Tag: horror movie

Heretic

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A worthy attempt to subvert a genre, but loses its way halfway through
https://www.latimes.com/

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East
To watch or not to watch: It is a decent first watch, and has a lot of shock value, but take that away, and you have any generic thriller

2 LDS missionaries are trying to spread the word of their lord and saviour from home to home, come over to an isolated house near the end of a road. The house is occupied a Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) who had previously shown interest in learning about the LDS church. Since Mormon women can’t enter a house without a female present, the sisters Barnes and Paxton (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) check with Mr. Reed if he has a girl roommate. It starts raining heavily and after Mr. Reed’s confirmation that his wife, his soulmate is inside, the sisters enter Mr. Reed’s home, away from the torrential rain and a promise of pie. They discuss how religion is not the centre of culture anymore (which we witness in the initial few minutes where some young adults harass the two sisters). The three talk about how important it is to believe in a doctrine and find out through testing what one true religion is. And that is the whole premise of the devilry of Mr. Reed.

This is a clever movie, no denying that. In the typical horror movies we have seen, religion has been used as a weapon to ward off evil, be it The Exorcist, or the more recent Conjuring universe. This movie flips the trope on a tangent and raises the question – which is the correct, true, highest, purest religion? And theoretically, the road to the answer is paved with evil deeds by Mr. Reed (clever, right? *eyebrows wiggling*). And this is also the point where the movie loses its spiel. It begins as a debate on the truth taught by religion, which mostly asserts that that religion is the first religion, the one and the only. But what is first – The Landlord’s Game or Monopoly, Radiohead’s Creep or The Air That I Breathe by The Hollies or Get Free by Lana Del Ray. That is the debate, which gets lost in the rest of the movie. Or if it is present then it is only in words, not in action. Which kinda makes the whole premise lose steam.

The real pull of the movie is seeing Hugh Grant, the rom-com heartthrob who could star opposite Julia Roberts and make people wonder who is prettier of the two, as an old, wrinkled, charming man, with the signature Grant smile and the disarming look of dismay, as a conniving, heartless, sadistic misanthrope. Since this movie is essentially a three-hander chamber piece, it would have been a total dud if it wasn’t for Thatcher and East. They both have given themselves to their characters from beginning to end, and also developing themselves along the way. East being born into the church, but still curious about the world outside it and Thatcher being a convert and dedicating herself to it totally, completely. So strong is her conviction that she has converted 8-9 people through proselytising! It is interesting to see the two young women tackle their belief against a formidable opponent. But it doesn’t mean the story is strong, infallible or that its flaws can be written off as foibles. A worthy attempt in the age old genre, but needs improvement. Watch it with popcorn, but prepare to be disappointed.

Oddity

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https://talesfromthepaulside.com/

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Starring:  Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton
Where to watch: Prime Video
To watch or not to watch: Absolute must watch for lovers of supernatural horror movies. A simple movie with limited spread of the story which keeps the viewer bound

Dani (Carolyn Bracken) is married to psychiatrist Ted (Gwilym Lee) and they have recently moved to the countryside where she is renovating their home. Ted runs the local mental asylum and works at night. While Dani is alone at home, a patient of Dr Ted comes to warn her of a man who is trying to hurt her. Not entirely disbelieving the clearly disturbed man (with a glass eye) she goes inside and locks the door. Cut to a year later, Dani was brutally murdered that night, Ted has moved on and is now in a new relationship with Yana (Caroline Menton), Ted visits Dani’s blind identical twin sister Darcy in her antique store, to (not) invite her to his house (same as the one he bought with Dani) on the anniversary of his wife’s death. Darcy believes there to be more to the murder of her sister than the police have concluded and goes over to Ted’s house to stay for the night to find out more. To help her with this, she has also brought a wooden gollum, which was passed onto her by her mother.

This movie is goodddd… There are a many things which work in its favour and a few which don’t.
This movie excels in the feels, the creeps, the chills. The gollum placed at the head of the dining table, overlooking the entire living room, is one of those side eye pieces, which let us know there is something weird at all times. There are also some jump scares, which can be termed a cheap ploy, but somehow they work in this movie. There is an expectation of something about to happen, but when that thing happens, it is worth the slow build. And this movie is a slow build overall. There are some long scenes filled with conversations and timed pauses, and they slowly build the premise brick by brick. There are also some conversations which give clues to the whole story, thus conversations become vital.
At the same time, there are some plot holes, which are very small, but they are there. The whole movie is engrossing and a person probably will not notice the holes during the runtime, but they might nag later, after mulling over the movie. Thus this movie is a very good first watch, and delivers on expectations from a horror movie, but might not be worth a second watch.

The atmosphere of the movie is contributed largely by Carolyn Bracken as Darcy. The colourless portrayal of the character is so in contrast to the surrounding that it becomes a subconscious plot point. We know she has a quiet strength, which could have been explored further and could have added to the daunting nature of the supernatural. Gwilym Lee has the same acting skills as the wooden gollum, and the gollum had more screen time than Lee, which is fitting. All in all, a very good watch for all horror movie lovers.

Longlegs

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https://www.imdb.com/

Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Starring: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
To watch or not to watch: What the hell! Stitch together incoherent pieces together and you get this rag doll. Yea… no.

The movie is set in the 1990s where Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) is with the FBI, is awkward, socially inept, a loner and is discovered to have uncanny “psychic” powers. For this ability, she is pulled into the investigation of a crime 3 decades running, where the patriarch of a totally normal family suddenly goes violent on his family and butchers them all. Her supervisor William Carter (Blair Underwood) wants to solve this case and things that Harker’s psychic abilities might aid in the endeavour. And she does help, as she is able to crack the code on the letters left by an unknown entity known as Longlegs at the murder sites, claiming credit for the murders. The investigation takes Harker to one of the survivors of the annihilation, an in-execution annihilation where a life size doll of the girl child is discovered with a mysterious metal ball in its brain, and back to her own childhood. We do see Longlegs before long and its… interesting? Anyway, the movie is not.

What an utter ridiculous farce of a movie. A wanna-be Silence Of The Lambs, without the substance. Or rather scattered substance which changes tone without so much as a “Hey” and goes about as if nothing has happened. Kinda like that co-worker who has made a mistake which affects the project but is entirely unbothered. (Mild spoilers follow)
The villain/evil character has a Satanic bend and is able to twist the patriarch against the family with the girl child in some sort of trance. But why? Is the agenda to kill all normal families? Why? Is the idea to kill God fearing Christians? Again, why? And these questions stare into the abyss which is the travesty of a horror movie. So much so, that it might have been slightly better if it had stuck to the tropes and made it a cliche. It starts ok, you can see there is something off about Harker and Carter is like a father figure to her, looking beyond the awkwardness and seeing the person, but then enters Alicia Witt as Harker’s mother and then it is throw-everything-to-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks.

The direction of the movie is good. Genuinely. It is specially visible in the first act with the dark yellow and brown tones, slow pace, few dialogues. The choice of a wide angle camera for shooting most of the movie was a good artistic choice, without which they wouldn’t have even enough marketing material. And it so far removed from the promises made during marketing that a case can be made for false advertising. “The sample doesn’t match the final product delivered”. The wide angle remains throughout the movie but it cannot take the place of a story or script or screenplay or agenda. Cage has turned out a good performance (though not many people agree with this), it is not creepy. It gives the vibes of a sad, lonely, retired circus performer who is fighting to make ends meet and is losing sanity due to loneliness. This theme is a social issue, not necessarily a horror movie subject matter. Go back in time and undo this movie. It should not have happened

Immaculate

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https://www.imdb.com/

Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Simona Tabasco, Dora Romano
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
To watch or not to watch: No, for the love of God, no

The opening foreshadowing shot shows a nun sneaking out from a convent in the middle of the night, and running away from that place, only to be caught by a group of nuns at the gates and her legs broken.
Cut to: Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) is a novice who has moved to a convent in Italy from a small town in The USA at the behest of Father Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte). Her belief in Christianity began at a young age when she was rescued from a frozen lake and died for 7 minutes. This rescue was understandably covered in news and got a bit of virality. And her faith and fate sealed for Christianity. At the convent, she goes about her life normally, making friends and trying to do good, but she also has glimpses of something sinister going on, and it involves the higher-ups (because, of course).

Have you seen Rosemary’s Baby? Yes? Then you have watched this film. Goodbye and good night.
If you haven’t, then watch that rather than this. This movie is the rehashing of same old faith vs fanaticism, where good Christian women are used and abused, and for some reason virginity and purity are equated and highly revered. While this genre of movies is supposed to use the concept of objectification of women as a source of horror, they at the same time unironically do the same thing. In this case for example, Sydney Sweeney regularly received comments about her good looks, is shown bathing with the fellow nuns, etc. “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain”.
If that was not enough, they have eerie shadows, abruptly cut scenes, and mockery of science (which is the biggest sin of all). Can we please collectively as a society decide we don’t want to weaponise nor demonise religion anymore? Thank you.

The only reason this movie is not a hot pile of stinking garbage is the lead, Sydney Sweeney. She has single-handedly carried the story, to the point where it became apparent she was trying antics to fill the spaces. There are too many scenes filled with screams, needless to say, unwarranted. She was carrying on the movie so she was over-doing things. Sad but forgivable. There is nothing particularly horrifying in this movie, and nothing we haven’t seen before. It takes a different path from Rosemary’s Baby but it is not impactful enough that it redeems itself, because by that time we have waded through a lot of scene-there-heard-that. Its 1.5 hour runtime feels at least twice as long, and it is no wonder it has a current rating of 2.9 on Google and that tells you everything you need to know. Don’t listen to anyone who says it is good, because it is not. Don’t bother.

Exhuma

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Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Kim Go-eun, Lee Do-hyun, Choi Min-sik, Jung Yun-ha, Yoo Hae-jin
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
To watch or not to watch: It has the right atmosphere and is deep rooted in spirituality and superstition. Interesting, but not enough

Lee Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) is a celebrated shaman in Korea. Her tattooed protégé Yun Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun) have created a name for themselves and amassed wealth for themselves. A real-estate developer Korean-American family is facing a mysterious illness where the men inheriting the bloodline are falling sick and passing away before their time. They could not find a cure in the western medicine for this, so they turn towards more traditional methods. They contact the shaman for her help, who studies the newborn son of the patriarch and concludes the reason to be “Grave’s Call”, or curse by an ancestor from their grave. The shaman duo enlist the help of geomancer Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik) and his mortician friend Yeong-geun (Hae-jin Yoo). The issue seems to be the ominous location of the grave – on the top of a hill near the border between North and South Korea. They decide to relocate the grave to a holier location which is a prime real estate and earn a lot of money in the process. During the exhumation, they come to face evil which is beyond their power to control.

The movie is very atmospheric, at least in the first half, where the hue is yellow, brown and generally dark. The movements are slow, there is little dialogue or emotion and even lesser laughter. There is a selfish interest in helping the American Park family, question about the legitimacy of shamanism, and the class difference shown through the geomancer’s view. Then it all changes in the second half where we come face-to-face with the evil itself. The reason for the evil to be what it is, is either not present or not explained well (depending on the ability to hear between the dialogues). In addition, there is also a underlying cause (literally) for the curse on the family, which was way out the left field, and in a lets-drag-the-movie-to-make-it-an-acceptable-length-way. It totally leaped over the goal of freeing the Park family to avenging Korea. Not good (did the audience dirty). It could have been shorter if it had only stuck to the story and delivered what it promised.

It is by no means a bad movie. It is like a A-grade student suddenly delivering B grade assignment in their best subject. Not bad, but wasted potential. And disappointing. There is more emphasis on Korean history and what it considers evil. An a non-Korean, it might not have that impact on the reception of the story. It gets the cinematography right. Like, bang on. And the atmosphere with the chanting, drumming and screaming as required. It takes audience on a journey into the netherland along with the actors. And the actors, Wow. It was refreshing to see Kim Go-eun in this mature role and look after Goblin. Lee Do-hyun was unrecognizable in this role and get-up. Everyone performed perfectly. It is what made the movie get 3 stars here, because we should rightly leave looming evil entities to Hollywood.

Why The Autopsy of Jane Doe Is Good and How It Could Have Been Saved

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https://www.imdb.com/

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Brian Cox, Emile Hirsch, Olwen Catherine Kelly
Where to watch: Lionsgate Play
To watch or not to watch: It is a new concept and well done. Though it has its failings, it is worth checking out

Tommy (Brian Cox) and Austin Tilden (Emile Hirsch) are a father-son duo who own an operate a morgue and crematorium in a small town. The place has been with the family for generations but Austin doesn’t feel comfortable working with the dead all day long and is looking for a way out. One day, the town’s sheriff comes to their workplace rather late with a dead body of an unidentified female in her early 20s. She was found in a home where there were multiple homicides and bodies buried in the backyard. Hers was the only body they could not account for, she had no clothes on and no identification. As the father-son start working on the body, they find many inconsistencies – her blood flows from her body even though she is dead, her fingernails have peat under them which has not been found in that part of the country for centuries, her joints are broken but there are no external injuries, her lungs are scarred, but again no external injuries. In fact, they couldn’t account for any of her conditions without going beyond the obvious. They do continue the work despite the difficulties for humanity’s sake, only to find that maybe humanity is not always a virtue.

The concept of the movie is very fresh. It is also a masterclass in making a naked female in full view non-sexual! It is sometimes shocking to realise that there is a naked female on the table (an actual table) and there is no focus on sexuality. Kudos to the team for this.
The horror of the movie comes in slow waves, till it crescendos and ends – it starts with the disconnected finds on the Jane Does eternal body and really takes off when the autopsy reaches her internal body, where they find scar tissue on her lungs, completely blacked out lungs, flower of dathura (a hallucinogen) wrapped in a scribbled cloth, her tooth etc. It is jarring and the audience is left wondering about her life. The movie is also largely a two-parter shot mostly in a claustrophobic environment of the autopsy room. It adds to the creepiness and makes for an uncomfortable watch. In a good way.
There are still problems with it, and that’s unfortunate. The movie is filled with jump scares. For an idea which is this elevated, the jump scares are a cheap ploy (they are a cheap ploy nonetheless). There are some unexplained points, like what really could have happened to her, what is the end goal, what are her powers, and all. That would have made the movie stay on the subject matter. There is also this unnecessary short story of Austin’s love life, which takes about 10 minutes and add absolutely 0 to the movie.

There is something wrong with the people who make horror movies (excluding Peele, Ari Aster, A24 productions, and all). Or the genre might be difficult to execute, people who are in the business would be better equipped to comment on this. Given the tripe we have been served, the latter might be true. It is easy to fall into the trap of crescendo music which culminates abruptly, dark corners with a hint of something lurking behind it. The one movie which plays with shadows well would be Hereditary aided a million times by the perfect acting by Toni Collette. The fact that someone has taken a great concept of an alleged witch semi-dead wielding her powers, and made a lukewarm movie off it, is sad and disappointing. Maybe somewhere down the line someone decides to revive this movie with a remake and does it right. Also, can we please pick good concept movies executed badly and make them better? And not do the vice versa? Thanks.

Run Sweetheart Run

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https://www.heavenofhorror.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Ella Balinska, Pilou Asbæk
Where to watch: Amazon PrimeVideo
To watch or not to watch: A survival movie with an average amount of thrill along with a pinch of unsuspected supernatural. It is fine

Cherie (Ella Balinska) is a single mother to a daughter, works as a paralegal, studies part time to become a full-fledged lawyer. She has mistakenly double-booked her boss with a client and his anniversary dinner, and takes his place at the client meeting. She is part hopeful for the meeting to turn into something more, as she has been single a long tim, but carries pepper spray nonetheless. She meets Ethan (Pilou Asbæk), who is rich, considerate and says the right things, all of which is very refreshing for Cherie. What starts as a night of part hope, part skepticism, resulting in more hope than skepticism, ends up turning into horror and a chase for her, when Ethan attacks her after returning from dinner. She narrowly escapes his place and runs to cops who arrest her. Ethan posts her bail and gives her a headstart in the hunt he will pursue. Cherie explores all her options to survive and gives a tough fight.

This movie falls in the sub-genre called social horror (think Jordan Peele’s Get Out), only here the social issue is patriarchy. The problem with movies trying to address two things at once is balance, which is often difficult to strike. This problem exists in this movie as well. It starts as any horror movie, but the dialogues are discordant with what’s happening, like the flow of the movie is being forced in a certain direction only by dialogues. The whole chase sequence is pretty cool, and Ethan’s powers are revealed slowly and it is a good surprise, but mixing it with patriarchy was a bit much. Even the protagonist’s actions did not follow a pattern like it happens with a human in general. A lot of this made the thrill questionable. The second act of the movie was the one part which was great, really gory. But it is a very good execution as the actual violence is actually censored, happens off-screen and left to the imagination of the viewers.

The movie is pretty low-budget and it a testament to the director who has made it possible to remove the actual scares from the screen, and still made it possible to be thrilling. It has very small cast and next to no special effects. Other factor which carries the movie forward are the actors, specially Ella Balinska who managed to convey the pain, hurt, fear and strength through the acting alone. Pilou Asbæk is sufficiently hateful and creepy. The music is another positive aspect, complementing the movie in all the right ways. It is pop, lyrics are relevant to the concept and add to the movie where the story subtracts. Watch it for the average thrill, superb acting and vicarious response to patriarchy. It wouldn’t require too much popcorn though.

Last Night in SoHo

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https://www.soctex.com/last-night-in-soho-2021-review-details-trailer/

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith
Where to watch: Lionsgate Play
To watch or not to watch: A highly recommended watch for horror genre movie seekers

Ellie Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) is an aspiring fashion designer who is inspired by the style of the 60s. She has some supernatural powers which enables her to see her mother who committed suicide when Ellie was a kid. She moves from a small town to London to study fashion and lodges with an elderly lady named Ms Collins. At night, in her dreams, Ellie is transported to the 1960s London and she sees the city life of nightclubs through the eyes of an aspiring singer Sandie. Sandie falls in love with a nightclub manager Jack. These dreams instill confidence in Ellie and also inspires her fashion designs in real life. Steadily, her dreams of Sandie start to become nightmares where she sees Sandie being exploited by Jack and her descent into prostitution and drugs. Ellie is extremely disturbed by what she sees in 1960s London that she starts seeing the people from her dreams in her real life.

This movie is pure horror and nothing but excellence is expected from any Edgar Wright. It will live in the movie world as one of the best horror movies ever made. It covers the emotional aspect of a misfit’s desire to find affection, confidence and an emotional connection with another fellow human, and uses that emotion to blow into a nightmare and mystery of epic proportions. It has a hint of exploitation of females in the mid-90s but doesn’t dwell on it. In fact, it takes that exploitation and turns it into empowerment at an unbelievable scale (least said unless it becomes a spoiler).

Edar Wright is regarded as an original movie maker for a reason – he takes the most common genres and spins a story which is uniquely crafted and Last Night in SoHo is no different. It has flawless transitions between time periods, and dreams to reality. It is easy to feel the angst in Ellie because of the way she is treated by people and her longing to make friends. It is easy to understand why she was completely enthralled by Sandie and her confidence. And when Sandie’s life hits a downward spiral, Ellie takes it upon herself to save her one and only friend. Just that, Thomasin’s delivery does fall slightly flat at times. She needs to mature a bit more in the acting game. Anya Taylor-Joy is spectacular and a perfect choice to play Sandie. No one could have done it better.

There is no end of praise which can be showered on the movie. Suffice to say, please do watch it if you love horror.

Bhoothkalam

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https://www.manoramaonline.com/

Rating: 4 out of 5
Starring: Shane Nigam, Revathy, Saiju Kurup, James Eliya and Athira Patel
Streaming on: Sony Liv
To watch or not to watch: A good watch for people on the hunt for a thrilling movie

Asha (Revathy) and her son Vinu (Shane Nigam) live together with Asha’s mother in a house. They are financially hard-up, with Vinu not having a job since one and a half years after graduating, and Asha being a school teacher, not making enough. Vinu has taken to substance abuse and Asha suffers from clinical depression, which is aggravated by her mother’s passing. Slowly and steadily Vinu’s mental health starts declining and he becomes sleep deprived, easily startled, and aggressive. So his hearing sounds at night and seeing shadows is attributed to his addictions and is a counsellor is consulted. That is when the history of the house, incidents with the past tenants comes to fore and story takes shape.

The storyline is stupidly simple, in a good way. There is linearity in things unfolding and not much is said about what happened in the past in Asha’s and Vinu’s lives which has shaped them this way – it is only hinted at. And it is annoying. It neither helps nor can it be ignored, as it is fundamental to the relationship mother-son share, which is in-turn fundamental to the story. There are also false starts (Granny staring at Vinu when he is helping to put her to bed), loud music from out of no where, which dies the sudden death special to amorphous entities, with nothing to show for it. And also a love song in the background of Vinu’s and Priya’s date, when it has not shown to have any bearing on Vinu’s life – Priya just exists.
Now that that’s out of the way, we can come to why this movie is recommended. The movie shines in camera work, direction and ACTING, a bit of story too. The play of shadows and difference in views of Asha and Vinu are beautifully done, the viewer gets to be in the same room as them and understand the agitation, helplessness and frustration when they are not able to understand each other. The show-not-tell segue into the past of the house with the counselor investigating the truth is better done than in most movies, though far from perfect.

This movie wins on most points, specially since horror has been an under-performing genre in Indian cinema as a whole. The fact that Revathy stars in it, who is better known to the masses, helps bring this movie to the fore, and demography of cinema lovers is all the better for it. It is a simple movie, no gore, crazy made-up ghost or VFX, it is a plain haunted house horror. The last 17 minutes of the movie, shot in one bedroom and dining area really does justice to the almost one and a quarter hour spent before. Only wish the cinema can grow to understand movies can be made with without a romantic angle in the lead’s life and some more of the backbone story. And it is only being said because this movie was so so close to perfection. Highly recommended.