Archive for Mystery & Suspense

Burek Films, Ingenious, Solstice Studios,

Russell Crowe, Caren Pistorius, Gabriel Bateman, Jimmi Simpson, Austin P. McKenzie, Juliene Joyner, Stephen Louis Grush, Anne Leighton, Devyn A. Tyler, Sylvia Grace Crim, Vivian Fleming-Alvarez, Samantha Beaulieu, Lucy Faust, Scheryl W Brown. Michael Papajohn

Rachel (Caren Pisorius) is having a tough day. She’s raising two kids on her own, she’s divorced and having trouble keeping her head above water, her car is in bad shape, and she’s late again. So as she’s taking the kids to school, she’s late, and a man (Russell Crowe) stops in front of her at a light, and when it turns green, he’s off in his own little world and doesn’t move. Now if Rachel is having a bad day, this man is having a hundred times worse day, so when she lays on the horn and gives him the finger, he loses it. He tries to explain that she should have been a bit more polite and owes him an apology, but she is not in a good mood, so she takes off. At this point, the man loses it and begins stalking her down to teach her a lesson. To say he is Unhinged is the biggest understatement of the year.

This is my first film back after the theaters closed for Covid-19, and it was so nice to be back inside a theater again, that maybe I’m rating this film a bit higher than I would have if it was normal times, but I really, really enjoyed this film. Everyone is so on edge these days, and though a lot of of these angry violent rage movies as carried on by a big monster in a Mack truck who attacks without any cause or reason. But we get to know Russel Crowe’s motivation very well as we get a close view into his psyche playing the character just known as “Man”. Caren also is very likeable and really plays the role of the frazzled worn out single Mom who is simply fed up as well. This is World War III, and the cast really gives us a breathtaking ride though all levels of insanity. It is extremely well acted, and the suspense is over the top. This is an absolute edge of your seat thriller that really leaves to worn out in the end, but is so right out of the headlines today that we can almost understand the frustration everyone feels. This was the first film released after the theaters reopened and it was well worth the visit to the theater. I enjoyed it immensely, mostly due to Russell Crowe, but also due to the fabulous screen play. If you’ew looking for a great film to head back out to the theater again, this one was really worth it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Boies / Schiller Film Group, Wrigley Pictures,

Elizabeth Lail, Jordan Calloway, Talitha Eliana Bateman, Peter Facinelli, Dillon Lane, Tichina Arnold, Tom Segura, Lana McKissack, Anne Winters, Matt Letscher, P.J. Byrne, Valente Rodriguez, Louisa Abernathy, Charlie McDermott, Jonny Berryman

A Nurse, Quinn Harris (Elizabeth Lail}, downloads a popular new app that tells you exactly when you are going to die. The other nurses are having fun looking at the 70 years or so they have left, while Quinn’s shows she only has a few days. Thinking it’s just a harmless joke app, she suddenly starts seeing mysterious hidden figures following her, and she quickly learns that the clock is ticking and as she finds other folks with time running out, she realizes that she has to figure out how to beat this thing before the clock runs out.

This is a rather unique concept for a horror film, and it is mildly horrific and suspenseful, but it’s not all that overly scary, and isn’t all that original. Just the same, it is a decent horror film and it has it’s moments. Elizabeth Lail does a really good job in the lead role, and does a decent job carrying the film. The movie obviously owes a great debt of gratitude to the Final Destination series, as they truly stole a great deal of the format and ideas from that source! Final Destination was a ground-breaking film with the format of unusual deaths and the formula for breaking the chain and trying to beat the system, but quite a few original ideas have been added to make it more interesting in Countdown. All in all it was an enjoyable film, decently suspenseful, and fun to watch, but hardly worth your hard earned bucks on the big screen. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see this in the theaters, but if you have the chance to watch this sometime on video, give it a shot. It was an enjoyable time, and isn’t bad.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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1212 Entertainment, CBS Films, Double Dare You (DDY),

Zoe Margaret Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, Lorraine Toussaint, Austin Zajur, Natalie Ganzhorn, Austin Abrams, Kathleen Pollard

PLEASE NOTE: This link to Amazon is for a documentary about the book series “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” not the feature film that was just released. The series of books has been around for many years, but the movie is brand new and is not yet offered on Amazon”

The years is 1968 and Nixon is struggling with the Viet Nam War problem, but in this small Pennsylvania town, life is still pretty simple. The story revolves around a dead girl, child in a very rich and famous family who owned the factory that keeps the town alive, who has a deep dark secret. Four teens while exploring the deserted “haunted” mansion of the Bellows family discover a book, written by Sarah, which one of them takes home. Once the book is outside the house, all hell breaks loose and people are dying one after another in this suspenseful horror story.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark comes from an anthology of books, and follows the general format of things like Tales From the Crypt or Urban Legends, but the way it is put together is really very well done. This is an extremely scary film, using all kinds of methods to scare the daylights out of us. Yes, there are loud sounds that startle you, but there are also some really creepy stories with lots of scares that build from the intensity bit by bit. It’s just a well done story. Now, the down side of all this is that it really is designed for the teens, that’s for sure. They actors are young, and the story is about the angst of bullying and typical high school problems, so it’s really aimed for a young audience (hence the PG-13 rating). However, it was really well enough put together, that as a “senior” (citizen) I was also pulled into the horror elements of the story. It’s a dang good ghost story when you get right down to it. I did enjoy this movie, and though it is billed as a suspense thriller, which it is, it also is a darn good horror film as well and really satisfied the horror fan in me. I enjoyed this movie, and I recommend it if you’re a horror fan. I think it was well worth my patronage.

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Paramount Pictures, Raimi Productions,

Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfydd Clark, Ross Anderson, Jose Palma, George Somner, Anson Boon, Ami Metcalf, Tina Pribicevic, Srna Vasiljevic, Cso-Cso, Colin McFarlane, Annamaria Serda, Savannah Steyn

Haley (Kaya Scodelario) is a self driven swimmer trying to make a name for herself in the sport. Her sister has married and headed off to the Northwest. The family is broken since Mom and Dad split up, and they don’t speak often. But a Category 5 hurricane is heading straight towards the little Florida seaside town where Haley grew up, and the sisters have not been able to reach their father to verify if he was somewhere safe. Haley recklessly heads to his condo, only to find he is not there and his truck is gone So Haley heads out to their old home next to the shore where he must be, only to hit the storm head on. Once at the house, with the water rising very fast, Haley finds that the town is abandoned and the town is quickly going under the storm surge and is filled with angry and hungry alligators that would love to have Haley for lunch. There’s no way out.

This is a bit of and unlikely story for many reasons, but it is a passable horror film if you gloss over the details and just enjoy the ride. The suspense and the action are top notch, and the scares are many. Like Jaws did for sharks, this film will fill your nightmares with snapping alligators. In fact, neither sharks nor alligators enjoy hunting humans for prey, but they make very horrific bad guys in this film. It is very fast paced and filled with extreme tension and suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Often, in horror films like this, the story is rather far fetched, but if the action and suspense are intense as they are in this film, I don’t really mind. I enjoyed this movie and had a nice time watching it on the big screen, and I do recommend this movie to folks that love to be scared to death and really get into highly charged suspenseful material like this. Well done, and I liked it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Blumhouse Productions, Wyolah Films,

Missi Pyle, Luke Evans, Juliette Lewis, Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, McKaley Miller, Dominic Burgess, Diana Silvers, Corey Fogelmanis, Andrew Matthew Welch, Gianni Paolo, Victor Turpin, Skyler Joy, Kyanna Simone Simpson, Katira Banks

Sue Ann (Octavia Spenser) is a small town assistant to the town Veterinarian Dr Brooks (Allison Janney). But in a small town, people stick around and issues from decades ago still hang around. Erica (Juliette Lewis and her daughter have just moved back to town, and her daughter joins a bunch of local kids who make friends with Sue Ann who allows them to party in her basement in exchange for some friendship with the youngsters. But as things go from bad to worse, they begin to regret their decision to make friends with Sue Ann who askes that they call her Ma, as she may have some deep issues to resolve at their expense.

This is not the movie you see in the trailer, and I really hesitate to put Horror as a category for this film, as it’s not really in any way a horror film. Oh yeah, the some blood and gore, and a lot of real terror, but this is a psychological drama to the nth degree. By way of well placed flashbacks spaced throughout the movie, we find out the story of what happened to make things the way they are today, and we do get a chance to understand Sua Ann and why she does the things she does. The story was unfairly hit by the critics who didn’t get what the film is really trying to do, and a lot of people went to see this with unrealistic expectations and they may have been disappointed. But I do believe over time the value of this film will win out in the end. It is a very good psychological thriller and very well constructed. There may be a few missed opportunities to turn up the heat a lot more on some aspects of the story, but I think they way they chose to do this is really very realistic. No one is all black or all white, and there’s not way you could ever come out of this not feeling something for Sue Ann simply because of the gravitas Octavia Spencer naturally brings to any role she chooses to do. I think she did an absolutely outstanding job in this role, and she really deserves a lot of praise for her performance here. I bought it 100 per cent and am amazed at her talent. Kudos to the director and producer of this film, as I personally think it was very well done, and quite impressive and very touching. This, unlike a slice and dice run of the mill slasher film, will stick with me for a long time. I really found this film chilling.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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