November 7, 2020 “Kindred” (* out of four) was an unbearably dull horror psychodrama about a young pregnant woman (Tamara Lawrance) who soon becomes plagued with morbid hallucinations and begins to suspect that the family of her deceased boyfriend are trying to take possession of her unborn child. Molasses-moving and scareless and a real snooze; Lawrance is good in the lead but is helpless against film’s funereal pacing. Incidentally, this is not a remake of 1987’s “The Kindred” even though it’s just as bad and has similar plot points. Continue reading →
November 7, 2020 “The Dark And The Wicked” (*1/2 out of four) was a lumbering horror story set on a secluded farm in which a family patriarch (Michael Zagst) is dying and his surrounding family (Marin Ireland, Michael Abbott, Jr. and others) gathers to mourn and pay their final respects but soon come to realize than an evil spirit and entity has taken over and they are all doomed. You keep thinking something significant or spooky will happen but nothing ever does as film plods nowhere. Film is beautifully photographed by Tristan Nyby but rings hollow after a while. This was filmed at writer/director Bryan Bertino’s own family farm. Continue reading →
November 6, 2020 “The Empty Man” (*1/2 out of four) was an underdone and (yes) empty horror thriller about a world-weary ex-cop (James Badge Dale) who stumbles upon a secretive group attempting to summon a terrifying entity known as The Empty Man (Robert Coutts) not realizing the grisly horror this will lead to. Creepy atmosphere of dread and melancholy holds your attention initially but you soon realize that’s all the movie is, as it goes nowhere slowly and forever at nearly two-and-a-half hours. Watch “Candyman” again instead. Continue reading →
November 5, 2020 “Vengeance” (*1/2 out of four) was a disjointed comedy thriller about a fugitive (Leslie Grantham) on the run for a murder he didn’t commit and returns to his hometown in London after 27 years to help his estranged daughter (Crissy Rock) who was brutally attacked and he resorts to his own form of retribution and his former friends to enact revenge. Strenuously uneven story can’t decide whether it’s a witless comedy, a limp revenge thriller, or an uninvolving underground melodrama and thus doesn’t make an impact as anything. Grantham’s sincere performance is film’s one positive grace. Continue reading →
November 5, 2020 “Cola Wars” (***1/2 out of four) was an exceptionally well-done and well-researched documentary about the historic battle between Coca-Cola and Pepsi for the soft drink market and how this affected consumerism significantly in the ’70’s and ’80’s in multi-million dollar endorsement deals with various artists and also later led to Coke historically changing their recipe and marketing strategies for a brief while. Particularly fascinating for those who lived through this time period and also features interesting commentaries on how this tied into capitalism and consumerism of the ’80’s and features plenty of interviews and old commercials. Continue reading →
November 4, 2020 “The Nights Before Christmas” (*1/2 out of four) was a good-looking but gory, heavy-handed horror show about a murderous Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus (Simon Phillips and Sayla de Goede) who go on a holiday rampage and have to play a cat-and-mouse game with the F.B.I. (led by Ken Bressers) who are trying to put an end to their reign of terror. Reasonably well-made but otherwise doesn’t have much distinction from umpteen other holiday-themed horror bashes and runs out of energy pretty early; maybe “Silent Night, Deadly Night” wasn’t as bad as everyone thought all those years ago. Continue reading →
November 3, 2020 “Rest Area” (* out of four) was an abjectly awful action melodrama about a retired navy seal and C.I.A. operative (Andy Barker) who is on his way home after burying a teammate when he runs into a drug dealer who has sold to many former teammates and he has to decide whether to let him live or die. Lame attempt at mixing an action story with clumsy social commentary and writer/co-director/star/co-producer/cinematographer Barker isn’t nimble at either one. Sleep zone may have been a more apt title for this timewaster. Continue reading →
November 2, 2020 “Darkness In Tenement 45” (*1/2 out of four) was an ambitious slog about a precocious 16-year old (Nicole Tompkins) who lives in a low-income apartment building with her overbearing aunt (Casey Kramer); soon the building is boarded up and the tenants are imprisoned due to a pending threat from the Soviet Union and the girl must fight to break free from her aunt, the world threat, and poverty in general. Writer director Nicole Groton heavy-handedly tries to graft various social and political points onto a tired horror framework; give her some points for trying but the results are stale, dull, and unconvincing. Continue reading →
November 2, 2020 “Sleepaway Slasher” (*1/2 out of four) was a substandard horror pic about a group of fledgling horror filmmakers (Shawn Thomas Diefenbach, Steven Anderson, and others) who are invited to a horror-movie competition at the site of an unfinished ’80’s cult movie when the bodies start piling up and they realize someone has taken their love of horror films to a bit of an extreme. Throwback to ’80’s horror movies makes you think that maybe the ’80’s weren’t really that great; this one is low-rent pretty much all the way through. James Franco (!) was film’s executive producer but had the good sense to have his name removed. Continue reading →
November 1, 2020 “Unhuman Nature” (* out of four) was a near-unwatchable horror psychodrama about a troubled F.B.I. agent (Adam Meirick) sent to the Pacific Northwest on a case that nobody else wanted but soon finds himself entangled with the locals in a deadly game that the town wants to keep secret. Dreadful story is cheap and amateurish but also sluggish and boring. Meirick also co-wrote this clunker but may have bitten off more than he can type judging by the results. Continue reading →
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