Day: October 13, 2020

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Movie Review

Every Time I Die (2019) Movie Review

Director: Robi Michael

Writer: Gal Katzir, Robi Michael (Screenplay)

Starring: Drew Fonteiro, Marc Menchaca, Melissa Macedo, Tyler Fleming, Michelle Macedo

Plot: When Sam is murdered in a remote lake, his consciousness begins to travel through the bodies of his friends in an effort to protect them from his killer. This dark passage leads him on a greater journey – discovering his own true identity.

Runtime: 1 Hour 38 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Every Time I Die starts when Sam (Fonterio) gets to go on a weekend retreat with his ex-girlfriend Mia (Melissa Macedo), her new boyfriend Tyler (Fleming) and Sam’s best friends Jay (Menchaca) and Poppy (Michelle Macedo), only he is haunted by the death of his little sister, until Tyler confronts him and murders him.

Sam’s mind wakes up in the body of Jay’s as he looks to stop the killer from hurting the rest of his friends.

Thoughts on Every Time I Die

Characters – Sam is the man that sees the love of his life moving on with her own, while living with the regret that he never managed to save his little sister, when he gets into a fight, he is murdered, leading him to transport into the body of one of his friends to try and capture his murderer. Jay is the friend that Sam returns inside, where he is the best friend that welcomes Sam to the time away. Mia is the ex-girlfriend that Sam is still in love with, she has her own new boyfriend while still have feelings for Sam. Tyler is new boyfriend that doesn’t take too kindly to Sam being around, or the returns.

Performances – The performances in the film are strong with each actor bringing the change required when it comes to having Sam take over their body.

Story – The story here follows a young man that finds himself murdered, only to wake up in a friends body, needing to prove who killed him before they go after his friends. This is an interesting idea for a story, because it dives deep into the ideas of reincarnation and protection of friends, while showing difficult it could be to convince someone of a bigger problem of a murderer going around. It keeps us guessing into who Sam will return into and why there is such a big plot point around what happened to his younger sister. You will be kept guessing and it will ask bigger questions about life too.

Thriller – The thrilling side of the film does keep us guessing to what will happen and how the truth could come out.

Settings – Most of the film does remain inside the retreat location, which will offer different perspectives of the characters.


Scene of the Movie – Sam’s true identity.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It does bring us a slower start, with everything taking longer to get into the mystery.

Final Thoughts –Every Time I Die is an interesting thriller that will keep us guessing, with strong performances throughout, only it does take a while to get going.

Every Time I Die will be available across all major streaming and Digital Platforms from 26th October

Categories
Movie Review

Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made (2018) Movie Review

Director: David Amito, Michael Laicini

Writer: David Amito (Screenplay) David Amito, Michael Laicini (Story)

Starring: Nicole Tompkins, Rowan Smyth, Dan Istrate, Circus-Szalewski, Shu Sakimoto, Kristel Elling

Plot: A young boy and girl enter the forest to dig a hole to hell. Said to be a cursed film from the late 1970s, Antrum examines the horrifying power of storytelling.


Tagline – The Deadliest Film Ever Made.

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made starts as we get the warning about a mythical film named Antrum whose only screening saw the cinema burning down killing everyone in the auditorium. Now someone has finally got footage of the original film, which follows Oralee (Tompkins) and Nathan (Smyth) as they head into a forest to say their final goodbyes to their pet.

Once they complete this, they find themselves dealing with different demons that might be inside the forest, as it become clears something is tracking them.

Thoughts on Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made

Characters – Oralee is the older sister who is trying to help her little brother deal with the loss of their dog, she takes him to a forest which should help the passing, only here she will need to use her determination to stay ahead of the game, first by using the demon stories to trick Nathan, secondly to keep him alive against the dangerous threat lurking in the forest. Nathan is the younger brother who is distraught over the death of his beloved dog Maxine and will believe any of the stories Oralee tells him, he wants Maxine back and doesn’t understand what has caused her death and starts to believe evil is coming for them.

Performances – Nicole Tompkins in the leading role is great to watch, she brings the protective older sister to life, while mixing the desperation of trying to protecting and hiding her own grief for the pet loss from him. Rowan Smyth does bring the innocence of the his character to life, even if certain parts can become annoying at times.

Story – The story here follows a pair of siblings that go into a forest which is meant to have a connection to the devil to try and help rescue their lost dog’s soul, only for the journey to be filed with terror. This is a very unique idea for found footage movie, the idea involved is that this is a lost movie that has been considered cursed has finally be found and is being shown, we have the documentary feel either side of the main story, showing how to break down a movie, which does give this one of the most interesting uses of found footage, making us truly believe this could be a lost film, with the style everything is shot in. when it comes to the core story, it mixes the idea of demons and real-life together well, showing how grief can take over, though it does have one major weakness, which could be a spoiler, so we won’t get into that one.

Horror – The horror in this film comes from the world we are transported into, knowing this film could be cursed and seeing what the siblings go through has moments of true terror.

Settings – Most of the film is set in the forest, it has plenty of mystery about it, which will see the strange event start to occur for the siblings.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are used more to make the film feel like it was made in the late 1970s, this gives us more reason to believe this is a real lost movie discovered at last.


Scene of the Movie – The Documentary around the movie, adds a lot to this movie.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – A language barrier?

Final Thoughts – This is a very unique found footage that is one of the most realistic concepts behind anyone I have seen before, giving the film more terror than you would expect.

Antrum will be in UK Cinemas from 23rd October, and then DVD & Digital Download from 26th October

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – M – The Monkey’s Paw (2013)

Director: Brett Simmons

Writer: Macon Blair (Screenplay) W.W. Jacobs, Adam Meyer, Justin Smith (Story)

Starring: C.J. Thomason, Stephen Lang, Michelle Pierce, Corbin Bleu, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Charles S Dutton

 

Plot: Jake is given a Monkey’s Paw that grants 3 wishes. After the first 2 wishes leave his friend Cobb undead, Cobb pushes Jake to make a final wish.


Tagline – One Wish. A Thousand Regrets.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Not What We Wished For

 

Story: The Monkey’s Paw starts when a group of mechanics Jake (Thomason), Cobb (Lang) and Catfish (Bleu) are dealing with the firing of one of their co-workers with a few drinks, Jake ends up receiving a monkey paw which will grant him three wishes, like any young person, his first wish is for a car, while after an accident he must use the second wish to bring Cobb back to life.

When Cobb does come back to life, he starts going on a killing spree, wanting to get the monkey paw off Jake to have his own final wish, while Jake needs to find a way to end the bloodshed.

 

Thoughts on The Monkey’s Paw

 

Characters – Jake Tilton is a mechanic that has seen his life become mundane, he supports his co-workers with one getting fired, he is having an affair with his boss’s wife and when he is given a monkey paw, he only asks for a car. This is just the beginning of his life-changing experiences, first his best friend is killed and after wishing he would return from the dead, he must stop him before it is too late for his loved ones. Tony Cobb is the best friend of Jake, he works with him and has done for years now, the two enjoy a drink or two, which sees him dying, he comes back from the dead to put his own life back together which along with a darker side which will see him kill anybody that gets in his way. Olivia is the woman Jake that is having an affair with, which after her husband disappears, makes him a suspect, she does love him though and is planning to leave her husband. Catfish is the fellow co-worker that tries to push Jake into lighter view on life.

Performances – C.J. Thomason in the leading role as the everyday man struggling with the guilt a monkey paw’s consequences could have on his life does well enough, we see him slowly breakdown while being nervous in life early on. Stephen Lang is the highlight of the fil, with his performance as the psychotic figure being a joy to watch, carrying the film through the extremes his character goes through. Michelle Pierce leads the supporting cast that struggle to get any impact on the story.

Story – The story here follows a man that is given a monkey paw which is meant to give them three wishes and soon he is left in a difficult position when it comes to what to do with the final wish to be after bringing his friend back from the dead. When it comes to film where we give a person a chance to wish for anything, we usually get moral dilemmas which this story does have moments where we should have them only to gloss over them not giving any thought to what is going on. We have a psychotic figure going on a killing spree which only confuses things more because he is acting like he has no soul, though his motivation is a human reason. In the end the story doesn’t give us enough time to process the wish making process, has dramatic character twists that don’t fit the tone of the film.

Horror – The horror comes from the moments Cobb is terrorising people, we do get the blood level, but never the scary factor.

Settings – The film is set in a small Florida town which sees everybody know each other, making the killing spree have an impact on the people of the town.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are solid when it comes to gore effects, with one standout moment being shocking, while the rest is often hidden off camera.


Scene of the Movie – Don’t split up.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not going through the consequences discussion.

Final Thoughts – This is a wishes can go bad if you don’t think movie, with the deadly consequences showing us just how dangerous not thinking can be.

 

Overall: Long old slug.

Rating