Oct 27 2021

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – # – #Horror (2015) Thoughts

Director: Tara Subkoff

Writer: Tara Subkoff (Screenplay)

Starring: Chloe Sevigny, Timothy Hutton, Natasha Lyonne, Balthazar Getty, Taryn Manning, Stella Schnabe

Plot: Six preadolescent girls face a night of terror when the compulsive addiction of an online social media game turns a moment of cyber bullying into a night of insanity.

Tagline – Death is trending.

Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Flat Out Awful

Story: #Horror starts as we follow a group of 12-year-old girls from rich families looking to have a party, where they can act fancy and take selfies, which sees them acting horrible towards each other, while showing off their social media obsession, before getting into an intense case of bullying towards the largest member of the group.

Thoughts on #Horror

Final Thoughts – This movie was one of the most difficult to watch, not because of the subject matter, which might well be important, because it is about social status and bullying, it is how most of it is shot, with constant flashes coming on screen, with the # culture being thrown into the front of the story. It could have been a smart look at how social media can take over people’s lives and let the girls rely on what people want in life over what is needed, it is just horrible to watch, and shows how poorly it has been made.

Overall: Unbearable

Oct 19 2021

Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini (2015) Movie Review ‘Essential Viewing for the Horror Community’

Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini – Essential Viewing for the Horror Community

Director: Jason Baker

Plot: A documentary about the life of Tom Savini. The film covers his early days in Pittsburgh, and his rise to stardom as Hollywood’s most sought after special effects wizard.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini starts as we start to learn how Tom Savini the youngest of a big family, would get inspiration from his siblings, where he first found his passion for cinema and horror.

We get to see the life of Tom, from his military services, his family problems, but most importantly for the fans, how he used his abilities to create new designs in horror to become the icon of the special effects world in horror.

Thoughts on Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini

Thoughts – Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini is the documentary looking through the life and career of the incredible iconic figure in film Tom Savini. The documentary will focus on the linear look at his career, with some of the biggest names from that world, Tony Todd, Bill Moseley and Robert Rodriguez. Each person that Tom has met in life will have stories that showed the enjoyment of working with him and away from the film industry, we get to see the family man he is, with his children being the most important parts of his life. This is the type of documentary that might well feel like a show reel of Tom’s career, but it shows that you can a career you love in a world that can be cruel and hard.

Final Thoughts – Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini is one of the most interesting career driven documentary of a horror icon.

Oct 18 2021

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – R – Road Games (2015) Movie Review

Director: Abner Pastoll

Writer: Abner Pastoll (Screenplay)

Starring: Andrew Simpson, Josephine de La Baume, Frederic Pierrot, Barbara Crampton, Feodor Atkine, Pierre Boulanger

Plot: The sun drenched days of summer turn dark and ominous for hitchhiking duo Jack and Véronique when they become inexplicably entangled with a mysterious married couple and a local road kill collector in rural France.

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Road Games starts when English hitchhiker Jack (Simpson) runs into French woman Veronique (Baume) with the two looking to travel around France together. The pair find themselves taken in by Grizard (Pierrot) and Mary (Crampton) as they take shelter for the night, but not everything is right about the couple.

As the Jack learns the truth about the couple, he finds himself needing to go in search of Veronique, while alluding the damage they want to inflict on him.

Thoughts on Road Games

Characters – Jack is the English traveller in France, he finds himself trying to hitchhike around the country, where he meets the beautiful Veronique, he is more laid back than she is, just looking to get home, before finding himself fighting for his life. Veronique is the free-spirit that travels to keep herself happy in life, searching for her own happiness, which she finds with Jack, Grizard and Mary are the couple that invite the two for a night out of the elements, while having their own motivation for being so welcoming to visitors.

Performances – When it comes to the performances, we don’t get anything that step up and shine to the level that will make this film feel as intense as it wants to be.

Story – The story here follows two hitchhikers that finds themselves being targeted by a serial killer in the French countryside in a battle to survive. This is a story that is pretty much by the book, with the only real change being the two hitchhikers not knowing each other first, which does add a minor mystery about everything, if we hadn’t been given everything from the open sequence. In the end the story does feel flatter than it should be, not giving us enough to work on to get behind.

Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film does seem to bounce between maybes, without giving us any of the true shock value we would expect to see here, with the mystery keeping us guessing along the way, waiting for more shocks it does get.

Settings – The film is set in the French countryside, which does show how away from the characters are from the big world.

Scene of the Movie – The escape.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Jumping between English and French in the same conversation.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror mystery that just doesn’t get to hit the levels it wants to, looking for a shock, it never does enough to delivery.

Oct 8 2021

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – H – The Hexecutioners (2015) Movie Review

Director: Jesse Thomas Cook

Writer: Tony Burgess (Screenplay)

Starring: Liv Collins, Sarah Power, Timothy Burd, Tony Burgess, Boyd Banks, Walter Borden

Plot: Two disparate young women working for a company that conducts euthanasia are dispatched to a remote estate to perform a custom assisted-suicide ritual, but unwittingly summon the wraiths of a Death Cult that once inhabited the property.

Tagline – Dying is a Wild Night.

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Hexecutioners starts a Malison (Collins) takes a role for a company that conducts euthanasia, which will see the process go wrong on her first day. Not sure this is the role for her, Malison is teamed up with Olivia (Power) an experienced member of the team, as they work for one of the biggest clients they have ever had.

When the women arrive in the mansion, they meet the strange caretaker Edgar (Burd) who quickly unsettles the pair, as they learn they might well be dealing with a preparation they aren’t prepared for.

Thoughts on The Hexecutioners

Characters & Performances – Malison is a quiet timid young lady that does live alone, taking a new job in a euthanasia company, a role she isn’t prepared for. She struggles on her first case, which leads to her suffering nightmares before getting given to an experienced member of staff, who will look to help her deal with the pressure she is facing. Liv Collins does give us the timid character with ease her, making us believe everything she is going through. Olivia is the woman that has been involved in this business for a while now, she has taken many lives and is asked to show Malison how to achieve this without the side effects. Sarah Power does bring the more controlling figure to life well in this film. We only meet one side character in Edgar who is the creepy caretaker that does have more answers to the strange events in the mansion.

Story – The story here follows a rookie and experienced euthanasia employees that are taking one big job to pass on the experience, only for this job to go in a very different direction, one that will change both of the people involved. This is an interesting story, because it does dive into the ideas of paid euthanasia, seeing how the two people will both look to deal with the role they are working on. The mystery around the house is interesting too, seeing how it does become itself own character because of what has happened there before. With two interesting components, it does end up falling short at connecting them both, leaning more towards the haunted house and ignoring the bigger message about the role the two have taken.

Themes – The Hexecutioners does have plenty of horror involvement, which will get to focus on what Malison is seeing in the house, partly because of the role and partly because of the house itself. Having most of the film set in a singular creepy mansion does help create the mystery and scares we find ourselves going along the way.

The Hexecutioners does bring us plenty of interesting ideas, they just seem to fail to connect to escape the normal haunted house film.

Sep 29 2021

Camino (2015) Movie Review

Director: Josh C Waller

Writer: Daniel Noah (Screenplay) Josh C Waller (Story)

Starring: Zoe Bell, Nacho Vigalondo, Francisco Barreiro, Sheila Vand, Dominic Rains, Jason Canela

Plot: In the jungles of Colombia, a photojournalist captures the truth behind a group of missionaries who may not be what they seem.

Tagline – The camera sees what it sees.

Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Camino starts when award winning photojournalist Avery (Bell) gets offered her latest project, a chance to go and view the work of a group of missionaries in Colombia, lead by Guillermo (Vigalondo). What seems like a routine job takes a dramatic twist when Avery witnesses something she shouldn’t, leading to Guillermo sending the whole group after her.

Avery must fight to survive, while trying to prove the truth of what happened and Guillermo’s twisted ways if she is going to make it out of this alive.

Thoughts on Camino

Thoughts – Camino is a thriller that will see how a photojournalist will need to use her own survivalist skills to make it out of the latest situation in the Colombian jungle, after witnessing something horrific. This is a nice survivor thriller that will give us everything we need, as we dive into seeing how the leader of this group shows a darker side, which shows just how convincing he is in controlling the group to believing anything he says. The environment will show the dangers that Avery must deal with and show just how much photojournalist would risk getting the big story. Everything comes of tidy, without feeling as intense as it could, leaving us wanting to see more before it unfolds in the manner you would expect in any thriller.

Final Thoughts – Camino is a by the book thriller offer little fresh without being on the duller side.