“Unstable” (*1/2 out of four) was an unnecessary thriller about a divorced mom (Ashley Scott) who takes in a former football player (Ivan Sergei) as a caretaker for her child but never realizes that he is (what else?) a psychopath who wants the child for himself and soon turns both of their lives upside down. Thoroughly obvious movie filled with logic gaps and red herrings; Sergei is such an obvious nutjob creep that this is actually unintentionally funny for a little while but unfortunately this isn’t meant as a comedy. Filmed in 2012 and released now but has not aged like fine wine.

Continue reading →

“The Hand That Robs The Cradle” (*1/2 out of four): And how’s that for a clever title? A nanny (Emily Miceli) starts to care for a young boy (Holden Smith) but soon begins to uncover that his alleged parents (Lesa Wilson and Nick Schroeder) are actually his captors and she has to decide what to do and how the both of them can stay alive. Pretty soggy and flat thriller goes through the motions without much spark or fire to enhance its cliched storyline and script. For anyone wondering, this is not a remake or reimagining of 1992’s “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” even though it “robs” some of that film’s story elements.

Continue reading →

“Broken Ties” (** out of four) was a tedious suspense melodrama about 2 sisters (Brianna Cohen and Nicole Marie Johnson) who take different paths in life; one has the perfect existence with a picture-perfect home and husband and the other is threatened and abused by her husband leading to jealousy and resentment which boils over. In-name only thriller plays more like a soap-opera with vague suspense elements. Good performances from the two leads and attractive lighting keep this watchable but it’s only for those who will rent anything from Netflix or the Redbox machine. Originally titled “Sisters On The Run.”

Continue reading →

“Malum” (**1/2 out of four) was a wildly uneven horror thriller about a rookie cop (Jessica Sula) who takes the late shift in a new police station in an attempt to uncover the link between the death of her policeman father (Britt George) and a mysterious cult that possibly overtook his mind and threatens to envelop her as well. Director Anthony DiBlasi incorporates some striking and feverish imagery and has some vital scares but film becomes too cerebral and over-the-top in its final third and after a while- you may find this is overly derivative of “The Shining.” Sula’s strong performance in the lead makes this overall worth sticking through. Film is a remake of director DiBlasi’s own 2014 horror thriller “Late Shift.”

Continue reading →

“The Baby Swindler” (*1/2 out of four) was a ludicrous suspense thriller about a woman (Rhonda Dent) who freezes an embryo and her best friend (Emily Tennant) agrees to be the surrogate mother and carry the child but when the woman disappears- she starts to question what’s going on and what’s best for her unborn child right around the corner. The kind of movie that gives the word contrived a bad name. Director Chester Sit knows a thing or two about swindling himself since the crazy story’s fragments are lifted from “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle”, “Hush”, and many others. This should have been aborted long before the cameras started rolling.

Continue reading →

“Who Killed Our Father?” (*1/2 out of four) was a slack, derivative suspense thriller about a young woman (Leila Comerford) whose father dies and she then embarks on a journey to discover the sister she never knew she had but doesn’t expect all the realizations and problems this will result in for her. Slickly directed and shot but can’t cover up for a tired screenplay that gets more silly and illogical as it goes along. Does anyone remember when these types of thrillers were actually fun? A few more clunkers like this might actually “kill” the genre for good.

Continue reading →

“Rooming With Danger” (** out of four) was a stale suspense thriller about a young woman (Camila Senna) who moves in with a new roommate (Daniela Rivera) who develops a fixation on her and starts to turn her life inside-out as strange occurrences start developing both in and out of the house. Professionally made and acted but lacking in any novelty or originality whatsoever and is by-the-numbers all the way through. Yet another thriller made for people who’ve never seen a thriller before.

Continue reading →

“Respite” (** out of four) was a lukewarm thriller about a down-on-his-luck private investigator (Monte Bezell) who is hired by a family to find their missing child but when various dead bodies start turning up all over the city- he soon realizes their child may have been abducted and/or killed by a serial killer that he has to pursue. Holds your attention with its gritty subject matter and competent filmmaking and acting but never really takes off or shifts into high-gear as it should. A film one can easily watch but easily also forget, since we’ve been down this serial-killer road all-too-many times over the years.

Continue reading →

“Override” (** out of four) was a belated futuristic thriller about a female A.I. humanoid (Jessica Impiazzi- who is a dead-ringer for Olivia Wilde) whose program is altered by her husband (Luke Goss) to attack the Vice President (Dean Cain) and kidnap his son and execute him on live television unless she can be stopped once and for all. Derivative storyline of yet again the dangers of artificial intelligence and its affects on society as a whole. Far from the worst of its kind but too haphazard and murky to make any substantial impact. The charismatic Goss is wasted again but Impiazzi is rock-solid in the lead.

Continue reading →

“Small Town Wisconsin” (** out of four) was a slight melodrama about a middle-aged man (David Sullivan) who tries to be a good father to his young son (Cooper J. Friedman) and re-develop a relationship with him but this and every other aspect of his life are encumbered by his severe alcoholism which he refuses to acknowledge or change. Well-intentioned story about alcoholism and its damaging effects on father-son relations but is never as incisive or as moving as it should be and film’s ending is abrupt and unsatisfying. Sullivan tries in the lead role but you just don’t care all that much about his character or his plight. One of the executive producers was Alexander Payne and this is an interesting companion piece to his “Sideways” but nowhere in the same league.

Continue reading →