Horror Mini-Reviews: A Quiet Place Part II (2021) and Censor (2021)

* A Quiet Place Part II

Evelyn and her family seek a new place to live while avoiding blind aliens and feral humans. They encounter an old friend and surmise that they aren't alone in the world from a song on the radio.

A Quiet Place Part II is slightly better than its predecessor. The flashback to the very first day of the invasion is full of suspense and surprises. The CGI creatures are a little too present and in your face. The scene where Evelyn is backing up and the arm of a creature appears in the advancing bus's broken windshield is just the perfect amount of showing the creature's presence without seeing the entire thing. 

This sequel is mostly about the children taking charge, which leaves Evelyn doing almost nothing at all and Emmett, the old friend, assuming her role as protector. Regan is self possessed and does what she thinks is right no matter what. She figures out the song riddle and finds a way to help her community. The island city they find is interesting, but a weird distraction at best considering what happens to it. This installment at least felt like it was going somewhere instead of rehashing the same scene over and over like the previous film.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

* Censor (2021)

Enid watches all the video nasties to judge which can be censored and which should be banned outright. She takes great pride in her work and believes she's protecting the general public from gore, murder, and depravity.  Her own sister went missing and she failed to recall any details. When she sees a film similar to that event, her world starts to unravel.

Censor is a unique film that follows up-tight and orderly Enid, who watches the most gory films as a sacrifice to protect her community (in her mind). When a man kills someone similar to a kill in a video nasty she personally approved (even thought the murderer hadn't seen it), the puritanical English public practically crucifies her. Her reputation is  fully destroyed when she is seen buying a contraband video nasty. The film's crux is that Enid can't differentiate a film from reality and she has so much guilt from her sister's death/disappearance that she would do anything to have her sister back. It says so much about society's approach to grief (as in none really) and how repression is necessary when grief isn't addressed. The delusion of the end was so surreal and perfect. I wasn't on board with every twist and turn, but the ending impressed me.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Franchise Marathon: Friday the 13th Part III (1982) and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

 * Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

Jason Voorhees survives the previous installment to kill again. Unsuspecting Chris Higgins and her friends go on a weekend getaway to her family's old home on Crystal Lake. They have a confrontation with some bikers who end up following them to the house to get revenge. Of course, Jason goes on a killing spree and dons his iconic hockey mask for the first time in the franchise.

Friday the 13th Part III was released in 3D and many scenes take advantage of that. The film as a whole is formulaic and familiar. A group of friends is one by one picked off by Jason until a final girl emerges. The biker gang gives some change of dynamic and shows more characters of color, but they are mostly villainous, threatening our white protagonists and only serve to increase the body count. Shelly, a kind of incel joker, does provide some levity to the film. 

Overall, this installment is fine. The standout events are Jason donning the iconic hockey mask and the very end echoing the lake scene from the first film, but with Pamela Voorhees' rotting body. There are some fun kills and the way Jason is stopped is at least new. 

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

* Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Jason Voorhees somehow survived the previous film to kill again. A group of teens goes to Camp Crystal Lake to party and happen to be next to Trish and her little brother Tommy. Murder, mayhem, and teen drama ensue.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is far from the actual final chapter and is the first movie to feature Tommy, a tragic figure that will fight Jason several times. A lot of the story is steeped in teen drama, but Tommy and his monster masks are a fun addition. The kills are unique with weapons ranging from shower tile to a corkscrew. Crispin Glover does a bizarre, hilarious dance. I didn't really get why Tommy shaved his head in the end (apparently to make Jason mistake him for his younger self) and I found the ending very weak and Tommy portrayed as evil for some reason, counter to later sequels.

Overall, it wasn't my favorite installment and didn't do much to set itself apart from other sequels. Tommy will be a fixture in the series and this story gives future insight into his character and his trauma. 

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins

Nocturne (2020)

Vivian and Juliet are twins, both working hard to become concert pianists. Both go to the same prestigious art high school, but Vivian has made it into Julliard while Juliet didn't and refused to apply anywhere else. An excellent violinist who also attends the school killed herself and left a notebook, detailing rituals on how she became so skilled. Juliet finds it and dismisses it at first, but delves into it when her sister outperforms her at every turn. 

Nocturne melds the world of esoteric rituals with the high pressure world of classical music performance. Juliet is the underdog in every respect and remembers that she prompted her and her sister to start piano lessons even though she's viewed as the inferior musician. Vivian, on the other hand, is a lauded pianist, has a loving boyfriend, an amazing piano teacher, and the high opinion of everyone in the school. Once the rituals come into play, Juliet shows herself to be very petty, copying her sister's audition piece and exposing jealousy for her sister's prestige.  

As someone coming from music schools, I appreciate the realism in how people treated musicians, the politics of the school, and the paths set out for students. I kind of wish it was a college instead of a high school because of the age of the actresses and the fact that few are this serious about a performance career that early. Family members around them criticize a career in the arts and question how secure it is. The politics of the school place Vivian above Juliet, even when Juliet outplays her sister because they want to go with the more reliable choice. Even in college or at the professional level, certain players are favored in auditions even if they didn't play well that day because of their reputation or who they study with or know. It's a cutthroat world that I decided not to be part of and I opted to teach and play for enjoyment. Juliet's teacher tried to show her such attainable paths and she refused to see them. 

The esoteric rituals in the film take everything from Vivian and give them to Juliet. At first, Juliet doesn't put much stock into the notebook until horrible things start happening that end up benefiting her. She goes from sympathetic and hard working to obnoxious and egotistical over the course of the film. Her dreams seem to be slipping away from her, so she goes all in on this Faustian deal in a desperate attempt to preserve it. I feel for her, but she goes too far. The most tragic thing is that she's still quite young and could have achieved her goals eventually with a different setting, different teachers, and a different outlook. 

While much of the film is light on horror elements, the anxiety and psychological tension surrounding Juliet sustained me until the end, where it steers fully into horror. I enjoyed the focus on music, the obsession with unattainable perfection, and the realities of being part of the music world. The ending is predictable if you pay attention, but I enjoyed it in all its glory. I would recommend this if you liked The Devil's Candy, Bliss, or Starry Eyes, all about risking everything to succeed in some form of art.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

The Nightingale (2019)

* major spoilers *

In 1825, Clare Carroll lives in an English penal colony located in Australia working as a servant for a British military unit. Due to her beautiful singing voice, she is called upon to entertain and serve upon rowdy soldiers. While it looks to others that she gets preferential treatment, Lieutenant Hawkins treats her cruelly behind closed doors and dangles a promised letter of freedom for her and her family to keep her subservient. When his authority is threatened, Hawkins does the unthinkable, leaving an injured and enraged Clare to seek revenge.

The Nightingale is a brutal film that has several scenes of sexual assault, murders of children, and other acts of violence. Although it may not be for all audiences, the portrayals of rape are never meant to titillate. Each one is filmed to show the point of view of the woman and not to objectify her. Many claim this film isn't horror because it's a historical drama, but I argue that the horrific acts done by privileged men with bruised egos definitely classify it as horror. This also makes it incredibly relevant to modern times.

Clare Carroll does what she can to survive throughout the film and stays within the realm of reality. She never becomes a killing machine or supernaturally capable. As a servant for most of her life, weaponry and self defense aren't high on her skills list. However, her sheer determination for revenge takes her extremely far beyond what is expected of her because her life is essentially over when her husband and child are murdered in front of her. Lieutenant Hawkins's word will always be taken as fact above her own no matter the evidence as she saw when she tried to report the murders. Even before the murders, Hawkins raped her whenever he wanted because he knew no one would believe her because of her status as a convict and his own privilege as an officer. The authorities are on the lookout to send her to an even worse penal colony for the rest of her life because she said no to a man in power. Clare is far from perfect and makes many mistakes along the way, including showing the racism towards the Aboriginal people of the time.

Billy is an Aboriginal man Clare hires to guide her through the Tasmanian wilderness. Through him, the audience sees how the English have treated his people, stealing their lands, murdering them indiscriminately to the point of genocide, and destroying their culture. To Clare, this man is lower than an animal and she fears for her safety in his presence until they reluctantly get to know each other. When they share about each other's experiences, they see how similar they have been treated by the English. Billy's true name is Mangana and all the men in his tribe were murdered during colonization. He is essentially homeless, pushed to the edges of society, and works when the English deign to hire him as a guide. At the end of their journey, he would have no recourse if they refused to pay him or tried to murder him. The English have taken fundamental things from both of them by dehumanizing and enslaving them. They have also created a hierarchy to pit the Irish convicts and subjugated Aboriginal people against each other. 

Lieutenant Hawkins contrasts with Clare and Billy as the only main character with societal and political power. He represents all of their problems as a high ranking colonist that perpetuates the inhuman treatment of non-English people and genocide in addition to abusing his power for selfish gains. Everything is going well for him until he's passed over for a promotion he feels he deserves. Instead of accepting gracefully and perhaps improving his leadership for next time, Hawkins decides to traverse through the dangerous wilderness at a breakneck pace to speak directly to the man in charge and make his case. This is the only situation he couldn't kill or rape someone to solve his problem because the defiant person is above him in the hierarchy. His solution is to force those lower than him to go on a treacherous journey where he rapes, murders, manipulates, on his own quest for the promotion he thinks he deserves. Unfortunately, it's at the expense of many others and the example of yet another privileged. mediocre white man who can't take no for an answer. 

At the climax of the film, both Clare and Mangana use their culture, the thing the English tried so hard to destroy, to strike back at Hawkins. At the beginning of the film, Clare is commanded to use her voice for the enjoyment of English officers and sing English folk songs. Hawkins even goes further and demands a special song of his choosing in private that precedes assault. To her child and husband as well as on her journey for revenge, she sings traditional Irish songs in Gaelic. When Clare finally confronts him right in front of the officers he hopes to gain a promotion from, she sings an impassioned song in Gaelic just after accusing him of rape and murder. Although it would be satisfying to see her kill him, this form of revenge is more realistic and more meaningful. It throws her culture in his face and weaponizes the voice he always forced her to use to please her oppressors. Mangana, on the other hand, puts on his tribe's warpaint, attacks Hawkins in the middle of the night while he sleeps, and kills him. He escapes seriously injured. He and Clare celebrate their victory such as it is. It doesn't do much to change the oppressive English force and Billy is most likely going to die, but they did what they were able to and achieved revenge.

The Nightingale proves hard to watch and isn't an enjoyable film. However, it's an important film that sheds light on the background behind racism and bigotry indigenous people are still being treated with today. All over the world, there are similar stories of genocide and enslavement. I was pleased to find out that Jennifer Kent worked closely with Aboriginal Elders of Tasmania to portray their culture in the most respectful and accurate way. Clare's story is very relatable today to women fighting against established, privileged men in power who are still given more of the benefit of the doubt by wider society. I highly recommend this film. Every aspect of it is well made and doesn't lag with the long run time. I was riveted while angry and sad throughout the ordeal.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Upcoming Horror Films

* Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, August 9 in theaters



Plot: It's 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind...but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time-- stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah's terrifying home.

I read this series as a kid and the art especially was so memorable, chilling, and strange. Seeing it replicated so lovingly onscreen is surreal and I can't wait to watch this movie. The horror of the book is obviously not being pulled back at all with the body horror of the poster below. I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a press event for this film, where I got see a clip, see the new trailer, and hear directly from Guillermo del Toro, Andre Ovredal, and the cast. The film will have the most memorable stories in Scary Stories such as The Red Spot, Harold, and The Pale Woman melded into one story. The concept of the story book writing itself as it occurs in real life is awesome. It seems like each character will be affected by one story based on their personality and background. Del Toro said they are aiming for a PG-13 rating, which completely makes sense. I can't wait for this adaptation.

* Suspiria, May 3 on Amazon Prime

Suspiria, on of my favorite films of last year (read my review here), premieres on Amazon Prime May 3rd. If you haven't seen this film, I highly recommend it. I personally loved it, but it is lengthy and can be polarizing.

* Body at Brighton Rock, April 26 on VOD



Plot: Wendy, a part time summer employee at a mountainous state park, takes on a rough trail assignment at the end of the season, trying to prove to her friends that she's capable enough to do the job. When she takes a wrong turn and ends up deep in the backcountry, she stumbles upon what might be a potential crime scene. Stuck with no communication after losing her radio and with orders to guard the site, Wendy must fight the urge to run and do the hard job of staying put-- spending the night deep in the wilderness, facing down her worst fears and proving to everyone- including herself- that she's made of stronger stuff than they think she is.

Body at Brighton Rock looks a bit like Last Shift mixed with The Ranger with a twist of its own. I'm immediately on Wendy's side despite her naivete. Her determination to do her job and prove herself are admirable. I am completely intrigued to know what's going on and I already have a list of theories about what's going on. I loved Roxanne Benjamin's work in anthologies such as XX, Southbound, and VHS 2, so I'm eager to see her first full length film.

Halloween (2018)

In Haddonfield, a podcast team approaches a non-verbal Michael Myers with his infamous mask and a hardened, survivalist Laurie Strode separately. Their goal is to reunite them (and open old wounds) for their audience. Things don't quite go as planned. Myers remains impassive and Strode flat out refuses. When he is supposed to be transported to a different facility, the bus crashes and Michael escapes, returning home to Haddonfield and killing as he makes his way back to Laurie.

Halloween (2018) had a lot of expectations to live up to even considering many of the recent sequels and remakes have been varying levels of disappointing. I went into the film with cautiously optimistic expectations and the film proved to be more than that. First, it's ignoring every other Halloween film except the original. Trying to keep track of the curse of thorn, Rob Zombie's remakes, or the H20 timeline (where Laurie is alive) as opposed to the Halloween 4 timeline (where she's dead) would be an insurmountable task for anyone. The choice to exclude the second film seems odd, but it gets rid of the revelation that Michael and Laurie are related and keeps Myers a random killer (which makes him more frightening) and . This simplifies things and starkly shows the change (or lack thereof) in the main characters.

Michael Myers and Laurie Strode are forty years older than in the first film. Myers is essentially unchanged. He doesn't speak or even react to things. Idiotic podcasters shove the iconic white mask in his face expecting some sort of change and leave disappointed. Of course he looks different than we assume he looked in the original and we do get a small glimpse of his face to reveal the damage Laurie inflicted with her knitting needles. Once the mask is on and he's on the move, he seems more motivated and brutal than the first film. Myers goes door to door, killing those he happens by and collecting and discarding weapons until he finds his kitchen knife. His victims range from an old woman obliviously leaving doors open to a teenager hunting with his dad, but he seems to ignore people who stay out of his way, such as a baby in a crib or the little boy of a babysitter. His violence occurs offscreen or bloodless in the beginning and then steadily progresses to the most ridiculous, gory death near the end, reflecting the journey the franchise has taken over the years.

Laurie Strode, on the other hand, has changed tremendously from happy, normal teen to paranoid, tense adult. She lives in a house that's more of a fortress with traps and tons of weapons. She's constantly training, keeping up her physical fitness and skill with weapons, waiting for the inevitable day when he would return. All of this comes at a cost. She married, had a child named Karen, then divorced and had the child taken away due to her choice of survivalist life, outside of society. It's amazing to see Laurie so strong and capable, but it also takes into account the effect of the trauma she experienced and how she chooses to cope with it. Her mental state is especially in shambles when Michael is transported and she lives in constant fear of attack. I can see how she doesn't ever want to be a victim and wants to save those around her, but the way she expresses it can be hurtful to those around her. Karen, now grown with her own teenage daughter, chooses to live a normal life and keep optimistic, barring Laurie from her home if she won't get help for her mental issues and keeps living in fear. Both women are living their lives in a way to keep themselves mentally and physically safe and they happen to contradict the other, creating this rift.

The film is complex, alternating suspense with moments of humor to alleviate the tension. The majority of characters are surprisingly fleshed out from the sassy little boy being babysat to the young teen who hunts with his dad and enjoys his dance classes. Even the three teen boys in the film are different from one another. Since Donald Pleasance has died, a new character, Dr. Sartain, fills his shoes. The character is a bit of a surprise later since I shoehorned him into Dr. Loomis' role without a second thought. The only flat characters here are the podcasters who served to show how true crime outlets can exploit the people involved for views and fame and to get the mask back into Michael's hands. They didn't get to show much more than their desperation to get their story and have Laurie and Michael face each other for their audience.

The confrontation between Michael and the Strode women is everything I wanted it to be. I especially enjoyed how the Strode women were all capable and strong in their own ways. Each of them decided to blaze their own path and made different choices than those who came before them. I've read some people saying that Laurie essentially turned into Michael at the end, but I disagree completely. There is a role reversal because Laurie is on the offensive and sets traps, but she is essentially human while Michael is not. She is afraid and makes mistakes at times, but her thought out plan and training serve her well in the end. Her ability to fight back or use violence against him does not take her humanity away, especially when she does everything she can to save her daughter and granddaughter. Michael is the same as always: slowly pursuing and going over any obstacle like a robot programmed to do so.

Halloween truly surprised me with how good it was. I would put it as the second best of the entire franchise right behind the original. The pace is steady and the scares are well placed with some humor to break up the tension. There are surprises, plenty of kills, and a heartfelt family story at its core. I would love to see a sequel if it is as well made and thoughtful as this one. The people behind this really showed their admiration and knowledge of the franchise with subtle references to the other films, plot choices, and aesthetic choices. John Carpenter's score is the cherry on top of the whole thing with themes from the original plus new reworkings and new tracks. Highly recommended and well worth your time.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Rings

* spoilers *

Julia sees her boyfriend Holt off to college while she stays home for her senior year. When a frantic woman contacts her through Holt's Skype account saying he's missing, she makes an impromptu trip to his college and doesn't receive a warm welcome. Holt is missing and his friends refuse to talk to her beyond telling her to leave. After snooping around and encountering a lying professor named Gabriel, she discovers that he is conducting an experiment involving the infamous Ring video that kills you a week after you watch it. The experiment also included Holt. Can she find him and save him from Samara?

Rings is only slightly better than The Bye Bye Man only because a few scenes are actually effective. When Gabriel watches the video, he looks out the window and notices the rain is falling up. A fly that had been flying around the room is now on the other side of the window when he tries to crush it. It's little things being off kilter like this that makes an atmosphere. When Skye is set to be killed by Samara, modern CGI makes her look scarier. Of course Skye tries to destroy her flat screen TV, but while it's face down on the floor, water comes pouring out of it. Samara lifts it and crawls over, looking like she's in the VHS with static and tracking errors. Very cool. The only other good thing is Vincent D'Onofrio because he's always good.

So much of the film is boring, horrible, or nonsensical. The beginning starts with Samara killing an entire plane of people. I thought this meant she was raising the stakes and expanding her rules, but she never kills a large group of people again. Gabriel's experiment has a lot of holes in it. It's never shown how Gabriel knows that he has to make a copy or that he has to have someone else watch it. Each person in his study seems to wait to the very last second to have their "tail" watch the video, which is asinine and supposed to create tension but fails. The video is now digital and when Julia copies it (to show she is so special), a video in the metadata is revealed inside the video. They wanted to introduce an new creepier video and thought of a ridiculous way to do it. I can't muster any emotion for any of these characters. The young actors, namely Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe as Julia and Holt, were about as animated as cardboard with no emotional connection.

My other problem with the film is how much it rehashed material from previous films. Again, a person is investigating Samara's past and finds a family member. We already know about Samara's past. We already know that Samara is inherently evil in life and in death, so no placement of her body is going to fix her or make her move on. It doesn't even make any sense for Julia to investigate. The film's pace stagnates and drags. The film ends with Julia turning into Samara and Samara sending the video to everyone at her school. Two things are wrong with this. First, Samara seems to be doing just fine with no body, so why would she want to be restricted to one vessel. Second, Samara uses e-mail and instant messages to send the video. Why not Twitter and Facebook? It would spread faster and just looks like the people who conceived of this part of the film aren't technologically savvy. Rings is a boring, infuriating film that brings nothing new to the horror genre.

My rating: 1/5 fishmuffins

Consumerism Horror: The Stuff vs. They Live

* The Stuff

* spoilers *

The Stuff is a delicious yogurt-like food that has no calories. The craze has millions of people eating it and made the company behind it a huge amount of money. The Stuff's stylish and sexy commercials are everywhere with big stars endorsing it. Unfortunately, the snack isn't all that it seems. The Stuff in reality is a parasitic living organism that takes over people's bodies and brains. It also has the ability to move in its pure form, attacking anyone who opposes it. The effects for it where varied and interesting. It would crawl up the wall, out of people's throats, or shoot across a room. This monstrous product is a metaphor for unhealthy products marketed for everyone even though they are harmful like sugary food, alcohol, cigarettes, and fast food. Corporations only care about making money and don't care about the negative effects on their consumer's health. The Stuff corporation took it a step further and pushed out the product without even really knowing what's in it. The message is clear, but the film has problems in other places.

The acting overall is pretty horrible, especially from the little boy Jason. Mo, the main hero, grates on the nerves with his know it all, smug attitude. He and his motivations also undermine the message of the film. He was only hired to expose The Stuff by ice cream companies whose sales were affected by its success. His motivations play into more corporate greed from a different source, so he isn't morally any better than those who make The Stuff. The characters make bizarre decisions and conventient but illogical plot points are plentiful. The relationship between Mo and Nicole just happens and then she disappears from the end of the film for no reason. Nicole sets Mo's face on fire when it's covered with The Stuff and he's completely fine afterwards. The film's end is also strange. Mo forces The Stuff's company head, who was already coming out with a replacement product with less Stuff, to eat tubs and tubs of his product. Wouldn't this just create more problems and more Stuff zombies? The film ends with a very short scene of men selling The Stuff on the black market. It seemed out of place and odd. While The Stuff is an enjoyable film with a clear message, that message ends up muddied with confused plot points and cheesiness.

My rating: 3/5

* They Live

* spoilers *

An unnamed drifter wanders into town, looking for a job. He is welcomed by a homeless community that completely destroyed by police shortly after. In the same raid, a resistance movement is also attacked. The drifter stumbles into their base and finds a pair of sunglasses that reveals an earth shattering conspiracy.  With the sunglasses, the drifter sees through society's facade. Advertisements actual say things like "Obey," "Consume," "Marry and reproduce," "Stay asleep," "Conform," "Money is your god." and "No independent thought." The upper echelons of society have been taken over by aliens whose hideous true faces are revealed through the sunglasses. They plan to harvest our planet for all it's worth and move on to another planet.

I had heard of this film for a while and I had no idea John Carpenter directed it. As with all Carpenter films I've seen, it's formidable. The film is incredibly relevant today when we are constantly assaulted by advertising even more than when this was made. People would rather follow reality stars and social media than be interested in the presidential race that has a huge impact on their lives and on the planet. Many of us are obsessed with items and status symbols instead of more important things in our lives. One of the great points the film made was how people sold out their fellow man in return for riches. They were fine with aliens poisoning the earth and keeping the poor downtrodden for their own personal gain. The situation in real life is similar considering the corruption of many corporations and their willingness to sell harmful products to the masses, exploit workers, and pollute our environment.

The film shows an underlying reason for the class warfare in our society. It's satisfying to see a man with no social power fight successfully against those with the most power. The class we are born into is still hard to get out of as it was in the Reagan era this film took place in. People just see a sad homeless person with no prospects in the drifter. It was particularly heartbreaking to see the homeless community callously bulldozed. This giving community coexisted with friendship and peace even though none of them have a lot of physical goods. They all contributed what they could in stark contrast to the cutthroat nature of high society. The special effects are decent. The alien effects are more B movie, but it seems like a stylistic choice. The alien masks or prosthetics are awesome with just enough ugliness and bright colors reminiscent of the aliens from The Island Earth from 1955.

The problems I had with the film all boil to do Roddy Piper. He doesn't act well enough to be believable and his performance really affected the quality of the film. While the film is intentionally a little cheesy, his acting makes the film even more so. The fight scenes are fine as expected. Keith David and pretty much everyone else was amazing, but Piper doesn't rise to their level. The role really should have gone to Kurt Russell or someone who was at least an actor. Overall, They Live is an amazing classic with one flaw.

My rating: 4.5/5

The verdict:

While it's a decent and effective film, The Stuff has too many things that detract from the underlying message. They Live is a subversive film especially during the time it was made that highlights the problems with consumerism perfectly.

Horror Movie Mini-Reviews: When a Stranger Calls and 47 Meters Down

* When a Stranger Calls

This film really three in one. The first part is the best and most suspenseful which I expected it to last the whole film. Jill Johnson is babysitting for an evening when the children have already been put to bed. She does her homework and calls her friends, but someone keeps calling and asking if she's checked the children. I felt her fear. It rose every time she got another call and every time she talked to the police. The sound of a phone ringing has never been so ominous. The end of this part was an explosion of emotion and the climax of suspense that had been built over the first 40 minutes. The most grisly bits are left to the imagination which of course is much worse than whatever could have been shown. This scene is what the film is known for and its lasting effect is seen in later films like Scream.

The next section is far less interesting and more like a police procedural taking place 7 years later. We follow a private detective to catch the killer from the first part of the film (Duncan) who escaped from the institution. The PI isn't the nicest person, but will do anything he can to catch the killer. Duncan tries to pick up a woman named Tracy and ends up beat up by a bar patron. I hated this scene because it seemed like the audience was supposed to be ok with her being harassed by this obviously unstable man who wouldn't leave her alone. Afterwards, Duncan shows up at her apartment and won't leave. This does a good job of portraying the dangers women experience even now that no one really gave a shit about back then. Tracy isn't the friendliest of people and rebuffs the PI when he starts asking questions. I wouldn't be super friendly either being single in a big city where treatment like this is typical.

The last part of the film returns to Jill and her family. She has a husband, a successful job, and two children. In a reflection of her first scene, she hires a babysitter for a fancy dinner to celebrate with her husband. She gets a call midway through the meal that breaks her: a man asking if she's checked her children. The tension returns in the final confrontation that had me guessing what would happen. The beginning and the end are perfect, but the middle dragged on too long, infuriated me, and didn't seem necessary at all.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

* 47 Meters Down

Two sisters Lisa and Kate go to Mexico for a vacation. Lisa wants to put her breakup out of her mind and live it up to show him and Kate wants the thrill of being near sharks, so they go on a random, not hotel approved shark swimming excursion. Despite the fact Lisa has no idea how to scuba dive, they get in the shark cage and are lowered down after chumming the waters to attract the great white sharks. Everything is wonderful at first, but the line snaps and they sink to the ocean floor. Running out of air and surrounded by sharks, chances of survival are not good for these sisters.

Apparently, 47 Meters Down was supposed to come out around the time that The Shallows did, but was postponed due to the other film's popularity. 47 Meters Down is clearly the superior of the two shark films that has actual suspense, horror, and action. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the film and the situation changed slightly during the course of the film. First, the sisters are in the cage at the bottom of the ocean. Throughout the film, they leave the safety of the cage for specific objects or to get close enough to communicate with the boat that brought them. It changes where the threat is coming from and which danger has higher priority: running out of air or being eaten by sharks.

The relationship between the sisters is the most important part of the film for me. Despite astronomical odds and their own panic, they work to keep each other calm and encourage each other. They are a team no matter what. In many films, tensions rise and ugly things come out when situations look bleak. They will go above and beyond for each other even when things seem impossible. The ending is completely unexpected. Some clues are given on the way as to its nature, but they are easy to dismiss.

The only flaws were relatively small. The excursion crew made a big deal about getting the bends ascending to the surface, but I'm sure rushing to the ocean floor would have the same effect. That crew's whole motivation for staying is pretty suspicious. I would guess that they were people who want to do the right thing, but the cynic in me says they realistically would have left. No one knew the women went with them. Who would know if they just left? I very much enjoyed this film despite its flaws and it's worlds better than any shark film in the last decade.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

The Shallows

Nancy Adams is grieving for her mother who died after a long fight with cancer. She decides to go to the Mexican beach where her mother was at her happiest to surf and forget her troubles. They follow her anyway as her sister calls her wondering why she's basically run away and her father laments over her decision to drop out of med school. Nancy brushes them off, enjoying the sun and surfing the waves. The locals go home for the day, but she wants just one more wave. She stumbles upon a whale carcass and the shark that killed it. Trapped on a rock in the shallows of the sea, Nancy struggles to find the will to live and ways to outsmart this killer shark.

The Shallows has an interesting concept and a different visual style. The shark is a metaphor for Nancy's grief and likely depression. If she sits idle, she can't move forward in her life and lets the grief consume her. This film has more in common with movies like Gravity and The Babadook than Jaws. The idyllic setting contrasted well with the violence. Although a fairly minor point, I liked how the images on her phone screen and watch were displayed. It was clear and different than I've seen. The visual effects are pretty good. The shark in particular looked realistic and Nancy's physical deterioration and injuries were impressive. Unfortunately, this is about all the film has going for it.

The movie would have been better as a short. So much of the film is stagnant. The first bit of the film is filled with creepy, lingering shots of Blake Lively's body. The latter half of the film has her laying on a rock doing pretty nothing for way too long. The plot is very basic and is stretched thin to fill the length of a short feature length film. While the shark seems to be largely metaphorical, it would be nice if the shark attacks made sense. Nancy is pulled under by the shark, but only has a rather large gash on her leg to show for it. Others are bit in half by the massive shark's jaws, so her injury doesn't really make sense. The ending is overly saccharine and unsatisfying.

The Shallows could have been a fun thriller, but a lack of momentum, dull and static scenes, and unrealistic leaps in logic make it a fairly unenjoyable film. The theater experience was also awful as a bunch of bored eight year olds chatted loudly through the entire film. I was fooled by the hype and the generally positive reviews.

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins