AMERICAN CARNAGE (2022)

 

Directed By: Diego Hallivis

Written By: Diego Hallivis And Julio Hallivis 

Cinematography: Unax Mendia 

Editor: Alex Marquez 

Cast:  Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Jenna Ortega, Allen Moldonado, Eric Dane, Brett Cullen, Yumarie Morales, Jorge Diaz, Bella Ortiz, Catherine McCafferty 

After a governor issues an executive order to arrest the children of undocumented immigrants, the newly detained youth are offered an opportunity to have their charges dropped by volunteering to provide care to the elderly. Once inside the eldercare facility, the volunteers discover the governor and the facility’s supervisor have cooked up a horrifyingly depraved conspiracy that endangers the young and the old in this twisted thriller-comedy.

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Well this film certainly is never truly surprising as it seems to play by all the cliché rules that one is used to. 

There are a few qualities that I can give the film. The young cast is likable particularly the three leads played by Jenna Ortega (One wishes she had more to do with her role) Jorge Lendeborg Jr (who is always cast in these kinds of lower budget straight to streaming kind of films of this type but never quite gets the starring roles he deserves in bigger projects)  and Allen Moldonado here as the wise guybcomedic reoiefnthst he has been playing on so many television shows, So far it is his expertise. 

Also, the film at least is trying to say something being subversive with its political message and allegory that fits into not only the politics of the time, but unfortunately even current politics. Just putting it under a teen horror window.

The film is entertaining enough as you watch it, but it’s instantly unforgettable after you watch it. It’s a popcorn movie with a message even as it tries to be something bigger and better.

It’s a film that just constantly feels like it falls too short in many categories in violence, Exploitation characters,  scares.

It seems better suited for an introduction into horror movie with a bit of satire as it seems to play more for a teen audience, but it’s rating and some material might keep it out of their grasp. Even as it seems perfectly to fit with that audience.

It’s not terrible. It’s just basic that could be a lot tighter and faster but at least it seems to try.

As the film plays like a Hispanic exploitation film. Where all the bad guys are caucasian. I have no problem personally with that as would like to see more films like this. Though one wonders why thebdsrkest skinned character. Who is black and Spanish mixed is the only one of the heroes to murder someone on screen. Even though heroically. 

Most likely the audience will come here for Jenna Ortega even as she plays one of the smaller leading roles there’s nothing here that might indicate her future superstar status, but she does. What is required of the role perfect as a follow-up to her Disney show STUCK IN THE MIDDLE and the film THE BABYSITTER 2: KILLER QUEEN 

Put out by Blumhouse Productions. This might have worked better as an episode of their horror anthology series INTO THE DARK. In which episodes goniver 60 minutes into feature film length. 

Grade: C 

ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS (2021)

 

Directed By: Adam Robitel 

Written By: Will Honley, Maria Melnik, Daniel Tuch and Oren Uziel

Story By: Christine Lavaf and Fritz Boum

Based On Characters Created By: Bragi Schut 

Cinematography: Marc Spicer

Editor: Steve Mirkovich and Peter Pav

Cast: Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Indya Moore, Holland Roden, Thomas Cocquerel, Carlito Oliver, Lucy Newman-Williams, Deborah Ann Woll 

Six people unwillingly find themselves locked in another series of escape rooms, slowly uncovering what they have in common to survive. Joining forces with two of the original survivors, they soon discover they’ve all played the game before.

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This sequel just came along way too fast and you can tell as everything feels rushed on the plus side it gets to the point, but we considering we already know or most of us should know what’s to be expected. You don’t mind if we at least got to know more of the characters or the film offered something like a little more behind the scenes of how everything works.

Even as the film and it filmmaker, expect the audience already to know everything and like most equals just seems to get to the action, but then offers pretty much the same premise that the original film offered only this time the characters are more in the no, which is why one would guess that we don’t really get to know them

The film is not written by the first films writer. So it seems like they brought in a new writers trying to put a voice to someone else’s songs and while this is a common practice in Hollywood, it feels like maybe this new script is a little bit or chooses to be more pop when maybe it should’ve had a little more depth with the music and lyrics. 

though it could also be as there are four listed Screenwriter on this phone that everybody was overwriting each other, and then trying to make it simple, not to mention that the story for the film apparently needed two people to come up with it as that how how bonkers this film seems. 

Not to mention this a film that has a bigger budget, but still manages to look cheaper than the first film as truly here everything looks like it is happening on A set or on various sets throughout a studio lot

As we only really get to know the characters right before they perish, which seems to let the audience know what’s about to happen so the film doesn’t really offer any mystery. Which leaves it to be predictable and uninteresting for the most part.

Even towards the end of the film. It just seems to throw out familiar faces to keep the first films audience interested in how did that person get there?

The first escape room film was surprisingly fun and entertaining playing more like a guilty pleasure. This sequel feels like there was very little effort made. It feels more of a cash in that believes that it’s smarter than what it is, unfortunately wasting the cast, especially lead Taylor Russell, Holland Roden and Indya Moore. Talents and times

Grade: C-

RESIDENT EVIL (2026)

 

Directed By: Zach Cregger

Written By: Zach Cregger and Shay Hatten

Cinematography: Darius Wolski

Editor: Joe Murphy 

Cast: Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, Zach Cherry, Will Merrick, Sara Paxton, Zoe Bella, Andrea Miltnerova

A hapless courier is tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital. He soon finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.

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Let me start off by saying I never really played the video game of this so I don’t know the actual storyline or history. All I know is the previous films. Which were entertaining, but definitely products of their time. None of them were truly masterpieces or what one might qualify is good but they were passable.

This film is another beast as this film ties into the resident evil lore of the video game, but this could’ve totally been an original film and it would’ve worked just as well. It just now has a bit more of a built-in audience as it is connected to the game. Luckily any audience members can follow as it goes along 

Now let’s tackle the elephant in the room. Surprised at how much humor there is in the film throughout. There is a shocking a certain amount of laughs, but it is a horror film through and through with comedic elements thrown In. Rather then the other way around. It feels like the comedy is to acknowledge the ridiculous nature of what is happening at times. As well as way to have a release of tension every once in while. As there is still graphic violence and plenty of jump scares.

The protagonist isn’t the typical action hero nor the usual horror hero so him making bad decisions makes more sense and makes them feel more identifiable for the audience, as well as keeps the plot moving, and the action popping. The credit has to be given to Austin Abrams, as this is pretty much almost a one man show performance at least for most of the film it stays that was, very physical. Which will remind many of Bruce Campbell in THE EVIL DEAD films. As well as that type of mood. Definitely a star-making turn for him.

When other character characters appear in the film, it always feels a bit strange as we’re so used to only deal dealing with our main character. It’s nice to see Paul Walter Hauser in this film in a pivotal role that comes across more as comedic relief as well as Kali Reis as a kick ass security expert. 

The film is scary yet feels fun as we get deeper in the character faces more challenges as well as discovery, which does eventually feel like the film is leveling up as it goes along. 

One of the smarter aspects of the film is how they naturally create POV shots like from a video game that are thrown in time to time and made to look more makeshift as a survival method In dark places.

The fact that there’s very little dialogue keeps the film more tense.

Zach Cregger even though he doesn’t have to shows what he can do with ip that he didn’t originate and still make a film that is all his own. It’s sort of reminds one of what Frank Darabont was trying to do when he was still running the television show. THE WALKING DEAD. In wanting to obviously have the stories in the plot, but be able to take a moment for maybe a side story or give a chance for a side character to shine.

Though you have to say that for Zach Crager, this is 400 out of the successes for his films. Though he did co-direct and star in the comedy MISS MARCH. I will say that I enjoyed this more than I did his film WEAPONS. 

The unexpected third act that tells the tale of what would normally be a side character and allows for them to have depth plus allow allowing us to see what role they played in the overall story. 

Have to give it credit for where it goes. Especially when there are some Ty of places you don’t think it will venture to and it does and practically bathes in it. 

It’s easy to agree that this is the best out of all of the franchise obviously.

Grade: A

THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE DARK (1976)

 

Directed By: Leon Klimovsky 

Written By: Gabriel Burgos, Vincente Aranda and Joaquim Jorda

Cinematography: Miguel Fernandez Mila 

Editor: Soledad Lopez 

Cast: Nadiuska, Alberto De Mendoza, Teresa Gimpera, Emiliano Redondo, Julia Sali, Tomas Pico, Diana Polakov, Antonio Mayans, Leona Devin, Ricardo Palacios 

Wealthy elites gather at a remote castle for a decadent party when nuclear catastrophe strikes. They emerge to find the surrounding townspeople irrevocably blinded by the blast, helpless and panicked. As the survivors venture into this collapsed world, they discover a shadowy faction called “The People Who Own the Dark,” whose motives remain obscure and threatening. Paranoia escalates. The castle becomes both sanctuary and trap. Trust disintegrates as survival instincts collide with moral decay.

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At first, This looks like it’s going to be one kind of movie entirely. It opens with wealthy people gathered at an estate for what appears to be a very exclusive bacchanal, somewhere between EYES WIDE SHUT and SALO only with considerably less Stanley Kubrick or Pasolini and considerably more exploitation movie energy. And then, suddenly there is an apocalypse.

A bomb blast wipes out civilization, leaves the surrounding population blind, and turns this decadent little gathering into a survival story. Except the people coming after our privileged partygoers aren’t zombies or mutants. They’re ordinary human beings who have been blinded by the blast and understandably aren’t thrilled when one particularly trigger-happy member of the group starts murdering them.

From there, the movie becomes something of a low-budget DAWN OF THE DEAD with the survivors fighting off the furious townspeople while gradually discovering that their biggest threat may actually be each other.

Because nothing reveals someone’s personality quite like the possibility of dying.

The film is cynical about privilege, survival, desire and human nature, but surprisingly, it also becomes more emotionally involving than you might expect. What initially feels like a disposable exploitation picture slowly develops into a story about people you may actually care about including a rather touching and heartbreaking love story.

And yes, this is another post-apocalyptic movie where humanity apparently has to relearn the concept of basic decency. You don’t really know anyone until panic sets in, and once survival becomes the only objective, morality becomes a very negotiable concept.

The movie even manages to complicate its own characters. You might expect to cheer when these wealthy, decadent people get their comeuppance, but the longer you spend with them, the more you realize that some of them don’t necessarily deserve the fates coming their way.

It’s essentially a B-movie with ambitions of being something deeper. Sometimes it gets there. Sometimes you can practically see the seams. But it works surprisingly well, largely because it keeps moving and mercifully doesn’t overstay its welcome. It makes its points, occasionally quite bluntly, and gets out before it can completely wear out its welcome.

And then there is Nadiuska. The film is certainly not shy about making sure its female cast is easy on the eyes, but Nadiuska has a screen presence that makes you stop paying attention to the plot for a moment. She is absolutely gorgeous. A genuine screen siren and the movie gives her one of its more romantic and emotionally affecting storylines. That makes what happens to her character all the more heartbreaking.

She brings a warmth and vulnerability to the movie that helps make the ending hit harder than it probably has any right to. Among all the chaos, violence and rather obvious social commentary, her character gives the film something genuinely human to hold onto.

So, yes, the film initially promises you exploitation and then hands you something slightly different. Thankfully, it’s a pretty good trade.

I wouldn’t call this a great film, but it’s an entertaining, strange and surprisingly effective one. It has enough atmosphere, sex, violence, social commentary, survivalism and melodrama to satisfy the exploitation crowd, while occasionally reaching for something more thoughtful underneath it all.

Not exactly essential cinema, but certainly not disposable either.

Grade: B-

REFUGE OF FEAR (Aka CREATION OF THE DAMNED) (1974)

Directed By: Jose Ulloa 

Written By: Jose Ulloa and Miguel Sanz 

Cinematography: Antonio Millan 

Editor: Emilio Ortiz 

Cast: Craig Hill, Patty Shepard, Teresa Gimpera, Fernando Hilbeck, Pedro Maria Sanchez, Fernando Millet 

Five strangers bound by concrete and dread hole up beneath a scorched America, waiting for radiation to thin enough to breathe. Food vanishes. Medicine runs dry. Nerves fray into territory no bunker was designed to contain. The youngest among them, restless and half-feral with need, makes a decision that nobody else has the courage to face. Above, the world is poison. Below, so is everything they’ve become to each other. The shelter stops being a refuge almost immediately, turning instead into a slow-burning pressure cooker of want, boredom, and bodies too close together for too long.

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This is the kind of movie that seems like it should be pure exploitation. It opens with plenty of shots of New York, establishing where we supposedly are, only for the film to later send a character outside into what looks suspiciously like the suburbs. Add the fact that this is an Italian production with dubbed English dialogue that doesn’t always agree with the actors’ mouths, and the movie is already having a bit of an identity crisis. Everyone is apparently American, even when absolutely nothing about the production agrees.

But once you get past that, there’s actually a pretty interesting little film here.

This is a post-apocalyptic drama with some nudity, some sex, and just enough exploitation seasoning to remind you what aisle you’re standing in. For the most part, though, it plays like a chamber piece. Five people: two couples and one of their sons are trapped inside a futuristic apartment building, waiting for news about what’s happening outside.

And, naturally, they have nothing to do but turn on each other.

Each character is basically a different type, and after being stuck together for what seems like weeks or months, the personalities begin rubbing each other the wrong way. We enter the story somewhere in the middle of their isolation, watching these people slowly come apart while the outside world becomes almost secondary.

It’s predictable. You can usually see where things are going; the only question is when the movie is going to get there. Still, it manages to be compelling because the characters gradually reveal themselves, and there’s something effective about watching ordinary human behavior become more frightening than the apocalypse itself.

It’s almost like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD without the living dead. No zombies necessary when people are perfectly capable of becoming their own worst enemies.

The second half gets particularly cold, especially in the relationships. It sometimes feels as though death is the only thing capable of making these people realize they actually care about one another or at least about whoever has just become the latest victim.

The premise is interesting, the movie keeps moving, and despite its ridiculous touches, it’s never really boring. There’s something here worth watching, even if the film occasionally seems unsure whether it wants to be serious science fiction, exploitation, or an Italian movie pretending very hard to be an American one.

Patty Shepard is a stand out as at first she comes across as more of a minor ungrateful character whose wild end up, causing the initial dissension, but as the film goes along, she becomes more and more important as her character grows and seems maybe one of the few characters who hasn’t totally lost their mind. As at first, they play her more as a kind of flirtatious, easy character. as she is quite eye-catching throughout with her piercing eyes. Though she proves to be more than that throughout the film.

In the end, The filmfeels like one of those thought provoking science-fiction novels you discover in a used bookstore. The premise sounds better than the writing, there are some genuinely good ideas buried inside, and you wish the execution were just a little stronger.

It’s not great. It’ kind of cheesy. It’s not exactly sophisticated. But it’s certainly not forgettable. And sometimes, in a post-apocalyptic movie, keeping your attention is already a small victory.

Grade: C+