The Strangers Chapter 1: Stay Out Of Small Town America

Summary

A young couple goes off to the woods and get chopped up by the Strangers.

Whilst I thought it was good to see a new film in the franchise I didn’t like that it was a soft reboot, it makes the previous too films feel less important now and I enjoyed those for what they were.

I think this is going to be what a lot of people are expecting. If you want a generic slasher film than this is the film for you, it’s the same old set up the couple make dumb mistakes whilst you scream how they’re dumb at the screen and then they get slashed. Nothing new. If you want something new and novel then this is not the film for you.

I thought it was interesting that the film tried to create more of a mythology around the Strangers themselves and create this whole creepy town to, that was a nice bit of worldbuilding that could be used to a much greater effect in the coming sequel.

Overall, a serviceable slasher film.

3/5

Pros.

It is what you would want it to be

The Strangers are always interesting

The worldbuilding

Cons.

It is dumb at times

The ending makes no sense

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Tarot: Pick A Card

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A tarot reading leads to a series of deaths.

I thought this was an unexpected treat, the premise is very basic and samey but in the way the film is carried out it is actually very well done and creepy. Its your standard group of teen students, who are actually in their thirties, who rent out a mansion for the weekend because that is something students can afford to do, and then they get killed off one by one after a tarot reading.

So, the above description sounds incredibly been there and done that, however, there is just something about this one that makes it fresh. I think that there is a little Final Destination in this film’s blood which makes it a winner in my mind, mix that with some terrific monster design and you are off to the races. The monsters which represent different characters on the cards, look both creepy and also varied enough that you feel like each are distinct characters.

I think the scares mostly work, a lot of suddenly coming up real close to the camera scares, and a few jump scares, however, the most effective scare of the film is the dark magician and his twisted magic show, which with his audience of deadeye ghouls was particularly effective.

Overall, despite a generic premise this film manages a number of good scares, well worth a watch.

3.5/5

Pros.

The scares

The monster design

The Final Destination Vibes

The pacing

Cons.

It has a very generic plot

The ending feels a little rushed

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Them Season 2 Overview: Barley A Whimper

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A new season of scares revolving around a series of killings.

Honestly this was a massive disappointment, the first season of Them is genuinely brilliant and some of the best horror tv I have watched possibly ever. As such I was eagerly awaiting this and then as I was watching it I kept waiting for it to get good, then finally in one of the episodes the villain of the first season returns and I was happy and ready for the scares but then that’s it. Series over. I had waited the entire season for it to get good.

I will give this show credit for how it ties together its first and second seasons I didn’t see it coming and it is nice to have it all be set in the same universe and be a curse, possibly, passing down the family line. I will also give it props for how it handles police brutality in 1990’s era America, the social commentary is on point and I think some of the best and scariest moments of the series come from seeing the all-white and corrupt police force harassing and intimidating the lead.

That said this series wasn’t scary at all. The failed actor turned killer, turned possessed monster took far too long to get to the twist. Moreover, it would have been more logical to spend more time setting up the monster that he communes with, but no. Personally, I just didn’t find the idea of a serial killer all that scary, particularly after last season’s supernatural stuff.

Overall, it has some bright moments but for the most part it struggles to be scary in any way.

2/5

Pros.

The handling of the racist police force

How they tied it into the first season

Cons.

It isn’t scary

It takes until the final episode to get good

It is much weaker written than the first season

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Abigail: A Little Girl Taking Down Grown Men

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of people kidnap a little girl, and are met with bad consequences.

A preface, I do not support Melissa Barrea or her anti-Semitic nonsense, I have been very vocal about that. As such I did not see this film at the cinema, and debated even affording it this review as my coverage might give it and her undeserved attention, however, it was playing at an event I attended recently, post its home release, so I saw it there. I am glad to say I did not give any of my money to the film or her. There is no place in this world for antisemitism.

That aside let’s move on.

This film was an odd one, I went into it expecting it to be more of a horror film yet it played more like a horror comedy. There were certainly moments that you could see it attempting to be scary, but whenever it did this it then interrupted it by having a joke or a silly moment, it was like it was too afraid to take itself seriously.

Alisha Weir is good in the role of Abigal, both of the innocent victim and also as the monster. However, what I think is an incredibly odd choice narratively is that they undermine her by having her dad show up at the end, which makes her look a lot less powerful and secondary. The film is called Abigal she should have stayed the big bad.

Overall, it has some good moments and some funny lines, sadly the comedy undermines the horror somewhat as the two tones don’t match well here and Abigal who could have been a great villain is undermined.

2/5

Pros.

Some good moments

It is reasonably paced

Cons.

It undermines its villain

Tonally it doesn’t work

It feels a bit familiar

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Late Night With The Devil: And You Thought Dr Phil Was Bad

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A late night tv show plays host to the Devil.

This most likely is the best horror of the year, so far but I could see it being the best overall as well. It works on so many levels and each time you watch it there is more to appreciate and sink your teeth into. I watched this several times in cinema because the ending of the film recontextualises the whole thing so it demands a second watch to be able to see all the new little details in it.

The horror mixes over the course of the film with some off beat comedy elements but rather than cancel each other out and not work, hear they come together well to produce both a number of funny moments and also some genuinely chilling scares. The horror here is built through character and atmosphere which is always a treat as it creates more of an enveloping experience and the scares are more powerful as a result.

I think the best praise I can give this film is that it is well written and that makes it a damn sight better than a lot of the horror films releasing these days.

Overall, a must watch for any horror fan.

5/5

Pros

It is funny

It is scary

It is well written and clever

The acting is great

It levels you wanting more

Cons.

None

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Exhuma: Don’t Go Digging Up Coffins

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

South Korean shamen/undertakers run into trouble when they accidentally release an ancient evil spirt.

I thought for the most part this was an incredibly well done horror film. The mythology and world building were on point, in tandem to this the film went out of its way to set up an atmosphere and sense of foreboding dread rather than just rely on cheap and easy jump scares which I liked.

I thought the cast all did a great job, particularly Kim Go-eun as a shaman that is one of the main forces facing down the spirit in the latter half of the film. I found the characters easy to root for and wanted them to end the film okay, it is rare in a film these days to not end up hating the characters by the end of it, but hey this wasn’t a Hollywood production.

The central evil spirit that is unleashed is genuinely menacing and has a strong historical backstory which makes it more interesting than just another bog standard evil nun demon or some sort of possessed kids toy. The main introductory scene when Go-eun’s character first faces off against the evil is truly chilling.

My one complaint of the film would be that it was paced badly, there was far too many scenes that just could easily have been cut out and the film would have been better for it. For example there were a lot of scenes of the cast eating, and I can understand why they were there it was to show them as human and get us to see them interact more so that we further believed them and the world, however, by having lots of these sort of scenes it made the film stretch on and on which is a shame as there is a good film here it just needs the fat trimmed a little.

Overall, a refreshingly new horror film.

4/5

Pros.

Go-eun

The tension and atmosphere

It is beautifully shot

The villain is menacing

Cons.

The pacing is off

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The First Omen: The Church Is Chocked Full Of Secret Societies

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Omen gets a prequel

I went into this with low expectations but it was actually really good. This is the kind of film I want to see more of, yes it is from pre-established IP, but it does something new with it and takes it into a new direction.

I think that though this film suffers from being yet another nun film, especially when we only just had Immaculate, there is enough that works here for you to enjoy yourself. In fact when compared to Immaculate this film is hands down much better. I thought in particular is the fact they talk of the Church and the Anti-Church as though there is this epic struggle going on, which needs to be explored further, and I was left wondering if it was an illusion to the real world abuse scandal that wrecked the Church.

Nell Tiger Free continues to prove she is a scream queen in the making after many seasons being excellent in Servant. Free gives a much more layered performance than Sweeney in Immaculate and manages to bring out a lot of different sides to the character, both sweet and evil. Moreover, I really liked where the film ended for her character and how they have set up a parallel story that can centre around her character and take place during the original trilogy of films.

Overall, though it may look like just another nun horror film there is more than enough here to be worth the trip to the cinema. It is an exciting prequel that gets you invested in the Omen films all over again and Nell Tiger Free is really good.

4.5/5

Pros

Free

The ending

What is does for the franchise

The scares

The pace

Cons.

It can at times feel a little familiar being a nun horror film

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Immaculate: Sydney Sweeney Dressing Up As A Nun

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Syndey Sweeny becomes a nun.

I truly think that Hollywood needs to stop it with the nun film at this point. The whole plot of this film was so predictable not only from previous nun horror films but also from other films about evil pregnancies, there was more than a little Rosemary’s Baby here. Maybe the creatives think they can get away with it thinking the audience is too young to have watched that film so not see the lifted elements.

The scares on the whole were a mixed bag they tried to do some atmospheric stuff and have it not all be jump scares which I appreciated, but they couldn’t manage it. Whenever they tried to go for a more thoughtful scare it just came off as pretentious and the jump scares were obvious but effective in this case.

Sweeny was fine, her profile is getting raised a little too much if you ask me, it was more of what we have seen from her before she plays the innocent all American girl and then starts to realise things are bad. Honestly be in here, in Madame Web, or in Reality it is all just the same performance, which worked for people like Will Ferrel or Jack Black so I am sure it will for her as well however I don’t believe she should be held up as this great actor when it is just one performance replicated.

The one thing I will give this film credit for is the scene in which the baby is killed, I think that it is highly effective and I am glad they featured it even though it will no doubt get backlash especially in places like the US. Personally I would have shown the baby as being clearly demonic or monstrous then had her smash it and gone the whole hog in showing it for the shock value of it, think of how much attention it would have got for the film, but even though it didn’t go as far as I’d like it to it still did enough to impress me.

Overall, a fairly generic nun horror movie.

2/5

Pros

The ending

A few good if obvious jump scares

It is well paced

Cons

It is pretentious at times

Not all of the scares work

Sweeney

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Imaginary: The Opposite Of A World Of Pure Imagination

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A kid, a teddy, and a monster of some sort. Settle down it’s only the same old Blumhouse formula.

Once upon a time Blumhouse used to make some of the best horror films out there, they were your prime cuts of horror meat, but then slowly over time they started abandoning smarter ideas and in many senses adults and started appealing primarily to teens, turning it into slurry that is not even fit for sick animals.

As such this film has a needless teen romance arc as all the best films do. Why can’t the creatives over a Blumhouse see that some of the best horror films of all time have not had teen angst in them, even when they featured teen characters, people don’t want the CW’s writing showing up in their horror films.

Here we have a writer, DeWanda Wise, that has to use her imagination to be able to kill her childhood imaginary friend that has now come for her step daughter. When the film actually gets into the mythology of imaginary friends and talks about how kids go missing all the time as they can’t accept that they aren’t real and so leave home to be with them then the film actually starts to get scary. However, when you see the creature at the end of the film, and see those black eye effects then you are quickly brought out of any fear you felt and feel like you are watching a film made on the cheap, and I do not mean that in a good and charming way.

I will give the film that I liked the twist wherein only the step mom and the little girl could see the bear but before that point in the film we had all just assumed everyone could see it, that was neat and I didn’t see it coming.

Overall, Blumhouse continues a negative trend downwards

Pros.

The twist

The mythology

Cons.

The acting

The angst

The monster

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Demon Slayer To The Hashira Training Event Film

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Tanjiro and co begin their training to become Hashiras

As I have already reviewed the Swordsmith Village Arc I won’t be talking about the first half of this event film. It was fine but I had already seen it and talked about it so why waste words.

The opening episode of the new arc however was intriguing. The Wind and Serpent Hashira chopping down a legion of demons and unwittingly discovering the Infinity Castle that has been used to organise demon meetings before is interesting as now the Corps will seek it out. I also liked that Tamayo is now going to be more directly involved in the series if she goes to help the demon slayers.

My main complaint of the film was that it didn’t show what the remaining high ranking demons were up to, the implication is that they will now all come for Nezuko but it would have been nice to have got a moment seeing them discuss this.

It would also have made more sense for this to be a combination of the first two episodes of the new season rather than the last episode of the last season and then the first new one as most of the people in the audience, myself included had already seen the first half of this compilation film.

Overall, a promising start to the new season but it would have been better if it didn’t rehash the end of the last season again.

3/5

Pros.

A promising new start

The opening is strong and heavy on the action

It is nice to see the characters react to Nezuko talking

Cons.

It would have been nice to have had a better insight into what the demons were planning

It shouldn’t have re-shown the last episode of the last season it just seems like filler