Spree: Never Drink The Water In An Uber, Who Knows Whats In It

Spree is a black comedy horror film directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko. The plot follows a young rideshare driver called Kurt (Joe Keery), who is trying desperately to kickstart his Youtube/influencer career. However, when his efforts don’t reap any rewards he turns to murdering his rideshare passengers to gain infamy and attention.

This along with In The Shadow Of The Cloud are my two favourite films of the year so far. This is something so darkly funny about this films critique on modern influencer culture, that humour I believe comes from truth; no doubt there are people out there who do this sort of thing for dark web fame. It makes one reflect on the purpose of it all and questions around validation, does having a large following make us better than anyone else? Are follower numbers simply meaningless? These are good questions to ponder.

Keery gives a terrific performance here, managing to convey both a deeply shy and awkward person who is just trying to get famous and also a cold-blooded killer who has no issues with poisoning people or running them over. Keery manages to make both parts of Kurt’s personality feel different enough yet whole within one person at the same time, no easy feat. Fans of Steve from Stranger Things will have a lot to enjoy here.

Overall, a very interesting film that becomes more so the more you think about it afterwards, the satire our social media society needs.

Pros.

Keery

The satire

The deeper questions

The horror and mania of it all

The ending

Cons.

Some moments are a bit too cringe

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Milkrun: The Horrors Of The British Corner Shop

Milkrun is a dark comedy, drama film directed by Alexander Jeremy. The plot sees one brave soul brace the wilds of outside of his bubble to venture down to the shops to get milk, in the age of Covid19.

This was just what I needed. As the new lockdown was announced recently in the UK and we were all sent back into our own isolated worlds to wait out the storm. I was feeling a little blue, however this film put a smile back on my face.

It pokes fun at Covid and social distancing without feeling disrespectful or done in bad taste, looking at you Songbird. The jokes are darkly comedic and feel funny through a shared experience that everyone on the globe can relate to. I was smiling and chuckling to myself as I was watching it.

The one thing I would note was that when the character was hugging people and took off his mask and gloves I was waiting for the inevitable comedic comeuppance that he had caught the virus. I feel like the ending delivered on that, at least in how I interpreted it, but it was not hugely clear.

That is not to say I did not enjoy the ending; on the contrary, I think it was nice that the film ended on a more dramatic and personal note as it reflected the bleakness of existence under Covid.

Overall, bravo to all involved I enjoyed this, and it made my dad to watch it.

Pros.

It is funny

The power of shared experience

The powerful ending

The musical score/accompaniment

Cons.

Did the character get punished for breaking the rules? Perhaps a little too open ended

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Great Asphyxiations: Always Make Sure They Are Dead

Great Asphyxiations is a dark comedy short film directed by Sammy Anderson. The plot sees two murders trying to decide how to dispose of a body, whilst also lamenting on their life choices and asking whether killing is still what they want to do.

I thought the concept of this was quite novel, as it allowed the actors to take to the camera without that being a sign of lesser filmmaking. Moreover, it allowed for greater audience emersion as it felt almost like a POV experience as if you were really in the room tied up and about to be murdered.

Dark comedy is always very tricky to get right as different people have different comedic lines as to what they find funny and what they don’t. Whilst this film did not have me laughing out loud often, it did have a few funny moments and I found myself smiling throughout.

I enjoyed seeing the condensing of the character arc, it allowed the journey to feel more manic and compact. I think this film is definitely made better by being a short, as the character journey it would lose some of its frantic luster if it was stretched out over a longer feature.

Overall, an intimate crime experience- if that sounds like something you would like then check this out.

Pros.

The use of pov

The originality

A few good laughs

The condensed character arc

Cons.

Not all the jokes land, but comedy is subjective

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Witches Of Eastwick: The Powers Of Liberation

The Witches Of Eastwick is a dark fantasy comedy film directed by George Miller. The film sees 3 suburban women go on a voyage of self-discovery and sexual exploration after a mysterious man (Jack Nicholson), comes to town and tempts them out of their boring lives.

I enjoyed the more overt references to the supernatural and the implication that Nicholson’s character was the Devil (or a demon of some kind), I thought it added a nice extra something to the film and really enriched Nicholson’s character.

I thought the performances were strong from everyone involved, Cher, Sarandon and Pfeiffer all gave great performance and I liked seeing their journey over the course of the film, when they became ‘witches’ the character transformation felt earned.

My one complaint would be that at nearly two hours the film is far too long. The film definitely could be improved by being shortened as a lot of the scenes have very obvious bloating and plot padding, the latter of which takes away from the drama of events after they have happened and effectively derails the film.

The monster CGI form the film’s final moments is laughable at best and does not feel in any way tense, but this was probably good for the time, so I won’t be too harsh.

Overall, an interesting premise boosted by some strong performances is let down by poor pacing and an inability to form meaningful tension.

Pros.

Strong performances

An interesting premise

Hints of the supernatural

Cons.

Poorly paced

Lacking in tension

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Kid Detective: Depressing Life Goals

The Kid Detective is a dark comedy mystery film directed by Evan Morgan. The film asks the question what would happen to the child detective after they grew up? What would Nancy Drew be like at 40? What happens when the Hardy Boys move out and get married? We see a once respected kid detective (Adam Brody), now have to adjust to being a lacklustre detective in a grown-up world, but can a serious new case change that?

I enjoyed the gimmick of this film for the first ten minutes…. after that not so much. The joke of but hey he is basically still just a kid detective but in a man’s body quickly becomes tiresome and the film’s gimmick (which it is probably proud of because no other films have really done it), starts to work against it (this is why it has not been done before).

The darker humour doesn’t really work for me. Dark comedy is even more hit and miss than regular comedy as people have lines as to what is and isn’t okay to joke about in their opinion, as such this film had more of an uphill battle. However, I don’t think any of the jokes are particularly risqué, rather I think that is the problem: for a dark comedy film this is incredibly tame.

Brody himself is enjoyable, I am a fan and it is nice to see him get centre stage and he does make the most of it, sadly the film around him is deeply average.

Pros.

Brody

The premise for the first 5 minutes

Cons.

The premise after that

The jokes don’t work

It is painfully dull

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bad Words: Swearing At Kids

Bad Words is a dark comedy film directed by Jason Bateman. The plot sees adult man Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman), enter into a children’s spelling competition much to the annoyance of all involved.

Before watching this film I read some of the reviews for it that called it things like ‘offensive’ and ‘in bad taste’ and I have to say after watching it these people just seem to be very fragile, and easily upset to think that this was bad or offensive.

The (apparently offending), humour is just standard dark comedy affair, Guy is the traditional arsehole protagonist that you are not meant to root for at the start of the film; usually the sort of role Vince Vaughn would play. Very much in keeping with that architype, as the film progresses the character reconsiders their behaviour or starts to show some nicer personality traits, thereby making them likeable and someone with whom the audience can begin to root for; this is fairly standard character development for a dark comedy film, and it is beat for beat present in the film. There is no deviation or fresh take on this formula, so don’t go in expecting the unexpected, you can work out the ending in the first 5 minutes.

The comedy I found to be hit and miss, Bateman’s character only had a few genuine laugh out loud jokes, but often made me smile. However, not all of Bateman’s jokes land and a few are painfully unfunny, the same can also be said for when anyone other than Bateman tries to be funny: it never works. However, comedy is subjective so you might feel differently.

Bateman and Kathryn Hahn (who plays Guy’s press correspondent/ girlfriend) have a good back and forth and you can feel the chemistry there which makes for pleasant, almost comforting viewing.

Overall, a slightly better than average dark comedy.

Pros.

Bateman

The jokes (for the most part)

Bateman and Hahn’s chemistry

Cons.

Some of the jokes really didn’t work

The other characters, outside of Bateman and Hahn were often annoying

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Archenemy: Never Doubt A Story Told To You By A Homeless Man Punching A Wall

Archenemy is a superhero mystery thriller film directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer. The plot follows Max Fist (Joe Manganiello), a superpowered being from another plane of reality who is thrust into our world after an attempt to save his world. Once waking up in out world Max realises he can’t get back, he also realises that no one believes him about who he is, apart from a young budding journalist called Hamster (Skylan Brooks).

I loved this film far, far more than I thought I was going to. I am a big fan of Manganiello already, but he was perfect here unlike some of his other roles he did not just play the brawn here, yes that is a part of his character, but he so much more complex with that. Until the end of the film you are never quite sure whether Max is who he claims to be or whether he is mentally ill, the emotional delivery of his performance goes from charming and gruffly likeable, to cold and chilling and back again Manganiello really delivers on the range.

Moreover, Glenn Howerton of Always Sunny fame is also in this film as a sub antagonist and he too is really strong. I have only really seen Howerton in comedic roles for the most part, but this showed me that he can do drama too.

I also liked the aesthetic of the film as well, I thought the transitions between comic book, animated flashbacks and live action was beautifully done and implemented well throughout.

My one complaint of the film would be that Hamster and his sister are dull, they really are. Whenever they are on-screen you immediately want to get back to Manganiello, which is a shame for them as they are trying their best, but they are outacted here for sure.

Overall, one of the best and most surprising films I have seen this year, definitely check it out.

Pros.

Manganiello

Howerton

The blending of animation and live action

The story and the ending

Cons.

The siblings were a weak link

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Fatman: Santa Claus Will Put A Bullet Right Between Your Eyes, Go On, Test Him

Fatman is a Christmas based action film directed by Eshom Nelms and Ian Nelms. The plot sees a budding young sociopath put a hit out on Santa Clause (Mel Gibson), after he receives a deserved lump of coal for Christmas. What follows is a battle to the death between not so jolly Old Saint Nick and hitman Johnathan Miller (Walton Goggins), who has his own axe to grind against ‘the fatman’.

Though I don’t like Mel Gibson, because he is a vile human being, I managed to separate my personal feelings from this film and ended up really enjoying it. I like the inherent silliness in the concept, a hit man trying to kill Santa Claus, I think the film deals with its absurdity well and plays it up to great effect.

The action scenes where nicely done as well and I enjoyed the final fight as well, the ending was unexpected, I thought that the fight was clearly going to end one way, it did not. I always enjoy it when a film deviates from where I think it is going especially so if they do it in a clever way. I thought the final scene, when Santa pays a visit to the kid that put a hit on him was the best scene of the entire film, not only was it incredibly tense, but it knew how to play off Gibson as an actor; the role really does feel tailor made for him.

Overall, though reviews have been mixed on this one, I personally really enjoyed it. I thought it was silly and fun but also a really well thought out action film that capitalised on its star.

Pros.

The role was tailor made for Gibson

The tone is just right

The action

The premise

Cons.

The elf cgi is not good

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

A Fantastic Fear Of Everything: You Never Know Who Might Be Trying To Kill You, Look Over Your Shoulder

A Fantastic Fear Of Everything is a British horror comedy film directed by Crispian Mills. We follow Jack (Simon Pegg), a children’s writer whose life slips out of control when he begins work on his latest book, Decades Of Death a history of Victorian era serial killers, as Jack researches deeper and deeper he becomes ever more frightened and ever more sure someone is trying to kill him.

This is an underrated gem. This has been on my radar for some time but for one reason or another I never ended up seeing it, and now having seen it I know how much of a mistake that was.

This film perfectly merges the horror and the comedy genre together, there are a lot of horror comedies that end up favouring one over the other whereas this does both very well There is an off kilter atmosphere that underpins the whole film, nothing ever feels quite right and there seems to be something sinister just beneath the surface; I left the film quite unsettled. However, there are also sections of the film that are quite funny and amusing, however even these sections I would not call light.

My favourite thing about this film is how in love with the gothic and the macabre it is, from audio cues to certain framing and lighting choices this film feels like it could have been made by Hammer 70 years ago, though I doubt most of the cast would have been alive then.

Overall, if you are a fan of horror then you owe it to yourself to watch this film

Pros.

The off-beat and uncomfortable atmosphere

The comedy

Pegg plays it just right

The plot and the nods to classic horror

Cons

It won’t be to all tastes

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Today: Teens Today Always On Their Phones

Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight is a Polish slasher film directed by Bartosz M. Kowalski. We are shown a summer camp for kids who are addicted to electronic devices, where they participate in wholesome outdoor activities; little do they know however, a pair of mutated twins with a taste for human flesh have just been released from their basement prison and are now on the prowl.

This film starts off strong, but then gets increasingly generic as it goes on. In the beginning, it seems to be going down the comedy horror route, there are a few laughs, the premise itself ‘a summer camp for kids who are addicted to electronic devices’ has got to be some kind of 2020 satire. However, midway through the film the tone shifts, and it becomes a straight horror film: this is when it becomes boring.

The twins themselves look fairly horrific, but nothing you have seen before. Their backstory is interesting, they were infected by an alien parasite from a found meteor, however we don’t get to explore it enough, and what we do get gives us more questions then answers.

The kids, or teens, themselves are all fairly one note. We have the horny one, the tortured misunderstood one, the final girl and a few others. All of them never rise above these cliches, as such they never make much of an impression so when they start getting speared by the twins you are left going ‘eh’, probably not the reaction the filmmakers were going for.

Overall, though there is a strong premise, the interesting ideas are mostly ignored for more generic slasher fare.

Pros.

The premise

Some of the more satirical moments

Cons.

The characters are cliches

The kills are likewise as bland

We don’t explore the Twins backstory anywhere near enough.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke