. I just got the feeling that there was something much deeper to this than met the eye. This belongs to a subgenre of films that make you feel dirty enough to need a shower after watching it, and there's no rush to re-watch it. While I admired some of the concepts behind this, it's still not something I would consider up my alley, despite my whole takeaway from it. I think this one's made for a particular audience I'm not necessarily a part of, but if you like a good "WTF did I just watch" movie, it's not a bad rabbit hole to head down for a good, twisted mind. It's an unusual mixture of intriguing and creepy with haunting aspects to it and the way it plays with the viewer's brain. I really do think that if this is your kind of thing, it's very well worth checking out. But for yours truly, it's a bit too much. 3/5 |
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