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.
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John’s Horror Corner: Laid to Rest (2009), viciously gory with truly innovative death scenes.
MY CALL: This movie’s death scenes are outrageously awesome. If you’ve bypassed this movie thinking “yeah, it doesn’t look that great” and you like gory death scenes, you need a strong course-correction. Because that’s what this movie is: a last dying breath of innovative “death scene” fresh air. MORE MOVIES LIKE Laid to Rest: For another gory, mean, pleasant surprises from the 2000s slasher genre, consider The Hills Run Red (2009).
After waking up in a casket, a woman (Bobbi Sue Luther; Night of the Demons, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Happy Horror Days) has no memory of her identity or how she got there. About as quickly as the mortician comes to her aid (a brief appearance by Richard Lynch; Halloween, The Lords of Salem, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead, Puppet Master III, Alligator II) he has rebar plunged through his torso by a Chromeskull-masked slasher (Nick Principe; Xenophobia).
After escaping this murderer, Cindy (Lena Headey; The Purge, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Dredd) hesitantly takes her into her home only to have this Chromeskull killer impale his knife through her temple quicker than you can recognize her from Game of Thrones. It’s unapologetically abrupt… and I very much appreciate that.
The gore is… innovative. Chromeskull twists his knife back and forth in Cindy’s skull and we see her eyeball rotate accordingly. And when he yanks it out, the sticky drippy sound effects are a gross delight as fluid dumps out of her gaping headwound. For his next kill, he stabs (Johnathon Schaech; Flight 7500, Prom Night, Suitable Flesh) through both cheeks and then scythes off the entire from half of his skull. It’s awesomely gross! You see everything you could ever want in an effects scene like this.
Our amnesiac final girl keeps recruiting help from strangers, neighbors, gas station attendants and the like, and gets (nearly) all of them horribly butchered. It’s funny how I keep recognizing actors and they end up getting killed right away. This movie is murderously persistent and bloody relentless. The gore packs a memorable punch with the heavily lacerated, bloody flesh of the victims. Chromeskull slits one victim’s throat back and forth so roughly it’s like he was sawing off her head, he explodes a man’s (Sean Whalen; The People Under the Stairs, Hatchet 3, Halloween II, Idle Hands) face with an air can to the ear, and a gunshot detonates a head into raspberry jam. This gore looks sloppy and sounds juicy. I love it!
There is a lot in this movie that could benefit some explanations… like why does Chromeskull literally glue this chrome mask to his face? Why does he have a shoulder-mounted video camera to record his handy work? Why does he have a Chromeskull vanity license plate? Another thing that doesn’t get properly explored or explained is that there are lots of dismembered cadavers of naked women—although I think we’ve now discovered Chromeskull’s hobby. Chromeskull also has a talent for removing bullets (from inside his own body) and suturing his wounds. He probably has a cool backstory. But this movie doesn’t get into it. And the fact that all these questions go unanswered is, well, just fine actually. Because this film is excellent at what it pursues—butchering human flesh in shocking and inspired ways.
The flesh-melting, face-peeling finale is a great gore gag complete with sucking sloppy sounds and a mangled deteriorated skull-face. As this occurs, our amnesiac final girl escapes with passerby (Thomas Dekker; A Nightmare on Elm Street, Village of the Damned) who picked the wrong gas station that day.
This movie was WAY cooler than I expected. For the sake of simply pleasing the gorehound in me, this was truly awesome. The gore was innovative. Not just that, but the acting and production quality were pretty solid even if the plot was very basic. This is among the better modern slashers I’ve seen! I wish director and writer Robert Hall (Fear Clinic, Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2) had done more movies.
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) – Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – A – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is big, bold and ambitious. It’s cool that a visionary like George Miller was able to get full creative control and a big budget that supported his style of punk rock filmmaking.
It’s been several days since I watched Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and it’s been tough trying to wrap my head around such an epic film. The $168 million budgeted prequel (which really isn’t all that much nowadays) takes place in five chapters and uses every second of the 148-minute running time to blast your senses with car chases, fight scenes and Chris Hemsworth using big words. It’s not nearly as propulsive as Mad Max: Fury Road, but it’s just as ambitious and loaded with excellent action design by Guy Norris. It took a while to get into the rhythm of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga because the chapter breaks clash with the muscular editing done by editors Eliot Knapman and Margaret Sixel (once again doing an incredible job for George Miller). However, it’s still a wildly ambitious and beautiful movie that features dedicated performances from Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, and Josh Helman (long live Scrotus!).
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga focuses on the evolution of Furiosa (Anya Taylor- Joy), as she goes from child slave to becoming the most respected driver in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. The first two chapters focus on Furiosa as she’s kidnapped from her idyllic home (The Green Place), and becomes the adopted daughter of a warlord named Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) after he kills her mom (Mary Jabassa) and separates her from her home. After the death of her mom, the healthy full-life Furiosa stops talking and spends years locked inside a metal cage that goes everywhere Dementus goes. Eventually, his horde comes across the citadel of Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), and a massive battle breaks out as Dementus makes a run at controlling the wasteland by taking over Gas Town and forcing an uneasy alliance with Immortan Joe. To finalize the alliance, Dr. Dementus trades Furiosa and the Organic Mechanic (Angus Sampson) to the citadel, and this kicks off the story of how Furiosa became a famous Imperator (driver of Immortan Joe’s War Rig).
At first, Furiosa is intended to be one of Joe’s wives, but after a horrifying ordeal with Immortan Joe’s son Rictus (Nathan Jones), she cuts off her hair, disguises herself as a boy, and becomes part of the mechanic group who built the first war rig. Her mentor is Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), a decent man who drives the war rig and isn’t a homicidal maniac like every other person in the wasteland. Together, they engage in some beautiful action scenes as they’re forced to deal with the many factions of Dr. Dementus’s horde who find creative ways to scavenge food and water.
It would be a shame to spoil anything else, just know the rest of the film features action scenes that will make your jaw drop. Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy are the standouts here and they expertly inhabit their characters. Hemsworth’s portrayal of Dementus is interesting because he’s clearly a villain (villain Hemsworth is always a good/bad time), but he’s also a broken human who is suffering after the loss of his family. He’s a three-dimensional villain who is dangerous because he is equal parts intelligent and chaotic. On the other side of the post-apocalyptic coin is Furiosa, a survivor who is intelligent, measured and patient. They are totally different, but because of their smarts and ability to survive they find themselves in a years-long battle.
You might need to watch Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga a couple times because there is just so much going on. George Miller throws everything at the screen and his unhindered vision deserves to be watched in the biggest theater possible. It’s a fantastic experience and I can’t wait to watch it again.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 560: DeepStar Six, Creature Features, and Blinking Lights
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 David Cross (@ItsMeDavidCross on X) discuss the 1989 creature feature DeepStar Six. Directed by Sean S. Cunningham, and starring Nancy Everhard, Greg Evigan, Miguel Ferrer, and lots of blinking lights, the movie focuses on what happens when a large monster attacks a tiny underwater base. In this episode, they also talk about knockoff creature features, decompression pains, and the perils of underwater drilling. 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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MY CALL: This “part III” features great characters, a wild diversity of special effects gags, and a well-earned creepy distrust for mirrors. I find it highly rewatchable, very fun, a bit jumpy and quite satisfying. MORE MOVIES LIKE Poltergeist III: For more “high-rise horror” or “trapped in a building with evil”, consider Shivers (1975), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Demons (1985), Demons 2 (1986), The Dark Tower (1989), Shakma (1990), Demon Knight (1995), Feast (2005), [REC] (2007), Quarantine (2008), Evil Dead Rise (2023) or Infested (2023). An unrelated recommendation, Lights Out (2016) is to light switches what Poltergeist III is to reflection games.
Relocating to escape her angry poltergeist past, Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke; Poltergeist I-II) is now in the care of her aunt Pat (Nancy Allen; Children of the Corn 666, RoboCop, Dressed to Kill, Strange Invaders, Carrie) and uncle Bruce (Tom Skerritt; Alien, The Devil’s Rain, Contact) in their high-rise condo in the city. They live in a mega-high-rise (not unlike Gremlins 2). Bruce’s corporate office is inside the building, and so is Pat’s art gallery, along with an entire multi-level shopping mall and grocery store. High-rise horror is interesting because for all the three-dimensional space available to the protagonists, exits and their very routes to egress are quite few.
It is no secret that supernatural horror thrives on distorted reflections (e.g., Oculus, Mirror Mirror, Mirrors), and this sequel informs its audience of the importance of reflections strongly from the start as cracks mirrored walls form, Carol Anne is haunted by visions of Cain in windows, and the occasional mirror image behaves disturbingly out of character. Mirror images that don’t match their caster are always a powerful tool to engage anxious viewers, and this movie makes fine sport of the practice. And like its predecessors, this sequel likewise does a fine job in making the entire family of characters matter, especially Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle; The Temp) and her love interest Scott (Kipley Wentz).
Cain’s spirit has somehow found Carol Anne. Unfortunately, this Cain looks like a discount generic brand of what we feared in Poltergeist II (1986). Cain’s presence remains effective, but less graceful tact is employed in using him as a tool to cultivate dread. Another change from parts I-II, and falling in line with the latter observation, is that the general supernatural antics fall more in line with movies like The Gate (1987) as various unrelated “FX gag” phenomena transpire. In Poltergeist (1982), these phenomena were like stepping-stones of subsequently increased significance, building to something greater. That “something greater” doesn’t seem to be present here. Instead, we still enjoy a well-paced, well-produced, and very effectively creepy sequel with a diversity of great and engaging effects. For all my criticism, this really is a highly rewatchable and solid 80s horror film. The scene where they “recover” Donna is unforgettably impactful and mildly traumatizing in execution.
A skeptical psychologist is at odds with the credibility of Carol Anne’s history and Tangina’s (Zelda Rubinstein; Poltergeist I-II) claims of “the ghost named Cain that found Carol Anne because of his therapy sessions.” The psychologist is cleverly snippy, enjoyably dislikable, earns his comeuppance, and wears a sweater with a pattern that smacks of the exterior architecture of the skyscraper. Nice touch. Again, the character writing in this sequel was on point.
Cain steals Carol Anne away back to “the other side” and uses his dark influence to misdirect Pat, Bruce and Tangina in their efforts to find her. Many who try to help fall victim to the necrotic powers of “the other side,” and may be lost forever. I’d add that this final Poltergeist sequel is the only film of the franchise to showcase an ending in which evil has won, even if subtly presented in the cast reflections of the final scene. So, no surprise, director Gary Sherman (Death Line, Dead & Buried) produced another wonderful contribution to the genre.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 559: Pandorum, Ben Foster and Space Nonsense
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).
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Mark and Zanandi (@ZaNandi on X) discuss the 2009 science fiction horror film Pandorum. Directed by Chrstian Alvart, and starring Ben Foster, Dennis Quaid, Antje Traue, and hundreds of ill-tempered mutants, the movie focuses on what happens when an interstellar arc becomes an interstellar house of horrors. In this episode, they also talk about space trash movies, monster fights, and fun twist endings. 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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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) – Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – B+ – Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is another excellent entry into the recent Planet of the Apes canon. Director Wes Ball has created a methodical and thrilling adventure film that features excellent performances from Owen Teague and Kevin Durand. Watch it on the biggest screen possible.
The most impressive thing about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is that it has earned its spot alongside the 2011-2017 trilogy that ended with the critically adored and financially lucrative War for the Planet of the Apes. It’s a tough act to follow, but director Wes Ball and his crew have created a world building adventure that features some of my favorite action set pieces in recent memory (there is an incredible water fight that made me very happy). The visual effects by WETA are once again jaw-dropping and the cinematography by Gyula Pados (Control, Predator, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) expertly captures the Australian wilderness that most of the movie was filmed in (The on location work is admirable). It’s the total package, and despite some claims about it being too long, I think audiences will appreciate the visual smorgasbord.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes focuses on the journeys of a young chimpanzee named Noa (Owen Teague – excellent), who is determined to save his friends and family from a clan of vicious apes who destroyed his village and wrangled his clan to be slaves for a megalomaniacal bonobo named Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). Proximus and his gorilla enforcer Sylva (Eka Darville), need extra ape-power as they are trying to open up a massive steel door to a bunker that holds tanks, missiles and weapons that a power hungry bonobo shouldn’t have. To get to Proximus Caesar, Noa is helped by a charming orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon – who gets all the best lines), and Nova (Freya Allen), a human who wants Proximus Caesar dead because his clan killed her family. Together, they battle Sylva and his cronies during several fun set pieces that feature horse chases, dangerous rivers, and lots of running (Wes Ball directed the Maze Runner trilogy so he’s good at filming running).
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes works because it puts a lot of focus on the characters and never seems to be in a hurry to move to the next action scene. The opening 20 minutes features gorgeous world building as we are introduced to Eagle-clan, a group of peaceful apes who train eagles and live amongst skyscrapers and towers that are still standing after the collapse of society. I’d pay to watch an entire film featuring Noa and his friends climbing amongst the skyscrapers and just hanging out in the community (it would be a super chill movie). The human element isn’t the strongest aspect of the movie as Freya Allen’s character is meant to be mysterious, but that makes her character feel less dimensional than all the apes around her. All the ape/human shenanigans build to something that could carry several sequels, but now that WETA’s technology can make a film 100% about apes, I’m not sure I want to watch pesky humans battling the evolved apes again – I just want to enjoy the beautiful world created by WETA, and Wes Ball. I know this type of film would make about four dollars at the box office so it won’t happen, but one can hope! Either way, I’m excited for more.
Final thoughts – Watch it on the biggest screen possible.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 558: Frailty, Bill Paxton, and Matthew McConaughey
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).
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Mark and John (@MFFHorrorCorner on X) discuss the 2001 cult classic Frailty. Directed by Bill Paxton, and starring Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe, and an axe named Otis, the movie is a beautiful thriller that is perfectly directed by Bill Paxton. In this episode, they also talk about Lawman McConaughey, earnest angels, and the excellence of Bill Paxton. 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 Jonny Numb discuss the 1997 independent film A Better Place. Produced by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier, and directed by Vincent Pereira, the movie focuses on the ill-fated friendship between two high school outcasts. In this episode they also talk about 1990’s independent cinema, View Askew productions, and literate maniacs. 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.
Movies, Films & Flix 