Category Archives: Horror

Horror

Crawl (2019) Movie Review By The Moviie Couple

Leave a comment
Enter a caption

Director: Alexandre Aja
Writers: Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen
Stars: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfydd Clark

Moviie Couple here! We just saw Crawl this weekend!!  Remember we are just a married couple that loves movies!  We’re here to tell you if we liked it.  Film experts we are not!  Just a quick reminder of our rating system.   Mrs. Moviie Couple and I, rate films on whether they are worth the cash spent on a night out.  we use a 1-6 Dollar Bill system.  1-2 Bills equal a waste of both our time and money!  3-4 Bills equal Meh to Pretty Good, money well spent!  5-6 Bills equal Wow!  Well worth the price of dinner, movie and sitter!  Please take our money again!

Crawl tells the tale of Haley Keller, (I believe that was her surname even IMBD doesn’t list it) a competitive collegiate swimmer, who returns to her old family home in search of her father, Dave.  Dad, has not been answering his phone and with a category 5 hurricane about to hit the old homestead, Haley is the closest relative to go check on daddy.  Ignoring all warnings from state and local authorities, Haley heads into the storm only to become trapped with dear old dad in the house crawl space!  Flood waters rising quickly!  Help no longer available! And thanks to the local alligator farm flooded nearby, suddenly besieged by alligators from all around!  Will the pair survive the storm without becoming the next Captain Hook?  Will they end up in the belly of a few hungry gators?  Will they drown or be washed away when the levees break?  Will experiencing such a trauma bring this estranged family closer than ever?

Directed by Alexandre Aja of High Tension, Horns and ‪The Hills have Eyes‬ remake fame and starring Kaya Scodelario, from ‪the Maze Runner‬ series and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, as Haley our Apex Predator swimmer and Barry Pepper, also of Maze Runner fame(?) and True Grit as dear ole dad.  This film is basically a two actor show, if you don’t count our reptilian adversaries. A few extended cameos are featured as well, but Haley and Dave vs an angry Mother Nature and some hungry Gators are pretty much what we get here guys.  Is it enough? Are we scared out of our alligator boots? Will we ever be able to drive into a category 5 hurricane and repair our crawl spaces ever again after watching this film? Let’s hop on our airboats, grab some waders and galoshes and let’s find out!
So here we go!

Mr. Moviie Couple:  Crawl had me excited to see it in many ways.  I am a big fan of Jaws and I love giant animal creature features in general.  Sadly, Crawl was less Bruce the Shark and more Wally Gator, if you’re old enough to get that reference.  This is no fault of the actors as I found Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper excellent in their respective roles.  They do a lot with what little they are given.  Especially Ms. Scodelario.  From the very beginning, she demonstrates all the emotions of Haley with very little effort.  Her feelings about her swimming career and how she feels about her family are seen all over her face.  Great job, I hope she gets more work in the future.  Pepper is far better than this material and is great as always.

The film is fast moving.  It is probably no more than 12-15 minutes into the film and we are knee deep in aggressive alligators!  They set up the action very quickly and without wasting much time at all.  Despite, the action happening so fast the writers still manage to give us a human story.  You learn quite quickly all the important dynamics and history of this family without it feeling like exposition. My problem with the film is I’m not sure it went far enough.  It is billed as a gruesome horror throwback, but it plays things kind of safe.  We never spoil here at Moviie Couple, so I won’t talk about the details, but suffice to say the film could have been a lot more horrifying had the director or the studio wanted to go that route. Crawl seems to settle for jump scares over and over again and after a while you kind of lose that fear for the characters. The gators were well executed in their creation and presentation, but again after a while they all blended together and became generic threats.  Nothing nightmarish, to truly fear.  Early on one gator gets wounded in the eye and I felt this would give one gator a way to stand out from the rest.  Perhaps this would be the one relentless gator that would not be stopped, but we never see any characteristic like that applied to any of the creatures.

One of the reasons the shark in Jaws is so memorable, is the film boils down to this relentless monster of a shark stalking our heroes. The setup of Crawl was a good one and as the water rises, if they escaped or dispatched a few lesser gators, the big one could have been this type of adversary, unfortunately, none of the gators are ever given this spotlight.  Maybe the filmmakers were going for realism over Hollywood here, but well it is a Hollywood movie, and it’s more than ok to give us the Cinema spectacular gators rather than realistic ones.   Missed opportunity in my opinion.  Even the effects of the bites and wounds, something Aja is known for seemed toned down.  Just safe, not shocking.  Many of the kills were not shown and many characters are killed off screen or at least out of sight.  Again, disappointing in a Aja film.

Well acted, but with a concept that failed to deliver where it promised we were going, I was overall disappointed with Crawl.  I had high expectations and hoped to be scared out of my mind, but it just couldn’t deliver on its set up. One last comment, the most magical thing in this movie is the ever growing crawl space!  When Haley first enters the crawl space to look for her dad, she is on hands and knees crawling through mud and sludge, cobwebs hitting her in the face.  She can hardly lift or move around, but as the waters rise (which should shorten the space, No?) there is more and more room for running, chasing, climbing!  That crawl space is one magical area!  Might be a Wardrobe down there with a way to Hogwarts if you get past the gators.  So with all this in mind, I’m going to have to give Crawl a 3 and that is a very generous 3.  I nearly wanted to give it a 2.5, but it’s far closer to MEH than a waste of money.

Mrs. Moviie Couple:  OK, let me say that it is truly I, Mrs Moviie Couple, typing this today.  Some feedback asked why my Hubby always tells you guys what I think?  Well it’s simple, I am a very busy working woman and I just don’t have the time to write/type this stuff up.  Hubby and I love to watch films together and go out, but I usually give him my notes on a movie or we simply talk about it together, but I put HIM to work on the actual writing!  So if I don’t do this every review, now you have an idea of how things run here at Moviie Couple!

I found Crawl to be very suspenseful!  At times it was so much that I found the muscles of my neck tightening in expectation of the next feeding frenzy! Both lead actors were good. They both held my attention. The special effects were all over the place.  Sometimes they are excellent and sometimes not so much.

I found the father and daughter characters just too perfect (Hubby called them examples of a Mary Sue, he tells me you readers will understand) They were experts in everything from First Aid to Gator wrangling, Please!  They were better than the Gator Boys on cable.

And the ending!  No spoiling, but it just ends!  It reminded me of one of my kids video games rather than a movie.  Run, jump, fight, swim get to certain section and …Game Over you win!  What?!  It was horrible!  It was as if the producers ran out of money!  Ok, that’s it, the movie is over.  No more filming money! How about a little closure?  Wrap it up people, is that too much to ask?

I would not recommend going out to see this film, wait for it to be on cable.  It will make for a great scary, but family friendly film for a sleepover or the like.  A few inappropriate words but nothing very offensive.

In conclusion, I have to give Crawl 2 Bills, pretty much a waste of my time and money, but still not the worst film I’ve seen this summer.  I’d rather watch Crawl a million times in a row than ever watch MIB: International even once more, so there is that.

On the way home, We talked about the alligators and whether or not crawl spaces or basements are even available in Florida.  Also, during a hurricane of that magnitude would even a chance of rescue be available?  Things like could an alligator get stuck behind a glass shower partition?  But overall how the movie was just OK.  We may watch Jaws or even ‪Jaws 2‬ on TV this summer for a better creature feature!  Thanks to my 3 and the Mrs. 2 Bills, Crawl ends up with an average of 2.5 Bills!  That’s too bad, because it could have been great!

So until next time, remember if you see a gator heading your way, Choot ‘Em, Choot ‘Em like Landry says on Swamp People or just run, they are really not that fast.  Be sure to check out our Twitter or Facebook for a clue to our next movie review.  Mr. & Mrs. Moviie Couple out!

Advertisements
Horror

Midsommar (2019) Movie Review By Philip Henry

Leave a comment

 

Midsommar Review

Director: Ari Aster
Screenwriter: Ari Aster
Stars: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Will Pouter, Vilhelm Blomgren

I went into this film having only seen the poster and I was already thinking – The Wicker Man, and I wasn’t far off the mark. American directors don’t have a good track record with material like this, based on traditional folklore – who can forget the awful Wicker Man remake with Nicolas Cage – but Ari Aster has done his homework and delivered a masterclass in creeping dread against the most picturesque backdrop you’re likely to see on screen this year.

I’m not going to say too much about the plot. I went into this film knowing nothing and that’s the best way to experience it, but if you need a little convincing, I’ll give you the setup from the first 15mins. Dani (Florence Pugh) suffers a tragedy in her personal life and leans on her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) for support. It’s an awkward situation as Jack has been looking for a way to end their relationship, but now feels obligated to remain. To the quiet annoyance of his three male friends, Christian also invites her along on holiday with them to Sweden.

They go to a remote village where a commune exists, and where Christian’s friend Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) grew up. The guys are students of anthropology so they’re fascinated by this place and relish in it’s history, traditions and customs… to begin with. As soon as we arrive we get the feeling something isn’t right. Even the houses are built at odd angles, like they were designed by the Tim Burton school of architecture, but there’s also unbelievably gorgeous scenery and plenty of beautiful girls, so the guys don’t worry too much.

If you’ve seen enough movies of this ilk, you can probably guess where this is going pretty early on, but that’s not the point. This isn’t a movie that hinges on one big reveal. Lots of little shocking and worrying things turn the temperature up slowly on our tourists, so by the time they realise what trouble they’re in, it’s way too late.

I should state clearly that this is not a horror movie; not by my definition at least. Nothing supernatural occurs in this film, which is how I class a horror, but that doesn’t mean horrific things don’t happen. They do, and they’re very graphic. This film carries an 18 certificate so it has no need to pull its punches in either the blood and guts stakes, or full-frontal nudity.

Apparently Florence Pugh was also in The Falling but I don’t remember her. It was a low budget British film that got lots of critics excited back in 2014 but I thought was a bit of a snooze. Still, fair play to this actress; she’s done well going from The Falling to this, and she’s currently filming the Black Widow movie with Scarlett Johansson. Her career is on the rise and it’s well deserved if her performance here is anything to go by. She is completely convincing whether she’s plumbing the depths of grief, being the awkward fifth wheel on the boys’ trip or off her face on magic mushrooms. I was a little more familiar with Jack Reynor, who was in the feelgood Irish 80s-set musical Sing Street – a film well worth checking out if you’ve never seen it – and he’s also exceptionally good. The rest of the cast were unknown to me but no one drops the ball and the acting in general is of a very high standard.

Midsommar is a slow burning examination of grief with some shocking set pieces peppering an exceptionally well written script. Aster’s previous effort Hereditary was lauded by many horror fans and got some great reviews. I thought it was two-thirds of a great movie that was a bit let down by the last act. This follow-up suffers no such failing. I was gripped from start to finish. It’s a long film, coming in at 2hrs 27mins so don’t have the jumbo soft drink with your popcorn, because you will not want to have to duck out in the final act of this film. You have been warned.

Horror

Pet Sematary (2019): Blu-Ray Movie Review By D.M. Anderson

Leave a comment

 

Pet Sematary Review

Directors: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
Writers: Stephen King (novel), Matt Greenberg (screen story by)
Starring Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow, Jete Laurence, Obssa Ahmed

There’s nothing like remakes of childhood favourites to make one feel really old. I’m sure most of us have experienced that. Well, how ‘bout a remake of a film you vividly remember seeing in theatres as an adult? Though it doesn’t feel like it, the original Pet Sematary is 30 now years old and I’m forced to accept the hard fact that – in movie years – I’m ancient.

That sobering bit of personal reality notwithstanding, did Pet Sematary actually need to be remade? Probably not, but that’s been said about every movie near-and-dear to someone’s heart. While the 1989 film continues to be held in high regard in most horror circles (and with good reason), it isn’t a sacred cow on the level of Jaws or The Exorcist. Why not revisit the concept with fresh eyes?

Comparisons are inevitable, of course. And for horror fans, results may vary.

First and foremost, this ain’t your daddy’s Pet Sematary, which was more-or-less a faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. This one uses the same basic premise, but takes significant story and character detours along the way, which is ultimately a good thing. Not that all the changes are an improvement, but the last thing anyone needs is another pointless scene-for-scene remake and even fans of the original movie or novel might be surprised how this one plays out.

Some King purists will cry foul, of course. Others might find themselves grudgingly admitting that this one more-effectively captures the oppressive, brooding tone of the novel. That doesn’t necessarily make it scarier – in fact, the film is seldom truly frightening – but it’s more atmospheric and a sense of impending doom hangs over the proceedings right from the get-go. The overall performances are better, as well, especially John Lithgow in the pivotal role of Jud Crandall. Lithgow’s more subtle (and slightly sinister) approach makes the character more dynamic than Fred Gwynne’s slack-jawed yokel from the original.

But comparatively speaking, it all comes down to personal preference. For another example, I found Church the Cat far more intimidating in this version. His matted, mangy appearance really makes it look like the little beast just came back from the dead, not-to-mention the way he stares, similar to how my own cat, Stinky, glares at me when she’s pissed.

While well crafted and atmospheric, I wouldn’t go as far as to say Pet Sematary is better than the 1989 film. The original went where most mainstream horror films feared to tread at the time, arguably rendering this one less disturbing or memorable. Still, the considerable story changes are intriguing enough to justify its existence.

Horror

Brightburn (2019) Movie Review By Philip Henry

Leave a comment

Brightburn Review

Director: David Yarovesky
Screenwriters: Brian Gunn, Mark Gunn
Stars: Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn

OK, stop me if you’ve heard this one. A spaceship crashlands in Kansas. A farmer and his wife investigate and find a baby inside. Since the couple are childless and have been trying everything to become parents, they decide to keep the boy and raise him as their own. The comparisons with Superman’s origin story are no coincidence, because this film posits a very interesting question; what if, despite loving parents and all the corn-fed wisdom in the world, Superman had turned out bad?

Unlike Clark Kent, young Brandon Breyer’s (Jackson A. Dunn) powers don’t manifest until his twelfth birthday (aliens obviously knew the exact date he was going to land on Earth and use the same calendar as we do) and then the straight-A student and all-round nice kid starts to change. It’s a very creepy concept to explore what puberty with superpowers would be like in the wrong hands. Brandon’s attraction to a classmate leaves her creeped out and terrified of him as he quickly crosses that line between infatuated kid and violent stalker. His parents do their best to support him and keep him on the straight and narrow, but the voices whispering in Brandon’s head seem to have much more influence.

What follows is closer to a slasher movie than a superhero movie, with some of the goriest injuries and kills I’ve seen on-screen for quite a while. Brandon soon realises he’s ‘superior’ to everyone else and doesn’t have to do what anyone tells him. Elizabeth Banks plays his mother and gives a great performance. She’s one of those moms who’ll say: ‘My kid wouldn’t do that’ despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. A line earlier in the film tells us her own parents had already written her off by that age, and she’s determined not to do the same. Brandon’s dad is more level-headed about what his adopted son is becoming, but he’s unable to stop him, despite increasingly desperate measures.

Brightburn isn’t officially part of the DCU; there’s no comic or graphic novel that this is based on, but I think the film-makers are hoping he will become an honorary member. During the closing credits there are oblique references to Aquaman and Wonder Woman, which suggests that Brightburn does exist in this same world. This movie does something that even Marvel haven’t attempted (yet) and given us a full film devoted to a bad guy’s origin story. It’s not one for the kids though; it’s got its fair share of F-bombs and the deaths are really visceral.

The other thing that separates it from the majority of superhero movies is the budget. Brightburn only cost $6M and at the time of writing this the box office figures collected two days after release show it had already taken $17M. That’s not big money for a superhero film, but with this low budget it’s already well in the black, so I hope that means a sequel will get green-lit quickly.

I like this premise and I really enjoyed Brightburn. It’s a nice twist to explore after years of superheroes who are committed to doing the right thing, and I think there’s a lot more mileage to be had out of this idea. If they take the time to develop this character properly, DC might have a supervillain worthy of bringing the gang together again for if they ever attempt another Justice League type movie.

 

Horror

Emelie (2015) Movie Review By Steven Wilkins

Leave a comment

Emelie Review

Director: Michael Thelin
Writers: Richard Raymond Harry Herbeck (screenplay by), Richard Raymond Harry Herbeck (story by)
Stars: Sarah Bolger, Carly Adams, Elisha Ali

When a couple decides to go out on the night to celebrate their anniversary, they hire a sitter to look after their 3 children.  Seemingly sweet and caring on the outside, what’s hiding inside soon becomes a nightmare for the kids throughout the night as her tragic past unlocks a quite sickening plot to “right” her wrong.

Though not an inherently original plot, the delivery itself is a bit of an eye opener in any light.  “Anna” (Bolger) immediately puts up red flags as soon as she enters the picture but it’s her despicable actions that really would make any parent of young children viewing this get a lil shudder.

Letting the kids do as they please is one thing but forcing them to view private videos and sacrifice the family pet for enjoyment is a different kind of sick.  There is a bit of hesitation it felt within the unfolding story but not enough to make one want to just shut down and give up.  The children’s portrayal of concern and distress is believable, which pretty much the entire film is riding on.

This is really a cut an paste type of thriller the likes of which we’ve seen in Orphan or any other identity theft thriller, a good time killer at best.  If thought out some and written well enough, potential sequels could follow in the vein of Alex Cross even and that would be well worth the time.

Not a must-see but a good view nonetheless.  Enjoy

Grade: B

Horror

The Haunting Of Sharon Tate (2019) Blu-Ray Review By D.M. Anderson

Leave a comment

The Haunting of Sharon Tate Review

Director: Daniel Farrands
Writer: Daniel Farrands
Starring Hillary Duff, Jonathan Bennett, Lynda Hearst, Pawel Szajda, Tyler Johnson, Ryan Cargill.

It probably goes without saying that the concept of The Haunting of Sharon Tate is in pretty poor taste, but I’m assuming anyone still reading this is okay with that. So rather than comment on its repugnant inspiration, it seems more prudent to assess the film on its own merits as a sensationalistic piece of exploitation. After all, a horror film doesn’t necessarily need class to be effective.

The entire story is based on what the real Sharon Tate once said in an interview, supposedly dreaming she and good friend Jay Sebring were brutally murdered…a full year before she and four others were killed by the Manson family. The film covers the three days leading up to the murders, where Tate (Hillary Duff) is home with friends Sebring (Jonathan Bennett), Abigail Folger (Lynda Hearst) and Wojciech Frykowsky (Pawel Szajda). Tate is repeatedly haunted by visions and signs of her impending doom at the hands of Manson’s crew. And yes, those visions are offered in graphic detail.

Subject matter notwithstanding, an interview quote is a pretty weak premise to build an entire movie around and writer-director Daniel Farrands isn’t up for the challenge of making these characters interesting enough to hang around, including Tate herself. Duff gives it a good college try and it’s obvious she’s relishing the chance to do something different, but all that’s required of her is to panic and cry before suddenly having the foresight to arm herself.

Speaking of which, Farrands tries to have his cake and eat it, too, presenting the world’s most infamous home invasion twice, first as one of Tate’s visions, which accurately recreates the murders which still haunt us today. But the second time, Farrands offers a revisionist take on the event that plays like the climactic showdown of a slasher film. The problem isn’t necessarily that he exploits a real tragedy for the sake of cheap thrills. The problem is that we’ve seen it all before in countless other home invasion movies.

The depressing denouement also suggests Farrands is a card-carrying member of the Ambrose Bierce Fan Club, or at-least a big Twilight Zone fan. Forget the tastelessness of the premise. Real-life inspiration notwithstanding, The Haunting of Sharon Tate is simply a dreary, repetitive and ultimately derivative horror film.