Day: October 19, 2020

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Movie Review

Tailgate (2019) Movie Review

Tailgate is a fun cat-n-mouse style horror. That puts the family up against a killer who will do anything to get his own way back. It isn’t as intense as it could, but the weapon of choice feels slow and methodical.

Tailgate Poster

Director: Lodewijk Crijns

Writer: Lodewijk Crijns (Screenplay)

Starring: Jeroen Spitzenberger, Anniek Pheifer, Roosmarijn van der Heok, Liz Vergeer, Willem de Wolf

Plot: A cocksure, road-raging family man finds himself pursued and terrorized by the vengeful van driver he chooses to tailgate.

Runtime: 1 Hour 22 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Tailgate starts as we meet a family, Hans (Spitzenberger), Diana (Pheifer), Milou (Hoek) and Robine (Vergeer). Travelling across Holland to spend time with a grandparent. Hans does have a problem with road rage. Which will see him get caught up in problems on the road, until he gets caught behind a van in the fast lane.

When Hans lets his road rage get the best of him, he starts tailgating a van. The driver Ed (de Wolf) doesn’t take to kindly to being treated this way and looks to terrorise the family.

Thoughts on Tailgate

Characters & Performance

Hans is the father that does suffer from road rage, he doesn’t have much patience with things in life. Which will see him getting involved in confrontations he doesn’t need too. His latest one, is one that will see him insight a serial killer. He must learn a lesson about how to treat people, while trying to keep his family safe.

Diana is the wife who isn’t happy with Hans action when he speeds or gets involved when he doesn’t need to. Milou and Robine are the two children that are like most kids. Fighting between them, but together when they need to be.

Ed is the van driver that uses his weapon of choice to hunt down people he believes wrongs him on the road. His is an imposing presence on screen, being the killer that could strike fear into his victims.

Jeroen Spitzenberger as the father with road rage does seem to have the most to do, with him being more of the target. Willem de Wolf does have a cold disturbing performance where his on screen presence is easily the most terrifying thing about the movie.

Story

The story follows a family that are travelling to see a relative, when they get involved in a moment of road rage. Which will see a killer come hunting for them, in what will become a cat-n-mouse battle.

This is a story that will look very similar to ‘Unhinged’ from earlier this year. Obviously this one was made first. It will see an unstable man looking to get revenge on someone who gave them road rage. Showing how Hans isn’t the cleanest cut person either, seeing him do thing which could upset over drivers.

We don’t seem to get the motivation behind Ed’s actions which works in two ways. First he will become more of a threat and secondly you will feel like you want to understand more.

Horror – The horror in this film comes from knowing what Ed would do to his potential victims, everything happens in daylight, which adds a different level of horror to everything we are watching unfold.

Settings – The film takes place on the road, it shows how people can lose control behind the wheel, showing there isn’t safety if you feel the wrath of someone on the road.


Scene of the Movie – The chase through the housing area.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The lack of motivation.

Signature Entertainment presents Tailgate on Digital HD 26th October

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – S – Slumber (2017) Movie Review

Director: Jonathan Hopkins

Writer: Richard Hobley, Jonathan Hopkins (Screenplay)

Starring: Maggie Q, Will Kemp, Sophia Wiseman, Kristen Bush, Sam Troughton, Lucas Bond, Honor Kneafsey

Plot: A sleep doctor tries to protect a family from a demon that feeds on people in their nightmares.


Tagline – Welcome to the Original Nightmare

Runtime: 1 Hour 24 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Standard Horror

Story: Slumber starts when a young girl sees her brother have such a horrific night terror, he ends up falling out a window and dying, years later Alice (Q) has devoted her life to studying night terrors, with her latest clients the Morgan family, Sarah (Bush), Charlie (Throughton), Daniel (Bond) and Emily (Kneafsey) are coming to get help for the whole family having the same night terror of a demon coming for them in their sleep.

The deeper Alice gets into the case, the more she learns about something called a Night Hag, which haunts people’s dreams until it takes the soul of the victim, now her own family has become the target of this demon.

Thoughts on Slumber

Characters – Alice lost her brother when she was a child to night terrors, this has seen her become an expert on the study, trying to help everyone she can deal with the struggles, she does still suffer herself and when a whole family comes to her for help, she must relive the nightmares of her childhood, she must decide whether to put her own family before the one in need, when the demon comes for her family. Tom is the husband of Alice, who does get concerned by the actions through the film, he wants to protect their daughter and needs her to step away from this case. Niamh is the daughter of Alice, who could become the target of the hag, while the Morgan family are the family that are being haunted by hag, they need help and being left feeling helpless.

Performances – Maggie Q is the biggest name in this film and even she can’t get much out of her character, the performances in this film are poor, with nobody making an impact with this becoming a bland from a character point of view.

Story – The story here follows a family that are suffering night terrors, which even after getting more help, find themselves helpless to a demon that haunts sleepwalkers. While this story could easily be one of the scariest ideas you could image in horror, it ends up falling flat with us needing to balance too many characters to get the true scare factor, we don’t meet an ‘expert’ until way too late into the film and then a flash bang, it is over, we lose all the creepy ideas that could come from the horror involved here.

Horror – The horror could be scary, only the film fails to capture the horror involved within the idea, with most being something is happening, scream a lot, help, it’s over.

Settings – The film uses the home settings to show how it starts, while it does move the actions to a specialist facility, where it happens again, only we don’t seem to make a major point about this.

Special Effects – The effects turn to shaky cam more than showing us what is causing the horror, with most being left to our imagination.


Scene of the Movie – The opening sequence does make us feel like we are going to have a great horror experience.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The fact we don’t.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror that fails to use the potential is has been given, becoming a mostly bland horror about night terrors.

Overall: Bland Horror.

Categories
Movie Review

The World Without you (2019) Movie Review

Director: Damon Shalit

Writer: Dan Pulick (Screenplay)

Starring: Radha Mitchell, Perrey Reeves, P.J. Byrne, James Tupper, Chris Mulkey, Lyndie Greenwood

Plot: Reunited for their beloved family member’s memorial service, old hurts and dark secrets threaten to tear the fragile threads holding the family together.


Tagline – Some losses can never be recovered.

Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The World Without You starts when a family looks to come together for Thanksgiving for the first time after one of them was killed in action, siblings Lily (Mitchell), Clarissa (Reeves) and Noelle (Marks) join their mother Marilyn (Johnson) and father David (Mulkey), where the family needs to look to get through their own problems, while remembering Leo (Reitsma).

As the time together brings back events from the past, the problems searching for the future, they all learn to realize that they couldn’t get through these difficulties’ moments without their loved ones around.

Thoughts on The World Without You

Characters – Lily is the single of the three sisters, she has always been seen as the free spirt of the siblings, she is the most outspoken when it comes to family arguments. Clarissa is with her husband Nathan as the pair are struggling to conceive their first child, it is rising the tension between the two on the trip. Noelle is the convicted devoted Jew, married with three children, the one that has more together, the three sisters have had different lives, Marilyn and David are the parents that are going through their own problems, with the grieving of their lost son. We do meet the widow of the deceased soldier that has her own secret about the relationship the pair had, as well the sisters husbands that aren’t living up to the expectation in certain situations.

Performances – We do have a large cast here, with the whole cast giving us strong performances throughout the film, each cast member will get a scene to shine more than the rest and everyone takes that chance.

Story – The story here follows a family coming together to celebrate the life of a lost soldier journalist, they all have their own problems, which will lead to different issues through the time together, but they will look to solve them together. This is a power family drama that will highlight just how important family will be when a member dies, you might have your own problems, but family will help bring things back together.

Settings – Most of the film is set in the family home, with the walls being the only thing keeping secrets away from others, it helps bring back the memories for the family members.


Scene of the Movie – The final meeting.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Nothing.

Final Thoughts – The World Without You is a powerful drama about family and just how important it is to have them around you when you suffer a loss in the family.