Last Seen Contemporary Movie

[FryeDwight]

REVIVAL 69: THE CONCERT THAT ROCKED THE WORLD (2022). Very good doc on a festival held in Toronto in September 1969 that focused mainly on the old rock and rollers from the 50's, including Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddly, Little Richard and Gene Vincent. When tickets sales were poor, the young promotors did almost herculean things to ensure it went on, adding The Doors (alas no footage), John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band (John, Yoko, Klaus Voorman, Alan White and Eric Clapton), Chicago and the Alice Cooper group while they were still a "cult" band. This is also the show where the infamous Chicken incident took place.

Lots of interviews with the promotors, security, the artists still living, fans who attended (including Geddy Lee of Rush) and some good performances from the artists-Chuck Berry and Chicago stand out and it's a hoot seeing Gene Vincent being backed by Alice Cooper Group while they are in their spangly clothes and he's in black jacket etc.. Their show after Gene was somewhat chaotic and really not musical, although Kim Fowley rightly declared them "The Group of The Future"; in a couple of years, their standing and fortunes did improve.

Good time capsule and just astonishing so many people seemed to be flying by the seat of their pants to make this event happen. ****

[Angra]

The Breach 5/10

An interesting cosmic horror story written by Nick Cutter (Haven't read the book) butchered by awful directing. It's kinda similar to "From Beyond".


No One Will Save You 8/10

A movie about alien home invasion, made by Brian Duffield, writer of "Love and Monsters", "Underwater" and "The Babysitter". And it's very clear why he's decided to direct this movie himself, because he's damn good at it. The movie is well shot and the story is really entertaining with a great pacing that won't let the main character catch a break from beginning to end. I just wish he'd directed the movie above.

Keep an eye on that director in the future, folks.

[classic_horror_fan]

Cocaine Shark is a comedy horror film that is meant to be stupid and campy looking but funny and entertaining, and it is funny and entertaining enough to keep interest through its hour and ten minute run. It is a follow up idea to the recent cult hit, "Cocaine Bear." The shark-related costumes are obviously fake, but that is part of the humor as it parodies the bad horror movies. It is about an undercover narcotics police officer who poses as an applicant to be a new muscle for a dangerous kingpin who is distributing a new drug made from shark teeth, and has muscles wiping out competitors and police officers who have attempted to bust him. The drug lord's main female assistant seems to fall for the undercover officer and introduces him to their new drug, while the drug lord eventually feels his new muscle filled his purpose and now needs to be disposed of. They escape to an island far from shore, pursued by the drug lord and his muscles, but they are also pursued by a giant shark that is strung out by the cocaine that was accidentally dropped in the ocean. Despite this not being good, it is still entertaining with funny, witty, and entertaining dialogue and well developed characters. Despite the story is not original, it still has its share of twists and turns to keep interest. This is not recommended for those looking for a major motion picture, but for those looking for a light parody.

[Tommy Jarvis]

Bayi Ajaib 2023 ★★★½

Amateur sales pitch: this movie opens with a pregnant woman being raped by what can only be described as Father Christmas in pyjamas. Just the right amount of what the hell to get you as a viewer intrigued.

The general story is nothing special. Life in exchange for wealth and prosperity and all the trouble that come with that. Add a conventional twist ending and you are done.

What comes in between can best be described as an Indonesian knock off of The Omen with some good effects (with the possessed child looking like a better version of Threefinger) and decently worked out dread. Not to mention the father, whose moustache and sometimes jovial and sometimes ruthless demeanor kind of reminded me of Daniel Day Lewis' character in Gangs of NewYork.

For fans of religious or non-English spoken horror.

Deathly 2015 ★★★

An entertaining short with a nice jump scare and a well worked out revenge theme.

I'm glad the makers got Alan Ruck to star in this one. Not just because it's nice to be able to recognize people in the cast. Also because he looks innocent and sympathetic enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, longer than one perhaps should.

That said, the last shot seems a bit redundant. Perhaps better to end on the family photo.

[Tommy Jarvis]

Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest 1995 ★★

Before anything: Credit where credit is due: it has some decent imagery in one or two scenes.

But "luckily", that's outweighed by a solid helping of silliness. And there's more than enough of it to, at the same time, keep it enjoyable and entertaining and yet far away from genuinely scarely.

The highlight being the suitably goofy finale with He who walks behind the rows and Eli attacking his "brother" with the Kamehame-meh.

For a night when you are nicely baked and looking for something to chuckle at.

Talk to Me 2022 ★★★★

In the past 20 years, Aussie horror has in my opinion built up a olsid reputation, what with titles like Wolf Creek, The Tunnel, The Babadook, Lake Mungo,...Now we can add Talk to me to that list.

The opening immediately has you covered. A guy wonders into a party (Aussie kids sure party a lot) in order to find his brother who seems in some sort of trouble. And it... all... goes... wrong... big time. Before you can say “what the hell”, we are left with two wounded bodies and a crowd dispersing in total panic. Solid opening.

Cut to our main protagonists. And credit where credit is due, they are well written. Mia and Jade and the others are not part of the cheap snark fests that plagued the 2000s, making for believable friends who just happen to get into all sorts of shenanigans. As young people do. But behind their tough and cool exterior, even the kids who provide the party trick have some good in them.

What is said trick? Trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible, it's a type of handshake and a quote that leads into a combination of some sort drug trip and an epileptic episode. A person who never moved beyond mellow trippy weed can not really see the fun in that (though he can see the solid jump scares and the amazing effects), but apparently, it seems to be the greatest thing ever since they all want a go at it. With one of them even French kissing a pitbull like dog in the process. And for the record that's the comic relief part.

Then, of course, it goes wrong at a point where a character does that typical horror movie stupid shit. Resulting in the main character Mia being shunned by both her best friend and Jade's Mother, played by Miranda Otto – who apparently played Tom Cruise's ex-wife in that awful War of the worlds remake #TheMoreYouKnow. She then tries to find a solution and right the wrong she caused. First alone and then with the help of her friends.

That's where the movie really picks up in the scariness. Because throughout all of this, you start wondering who the spirits are really after and wether or not they are playing the long game with one of the characters (and probably winning in the end). Trying to avoid spoilers, so not getting into details, but I am pretty sure that I can pinpoint the moment where Quentin Tarantino gave this movie four stars.

Solid horror efforts. For people who prefer solid scary cinema over a happy ending.

[Tommy Jarvis]

The Interpreter 2005 ★★★

A solid thriller based on a good idea. Though not as solid as I remember it being.

Sean Penn has the gruff cop down, even though it makes his line about forgettable faces a bit funny. And Nicole Kidman is solid as the titular interpreter, with the many meaningfull whistful gazes and more to her than meets the eye.

Still interesting for thriller fans, mind you.

Pearl 2022 ★★★

Pearl may not entirely live up to the hype, but it was overall entertaining. You can sense the obsession and the nobody will stop me sense lurking underneath the surface. Resulting in good kills. Pearl is ruthless, no doubt about that.

Still an okay watch, though. And Mia Goth has the psycho gaze down pretty good.

[Tommy Jarvis]

Don’t Knock Twice 2016 ★★½

Turns out that, according to my stats, this was the third movie with Lucy Boynton I had seen this year. Blimey, could have fooled me, lemme tell ya that. Apparently, she had smaller parts in both Barbie and The pale blue eye.

Don't knock twice sees her starring as a girl whose life gets taken over by a ghost that haunts her and her estranged mother. Of course it starts off with her and friend doing something. Hey, that's why it's horror and chances are people do more stupid stuff in real life than in horror movies.

Now, your feel on this movie will probably hinge on your stance on jumpscares. If you don't like them, this is probably a skip. I personally see not that much of a problem with them as they are well done. And this movie does them well. Thus achieving the goal they are out for.

The few kills in this movie are also well done as well as the reveals and the red herring. The best friend gets offed in a way reminiscent of Unfriended and Host, while one of the other kills is highly related to the red herring.

The movie is not perfect. It lags a bit in the middle and, like with other ghostie movies (like Unfriended for one), it tacks on a final jumpscare that looks more like a studio note than like a genuinely necessary scene.

For ghostie lovers.

Ps: Ghostie lovers pizza (with mozarella with holes poked out for eyes), how great would that be for Halloween?

Anthropophagus II 2023 ★

Generic Wrong Turn sequel level torture porn with snarky and annoying characters (though perhaps with better special effects).

Should have seen this one at Bifff. The only fun is trying to pinpoint the moments where the Bifff crowd would crack a joke.

The Chair 2022 ★★½

An award winning short about a cursed chair that ruins the lives of its owners.

One or two good scares and the shot of the old man appearing out of nowhere works. But all in all more weird than scary.

OnlyFans 2 2023 ★

A bland short with clichés on new media and proof that Public Enemy was right about 911 being a joke in that town.

[Tommy Jarvis]

Holy Spider 2022 ★★★★

I remember missing out on this one when it briefly hit theaters last year. Kind of a bummer since I remember the trailer looking pretty good. So when a local streaming platform offered it for cheaper rent, I was of course chuffed to bits with this opportunity.

The film itself is a pretty stylish serial killer flick about a killer singling out prostitutes with a drug problem, set in Iran in the early 2000s. Though, to be fair, the only time stamp we get is a news report on 9/11 playing in the background while one of the girls is... let's say “hard at work”.

Contrary to most serial killer movies, it's no whodunnit with a lot of red herrings and such. In fact, we know fairly early who is responsible for these killings. A simple construction worker who claims to “clean” the streets in his conversations with a journalist (in the process reminding the viewer of the zodiac killer). The movie claims to be based on true events, so wether or not any potential similarities with some of his “colleagues” (Zodiac, Gacy,...) were the work of the actual killer or the makers of this movie or just coincidence remains unclear at the moment of writing.

More disturbing than the killer himself however, is the mood surrounding the killings. For one thing, I doubt wether Ted Bundy had a mob screaming in front of the prison for him to be released. Not to mention the politicking in what Mitt Romney once referred to as quiet rooms, with people actually trying to pull a “get out of jail free card” with, among others, a “whipping” scene executed with a simply hallucinating glee.

Also, the ease with which even his family glosses past this. Claiming that they were only sluts who deserved to die, resulting in a pretty disturbing final scene. Also disturbing is the way the country of Iran approached women at the time. Shown only in small scenes like when the reporter checks into a hotel room. Or when a local police officer makes advances at her later on. Only succeeding in underlining the courage this woman needs to put herself in these dangerous situations. Props to Zar Amir Ebrahimi for pulling this performance off as well as she did.

The idea of saying something along the lines of “it's nice to see this possible in that country” may sound a bit backhanded here, but there is no backhandedness to it, as the situation contains an element of truth. These slick big (budget) productions are usually still somewhat (perceived as) the exclusive property of Hollywood and perhaps England with the Pinewood studios. In countries like Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands or in this case, Iran... it's simply not as easy or even more difficult to assemble the financial means to make this type of production possible. So compliments to Ali Abbasi for making it look the way he did. Especially when its subject matter is likely to cause controversy and with one shot of a blowjob that's risqué even by European standards. Sure, it's only for a few seconds, but still. If something already makes Europeans go yaips, then I can imagine that Iranian censors will not take to kindly to that either.

For who is this? Good question. Judging on the box office returns, it's not for everyone. But I would suggest that both fans of serial killer flicks and fans of art house movies in general will find something that appeals to them. Heck, even the somewhat more openminded general moviegoer could well be pleasantly surprised by this one.

Four stars. No doubt.

Swept Under 2022 ★★½

An okay short about a cursed rug. Guess it did not tie the room together.

The rug with the faces made for a nice shot as well as the American flag. Nice bit of satire.

[Tommy Jarvis]

Ignore It 2021 ★★★

An enjoyable short by Sam Levinson who also brought us The changing room.

Nice eerie atmos with the looming danger at the dinner table. But there must be better ways to keep your kids from asking if they may be excused.

[hammerfan]

The Haunted Mansion (2023) on Disney+

Not bad. Better than the piece of crap Eddie Murphy made.