Chucky: Goin’ To The Chapel

Summary

Things finally come to a head over the battle for Chucky Prime, played by Fiona Dourif.

This was one of the best episodes of Chucky in the whole history of the show, there were so many great moments such as the interactions between Nica, played by Fiona Dourif, and Andy, played by Alex Vincent, and Kyle, played by Christine Elise, in the Chucky support group as well as the flashback to Child’s Play 2 there are just so many rewards in this episode for long time fans. Also let me just take a moment here to say how Fiona Dourif is the underrated best actor in this show and her performance as both Nica and Nica possessed by Chucky are both great, the show needs to use her more.

In addition I am glad the show finally gave Father Bryce, played by Devon Sawa, his hero moment and had him try and help the kids, it was nice to not see him be a dick to everyone around him even if it was for only a few minutes. Moreover, his death has to be one of the most over the top gore kills of the series thus far, that is not a complaint by the way. I also thought the death of Jennifer Tilly in doll form was a hilarious highlight of the episode.

The one area wherein I thought this episode wasn’t great was with Lexy’s, played by Alyvia Alyn Lind, storyline about her drug addiction and suicide attempt. Honestly, I thought the whole thing was handled poorly, I feel like the show only gave Lexi a drug problem so that she has something to do this season moreover it never really hit true on an emotional level for me so I didn’t care about it and was just counting down the moments until we could get back to the actually interesting stuff.

Overall, the best episode of the second season by far.

4.5/5

Pros.

The rewarding moments for long-time fans

The deaths of Father Bryce and Jennifer Tilly

Fiona Dourif’s great performance

The flashback

It felt like a really good pay off

Cons.

Lexy’s breakdown is boring and makes you want to skip ahead in the episode

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Interview With Writer/Director David Bryant: Splinter

Written by Luke Barnes

I recently had the chance to interview Writer/ Director David Bryant about their new horror thriller film Thriller, which follows a guy, played by Bill Fellows, who sinks into the abyss after the death of his wife and child, and whilst there he believes something is watching him with the question then becoming is it a benevolent or malevolent presence. In this interview we discuss processing depicting mental health on screen, the metaphorical significance of Christmas, and the labour of love that is filmmaking.I hope you enjoy.

Q: What was your message with this film?

DB: On Splinter, as with many of my screenplays, I try to bring in a social aspect, something relevant and contemporary. I knew I wanted to base the film inside a single location, a house; So, why is someone trapped inside their own home? This is where I wanted to make the film about a mental prison. A man dealing with multiple issues from anxiety and OCD to agoraphobia but place him in a horror/thriller. It’s more an examination and depiction of the failing of someone’s mental state than a message. I prefer to pose questions than give a complete answer with my work, so people can discuss how they read the film compared to other people.

Q: How did you try to approach the topic of grief with this film?

DB: My whole approach to the film was to play it as real as possible. To create a genre film but stage it like a kitchen sink drama. This extended to how John, played by Bill Fellows, deals with his grief and loss. I felt this approach would form a stronger link to the character, an empathy that would bond you to him. Hopefully you feel his grief in a deeper way because of the down to earth depiction.

Q: In what way does Christmas play a role within the film?

DB: Christmas is a wonderful visual metaphor for family and joy. It instantly places you in a safe place. Then I wanted to twist that, a man trapped in a time capsule, literally it is “Christmas everyday”, but it’s not as fun as Wizzard told us! The tree and cards also give the film a sense of time and place and on a low budget, creates a more interesting environment.

Q: Would you call this film a Christmas film?

DB: Ah, the age old question. I think it falls into the category, though most of it is not set at Christmas. I think Christmas horror/thriller is a big market so I say a big YES. I have co-written a very cool Christmas anthology horror that I would firmly put as a Christmas movie plus a family non horror Christmas movie. I sound like the new Shane Black… Which would be nice.

Q: What is your favourite moment from the film?

DB: I’d call the film a slow burn that builds to a crescendo. I like when Bobby enters the story. It’s the most visceral and violent moment. The finale with Michael and Bill I really like too. Bill certainly enjoys playing off another actor whether Michael McKell or Jane Asher.

Q: Any funny stories from production?

DB: It was a small shoot, just a three man crew most of the time and shot over several weekends so not a lot of time for hi-jinks. Wish I did have a funny story, just tales of hard bloody work.

Q: What does the future hold for you, any other films in the works?

DB: I hope I get to make more movies. I’m working on several feature screenplays including a sci-fi UFO horror, a pirate horror and a Western horror and have numerous completed scripts ready to send out that have placed in screenwriting competitions. I work mostly in genre and have two projects I am working with producers on to develop; Flesh & Blood, a vampire story and a female led revenge thriller, Scavenger. I want to move on to a higher level and both these films have a real cinematic feel. We just need funding! I’m also open to offers of writing or directing!

Q: Any words of advice for future filmmakers?

DB: My advice is always to not wait. Many filmmakers think they need a million dollars to produce this incredible film that will catapult them to legendary status. It can happen, but not often. So I suggest you practice your craft. Learn the art of screenwriting by reading and writing dozens of shorts or features. Get a camera, find a few actors and go make a short film. There is a lot of pressure filmmakers put on themselves that everything they make has to be outstanding- it won’t be, and if you see getting out and shooting your film a chore, maybe filmmaking is not the life for you?

If you would like to check out Splinter for yourself it is currently out now on iTunes and Amazon Prime in the US and Canada with it coming to the UK and other territories next year.

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Splinter: The Darkness Stares Back At You

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After the death of his wife and son John, played by Bill Fellows, sinks into himself. Whilst gazing into the abyss he begins to feel as though someone or something is watching him.

I thought this film was a smart psychological thriller, it played with you in all the right ways whenever you started to feel like you knew what was going on it then veered in a completely different direction and kept you guessing. The way the film approaches ideas of grief and mourning are also really well formulated and written as it brings a sense of grey tinged moral nuance to things and reflects deeply on a shared sense of emotion that most people can on some level relate to.

In terms of the scares/ thriller aspects of the film I thought they landed really well. Like a lot of good horror films Splinter is very focused on building and establishing an atmosphere, that feels just the right amount of oppressive, throughout the film and doesn’t waste its time stuffing in tons of jump scares.

The performances across the board were strong with Fellows being the obvious standout as the haunted man, the man out of touch with time and reality, the man lost in his grief. Fellows gave a very believable emotional performance that really powered the film forward.

Overall, a good film with an intriguing premise, definitely one to watch.

4/5

Pros.

The themes and message of the film

How it plays with grief

Fellows

The ending

Cons.

The pacing dropped a little bit in the mid-second and it started to lose me a bit

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The Noel Diary: A Strong Sense Of The Familiar

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Justin Hartley plays a writer who must return to his childhood home and face the demons he has been running from as he clears out his dead mother’s possessions.

In terms of Christmas rom-coms this film is fairly bang average, there is nothing much to write about with it. The plot of a successful man returning home, confronting his past, making peace with it all the while falling in love with a local girl, played by Barrett Doss, is all very by the numbers for this sort of film. Again it seems like someone with a checklist is crossing off story beats as the film progresses, there is no element of surprise or the new here.

Hartly and Doss are fine, they are both serviceable enough but have neither the charm nor the chemistry to liven this film up. James Remar briefly lights up proceedings but he is barely in the film and after we have met him his absence is sorely felt.

Overall, serviceable but nothing more than that.

2.5/5

Pros.

It is watchable

Remar brings something to the film but is mostly underused

It is fairly short

Cons.

It is predictable and been there done that

It is poorly paced

It is boring

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Pinocchio: More Disturbing Then It Had Any Right To Be

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The classic tale of Pinocchio, voiced by Gregory Mann, but now with added nightmarish creatures and fascist leaders.

Well this film achieved the impossible, it managed to make the Disney take on Pinocchio, animated not the trash live action, look tame by comparison. That is no small feat considering the fact that the animated Disney film has it fair share of deeply unsettling moments, but this film pips it by having some truly quite disturbing moments. Whether it is Pinocchio’s frequent deaths wherein he goes to an underworld like land and has conversations with frightening looking creatures, in most cases voiced by Tilda Swinton, or in the design of Pinocchio himself that never quite lets you settle down. In all honesty I found Pinocchio himself and the way he looked and acted to be the most scary thing about the film.

Writing this review for you now I can’t honestly say whether I enjoyed watching this film, it was certainly an experience viewing it though I don’t think wholly pleasant. Instead of giving it slap bang in the middle marks I have given it an above average score as whilst a lot of things in the film didn’t work for me or I found a little jarring, I like how far Del Toro pushed the concept and the risk he took with it, the Mussolini stuff he did was really quite daring and funny and fit the film in a way I wouldn’t have expected it to.

The ending will also be a source of contention for many as it is not by any account a happy ending, if anything it is fairly melancholic, it reminded me of the stylings of Tim Burton if that is any indication for you, but hey Ewan McGregor does a great job as the cricket and mostly keeps things light.

Overall, I can’t say I enjoyed the film but it is bold and some of it works really well.

3/5

Pros.

A risky and more adult approach

The setting and time period

McGregor

Cons.

It is incredibly sad

Pinocchio himself is hard to warm towards because he looks unsettling

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Avatar The Way Of The Water: Nothing Short Of Torture

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

We return to Pandora for far too long and see the testament of one man’s ego.

I am calling this now Avatar 2 won’t make anywhere near the same amount of box office as the first film, mainly because this is infinitely worse as a film. It never needed to exist and that comes through in technicolour here. It is the sort of film that will be talked about on release weekend and then immediately forgotten about next week.

The film is on for way too long, and spends far too long exploring the world and spending a tedious amount of time with the new kids, all of whom have as much personality as a plastic bag, honestly the second act wherein nothing happens at all is basically torturous and the sort of thing I imagine even Guantanamo would say is cruel and unusual.

They bring back Stephen Lang’s character from the first film, for reasons, and normally I am a big fan of Lang but here he is given nothing to do. He has a very basic alpha male rivalry with Sam Worthington’s character, and a new son to contend with. Again the relationships and inter character drama is nothing new and show that as a writer James Cameron is way past his heyday even with other writers helping to boost things up.

The only people who are praising this film are people who are impressed by it from a technical approach, and in this regard I think this film is nothing much to be impressed by. The CGI looks about as good as some recent videogame cutscenes, and the use of 3D reminds you how glad you are that that gimmick died off last decade.

Finally the environmental message is just as ham-fisted as it was last time around.

Overall, a testament to why creatives can’t be given unlimited creative control. Let’s hope the 3^rd film is the last.

1/5

Pros.

The water effects are pretty neat

Cons.

It doesn’t need to exist

It is way too long

The story is terrible

They waste Stephen Lang

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Chucky: He Is Risen Indeed

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Good Chucky, voiced by Brad Dourif, finally turns bad and there is a traitor inside the School’s ranks.

The Colonel is easily the best thing about this episode once again, and his killing of Chad Chucky with the communion wafer is both shocking and a good use of the setting. It is a shame he gets killed off so quickly, but it does give Andy, played by Alex Vincent, a nice hero moment after he was rendered fairly helpless in the previous episode.

The defecting of Good Chucky and the death of Nadine was a mixed bag for me, it was sad to see Good Chucky turn bad as it could have been interesting for the wider universe of the show if he had stuck around longer and then the question of could Chucky be redeemed ever could have been tackled, but it was fairly obvious he was going to fall to the darkness. The death of Nadine didn’t hugely hit me as much like with the Colonel she wasn’t set up enough to have her death be impactful, if she had survived into the next season and died then that would have hit harder.

Overall, a good episode as exciting things are happening, but the impacts are a little stunted.

3.5/5

Pros.

The Colonel continues to have a lot of good moments

Andy gets a lot of good hero moments

It is very watchable

Fun things are happening

Cons.

Nadine’s death doesn’t hit as hard as it could have done

The Colonel is gone too soon.

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Arthur Christmas: Getting The Same Present You Have Had For Christmas Over And Over Again

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Arthur Claus, voiced by James McAvoy, the bumbling but well-meaning son of Santa Claus, played by Jim Broadbent, embarks on his own personal Christmas mission when he realises that a Child has had their gift left behind.

I have heard a lot of people sing the praises of this film, but personally after watching it for the first time this Christmas season I just don’t see what is so good about it.

To be blunt with you there was nothing here that hasn’t been done better before in other animated movies, from lessons about self-reliance to not judging a book by its cover to family relations all of these themes that the film tries to explore have been done better elsewhere. Adding to this the plot mostly feels cliched and entirely predictable, you know from the off how it is going to go and how it will end and whilst for some watching this that narrative safety might be an endearing feature of the film, for me I felt it was boring.

To further build out the list of problems facing this film, the characters have no charm to them at all, and this is in part because of the writing but also because of the incredibly timid voice work done across the board. Both Sony Animation and Aardman have put out better characters that are far more charming than these dozens of times in the past, so who knows why they think this would fly here.

Overall, a watchable film and one that is good to use to mindlessly distract kids in the run up to or even on Christmas day but not one that has any merit beyond that.

2/5

Pros.

It is watchable

It would entertain little kids and would make a good distraction for them if any parent is looking to have some time to themselves during the Holidays

Cons.

It is boring

It is uninspired

The voice cast are only in it for the pay checks

I’ve seen all of its ideas and situations before

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Violent Night: A Father Christmas You Can Relate Too

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After having lost his Christmas spirit Father Christmas, played by David Harbour, becomes caught up in a home invasion and must fight to save Christmas.

I thought this film was damn near excellent. My one complaint would be that we have seen the grizzled veteran who doesn’t want to fight anymore, who doesn’t know where they stand in the world anymore, or even whether they want to carry on any more character trope so, so many times before that it feels a little repetitive. Also having a child restoring this person’s faith in either themselves or the world only adds to the cliché.

That aside this film is just what I wanted it to be, a silly gory good time. I think the tone manages to perfectly capture both the seriousness and the humour of the situation, dark things do happen but it is all taken in good humour. The film is actually quite surprisingly funny with a lot of good commentary and strong one liners that will have you laughing not just as you watch the film but also when you remember them later on your way home.

However, I think the main strength of this film is David Harbour. As I said not long after watching the film on Twitter, if you cast anyone else in the role of Santa Claus this film would be infinitely worse. Harbour pulls off not just the physicality for the fight scenes but also the likeability to make you want him to beat the home invaders and be reunited with his wife at the end of the film.

Overall, a lot of fun and David Harbour really shines.

4.5/5

Pros.

Harbour

The gore

The silliness

The message

You genuinely end up caring about Santa and Mrs Claus

Cons.

The characters are cliches

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Scrooge A Christmas Carol: The Very Worst Seasonal Musical

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A musical take on A Christmas Carol, but without the talent or the charm needed to pull that off.

Netflix has had quite a good track record of bringing out really good animated Christmas films they’ve had Klaus and Robin Robin, both of those films have become instant classics that I want to watch every year, however, this film really missed the mark for me and left me cold.

The main problem with this film is that it did nothing new with the story, sure it added a few extra lines here and there and reworded some stuff to make it more modern but if you compare this film to Apple’s Spirited where there is drastically different new elements to the classic tale, this is just more of the same but with a few bad new lines and even worse songs.

Don’t even get me started on the songs, they range from irritating to truly tuneless and awful and it leaves you questioning if the musical numbers are this bad why didn’t they decide to just have it be a normal non-musical film and scrap them in post?

The voice acting cast should have been able to bring the film together despite all of its various problems there is a lot of talent involved, such as Jessie Buckley, Olivia Coleman and Luke Evans, however, not a one of them turn up and for the most part it just feels like they are there for the paycheck and nothing else.

Overall, A disappointing waste.

1.5/5

Pros.

It is unintentionally funny

It is relatively short

Cons.

It is a worse version of a classic

The few new changes make it inferior

The songs are awful

The voice actors clearly don’t care

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