Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday January 24, 2017
Demarest Films, Media Talent Group, Relativity Media,
Kate Beckinsale, Mel Raido, Lucas Till, Gerald McRaney, Michaela Conlin, Michael Landes
Dana (Kate Beckinsale) and her husband David (Mel Raido) move onto a new home way out in the country along with their young son. David hires a local boy as a handyman, but he’s creeping Dana out as he is constantly hitting on her, and it appears Dana has has some issues over the last few years. When she keeps hearing noises upstairs, she goes to investigate and finds a small door behind a bookcase that is locked and the key is missing. She becomes really obsessed with this room, and when she finds the key, she goes right into the room and find out that it has some hidden secrets, even the purpose for a hidden room that is not on the blueprints of the house.
This is a pretty decent ghost story, and I haven’t seen one like this in a while. Granted, it’s not an unusually unique story, as I’ve seen this same premise pretty much before, but it was handled very well. Kate Beckinsale is, of course, and excellent actress and this suited her very well. She was helped by the rest of the main characters and made it really believable. This movie was a bit of a surprise, and I am very glad I watched this one as it was quite scary and very suspenseful. There aren’t too many good haunted house stories these days, and this one surprised me with how well it played out. I can recommend this one to horror fans and though it’s an R rating mostly due to the horrific back story and a few scenes early on of a married couple, though it is not too over the top. Mostly it builds up with glimpses and pieces of the puzzle of why this room is there and what it was used for, and how it all came to be quite haunted. If you like a ghost story, then this is a pretty good one in my opinion.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Charlie Guidance Productions, Charlie Guidance, Faliro House Productions,
Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Ehle, Paulina GarcÃa, Alfred Molina, Theo Taplitz, Michael Barbieri
Jake Jardine (Theo Taplitz) is 13 years old when his grandfather dies suddenly. Jake and his parents Brian (Greg Kinnear) and Kathy (Jennifer Ehle) move into his grandfather’s apartment in the city, which was left to them plus Brian’s sister. There is a lady downstairs who runs a dress shop and rented the store from Jake’s Grandfather for many years. Her son is the same age as Jake, and the two boys hit it off and become very close friends. At the urging of Brian’s sister though, they decide the rent the lady is playing is way too low and they inform her that they are going to raise the rent. As all the adults erupt into a major battle the boys are caught in the crossfire and determine to resist their parents and try to remain friends.
This is a movie that feels a lot like a play. It develops that way, and a lot of the emphasis is on the long pieces of dialog between the characters. The movie revolves around the boys, who being young teens, can’t understand why their parents are having the problems. Both the boys parents have to make them realize why there is a conflict and why it such an important issue. The boys, of course, would like everyone to just get along. But the have to come to realize that being grown up brings a lot of responsibility and a lot of problems. The cast is pretty good here, and it is a decent character study. Basically it’s a coming of age film more than anything else. That being said, the story isn’t really very good at capturing your attention, and it does develop very slowly. There’s not much excitement here, and a lot of people will probably find this film boring. If you’re not into character development and such, you might find this hard to sit through. I would think it’s not for everyone.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
New Artists Alliance, Snowfort Pictures,
Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, Sara Paxton, David Koechner, Amanda Fuller, Laura Covelli
Two friends, Craig Daniels (Pat Healy), a broke husband who is about to be evicted from his home, and Vince (Ethan Embry) run to each other in a bar. Craig has just lost his job and is delaying going home to face his wife. The two are exchanging stories when the meet an enormously rich couple, Colin (David Koechner) and his girlfriend Violet (Sara Paxton) who is celebrating her birthday. Colin keeps making bets with Craig and Vince to do stupid things for large amounts of cash, and they get into trying to outdo each other. Later they go home with Violet and Colin where the dares get stranger and more violent and more and more degrading. How much abuse can a person tolerate before they break?
This is a very dark movie. I mean, this could really gross out the strongest dark drama fan! There are really bad things shown here as things escalate and escalate. But though it is very far off the mainstream in terms of dark and disgusting, still it was a very interesting character study. Why would anyone do this, and what is Violet’s role in the process. She is a voyeur for the most part, but does nothing to stop it or say that it’s over the top. Is she down with it, or is she disgusted too? We don’t know. There seem to be people like Colin around, but we have no idea where he got his money to burn or why it’s so worthless to him. And what would make him want to torture somebody. But no doubt this is a story of Craig who is the main focus of the story. He wants to stop, but what is it that keeps him going? Is it only the financial problems? Or is there more behind his actions? Many of the questions won’t be answered, but if you’re up for taking on the gross and gore of cut off appendages and the like, then it is a very interesting character study and an intense movie. Just keep in mind that dark doesn’t even touch how awful the actions in this film are to watch, so beware if you’re easily offended!
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Intrepid Pictures, Los Angeles Media Fund (LAMF),
Doug Jones, Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, Cressida Bonas, Carrie-Anne Moss, Faye Dunaway, Michael Trucco, Cleo King, Jenna Kanell, Erica Tremblay
Three college kids rent a house out in the woods at a great price to get out of the dorm. But when they find an old end table, they find scrawled in the bottom of the drawer, the words “Don’t Say It, Don’t Think It. Removing the paper in the bottom of the drawer, they find the words “The Bye Bye Man scratched into the wood. They find out that there is an evil entity who can only appear if people think or say his name, and he’s getting closer and closer. He doesn’t kill, but he causes his victims to see horrible visions and dreams which can make them appear insane or cause them to kill themselves. This new horror film is now in theaters.
This film is looking for a little love, so I’m going to give it some. As you must know by now, I am a horror fan, and I am terribly disappointed when a good concept goes bad. This film is getting scathing comments and empty theaters, but I have to admit I kind of enjoyed it. I have seen so many, many knock-off horror films, but this one is a little bit unique, although obviously it does borrow from films like Candyman and Nightmare on Elm Street. But the actors do a pretty decent job, and the film is fast moving and becomes creepy really quick. It has good sound editing, and the house is really scary in itself. No, this isn’t a fantastic movie, but it was solid and pretty scary, so I’m glad I gave it a chance. With a small role for Faye Dunaway, she added a lot to the film in her limited role. The rest of the cast is less well known, although somewhat recognizable from other roles. So it’s easy to throw hate at this movie, and I’ve seen a lot of warnings not to see it, but I am glad I went. It was a bit different and had enough jumps in it to keep me interested throughout. If you’re a horror fan, give this a try, and see if you don’t agree that it’s not really all that bad.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
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