American Horror Stories: Lake

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After losing her child a grief stricken mother, played by Alicia Silverstone, decides that she can’t rest until she finds the body.

American Horror Stories is developing somewhat of a curse for itself of always closing out on a sour note, the last season did it and this season is much the same. However, I suppose if you are being glass half full about things you would say that whilst this season finale is boring and a wet blanket it is better than last season’s which was actively insulting to the fanbase.

Though this episode is watchable and not objectionably bad it does criminally waste the talents of Alicia Silverstone. She is clearly trying her best in the scenes she is given here, but there just isn’t enough in the script to help her give a good performance.

In terms of the episode itself the whole thing is rather dull and predictable, there are few surprises and you will find it hard to root for anyone or even to stay off your phone. In truth this episode is a snoozefest.

Overall, deeply average and uninspired.

Pros.

It is watchable

Silverstone is trying her best

Cons.

It is boring

It is predictable

It wastes Alicia Silverstone

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American Horror Stories: Necro

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A mortician, played by Madison Iseman, becomes attracted to dead bodies. Really we have come to this.

Honestly there was nothing even remotely scary about this episode, to even call it an episode of American Horror Stories feels disingenuous. In everything that Ryan Murphy does there is a level or eroticism some might say that is his style or even auteur signature, and that has always been very true for AHS. However, here it feels like it is taken to an extreme for no real reason at all, in truth what wants to be shocking is in fact very tame, it is the same thing as always traditionally good looking actors going at it. That is not shocking.

Really if anything this episode is fairly boring because other than the fact that the lead saw her family killed when she was a child and now has sexual feelings towards dead bodies, nothing of any real note happens. If I were to describe this episode in a word it would almost certainly be humdrum, it feels like midseason filler which it likely is.

Overall, nowhere near as shocking as it thinks it is, rather instead boring and tame.

Pros.

It is watchable

There are moments so silly that they are unintentionally hilarious

Cons.

It is tame

It is boring

It is badly paced

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American Horror Stories: Facelift

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

An ageing woman, played by Judith Light, becomes obsessed with the idea of plastic surgery, however after she gets it she learns to be careful what you wish for.

This certainly wasn’t a new concept, I think I have seen it done at least a dozen times before. However, what I will give this credit for is that it is one of the first times American Horror Story or indeed American Horror Stories has really dived into the realm of body horror. I think for the most part they manage to competently scratch at the surface of this rich sub-genre but don’t go as far as you would like them too.

I can’t give this episode higher as really it is just so predictable. Everything that happens has been signposted every step of the way and this episode can’t shock you for the life of it. I found the ending to be sad but altogether obvious. The acting also wasn’t anything to write home about.

Overall, it is nice to see the AHS universe consider body horror, however, this was rather shallow and trite and could be bettered in a number of obvious ways.

Pros.

AHS taking on body horror

It is watchable

Some gnarly visuals

Cons.

It was incredibly predictable

I feel like I’ve seen it done much better before

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Interview With Writer/Directors Jamison LoCascio and Adam Ambrosio: How Dark They Prey

Written by Luke Barnes

I recently had the chance to interview writer/director Adam Ambrosio and writer/director Jamison LoCascio to talk about their new horror anthology film How Dark They Prey which presents a collection of scary stories. In this interview we discussClive Barker, the pros of anthology horror and a bug attack. I hope you enjoy.

Q: What was your inspiration for making this film?

Adam Ambrosio: The horror movies that I grew up on. Everything from Carpenter to Clive Barker. A Lot of 70’s and 80’s horror films.

Jamison LoCascio: We were watching some great anthology films and Adam had come up with “Blood Beach,” he had come up with the war story years prior. I developed my own concept called “Encounter Nightly” and then finally, my father came to me with the concept for “Nelly” and I sat down to write what you see now with that one.

Q: What was the message of this film, did each segment have its own message or did you aim for a unified one?

Adam: I think the overall message is the strength people have in their beliefs and what dark paths they will take in their own convictions.

Q: How do you view the state of modern horror?

Adam: It’s up and down. I think people get too comfortable with something that works but there have been a few recently that I think break the mold holding on to tradition yet still giving us new characters and stories.

Q: Why choose the anthology format? What strengths do you think it brought to the project?

Jamison: It was such a cool idea to be able to work on so so many different kinds of stories that we love. I am not kidding when I say that movie that deals with WWII, aliens, monster movies, black and white retro haunted house films, slashers, and the occult…that is a dream come true for me and Adam too, I believe.

Q: A hard one, what are your top 5 horror films of all time?

Adam: Prince of Darkness, Dunwich Horror, Hellraiser, The Thing, Event Horizon

Jamison: Evil Dead 2, The Fog, Psycho, Halloween, The Ninth Gate

Q: Any funny stories from the production of this project?

Adam: YEAH! We got Swarmed by a bunch of bugs while shooting “Harrowing.”

Jamison: Yes, every shoot we had a thunder storm come in to make us wrap everyday early. Luckily, it added heavily to the suspense…of both the film and the filming.

Q: Sequel or future plans?

Jamison: We are always working on the next projects. Right now we are developing a feature film screenplay, placing a number of our most well-received short films into a VOLUME ONE: FILM VALOR, and working simultaneously on some Film Valor content for direct release via youtube including the anticipated Part 2 in our popular Battle Royale series that is a mix of Battle Royale Style video games with Star Wars. You can check that all out, and more right here: https://www.youtube.com/c/FilmValor

Q: Do you have any words of advice for aspiring filmmakers?

Adam: It’s okay to go against the grain.

Jamison: There are no paths set in making films, only the ones you make yourself in your search for fun, adventure, and to create the films you love. There is always a way forward if the goal is really just to make films. It is truly great if you can do it with people you love who want to be doing the same things too.

If you would like to check out How Dark They Prey for yourself then head on over to Amazon or search for the film on Youtube

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How Dark They Prey: Tales Of Terror

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A series of horror anthology tales ranging from the occult to aliens.

I thought each of this films horror stories worked well and most if not all did leave me suitably creeped out and unsettled. However, for me the issue came when thinking about how did these stories work together in terms of a wider piece. I thought each worked well on their own but then jarred and clashed against each other as an anthology project. It may have been better to take one of the plots and lengthen it out.

In terms of the performances all of the performers across the board were good, so much so that it would be hard to pick who was a standout. Somewhat unrelatedly, but I thought one of the major feathers in this film’s cap was its ability to create chilling visuals that stayed with you. There were a number of scenes spread over the stories that really left a visual mark on me, that I can see in my minds eye when I think back to it. In some senses the casts performances helped to shape and form these visuals and these moments which is something that I can’t heap enough credit onto them for.

Overall, four good horror stories, but they don’t come together well.

Pros.

It is scary

The visuals

The performances

You can’t stop thinking about it afterwards

Cons.

The stories don’t flow into each other very well

The pacing

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Orphan First Kill: Grey And Lifeless

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Ester’s origins are explored with the help of a simply awful lighting and colour gradient combo.

Really this film shouldn’t have been made. They add in some new twists and turns here, but for the most part it can’t hope to compete with the twist from the first film that Ester, played by Isabelle Fuhrman, who everyone thought was a child was in fact a grown adult. Once you know that twist a lot of the places this prequel goes to are not very exciting.

Moreover, as I said in the above summary there is some really quite poor lighting and colouring choices in this film that makes vast parts of it hard to see or tell what is going on, furthermore this is only worsen by a grey hue that seems to stick to the film throughout giving it a dull and lifeless air.

However, it is not all terrible as the film for the most part is very watchable. In addition a surprisingly out of left field evil turn from Jessica Stiles makes for captivating watching, the film would be a lot wore without Stiles in it that’s for sure.

Overall, a very average film that didn’t really need to be made.

Pros.

Stiles

It is watchable

The ending

Cons.

Once you know the twist from the first film it takes a lot away from this prequel

The lighting and colour work is awful

The pace is aggressively bad

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American Horror Stories: Bloody Mary

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of girls summon Bloody Mary, played by Dominique Jackson.

Whilst this premise is incredibly generic I actually ended up enjoying this episode.

The two main things I think this episode does well is firstly that it is actually scary, and does have a number of good scares peppered in throughout and secondly that by flipping the standard Bloody Mary myth and instead changing it to a title that is past on and that has roots in slavery really opened it up for innovation and a new direction. For once American Horror Stories felt fresh.

However, it is not all roses as none of the performances were very good and the episode was incredibly predictable in terms of plot, you knew straight away where it was going and it basically went there with the only mild twist being that rather than being killed the lead becomes the new Bloody Mary.

Overall, I think American Horror Stories should aim to be like this more, to take chances and fully commit to the horror element of the shows title.

Pros.

A fresh take on an old myth

It has some good scares

The ending

Cons.

It is predictable

The performances

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American Horror Stories: Milkmaids

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A town in frontier era America descends into cannibalism.

In my previous review of last weeks episode of American Horror Stories I said that Drive was the worst episode of season two of the show but oh how wrong I was.

So most importantly this is in no way scary. What is scary is how long it goes on for. The various plot threads they have going on in this episode clash so badly together that by the end you are confused at to what you just watched.

The cannibalism feels incredibly forced in, as though they wanted to make an episode about the plight of women and LGBTQI+ characters in the early days of America and then were like ‘oh damn this is supposed to be a horror show, I guess we better put something scary in’, it feels like an afterthought.

Sadly they also bring in Seth Gabel to play the antagonist of the episode, Gabel was fantastic in the TV series Salem and all throughout the episode I couldn’t help but compare the two and it really wasn’t favourable for American Horror Stories. Gabel tries his best here but really isn’t given enough to work with.

Overall, it felt like I was watching some terrible low budget larping production organised by goth teens.

Pros.

It is over quickly

Cons.

Gabel is wasted

The cannibalism feels forced in

The ending

It isn’t remotely scary

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American Horror Stories: Drive

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A young woman , played by Bella Thorne, believes herself to be the target of a serial killer after she is chased by a manic driver.

This episode was lazy, they rip off the classic urban legend of the murderer in the backseat and think that by calling it out they somehow make up for it, which is simply untrue. I suppose I should give them some credit they do flip it so that the killer is actually the driver and the person in the backseat a victim, but even this feels contrived and lazy.

The story seems to go out of its way to spoil the twist, and when we finally learn that a bored and disinterested Bella Thorne is the murderer we are left going ‘well obviously’ rather than feeling anything even remotely akin to shock.

I would also question in what way this is supposed to be scary, it feels far too tongue in cheek, especially the ending and makes me question whether they even got the brief.

Overall, the worst episode of the second season of American Horror Stories so far.

Pros.

It is watchable

It is unintentionally funny at times

Cons.

Throne

The episode ruins the twist midway in

It isn’t scary

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Day Shift: Ruining A Perfectly Nice Pair Of Pants

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Jamie Foxx is a vampire hunter and Dave Franco is a man who consistently ruins his slacks.

For the most part I enjoyed this film. I think tongue in cheek action is where Netflix really shines, not when they are trying to be serious. The comedy of this film mostly landed for me and I found myself laughing quite a few times. Likewise I was impressed by most of the action sequences, but I would expect nothing less with Chad Stathelski’s hand in producing this film.

The world building here was nice to see, even if it did feel like a plagiarised version of the John Wick set up with the Union being a very obvious stand in for the High Table and or the world of the Continental. It was nice to see the film explore different types of vampires with different powers and abilities as it gave the various enemies some nice variety.

I think in terms of performance Jamie Foxx is very take him or leave him, he’s fine but anyone could have done his role and many would have done a better job of it. Franco easily upstages his on-screen partner and has a number of memorable lines. However, I think the scene stealer of the film is Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Heather as she brings a real presence to the film and also has great chemistry with both Foxx and Franco.

Overall, a moderately entertaining picture.

Pros.

Franco

Bordizzo

The action

Cons.

It feels a little too similar to John Wick

Foxx is a miscast lead

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