Author: dlepikcom

“Blackout” (*1/2 out of four) was a dismal horror thriller about a man (Alex Hurt) who becomes convinced he is a werewolf and that he kills people whenever there is a full moon but he has a hard time convincing other townsfolk (Marshall Bell, Michael Buscemi, Barbara Crampton, and others) of this. Dour and sluggish movie never builds much tension or dramatic interest. Hurt- son of William- doesn’t have very much charisma in the lead. You’ll likely want to black this one out on your list and soon.

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“Time Addicts” (*1/2 out of four) was a somnabulate suspense thriller about two drug addicts (Freya Tingley and Charles Grounds) who heist a bag of time-traveling meth in order to pay off their enormous debt to a violent drug dealer (Joshua Morton) but this leads to a plethora of other problems for all of them. Confusing and tedious story is uninvolving all the way through. It’s not a good thing when you’re watching a movie about time and time-travel and you’re constantly checking your watch.

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“Model House” (*1/2 out of four) was a sorry suspense potboiler about a group of models (Scout Taylor-Compton, Kyra Santoro, and others) staying at a secluded house who are terrorized and stalked to the death by intruders who want to kill them all one-by-one. Unfortunately, these same intruders seemed to have watched “The Slumber Party Massacre” and “Sorority House Massacre” one too many times and seem to be following the same formula and pattern. Nothing new or original here and even the killers look bored.

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“Killer Fortune Teller” (** out of four) was a bland suspense thriller about a tarot card reader (Sarah Murphree) who predicts a chance meeting with an ambitious and charming CEO (Jonathan Stoddard) and the two begin a relationship that takes numerous and predictable twists and turns. Smoothly directed and well-shot but so basic and by-the-numbers that it doesn’t carry any charge of surprise. Far from the worst of its genre but still pretty formulaic and forgettable.

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“Daddy’s Perfect Little Girl” (*1/2 out of four) was a mean-spirited suspense melodrama about a young girl (Hattie Kragten) who becomes enraged and jealous when her father (Matt Wells) develops a relationship with another woman (Andrea Pavlovic) and will stop at nothing to stop them to keep her dad all to herself. Ridiculous thriller grows more implausible (and unpleasant) with each new kill and twist. Obviously inspired by “The Bad Seed” and “The Good Son” but is much more bad than good.

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“The Devil’s Left Hand” (*1/2 out of four) was a stale supernatural thriller about a group of friends (Kaiti Wallen, Harley Wallen, Angelina Danielle Cama, and others) who converge at a housewarming party but they are suddenly besieged by an evil entity which can shape-shift and morph identities and no one can be trusted. Tired pastiche of other (and more superior) horror thrillers specifically “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” and (in some scenes) “The Thing.” Many horror fans thought highly of this but they need to get out more often.

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“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” (*** out of four) was a spectacular action thriller about the two ancient titans of Godzilla and King Kong who face off in an epic battle to the death which leads to the potential destruction of Earth while various scientists and military personnel (Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, and others) try to uncover their origins and how to stop them. Full of wall-to-wall visual effects and action scenes and setpieces that will really wow you; story and script won’t hold up to much scrutiny but film takes you on such a thrilling ride it hardly matters. A definite improvement over previous entry 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong.”

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“Telephone World” (0 stars out of four) was a repugnant story of an actress (Elissa Dowling) who discovers she got the lead role in a new television movie and the entire movie consists of her in her apartment crying, laughing hysterically, and alternately drinking and using cocaine. Baffling film is shot in one continuous take for 80 minutes but who cares? Who the hell is a movie like this made for anyway besides freaks and masochists? Not all that different from Whoopi Goldberg’s similarly awful “The Telephone.” Hang up on this wrong number.

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“LaRoy, Texas” (** out of four) was a wearily derivative potboiler comedy about a moron (John Magaro) who discovers that his wife (Galadriel Stineman) has been cheating on him and plans to kill himself but things change when a stranger (Steve Zahn) mistakes him for a low-level hitman and a killer (Dylan Baker) aims to settle a score with him. Yet another absurdist comedy that shows obvious influences of The Coen Bros., John Dahl, and also Quentin Tarantino mixed in the blender. Not the worst of its genre but you’ve seen this a million times before and better.

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