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Lord of Misrule (2023)
Questionable about holding interest.
Rebecca Holland (Tuppence Middleton) recently took over as priest of a small community. Her young daughter Grace (Evie Templeton) goes missing at a crowded local harvest festival. A desperate search begins, and the laid-back vicar's maternal status and moral plus religious values are strongly challenged.
Suspicions are aroused as legends are retold. The search for the child goes deeper and into the woods near town. Rebecca uncovers secrets from the town's dark past. Her duties as the town's vicar brings much sympathy, but she is strong-willed to make sacrifices to save her daughter from the grip of a fabled evil.
This movie was filmed in Hertfordshire, England. It contains mild horror and features use of a mesmerizing song, "Ballad of Tobias Bron".
Ghost Project (2023)
Leave well enough alone
A trio of young ghost hunting student programmers Brian (Juan Cruz Rolla Knight), Alice (Laura Casale) and Sysop (Zhongo Li Zhang) find an abandoned technology while investigating a factory that was the scene of a deadly fire. The piece of equipment found is meant to detect supernatural presence.
The tech nerds maybe by pure accident have reverse engineered the technology to create an app for their phones that will allow them to actually see ghosts. Alice tests in her apartment and finds a benign spirit. But when the group returns to the destroyed factory, they have endangered their own lives. There are ghosts that are far from harmless that seem not very happy to be found.
Phantoms (1998)
Where did the whole town go?
With a screenplay written by Dean Koontz, expect no less than a heart-stopping thriller from a master of suspense. Dr. Jennifer Pailey (Joanna Going) and her sister Lisa (Rose McGowan) are taking a road trip to sleepy peaceful Snowfield, Colorado. They arrive and find the whole community is gone.
Suddenly the town sheriff (Ben Affleck), his odd deputy (Liev Schreiber) and a prominent tabloid journalist (Peter O'Toole) arrive to join the sisters and come to a conclusion that something evil is lying below the earth and destroyed every human in Snowfield. Can this situation be reversed or resolved?
Pulse-pounding and some eerie edge-of-your-seat thrills. McGowan helps carry the show and there is some good use of the song "I Fall To Pieces" by Patsy Cline.
Fenómenas (2023)
Mystery at a haunted antique shop.
This story surrounds three middle-aged women (Belen Rueda, Toni Acosta and Gracia Olayo) , who investigate paranormal events. Their leader, Father Pilon, ends up in the hospital after investigating solo an antique shop under new management. Strange and odd things keep happening at the shop. Good reason for the experienced trio to give the shop the once over. They even take on extra help with a young psychology student. The shop owners are innocently very little help and mostly in the way.
While filming the location and using a spirit board, objects unexplained fall off the walls, doors and windows open and shut, lights flicker and the quirky investigators firmly believe and set out to prove something paranormal with evil energy is at work.
No real jump scares or big belly laughs, but you may find some comic relief mixed with the eeriness entertaining. I thought the constant rain really helped the atmosphere. Rueda and Acosta carried the film.
Squealer (2023)
Talk about special cuts of meat!
Beware, this one is not meant for everyone. Some have all but said meant for no one. Strong will and no gag reflex recommended. Some named actors may have helped a little.
When young women of various walks of life start disappearing in a small town, a police officer (Wes Chatham) and a street-smart social worker (Danielle Burgio) get around to combining stomach-churning clues that lead to a remote pig farm. The local butcher, who owns the pig farm, is nicknamed "Squealer" (Ronnie Gene Blevins); and he really enjoys slaughtering more than just livestock.
You have entered the world of an odd serial killer that shows no conscience or remorse. Some disturbing images strong enough to curdle your blood.
Apollo 13: Survival (2024)
Natural nail-biter.
This is a tense, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting documentary film, retelling the iconic space story that had the world collectively holding their breath.
This story is of Apollo 13 in April 1970 as NASA came face to face with its greatest challenge to date. Three astronauts James A. Lovell, John "Jack" Swigert and Fred W. Haise are halfway to the moon, as a catastrophic explosion threw the total mission into jeopardy. Needed resources including fuel to get back home presents a major problem. Full NASA crew at Houston needs to work with the three astronauts on a course to get back to earth. Lovell and crew have to think if they'll ever be able to make that splashdown in the Pacific.
Director Peter Middleton and editors excellently blends archival footage, blending family back stories, interviews and in-the-moment actual footage from the Apollo capsule. You get sucked in and allowed by the end a monumental sigh of relief.
Featured via archive footage: Jim Lovell, Marilyn Lovell, Walter Cronkite, Jules Bergman, Neil Armstrong, Ken Mattingly, Fred Haise, Lydon B. Johnson, James Burke, Gene Kranz, Jack Swigert, Glynn Lunney and Thomas Paine.
The Free Fall (2021)
Can remembering be forgotten?
Sarah (Andrea Londo) after attempting to take her own life, must wrestle with an overbearing husband Nick (Shawn Ashmore), who seems attentive, loving and invested, but also cold and secretive.
Sarah was eager to celebrate the anniversary of her parents and winds up witnessing her mother savagely stabbing her father to death. Sarah awakens with significant memory loss that keeps coming in and out of focus. Nick wants her to concentrate on bed rest as he hires a woman Rose (Jane Badler), to take care of the lavish home. Sarah will try and roam the house and will have some bizarre interchanges with Rose, who forbids her from entering the third floor.
What is so secretive about that floor and how deep is it hidden in Sarah's memory?
Dashes of cleverness with unsuspected twists and turns.
Malevolent (2018)
Sometimes you get more than you wanted.
The setting is 1986 Scotland, Angela (Florence Pugh) and Jackson (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) are American siblings who, with a couple other paranormal investigators, are running a fake medium scam on clients who really believe their homes are haunted. Angela actually has powers/abilities, but Jackson is pure fake who orchestrates the scams to pay off loan sharks.
The latest customer is Mrs. Greene (Celia Imrie), who wants her old mansion rid of "screaming" girls. Angela looks into the actual history of the clients home and discovers the owner's own foster children were all found dead. Angela will first hand see the spirits of the murdered girls .And screaming is an understatement.
The attractive Pugh carries the movie. This can get pretty eerie and is based on the novel HUSH by Eva Konstanopoulos.
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
An American Western recommended by Stephen King.
Directed and written by S. Craig Zahler, this western is bound to please and even impressed the king of horror. A Native American burial site is disturbed and Bright Hope Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Kurt Russell), his aged deputy (Richard Jenkins), an injured cowboy Art O'Dwyer (Patrick Wilson) and a dandy dressed gunslinger Brooder (Matthew Fox) set out across a blistering desert to rescue three innocents...the towns doctor, bartender and Mrs. O'Dwyer (Lili Simmons), Art's wife.
If there is a rhythm it is the walking and talking meandering through the desert. The sheriff carries the weight of responsibility to rescue the kidnapped by helpfully described inbred cave dwellers/"troglodytes" ...deformed Native Americans known for being flesh eaters.
Kurt Russell is outstanding. Very disturbing images. A don't miss!
A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
Quiet please! Probably not what you expected!
A disclaimer may or may not serve a purpose. This movie has really disappointed a lot of viewers expecting continuation of the original. No doubt a very slow burner, but let's be fair and give it a chance.
Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) is a young nursing home patient that finds herself trapped in I Luv U NYC. Members of the home are taken to the city for a movie that actually turns out to be a puppet show. Sam sneaks out to look for some food for her cat Frodo.
Suddenly the usual 90 decibel NYC becomes louder with a flurry of explosions. Sam finds herself trapped during the earliest stages of an invasion by alien creatures with super sensitive hearing. She meets a man Eric (Joseph Quinn) that first day and they wander from one hiding place to another. Announcements are made by the military that the creatures are afraid of drowning in water.
Sam, Frodo and Eric proceed in the direction of salvation ships at the edge of the city. Sam is already terminally ill before the aliens arrive, so survival is no urgency for her. She does want to stay alive long enough to cross town and enjoy her favorite NYC pizza.
I am glad I chose to watch this.
You're Killing Me (2023)
Is an education worth it all
A prep school student Eden (McKaley Miller) has dreams of going to the elite Pennbrooke College although she is the poorest person at her school. She hatches a plan to use a student Barrett (Brice Anthony Heller) to get a recommendation letter from his father Congressman Schroder (Dermot Mulroney). Eden plans to sneak into an annual party thrown by Barrett to get influence from his father.
The annual "Heaven and Hell" party filled with drunken, horny affluent teens actually turns into a free-for-all rough house that tries to coverup a dark secret concerning a missing student.
The disturbing visuals are very moody and creepy with the typical slasher atmosphere. I needed extra refreshments for this one..
Miller for sure leads a cast that also features Keyara Millner, Will Deusner and Anne Heche.
The Apology (2022)
A Christmas of regret
You really have to stay with this one. It is like a train wreck right after leaving the station. I just happened to be in the right mood. Loved the atmosphere.
Twenty years after the disappearance of her daughter, recovering alcoholic Darlene (Anna Gunn) is getting things ready for an annual Christmas get-together with neighbor and best friend Gretchen (Janeane Garofalo). Bedtime and there is a late visitor at the door; Darlene's estranged ex-brother-in-law Jack (Linus Roache).stands at the front door in a thunder snowstorm bearing gifts.
A few drinks and hours add up and the two find themselves in a battle royal of wits. Jack wants to reveal a heavy dark secret about Darlene's daughter. She wants to hear the whole truth as the dangerous storm rages outside. Inside "holy hell" breaks loose.
Watcher (2022)
A psychological thriller.
Chloe Okuno directs and shares writing the screenplay of this anxious filled drama about being misunderstood and uncomfortable. Julia (Maika Monroe), a young American woman, moves with her husband Francis (Karl Glusman) to his native Bucharest, Romania after securing a new job there. The language barrier proves to be severe, and she suffers uncomfortable glances and even mockery when she asks others to speak English.
She is impressed with their new apartment in a large complex. But almost immediately there comes a sense of dread as she looks out her large picture window and notices someone watching her every move. Soon she realizes that the man (Burn Gorman) from across the way seems to be following her during outings from her apartment. Her husband doesn't believe her and neither does the neighbors that can understand marginal English. Is she being gaslighted or is her thoughts of being followed by a serial killer just a product of her loneliness? The gripping finale will stay with you for quite awhile.
Barbarians (2021)
How close can friends get?
Good morning Adam (Iwan Rhoen), it is your birthday. And his mate Eva (Catalina Sandino Moreno) would like this day to be a happy one, but Adam is moody. There will be a birthday dinner tonight and friends are expected. Adam goes for a run and sees a wolf in pain wrapped in a fence. Adam and Eva are the first residents of a lovely new development, thanks to friend Lucas (Tom Cullen).
Somehow the wounded wolf appears bloody and dying in Adam's kitchen. This of course doesn't help the moodiness already in the air.. Lucas and his girlfriend Chloe (Ines Spiridonov) arrive for the party. Adam and Lucas begin squabbling over ownership of the dwelling and bad behavior erupts. The dinner party becomes out of control chaos that is interrupted by wolf masked armed intruders. Dark secrets become exposed as lives are threatened.
A slow burner with very little redeeming. A tedious watch.
Incoming (2024)
Nerds try to "get lucky"
Freshmen take part in some fairly predictable routine debauchery. This bawdy teen comedy is directed by Dave and John Chernin and are also responsible for the cliche filled screenplay. At first interpretation "Incoming" feels very old hat, being heavily indebted to the teen sex comedies we laughed at through the 1980's, like "Porky's" and "Screwballs". Do the Chernin brothers find it too hard to come up with something original?
Four awkward freshmen navigate a libertine house party with typical intent; get a little high and find a perfect girl to "get lucky" with. Can a dork score with a hottie? One sight of a bare breast and a nerd is in love. Practicing a speech professing love and practicing a kiss to go with it. Simple, innocent and too familiar.
The actors are a bit better than the story that features Mason Thames, Thomas Barbusca, Ramon Reed, Bardi Seiri, Kaitlin Olson, Loren Gray and Bobby Cannavale.
Nefarious (2023)
A Christian horror thriller
Thought provoking and intriguing. Debatable presenting itself as a psychological horror film and in part truthfully a Christian thriller with low supernatural content. Contrived or believable, the viewer will be invested and fully engaged until the end.
This film centers on a convicted serial killer named Edward Wayne Brady (Sean Patrick Flanery), a man on Oklahoma's death row for eleven years, claiming he is possessed by a demon and calls himself Nefarious. Before the State of Oklahoma can carryout the death penalty, Brady must be proved sane enough to be executed.
Dr. James Martin (Jordan Belfi) is sent to evaluate the situation. During the psych evaluation Brady keeps claiming to be a demon and claims that before the psychiatrist is finished with him...the doc himself will commit three murders. The demon attempts through a series of tests to break Martin down.
Flanery is frightening and in split seconds, can switch between the demon Nefarious and the frightened Brady. Be warned that long-winded dialogue on morality and theology will not be everyone's cup of tea.
Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)
A curmudgeon discovers digital technology.
Based on a Stephen King story; but don't expect horror or anything mildly scary at all. A teenager, Craig (Jaeden Martell), befriends a reclusive billionaire Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland) living in a mansion on the outskirts of their town in Maine.
Craig enters high school and takes a job doing odd jobs and reading daily papers and classic literature to Mr. Harrigan. Craig's dad (Joe Tippett) is not fond of the old man, but senses the friendship and chemistry between his son and the old man. At this particular time, the iPhone is making its debut. Craig buys one for his older friend.
When Harrigan suddenly dies, Craig slips his smart phone in his pocket before burial. When the lonely boy sends his dead friend a message, he is shocked to his soul getting a return text from Mr. Harrigan.
A pleasant soundtrack features "I'm Your Boogie Man" by K. C. & the Sunshine Band, "White Lightning" by George Jones and "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette.
The Wrong Teacher (2018)
Hot for teacher!
I can't believe that I just watched a Lifetime network movie from front to end without complaining how bad it was or just griping about being forced to view it. But anytime you have a movie with a setting in a school house and have the potential of some frisky business between a teacher and student that is usually enough said.
The charming Ms. Charlotte and friend are supposed to be half of a double date at a local bar and are stood up. Chris (Philip McElroy), a guy she met at a bookstore, starts sparking her and a wild night is had. The next morning is the first day of school and who shows up as one of her 18-year-old students? School administrator Ms. Burns (Viviva A. Fox) and vice principal Clark (Eric Roberts) do not want to believe the trouble that Chris has in his lecherous mind.
Permitted (2021)
Just to meet a good girl...meet any girl!.
Lorie Lyle directs and is also credited with writing this moody look at the ordinary. Maybe that is too mild of a description. A very mundane teacher goes about his laid out in pattern life. You might say it is "colored-by-the numbers" until his world is about to change. It seems his friends and co-workers have always bullied and taken advantage of Art (William Nicol) any chance they can. Not to say he is any where close to rolling off the rails, but this calm teacher develops an obsessive crush on a co-worker. He gradually loses his grip on reality. And he starts to like the attention he is getting. Art really doesn't mind that people around him is noticing the compelling change in him. Not that in his mind, he has found new life; but he has found that he for once is the topic of conversation. Spiraling out of control isn't harmless is it?
Don't Look Away (2023)
This flick just doesn't know it's identity.
This is an inventive smaller than small budget thriller. It deserves a chance to spook you. Michael Bafaro directs; co-writes; and has a starring role. The other co-writer Michael Mitton also has a role in this chilling tale.
A truck carrying a not-so-valuable cargo is hijacked by a gang of criminals, that causes an innocent driver, Frankie (Kelly Bastard) to crash into the vehicle. The oddest piece of cargo, a mannequin, after causing deaths in the collision comes after Frankie.
The mannequin is not actually mobile, it doesn't appear to think; but it knows how to kill. Just don't make eye contact, because that is the last thing you'll ever do. The murders are done off-screen, but the bloody aftermath is there to satisfy the horror fans. Vivid cinematography, effective background music and honest eerie sound. Also in the cast are Brittany Pilgrim, Colm Hill, Sophie Thom and Abu Dukuly.
Dark Harvest (2023)
A creature comes out of the cornfields.
Dark Harvest is an eerie tale set in a small town that is cursed. Every Halloween is a no holds barred battle for survival. It is the fall of 1963, and the terrifying legend Sawtooth Jack (Dustin Celthamer) rises from hiding in the cornfields and staggers toward the town's church, where makeshift weapons of gangs of eighteen-year-olds roam ready to slaughter the murderous Sawtooth Jack. Whoever eliminates the emaciated scarecrow will be lauded a hero and wins a cash prize for his family and a brand new car for himself for murdering the menace. As the brutal and bloody hunt progressed, dark secrets of the town were revealed. Better yet, success means the vicious cycle of Sawtooth can be broken for once and for all.
There is enough intrigue to sustain the chilling story. Some nice camera angles and stylish chills. A moving soundtrack featuring "Teenage Heaven" by Eddie Cochran and "Since I Don't Have You" by The Skyliners mixes well with the action.
Disquiet (2023)
Are you covered by insurance?
Patients beware, your hospital stay may be longer than you expected.
Following a near-fatal auto accident, Sam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) wakes up in an abandoned hospital. He tries to get someone to answer the call button. Now answer, to be exact after getting himself dressed...there is nothing but silence. The other patient in the room just vanishes. Looking for an exit, the empty halls are filled with creepy characters wanting to kill him. Three scantly clad females attack him leaving him for dead. Another patient finds him and they are soon joined by a visitor, a nurse and a cop...all searching for an exit before they are killed.
The Rental (2020)
Once in awhile a weekend is wasted
City dwellers want to get away for the weekend. Charlie (Dan Stevens), his wife Michelle (Alison Brie), his brother Josh (Jeremy Allen White), and Josh's girlfriend Mina (Sheila Vand) rent a remote house on the Oregon Coast. The house owner's brother Taylor (Toby Huss) delivers the key and leaves the group not trusting his attitude.
In the shower, Mina discovers a hidden camera and alerts Charlie. Hidden cameras are found all over the premises. Mina tells Taylor his cameras have been discovered and she is calling the police. But Taylor calls her bluff. Strange events will cause the four friends to become suspicious of each other. But something else will make this a weekend from hell.
Fire in the Sky (1993)
Can this abduction be believed?
Believer or not, this film is based on "true" events in the White Mountains area of northern Arizona in 1975. Five loggers ramble through the woods in their pickup truck headed home. They stop in the small community of Snowflake to unwind with a few beers before calling the police. State investigator Watters (James Garner) arrives to listen to a bizarre tale told by Travis Walton (D. B. Sweeney), who claims to have been abducted by a UFO. Traumatized and starved for five days, Walton has very little of his memory intact except for some flashbacks of his experience of aliens performing torturous experiments on his body. Townsfolk and even friends have trouble believing Walton's story. Watters remains skeptical, while the logger remains deadly earnest. Remember Hollywood takes liberties.
B'Twixt Now and Sunrise (2022)
You can't change time; but be ready for time changing you
Let's start with a little tease. This is directed, produced and partially written by Francis Ford Coppola. A struggling murder-mystery writer Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer) , who also likes dabbling with the supernatural, takes a break in a small isolated town on his current book tour. The locals start filling his head with folk lore about vampires, a multi-told mass murder story and even sightings of a little girl's (Elle Fanning) ghost.
The quirky town sheriff Bobby LaGrange (Bruce Dern) tries to get Baltimore to share credits on his next book. Hall is needing inspiration and actually gets it from the young girl's ghost and that from visions/visits from the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe (Ben Chaplin).
Take this as serious as you want. Miss-labeled as horror. This story meanders a lot and is narrated by Tom Waits.