15 | May | 2021 | Movie Reviews 101

Director: Calvin Morie McCarthy

Writer: Calvin Morie McCarthy, Jon Hall (Screenplay)

Starring: Conor Austin, Parris Bates, Airisa Durand, Jon Ashley Hall, Rebecca Kimble, Natalie Lucia, Sydney Winbush, J Rebecca Morse

Plot: The terrifying tale of Amityville is Back. When a young man encounters a weekend of horrors after taking a house sitting job from a spooky old woman.

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Amityville Poltergeist starts when Jim (Bates) takes a job housesitting over a weekend for an elderly woman (Morse) who warns him about what is in the house is to be feared. As Jim starts his time in the house he starts to struggle with his own series of nightmares, while we learn more about what have been happening in the house before.

Thoughts on Amityville Poltergeist

Thoughts – Amityville Poltergeist is a horror film that takes us into a housesitting weekend that will take a horrific turn. The story does play out the events of the weekend and what has left the owner feeling scared about what is within the walls of her home. While certain moments of horror are created well through the film, which will add to the experience of those events. The story does however fall short with the fact Jim, Alyson and Collin seem to all be very different people that don’t seem to have any real chemistry between them. The special effects in the film do come CGI moments that we have seen before and can work for the scare, without looking the most realistic moments of the horror. This is a horror that could easily be a nice late night movie to watch, with the suspense of just what will happen next.

Final Thoughts – Amityville Poltergeist is a great late-night horror movie.

Director: Kiraro Kosaka

Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Screenplay) Niroko Reijo, Asami (Novel)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Seiran Kobayashi, Nana Mizuki, Satsumi Matsuda, Rina Endo, Etsuko Kozakura

Plot: After losing her parents in a car accident, Okko starts living in the countryside with her grandmother who runs a traditional Japanese inn. While she prepares to be the next owner of the inn, Okko can somehow see friendly ghosts.

Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Okko’s Inn starts when young girl Seki Oriko, or Okko for short loses her parents in a car accident, forcing her to move in with her grandmother in her welcoming Inn. Okko is lined up to become the junior innkeeper.

Okko finds herself meeting Uri-bo a ghost that lives in the inn, one that used to be a friend with her grandmother, when they were young. She soon starts meeting another ghost Miyo who is the older sister of her rival, as she learns how to make people happy in their stay, while dealing with her own trauma.

Thoughts on Okko’s Inn

Characters – Okko is a recently orphaned young girl that must move in with her grandmother, an innkeeper in the city. Okko becomes a junior innkeeper, where she starts to meet ghosts around the area, ones that will guide her, as she learns what the importance of an Innkeeper is, facing the grief, she hasn’t let out yet. Okko is such a beautifully written character, one that will be showing us just how difficult it would be to lose their family. She is filled with the positive attitude to help the guests along the way, with how she deals with problems. Uri-bo, Miyo and Suzuki are different spirits that visit Okko, that will help for, guide her through the next most difficult part of her life.

Story – The story here follows a young girl who gets orphaned and finds new hope with her grandmother as a junior innkeeper. The grieving process for this character is different to anything we have seen before, showing us that we could see the goodness in someone motivating them to improve everyone around him. We do get to dive into cultural learning, as Okko hasn’t always known about the importance of this position and must learn just how much it means to the community around her. There will be an emotional gut punch in the end, as we see she deals with the change all together.

Themes – Okko’s Inn is a beautifully drawn out animation, that shows the compact lives next to the cultural importance of the area, the different shades for the ghosts, show us just how important there wait has been in life too.