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Reviews
El cuco (2023)
Enjoyable thriller that is well acted and paced.
An enjoyable Spanish/German thriller about a couple Marc and Anna who agree a house swap with another couple Olga and Hans who unbeknownst to them want their bodies too ( baby included)
El cuco I take it referring to the bird that lays its eggs in other birds nests, removing their egg and laying one of her own in its place whilst the host is unaware.
Anna is pregnant and a doctor, Marc seems rather childish though good natured. Anna especially seems stressed and in need of a break.
When Anna and Marc arrive at the new house ( to them) the atmosphere becomes menacing and unpleasant after a time, most of which effects Marc at this point.
They also meet the daughter of Olga and Hans.
Back at Marc and Anna's house , the way treat the home shows they are not the loveable folks Ana and Marc think they are.
What follows is a very Rosemary's Baby type movie , fantastical for sure, that whilst derivative still draws you in ( mainly thanks to the fine acting)
This includes the couples swapping bodies amongst all the blood and eerie chanting type stuff you might expect.
I did care what happens to Anna and her baby ( strangely even more when she swapped bodies) and for that matter her Pomeranian dog Tesla.
If you enjoy the thriller/ horror genre give this a look.
Cast
Anna-Belén Cuesta
Marc-Jorge Suquet
Olga -Hildegard Schroedter
Hans -Rainer Reiners.
Night Swim (2024)
Solid Thriller/ Horror
Well presented and nifty in its pacing Night Swim delivers just enough creepy atmosphere to at least keep this horror buff satisfied.
It draws you in and the movie sped past for an enjoyable running length. Unlike so many modern horrors it did not outstay its welcome in my opinion.
A simple plot about a swimming pool that has a malevolent spirit in it that starts to do nasty things to the family who move in to the home with said pool.
Reminded me in parts of Amityville Horror, Are You Afraid Of The Dark and the Poltergeist movies, or an extended Twilight Zone episode.
Sure this is kind of old school chills and thrills to be sure but Night Swim has enough going on to hold the interest till the end.
Kudos to the family, I did care what happened to them and wanted to see the outcome of all they went through.
Some of these reviewers maybe don't like old school chills and atmosphere, I do and hence the 8 rating.
Lord of Misrule (2023)
Falls flat sadly
Starts off with some promise but quickly outstays it's welcome. Ralph Ineson does a good job of playing brooding local Jocelyn Abney but the plot regarding the disappearance of a vicars daughter at a harvest festival thingy has nowhere particularly exciting to go.
Folk horror with its strange pagan symbols and odd country folk with their odd country ways, it's not actually that scary is it?, not in this movie anyway. And it starts to grate after a time.
It reminded me somewhat of a better and rather underrated movie called The Witches from 1966.
Word around the village is the daughter has been abducted by a harvest spirit called Gallawgog.
The mother of the child is played by Tuppence Middleton and she looks suitably anguished throughout and does a good job I thought.
To be honest this was a hard slog and i started to not particularly care what the outcome was. Young Evie Templeton puts in a good turn as the missing daughter, and maybe if your in to Folk Horror more than me you will enjoy it more.
I found it rather washed out and worse , unintentionally funny at times.
Loop Track (2023)
Solid thrills
Don't listen to the silly 2 star review, you don't need any questions answered you just need to go along for the ride.
A ride which takes you from main character Ian's obvious nervous exhaustion, stress at work?stress in his relationship?
You do not need to be Richard Dawkins or Einstein to know Ian has been through the mill.
He goes on this nature wildreness trail to escape from people.
There though he meets Nicky who we discover is well meaning but a bit in your face for hapless Ian.
These two also meet Austin and Monica who again have gone hiking in the wilderness. Later still we meet hikers Lulu and Danielle
I won't go too far into the story and characters, I will leave you to find those things out.
But then we see Ian feel that these hikers are not alone, something is in the wilderness, something is watching them and it is not good, it does not mean them well.
Suffice to say what transpires really tests Ian's courage and strength, a strength that he calls upon and maybe never thought he had.
You also feel his frustration that no one believes him that they are being followed and watched by what turns out to be creatures that want them for food!!
Well acted by all ( especially Thomas Sainsbury as the on the edge of a breakdown Ian) well paced and with a feel of menacing claustrophobia this is well worth seeing.
I have seen a few movie turkeys recently but this was a pleasant surprise to be sure.
Thanksgiving (2023)
Best horror of 2023
Yep seen a few horrors this year and this was without doubt the best of the bunch.
Excellently directed the movie flew by, the pacing was great, no minute was wasted it seemed
It's a slasher so you guessed it there is a deranged killer on the loose and he means business
The reason he is on the loose seems to go back to the beginning of the movie when a black Friday sales day goes terribly wrong and ends in a riot and people die. Those scenes of people being killed in said riot are brilliantly done and set the scene for the kills to come.
Who is the killer?, well of course we must wait till the end to find out but the ride getting there is superb fun
I don't know how but somehow ( a good script here helps) this movie seems so fresh and derivative at the same time, elements of Scream and especially I Know What You Did Last Summer come to the fore.
The mostly young cast are great , especially Nell Verlaque, and the older actors such as Patrick Dempsey, Gina Gershon and Rick Hoffman add some classy turns as well.
Yes there are the comments on consumerism and social media but this is no overtly cerebral or preachy movie, like other Eli Roth movies , Thanksgiving does not shy away from the darker and more twisted aspects of humanity.
A great beginning and an excellent finale, and the bit in the middle is not half bad either lol.
Recommended.
Cat Person (2023)
Not a rom-com, it's kinda warped but I like it.
Slight storyline stretched to two hours ,girl meets a new guy whilst working her job at the cinema,but from then on a slightly menacing takes off.
There is something about this movie that is off but at the same time that same something kind of draws you in.
Said girl, excellently played by Emelia Jones is 20, said guy played by Robert Braun is 33.
He sends her a mix tape, she likes it and starts liking him too.
The movie works well , better in fact as a kind of thriller in a way than any pre conceived notion of a romantic comedy.
There are some laughs that permeate the dark undercurrent. You start to wonder where will this movie start going? I could not envisage a happy ending here.
The acting is excellent all round, ultimately I was never fully convinced by these two as a couple, that is never really fleshed out, and that is what added to the something off about this movie that I eluded to earlier.
Geraldine Viswanathan is also good as Margot's rather Debbie Downer friend.
The ending is pretty brutal, somewhat rushed maybe? But pretty compelling for all that.
Worth a look for sure and the two hours went by fast I thought.
The Lesson (2023)
Excellent movie
One of the best movies of the year, the acting and direction are all on point.
A young tutor played by the excellent Daryl McCormack goes to teach the son of a famous ( now largely thought retired author) played by Richard E Grant.
The setting is the beautiful home of said author.
The wife played by Julie Delpy and the son, played by Stephen Mcmillan seem remote, cut off and an air of sadness exudes the movie.
The character played by Grant seems domineering, the master in his castle that no one appears to want to cross or even slightly displease.
The story changes when the tutor gets involved in the latest book that Grant is writing, this in turn ties in to the death of the other son of Grant and Delpy Felix.
The twist in the movie regarding this and the rather claustrophobic atmosphere work very well, but what makes this movie is the superb acting, something of a masterclass I thought.
Delpy is simmering in her icy melancholy, McCormack has a chilled, personable personality at odds with Grant's rather domineering bullishness, the son Bertie seems especially remote from his father.
A cracking story, I enjoyed every minute, I hope you do too.
Recommended.
It's a Wonderful Knife (2023)
A bit of this and a bit of that adds up to?
Quite a few movies I have watched of late start well, the premise is there, the atmosphere for a potential classic even, then whoops.
A killer is on the loose at the start, and i kind of wished that is how it would have stayed.
Because what we get is a jump about 20 minutes in to a movie where the main character says something ( in this case i wish i wasn't born) and they are transported to another time etc etc ( yeah you know the kind of thing) and then have to do whatever to get back to their original time.
This aspect kind of flattened the movie somewhat for me, the slasher element seemed to take a back seat, too bad I guess.
They people giving this 10 are fake surely?, this is a solid 6 or 7 all day long
I did not find it particularly christmassy n a warm, Hallmark cheesy way, neither did i find it particularly funny or scary, especially as the movie went on.
The characters were a little flat in general but the lead Jane Widdup was excellent and there are some recognisable faces in there too including the excellent Justin Long, Katherine ( Ginger Snaps ) Isabelle, Cassandra ( The Influencer) Naud and Jessica Mcleod from One Of Us Is Lying.
Give it a try but dont expect too much.
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Well acted gothic whodunnit
As usual the silly ratings appear, believe me there is no way this is a 1 or anything like it.
But it is not a total success either.
The plot involving a friend of Poirots ( played by Tina Fey) inviting him to a seance in a rather brooding Venice abode where things are known to go bump in the night. And of course soon murder is the order of the day.
And oh yes we have Poirot the cynic, the world weary cynic at that, everything has a logical explanation etc etc.
But Kenneth Brannagh brings a rather heavier tone with this to the character of Hercule, whom i had always seen as being a tad more open in the David Suchet stories of Poirot.
Old Ken ( who never seems to age much) bless him does a fair job but i can not help thinking at times he sounds so much like Inspector Clouseau.
The plot seemed somewhat hastily finished to me, but i did overall like the creepy vibe of the film, pretty darkly lit and ominous.
Not sure what the die hard Christie/Poirot fans will make of it but i enjoyed it.
A film that pretty much circles around death and loss and yet more death and is still overall great fun to watch is ultimately fine by me.
All the acting was on point but i really enjoyed Michelle Yeoh as the rather sinister medium and young Jude Hill as the precocious young Leopold.
Christie aficionado or not give it a look.
The Royal Hotel (2023)
Oh Dear
What was this?a thriller you say?, nah it pretty much has no thrills at all , it is well enough acted but just when you think something is going to take a dramatic turn it just fizzles out.
The story of Hanna ans Liv , two backpackers who take a job in a pub in the australian middle of nowhere to get some money behind them whilst travelling had potential but it is never really realised
Liv is fairly flat , you dont learn much about her but its Hanna who is by far the most irritating character in the whole movie, so dull she makes Kristen Stewart seem like Coco the clown.
The guys who frequent the pub are just as you would think them to be, but again any sense of menace is lost as the dialogue and the plotting pull back and leave you wondering if anything is going to actually happen, i mean you might as well go and listen to some pub bores down at your local for all the good this movie does
I was left with a massive feeling of who cares?regarding the whole thing.
The final scenes are laughable and cringe inducing, Thelma and Louise they ain't
You have been warned.
Hereditary (2018)
Solid horror
It is a nasty little film, quite hellish in fact. It looks at a family slowly falling apart, torn apart by evil, i was drawn in to that dark place the characters here inhabit.
It has its shocking moments and those are very well executed. The reason the family are falling apart i will leave for you to find out in watching the movie yourself. But those involve Rosemary's Baby type elements shall we say.
I was just reading through the reviews and yes there are quite a few turned off or hating this movie.
But for me whilst some of it seemed rather strained in the what the hell is going on here then department( especially the ending) i did think the movie deserves credit for an eerie atmosphere that i used to vibe on with the movies of yesteryear.
In other words less reliance on gore and jump scares, i liked that.
Toni Collete is excellent , her angst is totally believable and powerfully conveyed through out the movie. The actors playing the daughter and son are excellent too.
Gabrielle Byrne is fine but his character is a rather dead eyed, one dimensional character for the most part i felt. All though to be fair his character has a lot to contend with and is trying to keep things together.
A solid horror that works up ( with the aid of a super eerie soundtrack) some excellent atmospherics, the imagery of which have stayed with me( always a good sign)
8/10.
Love & Death (2023)
Not great
Overrated, overlong and tiresome Love And Death offers a rather smug and unlikeable lead character played by Elizabeth Olsen. Her performance is ok, not quite sure about the ridiculous comments on here that will have you believe these are the finest acting chops since Olivier played Hamlet.
None of the characters seemed particularly well drawn in this apparently true life tale of two people who are both married ,who decide to have an affair, Jesse Plemons being the person Olsen's character decides she would like to go to bed with
Just why is never satisfactorally explored to me, it just all seems rather far fetched , the only emotion it roused in me was abject apathy.and the longer Love And Death went on the more bored i became. Watching Olsen jigging along in her kitchen to some 70s classic starts to grate after a time.
Also Olsen and Plemons have zero chemistry which is a big pronlem given the storyline.
Not getting all the rave reviews and 10 scores but such is life.
For me it was flat as a pancake. Oh the music used is great.
Wilderness (2023)
Turn On The Lighting!!!also Jenna is great.
Why so dark?did someone forget to pay the electricity bill or something.
This badly lit drama/thriller thingy has its moments and most of them belong to Jenna Coleman
Look i have to be honest, i found it kind of far fetched i mean what guy who had Jenna Coleman as his other half would seriously think about cheating on her?he would have to be clinically insane lol
The story lurches on as we watch Jenna react to his cheating and plot her revenge
6 episodes seemed a bit of a slog to be honest, this could easily have been a more robust two hour job
It does drag a bit,not enough to give it a say 3 star rating. And the people giving it 10?whoahh there, i mean it does not electrify in any sense to warrant that high a rating in my view.
The acting is fine and Jenna is easily the best thing about Wilderness. There seemed little chemistry between Jenna's character and the actor who played her other half.
The Ashley Benson character as the other woman seemed kind of flat to me, not really adding much punch to the overall production
Some of it was silly, women are supposed to be nice but men are not says Jenna's character at one point, really?says who?i have never encountered that in life. Some of that stuff just seed like an add on for the right on people out there.
Watch Wilderness with an open mind, you may well get some thrills along the way, i have certainly seen worse, Jenna is a talented lady for sure, just dont expect too much from this series as a whole.
The Boogeyman (2023)
Poor lumpy stuff, boy did it drag
Really drawn out for what seemed like two hours or more ( its actually 1hr 38 mins) this movie kind of defines generic.
You know the irritating, poe faced teen that spoiled the last Insidious movie?well that same type of character is back but this time in female form. Her and her younger sister , reeling from the death of their mother, just can not carry this movie and the mumbly actor who plays the dad is no help to the movie either.
Why the movie seemed so dark in how it was shot i do not know, it just seemed turgid and uncalled for and certainly did not add any scares to the proceedings.
Watch by all means but please dont expect much, its by the numbers, can directors not build any eerie tension anymore?
Acting is ok , i thought the younger sister was played really well,but any sense of this being a classic is a long, long way off.
Shame as when i saw the IMDB score i was looking forward to it.
One reviewer said it's intense, really?i have seen bad Scooby Doo episodes with more intensity.
The Toll (2020)
Not bad, a movie of two parts and the first part was good.
Not bad , two people trapped on a deserted road, kind of like the movie Dead End, remember that?
The character Cami was a bit full of herself , the driver Spencer was kind of an awkward guy but not horrible or particularly intimidating.
Both Jordan Hayes and Max Topplin do well with what they have to work with and you feel their frustration as they try to escape the road where they have broken down only to find themselves back at the car again, seemingly going around in circles.
Now that part of the movie is well done, it builds up a genuinely eerie atmosphere.
But like so many horrors of today( especially the low budget ones) you feel where are they going to go with this?, how will this play out?and is it gonna be a waste of time?
Sadly the second part peters out, the Toll man moves over for a kind of flashback to their pasts playing out before their eyes.
This second part is not really scary or creepy and you may find yourself, like me, losing interest in what happens.
Not terrible but like so many horror movies it seemingly has no where to go half way through and any built up tension dissipates, leaving the viewer with a kind of meh, is that it ?feeling.
Bloodride (2020)
Great stuff from Norway, more please!
Very dark humour and odd little stories, really nicely played by a talented cast.
I had never heard of this, no fanfare, no one i knew had heard of it, i merley saw it on Netflix, i thought i would give it a go and i am glad i did.
Kind of like the Creepshow, Tales From The Crypt type set up, the great thing with these anthology shows is you get a new story each time and sure like all anthologies it has the good and not so good episodes but this show was more often good than bad.
In fact i enjoyed all the stories but my favourite was Bad Writer, it is seriously dark but in a kind of funny haha way , and also has the benefit of the gorgeous Dagny Backer Johnsen appearing as Olivia in that episode.
If you enjoyed the classic old Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Gallery shows etc give this a go it is good stuff and deserves a wide audience.
Chucky (2021)
Totally bonkers, totally brilliant
This show is insane, it gets more insane as the episodes go on and i loved it for it.
Chucky jumping bodies, changing from doll to doll, multiple chuckys at one point( what a hoot)
Some of the story is shown in flashback to when Chucky was human.
Part of the story is told in the present day when a bullied teen Jake buys Chucky at a yard sale and mayhem steadily pursues and bodies start piling up.
The production looks great ( really great if you invest in the blu ray) and the acting stand outs for me were Devon Sawa ( playing two parts as Jakes dad and uncle)and Alyvia Alyn Lind as teen queen mean girl initally Lexy, Alyvia plays her to perfection, including the change in her character as the show progresses. The acting all round i liked Jennifer Tilly is always worth watching
Good to see some old faces from previous Chucky outings. All in all great fun so get aboard for a bumpy, funny, twisted and twisty ride that starts with a innocent yard sale and is peppered with some witty, dark humour from Chucky himself.
My review is for season 1, i look forward to season 2.
Scream VI (2023)
Great stuff, best since the original
Sure all the Scream movies have their moments , you know that right?
But what about the freshness of the original that made it so much fun.
Did the last few entries have that? Nah, you know they did not have that, they were good but not THAT good
Here the action moves to New York ( and so does the Ghostface killings) and the change of setting works, the kills, the Scooby gang of Sam and her friends just gels better than i could of hoped for and for me the two hours just flew past.
I found myself saying " Really?" a few times but so what? I mean the Scream franchise is hokum so who cares?
Everybody did their bit as far as the acting goes, special merit for Jenna Ortegaas Sam's sister and Melissa Barrera as the central character Sam, also good to see Hayden Panettiere and our old friend from yesteryear Courtney Cox
Like all the Scream movies it is sly and twisty turny( of course) and their is a particular point in the movie down in the subway that is wonderfully eerie.
Is there life in the Scream movies? On this showing a big fat yes and no im not playing a game, though this might just be up there with your favourite scary movies.
Speak No Evil (2022)
Lambs To The Slaughter? Fedja Van Huet is chilling
People are basically good right?, or is that wrong? Are they basically what they choose to be? And sometimes is that pure evil? And what happens when the good( not to mention meek and polite) venture into their radius?
So many questions and some deeply unpleasant answers in this excellently paced movie.
This movie has a wonderfully eerie musical score and and in the setting have we swapped Mick (Wolf Creek)Taylors Aussie outback for the danish countryside? In other words does anyone who ventures here venture out again?
This is a fairly slow burner and the acting is superb all round, everybody is on point.
But i have to commend Fedja as he is chilling as? Patrick, menacing and unpredictable.
A couple go to stay with another couple they met on holiday, one has a daughter, the other a son.
So far so good but the man in one of the couples Patrick seems unsettling , at first a sense of threat or that he is odd.
We have the escalation of this and be prepared for a horrible climax( though of course i will not tell you in what way)
Do you fight back against evil? Do you even have it in you to do so?
This film is grim and it was meant to be so, a couple of times i thought really? But in the end yes a solid ten, what an engrossing, superbly acted thriller.
Dont think i will ever forget this movie and its shocking desent into evil.
Infinity Pool (2023)
Oh Dear
Pretentious rubbish comes to mind with this one.
A movie peopled with dull prople and even duller dialogue. Groundbreaking? Yeah i bet the critics will wet themselves yelling us how much it was bending our minds to think in a different way about errr something or other, sex?violence?rich and seemingly unaccountable people?
The end result is deadly dull and flat.
The main actor spends a lot of time looking pained and somewhat confused, presumably rather like the audience watching this thrills free snoozefest.
Its not big and its not clever, debauchery and violence have never seemed so boring and grey.
You do something wrong , you can be cloned, anything goes thereafter? But what was the ultimate point?
It was a movie that seemed to drag on for half a day, not sure if it was one hour and 57 minutes or 57 hours and one minute.
Either way it stank.
Mia Goth looked great and was kind of hypnotic.
It almost had a car crash quality to it, i mean i wanted to look away, actually i wanted to just call it a day with thr film period, but something made me keep watching to see if the snoozefest could get any better.
Amazingly it just seemed to get worse.
And psychedelic? Oh yeah flashy colours and mind bending ( zzzzz)visuals again used to create an effect so boring i almost nodded off.
1BR (2019)
Worth a look for sure, a solid 9
Old style thrills, like an abc movie of the week/ Twlight Zone episode from back in the day.
But them old style thrills are what i like so i stayed on board for the whole movie and was glad i did.
Parts of it remind me of Rosemarys Baby, that creepy sense of something not being quiet right.
A young woman movies into a new apartment and pretty much straight away a sense of menace and something not being as it should( and the other people who live in the complex not being as they should) is created rather well i thought.
The acting was good all round and if like me you last the course you will too enjoy this tale of conforming or else as much as i did.
Look out for lead actress Natalie Brydon Bloom in the future.
Men (2022)
Eerie atmosphere, well acted but somewhat baffling
This is very well acted and so beautifully shot.
There is a folk horror sense of something rotten in the village, something nasty and all pervading that haunts at first and then may harm the main character Harper.
The build up was excellent, an unsettling, eerie atmosphere is acheived and maintained but yes the last half hour goes from odd to mind numbing.
But that said i still think it tried to be something different and in my view it almost worked.
Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear are excllent and truly the realisation thst all the male characters have the same face is unsettling( as is the whole movie)
But arty shots and symbolism abounding do not make a movie alone. What about the story? I thought that seemed rather stretched for an hour and 40 minutes.
My 6 stars ate for the acting and the atmosphere building of the first hour.
This movie will certainly divide people.
You may come down in the middle like me but you may also think it is a masterpiece 10 or a pretentious load of twaddle that only merits a 1 to 3. I can kind of see both those viewpoints.
One of Us Is Lying (2021)
Worth a look
Teen mystery that is knowing and gives some warmth to some of the lead characters, Addy and Cooper being my favourites. Shame that a interesting character is killed off in the first episide, that sets the wheels in motion for who did it? Why? Etc etc.
Very derivative, everything from Scooby Doo to Pretty Little Liars( which is better), Big Little Lies, I Know What You Did Last Summer and of course Gossip Girl crossed my mind whilst watching it, in fact i prefer all those things to OOUIL to be honest.
My heart sank a little when season 2 throws the spotlight on my least favourite character Vanessa for a time, her Mean Girl turn seemed a bit flat and boring to me in episode 6 i think it was
The acting was fine i thought but it did not hold my interest as much as other stuff i have watched on Netflix before like Scream and Slasher.
Will keep you guessing for the 2 seasons( 16 episodes in all)
Yep worth a look just dont expect too much but there are enough twists and turns to make this a fun show and i would watch a season 3 if they make one.
Good Morning Britain (2014)
Now Piers is Gone So Has The Interest.
Piers held goverment ministers to account brilliantly.Now the little weasels will only have to face boring Ben Shephered and wet liberal Susanna Reid.Reid has relied heavily on the how does she put up with Piers shtick for a few years.Now he has gone we can see just how wishy washy she is.Without Piers the show is dreadful and i for one will not be tuning in again.
Creeped Out (2017)
Superb stuff though maybe not for the very young.
I think Rod Serling might approve of these tales.Well written ,Twlight Zoneish, they draw you in and many of the tales have a theme of the loss of power or control in your life.If your 12 or 70 i think you will enjoy these tales.Give them a try Great fun.