In the New York Post review of Darren Aronofsky’s new feature film Mother!, critic Sara Stewart calls the film “a Rorschach test of a movie to interpret however you like.” Not only is this statement accurate, but it is the fatal flaw that sinks this unwieldy monster of a film.
There is so much to unpack with Mother! that it becomes not a question of “what?” but a question of Continue reading Mother! (2017) Movie Review
The term beloved may be an understatement when it comes to Stephen King’s It. The iconic image of Pennywise is a staple of the horror genre, mostly due to Tim Curry’s performance of the character in the 1990 TV movie version of King’s tome of a novel.
Andy Muschietti, director of the tepid Mama, returns to the horror genre with the 2017 adaptation of It. The film replaces Curry with Swedish actor Bill Skarsgard, whose delightful campy performance rivals Curry’s adequately.
Without needless comparison—such a rabbit hole would siphon any light out of a critical interpretation—Muschietti’s It is a genre film that largely works through convention while trying to Continue reading It (2017) Movie Review
This review of Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.
Trouble Every Day, the cannibal love story from Claire Denis, has perhaps the quietest opening to a film about cannibals ever. Core (Beatrice Dalle) is picked up on the side of the road by a truck driver, her grateful face soon fading into a fearful desire as she looks at him. We then cut to a man, Leo (Alex Descas), coming across the body of the driver in a field. He sees Core, crouched in fetal position in the underbrush with blood smeared across her mouth, and approaches her. They embrace silently.
And this film belongs to the same movement as Irreversible and High Tension. Who knew?
Trouble Every Day is depicted as a story of Continue reading Trouble Every Day (2001) Movie Review
Mom and Dad is the new exploitation horror-thriller from Brian Taylor, one half of the Crank directorial duo Neveldine & Taylor. Disturbing, crude, and humorous, this gory flick is vying to become a new staple of midnight movie rotations.
Mom and Dad takes place in a world in which a strange virus (seemingly transmitted through electronic devices) causes parents to brutally Continue reading Mom and Dad (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017)
Eli Craig is no stranger to horror movie conventions. As director and co-writer, he skewered them in the cult hit Tucker and Dale vs Evil. The film took the Friday the 13th vein of slasher movies and turned it squarely on its head, to a riotous (if not one-note) comedic result.
With his sophomore feature film effort, Little Evil, Craig takes on the demon child subgenre, using the framework of The Omen to craft his horror comedy.
The short-form review of Little Evil is that it does not Continue reading Little Evil (2017) Movie Review
This review of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s Inside is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.
Inside begins, as its title suggests, in utero, with the image of a fetus that is about to be ruptured by an unseen car wreck. Four months later, the survivors Sarah (Alysson Paradis) and her unborn child are ready for the impending birth. It is Christmas Eve, and the newly widowed Sarah is despondent about the prospect of her first baby.
An understandable apathy, to be certain. The cruelty of having one of the Continue reading Inside (2007) Movie Review
“No one will ever save you,” begins the man (Regan Farquhar aka Busdriver) who hijacks a newscast at the beginning of Steve Ellison’s (aka Flying Lotus) cinematic debut Kuso. “Once you’re dead / you’re dead / There’s no coming back.”
Thus is a fitting prologue into the world of Kuso, the warped, hallucinogenic vision of its musical creator. No one can save you from Continue reading Kuso (2017) Movie Review
In Wish Upon, endlessly picked-on teenager Clare (Joey King) is gifted a music box with Ancient Chinese lettering on it that her dad (Ryan Phillipe) found in a dumpster. The box allows her seven wishes, at the cost of seven lives.
And it is not good. Continue reading Wish Upon (2017) Movie Review
In 1975, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws changed the way people viewed sharks. Seemingly, he changed that perception forever, as every so often a movie like 47 Meters Down comes out to remind us just how bloodthirsty these giant sea monsters can be.
Now, there is nothing wrong with Continue reading 47 Meters Down (2017) Movie Review
In the 1930s and the 1940s, Universal made a name for itself creating monster movies. Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman, among others, were hugely popular intellectual properties in Hollywood. They made household names of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. They were undoubtedly iconic films.
Now, Universal is rebooting the franchise. They first attempted this interconnected horror universe with Continue reading The Mummy (2017) Movie Review
CineFiles Movie Reviews 