Haunting on Fraternity Row (2018)

Can be watched with the lights on

By: JWBM

A rowdy, life-is-one-giant-joke-and-party fraternity is throwing a luau to end all luaus. The drinks are bottomless, dancing is all night, and as a safety precaution pledges are there to keep things in order for what's going to be one heck of a cleanup. Oh, right, the horror portion of it. The story throws in some secrets uncovered at the same time. Soon enough, buzzes and sex drives are squashed when some strange ghost like stuff starts to feed on the festive energy.

This is filmed as a moment-by-moment, shaky camera mockumentary with both a raw and measured take. You get a flashy feel one moment, random shenanigans over here, and then some loose shreds of a story over there with a human element for some character to character connection, and then also a supernatural side for mystery's sake. It's up to a paranoid pothead to weave back and forth from the party to research what should have stayed locked away.

The film feels like it's trying to pull the loose vibe of, say, "Dazed and Confused" meets an amateur YouTube compilation meets a haunted house experience. You get a crazy collection of hopeful, young people with little direction and more energy than they know what to do with up against an unmatched entity. It ends up coming across as a clash of tones from jumping back and forth and having little to show for itself other than a few creative ways to have fun and some skin in the mean time.

The horror portion is pushed to the wayside in order to gear up for a finale, but feels like it was thrown in as an after thought. You get your standard pop-ups and did-you-see-that CGI scares that are so vague and lazy in build up as to be more head-scratching than anything remotely terrifying or even cinematically gripping. You could watch this with the lights out, with black candles burning, and the worst-of-the-worst tarot cards laying on the coffee table and the mood still wouldn't be set with how this constantly pulls you out of it.

"Haunting on Fraternity Row" doesn't come full circle. You get characters that either suddenly flee, or die at random with little fight. It desperately tries to be diverting with your typical, brainless college age revelers, but never ends up overcoming its superficial characters and story that doesn't require a second thought as soon as the credits roll.

Rating: 2/10

Director: Brant Sersen (Blackballed; Sanatorium)
Actors: Jacob Artist, Ashton Moio, Shanley Caswell, Molly Tarlov
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube link

Family Blood (2018)

Mothers to depend on; mothers with dependencies

By: JWBM

It's disappointing how certain aspects in life can come between a potentially hopeful and happy family. Especially where the bond starts to split at the seams from something as trivial as a few man-made pills at the bottom of a bottle.

"Family Blood" is a drama/horror that mixes pharmaceutical addiction with another more supernatural kind. It deals with the chaotic, distrusting environment of two teenage kids living with an addict for a mother. Except, this is every kid's nightmare times two when something more sinister enters the family portrait.

The mother goes through this pull and tug dynamic of chemical dependency and living a normal life as an enveloping wing that swoops in to provide for and protect her kids. As the tables turn to the supernatural portion of the film, it begins to lose that inner struggle that made the story start out strong. It then turns into a kind of Stockholm syndrome angle with the villain's shadow taking over every crevice of their household till survival is the only option. It makes it feel like it had a great, wide-open premise but then wrote itself into an ordinary box.

The villain is supposed to come across as a powerful, commanding entity that makes stern, matter-of-fact statements, but he ends up feeling stiff, forced, and emotionless. It could have made him a key element to a true mental and physical struggle between the mother and her kids, but it instead gave him this more primal, black and white facade that made decisions and outlooks more clear cut.

With little more to show for itself, the subtle, careful tone and direction starts to drag its feet with a trailing driving point. It makes it feel like the story and characters lost their tragic struggle and turned more into a lost cause. It's a shame as this could have been much more powerful of a film and experience to dissect the layers.

Rating: 5/10

Director: Sonny Mallhi (Anguish)
Actors: Vinessa Shaw, Colin Ford, James Ransone
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube link

Romina (2018)

Last place in a creative race

By: JWBM

"Romina"—a low budget Mexican made horror feature—is a nonsensical mix of a camp slasher with a rape-revenge plot with no commentary to speak of, nothing to read between the lines, and on top of that weak thrills and suspense that only gets weaker as the wall clock seems to slowly come to a crawl.

It involves the kind of homicidal psychopath that only exists in movies, except where others would use that gross exaggeration to create a powerful, commanding villain full of raw energy and memorable characteristics, the film's driving point and plot are so far gone as to have been mixed in a blender, swallowed, half digested, and then thrown up. It feels like a short paragraph of premise was outlined on a napkin on the way out the door, and before you know it production was underway with little funding and a group of close friends to make it happen. I can only imagine it was a blast to shoot for those involved, but for everyone else it feels like a stretched out exercise in wasted energy.

The story is deceiving because initially the flow and direction seems simple enough—a group of energetic young men and women on a road trip to their potential doom—but then how one aspect leads up to another is like a hand-me-down jigsaw puzzle missing all the important pieces. You get to watch spineless characters excitedly talking over each other, bickering, and then splitting up and running around with little background, no direction, or game plan in mind. Yep, they're sure to be executed in a bloody fashion, but the film fails to make you care. I've been more moved by a half-heard quick sensationalist clip on the local news. Sure, the main point is to emulate the old grindhouse classics, and to also see some sex and carnage—adding another notch to the realms of horror and widening the eyes a little further—but even then the suspense and build-ups lack creativity and vision to feel like nothing more than a numbing wound.

Rating: 1/10

Director: Diego Cohen (Perdidos; Honeymoon)
Actors: Francisca Lozano
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube link

Mara (2018)

Wide eyed and helplessly frozen

By: JWBM

Sleep: the true reset feature us humans have to maintain our health and carry on to the next day without seeing pesky hallucinations or losing our minds to a maze of utter confusion. A chain of events leads to a husband being killed in his own bed. The wife—a little raving mad at the moment—appears to be the primary suspect. A criminal psychologist is called in to investigate the wife's mental state and motivations, but ends up getting more than she signed up for on her first murder case.

What's interesting over your typical one-body-down-another-to-go horror film is the story here gives a human connection between the characters. The desperate circumstances, and then the growing number of deaths, begin to affect the psychologist—Kate, played by Olga Kurylenko. To make matters worse, she's becoming afflicted by an unexplainable, helpless frozen state as she looks on to a horrific creature that gets closer and closer. The concept in itself is both creepy and curious. The film lays it all out in the open as a carefully crafted formula—elevated stages that get increasingly more dangerous and all. That makes it predictable to what happens next, though for anyone who has had sleep paralysis happen to them, it still comes with a sense of dread and loss of control once played out.

The manipulation of volume here will get you to jump no doubt. Though it's the point of being frustrating at times in how low the normal sound effects are or how the characters talk, then BAM there goes your ear drums and a knock from the neighbors. The direction has a tendency to go from dragging its knuckles to white-knuckle intense in a split second. In some respects it gives this a certain energy after a slower scene from the raw emotions and helter-skelter action, though in others it makes it over-the-top in a not-so-believable way that jars you out of it. For instance, a character at a group for sleep paralysis sufferers starts spouting off like a cartoonish superstitious peasant that's all fear and no sense. I get that it's a tough nut to crack for a performer, though it doesn't always translate well on screen. On the other hand, Craig Conway—as Dougie—strikes a certain balance between a sense to survive and a fearful, sleep-deprived mind that goes in and out of rationality. He gives the character a certain on screen presense and a driving point to accelerate the events.

Rating: 5.5/10

Director: Clive Tonge
Actors: Olga Kurylenko, Craig Conway, Javier Botet
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube link

Kuntilanak (2018)

Prime for the pickin'

By: JWBM

This Indonesian horror film is based on Malaysian folklore depicting an evil female entity who died while carrying a child. It turns the legend into a kind of found object horror tale with a one-track minded diabolical presence that catches unsuspecting victims in its snare. It's a sort of "The Monster Squad" meets a more recent "Stranger Things" and "It" with a group of young kids who take a strange mystery into their own hands while adults are busy doing adult things.

How the legend is depicted starts to feel as ordinary as they come if you watch horror on a regular basis. For the folks that seldom do, then maybe this might catch you off guard and be something new. The story relies on sheer coincidence that the object would land in the hands of a household with a young kid. This particular foster home has five, which ends up being a buffet for the spirit with sharp teeth and talons designed for unimaginable pain to potentially feast on. Even with that, the villain feels like a con man who shows up with a gun and ski mask that's all show and no bite, rather than slowly trapping them with something more creepy and consequential. On the one hand, it's relentless and keeps your attention to a degree, but on the other all of its mystery is out in the open: you know what it is, you know what it is after, yet you watch the kids still follow it into traps over and over again.

This has all of the familiar horror trappings: splitting up, can't reach help, following noises or visions where you shouldn't. The end result is accompanied by a sudden noise and jarring image to make you throw the popcorn in the air and shout "Lord have mercy" with the enthusiasm of a 60 year old black lady in Sunday dress. While the sets and cinematography gives this a slick look, and there are some grisly effects and a few inventive takes on this beastly looking demon, after doing the rounds on that formula it starts to feel predictable.

It's one of those stories where the villain hasn't reached a true plateau yet, and the filmmakers are meanwhile gearing up to set up a finale over dropping a bomb shell too early. The kids give some of their own personable attributes of little squabbles, getting a closer connection to each other despite their differences, along with some kind of over-used xylophone effect to signify that you should laugh on cue with them. When it gets time to throw down, they are still kids with kid logic who's main go-to is yelling each other's names back and forth to the point that you should have them memorized by the time the credits roll.

All and all, "Kuntilanak" is a simple movie with simple results you can count on at times, but shouldn't expect much more than that.

Rating: 4/10

Director: Rizal Mantovani (The Chanting; 5 cm)
Actors: Sandrinna Michelle, Aurelie Moeremans
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube trailer

The Secret: Suster Ngesot Urban Legend (2018)

A secret that fall on deaf ears

By: JWBM

Time. One has ample opportunity in this day and age to do something that amuses and entertains. We could go out and enjoy the fresh air; find a corner and read a book; or sit down and potentially get lost in another world with a film. "The Secret: Suster Ngesot Urban Legend "—an Indonesian horror/thriller—is neither an adequate escape, nor will you come out better than you left for deciding to spend the next hour and thirty eight minutes with it.

Essentially a young woman races out of her dad's glitzy mansion. Blinded by emotions, she veers off the road and ends up in the hospital. Then after she gets random visits by a series of zombie-like ghosts who always pop up when you least expect. This feels like it was directed by one of the interns on a soap opera set where the acting is overly dramatic, there are more coincidences than you can count, and the tone has a tendency to have erratic mood swings.

One of the biggest issues is it has a tendency to jump right into something, then backtrack as to where it was headed. It's to the point that when attempting to establish frights, you have no idea what you're supposed to be actually scared of. Often it works up to some suspense, then fizzles away as if the day goes on. It has little driving point to get behind other than borrowing this or that from more effective thrillers. Something bad is happening to a spoiled woman who has the personality and character development of a wooden shoe. Is that really a selling point? There are a share of non-sensical, out-of-place scenes that go from head-scratching, annoying, to laugh-out-loud for all the wrong reasons. It feels like the film had a different script rewrite each day.

The setups and the character interactions feel forced and often times come on too fast. Even the little things that would make this world real: such as a cut and pasted scene at the hospital with a woman who mishears a nurse and thinks her relative got it more worse was supposed to be a comedic setup. The main character gets invited into a home of a person she doesn't know. Cut scene to "Drink this," and they are intimately chatting about supernatural events like it's an every day occurance. Practically everything here feels like a puppeteer that becomes visible and you can't get the strings orchestrating it out of your mind.

Its footing flows as smooth as cleats on concrete. It has no concept of natural progression, or establishing any sort of suspension of disbelief. You end up feeling so disconnected to the events and characters that every slow and agonizing second that goes by feels another minute you could have been doing something else.

From Black to Red recommends instead: "The Abandoned" for showing us how you can take a simple haunted house type story and effectively make the hairs stick up on the back of your neck.

Rating: 1/10

Director: Arie Azis
Actors: Nagita Slavina, Raffi Ahmad
Info: Wikipedia link
Trailer: YouTube link
Urban legend info: Link 

May the Devil Take You (2018)

You may lose your lunch

By: JWBM

An evil witch and a greedy man walk into a basement. No, that's not a setup for a joke. But what transpires is a pact sealed with hair and blood that turns hellish for everyone related to the man then after.

"May the Devil Take You" is an Indonesian spin on what "The Evil Dead" and "Drag Me to Hell" did for overpowering demons and impossible curses let loose on seemingly ordinary people. It's like an amusement ride of inventive scares and frights: the kind where you get a jump and nervous laugh, but then can't wait for the next one. It's over-the-top, which makes it more fun, tingling, and with a gross-out factor than it is outright chilling to the bone. Though some of the imagery that goes along with it can leave dark impressions still present after you blink. It works on a different level due to creating their own grisly mechanics and hideous landscapes to get lost in.

The story is as basic and timeless as they come, however the filmmakers turned this into a unique and moody experience that feels like the lines got blurred to a never ending nightmare that's at odds with reality or rationality. The performances at times dance between being grounded, exaggeratedly cinematic, to going off the rails; though are often recovered from the next moment by throwing something else new at you. While the film has a certain flow that keeps the senses alive, some scenes feel more pieced together rather than seamless to a consistent timeline.

"May the Devil Take You" is the kind of film where some drama and story is established, but ends up being background fodder and long forgotten for the real reason the premise was set up: to trap a bunch of unsuspecting victims in a house and one by one torture them and ultimately take their souls. Yep, it's sadistic and effective enough with a certain mood, sense of kinetic action, and built-up suspense that your eyes become frozen to the screen to not miss a thing. You end up rooting for both sides due to a fight that looks every bit as grueling, passionate, and animalistic as they come. There's no time limit, the rules are loose, though the stakes may be your life. But who's counting?

Rating: 7/10

Director: Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre; Headshot)
Actors: Chelsea Islan
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube link

Malicious (2018)

Don't open, don't follow, don't trust

By: JWBM

A couple gets the chance to move to a large house in a remote area for a fresh start. With a new career and a baby on the way, things are looking up. Yet, an item gets delivered to their home that sets off a chain of events that leads to an evil spiral of despair.

At its dark heart, "Malicious" is a simple story of a hopeful family being torn apart at the seams by a manifestation beyond their powers. It sets up a certain atmosphere with a growing collection of scares, though not much else. It's the kind of film that's catered to the audiences' perspective either with the score, camera angles, to certain crafty setups. The individual performances and chemistry, on the other hand, leave more to be desired. They manage to connect the scenes together and give this a certain flow at times, yet there aren't many scenes that give the actors more room to grow or expand on their roles beyond that boxed in scope. It's more of an aesthetic film that relies on past horror formulas than it is one of greater substance or creativity to break out of the mold.

The husband's range goes from either holding back his emotions, to jumping out of his shoes from fright when his eyes play tricks on him. The actor—Josh Stewart—plays the role with a mumbling intonation and in a sort of daze that never clears from the get-go. The wife is limited to a range of no-one-believes-me, to thanks-for-believing-me-it's-a-little-too-late. The sister—Melissa Bolona—plays an unlikable character on top of having wooden acting chops, which makes her on screen presence feel like unexpected lemon juice in the eyes.

There are some aspects that become redundant: such as returning to a random painting, or repeating a math phrase over and over. That or illogically included: such using evil doppelgangers that feel borrowed from other films that had a more effective reasoning for it, such as "The Broken." The villains also aren't the brightest bulbs and end up harming whatever diabolical plan they had in mind through their own volition.

This is the kind of horror that's going to hit you where you're most vulnerable, then dig in deeper just because. The first half of the film delivers some mystery and intrigue for what will come next. It had me scooting closer to the screen and nodding my head. Some work was put into the sets, camera angles, and score. However, when it eventually gets to its more action oriented scenes, it doesn't always come with a balanced upper hand that's passed from its victim to villain. What also holds it back towards the end is that its driving point for a greater dynamic or resolution starts to fizzle due to doing its worst early on. Then again, it's hopeless and dark, well, because it can be.

Rating: 4/10

Director: Michael Winnick (The Better Half; Code of Honor)
Actors: Bojana Novakovic, Josh Stewart, Delroy Lindo
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube link

He's Out There (2018)

Before pressing play, power down the brain

By: JWBM

What could be better to get away from it all than a nice relaxing time with the family at the summer cabin by the lake? Love, laughter, and a sadistic, masked killer with another diabolical plan in mind. Well, everything except for the last one.

"Friday the 13th Par...," I mean "He's Out There" has a straightforward plot that's as simple as they must stay alive and dodge getting their innards splattered from the bad guy with an obsession for tea parties and severed body parts. After some introductions, this delivers a moment by moment horror/thriller where every second counts. You get to see trip-over-their-own-two-feet, ordinary people getting pulverized by a villain with too much time on his hands to trap his victims every move.

The film has a certain timing to it, to where the tension is constant. By keeping the maniacal ax wielder in the shadows, it manages to make him become everywhere at once. It's more of a tried and true, emotionally jarring movie than it has anything to do with having deeper layers or being a sophisticated one. With that, it doesn't always keep your mind from racing or thinking ahead to see some of the predictability of it all if you've seen a few trapped in a house by an unflinching murderer kind of films. I mean, some violent and twisted things happen to pass the time, though the film isn't as memorable as, say, the sheer intensity and terror of "Inside" or "The Collector." These are still normal people like you or I with two scared out of their minds little girls that are more high-pitched squealers than they are fighters. Now, that would have been an interesting twist.

Rating: 4.5/10

Director: Quinn Lasher
Actors: Yvonne Strahovski
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube trailer

St. Agatha (2018)

Vows of pain

By: JWBM

Careless mistakes and poor decisions in life come with repercussions: from setbacks, guilt, to even punishment. A young woman named Mary—not of divine namesake—managed to stack up a few, which leads her to seek help with a group of nuns at a catholic boarding house from little elsewhere to turn. The dwelling is remote: not a good sign. There are impossible rules to follow: another nope. Then there's the punishments: something that makes a slap on the knuckles with a ruler look like child's play. The idea should have been golden, since all is forgiven in the Lord's eyes. Clean slate... fresh start... not a chance.

The film has a generous mix of themes interconnected within its story. It takes your typical preying on helpless women horror movie trope and blends that with cultural morals of the '50s, not to mention a cult angle using nuns that are more sinful than a whole congregation of normal church goers combined. It's more evolved than the random person walking home alone on a dark night kind of movie by turning the victim/villain angle into a unique story of its own. It's out there and let's just say it wouldn't happen to you or someone you know, however the individual atrocities and tortuous setups put you in the moment and force you to take it all in whether you'd like to or not. It's the kind of horror where if you were looking for a relaxing night in front of the TV, the director instead yanks you by the shirt and reels you in to feel what they feel.

Its idea of elaborate and sadistic torture becomes a new level of pain, stress, and terror. Yet, it doesn't come all at once, but slowly traps the lead character Mary in a simmering pot where the heat grows stronger and the walls grow taller by the minute. Things go from mildly edgy, uncomfortable, to outright unsettling with a creative twist or two, while all you can do is sign the cross and hope that there's some shred of a miracle in the chaos and darkness.

"St. Agatha" is a highly atmospheric, terrifying, and inventive experience that not only has a share of layers, but manages to do them well enough to come away with a head full of scarring questions related to the dark and insane. The film has a certain trippy vibe going on with exaggerated blues and reds. There are splices of dream-like imagery of Mary's past troubles and present confusion that give it another angle of mood. It's a tale where good isn't anywhere to be found, but it still manages to create a back and forth of constant tension between its "hero" to its masterclass villainess by the name of "Mother." The acting feels practiced and genuine. Sabrina Kern—as Mary—delivers the performance of an intelligent, agonized animal with a stubborn will to survive. Carolyn Hennesy—as the main villain—comes with a duality of sly charm, to then fleshing out the moral-less unchecked power of a cult leader in holy get-up.

This is a film that has the intention to rile you up. It pokes you with a stick, though it has the patience to see how you'll react. It's more emotionally driven than it is sophisticated: the idea is to tap into all of your senses rather than just easily using loud sounds and over-the-top imagery. Most people would become comatose or hide in a corner. Now, imagine you're someone with no where to go or to turn to. What's your next move?

Rating: 8.5/10

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman  (Saw II, Mother's Day, The Barrens)
Actors: Sabrina Kern, Carolyn Hennesy
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube link

Curse of the Nun (2018)

An evil nun is in the neighborhood

By: JWBM

This centers around—you guessed it—a diabolical nun that has a one-track mind to kill. Where it gets strange is she has the power to distort reality and trap people within this normal looking suburban house. For a gal named Anna—who's about to move out with her family to a place of her own—it just turned into her worse nightmare she never knew she had when she's suddenly terrorized by Sister Catherine.

This goes for a sort of "The Evil Dead" tone where it straddles between being dark to almost cartoonish and self-aware. It likewise has a low budget, but the former still managed to concoct a constant barrage of creativity, atmosphere, and down-right zany creations. Essentially, where it goes off the cuff or makes fun of itself, it has three more tricks up its sleeve to win you over. "Curse of the Nun" injects some personality and doesn't take itself too seriously at times to not end up feeling like your typical, wooden horror feature. Though it also doesn't always come with the same amount of unique aspects or ambiance that would put to rest some of the short comings it points out itself. There is action here, yet most likely due to budget constraints the characters also have tendency to bide their time by talking or hiding.

This turns your standard linear story up on its head in how what you see, feel, or hear can't always be trusted or relied on. It uses some drama and backstory to establish Anna and give her a constant driving point to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Her back and forth struggle with the crazed nun is like an unwelcome boot camp in how she's constantly running, ducking, and putting her body to the test. I feel like they established her well and gave her room for some range of emotions, yet I can't help but feel the undead nun angle is slapped in. There's no tragedy or intrigue related to Sister Catherine, just one weak excuse to throw her in there. It makes it a challenge to fully get behind that.

On the one hand the story is using an unlikely place you'd least suspect to create horror, though it's still an unexplainably dark and twisted nun haunting a modern house that never changes the look and feel of being, well, an average home. Sure, lure them into what looks like something out of "Pleasantville," but then they should have slowly peeled away the layers of its true identity with something more infectious and gravitating. Take the classic "Dead Dudes in the House," for instance. That way there's more dynamic with making the home a character in itself. Otherwise, it causes its world view to be somewhat limited and your imagination to stop expanding.

If it's any consolation, I can imagine this was fun to make for those behind the scenes. There was also enough effort past the norm or just getting by that I can see the next project being capable of working through some of its kinks to suck you in further.

Rating: 4.5/10

Director: Aaron Mirtes (Clowntergeist)
Actors: Lacy Hartselle, Brad Belemjian, Jonathan Everett, Rae Hunt
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube trailer

The Nun (2018)

Festering evil

By: JWBM

When growing up, some people realize—either through word of mouth or experience—that there are places that come with certain vibes. There's a little bit of the good and bad in every place. Though some areas come with more of a tip to that balance. In the world of "The Nun," unholy forces seem to utterly dominate an abbey deep in the wilderness of Romania. It's the kind of domain where crosses and holy scriptures are strewn about, but it might not be enough for this kind of festering evil.

The Vatican sends in two of their own—a priest with knowledge of exorcisms, and a nun-to-be with special visions—to investigate. They meet a feisty foreigner who drops them off by horse and carriage at the abbey and points them in the direction of a resent death there. From then on out, the trio must find some answers before the sinister forces gain the upper hand.

There are plenty of set ups for scares and attempts at atmosphere with "The Nun." This makes full use of its budget for some elaborate sets and locations, not to mention some effort was put into the grisly effects. Though one can't help but sense a formula going on here to the point that it feels more a tingling head rush than it does something more substantial to walk away with. The sets are drenched in fog, shadows, and more crosses than one can count. It's a play of your nerves with spirits so vile that they were able to corrupt even the holiest of the holy. Some devote catholic viewers might be on edge just for the sake of it. Though some devote horror freaks might have crossed arms that get tighter and tighter.

There are some genuine surprises and unique scenes sprinkled about, such as a neat set up with dormant nun-zombies with their faces covered and one of the characters must slowly walk by without disturbing them. It was like "The Exorcist III" stepped into a "Silent Hill" nightmare. Yet there are plenty of others that rinse and repeat. Such as constantly having the characters walk into similar scenarios of the did-I-see-that-did-I-not variety. Till, yes, you did see and hear that. Stop repeatedly following spirits into traps! The comic relief with the foreigner made this go from potentially against the grain with an evil nun angle, to dulling its edge by making an obvious attempt at being a well-rounded film to sell tickets.

The character motivations and backgrounds—villains, good guys, the lot—feel quickly thrown together. It's to the point that if one were unaware of the later films—"The Conjuring" series—you could easily replace the characters with anyone else with official looking clothes to fill their shoes. It's the difference of making this world feel real and with a driving point, or..."Hey, what time is it? I've got things to do tomorrow."

There's little tension of why they should stay and torture themselves despite there being an obvious evil manifestation that's well over their heads. Yeah, there's the truth, sure, but not at a convincing cost that the story lays out. Eventually, there's the whole good must triumph and oh-crap-we're-finally-trapped reasoning, but with everything leading up to it, it felt more a forgetful and formulaic amusement park ride than it did an all-around convincing or credible tale to get fully invested with.

Rating: 5/10

Director: Corin Hardy (The Hallow)
Actors: Taissa Farmiga, Demian Bichir, Jonas Bloquet
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube trailer

The Harvesting (2018)

Stubborn minds never heed to warnings

By: JWBM

A family moves away from the city for an attempt at rekindling a deeper connection, while at the same time putting to rest deeper issues between husband and wife. The destination is a remote house in the country—specifically Amish country—where the grass is greener, air is cleaner, and things are simpler than the concrete, technological boxes we've trapped ourselves in. This puts them more in touch with nature: something that can bring about a tranquil side of us, or a more primal one that can be a beast to contain once unleashed.

The framework of "The Harvesting" (aka "Soul Harvest") is built around a psychological horror drama. The story is basic in itself, though it has a certain gravitating fluidity to it from the rhythmic camera work to the worked through and natural dialogue. I mean, simple Amish folks and remote landscapes with nothing but wind to create drama with leaves and blades of grass isn't something you'd think would stir the senses or interest. Though the film has a certain consistency to it to draw you in to see what comes next with this particular place and these set of people.

This has a unique dynamic to it with how it splices between troubles in the established Amish household, and then to the newly arrived city folks. The woods act as a looming central character to bridge them together. Instead of a knife wielding maniac, this acts as a villain that distorts thoughts and reality for someone who lets turmoil, anger, and confusion into their mind. It makes it feel more relatable than seeing someone playing hide and seek with a Michael Myers clone in your everyday horror feature. There are certainly scares, though not of the pop-out, blood-and-guts variety. More like ones that slowly get under your skin and are more uncomfortable and unsettling than they are outright all-at-once stressful.

Unlike some other horror features that use drama between the characters as filler, or to create a false sense of tension, this uses it as an integral part of its story. This is more subtle than, say, a survival horror that delivers a one-body-down, who's who, visceral experience you can almost reach out and touch. The film has a rough outline at times that weaves and bobs between tracing along the dotted line to connect through down-to-earth vibes of relationships, to then steering off the path into uncharted territory that doesn't come with hand painted signs to tell you how far you've come or where you're headed to next. It makes the brain turn over a little more than outright spilling the beans or holding your hand. While the story wasn't mind-blowing from what's been done before, and the final destination wasn't flooring, "The Harvesting" is still a well-made film from a series of worked through mechanics to keep you engaged using a premise that some might otherwise over look.

Rating: 7.5/10

Director: Ivan Kraljevic
Actors: Chris Conner, Elena Caruso, Greg Wood
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube trailer

Fear Level (2018)

An anthology on fear and morality

By: JWBM

This ambitious project has different moods, shades, and masks it alternates throughout. It begins as one thing, branches off into another, and before it's over you're able to walk away with a cloudy head—for better or worse.

The story explores interconnected stories specifically related to irrational fears of various types: from ones that are grounded—such as jealousy—to others that are out of left field—such as killer clowns. It begins with purpose and intent, like a Ted Talk went out and produced a drama-horror movie by showing how this emotion us humans call fear can consume us or bring down others. Then at some point it does a 180 and goes full dark and abstract. It has a sense of sadness, tragedy, and terror, like a doom and gloom segment of the local news met an episode of "Tales from the Crypt" by showing grave consequences of choices gone wrong in the blink of an eye.

This comes with more intent and meaning than your typical horror feature. I dig the theory behind making this, though I wish I could have enjoyed the actual experience more all the way through. It handles some aspects well, such as the dramatic segment about a girl gone missing. The score, pacing, and acting were well done. The mother did a fantastic job of conveying melancholy and desperation to a realistic degree. Though with others, its meaning can be seen a mile away. Such as the over-the-top religious fanatics being bigots in one way, shape, or form. Or the racist gang straight out of a rated R cartoon.

The film has an experimental quality that helps set itself apart, yet it doesn't always come with a careful refinement to seize every moment. For instance, the camera angles and movement in the first few segments are often disorienting and confusing on where its main focus lies. It shifts around so much that it calls unnecessary attention to itself and takes away from the interactions between the characters. There are some points where it feels like a ghost shadow boxing the characters. The cinematographer has a penchant for low-to-high shots, extreme close-ups, blur-outs, and people's lower halves can be shown as much as their face. It constantly makes your eyes adjust to focus on what's going on. Towards the latter half of the feature, the set ups start to let the characters take hold of the reins more and it seems more fitting to the experience.

Instead of being treated by, say, a haunted house maze under the banner of a main, tangible villain, this uses our own actions and choices to battle against us from anywhere. That in itself is a unique concept. You get a taste of this and that, with the central idea to give an overall sour feeling that will carry over after everything is said and done. In order to pull that off, there needs to be a certain steady focus to explore those deep rooted thoughts and motivations, which would lead to some common ground, relatability, or connection. The director takes on one segment at a time, but I can't help but feel a slight disconnect. For instance, I'm not going to be irrational enough to the point of paranoia, or even angry enough to commit violence against a significant other. Others certainly might though. Convince me.

With shorter segments and an ambitious overview, it tries to fit it all in while not always being on top of everything. The last half of the film compared to the first—while creative and came with a darker edge—went from walking on concrete to attempting to tread the clouds off on its own. One half of me wants to say that it was an unexpected turn, while the other half of me wants to say the writers didn't know how to wrap this one up so they buried their final intention under a few feet of effects and dream-like imagery. Splitting this into a few less segments might have worked better to develop the characters more, not to mention for the audience to get behind and fully invested in each idea as it passes. Juggling this many themes and varying personalities reduced the feature to convenient extremes, or viewpoints that are more predictably black and white.

Rating: 4.5/10

Director: JD Allen
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube trailer

College Pranks (2018)

Anything for the camera or a quick buck

By: JWBM

To be young: cash strapped, looking for direction, and ready for the next adventure and opportunity at the drop of a hat. Up comes a chance to win $25,000 in a game held at a remote area of the Colorado mountains with a couple of lucky, hand-picked contestants. Nothing could go wrong there.

This combines reality TV contests with YouTube prank fads sweeping the web. The story follows four college age folks going about their everyday life before they get selected to take part. Once they make it to mountains, rumors spread of past deaths in the area. Then things start to get a little strange, making it too late to turn back.

This is a horror film on the low budget side with a share of upcoming talent, so some things aren't going to be dealt with by using a fine tooth comb. Think: local film festival quality over bombastic Hollywood theater experience. Some of the more elaborate setups are going to take some suspension of disbelief on your own part. Though what actually hurts the film is namely the script and direction.

The initial premise is not a terrible idea on paper, however the filmmakers spend too much time setting up everyday interactions with little worry about putting you on the edge of your seat for the horror/thriller portion. Having someone being jumpy from typical pranks—such as messing with a sleeping person, or water dumped on the head—doesn't count as nerve wracking. The tone has this light, friendly, carefree quality. It's like a bunch of people showed up for one gathering, turned it into a party and winged it on theme.

Once the game begins, even their cut and pasted motivations for wanting to compete don't give it solid reasoning or tension. The idea is to show that they're everyday people just like you or I, then—BAM!—they get struck by some terrifying, mind-boggling event. Yet, the director missed horror movie 101 by not setting up a consistent atmosphere to back it up, apart from a few out-of-nowhere scenes sprinkled in that are more head-scratching than intriguing.

The pacing is slow moving and stretched out at times; leading the audience on towards hopefully a bigger pay off for your patience. What makes the head shake so hard it spins, and both hands take turns slapping the forehead, is the horror turns into a "Saw" set up—except far enough distanced in quality to be a third cousin's neighbor's friend who seldom visits—with one ludicrous and coincidental motivation after the next. The weight of that nearly crumbles in on itself with too many ridiculous revelations at once and then an ambiguous ending that's more what?! than it is nightmare inducing.

If the direction went more drama/action-adventure it might have worked by using past family troubles and future outlooks, combined with the unique scenery and harsh landscapes of the mountains. Heck, "Deliverance" still holds up almost 50 years later for showing us how vulnerable we are in a naturistic setting. Yet, as a horror experience "College Pranks" falls flat.

Rating: 3/10

Director: Brian McCulley (Broken Cross)
Actors: Shannon McKinnon, Kevin Derkash
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube link

The Row (2018)

...gently down a blood-filled stream

By: JWBM

This is filled with the fun, carefree life you may or may not have had in your 20s: trendy, flashy, cool, hip—all the lingo and nothing that actually scratches deep below the surface for a second thought. This packs in all the missing memories from a buzz-fueled, adventurous time: shaky camera, emotionless music, dancing, no brains, and a buffet of close-ups of college-age butts. Somewhere in there a darker mystery simmers and then boils into a violent slasher where beauty flourishes and then ultimately dies.

Loads of female victims to punish; smarter-than-the-rest lead; a growing list of suspects; over-protective dad cop. Check, check, check, and check again. The tone is a clash of moods: from party lifestyle, senseless murder, past mystery, to family squabbles. It's great that they attempted to add other avenues, some personality, and potential meaning to the experience, though it feels rushed, unpracticed, and convoluted. I mean, apart from a few actors, a share of the dialogue feels dry and like it was read off of the page. I'm looking at you Randy Couture and his wooden cop companions straight out of the coloring book version of a serial killer on the loose thriller.

I'd be all for this for an easy distraction, except it's like you're actually watching a film that's a carbon copy of fragments of other films, rather than being sucked into something more refined and unique to get lost in. The actual experience is about as disconnected as channel surfing with similar characters on different stations. Unfortunately, "The Row" is an exercise at filling space and killing time, while being forgettable after the credits roll.

Rating: 3/10

Director: Matty Beckerman (Alien Abduction)
Actors: Lala Kent, Randy Couture
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube trailer

Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)

Someone wants night light sales to raise

By: JWBM

This mixes emotional interactions with digital connections. To some who frequently use the medium—video chat, social media, instant messaging—it's going to hit home in the way it exploits flaws and advantages of this new age of communication. To others who get a little more sunshine, they are going to feel somewhat disconnected with the experience.

This is the kind of horror brewed up for the sole intent to keep you up at night. Its ploy is to be relatable with a group of friends who've moved into different avenues with their lives, but are still making the effort to connect through game nights over video chat. Though it creeps up, and before you know it you're neck deep into the muck, helpless to its treachery. The entire film is shot through the perspective of the main character's home screen: with various video feeds and searches to keep the senses busy. It's realistic to Internet surfing, though at times it's also just as annoying to how fidgety we can be with the next click of the mouse, or impulsive change to something else more tantalizing.

The premise is a neat, inventive idea regarding a secret league of bad guys out there to get the upper hand through new means. Yet, for the normal folks, it's a lesson in being as powerless as a deer in headlights with grass stuck in your teeth. There's no real back and forth here, just mostly a continuous slow motion stab in the gut with your hands tied behind your back for the sake of sport. Easy targets. Why? Because. The experience has memorable imagery and jarring ideas, though underneath of it all, the story is somewhat easy and straightforward. Its goal seems to want to be an impossible nightmare that hits you where you feel safest: in your around-the-house clothes while resting in that sweet spot of your favorite chair.

Once the heat gets turned up, the events unfolding managed to keep a steady amount of tension and intrigue going on. At times it tried too hard to be crafty or dramatic, at other times it was just enough to get under your skin. How the formula is set up requires a careful eye to see what's flashing this way or that over the screen; mysterious one moment, to as tedious as looking over the shoulder of someone browsing the web at their own pace.

"Unfriended: Dark Web" felt more than just a gimmick compared to other horror features that only have an inventive idea with no backbone to stand up and walk. As out there as it is, it works to a degree. While it had some kinks, and at times reduced its characters they built up to unsuspecting victims, or outright bawlers, it still leaves room for one to be curious to how intricate or dark this section of the web can actually get.

Rating: 6/10

Director: Stephen Susco
Actors: Colin Woodell, Stephanie Nogueras, Betty Gabriel, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Andrew Lees, Connor Del Rio, Savira Windyani
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube link

Slender Man (2018)

The twist: his tailor is divine

By: JWBM

There have been many different incarnations of "Slender Man" from the initial outset of being created on an online forum. What started as a spark of an idea, spawned into a legend for anyone to expand on. Now, it's an actual full length horror experience fleshed out: one that keeps it dark, moody, and mysterious, though something that also feels lacking in scope to get this far.

Four high school aged girls are having a sleep over. You know the drill: there's always gotta be something risky going on, or what you're "not" supposed to do. Why else would sleep overs exist? One thing leads to another and a website is pulled up centered on this tall, lanky silhouette. At first it's something new and daring, but after a little while the strangeness settles in and starts to turn nightmarish when one of them disappears without a trace.

This feels like your standard formulaic horror feature with scares and storytelling boxed in and somewhat lazy from what's been done before. I mean, take "Candyman," for instance, which had layered characters, reasoning, and captivated with a local legend that was genuinely unsettling but also intriguing. Heck, even the video-game-turned-film "Silent Hill" was ambiguous as they come, and only had a rough outline of what was going on, but still set up an interesting, out-there, and demented world to get lost in. This has four girls that are, well, four ordinary girls that remain that. The outside characters are two dimensional, and the interactions start to feel similar but with slightly different variations instead of creating new paths to take you down. It's like they're just biding time till the tall man—who often hides in corners, at the end of hallways, or mixes with branches in the woods—does a sudden "boo!" without you expecting it. There was a particular scene that used a first person Facetime kind of effect where the character was too paralyzed to move, but could only watch as something crept up. It made little sense, but I felt it genuinely worked for the moment to lock you in and throw away the key to a dungeon of possibilities.

To its credit, it does make generous attempts at mood. That's what it set out to do, and that's practically all it did. I mean, I'm all for letting my guard down for a weird or atmospheric ride, but this gets to the point of grazing over certain fundamental interactions and riding off the rails. It tries to put the horse blinders on you, but you can't help but feel this world isn't real and a made up fantasy. The story forces you to believe, instead of giving space for you to believe yourself. Sure, it's dark, and as far as horror features you wouldn't bring it home to your mother, though it's like a weak "The X-Files" episode that didn't make it from lack of greater substance or overall intrigue.

The film keeps it simple to the point of being predictable at almost every turn. The Slender Man, here at least, is essentially a more decorated Boogey Man in different form. He's that dark and mysterious entity that transforms into something abstract depending on who's perspective he's talked about from. It's like he wants to make you squirm, though with no clear or apparent purpose. He's reduced to being a prankster that decided to wing it on punchline. Maybe you'll get a visit, maybe you won't. It seems if you're not visiting shadowy websites or hanging out in the woods, you may not be bothered. Without putting you in their shoes, the fear is reduced and isolated to terrorizing four random teenage girls who had one curious night on the internet. What were their names? Who can remember these things.

Rating: 3.5/10

Director: Sylvain White (I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, The Losers)
Actors: Joey King, Julia Goldani Telles, Jaz Sinclair, Annalise Basso
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube link

10 Things Slender Man Really Wants:

10. Tea
9. A nice tie
8. A night light
7. To help with top shelf needs
6. Nail clippers
5. Conscientious recyclers
4. To be able to scream in a library
3. To dominate in some hoops
2. A small companion
1. A face

Hereditary (2018)

A day that doesn't reset

By: JWBM

Us humans are strange creatures: what we do, or choose not to do for love; how we bond, how we disconnect; how we deal with loss, how we don't deal at all. This is a film that takes on these aspects—while not making an attempt to resolve them—but to instead explore their darkest crevices in order to remind you sad and evil concepts exist in ordinary places. 

There are so many themes going on with "Hereditary" that it's really a puzzle to unlock or keep track of all of them. Some of them fit smoothly in place—such as death of family members, or what happens to someone's spirit—while others are over-the-top to intentionally jar your senses—such as giving perspective through miniature sets. It's one of those tales where just about every negative aspect of family life, mental health, and even general social cues are thrown at you. If you were feeling down beforehand, it may not be a great idea to toss this on. It's a nightmare waiting to explode and selfishly take you with it.

Loss and more loss; coupled with resentment of a family hanging on the balance of mere threads. It's like watching "Ordinary People" that crossed the line into something like "It Follows" with an equally methodical and atmosphere drenched experience. It's one of those films where it would be your undoing to put your guard down. There are constant sound effects that remind the viewer of mounting, unresolved tensions in the air, or that secretive things are to come. They can range from fitting the mood, to annoyingly hypnotic and going against the scene. The experience is one unsettling set up after the next. The atmosphere is a combination of the strange, mysterious, and uncomfortable. The pacing is frequently reduced to a crawl; it oozes and seeps into cracks of your senses, lingering, unable to shake it off. It's patient, but unlike a good friend, it's punishing when you catch up.

The perspective takes turns pivoting between family members, with the father mostly keeping it together, though with the mother, Annie, frequently pulling it apart. She's on edge and mentally anguished to begin with, combined with being emotionally distraught over the recent events. Rarely is she not anxiety riddled and on the verge of a breakdown from one stress after the next. It gives a certain dramatic and psychological element to the film if its subject matter wasn't enough. Toni Collette goes all out as Annie, to where every ounce of her brain chemistry and body language is thrown into the role. It's far from playing it safe or not going there. She's already there and then some. No one would second guess what she's going through.

This wasn't a perfect experience through and through. Though for a number of reasons it was a memorable experience: unique, suspenseful, atmospheric, and full of creative ways to terrorize. There are some truly disturbing scenes that make the skin crawl, rather than your typical horror with lazy pop and scare antics. Its pacing can both help and hurt the film. At a few points in the beginning, while they gave some odd cues, and stacked on the misery, they lost me for greater reasoning or having a stable backbone than a formless shape; I was led somewhere, but my interest started to float and come off the tracks. Though once a few more pieces got introduced, it started to ground itself and come together. That might have been the director's balance between being overly careful, but at the same time ambitious for his first full length feature. It's as if he over-planned, rather than under like most other features. For better or worse, he still gets the brain to search, tempting you to dissect the layers and hidden messages.

Dim the lights, break out the candles, and make sure you have enough time to process with your support group before going to sleep—if you have one, or can that is.

Rating: 7.5/10

Director: Ari Aster
Actors: Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube link

Bird Box (2018)

Evening the playing field on classism 

By: JWBM

When everything as we know it gets turned up on its head. Where people become infected and are compelled to take their own lives. Who becomes left must think on their feet and put aside emotions and comforts. What your next move is may determine your fate. Why this is all happening is the least important question now. We must move on.

A sudden epidemic occurs in the blink of an eye. People are dying; in droves. It's violent, it's chaotic, it's something few of us could have prepared for. As the bodies start to pile, survival mode kicks in with those left still standing. They must adapt to their new surroundings, while saying forever goodbye to most of their friends and loved ones.

This film acts like a well greased machine: having purpose, momentum, and, above all, a story to tell that's more about the human condition than it is about the specific horrors taking place. At fist, I thought the film was absent of emotional impact, with the performers following the script of a world-gone-to-hell scenario to the T. Sure, there was confusion, terror, and ferocity to get the blood flowing and to check to see if your senses are alive; I was searching for the kind of relatable feeling from someone reeling from having their existence beaten and nearly crushed beneath the soles of more powerful boots. Though, through a series of flashbacks, it gradually opens up and gives the characters room to grow and breathe. With all things considered of how the world decided to nearly end, it's even a luxury to plan your trip just down the block, never mind a spare moment to shed a tear, or open your eyes.

This isn't going to be exactly like, say, "The Road" with a predominately grim, head-in-the-sand backdrop, or even "The Walking Dead" with a focus on gore and attempting to one up itself with intensity. While this still deals with some drama and a lead character that has a sense of will power and survival to put individual feelings on the back burner and move on, it also has some more hope and less rough scenes mixed in without attempts to pull the carpet out from under you like your everyday horror film. It feels more a post-apocalyptic drama at times than it does a stab-stab-stab, shoot-shoot-shoot experience.

While this wasn't necessarily original if one broke the story down to the nitty-gritty, it's told in a unique, fluid way that manages to generate interest in what's going to happen, or where the characters are going to be taken. There are inconsistencies of how certain characters don't age or change physically, or even how this is all supposed to work at times. Is it scientific? Is it spiritual? Some do one thing, while other types do another. It wasn't as vague as "Vanishing on 7th Street" with people suddenly disappearing with next to no explanation, and a survival situation that left one empty on content. You still feel the shock and also grasp the basic outline, while employing some down-to-earth characteristics in between to ground it.

It's all about the fallout. I feel the main intention of "Bird Box" is to concentrate on change, along with survivalism and human development of the lead, Malorie, who didn't connect with society before things went down the tube. Sandra Bullock gives the character a give and take of a tough but emotionally stifled framework. There's a pounding heart somewhere in there; she just chooses to suppress it. How many of us rely on our phones, video games, and computers to fill voids? How many of us walk by people without a nod or a hello? How many of us drink ourselves stupid? How many of us would step over someone else to climb just another notch in the ladder of life? Take away all material things, comforts, and jobs. Now everywhere you look, humans have a collective interest and actual stakes. It's no longer this separate classism we pretend exists. But a unified drive to survive.

Rating: 7.5/10

Director: Susanne Bier (In a Better World, After the Wedding)
Actors: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube trailer