Cooper and his daughter Riley is going to Lady Raven’s concert, which is Riley’s reward for getting good grades. Cooper notices something strange about the place, though…there’s police everywhere, and when chatting up a guy selling merchandise he learns that the FBI is out to catch a serial killer known as “The Butcher“, because they have for some reason become aware that he will be at this concert. And this serial killer is none other than Cooper himself, of course. While trying to pretend everything is alright while his daughter is having the time of her life, Cooper manipulates and tricks his way into what he hopes will be an escape from the concert without getting caught.
Trap is a psychological thriller by M. Night Shyamalan, starring his own daughter Saleka as Lady Raven. Saleka is a singer-songwriter, and the idea for the film came when father and daughter one day had a conversation about combining a concert and a theatrical experience similar to Prince’s musical film Purple Rain (1984). The script was inspired by the Washington D.C. “Operation Flagship“ sting operation in 1985, where fugitives were lured to the Washington Convention Center under the pretense of free tickets, which resulted in 101 arrests. The songs in this film were also performed on stage as if in a real concert, and the shoot thus involved thousands of extras.
The concept of Trap is interesting enough, and when it became available on streaming we just decided to check it out. None of us had high expectations, but found ourselves to be entertained throughout the entire film, and sometimes that’s simply enough. It’s a somewhat simple cat ‘n mouse story where we witness the scenes unfold through the serial killer’s perspective, and it’s suspenseful enough while also having a slightly goofy vibe throughout. It’s definitely one of Shyamalan’s more carefree narratives, focusing more on pure thrills and fun instead of his usual cerebral and serious fare.
This being an M. Night Shyamalan movie you’re bound to wait for that plot twist to come which will turn everything on its head…but here’s pretty much a plot-twist in itself: there isn’t any. In a Shyamalan movie! Who would’ve thought. The movie does offer some twists and turns throughout the ride though, and some reveals and such, but none of what Shyamalan’s movies have become known (and often ridiculed) for. Not saying that his twists are always bad, because they really aren’t (just take his first horror movie The Sixth Sense for example), but this movie didn’t need any of that and is all the better for it.
Overall, Trap is one of those dumbly fun movies which is offering just enough thrills and suspense. Nothing groundbreaking and by no means a masterpiece, but all in all just an easy-going and fun thriller.
Writer and director: M. Night Shyamalan Country & year: USA, 2024 Actors: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, Jonathan Langdon, Mark Bacolcol, Marnie McPhail, Kid Cudi, Russ, Marcia Bennett, Vanessa Smythe IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26753003/
This is the so-called “twin film“ of The First Omen, even though the script for Immaculate was already written way back in 2014. Sydney Sweeney was 17 when she auditioned for the film to play an aspiring nun. Nothing much happened after that and the film fell into development hell. What a fitting situation for a nun film. However, the script stuck with Sweeney and after some well-earned money after being in the hit TV show Euphoria, she bought the rights to produce the film herself. So this clearly became a passion project for her. She hired Michael Mohan to direct, who she’d worked with on the erotic thriller The Voyeurs (2021), and got a distribution deal with Neon.
The film starts with a spooky opening scene with a young nun who fails to escape from a secluded convent, a place we, of course, are going back to later. As she’s about to get through the locked gates, she breaks her leg and gets captured by a group of obscure cloak-wearing persons who then… bury her alive. God bless.
Then we’re introduced to the rookie nun Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) who’s just moved to Italy, all away from Detroit, to devote her life to her great Savior. Because when she managed to survive after drowning under the ice of a frozen lake, and being clinically dead for seven minutes, she swallowed the shiny Christian pill and never looked back.
The first act is pretty straight forward. She settles in the convent where she meets a variety of nuns. Some are young, some are old, and then we have those you’d stay far away from. The convent is also far in the middle of the countryside where the sense of isolation starts to creep in sooner than later. The language barrier is also strong, as she can hardly speak Italian. But if she did, the film would’ve had to require subtitles. And Americans are too lazy to bother with such a thing, so …
While she does the best she can to blend in, she starts having nightmares and sees creepy visions in her bedroom. And after taking a bloodtest, she finds out that she’s – pregnant. Just out of the blue. Huh. The staff is, however, ecstatic as they now see her as a Virgin Mary with a gift from God himself, and against her will, hold her captive in the convent during her trimesters. From here on, the similarities to The First Omen goes in their separate directions, where Immaculate serves its own unique little spin on the nun/pregnancy horror sub-genre.
Director Michael Mohan does a pretty good job, considering this is his first horror film with primary romcoms under his belt. A big leap, for sure. Solid camerawork all the way through with tasty visuals where the inspiration from classic Italian horror films really shines. While there are some cheap jumpscares shoehorned in here, the film relies mostly on mood and atmosphere where we have the isolated eeriness of the convent to creepy catacombs, all shot on locations in Rome and the outskirts. No frontal nudity here, unfortunately, just to make that clear. Sydney Sweeney is, for some, known for two things, but she’s also a top tier actress who conveys layers of intense emotions with her eyes alone – while she carries the whole film with a big bucket of blood to the s h o c k i n g ending.
Director: Michael Mohan Writer: Andrew Lobel Country & year: USA/Italy, 2024 Actors: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Simona Tabasco, Benedetta Porcaroli, Giorgio Colangeli, Dora Romano, Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi, Giampiero Judica, Betty Pedrazzi, Giuseppe Lo Piccolo IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23137390/
Terrifier 3 picks up the story right after the ending of Terrifier 2, where Art the Clown was beheaded by Sienna, and the final girl from the first movie, Victoria Heyes, has been possessed by the Little Pale Girl and gives birth to Art’s head. Now, in the third movie, we start off with Art’s headless body finding its way to the asylum where Victoria is located, where they both body-count a little before going into some kind of hibernation phase in an abandoned house. Then, five years later and close to Christmas, Sienna has just been released from a mental health center and has come to stay with her aunt Jess, her husband Greg, and their daughter Gabbie, who pretty much idolizes her. While Sienna is struggling with reconnecting with her brother Jonathan, who is now in college and trying to move on with his life, Art the Clown has decided to bring another nightmare to Miles County, and this time before Christmas.
Terrifier 3 is the third movie in the Terrifier franchise, all written, edited and directed by Damien Leone. Terrifier 3 premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 19, 2024, and later released theatrically in the US on October 11. It is currently the highest-grossing unrated film of all time. Damien Leone stated in interviews that the main reason for choosing a Christmas theme for the movie, was that he was directly influenced by the 1972 film and 1989 TV series Tales From the Crypt, as they both featured a story about a mentally insane person dressed up as Santa and going on a killing spree. The opening of Terrifier 3 is a homage to that episode which is called “And All Through The House”. He also got to “fix“ one of his bigger regrets from the two other movies, regarding Victoria Heyes who was the original “final girl“ in the franchise (who got her face eaten off by Art in the first movie which explains her looks). This is a character Damien Leone regretted not fleshing out further, and thus he decided to feature her more in the third film, as a heroine turned villainess.
Now, most people within the horror circle are well familiar with this murderous clown called Art. Wearing a Pierrot-like costume, uttering not a single sound under any circumstance at all, and with antics and behavior very reminiscent of Mr. Bean, he sure is a character easy to recognize whether you like him or not. The guy is now all over the place, with another movie sequel already in development and even an upcoming game and other merchandise. Art has more or less become a gore-icon, so if you go and see this movie mainly for the gore and practical effects, you won’t be disappointed. There’s gore a-plenty, some really visceral kills and even a scene with a rat forced down a tube in someone’s throat that made Art’s actor (David Howard Thornton) a little green around the gills. I can’t say any of the scenes really got under my skin though (I’ve gotten far too desensitized for that) but I can easily recognize and admire the jolly playfulness and the great use of practical effects during scenes like this and had a fun time watching it. I also found the opening of the movie to be quite moody and with a fitting soundtrack. So, will you have a fun time if you want to see Art the Clown going crazy during the holidays where he kills and maims and wreaks havoc? Yeah, no doubt. This movie does more of what most of its fanbase loves it for, and that’s expanding the horizon for how much gore you can possibly add and adding new ways to dismember and spill the blood ‘n entrails on screen.
Now, what Terrifier 3 unfortunately lacks, is more story to the bone. Maybe this sounds a little unreasonable considering that the first movie pretty much had no plot whatsoever, and the franchise’s selling point is obviously blood and gore. Nothing wrong with that, by all means…but the second film did take things many steps further story-wise, teasing us with what appeared to be more in-depth lore and possibly an interesting background story for the franchise’s namesake (which is not the clown, but an abandoned haunted attraction we got to know about in Terrifier 2). Everything was pretty much set up for some further development of Art’s background story…but that’s not really what we got much of in the third film. Now, Damien Leone stated that it took 6 years to make Terrifier 2, and that he had completely underestimated how ambitious it would eventually become. It’s obvious he’s planned for some deeper lore and background story for Art, the Terrifier attraction, and the Little Pale Girl (whom we know is the demon possessing Art), but we’ll probably get more of that in the 4th film. Terrifier 3 was made with a considerably stricter deadline, and the production barely made it on time for its premiere at Fantastic Fest. In addition to this, the long time it took to make Terrifier 2 is also the reason why the storyline of this movie is set to five years later, as especially Elliot Fullam (who plays Jonathan, Sienna’s younger brother) has aged very obviously since they started filming Terrifier 2 in 2018. Personally, I have no problems enjoying mindless gore-fests as long as they’re somewhat upbeat and fun, but at this point this movie felt more like a Christmas-special to me than an actual sequel, I guess..?
Terrifier 3 definitely delivers on the gore and practical effects, and Art the Clown is more jolly, more evil, and more Mr. Bean-ish than ever. I just personally wish there had been some more story development at this point, but I’ll consider this as Art the Clown’s X-Mas special. The fourth film is already in development, which is stated to be the final film in the franchise. Hah, yeah, we’ll see how that goes. Everyone knows that slasher villains never truly stay dead, that’s Horror 101. So by the end of this decade we’ll probably have Terrifier Returns, Terrifier Origins, The First Terrifier, Terrifier in Space, and Terrifier in the Hood. And that’s not even a joke.
Writer and director: Damien Leone Country & year: USA, 2024 Actors: Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thornton, Antonella Rose, Elliott Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi, Margaret Anne Florence, Bryce Johnson, Alexa Blair Robertson, Mason Mecartea, Krsy Fox IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27911000/
It’s been six days since police officer Joel got the Smile Entity’s curse passed onto him after watching Rose committing suicide, which is the grim way the curse spreads over to someone else. Joel appears to know a way to pass it on to someone else before the curse makes him kill himself, though. He targets two criminals, intending to kill one of them in front of the other, hoping this could free him of the curse. This doesn’t go by plan at all, and both criminals end up dead during a shootout. There was still a witness, though…the drug dealer Lewis Fregoli who had hidden himself in a closet upon Joel entering the place. When seeing him, Joel apologizes, saying this was not meant for him, and then flees the place. He did not get to live long enough to figure out if he got rid of the curse, however, as he gets hit by an oncoming pickup truck that smears his blood and entrails on the ground, forming a smile. And that’s the opening for Smile 2.
Now, we enter the life of Skye Riley, a pop star having a comeback after a time of substance abuse and a car accident that killed her boyfriend. She’s still got the scar from the accident, and is bothered by severe back pain which she desperately needs some strong pain killers for. She’s got this guy who can supply her with vicodin, and you probably guessed it: yes, it’s the drug dealer from the opening. When Skye meets him in his apartment, he’s already into the latter stages of the curse, and before his weird behavior rings enough alarm bells for Skye to leave, he kills himself in front of her by smashing his face to pieces with a weight plate. Nice. Another trauma to add to the list for the poor pop star. She first thinks about calling the police, but instead flees the place as she’s afraid that getting caught up in the death of a drug dealer during her comeback won’t look good. Of course, she doesn’t leave the place emptyhanded, as the Smile Entity has already infected her, and she soon begins to experience the first stages of the curse: hallucinations where people keep eerily smiling at her. And then, of course, things get gradually worse.
Smile 2 is the sequel of Smile from 2022, both written and directed by Parker Finn. It stars Naomi Scott as the pop star Skye Riley. She is an English actress and singer, and a soundtrack of the songs in the movie called Smile 2: The Skye Riley EP was released through Interscope Records on October 11, 2024.
I really enjoyed the first Smile movie, which I initially didn’t know what to expect from, but ended up having a real good time with. Then the news about a sequel came, and oh man, I did not have high hopes for this one. Not only because I initially felt that the first movie worked well as a stand-alone, but also because the first trailer of Smile 2 made it look incredibly generic and underwhelming. Well…I’m happy to say I was totally wrong, and Smile 2 was much better than I anticipated. I actually even found it to be better than the first one, and that caught me quite by surprise. Just like the first movie, it’s starting with a punch and does not hold back. The backstory of the protagonist is told through bits and pieces, giving us further and further glimpses into her psyche and troubles. While you’re supposed to feel sympathy for her of course, it’s also obvious that she hasn’t completely unstuck her head from her ass despite therapy and going off drugs. In her past she treated those around her like shit, and while she is clearly ashamed of this now, she’s still at a stage where her selfishness and woe-is-me attitude makes her completely blind to how the people that cares for her are oftentimes bending over backwards just to support and help her. And of this she’s actually subconsciously aware, which is why the demon is having a field day when toying with her.
The jumpscares in Smile 2 are generally good and adds to the atmosphere, in contrast to movies where many of the jumpscares don’t have any other impact than blasting you with high sound or quick movement and no actual scares. Sure, you can see them come from a mile away, but the way they build up the tension and also lingers makes them a perfect example of how good jumpscares should be utilized in movies like this. The one with her friend on the bed, in particular, is a prime example of this. The ending also ventured a bit into horror-acid-land when Skye’s completely under control of the hallucinations, and just like in the first movie we also get some monster effects which are pretty wild.
So, despite my first expectations, Smile 2 is a worthy sequel of the first and in my opinion even surpasses it, and while the ending was very predictable (at least when you know how the Smile Entity works), it sets up for what could be a pretty interesting third movie in this franchise.
And it also effectively advertise the Norwegian-based bottled water VOSS, which Skye is drinking liters of for her well-being. Yup, it’s important to stay hydrated, curse or no…
Writer and director: Parker Finn Country & year: USA/Canada, 2007 Actors: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, Raúl Castillo, Kyle Gallner, Drew Barrymore, Zebedee Row, Roberts Jekabsons IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29268110/
Elisabeth Sparkle is an award-winning actress who hosts a popular aerobics show for TV. It’s been going great for a long time, she’s even gotten her own Hollywood Walk of Fame star! There is one problem, though…she isn’t getting younger. No one ever gets younger, of course, but for someone like Elisabeth Sparkle, who’s got her whole life tied around her looks and beauty, this natural process hits much harder. After shooting her aerobics show like always, on the day that is her fiftieth birthday, she needs to go to the restroom. She finds that the women’s restroom is closed off, so she decides to go into the men’s room instead. While inside one of the stalls, the producer enters talking loudly on the phone. The conversation is about her, of course, and in no kind terms he describes how they need to get rid of her and replace her with someone young and hot. Ouch. After he leaves, Elisabeth comes slowly out of the stall, looking at herself in the mirror and realizing that everything in her life has been turned upside down.
After being fired, she notices that her billboard is taken down which causes her to get involved in a car accident. She leaves the incident with only minor injuries, but in the hospital one of the young male nurses gives her a flash drive together with a note saying “it changed my life“. At home she plays the flash drive, which promotes a serum called “The Substance“, which will create another version of yourself: one that is younger and more “perfect“. This new version will still be connected to you and you will be as as one. Elisabeth, after some hesitation, decides to make her order. And thus, her new young and perfect version is born through a slit in her back, and she adopts the name Sue. In order to make this all work perfectly as per the instructions, they must switch after 7 days: one week with Sue, one week with Elisabeth. Everything seems to go perfect: Sue gets hired as the new host for the aerobics TV show, and is steadily rising towards more and more fame. But things soon turn out to not work so great after all…
The Substance is a satirical science fiction horror movie from 2024, with many body horror elements and a lot of dark comedy. The film is co-produced, written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, and stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. The film was shot in France, in a studio in the Paris region and on location on the Côte d’Azur. Demi Moore was originally very nervous about filming full nudity scenes at the age of 61, and felt vulnerable (which, I guess, just goes to show the effect age has on us and our self esteem, just like portrayed in the film). Her 29 year old co-star Margaret Qualley, who plays the role as her younger version, also performed totally naked and Demi Moore credits her for making her feel more comfortable on the set, stating that she “was a great partner who I felt very safe with“.
Upon viewing this film we didn’t really know what to expect. And oh boy, were we in for a ride! Taking the concept of how society and the entertainment business treats aging, especially towards women, Fargeat has spun an intricate and twisted tale filled with a feminist satire and social commentary, mixed with some of the wildest body horror elements I’ve witnessed in a theater. Prosthetics and makeup effects designer Pierre-Olivier Persin really did a great job here, and the movie relying primarily on practical effects gives it the gross-out factor that CGI simply wouldn’t have been able to.
The actors are all doing great, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are nailing their roles and Quaid is doing an excellent portrayal of a Hollywood sleazeball. With several creative scenes showing just how much of a creep that guy is, and how ultimately unattractive he appears with his foul behavior, yet no one around him is disqualifying him from anything due to his age. Most of the male characters here (with some exceptions) are excessively gross, displayed as powerhungry horny pigs that are male-gazing every woman they see, and treating them with complete disrespect and even contempt if they do not “fit“ their standards. It’s a bit overtly stereotypical, but also straight to the point in a setting like this.
Now, regarding the protagonist: while Elisabeth’s situation is without a doubt something that can make you feel sorry for her, I actually had problems feeling that much sympathy for her. Her actions and behavior throughout the whole process went pretty far in showing that she was, after all, just as shallow as the people who rejected her. The younger version of herself, Sue, also goes a long way with portraying a very narcissistic persona with little respect towards Elisabeth. But as the company behind the substance clearly reminds her: they’re one and the same. They may be two, but they are both from the same material, and have the same traits, and they both idolize society’s beauty standards and strive to live up to it by all means possible. One could argue that Elisabeth had no choice in the matter since her whole life “fell apart“ after getting sacked, but…eh, no. It didn’t have to. In fact, there’s a scene where she meets an old acquaintance, Fred, who tells her she’s “just as beautiful as ever“ and really likes her for who she is. She later calls this guy up, setting up a date, but it’s obvious that the only reason she’s doing so is because she’s in need of an ego-boost, which doesn’t lead to anything of course because her frail ego botches the date and she sets him up. I’m going to be honest: the only character I felt genuine sympathy for here, was Fred…
Now, with a movie like this it’s hard not to also delve into the major themes here. We often point fingers at Hollywood for setting absurd beauty standards for the female body, but honestly, fingers could as easily be pointed backwards to ourselves. In movies, on social media, and pretty much everywhere, there’s a very obvious worship of youth and beauty. Fillers, botox, facelifts, implants, liposuction…all kinds of procedures to make people look “better“ are presented towards a younger and younger audience, where people as young as being in their 20s start taking botox injections. People’s self-esteem is worse than ever, and that’s not just Hollywood’s fault. Living in a society that almost deems aging as something unnatural that must be avoided at all costs, there’s bound to be unreasonable expectations. There was a weird little case here in Norway some years back, amongst the financial elite: two middle aged men started a fight, after one of them had said “sleeping with a woman over 40 is like sleeping with a corpse“. The other guy found this to be a preposterous claim and said (this being under the 2016 election in the US): “not even Trump would have said something like that“. It was later also talked about how looking down upon women is a jargon in certain parts of the financial elite society (as with so many other places). One may laugh about it, make jokes about it, but…it’s deeply rooted in so many parts of our society. Not everyone’s got the balls to stand up to it though.
The Substance is a brilliantly gross, wild and thought-provoking movie. Behind layers of glitz and glam, nudity and body horror, there’s also themes of loneliness and fear, about being rejected for who you are by the people around you for doing something none of us can avoid as long as we continue to live: growing older. And perhaps a little reminder that we should not measure our self worth from society’s standards, otherwise we just end up being another part of the problem. And that ending…wow! Without spoiling anything, I just want to say it really goes wild and doesn’t hold back. I guess that for some people who wanted a movie more grounded, they might be put off by it, but goddamn I loved every second!
The Substance is considered to be an unofficial remake of a movie called The Rejuvenator, from 1988.
Writer and director: Coralie Fargeat Country & year: France/USA, 2024 Actors: Margaret Qualley, Demi Moore, Dennis Quaid, Hugo Diego Garcia, Alexandra Papoulias Barton, Oscar Lesage, Joseph Balderrama, Robin Greer, Tiffany Hofstetter, Gore Abrams IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714/
Ebony Jackson is a mother who’s struggling with an alcohol problem, and when drinking she’s often abusive towards her three children Nate, Shante and Dre. They have just moved into a new home, which is their third one within a short time. This time, Ebony’s mother Alberta has also moved in with them, a new-born Christian who’s suffering from cancer. As Ebony also has a criminal past, she’s under constant supervision from the Child Protective Services, and her caseworker Cynthia notices that things aren’t all that well in the house. And then the youngest in the home, Dre, starts talking to an imaginary friend called Tre. Yeah, that’s always good news. Flies start appearing inside the home, and Dre starts behaving strangely and is one day found in a catatonic state after having gone into the basement. Ebony now has to struggle with her constant cravings for alcohol, a problem that too easily lead her to being abusive towards the people in her life which she should have treated best of all, plus the Child Protective Services which are (and rightly so) keeping a close eye on her, and on top of all that there’s also something that seems to be possessing her own children and she’s at the risk of losing everything.
The Deliverance is a supernatural horror film directed by Lee Daniels, which was released on Netflix this year. It’s written by David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum. The movie is inspired by the Ammons haunting case, which features the infamous Demon House which is no longer standing. The “true“ story goes like this: in November 2011, Latoya Ammons and her family of three children and her mother, moved into a house on Carolina Street in Gary, Indiana. Soon after moving in, they claimed black flies started swarming the porch, and things like footsteps in the basement, shadowy figures and other regular supernatural shenanigans started to happen. The family reached out to their physician for help, and he considered their behavior to be delusional which caused someone from his office calling the police, and the children were taken to the hospital where the youngest boy screamed and thrashed. When the Department of Child Services got involved in 2012, they believed the children were “performing“ for their mother, and sensational stories about the youngest by walking up the wall backwards started to get published in outlets such as New York Daily News. And then, like things often go with cases like this, a priest got involved and performed an exorcism. The family later moved to Indianapolis, and it’s said the events stopped after that. Then, in 2014, Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures bought the house for $35.000, filmed a documentary in it which is titled Demon House. The house was demolished in January 2016.
Now, The Deliverance doesn’t stand out very much when it comes to demonic possession horror movies, and I have to honest and admit that I didn’t have very high expectations. We were intrigued due to the movie being based on this case, though, and we have also seen Demon House. What this movie does best, is not actually the supernatural parts, but the tension played out during the family drama, with the abusive alcoholic mother, her frightened children, and her cancer-suffering mother (who does the best possession scenes). And of course, the way it portrays poverty and the socioeconomics aspects. The start of the movie is without a doubt the most intriguing part, building up a tense atmosphere and establishes a sense of dread and mystery. The latter part of the movie goes into hackneyed demon possession fare, and drags along a bit too much. At least it uses demonic possession clichés rather sparingly, and lays off from overuse of CGI, which makes it easier to slog through. Overall, though, the movie is far from as bad as we initially thought it would be. In fact, the movie is on the whole pretty decent, it just doesn’t have the oomph to stand out very much.
So, all in all, The Deliverance doesn’t bring anything new that we haven’t already seen a plethora of times before, but it’s done with a solid hand.
Director: Lee Daniels Writers: David Coggeshall, Elijah Bynum Country & year: USA, 2024 Actors: Andra Day, Glenn Close, Anthony B. Jenkins, Caleb McLaughlin, Demi Singleton, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Mo’Nique, Omar Epps, Miss Lawrence, Javion Allen, Todd Anthony, Bryant Bentley IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4196566/
Suzanne Blaker is a stop-motion animator quite famous within the circle, but she’s unable to use her hands anymore due to arthritis. She still wants to complete her latest film, and for this, she needs help from her daughter Ella. Poor Ella is often overworked by her demanding mother, constantly having to do scenes over again and never doing anything the right way (at least according to her mother). Then Suzanne suffers a stroke and ends up in a coma, where Ella finds herself with enough freedom to do what she wants. Her decision is to finish her mother’s film, and she chooses to rent a studio apartment where she can work. There, she encounters a little girl who appears to be very interested in her work, and ends up guiding her towards completely new ideas for the film. Instead of finishing her mother’s “boring“ movie, she changes it to be about a young girl lost in the woods, who encounters a scary entity called the Ash Man. The girl keeps guiding Ella through the process, making her craft the dolls from meat in order to make them look more real, constantly pushing Ella to experiment more and using techniques she probably never thought herself comfortable with using.
Stopmotion is a psychological horror film directed by Robert Morgan, and it’s his feature length debut. The screenplay was written together with Robin King, and it stars Aisling Franciosi (TheNightingale, 2018) in the leading role. Robert Morgan also made the horror short film The Cat with Hands (which I found out about some years back when Guillermo del Toro recommended his on his Twitter/X account) where stop motion is also used.
The movie is definitely a slow burn, and what first appears to be something that could lead to a final twist of some kind, ends up getting revealed very early during the movie. There isn’t really much of a mystery, there is no unraveling of Ella’s psyche, we very much know where she’s headed. Artists being at risk of getting consumed by their art, well that’s an axiom that’s been used more than a few times in movies, but here it doesn’t really get as disturbing as it could have been. Still, it manages to convey a very dark and uncanny atmosphere, and there’s a definite “A24-vibe“ over it.
The best part of the movie is, without a doubt, the stop motion scenes. The characters, setting and backgrounds for the animated stop motion scenes are actually very atmospheric and creepy, too bad we didn’t get to see even more of them. To be honest, I’d love to have a full horror short featuring this animation. It’s grotesque and macabre in a fascinating way, reminding me a little bit of Phil Tippett’s Mad God, and seeing the different techniques used only enhances this feeling. We see Ella using real meat in order to make stop motion, and that is not actually unheard of. This technique was also used by legendary stop motion animator Jan Svankmajer.
Overall, Stopmotion is a slow, dark psychological thriller with some really eerie stop motion scenes. Not for everyone, but certainly a strange little nightmarish tale.
Director: Robert Morgan Writers: Robin King, Robert Morgan Country & year: UK, 2023 Actors: Aisling Franciosi, Stella Gonet, Tom York, Therica Wilson-Read, Bridgitta Roy, Caoilinn Springall, Alex Freeborn, James Swanton, James Harris, Jaz Hutchins, Joshua J Parker, Nicola Alexis IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14852624/
Here comes the sequel that people actually have wanted to see for too long. Meanwhile, we had some videogames, comics, the awesome animated series, and I envy those who were lucky enough to experience the Broadway musicals that became huge successes. So, it’s fair to say that Beetlejuice’s spot and impact on pop-culture seemed to be bigger than we’d even realized. The time and years also came and went while the sequel was announced several times during the mid 2000s until it became the boy who cried wolf. It became too good to be true, but to be honest: I would rather wait for twenty years than see Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, whatever that was supposed to be. But now, only 37 years later, the juice is finally loose.
But still, my biggest concern here was how in hell they were going to recreate the same magic, vibe and the distinct cartoonish tone from the original without missing the mark and the perfect balance completely. Because it could easily have become a catastrophic, tone-deaf cringefest that would shuffle right in the same footsteps as Son of the Mask, to give the worst example. The year is also 2024, where legacy sequels have been pretty bland and forgettable, with some few exceptions. And then we have our favorite goth uncle, Tim Burton, who hasn’t quite been himself in a long, long time. Life happens to all of us. But that was until he directed the first episodes of Wednesday, where we saw some of his mojo coming back. So there was hope. Then came the teasers and the trailers and we were sold.
So, what’s the Deetz family been up to during all these years? Lydia Deetz is still herself, now as a professional medium, not a big surprise there, and has her own Paranormal TV show which she hosts with a live audience and all. And no, she’s not married to Zak Bagans. She’s been dating her producer, Rory (Justin Theroux), this film’s version of the eccentric Otho (until he isn’t). Lydia also has a daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), and they don’t have the best relationship, since Astrid thinks her mother a complete whackjob and a fraud. It’s more complex than that, though. And, of course, she doesn’t believe in the supernatural at all. Her biological dad also died years ago and she can’t stand Rory.
Delia (Catherine O’Hara) is in Manhattan, New York, where she has an art exhibition. She’s still a redhead and a more borderline self-centered bitch than ever. But where’s Charles, Lydia’s dad, you ask? He is all by himself in the ghost house up on the hill, chilling the peaceful life, we have to assume. Wait, the phone is ringing. It’s Delia. Charles is dead, she says. Died during a plane crash. Oh… Time for an awkward little reunion in the small town of Winter River to arrange his funeral. And the old model still stands in the attic, Beetlejuice’s little loophole entry to the surface world.
Yes, there’s a lot of family drama going on, because there’s a lot to catch up to after almost four decades. But there’s no reason to worry – The showman himself, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), is just waiting for the right moment to join the reunion, and he has way more screentime than he had in the original, which was only 17 minutes. In the meantime, he’s kept himself busy with his Bio-Exorcist career, having a big open office space in the Neitherworld where he has a staff of Smallheads to do all the paper work.
Speaking of reunions: The Maitlands couple we saw in the original, played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, is long gone and not to be seen. We get the point and reason why: ghosts don’t age. They get a brief mention by Lydia, who gives her own logical explanation of their absence just to tie the films together fittingly. Davis looks fabulous for her age, by the way, while Baldwin has morphed into the bitter rageaholic that he is. Teddybear Otho, on the other hand, isn’t even mentioned. And that broke my heart a little. Especially considering that Glenn Shadix fell in his home and died tragically of blunt head trauma in 2010. RIP.
Anyway – Meanwhile, downstairs in the world of the dead, we get to see a pretty wild entry of the films secondary villain. And that’s none other than Beetlejuice’s ex-wife, Dolores (Monica Bellucci), a cute mix of Corpse Bride and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. And you’ll also get a clear picture of why she meant nothing to him, nothing at all, as referred in the first film. It’s also hard to not feel some sympathy for Mr. Juice when some historical pieces are being put together. Because he absolutely means something to her, and not in some positive way. We also have a vital love-interest sideplot with Astrid and the neighbor boy Jeremy (Arthur Conti) which takes some pretty interesting turns.
Lydia is still haunted by the memories of Beetlejuice, who once tried to force her to marry him. She’s kept all of this a secret from her extended family, but when she starts to see quick flashes of him lurking everywhere she goes, the can of worms starts to open. The plot starts to thicken when both Astrid and Rory find out about this Beetleguy, and it’s just a quick matter of time when one of them can’t resist the temptation to spit out his name three times.
And when the news came that Willem Dafoe had been added to the cast, I was pretty sure that he was going to play Jacques LaLean from the animated series. Instead, we meet Wolf Jackson, a former action star, who’s now living out his fantasies in the afterlife as a police officer in the Neitherword. And for some reason, he’s on the tail on both Beetlejuice and Dolores.
I was a little surprised how practical and old-school the film actually was, both when it came to the effects and especially the sets. Because the cynical side of me just assumed they would CGI/green screen the whole Winter River town and the ghost house itself, because that’s what Hollywood normally does these days. Instead, we also have a sweet nostalgia trip to the quiet little town of East Corinth, hidden somewhere in the forest countryside of Vermont. And the Neitherworld is a whole place by itself where we get to see more of with its crooked, narrow, colorful hallways and chess floors, a place you’d like to explore for yourself. Maybe some day.
Tim Burton’s zany imagination and inspiration is back in full force here. So is his energy, which makes Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feel way more of a passion project than just another sequel. I bet everyone had a blast making this, not to mention the make-up crew who had all the different types of dead people we see in the world downstairs to work with. Every aspect to the smallest details are done with such care, love and respect to the original, without overstuffing us with shallow member berries. We have some of those, of course, but they’re really tasty.
We also have some references from the old times, such as Beetlejuice’s backstory told in the stylish black & white style of Mario Bava, and get ready for the roller-coaster ride that is the Soul Train. It’s crazy, wild, chaotic, unpredictable and lots of fun. A big morbid cinematic Halloween candy bag with some even more unexpected surprises. The older fans who grew up with the original, and the animated series in the early 90s, will definitely feel the warm and fuzzy nostalgia bug.
Michael Keaton still nails every step and tone of the title character. He slips right into Beetlejuice and the iconic outfit as if it was 1988. The slapstick, the small tics and details with his bizarre mannerism, are still intact with the perfect balance without being too much. And after pushing 70, and blessed with some excellent genes, Keaton plays the role as if he was 41 with a body full of demons. All the co-actors do a solid job and I liked the more nuances in the family dynamic between Lydia and her stepmom Delia, which was very one-dimensional in the first film. The one I wish had more screentime was Dolores.
And to finally address the real boogeyman in the room, that is Jeffrey Jones, who played Lydia’s dad in the first film. Yeah, whatever happened to him. He’s a registered sex offender, if you didn’t already know, and hasn’t been doing anything acting related since 2014. And since this isn’t a Disney production, he is persona non grata. Still, Charles is in the movie, in some very bizarre, morbid and hilarious way. And he’s actually way more present than I expected. Also, what they did to his character without writing him off completely was pure genius, comedy gold, and I laughed every time when that poor fucker popped up on the screen.
The music here must also be mentioned, which is just fantastic. It’s classic Danny Elfman, and he really pours his ghoulish heart into every single note and detail. He gives a more thick and sinister tone to the classic opening theme, like he did with Batman Returns (1992). The opening credit sequence is another aspect, which, in all honesty, I didn’t expect until that old Geffen logo came and did its rotation on screen. I knew already then that we were in for a ride. So, by all means; please take notes and bring back the classic themesongs and opening credits again, because they rule.
The film earned back its budget already during the opening weekend, so there’s no reason for the Warner brothers to not say his name one last time with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. In the meantime, you can now bingewatch all four seasons of the animated series on Tubi.
Director: Tim Burton Writers: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Seth Grahame-Smith Country & year: USA, 2024 Actors: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, Nick Kellington, Santiago Cabrera, Burn Gorman, Danny DeVito IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2049403/
She’s a killer, she’s a thriller. And a ballcrusher. But most of all – she’s Maxine FUCKING Minx!
So, after waiting for two months after the official theatrical release, we finally got to see MaXXXine on the big screen here in Norway. Two months to avoid any spoilers and such. So let’s fucking gooooo!
MaXXXine takes place in 1985, six years after the incidents at the farm we saw in X which have been reported in the news as the greatest film title never released: “The Texas Porn Star Massacre“. Since then, Maxine still snorts lines, lives in a small apartment in Los Angeles, and still works in the porn biz. Like a character from GTA, she’s been upgraded to have an agent (Giancarlo Esposito, Gus from Breaking Bad) that is actually not a shady sleazeball, and earn enough decent money to not stay in Cecil Hotel. Writer and director Ti West throws no punches to set the tone and takes us far into the memory lane of a country in full moral panic. Rock and heavy metal have consumed the youth, parents freak out as their kids listen to Twisted Sister, Mötley Crüe, Judas Priest, etc. Dee Snider is at full war with Tipper Gore who wants to censor his music. Yes, there was actually a time when music was the most evil thing on planet Earth, in God-fearing America, at least. The first wave of the Satanic panic has hit full force as the serial killer, and the self-proclaimed Satanist, Richard Ramirez (aka The Night Stalker), is body counting around the city. Yet a far more innocent USA than it is today.
Anyway – life isn’t as bad as someone in Maxine’s situation should be, even though she’s clearly very damaged and struggles with PTSD. But life goes on. Especially if you want to get a chance to star in a Hollywood film. And now, as Maxine is in her mid 30s and wants to be in “real movies“ and climb the career ladder up to the more mainstream surface, she sees the opportunity to audition for a horror movie called Puritan II. And since Maxine is a phenomenal actress as Mia Goth, she impresses the director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) and secures the role on the spot. Yay! The producers are not so keen on casting her, though, with her filthy porn background and all. Well, we all have to start somewhere.
But the road to her Hollywood break isn’t getting that easy when she gets a VHS mysteriously delivered at her doorstep. On the tape we see clips of her from “The Farmer’s Daughters”, which was filmed at the farm that she does her best to forget. A sleazy weasel of a dude (Kevin Bacon) dressed like Jack Nicholson from Chinatown tracks her down to blackmail and paint her as the killer in the so far unsolved murder mystery in the Texas Porn massacre case, if she doesn’t do as told. In the meantime, friends and colleagues within her porn circle starts to get killed in brutal ways by an obscure person in a giallo outfit.
X was the throwback of the 1970s, the standalone prequel and character study of Pearl was filled with 1930s Technicolor, and this one the neon-soaked 1980s. Three different eras with three distinct styles. And of all the 80s throwback films that have been spewed out during the last twenty years or so, I dare to say that Ti West has come closest to duplicating the style flawlessly. Whereas similar attempts come across more like parodies, MaXXXine feels more natural, organic and like a pure 80s film from start to finish. The way it’s shot, edited, the music and how the characters behave, the overall vibe and atmosphere, is perfection. Tarantino should be jealous. Maxine is also a character easy to vibe with and root for, many thanks to Mia Goth, who deserves all the praise she can get.
One would expect Mia Goth to outshine the whole cast, but surprisingly, there isn’t one character here that I found shallow. We have a frustrated good cop, bad cop duo that really do their best to get the link between Maxine and the killer. And Maxine is caught in the middle of the urban crossfire while she just wants to get on with her life, until she has no choice but to get her claws out. Kevin Bacon also seemed to have a really fun time here as the side-kick villain. And just like Maxine, if we’re going to ignore the porn, Kevin Bacon also got his start in a horror movie, that is Friday the 13th (1980). Lily Collins grinning from ear to ear while having her face smeared with fake blood was super cute. And it warms my ghoulish heart to see the Psycho house, which is a character by itself, still standing in the Universal Studios Lot and being taken care of.
The soundtrack is also filled with 80s music, all from ZZ Top to synth pop like Animotion. We also hear tunes from New Order, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Ratt, Judas Priest, and more. I must point out a lost opportunity to use the song Ballcrusher by W.A.S.P. here, though. And you know what scene I’m talking about. The film ends (—UH-OH SPOILER—) appropriately enough with Bette Davis Eyes, which the film also pays a tribute to.
Yeah, I’m really creaming all over MaXXXine, maybe because the film was much better than expected after the more lukewarm reception. We had an overall blast with this one in the movie theater and wasn’t bored for one second. The common complaints I’ve noticed is the third act/the reveal/the last ten minutes. The ending is predictable, for sure, and the reveal didn’t come as a shocker. No spoilers here, but I really loved how the film painted Christianity as an equally bad thing, for lack of a better word, as Satanism. What a big, fat middle-finger to flash straight in the face to moral activists.
Writer and director: Ti West Country & year: USA, 1985 2024 Actors: Mia Goth, Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Moses Sumney, Halsey, Chloe Farnworth, Charley Rowan McCain, Simon Prast, Lily Collins IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22048412/
Rain Carradine is an orphan who works with her adoptive brother Andy at the mining colony Jackson’s star. Andy is a reprogrammed synthetic human, whose only mission is to do what’s best for Rain. As can be expected, the mining colony is a shithole that treats its workers like slaves, and when Rain’s contract is unexpectedly extended, she’s had enough and wants out of the place in whatever way possible. Tyler, her ex-boyfriend and some of their fellow friends have found a derelict spacecraft nearby, and they decide to go on a salvage mission in order to retrieve the cryonic stasis chambers before others beat them to it. They all want to leave and travel to a planet called Yvaga, and together they fly a mining hauler to what they find is an abandoned research station called Romulus and Remus. Of course it proves to not be so abandoned after all, which is revealed when two of them are trying to retrieve some stasis chambers in a room filled with facehuggers. This inevitably leads to one of them getting an unwanted facial, which again leads to, well…you know what. All hell breaks lose and they must avoid both facehuggers and Xenomorphs while also having a time limit as the space station is getting closer to crashing with Jackson’s planetary rings.
Alien: Romulus is a sci-fi horror action film from 2024, co-written and directed by Fede Alvarez. It is the seventh installment in the Alien franchise, but it serves as a standalone “interquel” which is set in a timeline between the events of the first Alien film from 1979, and Aliens from 1986. It doesn’t take too many glances before you realize how it is definitely a love letter to the original movie from 1979, and Fede Alvarez even sought out the special effects crew from the 1986 movie to have them work on the creatures. Thus, the movie includes physical sets, practical creatures and miniatures which were used wherever possible. The animatronic effects were created in collaboration with Legacy Effects and Studio Gillis, where Legacy Effects is the successor to Stan Winston Studios, who worked on the 1986 film Aliens, and Studio Gillis is the successor to Amalgamated Dynamics, who worked on Alien 3 (1992) and Alien: Resurrection (1997). Aside from that, Fede Alvarez was also inspired by the video game Alien: Isolation from 2014, a game he played around the same time as his movie Don’t Breathe (2016) was released, and said: “I was playing, and realizing how terrifying Alien could be if you take it back to that tone“. So, yeah, there’s definitely a lot of love for the original movie and the franchise here. Is it nostalgic? Yeah, of course it fuckin’ is, and no, that’s not a bad thing.
The characters are much younger than in earlier Alien movies, none of them are fully fleshed out but it works well enough and makes them all moderately interesting. The interaction between Rain and her “brother”, Andy the artificial human, gives the movie a bit more heart without trying too desperately to pull on your heartstrings. The gore (although there isn’t any abundance of it) is decent, and the visuals and atmosphere are good. The use of practical effects though is very much the icing on the cake in this movie, and oh boy does some of those effects show the obvious rape analogies with phallic and yonic designs all over the place. A scene where a Xenomorph emerges from what I could best describe as an enormous slime-vagina on the wall, showing its phallic head in full display, very much leaves little to your imagination and if you’re one of those who never saw these obvious phallic designs in earlier Alien movies, then, well…here you have it. Now you cannot unsee it. Then again, if you’ve ever seen some of H. R. Giger’s other works (the guy who was responsible for the visual design of the creatures in the 1979 Alien film) you shouldn’t be too surprised over its obvious sexual undertones.
Overall, I thought Alien: Romulus was a blast when viewing it in the theater, and while it was nowhere near as bloody and gory as Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead (2013), it was fun and felt as one of the Alien movies as of late that gave much of the same feeling of claustrophobia and unsettling atmosphere as the first.
Oh, and if you want more Alien, check out the impressive animated fanmade horror short Alien: Monday which was also released this year after having been in production for 6 years!
Director: Fede Alvarez Writers: Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues Country & year: USA, UK, 2024 Actors: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu, Rosie Ede, Soma Simon, Bence Okeke, Viktor Orizu, Robert Bobroczkyi, Trevor Newlin IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18412256/
Cooper and his daughter Riley is going to Lady Raven’s concert, which is Riley’s reward for getting good grades. Cooper notices something strange about the place, though…there’s police everywhere, and when chatting up a guy selling merchandise he learns that the FBI is out to catch a serial killer known as “The Butcher“, because they have for some reason become aware that he will be at this concert. And this serial killer is none other than Cooper himself, of course. While trying to pretend everything is alright while his daughter is having the time of her life, Cooper manipulates and tricks his way into what he hopes will be an escape from the concert without getting caught.
