29 | October | 2021 | Movie Reviews 101

Night at the Eagle Inn – Dread Filled Horror

Director: Erik Bloomquist

Writer: Erik Bloomquist, Carson Bloomquist (Screenplay)

Starring: Amelia Dudley, Taylor Turner, Greg Schweers, Beau Minniear, Erik Bloomquist, Madeleine Dauer, Jeffrey Fryer, Charles Rosenay

Plot: Fraternal twins spend a hellish night at the remote inn their father disappeared from the night they were born.

Runtime: 1 Hour 10 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Night at the Eagle Inn starts when twins Sarah (Dudley) and Spencer (Turner) head to a remote inn where their father disappeared when they were born, they have returned in search for answers, after spending their time researching the events of that night.

As the siblings spend more time in the Inn, they find themselves meeting the ghosts that roam the halls, including meeting their father, who has been trapped in his own living hell for their whole lives. Now the twins need to figure out how to escape this place or face being trapped in their own hell too.

Thoughts on Night at the Eagle Inn

Characters & Performances – Sarah and Spencer are twins that are looking for answers about what happened to their parents, they have been together for their whole lives without them and are filled with the confidence in their search for answers, they aren’t prepared for what they find, needing to use their ability to stay together and support each other to make it out alive. Amelia Dudley and Taylor Turner do both have excellent chemistry together, making it feel like we are watching real twins go about their lives. When it comes to the other characters, they are people met around the Inn, they all other ideas on what could be happening.

Story – The story here follows twins who go in search for answers about what happened to their parents in the same inn they are attending for answers, only to find themselves getting trapped in their own living hell. This is a story that is wanting to channel the haunted hotel world, we have seen done elsewhere before. Turned into a mystery solving story about wanting to learn about what happened to their parents, giving away enough to be disturbing, showing what would happen if you opened pandora’s box. This is a story that will work well for a shorter movie, keeping the story wanting to give us more as the story keeps rolling on.

Themes – Night at the Eagle Inn is a horror thriller that will use the location of a remote inn to create the horror created in this film. Most of the horror comes from the uncertainty of what is going on, with the dread created from being in this world and what it planned for the victims to go through.

Final Thoughts – Night at the Eagle Inn is a horror filled with dread from the moment they enter the inn.

As A Prelude to Fear – Solid Thriller

Director: Steph Du Melo

Writer: Jacob Coen, Steph Du Melo, Roger Wyatt (Screenplay)

Starring: Lara Lemon, Francis Magee, Lucy Drive, Melissa Hollett, Jamie Langlands, Tom Clear

Plot: When a young girl called Eve gets kidnapped and imprisoned in a dungeon-like basement, the police believe it is the work of the notorious Pied Piper.

Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: As A Prelude to Fear starts when a talented celloist Eve (Lemon) looks to meet an elite teacher Giles Corcoran (Wyatt), Eve finds herself kidnapped and imprisoned. Eve’s boyfriend Jamie (Langlands) looks to get the police involved DCS Barnbrook (Magee) leading the investigation, believing the notorious Pied Piper has returned.

AS Eve learns from another captive woman what is waiting for her, she is left learning the lesson, she is getting put through, as the investigation looks to finally nail the Pied Piper, with all clues pointing towards the same teacher.

Thoughts on As A Prelude to Fear

Characters & Performances – Eve is the celloist that is on the way to a lesson with one of the most famous teachers, she gets kidnapped and locked away in a dungeon, wanting answers, learning about where she is trapped. She tries to pull the other women together for an escape, but learning about the punishment for not following orders. Lara Lemon does well in this role, with most of the film seeing her in the one location searching for help. DCS Barnbrook has seen his career stumble while tracking the Pied Piper, he has always believed it to be Corcoran, he just needed proof to close the case. Francis Magee shows the broken man wanting the truth a man who made it his life’s work to get answers for. Giles Corcoran is the music teacher that is the prime suspect in the missing women, his personality does continue to point fingers at him, as his action will make him the prime suspect. This is a film will introduce a lot of characters, with the other women held captive, the boyfriend searching for answers, starting to lose his patience and the other officers trying to keep the story calm without it getting out of control.

Story – The story here follows a young woman that gets kidnapped and must figure out how to survive the environment she is locked up in, while the police are searching for answers to the person known as the Pied Piper, who has been targeting women for years. This is a thriller that will get split into two sides of the story, the first side is Eve trying to survive, this side isn’t as intense as it could be because we focus more on her discussing the situation with another women, rather then being put through too much, with most of the horrors involved being spoken of, not even the screaming reaction to. On the other side we have the investigation be it by the police or the boyfriend, this is everything you would expect, with them usually coming up short when things don’t go to plan. The two mix together well enough, keeping everything shimmer along for the truth.

Themes – As A Prelude to Fear is a thriller that wants to keep you guessing, while heavily pointing towards one direction, the locations are used to show the trapped environment that Eve finds herself in, which could be considered anywhere in this world. Nothing does feel as intense as it should do, which will end up leaving moments of the film feeling flatter than they should.

Final Thoughts – As A Prelude to Fear is a thriller that shimmers along, without getting to the intensity levels it could.