(Will Canon, 2017)
Maria Bello and Frank Grillo star as detectives investigating what happened to a group of college friends who went to a haunted house in Louisiana to summon some ghosts. Pushed all over the release schedule for the past 2 years before going direct to home viewing this year, this is a total snooze. Literally, I could barely stay awake. I like Grillo in the Purge franchise and Bello was utilized memorably in last year's solid Lights Out, but both actors are wasted here. Cody Horn and Dustin Milligan also appear. GRADE: D
(David Lowery, 2017)
Philosophical drama about a man (Casey Affleck) who dies in a car accident and returns home to his house where his widow (Rooney Mara) tries to go on without him. Affleck literally haunts the film in a white sheet. It'll try the patients of some viewers even at only 87 minutes, but most of it worked for me even if its experimental nature doesn't always get off the ground. Obviously, this isn't a horror movie except for the sight of Mara eating an entire pie. GRADE: B
(The Duffer Brothers, 2015)
Alexander Skarsgard and Andrea Riseborough star as parents who are raising their preteen daugther in an underground bunker after humanity has been wiped out by a virus. Constant threats abound, including the "breathers" above ground. Not even 90 minutes, this is a nifty little post-apocalyptic thriller that delivers. It's nothing groundbreaking for the genre, but it does have a clever twist. I was surprised when the credits rolled to learn that The Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things) were behind this. GRADE: B
(Andy Muschietti, 2017)
Previously adapted into a hugely successful miniseries in 1990, this theatrical adaptation of the first half of Stephen King's killer clown saga focuses on a group of misfits joining forces to stop an evil force that has preyed on children in their small Maine town for almost a hundred years. Well cast (Sophia Lillis and Finn Wolfhard are fantastic!), I liked that this kept its characters first so when the scares and set pieces come, they are well earned. I'll being doing a Chapter 2 suggested cast list in the near future, so stay tuned. The other Skarsgard brother fares well, but he's no Tim Curry. GRADE: B+
(Kevin Greutert, 2017)
Home invasion horror in which a man is kidnapped by his parents after being brainwashed by a cult. They attempt to de-program him in a cabin in the woods, but things backfire when the cult members show up and things get bloody. While it has some potent moments and it smartly keeps the cult members masked, it's packed with one eye-roll after another given the epically stupid decisions of the characters. The 90's tinged cast includes Stephen Dorff, Johnathan Schaech and Deborah Kara Unger. GRADE: C
(Chris Wedge, 2017)
After an oil corp's drilling unearths some ancient creatures, a high school student and mechanic finds that the monsters have a habit of taking over their trucks. Family comedy/adventure that never quite gets off the ground and becomes the fun/memorable film it should have been. I think this might have been chopped up before release, as the film's massive budget caused the studio to actually declare it a write-down months before it even opened. Lucas Till and Jane Levy star, with Amy Ryan, Rob Lowe and Barry Pepper in smaller roles. GRADE: C-
No comments:
Post a Comment