Crawl - Review

Director Alexandre Aja makes a big splash with this year's sleeper horror hit Crawl. Like many great horrors, the title has a double meaning. Not only do the monsters crawl but the majority of the action takes place in a crawl space beneath a house... plus it makes your skin crawl!

Haley (Kaya Scodelario), a collegiate swimmer, must travel back home to check on her estranged father (Barry Pepper) during a hurricane when they both become trapped in the basement with a vicious alligator. With no one coming to their Gator-Aid, they must work together as flood waters and tensions rise around them, bringing fear and their troubled past to the surface in a race against time.

Having made his name with French horror Haute Tension aka Switchblade Romance, Aja has abandoned any notion of a twist that featured in that film that split audiences right down the middle like a gator chomping through a Floridian. This is an old school thriller that is as lean and mean as a hungry alligator during hurricane season. Also, he gives the humour present in his Piranha 3D remake a wide birth to focus on building the tension and emotion... although he still knows when to throw in an effective and gory kill to satisfy the blood lust!

Scodelario makes for a tough, resourceful scream queen whose fiercely competitive swimming background helps to level the playing field once the protagonists are underwater. At times, when drenched and vunerable, she is almost the doppelganger of Emma Stone and she will undoubtedly have audiences on her side willing her to survive.

The film does have a standard OTT premise needed for a good old-fashioned horror thrill ride but the writers make sure to ground this in as much believability as possible. Decisions made by characters feel authentic and the barriers to their escape flow naturally that you never scoff or remark "well that would never happen". Plus the tension and threat is maintained throughout to the point where no one is safe... even the dog!

A genre cross between Jaws and Hard Rain, Crawl is a gripping horror with bite that will once again make you afraid to go back in the water and is the most thrilling way to spend 87 minutes in Florida until Galaxy's Edge opens later this year!

4 stars

Suspiria - Review

"When you dance the dance of another, you make yourself in the image of its creator"
It would be fair to say that fans of Suspiria may not initially recognise that film in Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino's remake/adaptation in "six acts and an epilogue"
Yes, it is set within a German ballet school which is run by a coven of witches, and the character names are the same, but that is where the similarities end.
Gone is the bold vivid colour palette, replaced with a more muted tone to keep in the 1973 Berlin setting. Instead of Goblin's Italian funk soundtrack, we have Thom Yorke picking up Jonny Greenwood's baton and moving into the film score business. And the iconic death sequences the original are annexed in favour of something else entirely... something that is too deliciously delirious to spoil.
Guadagnino's psychological fever dream is a completely different beast to Dario Argento's original 1977 Giallo horror film.
The story is set within the world of dance and Argento and Guadagnino's two version feel akin to two separate choreographers taking a different approach and adaptation to the text. Both are unique, wonderful pieces of work but also can exist within the same universe.
Similar to how directors will adapt Shakespeare into modern settings to give new historical context and show the universality of the stories, this version is set in Berlin 1976 at a time of a divided city, set for rebirth.
Where Argento's movie was frenetically paced, leaping straight into American Susie Bannion's arrival at the school followed by a horrific murder set piece, Guadagnino opts for the slow burn.
The film takes its time building its two central plots (Susie's meteoric rise to lead protagonist in the company and Dr. Josef Klemperer's search for Patricia (Chloe Grace Moretz), the girl Susie replaced) before dovetailing the two together in Acts V and VI which are some of the most spectacularly beautiful, terrifying and insane filmmaking you will see all year... and this is coming from someone who has seen Mandy.
Dakota Johnson, written off by many for starring in the awful 50 Shades films, proves that she is a fantastic actress who will likely follow the same career path as Kristen Stewart after Twilight (which the 50 Shades of Grey books were actually inspired by).
Her performance evokes memories of Natalie Portman in Black Swan as the physicality of the dance is easily matched by her emotional journey as she is pulled deeper and deeper into the conspiracy within the dance school. One that is orchestrated by her teacher and mentor Madame Blanc. Tilda Swinton is the perfect actress for a role like this (and potentially a few others). Her otherwordly appearance and ability to turn from warm to villainous on a dime is used to full effect. Plus the smouldering sexual tension between Swinton and Johnson towards the end is off the charts.
During one private lesson, Blanc tells Susie "There are two things that dance can never be again. Beautiful and cheerful. Today we break the nose of every beautiful thing"
Suspiria is certainly not cheerful and in the world of interpretive dance, there are many that will not like this interpretation of the material. But all art is subjective and while Guadagnino may break the beautiful face of Argento's Giallo classic, from the broken pulpy mess that remains he reaches in and moulds it into something even more beautiful. The same heart reborn with a new visage that is better than the original.

5 stars

MCM Comic Con London Review - Day 1

At the end of October I had the pleasure of attending MCM Comic Con London, the UK's largest pop culture event, which took place at the ExCel centre.

Having attended New York Comic Con back in 2013, this was my first major Comic Con since then and my first on home soil, so the opportunity to immerse myself in the culture and unleash my inner geek for 72 hours was very exciting.

What follows is a quick rundown of each day's activities:

Day 1

• Hasbro
• Horror Through The Generations panel
• MCM Sing-A-Long: The Greatest Showman

As a huge Star Wars fan (especially since the sequels breathed new life into my wavering fandom), my immediate interest was drawn to the Han and Leia Black Series 2-pack that was available at the Hasbro booth, along with a few Transformers and Marvel Con Exclusives.

Having experienced the rushes and queues when I attended NYCC, as soon as the doors opened it was a mad dash to the front of the line to secure a wristband to purchase the exclusive of your choice at a certain time period. This guaranteed you the item you wanted but at a time that suited you, allowing you to explore and enjoy the Con and not be stuck in a line for hours...
Which is what you had to experience if you were after one of the Funko exclusives as their queue stretched in a complete loop right around the stand in the centre of the Con. It was a genuine surprise to see how busy the Funko stand was compared to the Hasbro one but I guess this is just what the collectable market is moving to.
Back at the Hasbro stand, the stunning exclusives were on display including a Marvel Defenders 6 pack of figures in custom subway train packaging (I did enjoy how Iron Fist is made to sit on his own to the side!)

and the chance to try your best Thanos impression inside a lifesize action figure box.

With my exclusive secured, along with a new worry of how I could take this home in my carry on luggage, it was time to explore the rest of the Con.

On the way to the main stage for an afternoon of panels, there was plenty time to admire some of the amazing cosplay on offer. From a quick tally, it would appear that the most popular options this weekend would be Spider-Man from Homecoming with yellow blazer and handy backpack, Deadpool and his arch-nemesis Hugh Jackman from The Greatest Showman!

The first panel of the day was Horror Through The Generations with Tony Todd (Candyman), Linnea Quigley (The Return Of The Living Dead), Katherine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps), Ray Santiago (Ash vs Evil Dead) and Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th).

This was an entertaining panel that allowed the actors behind some of Horror's greatest icons to discuss the current state of the genre. A transcription of the talk can be found on The Nerd Party's Twitter account where we live tweeted the session.

The day ended with one of MCM Comic Con's traditions. A Sing-A-Long screening and this year it was the pop culture phenomenon that is The Greatest Showman.

Nearly one year on from its release in cinema's and this film still had the capacity crowd in the palm of its hand with everyone singing loud to every song. The compere even got some of the audience who had cosplayed as the characters to come up during "their" songs before it culminated with a entire stage full of P.T. Barnum's whipping the crowd into a frenzy as The Greatest Show came to an end, putting the perfect full stop on day one of the Con.

The Nun - Review

The Nun is, somewhat unbelievably, the fifth film to come out of 2013's surprise horror hit The Conjuring.
Similar to the Annabelle doll that featured in the original film, the evil spirit Valak first appeared in The Conjuring 2 and has was deemed suitably terrifying enough to earn her/his own spin off. One which debuted at the top of the US box office last week.
At this point, The Conjuring Universe is second only to Marvel Studios, and is putting the DCEU's efforts so far to absolute shame that the powers that be at DC should pray for forgiveness.
The film opens with an effectively creepy beginning where some terrified nuns in a Romanian abbey are attempting to vanquish an evil spirit that lives within the depths of the holy ground. Suffice to say that it does not end well, climaxing in a truly haunting shot.
Word of the deaths reaches the Vatican who dispatch Father Burke (Demain Bichir) and a young nun (Taissa Farmiga) to investigate, along with the help of "Frenchie", the roguish French-Canadian villager who made the horrific discovery.
By the time they reach the Abbey, Valak's power has already grown strong and begins to get into the heads of the visitors, all of whom are haunted by their own pasts as well as the ghostly Nun that stalks the corridors.
Director Corin Hardy has delivered a horror that comes in at just over the 90 minute mark but it would be fair to say that even though the audience have paid a lot of money for their seat, they will only be sat in it about half the time. The other half they will be jumping out of it.
That is because, rather than building that unnerving sense of dread that slowly creeps up your body until it is frozen rigid in fear, the film opts to go for the tried-and-tested method of quickly build tension before employing a jump scare to create that cathartic release.
Build. Jump. Scream. Repeat. Build. Jump. Scare. Repeat.
A really good jump scare can be one of the most effective and enjoyable scares you can get in the cinema e.g. the bum behind the diner in Mulholland Drive (fun fact: also played by Bonnie Aarons who is Valak), the Blood Test in The Thing, "Night Vision" in The Descent.
The problem comes when there is an over-reliance on them, thus diluting the effect. There is actually a website called Where's The Jump? that details exactly where the jump scares are in horror films and it has recently posted The Nun on the site and it lists a total of 29! Which is one jump scare every three minutes!
To give credit where credit is due, the majority of them do land but it is to the point of exhaustion.
Beyond the relentless onslaught of jumps, the biggest issue in the film lies with the lead actress Taissa Farmiga. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with her performance. In fact she is very good and apparently the filmmakers have stated that though they auditioned many people, she was the best one for the role.
The issue comes from that with the film being set before the first Conjuring, and Taissa being the younger sister of Vera Farmiga who plays Lorraine Warren in the series. I kept finding myself thinking I was watching a prequel which sets up her character. Only that it isn't. Her name is Irene. Lorraine wasn't a nun. Yet that niggling feeling that the film is setting up for a big twist remained.
However thankfully, it did not go down that road. Instead tying into the franchise in a different and much more clean and effective way.
The Nun is an effective but unimaginative horror thanks to its over-reliance on jump scares but I guess old habits die hard!

2 stars

Upgrade - Review

On paper, a film about a man who is left for dead and thanks to a fusion of man and machine, is able to hunt down and get revenge on the men who attacked him sounds very similar to Robocop.
However writer-director Leigh Whannell has proven very skilled at taking ideas from 80s movies such as Robocop and Poltergeist and upgrading them into modern, Grindhouse (or should that be Blumhouse) hits.
Having worked for the past decade in the horror genre with the Saw and Insidious franchises, Whannell moves into another genre ripe for reinvention, science fiction.
In Upgrade, Logan Marshall-Green (NOT Tom Hardy) stars as Grey Trace, a mechanic who lives in the near-future but lives for a simpler time when everything is not controlled by technology. He is a self-confessed Luddite who listens to vinyl and repairs classic cars to sell to wealthy collectors. He is also happily married to Asha, who is the antithesis of Grey and embraces this modern world and works within the medical industry.
One night after delivering a hot rod to mysterious tech giant Eron Keen, who is as socially awkward as he is wealthy, the couple are attacked by a group of men who kill Asha and leave Grey paralysed from the neck down.
Descending into suicidal depression at his situation and the police’s inability to use all this technology to catch his wife’s killers, Grey accepts Keen’s offer of being a guinea pig for a new cybernetic treatment called STEM. A revolutionary microchip is placed at the top of his spine that reboots his body, allowing him to walk again… but the A.I. system might just have more than that in mind.
Voiced by Simon Maiden, STEM is as softly spoken but potentially as dangerous as the likes of HAL in 2001 or GERTY in Moon.
Only audible to Grey within his own head, Maiden sparks off of Marshall-Green to make an entertaining double act similar to Jekyll & Hyde or the upcoming Eddie Brock/Venom dynamic as STEM tries to convince him that they can lead the investigation and gain vengeance on their own.
STEM is not wrong as the very first fight scene where he takes control of Grey’s motor functions proves in a shocking and kinetically charge sequence that showcases his upgraded potential and the strengths of Marshall-Green’s physical performance that is the perfect balance between human and robot in the fluidity of his movements as the two battle for supremacy within one shell.
It is not just the character of Grey who is upgraded. Whannell’s skills as a directing are upgrading at an exponential rate as well. Between the Wu-Shu, Asian inspired fight scenes that feature some fantastic camera work that seemingly tracks around the fixed point of Grey to impressive effect; to a car chase on a freeway that is worlds away from the “car chase” that featured in the very first Saw film.
Upgrade is very much a genre piece that wears its influences on its cybernetically enhanced sleeves but given a fresh spin but never at the expense of the gritty, grimy filmmaking style that evolved out of the video nasty era of the 80s where invention was born out of micro-budgets.
The final product is one where Whannell is the Eron Keen to Logan Marshall-Green’s Grey, stepping him out of that Tom Hardy developing him into the charismatic leading man and action hero.

Upgrade is the cinematic equivalent of the remodelled Nokia 3210. A comforting, hark back to a simpler time that is brought bang up to date with all the bells and whistles of the modern age.

4 stars

The Secret Of Marrowbone - EIFF review

Sergio G. Sanchez effortlessly makes the transition from J.A. Bayona's screenwriter to his own directorial debut The Secret of Marrowbone.
And it is clear that Sanchez has learned a few things from his friend because the film effectively combines the emotional family drama and struggle at the heart of The Impossible with the mystery and chills of The Orphanage.
Scottish actor George McKay stars as Jack, the oldest of the Fairburn siblings who arrive with their mother's at her old family home called Marrowbone in upstate New York, having escaped from their abusive father back in England.
They slowly adapt to their new life, befriending a young woman called Allie (Anya Taylor-Joy) who lives on a nearby farm but their idyllic existence threatens to be shattered when their mother succumbs to illness. Jack promises to do whatever he must to keep them all together. Whatever the cost.
The appearance of a young, upstart lawyer dealing with the deeds to the house will force the family to confront the ghosts of the past and face up to a few skeletons in the closet.
Why are all the mirrors covered? Is there really a ghost in the house?
Sanchez wisely takes his time in drawing out the mystery of the true nature of the eponymous secret of Marrowbone, keeping the audience in the dark until the horrifying truth is finally revealed.
The house itself becomes another character in the film thanks to incredible set design and effective use of sound mixing to draw every creeping ounce of dread out of a creaking floorboard here or piece of splintering glass there.
McKay excels as a young man whose responsibilities to his family weigh heavy on his shoulders and at odds with his desire for a relationship with Taylor-Joy's character who offers a ray of light, hope and possible redemption.
With recent horrors such as The Babadook and Hereditary leading the way in balancing heartfelt family drama with chill-inducing scares, Marrowbone is one secret that will hopefully not remain a secret to audiences.

4 stars

The Secret of Marrowbone is on general release in the UK from Friday 13th July.

Listen to an interview with director Sergio G. Sanchez on the Filibuster podcast on The Nerd Party here.

Calibre - EIFF review

Calibre is the debut feature film from writer/director Matt Palmer. Matt has experience directing short films but many know him as the programmer and curator of All Night Horror Madness, an annual celebration of horror movies that takes place at The Cameo.
It is clear that his love of horror and film has given him the tools to craft a tense and thrilling tale.
Childhood friends Vaughn (Jack Lowden) and Marcus (Martin McCann) head up to the remote Scottish highlands on a hunting trip before Vaughn settles down with his fiancee and baby that is on the way.
After a night of heavy drinking with the locals, ruffling a few feathers along the way, the pals set out to stalk deer in the woods. Only the peace of the misty morning is shattered by a tragic accident that will set the friends down a road from which there may be no return.
What can let a horror or thriller down is when it strays too far from believability but this is not an issue here. Every single decision or choice that the two lead characters make comes from an honest and believable place from where they are at that time. It dares to ask the question of "what would you do?" in a situation like that. Would you have acted any differently? We like to think we would but...
Palmer understands the notion of "best laid plans" and slowly dials up the tension and naturalistically placing obstacles in the way of the duo's success and escape.
Yet the note perfect script would all be for nothing if not they had not assembled a talented group of actors to deliver the goods and they are uniformly terrific.
Jack Lowden is fast becoming one of Scotland's finest talents (Dunkirk, England Is Mine) and completely convinces as a young man whose life as he knows it is suddenly over with the click of a trigger. Torn between a need to tell the truth and a desire to be there for his growing family, he allows himself to be dragged further and further into an impossible situation by his friend.
Where Vaughn is quiet and reserved, Martin McCann's Marcus is loud, brash and cocky. The Northern Ireland actor has the swagger of a young Michael Fassbender and his behaviour sets him at odds with the rural locals (played by the likes of Tony Curran and Ian Pirie) and stirs tensions that potentially put any chance of reconciliation off the table.
The film certainly plays on the differences between the rural and city folk. Not to the over-the-top stereotypical levels League Of Gentlemen ("are you local? there's nothing for you here") or The Wicker Man (even though a bonfire is mentioned at one point) but instead coming in this modern landscape where the gulf in wealth and opportunity is as great as the physical distance between the Highlands and the City.
Palmer's debut deserves to be mentioned in the same conversations as the likes of similar genre films Eden Lake, Deliverance and Straw Dogs. Effectively ringing every drop of tension and menace out of this unsettling moral dilemma.
This is Scottish, and indeed, world filmmaking of the truly highest calibre.

5 stars

Calibre has its World Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Friday 22nd June, 8.30 with extra screenings on Saturday 23rd June, 3.15 and Saturday 20th June, 3.15. 
To book, click here.
Calibre will debut on Netlfix from Friday 29th June.

To listen to interviews with the cast and crew of Calibre, check out the latest Filibuster podcast on The Nerd Party/

Blood Fest - EIFF 2018 review

Synopsis: 
Fans flock to a festival celebrating the most iconic horror movies, only to discover that the charismatic showman behind the event has a diabolical agenda. As attendees start dying off, three teenagers with more horror-film wits than real-world knowledge must band together and battle through every madman, monstrosity and terrifying scenario if they have any hope of surviving.

Review:
Just like in the film, the titular Blood Fest will have massive appeal to die hard horror genre fans. Particularly those who enjoyed the likes of Scream, Cabin In The Woods and The Final Girls.
Because this is a horror film for horror fans and clearly made by someone with a huge affection for the genre.
Owen Egerton is a triple threat as writer/director/actor as he also takes on the role of Blood Fest host and movie producer Anthony Walsh. He also resembles Zach Galifinaikas.
Set in a world where all the famous horror movies exist and can be referenced by name but unable to feature due to obvious copyright reasons, Blood Fest is a festival designed to celebrate fictional horror films like Arbor Day and Hell's Gate which all represent recognisable sub-genres including slashers, torture porn, zombies, vampires and killer clowns.
Attending the festival are a group of friends including Dax (Robbie Kay), who like all good horror leads has a slightly androgynous first name and a tragic backstory in which he saw his mother murdered by a psychopath.
He grew up obsessed by horror films as he felt safe knowing that violence was fake but his psychiatrist father feels rather differently. Making a career out of writing and teaching on the subject of violence in the media.
This theme plays out through the film with many of the characters commenting on it. One such character is Walsh. Fed up with watered down, PG-13 genre flicks, he sets out to put the scares back into scary movies by slaughtering the attendees.
Dax and his friends (including Jacob Batalon, best known for playing Ned in Spider-Man Homecoming) must make it through the night by keeping their heads when others are (literally) losing theirs and follow the rules.
If the film has a flaw it is that as it is targeted to hardcore fans who know all the rules, tropes and cliches, there are very few surprises and the few twists and turns the story takes are easily signposted ahead of time to anyone with knowledge of the genre.
That being said, it is the epitome of a Ronseal film and does exactly what it says on the tin and provides lashings and lashings of blood at a festival (the Edinburgh Film Festival).
Best enjoyed with a late night crowd baying for blood... and a wicked Zachary Levi cameo.

3 stars

Blood Fest screens at the Edinburgh International Film Festival as part of the Night Moves strand on Friday 22nd June, 11.35pm. To book tickets, click here.

Hereditary - review

From the very first shot that slowly tracks in to a model house only for it to seamlessly transitions into real life, it is clear that the audience is in the hands of a master of horror.
What is most shocking about Hereditary, and there are a LOT of shocking moments, is that this "master", Ari Aster, is a first-time writer/director. The film feels so assured, controlled and effortless in its slow build and execution that the only explanation can be that his parents made a pact with the devil and the ghost of Kubrick.
The theme of control looms large over the film. Aster is always in complete control over the story but he is the only one.
Just like the small scale models that Toni Collette's Annie makes are designed and controlled by her mood and desires, the central family are merely pawns in a wicked game and have no control of their own destiny.
It is clear from the outset that something is not right. Annie's mother, whose funeral opens the film, was obviously into some odd pastimes and hobbies but the exact nature of which is left to the audiences imaginations. A clever move on the part of Aster who knows that what the audience conjures in their imagination can be infinitely more terrifying than anything physically manifested on screen.
That is not to say that there aren't images and shots in the movie that will chill your blood to the bone and imprint themselves on your soul till the end of time.
There is one particular shot that will be discussed more than any in the film and rightly so. It is the cinematic equivalent of a "Retweet when you see it" meme on Twitter where you can feel the realisation slowly and surely trickle through the auditorium. It is proof of Aster's skill and mastery of score, lighting and camera placement all coming together to produce something truly terrifying.
While this is the scariest film of the year, before it dials up the Kill List-esque levels of "What. The. Actual. Fuck" in the third act, Hereditary is one of the best character studies of grief that you will ever see.
Drawing from horror classics such as Don't Look Now and The Babadook, the raw, emotional anguish is palpable and it is heartbreaking to see the family being torn apart by being unable to express that grief and pain. Instead it drives them further apart as dark secrets slowly emerge from the cupboards like a graveyard worth of skeletons.
A lot of credit must go to Toni Collette who is simply incredible as the mother who, similar to Essie Davis in The Babadook ,may be dealing with some mental health issues beyond grief. It is a performance that deserves awards attention and hopefully can break through the stigma of being in a "horror movie".
Like the roots of this family's twisted family tree, Hereditary slowly grabs a hold of you and the sense of creeping dread works its way up from the ground until you find yourself paralysed with fear. Indeed by the end of the film you will be so tense you'll need to double check for Rigor mortis.
Exiting the cinema in a complete daze, utterly shell-shocked by what one has just seen, don't lose your head. Just keep repeating "It's only a 5 star movie, it's only a 5 star movie, it's only a 5 star movie".

5 stars

Cargo - Netflix review

Shuffling onto Netflix without a huge amount of fanfare this week was Cargo, a zombie film starring Martin Freeman.
Freeman plays Andy, husband and father to Kay and Rosie, who are travelling on a houseboat in an attempt to survive a pandemic outbreak that turns infected people into zombies after 48 hours.
The film puts a new spin on the genre by having Andy infected quite early on in the film and faces a race against time to find a safe home for daughter before he succumbs to the infection and turns into one of the walking dead.
Written and directed by Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling, this is not your traditional zombie horror in the style of Night Of The Living Dead or even the remake of Dawn Of The Dead.
Just like the Australian outback where it is set, it is very sparse in terms of action or gore.
Instead it is more of a character study of a man faced with impossible choices to make to try and protect his family. It just so happens that this takes place within a zombie pandemic.
Cargo plays its cards close to its chest in terms of the reasons behind the outbreak and doesn't get bogged down in exposition as to when, where and why it happened because that it ultimately not important to Andy's story.
One can speculate from the odd visual clue that the disease was potentially spread from fracking the earth and has destroyed the urban areas on the coast, resulting in people moving inland to escape the epidemic.
Indeed, technology is all but redundant out here. The only technology that works are the FitBit-style wrist bands that count down the hours until the virus takes over.
The only people who seem to have a handle on the situation are the Aboriginals who spend their nights cleansing the land of these lost souls. This is clearly part of the filmmakers' ultimate message of the story where we must protect and cherish our land and heritage or risk losing our way of life.
Along his journey, Andy meets several different people who could potentially offer salvation but often end up showcasing the dark heart of humanity.
These encounters cause him to lose hope and contemplate taking not only his life but Rosie's as well for fear of leaving her behind to an even worse fate.
Freeman anchors the film with a strong, heartfelt performance where you can truly feel his pain, anger, frustration at the situation but also his love for his daughter that keeps him going to the very end.
The film's tagline is "He is her only hope. And her greatest threat". Not only does this describe the relationship between Andy and Rosie in the film but also the relationship between Netflix and these low budget, independent films that they have taken into their care.
Netflix does offer an avenue for filmmakers to get there films out there to an international audience but it all depends on Netflix's algorithms and marketing to ensure that they find that audience because there is a chance they could end up lost and forgotten like a zombie with its head buried in the sand.
Rare gems like this need championed and one hopes that, like Andy's wish for Rosie, it finds the perfect home because this is precious Cargo.

3 stars

A Quiet Place - review

A Quiet Place is one of those genre hits that has a concept that is so simple that you will kick yourself that you didn't think of it first. Even if you did, it is unlikely that you would have delivered it so effectively as it is here and easily the best horror debut since 2015's It Follows.
In the near future, the world has been attacked by mysterious creatures that hunt by sound and kill with a fearsome ferocity. This is all set up during the opening sequence that sees a family silently raiding a supermarket for supplies before making their way home through the woods. They don't wear shoes, they talk through sign language (precipitated by their need to communicate with deaf daughter) and have made quiet paths using sand. This peace is horrifically shattered when the youngest son finds a electronic plane and it starts to make noises, resulting in a series of silent screams that will haunt your dreams.
Fast forward to a year later and the family are surviving but at what cost? They have created a life for themselves on a farm where the dad has turned it into a secure compound with security cameras, regular and danger lighting, etc and the mum has made it a home where they have dinner on leaves instead of plates and play Monopoly with cloth counters rather than metal pieces.
There is a clear bond between the family but there is also unspoken, pun intended, issues that threaten to shatter the silence. There is guilt felt by all of them over the fate of the youngest son and there is resentment on the part of the kids who feel that the father priorities keeping them alive over showing them care and affection.
This works because of the actors who are uniformly excellent both individually and together. You completely buy into the family dynamic and are emotionally invested in their safety and survival.
Of course it helps when the husband and wife team are played by real-life couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski (who also wrote and directed the film).
Emily Blunt must love her husband a lot to do this film because Krasinski really puts her through the wringer in this as a woman who is faced with some of the most awful situations a mother can make and perfectly runs that gamut of emotions.
At 90 minutes this is an incredibly lean, tightly structured film that moves effectively from set piece to set piece and the intensity and threat increases exponentially with every moment that passes.
Krasinski wrings every drop of tension, terror and suspense out of the premise, going so far as to zoom in on an exposed nail on a step that threatens to bring their whole existence crashing down around them.
Just when you think life couldn't get any more complicated for them, a plot point that has wisely been concealed from the trailers provides a glimmer of hope for the future but also the film's most nerve shredding, knuckle whitening sequence.
The monsters are wisely kept to the shadows for the first two acts before finally coming face to face with their victims in the third act, showing off their horrifying, slightly Demigorgon-esque design.
Just as scary as the monsters is the eerie sense of quiet during the film and the credit must go to the sound design team, seamlessly moving from a natural quiet to complete silence when viewing the action from the perspective of the deaf daughter Regan (played by real life deaf actress Millicent Simmonds). Similarly, Marco Beltrami's score is used sparingly but effectively.
Speaking of which, this reviewer has never experienced a Friday night horror crowd that as silent as the movie. So caught up in the concept that it felt as if they were as frightened to make a sound as the characters in case the monsters came for them.
In A Quiet Place, silence is not only golden, it's survival. However it is safe to say that audiences and critics won't stay silent after watching it and this will turn into the breakout horror film of the year.

5 stars

Ghost Stories - review

Ghost Stories is *not*, as some may wonder, a sequel to David Lowry's A Ghost Story from last year. It is an adaptation of the theatre play of the same name, written and directed by Jeremy Dyson (The League of Gentlemen) and Andy Nyman (Derren Brown), who also stars as Philip Goodman, a debunker of the supernatural and paranormal.
Goodman is contacted by a former paranormal investigator on his death bed who needs Goodman to tell him that three cases he struggled to explain are in fact not evidence of the paranormal.
Goodman proceeds to interview the three men who had these experiences; A nightwatchman (Paul Whitehouse), a student (Alex Lawther) and a smarmy businessman (Martin Freeman). While initially they seem like separate tales, certain details start to crop up that suggest something more sinister is at play here.
As mentioned earlier, this is based on a play (which this reviewer saw twice and was chilled to the bone both times) and the plot is very similar although the framing device is slightly different (In the play, Goodman was delivering a lecture to the audience).
Given the previous work of the writing and directing duo, one can expect a reverence for British horror, a macabre sense of humour and a film where everything is not what it seems... despite the existence of the lead character.
Shot in the style of Seventies British horror films; static cameras, long shots where your eyes move around the screen looking for something evil, 8mm sequences; the stories are put together deliberately to slowly crank up the dial of terror before releasing all that tension with a jump scare. And it is to their credit that the finished product has the desired effect.
A lot of this comes from the performances from the men reliving these terrifying encounters.
Paul Whitehouse is superb as the angry, bitter, broken Nightwatchman who is plagued by mysterious noises and visions during a late shift in the single most effective sequence. He is best known for his comedic roles but he is even better at the portraying the drama and horror he feels.
Alex Lawther is once again incredibly effective as a young man scared to the point of insanity by something he encountered in the woods but he is in danger of being typecast as the troubled youngster that he has previously played in Black Mirror and It's The End Of The F**King World.
The final tale introduces us to Martin Freeman's smarmy character who is able to get under Goodman's skin to the point that it makes him question his own experiences that leads to a final act that pulls the proverbial rug out from under the audience.
There might not be anything too original in any of the individual stories and the scares are signposted (along with hints and visual clues that will become clearer on second viewing) to anyone who knows their horror but the film plays with this knowledge and subverts these expectations.
Nyman & Dyson clearly know their horror and know exactly when to hold back and when to push the button and execute the scare, resulting in a wonderfully delivered ghost story that will chill you to the bone.

4 stars

Unsane - review

Steven Soderbergh. The man seems to have retired more times than Deckard has retired replicants. He is Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III. "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"
However, if he continues to pull films like this and Logan Lucky out of the bag, then "Frankly me dear, I don't give a damn!".
Throughout his career Soderbergh has experimented with storytelling techniques through narrative and technology and Unsane is no different, being shot entirely on an iPhone 7.
He is not the first, Sean Baker made his debut feature Tangerine on an iPhone5, and he certainly won't be the last. Rather than limiting or handicapping production, Soderbergh uses it as a positive.
The handheld camera sets the scene from the first frame. Following Claire Foy's character Sawyer Valentini from a distance. Watching her from afar. Just like the stalker that has destroyed her life, and possibly her sanity.
Visiting a mental health facility to discuss her fears following a relapse, a few signatures later and Sawyer finds herself voluntarily committed for 24 hours.
*ALWAYS read the terms and conditions folks!*
24 hours turns into 7 days as she retaliates against her forced imprisonment. Not only that but she starts to see her stalker within the facility but what is real and what is in her head?
With Unsane, Soderbergh has actually made two horror films for the price of one.
The first is a horror, that seems scarily plausible, about being locked away in a mental asylum even though you are not insane, simply so the hospital can claim on your insurance. This is how the film begins, sort of like a cross between One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Girl, Interrupted. As Sawyer tries to convince people of her sanity, it only goes to antagonise the fellow patients and the staff into sedating her. On the inside she finds an ally in Nate (Jay Pharoah, impressing in a straight role with no Denzel Washington impressions to be found). He tells her about the hospital's scheme and advises her to keep her head down and do the time and she'll be out in a week when the insurance money run out.
Unfortunately, the stress of the situation causes Sawyer to start seeing things. Imagining that her stalker is working in the hospital and messing further with her deteriorating mental state.
The film then becomes a psychological horror as the Sawyer, and the audience, cannot be sure what is real and what isn't. One of the film's most shocking moments is the realisation that the stalker who is played with a placid, creepy calm by Joshua Leonard is Josh from The Blair Witch Project!
Claire Foy is electric in the role and completely convinces as a woman who is scared, vulnerable and perfectly walks the line where she could be sane or insane.
Other reviews have expressed surprise at her performance given her most famous role in The Crown and it is out of her comfort zone. Yet prior to The Crown, Foy had appeared as Lady Macbeth in a West End adaptation of the Scottish play opposite James McAvoy and she was superb as the conniving, crazy wife.
The plot takes some crazy, wild leaps in act 3, as if the film has stopped taking its meds, but leaves things suitably vague to allow for the seed of doubt to grow in the audience's mind as to whether or not to trust what they have seen.
What can be trusted however is Foy's committed performance that elevates this grimy, genre flick that looks and sounds so good that people will think YOU are mad to say it was shot on a phone!

3 stars

Green Room - Review

The date Friday the 13^th is synonymous with misfortune, horror and a guy with a hockey mask. Replace the guy with the hockey mask with an evil Patrick Stewart and you have this week’s new release Green Room.

Following a gig in a Neo-Nazi bar, punk band The Ain't Rights find themselves in a Green Room that is witness to more horror and carnage than the aftermath of an Ozzy Osbourne or Justin Bieber gig.

Forget a bottle of Jack Daniels or 1000 brown M&M's in a brandy glass, the only thing on their rider is staying alive… and that is not a copy of the Bee Gees song either.

The band must survive the night and fight their way out in the hope that they might play one final encore. Patrick Stewart however, in a role that is more American History X than Professor X, is determined to stop them. In fact you could say he will “make it so” that they are a one hit wonder.

With all great horror films, writer/director Jeremy Saulnier wastes no time in effectively setting up the band dynamics before it all goes south and he ramps up the tension and violence all the way to 11 whilst shredding more nerves than guitar solos along the way to a bloody crescendo.

Having filmed Blue Ruin and Green Room, one wonders if Jeremy Saulnier will complete his own Three Colours trilogy with a red-based film. Perhaps Red Rum? A sequel to The Shining or a biopic of the Grand National-winning horse maybe?

4 stars

It Follows - review

Now and again, a horror film comes along with a central concept that is so simple yet so devilishly brilliant that you'll be kicking yourself for not thinking of it first.

In It Follows sexually promiscuous teenagers are stalked by a mysterious figure who slowly walks towards them. They can run, they can hide but it will always find them and like the curse in Ringu the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to someone else through sexual intercourse.

That's right, It Follows not only refers to the 'It' that follows the victims to their deaths but also it can refer to the world's most persistent STD that not amount of pills or creams will be able to treat!

The modus operandi of the film's monster is one of the best in recent years, arguably the best since the Weeping Angels in the Blink episode of Doctor Who.

The film's tagline is "It doesn't feel. It doesn't think. It doesn't give up." and reminded me of Kyle Reese's warning in The Terminator: "Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."

The way that 'It' slowly and silently stalks its prey (along with a retro synth score that has also featured to great effect in recent horrors like Maniac, The Guest and Cold In July) brings to mind the infamous 'The Shape' aka Michael Myers in John Carpenter's seminal Halloween.

Not only that but the leafy suburban setting of the film is reminiscent of Haddonfield and Carpenter's horror was one of the first to look at the correlation between sex and death, with those who indulged in pre-marital relations being punished for it by being brutally murdered.

Indeed following on from last year's excellent The Guest, Maika Monroe is in a prime position to become this generation's "Scream Queen".

Writer-Director David Robert Mitchell has crafted a movie that not only delivers a message but also plenty of scares, and in a bold move he is not afraid to set many of its most unsettling scenes outside in broad daylight. The entire film has a calm, assured execution and direction that hints at a bright future in the horror genre

Just like the figure that stalks the protagonists, It Follows will haunt you for many days after you see it, unable to shake off this horror masterpiece.

5 stars

The Babadook - review

Every now and again a horror film creeps up on you out of nowhere and scares you senseless. The Babadook is one such film and features the scariest figure to wear a top hat since Papa Lazarou.

What really makes the film stand out from other horror films this year is the story and characters are as three dimensional as the pop up book which proves the catalyst for this terrifying tale.

Amelia is a single mum who lost her husband in a car crash on the way to the hospital to give birth to her baby boy Samuel. She is now struggling to cope with raising him as a seven year old who has behavioural and anger issues and still believes in monsters under the bed. This is exacerbated when Sam makes her read a bedtime story to him in the form of an unfamiliar book called Mister Babadook that becomes increasingly sinister with every turn of the page.

At first Sam acts out, convinced that The Babadook is out to get him, much to the frustration and eventually anger of Amelia who resorts to increasingly drastic measures to keep her child and herself on the right side of sanity.

It is all wrapped up inside one creepily effective scary movie but at the heart of the film is a woman unable to cope with her own grief and sense of loss and how it has affected her relationship with her son. Essie Davis is superb in the role which balances on the fine line between the similarly terrific performances of Belen Rueda in The Orphanage and Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

The look of Mister Babadook is the stuff of nightmares, with the drawings and monstrous apparitions feel Expressionist in origins, even if the origins of the characters and his motives remain refreshingly vague.

The writer/director Jennifer Kent clearly knows that people fear most what they can"t explain and has crafted an intelligent, emotionally powerful and, importantly, scary film that most pleasingly does not rely on sharp sudden jolts of music to manipulate the audience into jumping out of their seats.

Instead this is a horror film that will have you checking inside your closets and under your beds for days after you've left the cinema.

So take my advice. Just take one look. You'll be thrilled and wowed by The Babadook

4 stars

As Above, So Below - review

The basis for this 'found footage' film is a quest led by a posh English Archaelogist Indiana Jane?) to find Nicolas Flamel's mythical Philosopher's Stone within the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris.

I don't know where she has got her information from because everyone knows that the Philosopher's Stone can be found at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.

The trailer sells it as a horror but the majority of the film is more akin to Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade meets The Descent as the first person footage is used to ramp up the sense of claustrophobia once the group become trapped and lost within the catacombs.

As they descend further into the tombs and towards "the gates of hell", the film descends into the camcorder horror cliches of "what's that? Whip camera round, nothing there. Whip camera around again, there's something there!" jump scares.

Beyond the main character of Scarlett there is not much back story or characterisation for the others, with some just there to function as recording devices due to their head cameras thus the emotional impact is negligible when the merde hits the fan.

The quest becomes a Last Crusade for many of them and there was real potential with this story but in terms of creative filmmaking decisions, the writer-directors "choose poorly" resulting in an As Above, So Below score of 2 stars.

2 stars

Deliver Us From Evil - review

Despite being based on a real life case of NYPD officer Ralph Sarchie involving demonic possession, there is nothing in this film the church would classify as "original" sin.

Sarchie (played by Eric Bana) has a gift for spotting trouble, his partner calls it his "radar", but it gets them in over their heads when a series of troubling cases become linked by a series of occult messages and a squad of soldiers who encountered something evil when on tour in Iraq.

He joins forces with an unorthodox priest (Edgar Ramirez) who make for an interesting team as they are both fighting demons (internally and externally).

It plays out like The Exorcist meets Se7en with creepy things happening as police officers and priests investigate dark places during heavy downpours.

It might not be original but Sinister director Scott Derrickson continues to prove he can make audiences jump by executing a well-timed scare in a darkened corridor or basement.

Small notes:

The Doors feature heavily in the movie including "People Are Strange". A premonition of what was to come in the form of Dr. Stephen Strange?

It's pretty much a given that Sean Harris will never appear in a movie as the warm, cuddly romantic lead will he?

It might Deliver Us From Evil but the film could have tried harder to deliver a fresher and scarier frightfest.

2 stars

Oculus - review

The idea of a mirror being a possible conduit for evil is nothing new. How many of us have looked into a mirror first thing in the morning and seen something horrific staring back at them?

Oculus not only offers a refreshingly clear and new look at the old horror plot line of someone returning home to face a past trauma but becomes the first film in the history of the genre to not resort to the old "no one in the mirror, look away, look back, jump!" cliche.

All the more impressive given that the mirror plays such a central role in the tragic events that saw Kaylie and Tim Russell lose their parents.

10 years later, Kaylie and Tim return to their family home in order to put the past to rest.

However there is an interesting dynamic at play in that the adult Kaylie (Karen Gillan) is using cameras and sensors to document and prove that the mirror contains a supernatural spirit while Tim has undergone years of psychotherapy and is convinced that they created this story as a way of explaining and coping with their parent's psychotic breakdown.

The opening prologue only hints at what exactly happened and as the siblings attempt to discover the truth behind the mirror, they are forced to reflect on the past.

It cleverly switches between the past and present timelines but can they (and the audience) believe everything that they see as the two timelines begin to twist and bleed together thanks to the mirror's effects on the inhabitants of the house.

One of the biggest shocks early on is just how good Karen Gillan's American accent is. It is absolutely flawless and it actually took me 10 minutes or so to get used to hearing it. It is as good a switch as Hugh Laurie in House and Andrew Lincoln in Walking Dead and the finest American accent I've ever heard a Scottish actor deliver on screen.

She delivers a feisty determined performance and ably supported by Brenton Thwaites as Tim and the child actors who play their younger counterparts, with strong turns by Rory Cochrane and Katee Sackhoff as their increasingly unstable parents.

The actors sell the premise well under the capable hands of writer-director Mike Flanagan who slowly ramps up the creepiness factor to unsettling levels without ever having to resort to the cheap scares signposted by loud music cues.

Plus there is one genuinely wince-inducing scene that is guaranteed to make people think twice before making an apple part of their five a day.

Mirror Mirror on the wall, is Oculus the fairest horror movie of the year?

So much so that I can't wait for the sequel Oculus 2: Oculus Rift

4 stars

Devil's Due - review

Right, I already touched upon this in my review of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, but what really grinds my gears at the moment are these horror films which are filmed and marketed as "found footage" yet have no framing device.

The Blair Witch Project worked because it was presented as pieced together video footage of three people who disappeared.

Cloverfield worked because the camcorder footage was classified as government evidence of the attack on New York City.

Nowadays, we just get launched into these films where some idiot spends too much time documenting everything on their brand new HD camera instead of turning it off and actually trying to solve the mystery or just get the f*ck out of dodge.

This one is even worse but it goes from the couple's video diary of their wedding, honeymoon and unexpected pregnancy to cutting between that, surveillance cameras a mysterious cult have set up in their home and random clips from a other couples camcorders that hint at other gruesome events.

What is the purpose of these editing choices if it is not a found footage document of the event? There is none as far as I can tell. This sub-genre of horror really needs to go the way of Betamax and disappear quickly.

Oh, what about the film itself? Crap. A poor, lazy retread of Rosemary's Baby for the modern generation with forgettable characters, distinct lack of scares, chills and menace and is as unwanted an addition to the horror genre as the resulting pregnancy was to the main characters.

1 star