GET READY… on JANUARY 14th the phones will start ringing, the doors will unlock, the knives will plunge, guts will spill and Sidney Prescott will return home to Woodsboro where a new series of killings are taking place… from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett the directors of V/H/S and Ready or Not comes the latest chapter in one of the greatest horror franchises… SCREAM
Following the Abbott family who are forced to venture into pastures new as they quickly realise that the alien creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats lurking beyond the sand path : A QUIET PLACE Part II opens up with a flashback… Day 1 starts with happier times where we get to see the the small American town where the Abbott’s lived right before the Alien invasion took place, there’s smiles aplenty as the kids are playing baseball, we get to see Brody’s Pizzeria an obvious nod to Spielberg’s Jaws and we get our first look at a new character Emmett played by Cillian Murphy, a family man watching the baseball when his and everyone’s life changes forever : if your a horror fan then the darkness of the Cinema is the best place to watch A Quiet Place Part II as Polly Morgan’s imaginative camera work, the muted sound with flashes of screeching, screaming Alien attacks and the tension with each scene as the family attempt to navigate their now crushed world without making a sound is unbearable : I know I touched on this after 2018’s first movie but I have to say how impressed I am with Millie Simmonds who’s easily the star of this sequel, her character Regan is fearless & clever and the train and boat yard scenes with Cillian are terrific to watch, Emily Blunt of course is superb, the pain Evelyn feels in defending her children & insurmountable loss is the backbone of the movie, from heartfelt moments such as leaving her wedding ring on the cross and her fight with the creature whilst carrying two oxygen tanks is formidable, Peaky Blinder Cillian Murphy is a welcome additon to the cast, his character Emmett plays a pivotel role in the Abbott families survival and The Undoing’s young star Noah Jupe is once again fabulous, that scene where Marcus is running out of air in the safe had my pulse racing and my knuckles turning white as I gripped the arms of the chair, nearly knocking my popcorn all over the place : it’s no mean feat to direct a sequel that stands up well alongside it’s original yet somehow John Krasinksi has managed just that… yes if I was being slightly picky the film finishes rather abruptly and could have benefitted with an extra thirty minutes… but since a third film in the franchise has been green lit with no other than Jeff “Midnight Special” Nichols directing then I’ll let this one pass and look forward to another chapter where being quiet is the new norm : TERRIFYING ★★★★
A couple get stranded in an abandoned 6-meter pool alongside a deadly Crocodile that has recently escaped captivity : I love watching world cinema and recently discovered the work of Thailand’s Ping Lumpraploeng an excellent writer/director who’s latest work THE POOL captured my imagination, so without further ado here’s my movie thoughts : Theeradej Wongpuapan is one of Thailand’s most popular stars and his performance in The Pool is one of the main reasons the movie is so damn watchable, from it’s opening shots of Wongpuapan’s character Day slowly opening his eye’s to find himself in the depths of the drained pool and as he tries to fend of the jaws of this gnarly crocodile with a bucket I knew instantly this would be my movie jam : what I really look for in a good survival movie is whether it’s filmmaker can bring something new to the party and keep the film from being the same old…. well Lumpraploeng’s The Pool is certainly not stale, it’s inventive and for it’s 90mins runtime your truly on the edge of your seat : I love the way the film shifts it’s dynamic and goes from Day’s crocodile attack at the beginning to “6 Days Earlier…” it’s quite brilliant as we not only discover how Day and Koi find themselves at the bottom of this abandoned pool but we also get the build up to the events of those opening survival shots : along with it’s cast and location another triumph in creating the film’s high anxiety levels is the film’s sound, of course the growl of the Crocodile or the crack of thunder is effective and nerve jangling but it’s the atmospheric score that really does ramp up the tension levels : some of my favorite moments in the movie include that scene with an injured Day crawling through the underground drain tunnels and manages to get through an adjacent manhole… also that moment when Day tries to retrieve the tape from the open jaws of the basking Crocodile is nail biting… in these type of movies you can usually call a few things before they happen but I have to say that what happens to Lucky the dog absolutley floored me, it came right out of the blue and what followed straight after was insane and tough to swallow : so if you love your survival movies then look no further than Ping Lumpraploeng excellent THE POOL it’s SUPERB and highly ENTERTAINING ★★★★
Sometime in the future, prisoners housed in a Vertical Self-Management Center watch as inmates in the upper cells are fed while those below starve : Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s directorial debut The Platform is a trip into the depth’s of madness, a disturbing dystopian gem that’s not for the faint hearted : the movie follows Goreng a normal guy who has agreed to spend 6 months of his life in this prison centre for the promise of a diploma on the outside world, of course this is dependant on whether he makes it through his term as each 30 days spent in the center the residents are transfered to another cell on a new level, the higher the cell number the more chance of survival : the story written by David Desola is fresh & downright scary and the work by Iván Massagué in & Zorion Eguileor in bringing Goreng & Trimagasi to life respectively is paramount to how the movie plays out, I could not keep my eyes off the pair of them, it was like watching some sort of depraved stage show, the desperation and brutality in surviving their term is absolute bonkers : the woman travelling up and down the food lift looking for her kid is messed up, that dog scene and Baharat’s attempt to climb a level had me feeling utterly nauseous : overall if your looking for something new & nasty in the horror genre then look no further than The Platform it’s a white knuckle ride that had me rocking in my chair praying for some kind of merciful resolution ★★★★½
A girl born into an all-female cult following this messiah-like-figure who calls himself the Shepherd : I’m not really a big fan of movies that revolve around cults, the mere thought of people brainwashed into following someone’s else’s believes makes me sick to my stomach, however there are occassions when a movie moves me in a particular way and Małgorzata Szumowska’s THE OTHER LAMB is one of them films : I think what makes this film more intriguing is it’s coming-of-age story of Selah one of the Sisters as she starts to question her role in The Flock whilst herself becoming a women, having her first period and slowly starting to see things within the group as they really are : Michał Englert’s beautiful cinematography, unusual camera angles, it’s Irish backdrop and the costumes worn by the wives and sisters in the movie adds so much to the horror and depth of The Other Lamb and although this may not be your conventional horror film, it’s scares lie with it’s intelligent narrative, slow build up, unnerving performances and a subject matter that dances around religion, patriarchy and sacrifice that sent shivers down my spine ★★★★
Film trailers have a way of misleading the viewer and I for one think on occassion that’s a good thing, it’s quite refreshing to be surprised whether that be in a good or bad way and Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz directorial debut was certainly a surprise and not what I expected at all : ANTEBELLUM is set in Louisiana during the American Civil War, the base for the story is set around a plantation (that looks like the one used in Tarantino’s Django) which is run by the Confederate Army and the land around it is worked by Slaves including Janelle Monáe’s character Eden, the slaves are treated in barbaric fashion and as the film progresses Eden slowly discovers all is not what it seems : if this makes any sense at all Antebellum is one of those movies that I enjoyed but I also felt a little empty at it’s end : the film is thought provoking, it’s relevant, has some fabulous photography by the Uruguayan Pedro Luque & is well acted by the likes of Janelle Monáe & Kiersey Clemons yet it’s story should have offered more, maybe focussing on other members of the group being held, how they got to the plantation and not just focussing on Monae’s character and her attempt at freedom? everybody loves a good villain and I felt Jena Malone was wasted, such a talent at your disposal (use it) : overall Antebellum is not a bad movie, i’ve seen far worse and the duo of Bush & Renz have cleverly used their original story telling to not only entertain but also more importantly to continue the message that hatred still exists in society and it must be stamped out, yes the film or it’s deliverance may not work to everybody’s satisfaction but that’s life, movies are all about opinions and I have to say I enjoyed this provocative slice of horror ★★★½
it comes at night is a devilishly unerving, pychological horror movie that grips, rattles and plays with your mind – along with the movie’s interesting concept it’s the camera work in the movie that allows this slow burning horror to come alive, capturing the house’s shadowy interior and the forest with haunting precision, with this style of movie the work of the camera was paramount and they nailed it – along with being a tense ride it comes at night is also very thought provoking and will have you talking about it for many days after, personally I may have acted the same as Joel Edgerton’s character Paul but let’s hope I never find out – oh yeah the genre of the movie is not “post-horror” it’s quite simply HORROR and a blooming good one at that ★★★★
absolutebadasses 