I Know What You Did Last Summer

Image credit: Wikipedia

While it’s fun to go back to the good movies from a bygone era, there is a joy to be had in watching the bad movies from a bygone era – especially the ‘90s slasher flick. Considering that the Scream franchise is up to its seventh movie, Chucky slashed up screens for over two decades, and I Know What You Did Last Summer got a reboot last year, there’s clearly something appealing about this eerie little subgenre. So, eager for some smooth-brained suspense this evening, Partner and I curled up and went back to 1997 with the original I Know What You Did Last Summer.

In a small fishing town, after a 4^th of July parade, a group of teenaged friends have a bit too much fun on the beach and accidentally hit a man on the drive home. Terrified that going to the cops will ruin their futures, they agree to dump the body in the harbour and take the secret to their grave. One year later, they are reunited and their guilt comes back to haunt them, as they begin getting mysterious letters and a strange figure with an angler’s hook starts stalking them. They soon realise that someone knows what they did last year… and they’re not going to let them forget it!

While it lacks the charisma of Ghostface or the suspense of Michael Myers, this classic ‘90s slasher is not without its charm. Arguably a modern take on The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, the real horror of I Know What You Did Last Summer is actually manufactured by the protagonists/victims themselves, each one trying to process their guilt and post-traumatic stress…unsuccessfully.

The arrival of the first mysterious note sends them down a rabbit hole of trying to find out about the person they killed, thus hoping to find leads as to who the stalker might be. As they find more clues, discover new truths, and get closer to achieving closure, that’s when the tantalising torment turns violent and fear, paranoia, and grief start to overwhelm them: strengthening the allegorical slasher.

The performances are a little shaky, unless someone is yelling in anger or screaming in fear, and the mystery portion of the story itself is pretty flimsy. The enjoyment of this film definitely comes from its stoic adherence to horror rules despite providing some tongue-in-cheek meta about the genre at the beginning. It’s always fun to just groan when the helpless girl runs in the opposite direction of where she should be going or calling which character will be killed next and how. And simple tricks like narrative misdirection and jump scares still serve to make us flinch and exclaim in mild surprise when the ‘twist’ happens.

Image credit: Medium

I Know What You Did Last Summer is by no means amazing, but it’s a film that does have some intriguing layers to it, making it a perfectly enjoyable Friday night popcorn movie.

Director: Jim Gillespie, 1997

Cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryan Phillippe, Anne Heche, Johnny Galecki, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, & Muse Watson

Howl

Image credit: IMDb

Moving a step away from the natural monsters that can disembowel us, but still opting for a horror in which everyone makes bad choices and thus create a fun film to yell at, the most recent Friday night couch movie Partner and I did was Howl.

Train guard Joe (Ed Speleers) has been having a rough day: the promotion he wanted went to a jerk who then dumps the graveyard shift onto him, the coworker he fancies declines his invitation to a drink, and the passengers on the last train are rude, belittling, and judgmental. But his day gets a lot worse when the train hits something on the track and the driver goes missing when out investigating. After hearing chilling howls, one of the passengers is attacked, and it falls to Joe to try and keep the peace as they run through their options on how to survive. And all the while there is a terrifying creature trying to get in.

What we’ve got here is a British werewolf movie set on a train. At the very least, this movie has a number of characters who you immediately hate and can’t wait to see dismembered. Having worked in customer service, there is a satisfying edge in watching movies with unreasonable, arrogant, and distasteful customer-characters who you know are going to meet a gruesome end. For Howl, it would have been even better if the lead character didn’t have the personality of a wet blanket. Strike one of this movie is that there are no characters that audiences are inspired to root for.

Strike two is the panicked and desperate script. The visual part of the screenplay is fine with a good number of disturbing monsters attack scenes that turn the stomach and jolt the heart. But the central narrative is weak from the beginning, the chosen environment limits creative solutions for escape, and there is an exposition dump in the middle that raises more questions than it answers. Not to mention the haphazard backstories of a couple of characters that comes to light under the pressure of the outside threat.

And strike three, the monster is revealed way too early. I think this is what caused the already wobbly plot to be completely derailed, as it didn’t work to increase the suspense or spark any sort of narrative development. If anything, it removed a good chunk of the suspense and put the writers into panic when they realised they needed some sort of explanation as to why there’s a pack of werewolves in this England woodland.

Image credit: The EOFFTV Review - Wordpress.com

I would only recommend this movie if you are looking for something to get mad at. It’s a film that begins with only the vaguest plot destination in mind and then gets completely derailed through its own lack of creativity. And sin of sins, there’s not even a good ending that brings any sort of closure.

Director: Paul Hyett, 2015

Cast: Elliott Cowan, Rosie Day, Calvin Dean, Sam Griffiths, Shauna Macdonald, Duncan Preston, Ania Marson, Amit Shah, Ed Speleers, & Holly Weston

Wolf Man

Image credit: Wikipedia

Horror is a genre that is not to everyone’s taste – honestly, mine included. The funny thing about that though, is that it is the genre that I have the most fun talking about. For all their predictability, cliches, and often rigid cinematic and narrative progression, it’s what horror movies do and what they explore is that turns me into a gleeful mad scientist dissecting a freshly dug-up corpse.

As you can probably tell, the most recent film I sat down and watched was a horror. Partner and I curled up for a Friday night, choosing to spend it with Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man.

Upon receiving the news of the death of his father, Blake (Chrisopher Abbott) brings his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) to his family’s remote cabin in the Oregan woodlands. Upon arriving they get into a car accident and are then attacked by a strange monster. Blake receives a nasty scratch on his arm and while the monster stalks the permitter of the cabin, inside the family is suffering unknown horror as Blake slowly transforms into something bloodthirsty and unrecognisable.

Beginning with a flashback of little boy Blake hunting with his father and then jumping forward thirty years to adult Blake being the film’s protagonist, Whannell’s rendition of Wolf Man is an allegory and exploration into the many faces toxic masculinity and abusive parent-offspring relationships. Terrified of his own father as a boy, Blake tries to be the opposite for Ginger, but we are quickly shown that while the two have a very loving and close relationship, there is still fear that manifests itself in overprotectiveness and a quick temper. The closeness of Blake and Ginger also isolates Charlotte who, at the film’s beginning, is very career-oriented and disassociates when she’s at home. Tragically, during the second act when the horror and suspense is leading the charge, the forgotten love between husband and wife is remembered, which makes the climactic third act very moving despite its predictability. We’re not talking David Kronenberg’s The Fly moving, but still very sad and dispiriting.

Wolf-Man transformations have been spectacles of cinema for years from the original Wolf Man to the famous transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London. In this film the transformation is painfully slow and gruesome with bits of Blake slowly falling away: teeth, hair, hearing, and even mental comprehension. It’s a sad and horrifying balance of physical and mental metamorphosis that builds up a lot of the film’s suspense and terror.

Image credit: Fernby Films

With solid performances, well-timed suspense and jump scares, and interesting audio and visual techniques to convey the internal transformation of the protagonist, Wolf Man is a compelling film that makes the most of a minimal cast and predictable narrative.

Director: Leigh Whannell, 2025

Cast: Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Matilda Firth, Sam Jaeger, Zac Chandler & Benedict Hardie

Unleashing the Demons

Image credit: Amazon

Having a love of something and then finding people who share that love with you is -in my opinion- the best thing about being human. We find that special something, we become enamoured, obsessed, and then dissect it to understand why we love it. Then we share those findings with people we come into contact with due to their love of that special something. It’s a deepening and ever-replenishing wellspring of fascination, connection, and excitement. And what’s even more wonderful, is that that love inspires us to create our own and share. It’s delightfully contagious.

In case it’s not apparent yet, I have a love of movies. The majority of my adult life has been encompassed by them: first job being at Blockbuster (let that nostalgia wash over you), then a media advisor at Australia’s largest home-entertainment retailer, and now a client services coordinator in film distribution. While my love inspires me to dissect and talk about movies ad nauseum, through my jobs I have met inspiring and passionate individuals whose love of movies has inspired them to create their own. Below is an example of what happens when a creative and a dismantling love meets.

Years after a terrible incident that involved the death of four of his friends, Derek (Keiron McDonald) has been discharged from hospital and has moved in with his cousin April (Violet Shaw). But Derek is convinced that the nightmare isn’t over. Plagued by gruesome visions and hours he can’t account for, Derek tries to convince April that he is still possessed by a demon. And when April begins to have visions of her own, she can’t help but start to believe him.

Unleashing the Demons is a cinephile’s passion project in the sweetest sense. It’s a tiny production built on the talents at hand that explores the modern intricacies of one of the most widely parodied and dissected genres around: horror. The narrative is simple with all contextual history told through blunt and simple exposition and made more intriguing with the use of quick and cutting camera shots that indicate the presence of ‘visions’. This aspect of the movie gives it a sinister edge while at the same time forcing the audience to do the mental work a la Hitchcock. It’s a fresh and modern balance of show and tell that works well to keep the brain cogs turning throughout the film.

Image credit: IMDb

While being a small-scale horror movie by itself, the film is also an homage to the genre. This is how you can tell that it was made by cinephiles: it’s packed to the rafters with subtle references and tributes to a whole range of horror subgenres including religion-horror, meta-horror, and amateur-horror. The blend of the modern setting and the archaic horror work to heighten the seriousness of the narrative by powdering it with comedy, which then primes the audience for the ethical whiplash of the climactic third act. Think This is the End, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream, there are vibes of all these in there.

Admittedly, my response to this film is arguably coloured by the fact that I know the character of the creator, but honestly I really enjoyed watching this movie and because of its simplicity I was made aware of all the work that went in: the music, the makeup effects, the acting, the ‘set design’ – which includes a most immaculate Blu-ray collection FYI - with both cast and crew being one and the same creative entity. If anything, watching films like this can remind us that we can get blinded by the money, lights, and shiny of mainstream cinema and that everything grand comes from humble beginnings (that are honestly, more satisfying to talk about).

Unleashing the Demons is a film made by cinephiles for cinephiles.

Director: Callum Knox, 2020

Cast: Keiron McDonald, Violet Shaw, Hayden Geens, Laura Fraser, Eddy Price, Adele Samus, Callum Knox, Robyn Shaw & Eleanore Knox

Nosferatu

Image credit: IMDb

In my review for Last Voyage of the Demeter, I stated that I do agree with the argument that major studios are overdoing it with reboots and remakes. I am still of this opinion – there are so many good stories out there that could be turned into compelling films that might actually do well. The Invisible Life of Adie Larue could be the new romantic drama to replace The Notebook, The Scholomance series could easily become something like a new Twilight or Divergent series. But the more good remakes that I watch, the more I am inclined to ease off. At the end of the day, people are choosing to retell these stories because they are timeless and have a special relationship with people.

It's funny that the last time I talked about this was a vampire movie, a retelling of Dracula nonetheless, and that I’m talking about it again now with my review of Nosferatu.

Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) has been haunted by nightmares since childhood. When her nightmares come back shortly before her husband leaves on a job that would secure him a promotion, it proves to be a dark omen indeed. Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) travels to meet with the esoteric Count Orlock to finalise the sale of a property in England. Thomas’ stay with the count lengthens as he mysteriously falls ill and begins to awake each day with strange bite marks on his body. Fearful for his life, Thomas manages to escape back to England and his wife, but it soon becomes apparent that their dealings with the sinister Count Orlock are far from over.

Based on the novel by Bram Stoker and a remake of the 1920’s classic Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens starring Max Schrek, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is a gorgeous American-Gothic horror film that breathes a new life into the classic tale.

Filmed with a cold colour palette, almost dark enough to be black and white, and favouring tantalising, lingering panoramic shots that stretch the nerves to their utmost extent in anticipation of a jump scare, the film is a return to supernatural horrors of the ‘20s and ‘30s where performances, camera techniques, and hand-crafted achievements in costume, set, and makeup design enthrall audiences. Whilst definitely adhering to the gothic-romance aesthetic, the film superbly mixes both modern and traditional folk horror, with culture clash and the differences in social evolutions of towns and countries proving to be the real villain. Afterall, what’s more terrifying than bringing an old horror from another country home with you?

Image credit: Rotten Tomatoes

The captivating performances of Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Willem Dafoe and Bill Skarsgard ensure bums remain firmly planted in seats from reel one, with the story being just different enough from Dracula to keep you invested in the heroes’ goal to eradicate the monster. There is a romantic element to the tale and a unique relationship written in between Ellen and Orlock: a story of infatuation, loneliness, and the power of promise. Depp is graceful and gorgeous, almost ethereal when she’s not seizing or having blood gush from her eyes. And Skarsgard produces some good ol’ fashioned chills down the spine with his deep and painfully eloquent vocal work. But of course, the real stars are Sally Alcott and the incredible makeup department who so perfectly designed a modern monster from a different age. The makeup design for Orlock is incredible: scary enough to cause recoil, yet not completely masking the humanity underneath.

Nosferatu is a beautiful modern horror movie that feels like a classic and what’s most endearing about it is that the love for the story, the genre, and the medium can be seen and felt in every shot.

Director: Robert Eggers, 2025

Cast: Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, Bill Skarsgard, & Willem Dafoe

Renfield

Image credit: dvdreleasedates.com

It was Buffy the Vampire Slayer who famously said to Dracula, ‘don’t you think I watch your movies, you always come back’ and no truer words have been said when it comes to cinematic appearances from the Prince of Darkness. Indeed the story of the vampiric Count Dracula and the band of heroes who set out to destroy him is one of the most retold tales in cinematic history, and we’ve had a number of piggyback films and character spinoffs that feature many of the characters: Van Helsing in Van Helsing, Mina Harker in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for example. But that’s the heroes, what about the villainous sidekicks?

Enter Nicholas Hoult and Nicholas Cage in a charming and very funny modern exploration into the timeless characters in Chris McKay’s spoof comedy, Renfield, which is the first film that Partner and I chose to ring in the new year with.

Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) has been the dutiful servant of Count Dracula (Nicholas Cage) for decades, but has recently begun thinking about what a life away from the Count could be. Attending support meetings for people in toxic relationships, initially as a means of getting victims for his master, Renfield discovers that his and Dracula’s relationship is one of the most toxic there is and he determines to take back his power and break his dependency once and for all. But this becomes a little tricky as a zealous cop starts to follow Renfield’s hunting trail.

The premise of the film alone is very funny, fresh, and just delightful. A simple and silly modern B-movie that exists to remind us that movies don’t always have to be serious or artistic masterworks; some people make them purely for the fun. And that’s what Renfield is, it’s just fun. The story is sweet and uplifting with the added quirk of the hero being a celebrated literary villain’s henchman. While there is a fair amount of violence, it’s not particularly realistic and this plays further into the idea that this movie was made purely for the fun, achieving a number of grossed out giggles.

But it’s the performances that make the film so lovely. Nicholas Hoult is an absolute delight: charming, endearing, and sweet with a brilliant sense of comedic timing that carries the movie perfectly. Nicholas Cage, you could tell, was having a ball as Dracula; opting for the grandiose gestures and dramatic melancholy that many of his vampiric predecessors favoured. Awkwafina, in a fun twist, brings bite and a bit of seriousness to the otherwise hilarious cast as the zealous cop with something to prove.

Image credit: nme.com

Filled with inspiring messages about self-worth, schlock violence and ridiculous fight sequences, a clever and fun script, and a cast that were absolutely having a ball, Renfield is a delightful modern B-movie that’s perfect for a mindless night in.

Director: Chris McKay, 2023

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Nicholas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Brandon Scott Jones, Adrian Martinez, James Moses Black, & Camille Chen

Accessibility: At time of writing, Renfield is available on Netflix (AU)

Last Voyage of the Demeter

Image credit: thathashtagshow.com

It’s a common argument and complaint right now that mainstream Hollywood and the big studios in general are plying audiences with too many reboots, and remakes, and piggyback films, etc. I agree with this; when you think of the wealth of original content that there is spanning human history why would you gamble in making another Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean? What percentage of literature is unfilmable, how much is horded by those who own the rights, and how much of it just scares the studio heads? This thought is in my head right now because I've just come back from seeing a very good film based on a tiny portion of Bram Stoker's, Dracula.

Last Voyage of the Demeter chronicles the journey of the most celebrated monster from Transylvania to England. The crew of the Demeter are a motley bunch, but staunch and hearty, bound for England with the promise of a nice bonus if they get there in record time. Their cargo is a bunch of crates. When a storm upturns one of the crates, a sickly woman is discovered and while the Doctor nurses her back to health, men start disappearing during the night watch. Fear and superstition runs rampant as glimpses of a strange creature are seen and one by one, the screw succumb to gruesome deaths.

The voyage of the Demeter in Stoker’s gothic classic is a very small portion of the book, nothing more a chapter and written as the captain’s log. The little substory certainly lends itself to cinematic interpretation and while it can be argued that Dracula movies have been done time and time again, this film manages to be original and a good example of all the tiny golden nuggets that are hidden in humanity’s wealth of literature and content.

The story we all know and we go into the film fully aware of what’s going to transpire within the next 2 hours. What the film does is create a cast of fleshed out and realised characters that get stories of their own before being eaten. From the stoic captain, to the religious cook, to the doctor who wants nothing more than to understand why the world works the way that it does, the crew of the Demeter become tangible characters and not just a number in the pages of this classic novel. While there is only so much you can do to bring a nameless pawn or henchman to life, the film manages to depict a compelling tale of a doomed crew that are forced to re-evaluate everything they believe in. The performances are all wonderful, everyone in every scene added depth and dimension to, what I remind you, is not much more than a single chapter in a book.

Image credit: screenrealm.com

The suspense and horror aspect of the film is achieved through an Alien style stalker use of the camera, very slow-moving shots, and stylistic closeups of the violence and gore. And then we have the villain himself. As it would be interesting but laughable to have Dracula as the captivating and charming, Gary Oldman style nobleman, the monster design returns to the classic horror of the 1920s with a Nosferatu monster with pointed ears, sharp talons, and spidery limbs. What I particularly enjoyed is the transformation that Dracula goes through on the voyage. Beginning the series of slaughters as weak, scrawny and feeble, he gains strength, shape, and even speech the more he feeds; finally regaining some semblance of a man by the film’s end.

While it’s not the greatest horror movie ever to slash its way onto a movie screen, Last Voyage of the Demeter is a fresh and creative depiction of a classic, playing on the tropes of the genre while also fleshing out a part of the novel that hardly ever gets remembered.

Director: Andre Ovredal, 2023

Cast: Corey Hawkins, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Chris Walley, Jon Jon Briones, Stefan Kapicic, Woody Norman, Martin Furuland & Aisling Franciosi

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

 

Image creditL IMDb

Well, the new Doctor Strange movie is out and for partner and I that means date night! So last night we catapulted ourselves back into the MCU with Disney’s latest venture into the Marvelverse: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And believe me ‘catapult’ is absolutely the word to describe this experience!

Awakened from a horrible dream in which he dies, Stephen Strange goes to Christine’s wedding a little conflicted and on edge: a feeling that’s validated when a giant monster attacks the city in pursuit of a young girl named America, who also featured in Stephen's dream. Strange and Wong learn that this girl has the ability to travel the multiverse and that some demon is after her power. Their only clue to the demon’s identity is strange mystical runes that surrounded the monster, so Strange tracks down Wanda Maximoff for help. However this doesn’t really go as planned, as he quickly discovers that Wanda is the one after America’s powers and will stop at absolutely nothing to get them. Soon Stephen and America are racing through the multiverse in search of an ancient book that will give them to the power to save America and the infinite number of worlds from the reign of Scarlet Witch.  

It goes without saying that one can expect a whole lot of crazy, psychedelic, fractured, and visually intense experiences with this movie because it’s a Doctor Strange flick. But where the film stands aloft from the other Marvel films is that Sam Raimi has been called in to direct and has ingeniously taken Multiverse of Madness into the realms of horror. I mean, with a Lovecraftian title like that, how can you not? While there are many typical awesome Marvel action sequences reminiscent of the other MCU films, there is a lot in Multiverse of Madness that is reminds us of The Evil Dead (not to mention the signature Bruce Campbell appearance) and I was absolutely here for it! 

Considering the emotionally complex characters of both Strange and Wanda; especially after Wandavision, which I recommend watching before this otherwise you might struggle with what’s going on, going for a more horrific rather than actiony-sci-fi film was a really good choice and it perfectly brings the darker side of the MCU and its various stories into the light. Seriously, people in control of all this power is hells scary!

Image credit: Slash Film

Visually the movie is another triumph, with the multiverse-jumping scenes being very trippy and very cool. The film also features one of the most original magical combat scenes, which I’m sure composer Danny Elfman had a lot of fun with, watch out for that one. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sits firmly in the MCU’s awesome filmic canon and is absolutely a good, albeit dark and creepy, time. 

Director: Sam Raimi, 2022

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, Xochitl Gomez, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Hayley Atwell, Michael Stuhlbarg, Anson Mount, Lashana Lynch, John Krasinski, Charlize Theron, and Patrick Stewart

Zombieland: Double Tap

Image credit: Odeon

It seems like an eternity since I went to the movies! I think It Chapter II might have been the last and that was only because I had a cheap promo ticket thing. There has just been nothing on, a real movie drought, but it looks like November is when we can expect a little rain. I started off this cinematic wet-season with Zombieland: Double Tap.

Families can be hard to keep together. More so in the face of an ever-present zombie hoard. After Columbus (Jessie Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) move into the abandoned White House, tensions start to rise as Little Rock yearns to be around survivors her own age, Columbus and Wichita have couples issues, and Tallahassee starts to get the nomadic itch. And the outside world is just as tense, with a new type of zombie emerging; one that’s smarter, faster, and harder to kill. Bring it on!

This metafictive little gem is a whole lot of fun. It adheres to the same style and humour of the first film, but with a refreshing twist of new narratives, character development, and relatable themes. The funniest thing about the movie is how the central conflict stems from these everyday dramas that each and every one of us goes through, and it’s made more epic by the fact that these normalities are trying to be achieved in a totally un-normal world. Who would think to make a coming-of-age/grown ups growing up film set against a dystopian, zombie-apocalypse background? Ruben Fleischer, Dave Callaham, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick!

Image credit: Hypebeast

The same cutting humour and dialogue from the first movie is still the real hero of this film, being delivered with perfect timing and performance from the cast. Between Eisenberg’s speedy and intelligent monologues and Harrelson’s brutish and hilarious bouts of rhyming, it’s nothing but happy fun times ahead.

Snaps definitely go to the makeup and effects department for their delightfully gross and stomach-churning achievements in zombie gore.

Zombieland: Double Tap really is more of the same thing as Zombieland and there’s nothing wrong with that! If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it!

Director: Ruben Fleischer, 2019

Cast: Jessie Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin, Zoe Deutch, Avan Jogia, Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson, Thomas Middleditch, and Bill Murray

It Chapter Two

Image credit: Wikipedia

Adaptations are an interesting phenomenon. On the one hand, they can result in some truly amazing pieces of cinema. On the other hand they can make all manner of audiences mad as hell. Adapting a book into a film is a slippery slope lined with all sorts of risks: the director’s interpretation conflicting with the readership’s, will certain aspects translate as well on screen, and many more. Some books have famously been labelled as ‘unfilmable’, while others lend themselves 100% to cinematic interpretation.

Then there are some that are a mix of column A and column B. It is a classic example.

I went and saw Chapter Two last week. Following on from It, the film follows the group of childhood friends known as ‘the Losers’ Club’, as they reunite in Derry to put an end to a horror that has plagued their hometown for decades. Ben, Bill, Eddie, Beverly, Richie and Mike all find themselves right back in the nightmare that haunted their childhood with Pennywise the clown snapping, snarling, and terrorising their every step.

It is one of the most interesting cases of the adaptable-unadaptable book debate because, on the one hand, the book in its entirety is jam-packed with stuff that simply does not translate to film, but on the other hand, the central story is classic monster movie material and pretty hard to screw up. Though I have to say that It Chapter Two definitely gave it a red-hot go.

Perhaps it was the literal time gap between the two films or maybe it was that it was filmed as the kids’ story and then the adults’ story, but there was a definite jarring effect happening here, like the two films were not actually linked to one another. The adult versions of the children were unimpressive and relatively mundane, definitely not inspiring any sort of emotional attachment and their relationships (and by extension cast chemistry) was really strained.

The suspense was cheap, the scares were cheap, and even Pennywise had lost his edge. There’s a whole new aspect added into the plot, which I don’t remember in the original or the book at all so *inhales breath* not of a fan of that creative license and there was nothing really new or groundbreaking in terms of the genre or special effects that made it worth my time.

I will say that I kind of, maybe would give it snaps for its anti-bullying (?) message and I definitely enjoyed Stephen King’s cameo, but at the end of the day It Chapter Two was just a boring and tactless adaptation of a story that’s been done before.

Image credit: TNP

It makes me wonder what was the thinking behind remaking It? The original with Tim Curry, while very camp, is still perfectly creepy and entertaining. There’s an endless stream of original content out there, studios just won’t touch it for fear of losing money if the film doesn’t work. Instead, they opt for remaking the franchises that have worked in the past because, even if the film is awful and a blight on an artistic and expressive medium, the studio already has its money guaranteed because people are going to be like ‘well I liked the original’.

I have to say I feel that this attitude is poisoning the industry and while there are studios and filmmakers out there who are trying to make good films for their audiences, they just get bogged down amidst so much crap.

While I love the story of It and didn’t mind the first part, Chapter Two falls under the aforementioned umbrella of crap.

Director: Andy Muschietti, 2019

Cast: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Teach Grant, and Nicholas Hamilton

Snake Island

Image credit: IMDb

Continuing on the bad eco-horror bender that I’ve apparently started, last night the film of choice was a particularly horrendous piece of work from the early naughties called, Snake Island.

The film tells the story of a group of tourists on African safari who make a unscheduled stop at one Snake Island Lodge and, through a series of mishaps, become stranded. As the guides regale the visitors with superstitious local legends of why the island’s tenants keep mysteriously disappearing, the group gets a first-hand taste of the myths, as one by one they start vanishing.

Absolutely everything about this movie is ridiculous and wrong, laughably so, but to give credit where it is due, I have to say that it’s nice to see a movie in which the monster is not merely some giant member of the species.

But this is where the positives end.

I still cannot work out what this film was and whether it was meant to be taken seriously or not. It begins as this almost adorably amateur attempt at a horror movie, but then it’s like everyone working on it got and drunk and just let their creative juices break onto the floor and make a huge, wet, chunky, mess. It may have been an attempt at taking the piss out of the eco-horror genre, but I'm honestly not sure.

The script is downright horrible featuring characters that have absolutely no substance or likeable qualities, the reactions of everyone (including the damned tour guides) upon encountering snakes are exactly the opposite to what we’ve all been taught to do from the age of six, and then there are some shots and sequences that make absolutely no sense and bring less than nothing to the film.

Image credit: California Herps

Ultimately this movie is like a drunken mash-up of the most memorable scenes from good action-horror movies thrown together and whatever story there is going on underneath all the screaming and hissing is incomprehensible.

While both my partner and laughed through many scenes (so, at least the film was enjoyable in that way), Snake Island really doesn’t offer much to whatever audiences it's trying to snag and I would recommend that you only watch it if you’re out to see something truly dumb and wholly unremarkable in any way, shape, or form.

Director: Wayne Crawford, 2002

Cast: William Katt, Wayne Crawford, Kate Connor, Russel Savadier, Dawn Matthews, Milan Murray, Jason Kennett, Japan Mthembu, Nicola Hanekom, and Seth Zweli Zimu

Rogue

Image credit: Blu-Ray.com

While I didn’t start my cinematic journey as a horror fan, through working my way through The Book, I have discovered a real love and appreciation for the genre and, it’s funny, one of my ‘guilty pleasures’ (I guess is the right term) has spawned from this odd fascination: eco-horror.

For those who might not know the term, eco-horror refers to that subgenre of monster movies that take place in nature and feature nature as the villain (Jaws being the most widely recognised). I couldn’t tell you why I’m fascinated by this genre (as honestly most of the films in the repertoire are pretty horrendous), there’s just something particularly entertaining about how it can either be really good (like Jaws) or really bad (like Razorback). The other night, my partner and I indulged and checked out Rogue.

Set in the Australian outback (where else?) Rogue tells the story of a group of tourists that get stranded on a swamp island and laid siege to by a giant croc.

While I can totally understand the desire to make monster movies featuring crocodiles, they are amongst the nastiest predators around, being dangerous on both land and in water, I’m yet to find a movie that truly gets them right. One of the most satisfying things about eco-horror movies is when the filmmakers get the behaviours of the ‘monsters’ right: believability is vital for a good eco-horror flick, though a lack of understanding can make for a hilariously bad one too.

Rogue was kind of there, taking into account the crocs’ natural territorialism and aggressiveness. But this is where the believability stopped.

While we all know crocs can grow to be quite large, this one kind of pushed the limits, being so huge it wouldn’t be able to support its own weight in reality. The suspense of the water attacks and underwater shots are one thing, but as soon as we see the monster itself, the fear diminishes somewhat, especially when we see it on land (like Bruce the rubber shark).

Image credit: FlixList

But while the physical fearsomeness of the monster doesn’t last long, the film does a relatively ok job of maintaining suspense and depicting the breakdown of social cohesiveness under times of great stress. Like any classic monster movie be it Night of the Living Dead or Jaws, the ugly side of human nature, when put under threat of extinction, comes out and this is no different for Rogue with a large portion of enjoyment coming in the form of yelling at the characters’ idiocy.

The performances are all fine, though for a film like this I don’t think audiences are expecting much, and despite a few behavioural tweaks regarding crocs’ eating habits, Rogue is not an altogether terrible film. It’s just not altogether great either.

Director: Greg McLean

Cast: Radha Mitchell, Michael Vartan, Sam Worthington, Caroline Brazier, Stephen Curry, Celia Ireland, John Jarratt, Heather Mitchell, Geoff Morrell, Damien Richardson, Robert Taylor, Barry Otto, and Mia Wasikowska

Pitch Black

Image credit: Wikipedia

Fusion is a wonderful thing. In the world of culinary delights it works to stimulate our tastebuds and inspire us to mix flavours and cuisines. In literature and film it offers all sorts of wonders by blending multiple genres together to create something with depth, complexity, and that looks both like and unlike anything else. One great example of this is the film Pitch Black.

A strange, yet interesting film to say the least, Pitch Black tells the story of a ship carrying a variety of passengers that gets struck by the debris from a comet and crash lands on a barren, alien planet. While exploring, the ship’s passengers –a preacher, his sons, a couple of prospectors, a merchant, a cop and his prisoner- soon discover they are not alone, but that the planet is overrun by vicious and carnivorous aliens that come out at night… and a solar eclipse is imminent. When the darkness hits, the group’s only hope for survival is have Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel), the murderous criminal whose eyes have been fixed to see in the dark, to lead them back to their ship.

A science-fiction action horror movie, Pitch Black is the classic story of a bunch of misfits banding together. A mixture of The Breakfast Club, Con Air, and Alien –if you can imagine such a thing- it has a very simple survival plot, recognisble to no end, that is made just that little bit different by its being set in the distant future.

Image credit: Pinterest

But what sets the film aside from others like it is definitely its ironic use of lighting. For the majority of the first half, the film is dramatically lit, to the point that it’s almost in complete sepia tones reminiscent of the silent era. The other half, of course, takes place in either total or semi darkness with suspense and jump scares dominating with grand aplomb.

The development of a handful of characters is relatively engaging, despite most being pretty typical archetypes of the genre, and the creature design was definitely something unique and frighting.

Mostly, Pitch Black is a mindless and mediocre horror movie set in space, but who doesn’t love a good one of those once in a while?

Director: David Twohy, 2000

Cast: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, Rhiana Griffith, John Moore, and Simon Burke

Brightburn

Image credit: Wikipedia

I admire the horror genre for a number of reasons, the main being that it’s a class of films that one can enjoy if they are either good or bad. A schlocky, or ‘bad’ horror movie has a wondrous level of enjoyment to it because of certain ridiculousness, predictability, and sometimes sincerity in its artistic-ness that makes the whole thing laughable. My partner and I are particular fans of these types of movies.

Despite having the perk of a good movie experience if the film’s done well and a enjoyable experience if it’s done badly, but with that sense of knowing fun, it’s still not impossible to a) get a bad horror movie or b) have a disappointing experience because the film was not what you thought it was going to be. We had a recent experience of the latter when we went and saw Brightburn.

This superhero horror directed by David Yarovesky and produced by James Gunn tells the story of a young married couple that adopt an alien baby boy when a mysterious space ships crashes onto their property. They raise the child as their own, naming him Brandon, and then the film flashes forward 12 years to where Brandon is starting to hit puberty. A series of strange events including sleepwalking, hearing alien voices in his head, and discovering he has inhuman strength and invulnerability causes Brandon to confront his parents about his identity. But rather than use his powers for good, Brandon becomes aggressively aware of his superiority and by this time, not even his own family is safe.

I do believe that selective bits of information regarding this film were absorbed into our brains and influenced our decision to head to the movies to see it. This selectivity planted an assumption of what the film would be like and, therefore was completely shattered when that was not what we received. Basically, we went into the theatre thinking that this would be a silly, but fun schlocky horror film that we could laugh and cringe through, James Gunn having a hand in it and all.

We were wrong.

Funnily enough the disappointing experience that we had with Brightburn came from our expectation of a bad movie and being presented with an actually pretty good one, which completely overrode the active parts of our minds and then started stimulating the ones that we didn’t intend on using.

Like many other horror movies starring children, Brightburn explores the screwy effects of puberty and social introversion and awkwardness, just making it more horrific by giving the victim superpowers. Like Carrie or Tetsuo from Akira, Brandon unleashes literal Hell on his community, but this is only where half of the horror comes from. The rest stems from the film’s exploration into the nature of humanity and how it’s (funnily enough) only a human thing. Despite being raised as a human, Brandon is obviously some other kind of predator, and the film does a really good job of achieving a hefty amount of creepiness and unnerve by having this seemingly human boy show a complete lack of remorse for his violence.

Image credit: USA Today

Speaking of violence, this film is definitely not for the fainthearted. If, like me, you really struggle with realistic depictions of graphic mutilations and injuries (we’re talking glass shards in eyes and jaws breaking off in car crashes), then best go and watch something else. However, I will say that the gore and violence in the movie does add something to the film and isn’t there for the sake of yanking some jumps and face-covering from the audience. While I don’t particularly like it, I do appreciate it.

At the end of the day my only problem with Brightburn is that it was too good and not at all what my brain had tricked me into thinking it was. While a lot of it is recognisable in terms of genre aesthetic and various tropes, it’s a film that is subtly different to other movies that look like it and is made quite cleanly, with a lot of care and mastery of the genre.

If you like horror movies to scare and unnerve you, then by all means go and see Brightburn.

Director: David Yarovesky, 2019

Cast: Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Emmie Hunter, Matt Jones, Meredith Hagner, Becky Wahlstrom, Terence Rosemore, and Gregory Alan Williams

Korkarlen (The Phantom Carriage)

Image credit: Amazon UK

One of my all-time favourite things about going back in time with cinema is when you find those films that spawned so many recognisable and iconic scenes. It’s a truly weird and delightful feeling when you watch a scene in a really old movie and it reminds you of a scene in a film that was made decades later and that part of your brain that remembers and stores scenes and images lights and begins whirring like mad. This afternoon I watched a particularly good one of these movies: Korkarlen (The Phantom Carriage).

Rather reminiscent of Dickens’ classic ghost story, Korkarlen takes place on New Years’ Eve at the bedside of a dying Salvation Army sister (Astrid Holm). Her dying wish is to see the man whom she loves turn over a new leaf. Outside in the cold the man of her prayers, David Holm, (Victor Sjostrom) is drinking away the remains of the year when he gets into a tussle with his companions and dies. Death’s carriage arrives to take his soul, but the driver –a former sinner and friend of David’s- prolongs the engagement by showing David’s ghost all the pain and misery he has caused in the hope that there might still be time to save his soul.

Historically, The Phantom Carriage is a cinematic masterpiece for a number of reasons. Not only did it cement the fame of Swedish silent cinema throughout the 1920s, it is probably one of the most widely sampled and quoted films within modern cinema –especially in films that depict the spirit world.

It might not be the first, but it is definitely the most celebrated ghost movie in silent cinema, with the scene of the soul rising from the deceased body and then staring back down at it, being one of the most widely recognisable sequences in modern movies. Made in a simple, but incredibly time-consuming and meticulous way with series of double exposures, the film was the first time audiences got to see a three-dimensional ghost world on screen and it’s truly haunting.

The eerie tale of disease, decay, and spiritual corruption is highlighted further by the supernatural element as well as the film’s (at the time) modern narrative method of telling the story through flashbacks and even flashbacks within flashbacks. All this results in an intricate and complex tale of society in decline, which would depress even the dead, but is uplifted by its resounding message of hope and the opportunity of turning over a new leaf that the New Year brings. It is wonderfully metaphoric while at the same being completely sincere and the drama and horror of the central stories of woe is superbly brought out by the mesmerising performances of the cast.

Image credit: IMDb

Sjostrom in particular, is a captivating protagonist, beginning the film as this cackling and hateful, disease-ridden human who, in true Scrooge fashion, gets sense finally knocked into him through a series of scares and forced re-livings of his own past perils. Getting all the best scenes in the movie including looking down at his own corpse and breaking down a locked door with an axe a la Jack Nicholson, (“Heeere’s Johnny!”) it’s a true testament to the power of visual storytelling and performance that this hateful character can make us cry along with him in the end, and seriously Sjostrom is remarkable!

The Phantom Carriage influenced the works of Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, and practically every other director who ever did a transparent ghost movie, and even all these years later it still stands up as a truly moving, impressive, and iconic film.

Director: Victor Sjostrom, 1921

Cast: Victor Sjostrom, Hilda Borgstrom, Tore Svennberg, Astrid Holm, Concordia Selander, Lisa Lundholm, Tor Weijden, Einar Axelsson, Olof As, Nils Ahren, Simon Lindstrand, Nils Elffors, Algot Gunnarsson, Hildur Lithman, and John Ekman