October 24, 2020 “Monster Force Zero” (*1/2 out of four) was a slick but absolutely empty action thriller set in another galaxy in which ancient aliens have placed a warrior (Adam Singer) and his various local pals (Dalena Nguyen, Aeon Cruz, Shale Le Page, and others) to reign with their superpowers and save the universe from annihilation. Much more style than substance as film resembles a video game more than an actual film and (as a result) starts to get monotonous pretty quickly. Not quite a “zero” but doesn’t add up to much and has no resonance whatsoever. Continue reading →
October 24, 2020 “Bad Hair” (** out of four) was an overdone horror melodrama set in 1989 in which an ambitious music executive (Zaria Kelley) gets a weave makeover to try and succeed in the world of music but she soon finds out to her horror that the hair has a mind of its own and will cause many others around her to die. Writer/director Justin Simien uses some stylish touches and some social commentary to get your attention but it doesn’t all gel together; a half-hour idea needlessly padded out to nearly two hours. James Van Der Beek, Usher, and Vanessa Williams are all frivolously wasted in supporting roles. Continue reading →
October 24, 2020 “The Wrong Cheerleader Coach” (*1/2 out of four) was a suspenseless suspense thriller about a new girl (Hanna Burton) in school who just recently moved to the area with her protective father (Corin Nemec) but soon finds that the cheerleader coach (Johanna Liauw) is a serious sicko who is out to turn their lives upside down while the head coach (Vivica A. Fox) tries to sort everything out. Anyone who can’t guess or predict the entire movie within the first 20 minutes needs to get a new hobby. Fox must have broken a record by now for starring in movies with the word “wrong” in its title and Nemec must break a record of his own for the amount of time one actor takes off and puts on his glasses in one movie. Continue reading →
October 24, 2020 “Haunting Of The Mary Celeste” (*1/2 out of four) was a banal horror show about a curious researcher (Emily Swallow) who sets out with her team on the high seas to find that a crew disappeared due to a supernatural phenomena and sure enough- all of her team gets killed off one-by-one and they have to fight to stay alive. Intriguing opening soon goes nowhere as films sputters and drags and story eventually decays into sheer corn. This film itself is “haunted” by the memories of much better films at sea (“Dead Calm” and “Ghost Ship” in particular) which were more skillful and scary. Continue reading →
October 24, 2020 “When The Fever Breaks” (** out of four) was a lukewarm horror melodrama about a woman (Genevieve Garhart) who is in the midst of the zombie apocalypse and realizes she has only two hours left to live and must race against the clock to stay alive, fight off other ravenous zombies, and protect her daughter (Kruiz Mauga). Neither the best nor the worst of its kind but seriously guys- you’ve seen this all before and you could easily see it done better 52 years ago by re-watching the original “Night Of The Living Dead.” Continue reading →
October 23, 2020 “Don’t Look Back” (** out of four) was a stilted horror story about a young woman (Kourtney Bell) recovering from past trauma who sees someone being brutally assaulted but doesn’t intervene and is subsequently haunted by a mysterious demon targeting her and others for bloodthirsty revenge. Film has some touches of arty intelligence and some good performances but it never gets off the ground and fails to rise above it’s generally unpleasant story. Directed by Jeffrey Reddick who wrote the first 2 “Final Destination” movies but “Don’t Watch” might have been a better title for this marginal effort. Continue reading →
October 22, 2020 “Death By 1,000 Cuts” (* out of four) was an agonizing horror psychodrama about a small-town investigator (Brett Burrier) who begins to look into the title cult in which someone would get cut 1,000 times and bleed to death and this leads him to uncovering some dark secrets of his otherwise picture-perfect Americana town. This clunker started out as a short 20-minute film and then someone got the bright idea to expand it to nearly 2 hours; if you make it to the end of this mess, it’s terrible filmmaking and acting and in-your-face unpleasantness will make you feel like you were cut multiple times. No worries; this will itself die a quick “death” at the Redbox machines. Continue reading →
October 17, 2020 “The Devil Has A Name” (**1/2 out of four) was an adequately done melodrama about a sinister oil matriarch (Kate Bosworth) who inadvertently exposes the whole industry of big business and industrial pollution when she fights back in court a farmer (David Straithairn) whose water has been poisoned. Well-acted (with a cast that includes Edward James Olmos and Martin Sheen) and well-told but film treads on all-too-familiar territory from other films (“A Civil Action” and “The Milagro Beanfield War” just to name a few). I mean really- is anyone surprised at this point that big businesses care about money and are killing many with pollution? Olmos also directed. Continue reading →
October 17, 2020 “The Missing Sister” (** out of four) was an utterly predictable thriller in which a successful businesswoman (Katrina Begin) tracks down her estranged sister (Katie Michels) and is elated to be back together and a family again but she soon begins to suspect that she isn’t her sister at all and is a vindictive opportunist who wants to take over her life. Typical suspense-and-revenge thriller has attractive lighting and camerawork but is usurped by its by-the-numbers story and plotting. Begin and Michels try their best but this is “missing” the essential spark and surprises that a thriller needs. Continue reading →
October 16, 2020 “Bullets Of Justice” (* out of four) was an incoherent mess set in the future after the Third World War in which the American government has (!) created super soldiers by merging army soldiers with pigs and an evil breed called Muzzles eat and farm humans like animals; a bounty hunter (Timur Turisbekov) now working for the human resistance sets out to find out how the Muzzles came to power and destroy them. If you’re going to tell an absurd story like that, you may as well tell it with some style and wit but don’t look for either here. Film looks more like a video game and a CD-ROM rather than an actual movie with awful photography and production values. Danny Trejo provides film’s sole worthwhile moments as a gravedigger but this otherwise fires all blanks. Continue reading →
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