The horror in THE BLACK PHONE, and very effective horror it is, comes not primarily from the serial child killer on the loose in a suburban enclave of Denver in 1978. Played with a geeky, creepy panache by Ethan Hawke, The Grabber, as he is dubbed by the police and the populace of this all-American… Read More »
SCREAM
In a film that is dedicated to self-reference and meta self-awareness, my favorite snippet of SCREAM is a throwaway reference to “that guy who directed KNIVES OUT”. That, of course, is Rian Johnson, who had previously worked on THE LAST JEDI, thereby drawing the wrath of a section of Star Wars fans of all persuasions,… Read More »
HALLOWEEN KILLS
We learn many things in HALLOWEEN KILLS, few of them surprises. One is that Jamie Lee Curtis is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to chewing up scenery with satisfying aplomb. Another is that the franchise is every bit as unkillable as its bogyman, Michael Myers, because it recognizes a formula that… Read More »
TITANE
What to make of TITANE. a sprawling study of female rage meeting toxic masculinity? Certainly filmmaker Julia Ducournau presents it in all visceral glory, eschewing the depiction of few bodily functions as she explores gender identity and the overwhelming need for affection in a world where making the wrong choice about either can be fatal.… Read More »
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE
Just as I was thinking what a waste Tom Hardy was in VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE, I remembered that Mr. Hardy, who was so impressive in INCEPTION, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, and a slew of other films, co-produced this sequel to VENOM, and also came up with the story. The… Read More »
MALIGNANT
What is it that we want from a horror film? To be scared, of course. A good suspense film can do that, though. Hitchcock’s camera zooming in on a potentially fatal glass of milk, or the look on a man’s face as he dangles precariously from a national monument. Horror, once we move beyond mere… Read More »
THE LITTLE THINGS
THE LITTLE THINGS, or to be precise, “the little things” is a well-thought-out film, and if putting a film together with the pre-fab precision of a Lego® sculpture were all it took to make a great flick, such it would be. Alas, the overweening self-conscious sense of profundity fails to convince even the most willing… Read More »
I BLAME SOCIETY
I’m not giving anything away to tell you the punch line in Gillian Wallace Horvat’s I BLAME SOCIETY. It’s a perfectly timed, and even more perfectly delivered explanation about the film her character made in the course of this vicious, and viciously funny satire: I’m sorry it didn’t meet your expectations, I didn’t make it… Read More »
THE ALIENIST
Meticulous in its detail, and lush in its recreation of 19th-century New York City, TNT’s 10-part adaptation of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist is on a par with Martin Scorsese’s similar cinematic visits to that period in THE AGE OF INNOCENCE and GANGS OF NEW YORK. While those films separated the mighty and the downtrodden, THE… Read More »
PREVENGE
Written and directed with a suitably biting edge by star Alice Lowe, PREVENGE is a droll and razor sharp black comedy of a horror film that considers the terrors of pregnancy and the maternal instinct gone askew. Very askew. Lowe, with a perfect deadpan sense of purpose, wields her kitchen knife as an instrument of… Read More »