Bad Movie Tuesday: The Boogeyman (1980), a pretty lame but pretty fun to watch B-movie about a campy evil spirit in a mirror.
MY CALL: This silly, campy, extra bad movie is a perfect Bad Movie Tuesday. The death scenes occasionally don’t seem like they’d be fatal, we never properly understand what the evil entity even is, and the “rules” of this horror movie seem to develop and change scene by scene like even the writer never had a proper grasp on it. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Boogeyman: For more Boogeyman movies, try The Boogeyman (2023) and The Boogeyman (2005). Then move on to Candyman (1992), Jeepers Creepers 1-2 (2001, 2003), Darkness Falls (2003), The Babadook (2014), The Bye Bye Man (2017), which I find to be yet more fun and/or better and/or intense movies with much better “horror” backing their Boogeymen.
Growing up with their abusive harlot mother, Lacey (Suzanna Love; Boogeyman II, The Devonsville Terror) and Willy (Nicholas Love; Jennifer 8, Twin Peaks) were two traumatized kids. Young Willy murdered his mother’s horrible boyfriend as his kid sister watched. Needless to say, if their mother’s abusive boyfriend becomes a ghost, he’s gonna’ be a problem for these two.
Now adults, Willy is a mute farmhand and Lacey has a husband and child. They receive word that their mother, who they haven’t seen in twenty years, is dying and wishes to see them one last time. This brings about graphic, mildly sexualized nightmares in Lacey. Meanwhile, Willy seems to be violently triggered by sexuality, and both siblings seem to be having irrational responses to mirrors.
Dr. Warren (John Carradine; Evils of the Night, The Nesting, The Howling, The Sentinel, Buried Alive) advises that Lacey face her fear and revisit her childhood home, the origin of her trauma. At her mother’s house, a mirror is accidentally broken and some form of evil is somehow freed to wreak lame havoc on this movie. Shortly after it shatters, a young woman in the house is forced (I guess by an unseen force?) to stab herself in the throat with scissors in a rather dull death scene. And then her kid brother is I guess killed when a window seemingly softly drops down on his neck. Finally a medicine cabinet door bitch-slaps the remaining sibling—killing her!?!?! Yup. Death by medicine cabinet bitch slap. That’s a thing in this movie.
So the rules apparently are as follows: 1) mirrors are bad and bring out the worst in us, and 2) the presence of broken mirrors turns truly deadly. I’m glad we cleared up this very well-written concept in this garbage movie.
In the name of all things stupid, a piece of mirror flings itself to the floor where Lacey’s son steps on it. Mind you, this is now a different mirror back at Lacey’s house. It then sticks to the boy’s shoe (SOMEHOW) and he transports it to the lake behind their property. Then, while the boy is sitting by the lake fishing, the sun reflects off this piece of mirror on his shoe to an abandoned cabin on the other side of the lake, where some twentysomething couples are hanging out. We hear heavy breathing and see POV of I guess the murderous spirit of the mirrors as a knife telekinetically stabs a guy through the back of the head and out his mouth, which then “kiss stabs” his girlfriend with the aid of more telekinesis slamming her in the butt with the car door (into the deadly kiss) in a very dumb, but admittedly laughable “so bad it’s good” death scene.
Okay, let’s review the new additional rules. So apparently 3) the mirrors and their broken fragments are intelligent and self-ambulatory to some degree AND mirrors are connected like a phone network with other mirrors; 4) the glare reflection of the mirror counts as the presence of an evil mirror regarding the mirror’s evil, murderous influence; and 5) the Boogeyman of the mirror has the power of telekinesis and is a mouth-breathing panter. I guess this better explains the scissors death scene from earlier. And now with this heavy breathing, it finally feels like there is a poltergeist-boogeyman, whereas before this just felt like a bunch of haphazard supernatural effects.
After our incorporeal boogeyman sexually assaults Lacey, they call their local priest. More dead bodies (that we never saw killed) turn up, the boogeyman cuts the phone lines and possesses Lacey, the lighting turns green because “why not, Argento does it, right?”, and levitations and in-door windstorms ensue. The priest attempts a weak-ass exorcism and gets stabbed in the back with truly a dozen kitchen knives. It’s all so horrible and campy, but amusingly watchable for its tremendous faults.
In the end, they somehow explode a mirror by dropping it in a well on their farm, and everything seems to be fine again. Or is it? Oh, snap! It’s not okay. Cue heavy breathing sounds! At least we now know for the sequel, yes there’s actually a sequel to this craptastic bad movie, that 6) priests don’t work against evil mirrors, and 7) farm wells detonate evil mirrors BUT then the mirror respawns like a FPS videogame avatar to start killing again. And knowing’s half the battle, G. I. Joe!
This movie is bad. The death scenes occasionally don’t seem like they’d even be fatal, we never properly understand what the crap this evil entity even is, and the “rules” of this horror movie seem to develop and change scene by scene like even the writer never had a proper grasp on it. Director and co-writer Ulli Lommel (Boogeyman II, Zombie Nation, Return of the Boogeyman, The Tomb) clearly knows exactly how to make an effective Bad Movie Tuesday. So you may just expect future coverage of his sequel here on Movies, Films and Flix.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Boogeyman (2023), an enjoyable PG-13 “family therapy horror” with a shadow demon.
MY CALL: This would be better advertised as a jumpy “monster in the closet” type of “monster movie.” It’s fun, creepy, well-acted, and exciting once the monster is in play. Definitely not the “terrifying” film that was advertised, though. I’d call this a satisfying one-and-done, Friday night popcorn flick.
MORE MOVIES LIKE The Boogeyman: Maybe something like Shadow People (2012) or Cobweb (2023) for mature dread, or more like Mama (2013) or Lights Out (2016) for similar energy.
For more (and more intense) horror films about grief and dysfunctional family, consider Frailty (2001), The Uninvited (2009), The Babadook (2014), Goodnight Mommy (2014, 2022), Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019), The Lodge (2019) and Relic (2020).
Our opening introduces us to young characters’ apprehensive of the dark recesses of their closets. Recently bereft of her mother, Sadie Harper (Sophie Thatcher; Yellowjackets) has a tough time returning to school. As a therapist, her father Will (Chris Messina; Devil, I.S.S.) helps others with their fear, grief and guilt on a daily basis. Yet his greatest challenge is connecting to help his daughters.
An unexpected walk-in appointment to Will’s in-home practice, Lester (David Dastmalchian; Late Night with the Devil, The Belko Experiment) has recently lost his three children to something that he cannot explain very well. It’s something of a ‘shadow monster’ that comes and takes your children “when you’re not paying attention.” Lester comes to a tragic end compounding the trauma of the Harper family. We learn Lester’s monster attaches itself to vulnerable families and claims them one by one.
This “monster in the closet” emerges from the shadows as a very tangible creature to fear. Resembling a gangly-limbed demon of sorts, it swiftly skitters under the bed, hiding in shadows, rattling and slamming doors, even crawling on the ceiling. Sadie’s kid sister Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair; Bird Box) is stalked by this entity, and it toys with her, knocking on doors and imitating voices.
Yeah, PG-13 horror is generally much less intense than its R counterparts. And yeah, that means I’m usually in no rush to see them. But exceptions rise above. Movies like The Ring (2002), Mama (2013), Lights Out (2016), and now The Boogeyman stand out as solid, jumpy, creepy, tense installments to PG-13 horror—even if Boogeyman ranks below the aforementioned titles. The creature is legitimately off-putting and manifests from the darkness, skittering about to avoid the light. It’s definitely an engaging viewing experience.
The monster is fast, feral, and gives wild chase, making the movie quite energized at times. It lacks the dire dread of The Ring (2002), but it has its brief moments capturing some of the exciting flavor of A Quiet Place (2018). This is more like A Quite Place-LITE. But still fun. I’d say director Rob Savage (Dashcam, Host) is now three for three in the horror genre, even if this may be his lesser work.
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The Watchers (2024) – Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – C – Directed Ishana Night Shyamalan, this adaptation of A.M. Shine’s 2022 novel never feels cohesive as there are multiple elements and twists that work against the flow of the supernatural thriller.
At first glance, The Watchers, a film about four people being trapped in a dense supernatural Irish forest, was the perfect property for Ishana Night Shyamalan to adapt into a feature length film. Ishana grew up watching her father trap people in places (Signs, Split, The Village, Lady in the Water, Old, Devil, Lady in the Water, Knock at the Cabin, The Visit, After Earth), so directing a film about four people becoming prisoners inside an isolated bunker surrounded by mysterious monsters is a smart idea. However, the film never really comes together because there’s no clear focus on a central theme. The movie looks good (1.85:1 aspect ratio gives the forest a nice height), and the performances from Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell (watch Barbarian – she is so good in it), Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouéré (Mandy, Sea Fever – watch them too) are solid, but The Watchers never feels like a cohesive or focused endeavor.
The Watchers focuses on an American named Mina (Dakota Fanning), who lives in Galway and is struggling with demons from her past that will play an important part during the climax of the movie. She works at a pet shop and is tasked with delivering a sassy bird to its new owner in Belfast. On her journey, Mina gets lost and finds herself deep inside a dense forest that is home to monsters who live under the ground and come out at night. She miraculously finds safety inside a well-fortified shelter that has a mysterious two-way mirror covering an entire side of it. Inside the bunker, she meets Ciara (Campbell), Madeline (Fouéré), and Daniel (Finnegan), who have been trapped in the bunker for at least five months. Together, they forage for food during the daylight hours, and spend their nights being watched by the creatures outside their shelter. In a cheeky bit of irony, the only entertainment they have in their safehaven is a DVD copy of a cheesy reality dating show that they watch each night. Since it’s a Shyamalan family film, I don’t want to spoil any more of the plot because there are inevitable twists and turns that occur in the woods.
The biggest problem with the film is that Shyamalan can’t keep the narrative flowing smoothly – which grinds the movie to a halt several times. Thrillers are deceptively hard to write and direct because they rely on building tension that cannot be interrupted with a bad edit or misplaced scene. Successful thrillers draw audiences in and immerse them. Less-successful thrillers kill the suspense when the story isn’t focused or there are too many competing themes or characters. It’s a bit frustrating because if certain elements were combined (or dropped for the sake of pacing) The Watchers could’ve been wrangled into a fun high-concept thriller that takes place in a single location. Instead, Shyamalan splits up the action and turns a simple idea into something a little too complicated. As a first-time feature director she’s shown a lot of promise, and there’s no doubt she’ll learn from this and come back stronger with a tight script and focus for her next project.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 563 – Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Niall discuss the 2023 historical drama Oppenheimer. Directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., and about 3,000 other excellent character actors, the Academy Award winning blockbuster is a technical marvel on every level. In this episode, they also talk about Christopherr Nolan’s filmography, Cillian Murphy’s hat, and excellent biopics. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Nick share their Criterion Closet selections and pick three movies they’d love to see added to the Criterion collection. In this episode, they also talk about Criterion’s long history, DVD commentaries, and Swedish erotic dramas. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Exhuma (2024) – Review
Quick Thoughts – B+ – Directed by K-occult master Jang Jae-hyun (The Priests, Svaha: The Sixth Finger), the wildly successful Exhuma is a solid example of slow burn storytelling that expertly blends South Korean history with gnarly action scenes involving people being ripped apart by ghosts.
While writing Exhuma during the pandemic, director and writer Jang Jae-hyun decided to write an entertaining film that turned away from safe options and focused on shamanism, feng shui and funerals. His idea to create a fun genre experience was successful as Exhuma is the highest grossing South Korean film of 2024 (so far) and has gained positive buzz all around the world. After pulling in $85 million, it joins the ranks of other successful South Korean horror films like Train to Busan, A Tale of Two Sisters, The Wailing and Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman. It’s been compared to The Wailing (listen to our pod episode about it!), but I’ve found the comparison to be lazy as Exhuma is a more mainstream experience that won’t punch your soul in the face and make you seek sunshine and fresh air to soothe your frazzled nerves. Exhuma has found success because it’s moderately scary, well-acted, and features a twisty plot that turns the screws on the likable characters and audience.
Exhuma Focuses on a feng-shui expert, an undertaker, and two young shaman exorcists who get in over their heads when they accept a job from a well-meaning businessman who wants to save his newborn son from a “Graves Call” curse that’s being perpetrated by an ancestor’s vengeful spirit. It’s an unusual job because it requires the digging up of a body located on the top of a sinister mountain near the North Korea border. At first, Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik), a feng shui master and geomancer wants nothing to do with the gravesite because it’s’ clearly home to something horrible. However, he’s talked into completing the job by his mortician friend Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin) and a pair of Shaman named Lee Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) and Yoon Bong-girl (Lee Do-hyun). After a successful ritual sees that coffin being lifted out of the grave without any horrible Raiders of the Lost Ark-esque catastrophes, a series of unfortunate events unfold and lead to more unfortunate events that force the group to solve the mystery before an ancient evil murders many people. I really don’t want to give away more of the plot because a big part of the fun is not knowing where everything is headed (and then researching South Korean history to fully understand what was happening). The most important thing is that the always incredible Choi Min-Sik (listen to our I Saw the Devil pod episode) is in the movie and he delivers a warm and likable performance that showcases his digging skills and ability to look believable while battling a giant ghost.
If you’re looking for an entertaining supernatural tale that blends jump scares, mysteries and South Korean history into a compelling story, I totally recommend that you check out Exhuma.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 561: The Social Network, David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Phil discuss the 2010 classic The Social Network. Directed by David Fincher, and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and lots of Aaron Sorkin dialogue, the movie focuses on the creation of Facebook and all the lawsuits that came with it. In this episode, they also talk about Fincher’s filmography, excellent dialogue, and fictionalized true stories.
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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MFF Data – Ryan Gosling and his Jackets
Ryan Gosling loves jackets. Between Drive, Blade Runner 2049, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Blue Valentine, Lars and the Real Girl, The Nice Guys, and Barbie – he’s worn some iconic jackets in wildly different movies – and looked great in all of them. Between Gosling wearing five different jackets/coats/dusters in The Fall Guy (The Miami Vice jacket is an all-timer Gosling jacket) and Shea Serrano’s book about Gosling (A Real Human Being – It’s wonderful and I was lucky enough to help out with some research) I was inspired to rewatch his movies, pull the timestamps of all his jacket wearing and figure out if there is an ideal amount of Gosling jacket time.
Quick Notes
- I pulled the timestamps by finding scenes where he wears a jacket. It would’ve taken forever to only count his screen time, so I pulled the time of the entire scene. For instance, in Blade Runner 2049 Gosling wears his jacket during the attack on Deckard’s home scene. He isn’t always on screen, but he’s in the scene (if that makes sense).
- I included the hoodie from The United States of Leland because it’s like an extension of his character
- In Stay, he wears a suit coat type jacket to stay warm. I counted this as a jacket/coat.
- I’m very happy I scanned the montage scenes in Remember the Titans.
- Suit coat time wasn’t counted. I also didn’t count Gosling’s gym hoodie in The Big Short.
Gosling Jacket Stats
- Percentage of time Gosling wears a jacket in his 26 movies – 16.6%
Gosling’s most jacket heavy roles
- Blade Runner 2049 – 60%
- Drive – 53%
- The Gray Man – 45%
- The Believer – 44%
- The Slaughter Rule – 43%
Quick Note – The Fall Guy falls in this category. I just don’t have exact times.
Five Gosling Movies With the Least Amount of jacket wearing
- Song to Song – 1%
- First Man – 1%
- Remember the Titans – .05% – He wears a jacket in the hospital and during a montage scene
- Only God Forgives – 0%
- The Big Short – 0%
Gosling has been nominated for three acting Oscars
- Barbie, Half Nelson, La La Land – Average amount of jacket wearing time – 7%
Gosling has been in three films nominated for Best Picture
- La La Land, Barbie, The Big Short – Average amount of jacket wearing time – 4.6%
Average stats for his films with jacket wearing time of 50% or more
- Tomatometer – 91% – Highest average
- IMDb – 7.9 – Highest average
- Letterboxd – 4 – Highest average
- Worldwide Box Office – $169.5 million average
- Two Movies – Drive – Blade Runner 2049
With the inclusion of The Fall Guy, the numbers drop to 87.6% (RT), 7.7 (IMDb), and 3.86. They are still legit numbers.
40 – 49%
- Tomatometer – 67%
- IMDb – 6.5
- Letterboxd – 3
- Worldwide Box Office – NA – The Gray Man (Netflix) and Believer/The Slaughter Rule didn’t have wide releases
- Three Movies – The Gray Man, The Believer, The Slaughter Rule
30 – 39%
- Tomatometer – 81%
- IMDb – 7.3
- Letterboxd – 3.8
- Worldwide Box Office – $11.2 million
- One Movie – Lars and the Real Girl
20% – 29%
- Tomatometer – 67%
- IMDb – 7
- Letterboxd – 3.5.
- Worldwide Box Office – $47.1 million
- Three Movies – The Nice Guys, Stay, The Ides of March
10% – 19%
- Tomatometer – 66%
- IMDb – 7
- Letterboxd – 3.52
- Worldwide Box Office – $342 million (Barbie helps a lot)
- Five Movies – Murder by Numbers, Barbie, The Notebook, Fracture, Blue Valentine
Average stats for his films with jacket wearing time of less than 10%
- Tomatometer – 64%
- IMDb – 7
- Letterboxd – 3.45
- Worldwide Box Office – $93 million
- 12 Movies – Half Nelson, The United States of Leland, The Place Beyond the Pines, All Good Things, La La Land, Gangster Squad, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Song to Song, First Man, Remember the Titans, Only God Forgives, The Big Short
Overall Stats For Gosling’s 26 films (for reference)
- Tomatometer – 68%
- IMDb -7
- Letterboxd – 3.4
- Box office – $138 million
Ideal Amount of Jacket Wearing for Gosling – There are three percentage ranges to pick from.
50% or more – Between Blade Runner 2049 (amazing jacket) and Drive (iconic jacket), both movies feature him wearing super cool jackets for long periods of time. To pull this off the jackets have to feel organic and become almost a character. The only caveat is that he needs to be mostly silent, mortally wounded (or stabbed real good), and alone at the end.
- Drive and Blade Runner 2049 have the best critic/user score average, and the jacket in Drive is an all-timer jacket.
- Drive is his second all-around highest rated film (93% Tomatometer – 7.8 IMDb – 3.9 Letterboxd)
- Blade Runner 2049 is his third highest rated film (88% – 8 – 4.1)
7% – 12% – Half Nelson (7%), Blue Valentine (10%), Fracture (10%), Barbie (12%) and The Notebook (12%) fall in this range. They are some heavy hitters that feature excellent coats and iconic Gosling performances.
- Barbie and Half Nelson make up two of his three Oscar nominations.
- The Notebook won him the coveted MTV Best Kiss Award
- His first Oscar nomination was for Half Nelson
- Golden Globe nominated for Blue Valentine
- Barbie is his highest grossing film
2% – His “Emma Stone” trilogy (Crazy, Stupid, Love – Gangster Squad – La La Land) all feature him wearing a jacket for 2% of the film’s running time. It’s a fun coincidence.
- La La Land won Best Picture for about three seconds
- La La Land is second highest grossing film
- La La Land is his best all-around rated film (91- Tomatometer – 8 IMDb – 4.1 Metacritic)
Overall winner
If its directed by an auteur the 50%+ range is cool. BUT, he’s able to showcase more range in Barbie, Half Nelson, The Notebook, and Blue Valentine. It’s because of this that I’ll go for the 7% to 12% range.
Top five jackets
- Drive – The scorpion jacket works on several levels
- Blade Runner 2049 – It’s functional and cool looking
- Lars and the Real Girl – I love a good puffer jacket.
- The Place Beyond the Pines – The red jacket is wonderful and it improves upon his red jacket work in Murder by Numbers.
- Barbie – It’s big, bold and important to the plot
I hope you enjoyed this incredibly random data post. Make sure to buy Shea Serrano’s new book!
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John’s Horror Corner: Quarantine (2008), the “found footage” remake of the Spanish horror film [REC] (2007).
MY CALL: This high-energy, found footage zombie movie is blessed with great characters, tactful direction, just enough gore, and some jumpy surprises. Exquisitely made, deeply cast, and definitely a higher tier found footage horror film. MORE MOVIES LIKE Quarantine: For more building-confined infestations, try Shivers (1975), Demons (1985), Demons 2 (1986), Infested (2023) or Evil Dead Rise (2023). Also one must go back to [REC 1-3] (2007, 2009, 2012), although I’d give a hard pass recommendation on [REC] 4: Apocalypse (2014).
During a tour of a local Los Angeles firehouse for a public interest piece, news reporter Angela (Jennifer Carpenter; Dexter, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) spends the evening with at the station in hopes of catching some action. On a routine emergency call, Angela joins the fire crew on a 911 call to an apartment building. Apparently, an elderly woman may be hurt, locked in her apartment. When they get in, Mrs. Espinosa is foaming at the mouth, has blood on her nightgown, and is hysterical—eerrrr, wild? One wrong twitch and she’s biting and tearing stretchy bloody chunks out of some poor city cop’s neck! But they can’t get the cop to emergency services… because for some reason, the doors to the apartment building are barricaded. Meanwhile, Mrs. Espinosa has become increasingly feral, harmed more people, and is appropriately draped in blood.
Our fire team takes stock of the buildings tenants and finds more individuals with Espinosa’s symptoms… more who are infected. Among the tenants is a veterinarian (Greg Germann; Child’s Play 2), who likens the combination of symptoms to, of all things, rabies. Their efforts to escape the building are blocked by SWAT and the CDC, who are actively barricading and quarantining the building. Subsequent attempts to escape from windows or balconies are met with assault rifles, riot gear, and interrupted phone service. Meanwhile, the local newsfeed is airing CDC reps declaring that the building has been evacuated.
As the dominos of tension and danger begin to topple down, the close-quarters filming style and shaking-running camera style does well to unease our nerves. Lots of panicked running in the dark, and sprinting scrambling zombie attacks. The direction and general filmmaking execution of this film are impressive.
The writing and characters are all great. This is definitely a higher tier “found footage” film. The firemen (incl. Jay Hernandez; Hostel I-II, Joy Ride, Ladder 49) are all very likable, the reporter and her rapport with the firehouse crew is congenial, and everything feels nice and natural. The apartment tenants include characters played by the capable Marin Hinkle (The Marvelous Ms. Maisel), Dania Ramirez (Heroes, Lycan), Rade Serbedzija (The Eye, Stigmata), Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story, True Blood, The Town that Dreaded Sundown, The Pyramid) and Elaine Kagan (Innocent Blood).
The gore isn’t much in the sense that this is not a “gorefest”, but it’s enough. This film relies more on its surprises and the characters’ behavior and reactions and panic. Like when someone (Johnathon Schaech; Laid to Rest, Flight 7500,Prom Night, Suitable Flesh) abruptly falls down several stories to the lobby floor, an infected tries to walk (partially zombified) on a broken protruding tibia, or a zombie is beaten with a still-recording camera.
Many of the typical zombie movie tropes run their course. Were you bitten? She lied about being bitten! That little girl just attacked her dad! He’s turning. But everything is done tactfully and without the standard zombie nomenclature. Everything develops nicely until the last 10-15 minutes, which are the most frantic and tense.
Director John Erick Dowdle (As Above So Below, Devil, The Poughkeepsie Tapes) is an expert in making his audiences uneasy. This movie is a horror delight! Excellent pacing, great characters, and solid execution of all things unnerving.
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In a Violent Nature (2024) – Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – A – In a Violent Nature is a thrilling horror experience that features several outstanding moments and will award viewers who appreciate the experiment.
Directed and written by Chris Nash, In A Violent Nature is being described as an “ambient horror” movie that uses long takes, natural sounds, and the wooded settings of the Algoma District near Ontario to create a truly unique slasher experience. Drawing inspiration from Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy” which is made up of Gerry (2002), Elephant (2003) and Last Days (2005), the film follows an occasionally masked killed named Johnny (Ry Barrett), who awakens from his slumber when a group of college kids steal a necklace from his burial site.
What separates In a Violent Nature from typical slasher movies is that the focus isn’t on one-note college kids (thank goodness) who do their absolute best to get sliced and diced. The focus rests squarely on the burly shoulders of Johnny, who strolls around the woods and occasionally traverses the bottom of a lake to get to his victims. Cinematographer Pierce Derks (Psycho Gorman, Mandy, The Void) must’ve logged miles following Barrett as they shot scenes involving the obliteration of a yoga enthusiast or a nighttime stroll that ends with a decapitated head being used to open a door.The best thing about the cinematography is that it never feels precious or forced. The shot selection is inspired and never afraid to linger on a soon-to-be doomed swimmer for several minutes as Johnny trudges (unseen) across the bottom of the lake to get to their position. In a lesser film the cinematography would’ve felt forced or precious, but the shot selection and 1.33:1 aspect ratio work because they make sense for the story and don’t feel like they were added because they looked cool. The night shoots must’ve pushed the camera’s gain settings to new heights as very little outside lighting sources are used, which is refreshing because it adds to the voyeuristic style that relies on naturalism.
I’m a big fan of Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy,” which features death (obviously), lots of walking, and methodical camerawork that lingers with the characters as they walk through a desert or high school hallway. I remember watching the Palme D’or winning Elephant at a cool arthouse movie theater in Tallahassee, and having the entire theater to myself as the chaos unfolded on the screen. The good news is that In a Violent Nature has its own personality and isn’t trying to recreate an experience. My biggest complaint is the handling of the college kid victims who were purposefully written as one-note characters. I get that keeping them one-dimensional left more room for Johnny, but there’s a campfire dialogue scene that is a chore to get through because the characters are wildly unlikable and their dialogue doesn’t help them much. It’s easy to understand why the victim’s personalities are an afterthought, but a little more care with their dialogue and performances would’ve helped. That being said, I completely understand why they aren’t fleshed out characters (so Johnny can have more time tearing their flesh apart).
In a Violent Nature is the type of film that should be embraced because it’s an independent production that embraces creativity and is reaping the rewards. It most certainly won’t be for everyone, but it will find an audience amongst cinephiles who love a big swing.
Final thoughts – Watch it. It’s a great time.
Movies, Films & Flix 