Tag: 2017

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Movie Review

Lost Gully Road (2017) Movie Review

Director: Donna McRae

Writer: Donna McRae, Michael Vale (Screenplay)

Starring: Adele Perovic, John Brumpton, Jane Clifton, Eloise Mignon, Alexander Capper, Lewis Revell

Plot: Lucy travels to an isolated house in the forest to wait for her sister. They have worked out a risky scheme for their future and all she needs to do is sit it out. However a sinister presence may have something different in mind.

Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Slow Burner

Story: Lost Gully Road starts when Lucy (Perovic) heads to a isolated house in the forest to get away from the pains of life, her sister Cassie (Mignon) is checking up on her, warning her to stay away from her phone and enjoy the nature environment around her.

As Lucy stays at the house for longer, she learns of a sinister presence within the walls, one that starts out friendly and with the pressure of an impending unwanted visitor, things start to spiral out of control.

Thoughts on Lost Gully Road

Characters – Lucy is the woman escaping from her life, she is trying to stay off the grid because of why she is running, as we learn more about the person, she is running from through the phone calls with her sister. She learns that the house has a haunting spirit in it which she must deal with the ever increasing level of aggression coming her way. We only get a few more fleeting characters, with the housekeeper, shopkeeper and Cassie the sister on the phone.

Performances – Adele Perovic is the person that needs to carry this film with her performance, for the most part she does well without being able to get an impactful scene.

Story – The story follows a young woman on the run from her past, her hiding place is off the radar, which happens to be where a sinister presence is waiting for a visitor. The story slowly gives us details of both the incidents going on, first why Lucy is on the run, which get revelled through phone calls with her sister and the secrets of the house from what Lucy discovers, it is a nice way to show us how everything is unfolding without just relying on the haunting side of the film, it does add up, even if it does feel like it could have been extended more.

Horror – The horror in the film comes from seeing what is happening to Lucy, everything starts to get bigger as time spent in the house goes on longer.

Settings – The film does use the singular location to show how Lucy is isolated and could have a threat coming from any angle.

Special Effects – The effects are used to show what is happening to Lucy, most is off camera material.


Scene of the Movie – Escape the room.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – While the hints are small, they are very much blink and you miss them.

Final Thoughts – This is a nice little horror that slow builds up to a big incident which we don’t get disappointed with.

Overall: Nicely Slow Built Horror.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – X – XX (2017) Movie Review

Director: Roxanne Benjamin, Karyn Kusama, St. Vincent, Jovanka Vuckovic

Writer: Roxanne Benjamin, Karyn Kusama, St. Vincent, Jovanka Vuckovic

(Screenplay)

Starring: Natalie Brown, Jonathan Watton, Melanie Lynskey, Casey Adams, Breeda Wool, Angela Trimbur, Christina Kirk

Plot: Four short horror films that are directed and written by women.


Tagline – Four deadly tales by four killer women

Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Horrors Fans Will Enjoy

Story: XX has four stories, which start with;

The Box starts when a family is travelling home from a Christmas shopping trip to the big city when Danny (DaCunha) talks to a stranger with a box on the train ride home, once home he doesn’t want to eat as he doesn’t feel hungry, the days pass by as his parents Susan (Brown) and Robert (Watton) get increasingly worried about him. As the problem starts to spread within the family it tears them apart until we get to see just what the cause is.

The Birthday Party starts when Mary (Lynskey) wakes on the day of her daughter birthday, with the first guests starting to arrive, only for her to discover her husband has died, wanting to hide the body, she must avoid her daughter and the guests a hide the body for the party get fully underway.

Don’t Fall starts with four friends Paul (Adams) Gretchen (Wool) Jess (Trimbur) and Jay (Krantz) are on a hiking trip, when they discover some native American paintings. That night they come under attack from something they should never have seen.

Her Only Living Son starts when Cora (Kirk) is seeing her son Andy (Allen) start to act rebellious and dangerous in his life, he is about to hit 18 and once again commits an assault at school, only to get off scot free, with the school believing he is a prodigy.

Thoughts on XX

Story – The Box is a very interesting horror, it poses a question that would leave the audience much like Susan wondering what changed everything in her family’s life, it has a shock moment, while the rest is filled with the psychological side of horror. The Birthday Party plays out more like a dark comedy that a horror, it does work very well watching how hard the it is to cover up a death. Don’t Fall does seem to be the weakest of the stories here, mostly because it is way too short, it seems to take us to the location, hit night and everything happens and it is over way too quickly. Her Only Living Son does play out a lot like ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ only having a supernatural side to the outcome, it is one that could easily be a longer film too. Overall the stories are different enough, we have little sparks for each sub-genre of horror too which only means if you didn’t like one, you can skip to the next with ease.

Horror – The horror in the film gives us something different in each little story, we have psychological, dark humour, creature feature and satanic, which will give the audience something to enjoy between them.

Settings – The film does use each setting to make us feel like we are in different stories with Happy Birthday using the environment the best through the film.

Special Effects – The effects are strong when needed, we don’t turn to them very often which is nice for a horror film at times.


Scene of the Movie – Dinner with a difference.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Don’t Fall feels too short.

Final Thoughts – This is a nice little horror anthology which highlights the female film makers in the genre, each story will have something for each type of horror fan to enjoy.

Overall: Horror Anthology 101

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – E – Escape Room (2017)

Director: Peter Dukes

Writer: Peter Dukes (Screenplay)

Starring: Skeet Ulrich, Sean Young, Christine Donlon, Randy Wayne, Matt McVay, Ashley Gallegos, Hayley Goldstein

 

Plot: Six friends test their intelligence in a game that takes a dark turn.


Tagline – Four friends. One room. One hour. One killer.

Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Could be Better

 

Story: Escape Room starts as four friends Jess (Donlon), Jeff (Wayne), Ben (McVay) and Angie (Gallegos) are taking part in an escape room run by Brice (Ulrich), an experience which will revolve around horror.

As the hour long experience starts, it seems to be going well until the mysterious killer in the room turns out to be a real killer, leaving the friends needing to figure out how to escape before the time runs out.

 

Thoughts on Escape Room

 

Characters – Brice is the owner of the escape rooms, he has been struggling of recent times, but with this latest player he hopes to improve his rating. When the camera goes out he is left wondering what will happen to his reputation if he opens the door early or what is going on. Ramona is the owner of the mysterious box which opens the doors for the nightmare. Jess is one of the reluctant contestants in the game because of her boyfriend’s eagerness to play, she must use her own puzzle solving skills to make it out alive.

Performances – Skeet Ulrich became a horror icon with his performance in Scream, here he just looked mostly lost in the leading role, because he is meant to be on edge and you never feel it. Sean Young is more of a cameo performance which could have been done by anyone. The younger stars do there best to make an impact and due to the basic characters we never see their performance skills.

Story – The story here shows us what would happen is an escape room experience went terribly wrong, with possession being a key part of this. The problem here is that, this real-time experience doesn’t feel real time and having to watch someone on the outside just makes us think lawsuit. The supernatural side is never that believable and by the end this does feel like an easy escape room to get out off.

Horror – Being locked in a room with a killer is always going to throw horror in our faces, this movie shines from that idea, but then it also holds back too much.

Settings – The film is mostly set in the one location, the escape room and if it was only set there I would say this is an excellent use of setting, but seeing events outside just drags us down.

Special Effects – The effects are god enough for the film, we get the basic blood and gore working for the film.


Scene of the Movie – First kill.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough focus on the real-time events.

Final Thoughts – This would be a good enough late night movie, it is short and sweet which will feed the horror fans enough.

 

Overall: Late night movie

Rating

 

 

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Movie Review

Replace (2017) Movie Review

Director: Norbert Keil

Writer: Norbert Keil, Richard Stanley (Screenplay)

Starring: Rebecca Forsythe, Lucie Aron, Barbara Crampton, Sean Knopp, Adnan Maral, Agnes Kiyomi Decker

Plot: Kira’s skin starts to age rapidly, dry out and crumble away. But then she discovers that she can replace her own skin with somebody else’s.

Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Under the Skin Without an Alien

Story: Replace starts when young lady Kira (Forsythe) finds that the skin on her finger and hand is literally crumbling off, looking for answers after her one night stand vanishes. She invites a friend Sophia (Aron) to stay, where she makes a discovery, that the skin can be replaced, instantly attaching itself to her if placed on the crumbling parts. Turning to Dr Crober (Crampton) for answers, she doesn’t give her any which will help, only tests to look for them.

Kira continues to see the skin crumble spreading, which makes her turn to more dramatic ways of trying to cure the problem, one that will see her going to new extremes.

Thoughts on Replace

Characters – Kira is a young lady, with what seems like a normal life, until she starts getting a problem with her skin on her hand, starting small and spreading down her arm, as her skin starts to dry up. She tries to find a solution which sees her learn that she can replace her skin with others, forcing her to turn to drastic measures to make sure her skin doesn’t dry up.

Sophia is a friend and lover to Kira, the only person that supports her with the problems she is facing, she tries to help find a solution and search for answers. Dr Rafaela Crober is the person that Kira turns to for help with her problem, like most doctors she gives the advice on how to cope with the problems.

Performances – Rebecca Forsythe is strong in the leading role, she shows the unsure side to what is going on, while also showing a devilish side at times. Lucie Aron makes for a great partner character, she fills in the advice like role we would be giving if it was our own friend. Barbara Crampton is the biggest name in the film and add her experience for her role which add the professional character to the film.

Story – The story here follows a young lady that is struggling with her own skin after it starts crumbling off, little by little, she seeks medical advice, but finds her own way to fix the problem, before learning the truth. This is an interesting story that does go in a direction you might not see coming, for the first half of the film, the story has dark idea that is twisted with blood, only for us to get an equally as dark second half if not darker. It can best be described as Under the Skin without the alien side to the story, which does make us know what we are getting into, with how Kira is acting through parts of the film. By the end of the story, you will be left asking a question about what you would do, if you got this chance, but we won’t say what the question is in this review.

Horror/Sci-Fi – The horror in this film comes form a mix of just what is happening to Kira and what Kira does to try and solve the problem, the wounds and effects from the skin damage is difficult to watch too, the sci-fi side of the film comes on stronger in the second half of the film, it poses plenty of questions.

Settings – The film does use the everyday settings which makes us believe Kira’s problem could happen to anybody.

Special Effects – The effects are the standout here, watching the moments of the skin removal can make you look away, the crumbling effect is also very different to what we have seen before.


Scene of the Movie – The truth.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We do get one too many attempts at twisting the story.

Final Thoughts – This is a sci-fi horror that will make your skin crawl, it has a delightful style, even if it does have a easy split between the two sides of the story.

Overall: Skin Crawling Horror

 

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Movie Review

The Curse of Buckout Road (2017) Movie Review

Director: Matthew Currie Holmes

Writer: Shahin Chandrasoma, Matthew Currie Holmes (Screenplay) Johnny Pascucci (Story)

Starring: Evan Ross, Henry Czerny, Dominique Provost-Chalkley, Danny Glover, Colm Feore, Mayko Nguyen, Jim Watson

Plot: A college class project on creation and destruction of modern myth, turns terrifying when a trio of young people come to realize the urban legends surrounding the famed Buckout Road may, in fact, be REAL.


Tagline – The road less traveled… for a reason.

Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Creepy Horror

Story: The Curse of Buckout Road starts with the death of professor at the local college, Detective Roy Harris (Czerny) is leading the investigation, turning to his long-time colleague Dr Lawrence Powell (Glover) to just support his daughter Cleo (Provost-Chalkley) who is struggling to process the death of her teacher.

Dr Powell learns that Stephanie, Cleo and a pair of twins have all been having nightmares about the location of Buckout Road, which sees him start to investigate only for him to become another victim of the road, his grandson Aaron (Ross) takes over the investigation, joined by Cleo, Derek (Watson) and Erik (Mac) who are studying the idea of whether myths are real or not, with their focus on the Buckout Road one.

Thoughts on The Curse of Buckout Road

Characters – Aaron has returned home from his time in the military college, where he still has a strained relationship with his grandfather, he ends up getting involved with Cleo who is trying to unlock the myth behind the legend of Buckout Road. Cleo is the one struggling to deal with the loss of her teacher, with her project being on Buckout Road, she becomes drawn to the road with the only person that she can turn to is Aaron. Detective Roy Harris doesn’t seem to ever listen to his daughter and jumps to conclusion before hearing what could be going on, he doesn’t like Aaron, even though he has a strong relationship with his grandfather Lawrence. Dr Lawrence Powell once helps Cleo out with the death of her mother, he raised his grandson and now he is trying to put the pieces together when it comes to what is going on along Buckout Road.

Performances – Evan Ross in the leading role does everything right without being a standout, he works well with Dominique Provost-Chalkley and when the pair are together it is the highlight of the film, but when they are alone, the performance from the both do seem to drop in places. Henry Czerny is great to see in another horror film this year following up Ready or Not. Danny Glover is here bringing some star power to the film.

Story – The story here follows a group of college students that start investigating a myth from their local town, which does have a mystery about mysterious number of deaths, only to find themselves getting involved in the curse and it might not just be a myth. This story does try to focus on the idea that we do see a lot of horror films that focus on myths that could be true, which sees us trying to see the study it rather than just walk through it like others have. The weakness in the story telling process does seem like we are watching a series of repeating moments which does focus extending the previous version, or giving a slight twist to what we have already seen. We do jump around a lot in the story, which doesn’t help us get invested in what is happening through mix of reality and myth.

Horror – The horror in the film does come through vision more than anything else, while it does look at a horrific look at the legend of the area.

Settings – The film is set just outside of Buckout Road, it shows how the town is scared of the myth, but isn’t interested in investigating it further.

Special Effects – The effects in the film do work with most being wounds, with certain sequences having an effect to make us be in the correct time frame.


Scene of the Movie – Lawrence is that you.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many flashes between reality and the past.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror that plays into the cursed area idea that does jump between the present and the past a lot, too often at times, we get plenty of vision horrors, without any scary moments.

Overall: Vision based horror.

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Movie Review

One Cut of the Dead (2017) Movie Review

Director: Shin’ichiro Ueda

Writer: Shin’ichiro Ueda (Screenplay) Ryoichi Wada (Play)

Starring: Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuzuki Akiyama, Harumi Shuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya, Hiroshi Ichihara, Mao

Plot: Things go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility, when they are attacked by real zombies.

Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Truly Unique Zombie Movie

Story: One Cut of the Dead starts on the set of a low budget zombie movie where Higurashi (Hamatsu) is seeking perfection from his stars Chinatsu (Akiyama) and Ko (Nagaya), which is seeing him push them to the limits. Calling for a break we see the actors bond with Nao (Shuhama), only to find themselves coming under attack by real zombies.

Higurashi has been using this location because of the rumours, which he now wants to help him get a more authentic horror movie, which turns into a real battle to survive the making of a horror movie.

Thoughts on One Cut of the Dead

Characters – Director Higurashi is the man trying to make this movie work, he is getting tired of his performers not showing enough fear, he pushes them to the limits with real zombies, which soon give him his perfect picture. Chinatsu is the star of the movie being made, she struggles to show the fear to start with, until she finds herself in a real zombie film. Nao is the production assistant that teaches the actors about the rumours about the area and joins in the fight against the real zombies. Ko is the lead actor in the film being made, he is meant to be the reluctant hero when the zombie attack.

Performances – This is a movie that has performances that do give the actors a lot to do, with a lot of different angles to be seen, everything is wonderful from the cast, that truly makes sense by the end of the film.

Story – The story here follows the production of the low budget zombie movie until things take a turn, from fiction to reality. This is a story that is a breath of fresh air, because it goes in a direction you won’t see coming and does seem like something we needed for the zombie genre of film. The story does however start by feeling like something we have seen before, until we go in the different direction. We do get some wall breaking moments which adds everything to this story, which will make it one of the most original and smart ideas you will ever see.

Comedy/Horror – The comedy in the film comes from most of the second half of the film, which will be constant laughs, the horror in the film does seem like a routine zombie movie, until things change, it doesn’t get as scary as it could, but then it doesn’t need to be.

Settings – The film uses the settings perfectly to add to the film, we get to see so much from the abandoned warehouse setting, which only grows in the later parts of the film.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are everything you need for a low budget production, it is used to create and add extra comedy to the film too.


Scene of the Movie – The third act.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – There really isn’t one.

Final Thoughts – This is one of the most original and ingenious by turning everything you think you know, leaving you laughing with pure enjoyment of the events of the film.

Overall: Ingenious Zombie Movie.

One Cut for the Dead will get a one-night event in the US on the 17th September.

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Movie Review

Stuck (2017) Movie Review

Director: Michael Berry

Writer: Michael Berry (Screenplay) Riley Thomas (Play)

Starring: Giancarlo Esposito, Amy Madigan, Ashanti, Arden Cho, Omar Chaparro, Gerald Canonico, Tim Young, Reyna de Courcy

Plot: An original pop musical film about six strangers who get stuck on a New York City subway together and change each others lives in unexpected ways.


Tagline – Sometimes it Takes a Stranger to Help You Find Your Voice

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Essential Viewing

Story: Stuck starts as the six strangers find themselves in a single subway carriage, we have the homeless man Lloyd (Esposito) that has been people watching on the subway for years, seeing people come and go for years, Sue (Madigan), Eve (Ashanti) who has been having personal troubles, Alicia (Cho) a dancer that has her own stalker in Caleb (Canonico) who has been designing his own comicbook superhero. along with construction worker Ramon (Chaparro).

When the train gets stopped, the six find themselves waiting, with Lloyd pushing them to let out their inner stories of what they are chasing in life, each person is from a different background, culture and ethnic group, where they each get to learn about life through another set of eyes.

Thoughts on Stuck

Characters – Lloyd is a homeless man living on the subway with his cart, we see him doing the everyday cleaning routine, while he people watches, knowing everyone that comes onto the subway. He likes to use song and performance to beg for money as he tries to bring the people together on their stranded time together. Sue comes from a professional job, being from an older generation that wants to accept everyone, but gets caught un in the political correct terms to address them on the subway. Eve is a woman that has found an unexpected twist in her life, suffering from relationship problems being very defensive. Alicia is a Korean dancer that is happy to close herself off from the world to follow her dream. Ramon is a Hispanic construction worker trying to balance three jobs just to give his daughter a better life. Caleb is a young man that is stalking Alicia, while he designs his own comic book about disabled superhero.

Performances – When we look at the performances we have six very talented actors, each one from a different age or ethnic background which helps them connect to the story they are telling, we see that these people could be from anywhere and have their own story.

Story – The story here follows six people that get stuck on a subway carriage, they are from different backgrounds, cultures and ethnic groups, they all have stories to tell, ones that you can only get to learn from talking to people. This story is one of the most important ones you will see this year, it shows you can never judge somebody until you learn their stories, you will never know the truth they are holding inside or the fights they have fought to be where they are. This will open your eyes to just what is out there and becoming accepting to everybody you meet, pass in the street or share a subway with, one that will show people can be there for you in life.

Musical – The songs sung through the film show us the stories the characters are going through, you can tell the tone of the story through each song

Settings – The story is almost set entirely on the subway, here we see the strangers trapped and getting to know each other, it is simple and effective to show how a simple conversation can learn a story.


Scene of the Movie – Sue’s story.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Nothing

Final Thoughts – This is one of the most essential viewings of the year because of just how easily it shows us that we should listen to other people’s stories in life.

Overall: Absolutely Delightful.

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Movie Review

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Director: Jon Watts

Writer: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers (Screenplay) Stan Lee, Steve Ditko (Comic Book)

Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Zendaya, Donald Glover

 

Plot: Several months after the events of Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker, with the help of his mentor Tony Stark, tries to balance his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens, New York City while fighting crime as his superhero alter ego Spider-Man as a new threat, the Vulture, emerges.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Easily the Best Spider-Man Movie

 

Story: Spider-Man: Homecoming starts as we learn how Adrian Toomes (Keaton) has be learning to develop the alien technology from the first Avengers battle in New York City, he has learnt how to make highly powerful weapons which he sales on the black market. Peter Parker (Holland) on the other hand must return to his quiet life in Queens after his work fighting Captain America for Tony Stark (Downey Jr), with Happy Hogan (Favreau) reluctantly looking over him.

Peter builds his weapons at school and turns into Spider-Man out of school to fight off small time criminals, when Peter stumbles upon Adrian’s men and weapons he tries to get help but no one would listen to him so he tries to stop him, himself, here is where Peter must learn the responsibility of being a superhero all while trying to get good grades at school.

 

Thoughts on Spider-Man: Homecoming

 

Characters/Performance – Peter Parker is the geeky high school student who has shone through classes, getting heckling like bullying from Flash but is easily a background student. Outside of school he gets all of his excitement fighting crime waiting for the call to be part of the Avengers. Peter has one of the better superhero arcs in recent years he learns about responsibility, friendship and sacrifice to become the masked hero. Adrian Toomes is a man who knows how to make the most of a difficult situation, he takes his demolition/removal men and turns his enterprise into an arms dealership that produces the most high tech weapons on the streets from the alien technology. The best thing about this character is, that he is human, there is no superhero abilities he has just mastered the technology to be the threat, he wants money over destruction which is refreshing. Tony Stark is mostly used as the mentor and is there for all the important decisions Peter must make. Aunt May is younger than before but is mostly used as the concerned parental figure in Peter’s life. Happy is also in like a reluctant guardian role mostly on the other end of the phone. In the school we have Ned the best friend he always puts Peter’s foot in it, Michelle the quiet one that stays out the way, Liz the one Peter has a crush on and Flash the bully like character but it is mostly whittled down to heckling.

Performance wise, Tom Holland is excellent at Peter Parker, his enthusiasm shines through but we also get to see the range of emotions Peter goes through during the film, he does also make a great Spider-Man being original enough after the previous two actors turns at him. Michael Keaton makes a devilish villain and one you can enjoy watching because of the simple desire he has. Robert Downey Jr, Marisa Tomei and Jon Favreau are good through the film giving us the comic timing we need at times but also the serious talks when needed. Jacob Batalon gets the most laughs, Zendaya, Laura Harrier and Tony Revolori also are great in the roles they play.

Story – This is the third first solo chapter of Spider-Man, we have been introduced to this version in Civil War so, we can skip he got bitten and slowly learn he is mutating which is great. We know have a young superhero (15) that has been giving a glimpse of the battles he could be having, (See Civil War) but must return to a normal high school life. The best way to describe this feeling is traveling to a beautiful country only to need to return to a dead-end job. The story focuses on the growing up process, if you want this is a coming of age superhero film because Peter must learn his place in the world, not every day is going to be battle the save the world and most of all enjoy the youth he currently has. We have strong elements of a high school comedy coming through here and people will all say if John Hughes made a superhero movie, well this would be it.

Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi – The action is good with each battle increasing in size, starting with a small car chase before escalating up to the ferry scene which we saw in the trailer and beyond. The adventure comes from seeing how Peter tries to solve these crimes by himself learning about his enhanced suit. The sci-fi element of the film comes from the idea that Toomes has learnt from the alien technology left from the battles that destroyed the city.

Settings – The settings are mostly New York but we do also end up in Washington because we need big landmarks for the battle or saving people scenes to take place in.

Special Effects – It would be hard to fault a single side of the special effects being used in this film, that all make the action sequences look fantastic.

Final Thoughts – This has been a brilliant year for comic book movies and we seem to have learnt the formula, give a small introduction in an ensemble film before stepping out giving us the solo film instead of origin this origin that. I would say this is know the best Spider-Man film I have seen and I would be happy to suggest people to watch and even watch again myself.

 

Overall: Marvel throws us the best teen comedy superhero movie to date.

Rating

 

 

Categories
Movie Review

The Ice Cream Truck (2017)

Director: Megan Freels Johnston

Writer: Megan Freels Johnston (Screenplay)

Starring: Deanna Russo, Emil Johnson, John Redlinger, Sam Schweikert, Hilary Barraford, Bailey Anne Borders, Dana Gaier

 

Plot: Mary moves back to her suburban hometown, to find that the suburbs are scarier in more ways than she ever remembered.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Desperate Housewives: Serial Killer Edition

 

Story: The Ice Cream Truck starts as Mary (Russo) returns to her suburban home town to start a new life, all while her family finishes off school and work before joining her. Mary gets to meet the gossip girls Jessica (Barraford), Christina (Walter) and Katie (Towns-Cuellar), the creepy delivery man (Phillips) but strangest of all is an ice cream truck driving around the neighbourhood.

The ice cream truck is driven by the creepy mysterious man (Johnsen) who has a habit of inviting people into his truck and killing them. The people of the neighbourhood barely notice what is going on as this suburban nightmare grows for Mary.

 

Thoughts on The Ice Cream Truck

 

Characters/Performance – Mary is the wife and mother who has moved before the rest of the family to get the house set up and find inspiration for her latest writing project. Mary does struggle to enjoy returning to a suburban neighbourhood with people just waiting for the next chapter of gossip. Max is the teenage son of one of the neighbours, he is the local pot dealer which does help Mary get through the nosey neighbours. He also plays into the desperate housewives feel to the film. The Ice Cream Man drives around the neighbourhood trying to sale ice cream but if you disrespect him he will just kill the customer, he is social awkward fitting the killer stereotype.

Performance wise, Deanna Russo is impressive in the leading role, fitting the character required very well, John Redlinger also gives us a good performance as both the two characters offer up the Desperate Housewives feel to the film. Emil Johnsen gives us the horror side of the film as we get to see the darker character that when on screen is somebody you want to watch.

Story – The story does show us how difficult adjusting to the suburban neighbourhood for our lead character Mary, we get the temptation of romance, dealing with gossiping women and the strange people lurking around every corner. We honestly do get a true Desperate Housewives feel about most of the scenes, which is fine for the most part but if you want the horror side of the film it only comes out in the story in small parts.

Horror/Comedy/Mystery – The horror side of the film is used well when we see it, we have an Ice Cream Man that kills people, but I feel we did need to see this side of the film slightly more. The comedy I felt was mostly humour focused on the suburban lifestyle with the mystery being focused on just why the killer does everything.

Settings – The suburban setting does wonders for this film because it shows the new difficult world Mary must adjust too after spending her adult life in the big city. We get to see just how she doesn’t enjoy everything in this location.

Special Effects – Most of the kills are cleverly filmed off camera which lowest the need to spend too much time on the effects but we are left to imagine what is going on.

Final Thoughts – This is a different horror comedy that does work on levels you didn’t expect because it shows us how difficult the suburban life can be.

 

Overall: Enjoyably Fun Horror Comedy.

Rating