Day: October 4, 2020

Director: Bruce Macdonald, Gabriel Sabloff

Writer: Jason Baumgardner, Zach Smith, Galen Gilbert, Timothy Rarajczak (Screenplay) Jason Baumgardner, Zach Smith (Story)

Starring: Taylor James, Billy Zane, Lindsay Wagner, Caitlin Leahy, Rutger Hauer, Jackson Rathbone

 

Plot: After losing the love of his life to a cruel Philistine prince, a young Hebrew with Supernatural strength defends his people, sacrificing everything to avenge his love, his people, and his God.

Tagline – Chosen. Betrayed. Redeemed.

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Not Very Interesting

 

Story: Samson starts as a young Hebrew Samson (James) helps feed his small village by stealing from King Balek (Zane) the cruel Philistine ruler, his son Prince Rallah (Rathbone) is tasked to search for Samson to make him part of the crown’s guard.

When Samson meets the beautiful Taren (Sholto-Douglas) he decides he wants to marry her, only she is from the enemy village, Samson must question his own faith before going to war with Rallah to free his people one the Philistine rule.

 

Thoughts on Samson

 

Characters – Samson is destine to rule the Hebrew people one day, he was selected by their God to be their messenger, blessed with inhuman strength and set in a rulebook that will keep him strong, he falls in love he ends up going to war with the Philistines finally getting his chance to be the leader he was destine to become. King Balek is the cruel leader that has been making the life of the Hebrews a nightmare, he wants to remain in power and get rid of Samson, the biggest threat. Rallah is the prince that is assigned to go after Samson, he sees this as his chance to impress the King, only using his power to for bloodshed to kill anyone. Delilah is a woman that is being used to make everything unfold for Samson, I could have sworn that in the biblical version of this story, she is the one that he falls in love with.

Performances – Taylor James might have the physical appearance for this role, but he just doesn’t bring the dramatic side of the film. Billy Zane looks like he is enjoying the supporting role, but doesn’t do anything original with his character and Jackson Rathbone does go full-blown over the top in the villainous role.

Story – The story follows Samson a man that was destine to rule his people against the cruel leaders controlling their land, blessed with incredible strength he can’t be beaten unless he breaks the three rules placed on him. This is a story I do remember from the bible, this is one that doesn’t seem to follow it the way I remember what so ever, it was always about Samson and Delilah’s love and betray, with this one we get too much nonsense leading up to what has been happening and just ends up spending too much time not making sense before we get anywhere near the main part of the story from the bible.

Action – The action in the film isn’t shot very well, this is because we have Samson going against a full army, which you can clearly see the member of the army standing back waiting for their moment to attack, rather than acting natural.

Settings – The film keeps the settings for the film simple, they are different sizes of villages or cities, both reflect the numbers and power both sides of the war have.

Scene of the Movie – First big fight.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not the story I remember from the bible.

Final Thoughts – This is a disappoint version of one of the most famous stories of faith and love from the bible, it doesn’t seem to capture everything on the same level it could and ends up just being generic swords and sandal film.

 

Overall: Disappointing all around.

Rating

 

 

Director: Chad Archibald

Writer: Chad Archibald, Cody Calahan (Screenplay)

Starring: Michelle Mylett, Caroline Palmer, Ry Barrett, Gemma Bird Matheson, Sydney Kondruss, Clare Bastable

 

Plot: After almost drowning in a lake, Madison finds herself bound to a life of fear. Unable to describe what happened to her during the moments she was underwater, she begins to develop hydrophobia: an abnormal fear of water. Crippled by her post trauma, Madison attempts to shut out the world but her fear intensifies and she is faced with the vision of a dark figure that haunts her day and night. After watching her struggle for one year with the phobia and visions, Madison’s four friends attempt an unconventional intervention in which they accidentally open a floodgate to a dark place where none of them are safe. As Madison and her friends dive deeper into the dark history of this figure that haunts them, it reaches out and begins dragging them to a horrifying place that they can never come back from.

 

Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Late Night Horror 101

 

Story: The Drownsman starts when Madison (Mylett) gets asked to become a Maid of Honour for her best friend Hannah’s (Palmer) wedding, she suffers an accident nearly drowning, seeing a strange figure in her vision, this gives her a huge fear of water.

One-year-later Madison is still a wreck, she takes liquids through a tube, she is terrified by any form of water, which ended up with her missing Hannah’s wedding. The friends Hannah, Kobie (Matheson) and Lauren (Kondruss) arrange an event to try and help Madison with Cathryn (Bastable) trying to get rid of the evil figure Madison sees, things don’t go as planned and now the figure Sebastian (Barrett) comes for them all.

 

Thoughts on The Drownsman

 

Characters – Madison is the young lady that has the accident which sees her witness a figure in a near death experience after nearly drowning, the fear of what happened has taken over her life, she can’t be around water and even takes liquids through tubes. She must face her fears and tackle the demon she keeps witnessing to move on with her life and keep her friends. Hannah is the best friend whose wedding day is ruined by Madison, forcing the push to help her friend, she wants to be supportive however much she is getting frustrated with her friend’s behaviour. The strange thing about this character is we never meet her husband and she doesn’t go on a honeymoon after her wedding like most film brides. The Drownsman or Sebastian is a serial killer that is long thought to be dead, he was waiting for his victims on the verge of death. we do have the other two friends who are barely introduced and the psychic that answers a few questions.

Performances – Michelle Mylett in the leading role does what we want the lead to do, she has the scream and fear, while searching for the way out. Caroline Palmer does her best in the supporting role, we see how she shows the frustration her character is feeling, while trying to be the supportive friend. Ry Barrett does make his character feel terrifying when he needs to. The rest of the girls feel interchangeable not making the impact they need to on the main story,

Story – The story follows a group of friends trying to help one that has been suffering from visions, only to release an evil spirit who can take people through the water to continue his body count from beyond the grave. Now this might sound slightly cheesy, but when you think about it, it does feel like an original idea and one that would create a villainous figure that could strike from anywhere, one that enjoys drowning his victims. Saying how interesting the villain is, the execution to reaching this moment does feel like something we have seen before, with one investigation a solution, while the rest are just here to be killed.

Fantasy/Horror – The fantasy side of the film shows us just how the Drownsman can move between worlds, this plays into the horror involved in the film which would have water being the thing that could transport a killer.

Settings – The film uses the settings well because the everyday location only see you dragged to the lair of the Drownsman which is dark, dinge and will only add to the fear being felt by his victims.

Special Effects – The effects used through the film are strong enough, as we see the make up used to create the killer.

Scene of the Movie – Arriving in the lair.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Hannah got married, but her husband isn’t nowhere to be seen.

Final Thoughts – This is one of those late night horror films you can just put on and relax to, the scares are simple and get the basic effect needed, with a story that has a lot more potential than is shown.

 

Overall: Late Night Horror 101

Rating