Us (2019)

Adelaide Wilson, her husband Gabe, and her two children Jason and Zora all pile in their station wagon for summer vacation. The family has a bayside summer home near Santa Cruz beach, where Adelaide was traumatized as a child. She is uncomfortable from their arrival and doesn't want to go back to the site of her trauma, but her husband convinces her. Throughout their day on the beach, weird coincidences happen over and over and Adelaide is on edge. The rest of the family is oblivious, but as night falls, a family looms at the end of their driveway and breaks into their home, revealing themselves to be deranged doubles.

Us is a suspenseful, tense film that preys on our childhood fears, fear of the unknown, and imposter syndrome. Adelaide meets her double as a child and lost her speech as a result. After years of therapy and dance training as a child, she recovered her speech but the anxiety and probable PTSD are still there. While everyone else blithely plays or relaxes on the beach, Adelaide tries to see in every direction on high alert to protect her children from any threat. Later on, she's the first to dial 911 before they even know the people are a threat. She is driven by love and fear in equal measure. The other Adelaide, named Red, has experienced many injustices and atrocities including being forced to live underground roughly mimicking Adelaide's actions, forced to be with Gabe's double Abraham, and forced to be pregnant with two monstrous children. Red doesn't have the same attachment to her family, but her reasons for fighting for freedom are also understandable. Having both main characters at odds with understandable motivations makes the film so much more complex.

** spoilers **

Adelaide's reactions and trauma take a different meaning when we find out at the end of the film that she is the underground doppelganger who switched places with and imprisoned Red when they were children. Adelaide's trauma is from being underground and knowing what it was like to essentially have no free will, cooked food, or open air. However, even though she knew people were trapped underground, she did nothing to help them and only lived in fear of her double coming for her. This fact with the failed Hands Across American campaign (that was supposed to help homeless people) being the double's inspiration points to the hidden doubles being symbols for impoverished and underprivileged communities. On the flip side, the affluent people, the Wilson's and their friends the Tyler's, are largely bored and have frivolous concerns like getting more luxury items. Even though they are largely decent people, they still represent the ideals of greed, boredom, excess, and apathy. Many of the doubles were more talented than their counterparts, namely the acrobatic twins and Zora's faster double Umbrae. They are driven mad by captivity and don't have access to opportunities that the surface people are free to reject. They could surpass the surface people if they had the same opportunities. Their decision to conquer the surface world with violence also exposes the violent origins of  and continued violent practices in dealing with people deemed "other" of the United States.

Us is an amazing film that kept me guessing. Jordan Peele has such a unique view with rich imagery and symbolism within a frightening and entertaining story. I watched the film twice in a weekend and I would love to watch it again because I see something different each time. Every aesthetic choice is so interesting, referential, and adds to the tapestry that makes up the film. The film is gorgeous to look at and listen to. Moments of humor break up the tension and feel like authentic conversations between family members. The home invasion scene backed by Fuck the Police by NWA gave me heavy Funny Games vibes and made the scene morbidly funny. The only tiny problem I had with the film was villain monologuing acting as heavy handed explosition. Us will inevitably be compared to Get Out, but they are such different films. It is much more open to interpretation, but still informed by the social and political climate in the US. I can't wait to see the Twilight Zone reboot and any other movie he creates.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Jaws (1975)

It's Police Chief Brody's first summer on Amity Island when a young woman's remains wash up on the beach. The medical examiner identifies it as a shark attack and Brody is quick to mobilize his team to close the beach. The mayor puts a stop to it due to the city making the majority of its funds during the Fourth of July weekend, but Brody knows he's wrong and has no recourse to do anything until someone is attacked by the shark.

Jaws is the only good, serious shark movie. All of the other ones take the formula it created and riff of that with cheesy effects, campy tone, and bad acting. For Jaws, the acting, music, and writing all contribute to making it the classic it is and making it the first summer blockbuster. Roy Scheider as Brody is an everyman hero that many people can relate to. He's afraid of the water and new at his job. He's not particularly skilled or learned, but he wants to help people. The scene where the woman who lost her son to the shark yells at him and slaps him shows his true character. He knew he did his best and it wasn't his fault. However, he lets her say her piece and get her anger out because it's what she needed.

Hooper, on the other hand, is an abrasive marine biologist who doesn't care about the politics or social niceties when lives are in danger. Quint is really only in it for the money and the thrill of hunting the most dangerous shark he's ever faced. As rude and awful as he is, he's a lot of people's favorite because of his stories, his "doll's eyes" speech, and his insane furvor. The most deplorable character of all time is the mayor who time and time again keeps the beaches open because the local businesses would suffer. He represents everything wrong with the political right and only sees the error of his ways on the Fourth of July when people are attacked by the shark in front of the press.

The music represents the main characters and is responsible for all of the tension in the film. It's very apparent when the music is played live along with the film and I highly recommend the experience. The cheerful adventure theme represents the hodgepodge team of men trying to take down this shark with only one experienced man and blundering through it. The most famous theme (which is really only two notes over and over) is the shark. It's one of my favorites of all time. When it's heard, I frantically guess where the shark will appear. The music shows its drive to kill and get revenge. This along with the scarce views of the entire shark make this film incredibly suspenseful. If you haven't seen Jaws, you're in for a treat.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Shut In

Mary Portman doesn't know what to do with her son Stephen anymore. He's changed so much and nothing she does seems to connect with him despite her background as a psychologist. She decides to send him away to a school that can suit his needs, but Stephen and his father collide with a big rig. Stephen can't speak or walk or respond to any stimulus. Mary feels enormous guilt and decides to put him in a hospital. She wants to take care of a boy named Tom who is hard of hearing and without parents. Tom disappears from her house in the middle of a snow storm, presumed dead after days missing. Mary feels she's being haunted by his spirit after she failed him when odd noises and nightmarish visions occur at night with increasing frequency.

Shut In has some elements of a promising horror film. The isolated setting is perfect for any horror plot. Mary has no neighbors and becomes completely cut off from the outside world during a horrible snow storm. Most of the film takes place in the house. First, it represents a prison for her because she takes care of her invalid, unresponsive son every day. She sees his state as her fault and takes no joy in caring for him. Later in the film, the house takes on a much different form of prison where outside forces, instead of the usual internal ones, torment her. Naomi Watts is sympathetic as Mary and portrays a flawed but realistic person. Even while she tortures herself for her perceived mistakes, she still dreams of killing her son because of all he represents. I understood her even in her most monstrous moments.

Unfortunately, Shut In falls into typical tropes and shoddily reasoned twists. The premise for Shut In is pretty much all tropes seen time and time again except the invalid son. Before I even watched it, I felt I had already seen it. The trappings are different in the amazing house and isolated location, but so many plot developments are the same. The film relies on jump scares to amp up the tension, but after two or three times, it ceases to be effective. The ending features two twists: one that I knew very early in the film that made sense and the other that I didn't see coming because it didn't. The only unique thing about this film is the twist that makes absolutely no logical sense. I suspended my disbelief during the film, but looking back on it, I felt insulted as a viewer. This twist assumes a huge amount of things that include Mary not knowing anything about her profession and not recognizing the effect of drugs she administers and medical professions being incredibly inept at their jobs. 

Shut In is an extremely typical film that depends on Naomi Watts' competent acting and the isolated setting t bring in viewers. The jump scares fall flat and the twists are either completely predictable or insulting to the characters and viewers alike. I hope the critical and monetary failure of this film will show that viewers don't want to see copycat, paint by number movies. 

My rating: 1.5/5 fishmuffins

The Apartment

Mark and Steph live happily in a nice house in South Africa with their daughter Hayden. Their peaceful life is marred by a home invasion that ending with stolen items but no physical injuries. The psychological harm has taken its toll and the family no longer feels safe in addition to hidden resentments that cropped up as a result. Steph is desperate to get away and heal, so she jumps on the chance to do an online house exchange for a week where she and Mark stay at a delightfully quaint French apartment and the French couple stays in their house. When they arrive, it isn't quaint, but empty, shoddy, and home to vagrants. They also feel a more sinister presence, but don't have the money to stay anywhere else. They will wait out the week. What's the worst that could happen?

When I heard about this book, I was excited that Blumhouse Productions is getting into horror. The studio can be innovative and creative, but their films are overall hit and miss. Anyway, this story has a lot of good things going for it. The family could be any middle class family that struggles financially and suffered such a psychological and monetary blow in the home invasion. A lot of people can relate and I found them mostly sympathetic until they started falling apart. The structure of the narrative alternates perspectives between the couple in every chapter, sometimes backtracking or leaping forward in time. The type of nefarious presence used is interesting and not well defined. Even after reading the story, I couldn't tell you specifically what is was. The rules governing it were unique and made sense. The decision to cut away from the violence made the book more compelling and allowed the reader to make what happened as gruesome as they could imagine. Only in one instance was it a little confusing to the plot.

My biggest problem with the book is Steph. So many wives in horror books and films are stereotypical, unsympathetic shrews. I'm not sure if it stems from the misogynistic view of marriage that these women were awesome and then turned horrible after giving birth and a few years of marriage. It's gross. Anyway, she is simply awful. She has a deep seated resentment of Mark's behavior during the robbery. If he had fought back like she wanted, one or more of them would have probably died. She doesn't have empathy or patience for his extended grief over his daughter's death from a previous marriage. He has problems getting close to Hayden because of his grief and Steph takes offense instead of being understanding. She attributes his behavior to hatred or resentment, creating this bizarre imagined conflict between the two. I assumed she didn't know about his grief by her behavior, but then she mentions it and I lost all sympathy for her. The entire situation is her fault because she didn't thoroughly research a place in Paris or ensure the one she chose had some reviews first. On top of this other moronic behavior, Steph completely avoids voicing her concerns or feelings until they explode out. All of this could have been avoided with some honest conversations and good research. Steph is the real villain of this whole piece.

The Apartment started out as very promising, creepy horror. The writing is pretty good and engaging, but it totally falls apart with Steph, the most infuriating character to read about. It's a disturbing trend in films that mothers and/or wives are unsympathetic shrews that only serve to make the main male characters look better and have understandable resentful feelings towards her. Other than that, the book has an interesting concept in an unspecified nefarious presence with its own rules. It never becomes over explained and I like the mystery surrounding it. It would be easy to write a completely different book about the same presence. I would give Blumhouse Books another chance even though I had some real problems with this one.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins  

Don't Breathe

Rocky lives with her crude, drunk mother and dreams of taking her daughter away to live in California. To achieve this, she, her boyfriend Money, and her friend Alex have been robbing rich houses. Their final score lies in a humble looking house in a deserted neighborhood with a blind man. The job seems perfect from the victim to the setting to the huge amount of money, so they decide to go through with it. The situation takes an unexpected turn soon after they enter the fortified house as the blind veteran isn't as helpless as they thought.

I've been extremely hyped for Don't Breathe for months now and I wasn't disappointed at all. The film starts by introducing the main characters and their way of life. Rocky lives in an awful situation and just wants to get out of Detroit with her daughter. Alex is in love with Rocky and doesn't want to leave his dad. I find this ironic since he can get his dad in huge trouble since he's been using his father's security company access to get into each of the houses he robs with his friends. Money (what a dumb name) is simply an idiot who acts like a gangster and would rather look cool than stay safe when robbing houses. His relationship with Rocky isn't well established. It's clear he's there to show how dangerous the blind man really is without having much emotional impact to the audience. I was relieved to see him gone and to see his tough guy persona leave him before it happened.

The house was hard to break into, but breaking out of it proves to be the hardest part for Rocky and Alex. They have to stay as silent as possible with their steps, their attempts to get out of the house, and even their breathing. I have never been so aware of every little sound in the film and of the people around me. The sound design is amazing and heightened the tension as it grew throughout the movie. The background music wasn't a conventional movie score, but ambient sounds heard in life like a low roar that's more felt than heard, high pitched whines, and other subtle sounds that highlight the silence and the noises the characters made. Even breathing or the sounds of cloth brushing on across a surface started to sound uncomfortably loud after a while.

The blind man at first seems like a tragic character: a war vet who lost his sight in a grenade accident and then later lost his daughter to a careless rich driver who never saw a day in jail for it. He rarely leaves his house and his giant doberman is his only companion. As the film goes it, the man shows he isn't as helpless as he looks and hunts the young thieves with the drive and energy of a Terminator. He predicts many of their movements with eerie accuracy, but he shows his humanity in small moments. The opening scene shows him dragging Rocky down a deserted but sunny street by her hair. There's something incredibly terrifying about being out in the open like that with no one to help and it brings to mind a scene in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre when Leatherface drags a girl into his house in broad daylight while she's screaming and struggling.

The only flaw with this movie (besides some characters being unnaturally hard to kill) is in one line. The blind man says, "There's nothing a man cannot achieve when he accepts there is no god." It's annoying because people will point to this line to reaffirm their belief that atheists are evil due to their lack of belief. Obviously the blind man's not the most mentally healthy person, but it's an annoying line nonetheless. It doesn't play a huge role in the film, but the blind man says so little that it's a significant line for him.

Other than one tiny flaw, Don't Breathe is a tense film with some unexpected twists and turns. Fede Alvarez takes the tension and terror of the scene near end of The Silence of the Lambs where Buffalo Bill is hunting Clarice in the dark with his night vision goggles and extends it to a feature length film. One scene in the film was so disturbing and disgusting that I could hear other viewers almost gagging. If you can see it in the theater, please do because the sound design won't be the same if you watch it at home. Seeing it in a sold out theater of people who were really into the film enhanced the viewing experience as well.

My rating; 4.9/5 fishmuffins

10 Cloverfield Lane

Michelle flees her home in New Orleans after a fight with her boyfriend. Late at night in a rural area, the radio reports about blackouts in major cities. Distracted by that and a call from her boyfriend, she doesn't see the truck that hurtles into her car, leaving her unconscious. She wakes up in an underground bunker in what looks like a jail cell. The man who claims to have saved her is Howard. He also claims that the world is uninhabitable and they can never leave the bunker. She's resistant at first, but then meets another survivor named Emmett. An escape attempt leaves her believing Howard after what she saw through the window, but is Howard really as benevolent as he says?

I didn't enjoy the original Cloverfield because it focused on the most privileged and boring characters who I couldn't bring myself to care about. This film is completely different and solves that problem nicely. The bunker setting is incredibly claustrophobic and the bulk of the film is completely dependent on the performances of the two main characters: Michelle and Howard. Michelle's first urge is to run when something goes wrong whether it's a fight with her boyfriend or an apparent apocalypse. Of course she distrusts Howard as he locked her up in a cell and won't let her near any entrances. She proves to be incredibly resourceful and uses her skills as a designer and a seamstress in ways I didn't expect. Never completely trusting Howard, she tries to utilize safeguards and always looks for ways of escape. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is one of the best final girls in the last few years because she balanced using her skills and being capable with feeling fear and grief.

Howard, on the other hand, is very capable, eerily prepared for such an event, and unstable. He isn't afraid to do what he thinks is for the greater good even if it's incredibly monstrous. He simply won't see it that way. Conflict and tension revolve around him. The first part of the film's suspense is due to if he's telling the truth about the outside world being uninhabitable. When it's revealed he is, that settles down, but his emotional outbursts triggered by just about anything keep that tension going. John Goodman is frightening in this role. He could be fairly even keeled one moment and then lash out the next. The second part of the film is focused on getting to know him more and discovering if the others are in danger by being in such close quarters to him. His action near the end of the film needs to be seen to be believed.

10 Cloverfield Lane is a suspenseful film that has excellent performances and masterfully built suspense. It's clear the Cloverfield stamp was added later since this film has virtually nothing in common with the original movie. This film is unique in that it takes place during an apocalypse situation and then extends past it. What are survivors to do? How will they live in this much different world? Without going into any detail, I loved the ending. It was completely unexpected and well done. The effects looked amazing. I would love to see a sequel.

My rating: 8/10 fishmuffins

The Invitation

Will and Kira are invited to a dinner party by Will's ex-wife Eden and her new husband David. It's been two years since they've seen each other, so awkwardness is expected. What is unexpected is their newfound happiness and serenity with New Age ideals about pain and death. Will suffers as he relives painful memories wandering the same house where his and Eden's son died and where Eden attempted suicide. Are Eden, David, and their odd friends simply enamored with a new way to manage their pain or are they dangerous?

The Invitation is a cult that claims to rewire the brain so grief and death are easier to process and a natural part of life that Eden, Will, and their weird friends Pruitt and Sadie. This sounds basically harmless if a bit odd. A few things lend a sinister undercurrent to the awkward gathering: the mindless happiness of its followers, the violence with which the followers react to the smallest scorn or opposition, the video of the group assisting a woman committing suicide, and the accounts of some of the members. Throughout the film, there's a strong case for either side: the cult is sinister and violent or the cult is weird but relatively harmless. The same goes for Will. At times, he's reasonable and clear headed, but sometimes he's overcome by grief and lashes out, giving his perspective that there's something wrong an irrational undercurrent. The film does a wonderful job building the suspense and keeping the viewers guessing.

I had a few problems with the film. While much of the party held unease and awkward moments, I found them to be drawn out and boring at times. In one particular scene. Pruitt shares his tragic story that involves him killing his wife by accident and everyone is pretty horrified. Clare right afterward wants to leave and Priutt accompanies her out because he's blocking her car in the driveway. No one thinks to protest or say anything after this man just admitted to committing murder and then wants to be alone with someone. The ending is only predictable because it's a horror film and wouldn't be very horrific if Will was wrong. The events are shocking even though I saw them coming plus the ending holds something even more surprising. Overall, it's an enjoyable film with unexpected moments and masterful suspense.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins