Victorian Psycho: A Little Too Real

Summary: a vicious serial killer moves to a house in England in order to be a governess and start over.

This was truly chilling, Maika Monroe may have given her best performance yet, there is something so chilling and sinister about her performance here that it will leave you disquieted.

The film lets itself down at times by trying to force in humour, and early sections feel like a Tim Burton film and that is not a good thing by any means.

The ending of the film works but you would hope that the film had either a deep meaning that addresses some of the more supernatural aspects of the story, or that she managed to get away in some capacity allowing for future exploration.

Overall, Monroe is at her best here.

3/5

Pros.

Monroe

It’s scary

The ending

Cons.

The awkward humour

The first act

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Her Personal Hell: Let Nicholas Winding Refn Direct The Death Stranding Series

Summary: a bizarre cross between the Neon Demon, a video game and possibly Only God Forgives.

To be blunt this is one for the fans, if you haven’t watched a lot of NWF’s films you will likely feel lost and somewhat alienated by this film. If you have you will see a marriage between several of them as we stated in the summary.

For the abstract world of Refn outside of his Pusher films and Drive, this film is perhaps the most standard plot wise, the interpretive elements are turned down and more is spelt out.

The characters are strong, Sophie Thatcher fits well within the world and could prove to be as good a muse as Mads Mikkelsen or Ryan Gosling. Thatcher has to do a lot of heavy lifting and she pulls it off well.

There are a few outstanding questions around genre, is this a horror film, a thriller, an action film, somewhere in-between but that’s the beauty of the material.

Overall, a great film.

4.5/5

Pros.

The style

Thatcher

It’s a compelling narrative

The ending

The elements of Japanese mythology

Cons.

The pacing

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The Hole In The Ground: You’re Not My Son

Summary: a woman moves out to the countryside with her son whilst there she begins to suspect that he is not her son.

This film was depressing and played out. Even back in 2019 when this film came out we have seen so many films about the idea of changelings that the concept was already well covered, this did not do anything new.

There was a constant level of grey to the film as well that made it feel incredibly depressing and hard to watch. This was not just a colour saturation thing but a sort of environmental misery throughout the film that makes it hard to watch.

As for the scare factor there are moments where the film is more funny than scary though one would assume the film doesn’t want to be seen as such. There is a moment early into the film where this small child pushes a heavy wooden table across the room, to show he’s a changeling now, but it’s just so goofy that you can’t help but laugh.

Overall, slow, depressing and not scary.

1.5/5

Pros.

It’s short

Irish mythology

Cons.

It feels played out, there are other aspects of Irish mythology it could have focused on

It is depressing

It is not scary

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Carrie Series Overview: Butchering The Classics

Summary: we get the modern sanitised version of Carrie for the blue haired generation.

Maybe when people were saying Mike Flanagan was a new horror master they were getting too hasty. Looking at everything he’s done it’s been declining in quality, Hush (good ish), Hill House (definitely great), Bly Manor (Mixed), Midnight Mass (Bad), The Midnight Club (Bad), House of Usher (bad). Then you get to this.

Much has been made already in other reviews of how Carrie here is not bitter or angry at her bullying, she is instead played as incredibly good natured, as we can’t handle flawed characters anymore, which makes her shift to the dark side at the end feel weird and not right.

Moreover, as we can’t have bad characters anymore as that might offend someone, the bullies in the show are not made to be sympathetic and shown to have their own problems, making Carrie’s later actions seem even worse.

You also have the fact that most of the actual horror and violence has been removed for the most part and this feels like an additional season of I Feel Pretty set in the past.

Overall, that Exorcist remake/sequel/prequel is looking pretty dicey.

1/5

Pros.

It is interesting to see some of the wider Kingverse stuff in there

Cons.

It’s dull

It feels like a teen series

The characters are butchered

The ending

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East of Eden: Series Overview Making A Monster Likeable

Summary: Steinbeck gets the modern audience treatment

So in the book Florence Pugh’s character was a monster no other way around it, however here as she said in an interview she is more of an anti hero and Pugh wants audiences to love her. That was the first red flag.

Netflix are once again content to show they cannot make anything of quality anymore and must instead ruin older books and IPs in order to try and stay relevant.

The morality of the show itself is warped in a very modern Hollywood kind of way. It is full of victims and oppressors as that is the only way Hollywood can see the world anymore, the true evil character cannot be Pugh’s character as she is a woman.

Overall, cancel your Netflix subscription

0/5

Pros.

None

Cons.

It’s poorly paced

The characters are unlikable

The modern dayisms

Pugh

The ending

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Ring: The Original Evil Videotape

Summary: a cursed videotape is doing the rounds killings people.

In many ways this is very very similar to the American version, which shows just how much that film took from this.

This film is slightly better than the US remake in that it takes things slower and does need to be having a jump scare or overtly over the top moment every few minutes in order to try and maintain attention. The mystery itself is the central focus here.

Moreover, the ending is also better, with the moral ambiguity of the protagonist returning home to show her father the video tape to save her son, you get an added layer of character complexity.

Sadako is less overly frightening here and is more of a figure of pity, however that isn’t to say she doesn’t have some moments where she does become terrifying.

Overall, a slower pace makes for a more atmospheric horror film that some audiences may struggle with.

3/5

Pros.

The atmosphere

The mystery

The ending

Cons.

The pacing

Some needless characters

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A Banquet: Not Eating Your Peas Is The Ultimate Teenage Disobedience

Summary: a girl has a strange otherworldly experience and her mother must try to keep it from consuming her.

There is something quite disturbing about this film, and that is it’s mythology, it is very hard to pin down drawing on Japanese folklore, cosmic horror and the works of Lovecraft and possibly even ancient mythology.

The conflict between mother and daughter and later grandmother, is interesting but not wholly new. It is interesting to explore these matters through the idea of chosen one archetype structuring.

The horror is more atmospheric than jump scares so imagine a slow burn rather than constantly bang and then then next thing.

Overall, a good horror film with a strong sense of building tension and dread.

3/5

Pros.

The performances

The atmosphere

The layered mythology

Cons.

The pacing

It is depressing

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Just One Gift: Sleep Tight On Christmas Eve

Summary: a child gets a present early on Christmas eve from an evil source.

This short really works through the reinvention of the idea of the bad analogue to Santa, we’ve had Krampus, but here the film introduces a demon or possibly devil figures and merges the idea of gifting giving at Christmas with deals from the devil. It’s a very novel and interesting concept.

The pace, which is obviously affected by it being a short film, is used very well and nothing is needless every single second builds the tension.

The main downside is the cinematography is a little spotty in places and a little shaky where it shouldn’t be, this can be jarring.

Overall, a good horror short that has a novel spin on the idea of evil Santa.

3.5/5

Pros.

The pace

The twist of evil Santa

The tension

The ending

Cons.

The cinematography

It could do with more dialogue

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Colony: 28 Days Too Late

Summary: a bioweapon is unleashed in a shopping centre turning people into hive mind zombies.

So this film was quite the disappointment, Train to Buscan is a good film and even it’s sequel had some merits but this film just feels flat. It feels like a tried rehash of so many other zombie films.

The pacing is also quite brutal, on at over 2 hours a lot of this is needless talking and plots about backstabbing. There are times when you just wish the film would hurry up, but it doesn’t.

Overall, a slog that shows that maybe zombies are played out.

2/5

Pros.

It’s got some good action

The hive mind aspect is interesting

Cons.

It’s badly paced

It feels done before

The ending

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Insidious Out of The Further: A Failure To Commit

Summary: a woman has the power to bring the demons and ghosts out of the further and is then targeted by said demons and ghosts.

This film had promise, were the old people scary no, was the new cult leader figure scary no, but the idea of setting up a return of all the previous baddies happening at the same time and essentially having the further spill out into our world and then having another few films battling it was good.

The appeal of having the film end with the heroes failing but escaping and then having Elise say from off screen I think you’re going to need some help, back in the human world, would have been great. Bringing back all the past protagonists to face down all the demons and ghosts now in the human world would have set up something epic.

Yet it just ends and ties everything up and all the ghosts and demons get trapped back in the further the end. How utterly disappointing.

This film squanders any promise it had.

Overall, a disappointment.

2.5/5

Pros.

It’s watchable

It has some good ideas

It introduces an interesting new character

Cons.

The villains aren’t scary particularly when they show them to you

The ending is awful

It lacks vision