Sep 16 2020

The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020) Netflix Movie Review

Director: McG

Writer: Dan Lagana, Brad Morris, Jimmy Warden, McG (Screenplay)

Starring: Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Jenny Ortega, Emily Alyn Ling, Andrew Bachelor, Robbie Amell

Plot: Two years after Cole survived a satanic blood cult, he’s living another nightmare: high school. And the demons from his past? Still making his life hell.

Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Babysitter: Killer Queen starts two years after the events of the first film, Cole (Lewis) seems to be the only person to remember what happened that night, still haunted by the events of that night, which see him needing therapy, while struggling through high school, becoming distant from his closest friend Melanie (Lind).

When Melanie encourages Cole to ditch school for a lake party, he sees everyone having fun, while he is still trying to understand how to find himself in the way others do. Until he learns that the cult behind the babysitter’s have been planning for him to finish him off for good.

Thoughts on The Babysitter: Killer Queen

Characters – Cole is still haunted by the events of that night with Bee, he doesn’t fit in school, always worrying, not being to just enjoy his youth like the rest of the students. He finds himself facing a special school or just going on a big night out with friends, which sees him needing to fight against the demons again. Phoebe is the new girl in school, she comes off in the way of not wanting to make friends, but on her big night out, she finds herself needing to work with Cole to survive. Melanie was Cole’s best friend, the one person who still talks to him and encourages him to come on the night out, only to show her true colours of wanting to become immortal. We do get the returning faces that have come to collect the soul they never captured last time out, we also see how they get recruited by Bee in the first place.

Performances – Judah Lewis might not be as strong as he should be in the horror side of the leading role, but does handle the more serious side of awkwardness through the film. Jenna Ortega as the bad girl works well, with Emily Alyn Lind continuing her darker turn in horror well here. Most of the supporting cast get the laughs through the film, which will show them playing into the stereotypes.

Story – The story here picks up two years after the first film, Cole is still traumatised by what happened, but not he is trying to get through the high school scene, only to find himself facing the same problems, from a new threat, one closer to home. This does build well in places, with the characters being full blown parodies of the stereotypes, while not holding back on the ritual talk, with a twist involved that does seem to bring a fresh light on the high school desire to be popular. Everything does play out in a similar tone, only with the demons wanting to prepare for what might come their way, along with the continuing one on one battles with them.

Comedy/Horror – The comedy in the film is the strongest part of the film, it is very self-aware laughs through the film, with more of the horror coming from the blood splatter more than anything else.

Settings – The film moves away from the home settings, moving into a desert lake area, which adds to the chase idea, as well as showing us a location, teenagers could hang around.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are what happens to the demons, most look great with the splatter looking part comical through the film.

Scene of the Movie – Reindeer games.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – One twist confuses another part of the film.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun comedy horror sequel, it has the laughs, while being filled with plenty of splatter over anything else.

Sep 16 2020

ABC Film Challenge – 80’s Movies – P – Pale Rider (1985) Movie Review

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writer: Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack (Screenplay)

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Chris Penn, Richard Dysart, Sydney Penny, Richard Kiel

Plot: A mysterious preacher (Clint Eastwood) protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.

Tagline – .. and hell followed with him.

Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Gritty Western

Story: Pale Rider starts as we see how Hull Barret (Moriarty) is leading a prospector village that is getting terrorised by the LaHood mining company, owner Coy (Dysart) and his son Josh (Penn) are trying to run them off the land with the raids. Hull who is starting to mount up the debts finds himself being protected by a mysterious Preacher (Eastwood) who gives the village more hope than ever.

The Preacher proves that the men could fight back giving the village a reason to fight, but without him around the LaHood’s look to take advantage of the situation.

Thoughts on Pale Rider

Characters – The Preacher witnesses the attack on Hull, he shows how to win a fight in non-lethal combat, he stays with Hull’s family showing the whole village that they could have somebody to protect them, he doesn’t want any part of a war, just to support a hard-working village. Hull is the one member of the village everybody looks up to, he will continue to go against anything that the LaHood’s want and has been trying to keep the village together. Sarah is the woman Hull lives with, she has seen her husband pass away and wants the best for her daughter, even if that might end up being Hull, she only ever puts her daughter’s safety out first. Josh LaHood is the son of the owner of the mining company running the operations, he will use the dirty tactics to try and push Hull and his people out.

Performances – Clint Eastwood plays into his strengths through the film, not giving himself too many lines and playing the mysterious figure that has a past. Michael Moriarty and Carrie Snodgress bring the more serious longer sequences as the characters who seem to have more to lose if things don’t come out in their favour. Chris Penn does make his villainous figure stand out as somebody truly evil not just greedy.

Story – The story here follows a prospector village that is being raided by a mining company that find an unlikely savoir in a mysterious preacher that brings them hope to defeat the rich company who is trying to push them out. The story does play out like nearly every western you have seen, a dangerous gang trying to use the numbers to put a small group under pressure before a stranger comes to their rescue. The pace plays out like normal to with the small incident slowly gathering steam before the two sides come to a full blown war towards each other. It might not be original, but it does the basics right with each moment feeling like it does make a big impact on the characters involved.

Western – The western side of the film shows us just how the themes are being used to show what happens to the characters, with the sets and the story.

Settings – The film does create the village you would expect to see for the time, the town and the backdrop looking beautiful through the film.

Scene of the Movie – Town showdown.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Way too much time spent deciding whether a 14/15-year-old should love an adult.

Final Thoughts – This is a gritty by the book western, it does everything right without being anything we haven’t seen before.

Overall: By the Book Western.

Sep 16 2020

Attack of the Unknown (2020) Movie Review

Director: Brandon Slagle

Writer: Brandon Slagle (Screenplay) Michael Mahal, Sonny Mahal (Story)

Starring: Tara Reid, Robert LaSardo, Richard Grieco, Jolene Andersen, Tania Fox, Tasha Reign

Plot: A SWAT team transporting a vicious crime syndicate boss must fight their way out of a county detention center during a catastrophic alien invasion.

Tagline – They’re here for blood

Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Attack of the Unknown starts when a SWAT team with Vernon (Grieco), Maddox (Tait) and Hannah (Andersen) in take down a notorious drug dealer Miguel ‘Hades’ Aguirre (LaSardo) but lose the case to the FBI who see it as a bigger problem.

When the FBI turn back to the SWAT team to transfer Hades, they finding themselves dealing with a form of alien invasion, trapped in county detention centre, looking to a battle to escape, needing to decide whether to trust the criminals or their own instinct to survive.

Thoughts on Attack of the Unknown

Characters – Vernon is a member of the SWAT team that has taken down a big drug dealer, he has seen his divorce go through, but bad news hits when he learns he has cancer, his team is tasked with transporting a criminal, the same one he was taking down, he must end up leading the defence of the people from an alien attack. Hannah is one of the team that goes against the stereotypes, willing to fight along with the troops, while celebrating in a world the men enjoy. Miguel Hades Aguirre is the drug lord the SWAT team took down, he is always looking for an escape, believing he will find a way out, while having more information about the legend of the aliens. We do have a lot of characters in the county lockup, which can become difficult to keep up with the pure number involved though.

Performances – Richard Grieco takes the leading role and does give us a character with the most going on within his life, while Jolene Andersen brings us a strong action star figure in the war against the aliens. The rest of the cast do well, with one of the more random appearances from Tara Reid involved too.

Story – The story here follows a SWAT team that must transfer a suspect they captured, only to find the city coming under attack from aliens. The story does have a lot of elements we have seen before, with the idea that both law enforcement and criminal will have to team up to defeat a new enemy, this time aliens, it shows how both sides would need to put their differences aside for the better. By diving into an origin story of the aliens, in what is mostly told in a folklore idea, does bring something fresh to the table and is the biggest aspect of the story we could see a lot more from going forward to. One of the weaker sides of the story will be the number of characters, which don’t get enough detail given to them, mostly here for disposable reasoning.

Action/Sci-Fi/Horror – The action in the film comes from seeing how the two sides are having tactical shoot outs to stay ahead, while the aliens have technology which would make things more difficult.

Settings – The film does spend more time inside the police lockup, which will show the tactical positions to take a stand, while the exterior shots are focused on the destruction or impending attacks.

Special Effects – The effects are used to give the aliens look like they are part of the world, while their primary weapons rely more on the CGI side of things.

Scene of the Movie – Ready for the war.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many characters.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun entry into the sci-fi alien invasion movie, it has strong characters and a fresh approach to the handling of the invasion happening.