alarakalama Reviews

El Silbón: Orígenes (2018)

Intriguing, but...

[3/10 · 21 October 2019]

While the concept was interesting, the acting was pretty good, and the filming was nice, the movie was overall slow and confusing. When did it take place? Were some of the scenes flashbacks? Who were Ana's family? Was she truly possessed? Why couldn't Angel talk? I could go on.

In summary, I'd suggest finding something else to watch.

The Village in the Woods (2019)

You can find better.

[4/10 · 16 October 2019]

A couple shows up at a quant inn in the middle of a forest under the pretense that she has inherited it. There's a bunch of overly friendly (and creepy) neighbors who are just as deceitful as the couple, intent on performing an ancient rite with the couple's assistance, whether they agree to or not.

Good stuff: The script was pretty good (although the neighbors sometimes come off too campy), the acting was good, and the set and scenery was lovely, very atmospheric.

Bad stuff: The ending feels very anticlimactic, with little explained. I mean, you get the idea, but it's like they were over on time and had to skim it down to a cliff-notes version of the film.

Rating: 4/10. I don't recommend it unless you're really bored and have nothing going on,

Frozen Sasquatch (2018)

Horrid yet humorous

[5/10 · 26 November 2018]

From Himalayas that look more like my backyard than anywhere near Nepal to special effects that were dated a decade ago to a script and acting that was rejected from a bad video game, nearly everything about the film was done poorly. Scratch that- "poorly" is too kind a word.

But in that, we can find humor. It's so bad, it's good. If you like riffing films, this movie is a goldmine.

Delirium (VII) (2015)

Could've been clever but ended up clumsy and confusing

[3/10 · 29 September 2016]

***SPOILERS*** This movie has three parts.

In the first, you are introduced to a couple, Tim and Rachael, who are just getting their daughter, Emily, back after she's been missing for the last year. There's no indication she's been harmed, and she seems to have no memory of the time. She goes home, but has regular visits by a woman from social services who seems to have no idea how to interact with a child. The situation is made more difficult when her biological father, Barry, tries to gain custody of her. It seems fairly normal, more like a Lifetime movie than anything I'd call horror, until there's an odd sex scene (PG-13 rated at most) in which the wife yells at her husband not to touch her and runs out of bed.

That's when things switch to the second part, where you find out that most- if not all- of the first part was a fantasy, a story being told by Tim- who is not Rachael's husband- a suspect in the disappearance of Emily- who hasn't been missing too long. Tim, it seems, has a condition that leads him to believe that whatever story he tells is what he is currently living. There's a lot of heated questioning, a bit of confusion as others, primarily Rachael, must respond to Tim's stories, putting themselves into it, a la role-playing.

After heated interrogation/role-play, Tim seems to be possessed, and asks who will take her place- Tim's sister (?) volunteers, Tim and her both have seizures (?), and what seems to be a demon takes over the sister, who then goes on a murder spree, killing guards and cops, and Barry (?).

In the end, one of cop's daughter's leaves a message on his phone that she found Tim's hiding place, and that he's crazy (although I think they figured that out some time ago). The police and SWAT- like agents go to storm the place, bringing Rachael along for some reason.

All in all, the story line was pretty clever, but it feels like the creators lost control of it, and it just flounders about. The script was average to confusing, the acting average to trite, and the filming was, also, average.

In total, I'm giving it 3/10 as I've seen worse. Watch something else if you have the choice.