May 15, 2021 “The Djinn” (*1/2 out of four) was a luckless horror thriller about a mute 12-year old boy (Ezra Dewey) who is left alone at home by his single father (Rob Brownstein) and conjures the title djinn (John Erickson) which leads to an onslaught of (yes) paranormal activity and terror. So sluggish and inert and so little happens that it’s almost bewildering; film is recommended for anyone (such as this critic) who thought any of the “Amityville Horror” or “Paranormal Activity” imitations were too tame. A real bore, despite Julian Estrada’s colorful cinematography. Continue reading →
May 13, 2021 “Great White” (** out of four) was a not-so-great horror thriller about five friends (Katrina Bowden, Aaron Jakubenko, Te Koke Tuhaka) whose seaplane is destroyed in a freak accident and they become stranded at sea on a raft in which vicious and bloodthirsty sharks are lurking below the surface. Unusually strong character development and emotional investment for this type of thriller but is otherwise just another run-of-the-mill killer shark movie. In fact- this has virtually the exact same story as 2018’s “Stranded.” Nearly 50 years later, the grand daddy shark movie “Jaws” still outchews all its imitators. Continue reading →
May 11, 2021 “The Darkness” (*1/2 out of four) was a gloomy and boring horror thriller about a woman (Amelia Eve) who tells a horrific story to others about death, demons, and deception and how it is all channeled through witchcraft which could endanger everyone and cause a worldwide demise. One-note story quickly becomes tedious and tiresome and goes nowhere. Film is only for horror diehards who will rent and watch anything in the Redbox bin. Continue reading →
May 11, 2021 “Wrath Of Man” (** out of four) was a haphazard action thriller about an armed security specialist (Jason Statham) who takes a job working at a cash-truck company in Los Angeles moving around hundreds of millions of dollars each week but it turns out he has a dark vendetta and mystery that endangers him and everyone around him. Typical Guy Ritchie production full of action and cinematography flash and practically incoherent storytelling. Statham’s effortless charisma holds film together and keeps it watchable even as you struggle to make sense of anything on screen. A half-hearted remake of the 2004 French film “Cash Truck”; this marks Ritchie and Statham’s fourth collaboration together. Continue reading →
May 9, 2021 “Threshold” (*1/2 out of four) was a road to nowhere about a woman (Madison West) battling drug addiction who claims to be cursed and persuades her brother (Joey Millin) to go with her on a cross-country road trip to break her spell and help her on her road to recovery. Co-directors Patrick Robert Young and Powell Robinson mix in some interesting visual flourishes and stylistics but film on the whole is self-indulgent, numbing, and (after a while) boring. Much of this film was improvised and actually shot on 2 crew member’s IPhones! Continue reading →
May 8, 2021 “Initiation” (** out of four) was a hollow horror thriller about a college university which is under siege from a serial killer while the students (Froy Gutierrez, Patrick R. Walker, and others) are all but tripping over the bodies and a hard-nosed detective (Yancy Butler) and the dean of the university (Lochlyn Munro) try to unravel everything. Not the worst of this genre but too routine and formulaic to really have any impact and liberally rips off both “Scream 2” and “Urban Legend.” Munro’s casting is ironic since he played the berserk roommate in “Dead Man On Campus.” Filmed in only 16 days. Continue reading →
May 8, 2021 “Locked In” (**1/2 out of four) was a relatively engaging suspense thriller about a feisty single mom (Mena Suvari) who must protect herself and her daughter (Jasper Polish) and fight for survival during a heist gone wrong at a high-tech storage facility and she has to outsmart both a corrupt cop (Costas Mandylor) and a criminal mastermind (Jeff Fahey). Overall gripping enough and moves fast and has enough tension and suspense to make it worthwhile although lacks the fire and precision that would have made it really satisfying. Suvari is strong in the lead. Continue reading →
May 7, 2021 “Painkiller” (** out of four) was a muddled thriller melodrama about a middle-aged father (Bill Oberst, Jr) who loses a child to an opioid overdose and goes on a one-man campaign and vigilante quest to go after a corrupt doctor (Michael Pare) and various politicians and pharmaceutical agents who flood the market with opioids. Give director/co-writer Mark Savage points for trying to make a thought-provoking story about the opioid epidemic and the various machinations that profit from it but his points are blunted by scattershot script and unfocused story. Both Oberst and the always-reliable Pare do what they can to keep film on track. Continue reading →
May 6, 2021 “Blue Call” (**1/2 out of four) was a reasonably engrossing pulp melodrama about an EMT worker (Katie Leclerc) suffering from severe PTSD who makes the moral decision one night on the job to kill a woman who is suffering but this opens a pandora’s box of consequences that leads her to being plunged into a rabbit hole of drugs and the underworld and she is then targeted by a sadistic killer. Starts to become overly (and unnecessarily) cerebral and unpleasant in its final third but does capture the tension and duress of working as an EMT and also those suffering from PTSD with raw fervor. Leclerc’s strong work in the lead makes this “a call” overall worth answering. Continue reading →
May 6, 2021 “Await The Dawn” (** out of four) was a flashy but flimsy horror thriller about a family (Dee Wallace, Bruce Davison, Courtney Gains) travelling cross-country who are hijacked by a man (Josh Server) in desperation but they soon find out he’s on the run from ghoulish and otherworldly zombies who are bent on worldwide destruction. Proficient enough with a reasonably zippy pace and some occasional jolts but film itself amounts to nothing more than a pastiche of “Night Of The Living Dead” and “The Howling” (which also starred Stone). Even still, this won numerous awards at the 2020 MMXX Foreman Empire Productions International Film Festival and the Pasadena Horror Film Festival. Continue reading →
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