Deep Water (2022) Review: An Enjoyable Romantic Thriller That Features Fun Performances From Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas
Quick thoughts – Grade – B – Deep Water is a welcomely lurid thriller that harkens back to the days of Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal. The chemistry between Affleck and de Armas is excellent and it’s fun watching Affleck unleash a rarely seen threatening side that utilizes his size and laid-back demeanor well.
It’s been a while since the world was treated to a thriller involving a good looking and super wealthy married couple who have some wildly deep marital troubles. The couple Vic (Ben Affleck) and Melinda (Ana de Armas) live in an idyllic home, have a precocious six-year old daughter named Trixie, and are beyond wealthy as Affleck invented the guidance chip that guides drones used in military combat. On the surface, they seem like an ideal couple as Vic makes Melinda fruit juice in the morning and she packs their daughters carefully curated lunch. But, if you spend five minutes with them the facade crashes as they enjoy taunting, insulting and driving each other crazy (which they oddly seem to love).
Their biggest issue is that they have an open marriage that is mainly exploited by Melinda. She dates other men on the side and has no problem doing it in public. She even sends Vic upstairs to read their daughter an extra long bedtime book so she can party downstairs with one of her “friends.” Instead of speaking up, Vic internalizes just about everything (which Affleck is great at) and he goes outside to his terrarium where he seems totally at ease and calm while looking at his snails.
The open marriage makes things awkward as Affleck is made to look like a cuckold, and he hears about it from his friends who are always telling him about her exploits. Another issue is that when he dances with other women, it makes Melinda jealous which leads to more arguments and angry sex (which they both enjoy). Things are made worse when Vic threatens Melinda’s new friend by suggesting he’s the one who killed her former boyfriend. The news travels around town fast and becomes an issue when the body is found.
What follows would be a shame to spoil, just know there are several layers and several early surprises. It’s no surprise why Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal) was brought in to direct, as he has a proven track record with romantic thrillers. With Deep Water he largely succeeds as he adds a classy vibe to the hokum and I’m certain several of the sex scenes will be talked about a lot on social media. However, the film lacks a certain dangerous element and thus rarely explodes off the screen. The cinematography by Eigil Bryld is occasionally solid as it knows what viewers want and does a fine job making Vic and Melinda’s large New Orleans house seem claustrophobic. My favorite shot might be when Affleck is watching de Armas and her friend from a dark hallway. The camera lingers on his large 6’4 frame as he watches them in a large mirror that hides him from sight. It’s during this moment that he comes across as a silent predator who may be more dangerous than his passive demeanor suggests.
Most importantly, the chemistry between Armas and Affleck is legit, and they do a great job driving each other crazy and playing mind games that haunt them later. It’s interesting to watch as they both underestimate each other multiple times as Vic doesn’t respect Melinda’s intelligence, and she takes too much pleasure in watching him squirm. Also, both are flawed as she orders from the kids menu to save room for alcohol and he willingly accepts the cheating and broods silently. There’s more I’m not saying, but I do think the cheese pieces are laid out well by Zach Helm and Sam Levinson who adapted the 1957 novel Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith (who also wrote the excellent thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley) into a fun screenplay.
Final thoughts – Deep Water delivers the goods, but it isn’t dangerous enough to be memorable.
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Bad Movie Tuesday: Slumber Party Massacre II (1987), a raunchy sequel to the raunchy original, only much gorier and much dumber.
MY CALL: A bit dumber in premise, but much better produced than the original. If you want a goofy killer concept with a demonic guitar offering better death scenes than 1982’s original, you’ll get it. Just keep your expectations low. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Slumber Party Massacre: Other than the original The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), I’d say fans of this movie might turn to other 80s rock’n roll horror like Black Roses (1988), Trick or Treat (1986), Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare (1987), Hard Rock Zombies (1985) and Rocktober Blood (1984).
Right out of the gates this feels better made than its predecessor. Perhaps, just a function of budget. But it’s a welcome feeling. In the spirit of The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), this sequel was also written and directed by a woman: Deborah Brock (Rock ‘n Roll High School Forever). But like the 1982 original, the non-male influence is not so obvious unless you’re looking for it—e.g., note how idiotic the male characters are.
The younger sister of Valerie from The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), Courtney Bates (Crystal Bernard; Wings, Happy Days, It’s a Living) suffers ongoing nightmares after surviving the murderous ordeal in 1982. When her all-girl band mates decide to spend the weekend in a family condo with no adult supervision, it’s nothing but drinking, boys and partying for Courtney, Sheila (Juliette Cummins; Psycho III, Deadly Dreams, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning), Sally (Heidi Kozak Haddad; Friday the 13th Part VII) and Amy (Kimberly McArthur; Malibu Express).
Clearly parasitizing the success of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise (with NOES III released in February 1987, well before SPM II in October), this sequel makes routine plays at nightmares, teens being recognized as “tired” by their parents, and mentally unwell institutionalized teens. More precisely learned from the NOES movies, Courtney explains her troubling nightmares of her rock ‘n roller driller killer… how her dreams feel too real. And when people start dying, she talks about her dreams like everyone should have believed her from the start.
The dream sequences are beyond ridiculous. Courtney envisions horrors, blood appears here and there, and the rockabilly phantom of her nightmares scores a lame solo with a demonic guitar that is in no way phallic. Why a rockabilly killer with greaser hair, snazzy leathers and a drill affixed to this murderous guitar? No particular reason. Maybe this movie was just embracing its cheesy nature.
Something this sequel has that part 1 lacks is actual special effects. The huge mutant zit scene is disgusting and hilariously satisfying for gorehounds. But as the movie progresses, like most movies of its type, we find the special effects biased to the final 30 minutes. Only here, unlike part 1, there’s actual on-screen gore and kills.
As conceptually stupid as this phantasmal rocker driller killer is… I guess I’m enjoying his antics. I don’t even understand the criticism these movies endure. I mean, as soon as a pillow fight starts in my house, I don’t know about you, but I take off my top. Pillow fights are either topless, or they are wrong!
We see more and better gore in one drill-through-the-chest death scene than everything gore-wise in part 1 combined. And like a NOES sequel, the driller killer has somehow transitioned through Courtney’s dreams into the real world to do some real killing.
The last 30 min feels like a totally different movie. Interesting, and a rather unwarranted change from its source material, I’d give this a soft recommendation to fans of 80s movies and slashers.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 416: Malignant, Chair Throws, and Gabriel
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Mark and Chris Kelly (of the Classic American Movies podcast) discuss the 2021 horror movie classic Malignant. Directed by James Wan, and starring Annabelle Wallis, George Young, Maddie Hasson and a guy named Gabriel, the movie is absolutely beautiful and needs to be watched. In this episode, they talk about chair throws, 4K televisions, and the filmography of James Wan. 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!
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MY CALL: Ah, the female-crafted genre parody that never was. This film actually has an interesting history behind it. Such a shame the movie itself never got to reflect that. Weak off-screen kills, lots of nudity—it’s one of those. MORE MOVIES LIKE Slumber Party Massacre: For more movies by filmmaking women in horror, consider Jennifer’s Body (2009), which was also written and directed by women… and with much more freedom and success!
So I told my girlfriend that I intended to watch and review Slumber Party Massacre this afternoon to which she responds: Slumber Party Massacre…? That sounds kind of… porny. Now she had never heard of this movie nor has she seen the very classy movie poster. The title was enough for her to instantly not take this movie seriously and assume it to be a way for teenagers to see boobs in the early 80s. So just how right was she? Well, she wasn’t wrong. Not two minutes into the movie and high schooler Trish (Michelle Michaels; Demon Rage, New Year’s Evil) is undressing to flash her delicates just before throwing away her old favorite stuffed animals and Barbie dolls along with her childhood innocence. So yeah, there’s that… and a lot of shower scene eye candy, out of place changing scenes, make-out scenes… all that.
The radio is blaring on about an escaped killer as Trish’s parents leave for the weekend. Trish is planning a slumber party with Valerie (Robin Stille; The Being, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama), Linda (Brinke Stevens; Xenophobia) and Diane (Gina Smika Hunter; The Sword and the Sorcerer). But before school is out for the day the killer is already making short work of some of the girls.
Our slasher has zero personality, story or mystique whatsoever. He’s just some regular-looking dude who wanders around in broad daylight in a jean jacket toting his not-at-all-phallic extra long power drill. He penetrates his female victims with his drill in haphazard, poorly shot attack and death scenes. We see way too much of our killer doing incredibly mundane things. It’s pretty boring.
Clearly not thinking much of typical horny, scantily-clad woman-slaying slasher tropes, female director Amy Holden Jones would move on to a moderately successful writing career (Indecent Proposal, Mystic Pizza, The Relic) after this lackluster parody-told-seriously movie was behind her. Originally it was intended and submitted as a parody. But I guess producers just weren’t ready for filmmaking women in horror with something to say. As a result, instead of a smart parody, we get a mediocre slasher. Moreover, this movie suffered big time in the budget department, as we see basically nothing happen on screen in terms of drill kills. So the death scenes suck. We should have gotten an early slasher parody. Instead we got a cheap breasty cash-grab with an impotent driller killer.
Despite practically nothing occurring on screen, some decent efforts are made to show after-the-fact drill wounds—the pizza delivery guy with the drilled eye sockets being my favorite. It doesn’t make up for the major shortcomings of this movie, but it makes moments more enjoyable. Only the final confrontation shows any gore worth seeing, and it’s too little too late to feel redeeming. So really, the only reason to recommend this movie is for the sake of its place in history (albeit not a shining moment) for filmmaking women in horror, and how a shallow greedy producer can spoil an otherwise great idea.
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Quick Thoughts – Grade – D – While Texas Chainsaw Massacre is more welcome than another TCM remake or reboot, it’s lack of identity and a laughable plot keep it from being anything other than a bloody slasher film. It will most certainly appeal to people looking for blood and guts, but it’s easily one of the worst entries of the TCM franchise. Sure, it looks good and the performances are fine, but the lack of personality, a villainous family dynamic, or any endearing quirks make it a missed opportunity.
The thing that unfairly plagues the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise is that no variation can ever match the low-budget and almost feral atmosphere created by Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic. I realize that it’s not fair to compare a 2022 studio film to Tobe Hooper’s grindhouse classic, and I understand that many sequels, reboots, prequels and remakes don’t have the element of surprise like their trendsetting originals. However, this latest addition to the TCM franchise totally misunderstands what made the original, and to a certain extent, the 2003 remake successful. By keeping things simple, and dragging unwitting kids into a place worse than hell, the films succeed as pieces of exhausting horror that make you seek out warm sunshine or YouTube cat videos that take your mind off the brutality.
Before I Saw the Devil or Thirst were dragging me to dark places, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre might be the movie that has scarred me the most, and the dinner scene involving the horribly homicidal family has forever been burnt into my memory (also the stick moment, holy moly). Made on a $140,000 budget, the 1974 masterpiece also kept things basic as it focused on a group of kids being harassed and murdered by a chainsaw weilding maniac named Leatherface, who enjoys wearing human skin masks and hanging people on meathooks. The movie feels like a deranged masterpiece that put the cast and crew through lots of pain (and hot days), and holds up because it’s so dangerous and practically made. The reason I bring up the original is because the 2022 version makes the curious decision to bring back Sally (this time played by Olwen Fouéré), the survivor of the first film whom we last saw letting loose an all-timer scream as a truck drove her away from Leatherface.
Joining Sally are a crew of new characters who are moving to Harlow, a remote Texas town to start a utopia for wealthy influencers who don’t mind dropping thousands of dollars to renovate a dilapidated and almost abandoned town. While the script and several characters refer to the influencers gentrifying Harlow, the term doesn’t really work as these influencers aren’t taking over a poor urban-esque area and displacing a good chunk of residents. They are buying an almost extinct town in the middle of nowhere, and turning it into a “cult” like experience where influencers can isolate themselves, and pay more for deliveries as the town is so remote. While touring the town, Melody (Sarah Yorkin) and Dante (Jacob Latimore), two of the initial investors visit a dumpy orphanage that is still home to Virginia, an elderly woman who claims she still owns the property. After a wildly inappropriate argument, the woman dies of a heart attack and it turns out that she’s been harboring Leatherface (Mark Burnham) for close to 50 years. After killing several cops, and Dante’s girlfriend Ruth (Nell Hudson), Leatherface cuts off Virginia’s face, puts it on his face, and starts killing many people with a chainsaw that must’ve been crafted by magical elves, as it cuts through everything and never jams.
Leatherface’s rampage soon catches the attention of Sally, who after surviving the initial attack in the 1970s has been waiting to get her revenge on the skinmask-wearing maniac. To spoil the rest would wreck some of the fun, but just expect bus massacres, beheadings, foot chases and more beheadings. Nothing about the movie is exciting, original or tense, but if you are looking for blood and guts it’s not the worst option.
Final thoughts – It’s not fair to compare this movie to the original TCM, but, it’s a bit disappointing that it took an iconic character and removed anything that makes him scary. Don’t expect much.
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MY CALL: If you enjoyed the 2003 TCM reboot, then this should somewhat to your preference. Actually, with my expectations adjusted to simply expect a solid intense slasher movie instead of a TCM movie, I really enjoyed this movie. You just need to check your TCM expectations at the door and forget about them. MORE MOVIES LIKE Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Well obviously you should have already seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and the ultra-zany sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), though I was not a fan of Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990) or Leatherface (2017). Then there was the excellent (IMO) franchise reboot The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), and perhaps even Texas Chainsaw 3-D (2013) just for completeness. From there I’d suggest seeing House of 1000 Corpses (2003).
Visiting and prospecting the town of the brutal massacre of 1973, city slickers Melody (Sarah Yarkin; Happy Death Day 2 U), Lila (Elsie Fisher; Castle Rock), Dante (Jacob Latimore, The Maze Runner) and Ruth (Nell Hudson; Outlander) set out with the dream of breathing life back into the ghost town of Harlow, Texas.
Their new creepy neighbor and former orphanage manager Mrs. Mc (Alice Krige; Silent Hill, Ghost Story) is unceremoniously ‘evicted’ from her home as soon as she meets them, and she has a plus-sized man-child of a tenant. There is no question about it: this is Leatherface (Mark Burnham) and the movie wants you to know it.
The violence opens early and timely with a truly intense arm-break that should make some all-time “Top 10” lists! Wow. Shocking, brutal, grotesque… everything I wanted in terms of raw violence. This sequel/rebootquel lacks the grimy, grainy, dusty, sun-scorched patina of its source material. But it does bring truly brutal intensity. Sure, Leatherface has been neutered of his intrigue when we see his all-too-human face and learn his overly simple story. But his menace remains in spades as he admires a victim’s peeled-off face in the sunlight and slips it neatly over his own.
There’s a lot of blood. And if you enjoyed the 2003 reboot, then this should be to your preference. I also find myself appreciating the uniquely disturbing skin mask. A great deal of care went into this Leatherface’s look, even if no such care went into his character’s overall presentation.
Like a generic brand Jamie Lee Curtis from Halloween (2018), Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré; Mandy, Sea Fever, The Northman) seems to have been waiting and ready for the news to cue her vengeance 49 years after the slaughter of her road-tripping friends. The over-presentation of Leatherface and cliché ‘vengeance Hardesty’ do disservice to the TCM legacy. But the script in question handed to director David Blue Garcia (Tejano)—for all its overly basic flaws—was executed verywell, transmuting TCM into a more typical kind of mean mainstream slasher film whereas the original was anything but. Leatherface’s mask may be disturbing, but he has been stripped of his psychopathic mystique.
There’s some truly inspired and utterly grotesque wound work here. And OMG a horrendous leg break!!! There’s a skull-splintering head-smushing that was just plain chunky-gory fun, and what I’d best describe as a dismemberment party bus fiesta. The writing may have been left behind in the wake of too many sequels, reboots and timelines, but shock and awe are riding shotgun.
Maybe predictable and oh-so-overplayed, but I enjoyed the ending. It’s tough to end horror movies in satisfying ways. Actually, with my expectations adjusted to simply expect a solid intense slasher movie instead of a TCM movie, I really enjoyed this movie overall… yes, quite a bit.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 415: NEON Movies, Titane, Spencer, Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Honeyland
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 Joe B. pick their favorite films released by NEON, and discuss why they love the company so much. They also talk about Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Revenge, Spencer, Honeyland, Wild Rose, Colossal, Titane, The Worst Person in the World and The Beach Bum. Enjoy!
Make sure to check out Ultimate Film Club on Instagram (@ultimatefilmclub) and YouTube. Also, send us a comment and let us know which NEON films you love the most.
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 was a big mixed bag for me. The child actor, atmosphere, corpse gore effects and some aspects of the monster were truly outstanding. However, the overall impact of the monster, its story and the lackluster ending left much to be desired. Watch it. The film deserves an audience for its strengths. MORE MOVIES LIKE Antlers: Well, for another wendigo movie I’ll recommend The Last Winter (2006). Truth be told, The Ritual (2017) is the “non-Wendigo” Wendigo movie you really want.
Director Scott Cooper (Hostiles, Black Mass) strolls into the horror genre for the first time with a practiced hand employing dire, ominous atmosphere. Unfortunately how he handles a legendary and terrifying monster leaves much to be desired. Still, he has his moments.
Dealing with deep personal trauma of her own, schoolteacher Julia (Keri Russell; Dark Skies) sets aside her problems to try to help her student Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas), an obviously troubled child from a very broken home. He is quiet, gaunt, joyless, and draws horrifying images at school. After something strange happened to his father, Lucas has had to tend to his father’s unusual needs.
I’m at a loss in my efforts to describe this film. We sort of know exactly what’s going on and where we’re going… without really understanding how we’re going to get there. The characters cope with loss, abuse, guilt, trauma and fear as we witness more people becoming woefully involved in a deadly situation including the local Sheriff (Jesse Plemons; Battleship), Julia’s brother who thinks she should mind her own business.
This monster movie really oscillates in ‘monster satisfaction’ for viewers. Normally, the monster is the best part of a creature feature, if not contrastingly poorly done and then the worst part. Our monster is cool in concept but weak in initial development… that is until a momentary hint of a transformation—although more sense of the transformation is made later. The monster attacks are graphic and visceral, but lack the “monster-ness” for which I had hoped. In many ways, The Ritual (2017), Pumpkinhead (1988) and The Color Out of Space (2019) thrived where this film failed to meet my monstrous hopes.
So what were this film’s strengths? The discovery of human remains in a couple scenes is awesomely grotesque! The revelation of the creature’s “face” was outstanding! And the performance by child actor Jeremy T. Thomas was astounding!
The final conflict with the monster, however, was meh. I found the finale, the ending and the closing twist to all be very unsatisfying. But this film was far from regrettable.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 414: Beautiful Girls, High School Reunions, and Neil Diamond
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 Erik Hofmeyer discuss the 1996 film Beautiful Girls. Directed by Ted Demme, and starring Natalie Portman, Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon and Mira Sorvino, the movie focuses on what happens when a jazz pianist comes home for his 10-year high school reunion. In this episode, they discuss 1996 cinema, Natalie Portman’s early roles, and why Scott Rosenberg wrote the movie. 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!
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John’s Horror Corner: Snatchers (2019), The Puppet Masters (1994) meets Inseminoid (1982) and Sex Education (2019-2021) in this pregnancy horror comedy.
MY CALL: Great characters and comedy writing, silly monsters and gore gags, weak horror action. Not surprising given this was Frankensteined together from a TV show. MORE MOVIES LIKE Snatchers: I’d recommend to unrelated shows—Sex Education (2019-2021) and Stan Against Evil (2016-2018).
Writers and directors Stephen Cedars and Benji Kleiman essentially cobbled together their first feature film from their television series of the same name. You could maybe tell that this was modified from TV material with a careful eye, but the editing transitions are seamless.
This movie makes light fun of teen gossip, mean girls, teen sex, and teen pregnancy. When there is a topic within reach for a cheeky or mildly gross joke, this movie takes it. I especially enjoyed the projectile vomit morning sickness, the ob/gyn bit leading up to the hilarious and gory birthing decapitation, and some of the most surprisingly endearing “butthole jokes” I’ve ever heard. Yes, I’m actively celebrating the butthole jokes. Take that as you will.
After a sex-obsessed teen loses her virginity and swiftly gives birth to a vicious alien arthropod, Sara’s (Mary Nepi) offspring takes control of a nurse and puppeteers her a la The Puppet Masters (1994).
Basking in its silliness, this is incredibly unserious. Despite the occasional brutal murder of someone at the hands of an alien, this is never more dire than the ever-silly Stan Against Evil (2016-2018). But also like Stan Against Evil, the budget is meager. The little alien monster is neat, but after seeing it for a few seconds, it’s no marvel of special effects. But we’re here more for the giggles. There’s a gross giant cocoon thing, an Aliens-like crusty encasement for human host, and a funny alien sex with tiny male.
Sara and her high school friends end up saving the day and I never really cared, sorry. I liked the first 30 minutes quite a lot (i.e., the character-building portion), but then this really slowed down hard for me. I was hoping for a teen-sex iteration of Grabbers (2012). What I got was a marginably better than regrettable way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Movies, Films & Flix 