darrentodd-34759

Circus Noël (2019)

A cute movie for a family viewing

Oddly enough, I wasn't supposed to see this movie. I bought a totally different film at the Dollar Tree but it was mis-stamped and this was the movie on the disc.

However, it was enjoyable enough to watch with my significant other and fourteen-year-old son. The over-dubbing was quite good, as was the camera work, set, and - especially considering the number of child actors - the acting.

I was right on the verge of a 7 out of 10, but the story - while cute - is a little weak. I remember watching an odd horror film at a festival years ago, and the highlight was that the extras were vaudeville performers, and that was the highlight of the movie for me. For this, it would have been cool to see some actual circus performers and then just mask up the actors - that sort of thing.

Still, worth the watch for a family film or perhaps to support these sort of indie projects.

I.S.S. (2023)

Lower score for completely wasted potential

I watched this on a flight hoping it was good but knowing to have somewhat low expectations, since the United Airlines in-flight entertainment GUI includes IMDb scores (a great feature to weed out meh movies).

Even considering the low score, I was disappointed. I'll explain with a few non-spoiler highs and lows.

Lows:

• Bad lead. I didn't know or care much about her. She was a pretty wooden actress, but it was also a lame character. The least interesting one, in fact. She sapped the energy out of scenes that I'm assuming were supposed to be tense.

• Unclear incentives. I mean, I kinda got some of the more general goals, but the end game was completely muddied, even literally into the final scene. Thus, it made the character's individual incentives equally flat.

• Pretty pat devices. I could have easily labeled every buried gun and callback along the way. No problem at all. And some cropped up MANY times. They were mildly clever once, not at all the third time.

• The Russians were actually pretty interesting and well acted. I cared more about them than the Americans.

• The setting was pretty sweet. I felt like they were in space. I believed the set was real. Nice job there, just wasted on the result, alas.

Body Cam (2020)

Cool plot with middling storytelling

I found this at a Dollar Tree and was interested once I saw it incorporated the supernatural, perhaps loosely called urban fantasy.

In that regard, it doesn't disappoint. The effects, tension, imagery, and how and how much we see of the supernaturality is quite good.

The plot, too, I enjoyed. Really nice balance between the police force's own lives compared with how they are seen and operate when serving the public.

The acting wasn't bad. About what you'd expect: great from the veteran actors and meh for younger no-names, but it didn't pull me out of things at all.

The reason this wasn't a 7/10 for me was it had a few too many coincidences. Too many specific characters exactly where the plot needed them to be at that time. I've read before that you're allowed one giant coincidence per film; this one had a few. To the point where - if you think about it - the main character wasn't technically needed at all.

Despite that, it's worth a watch, as those moments of supernaturality are very well executed.

Satanic Panic (2019)

Fun but not much else

I picked this up at a Dollar Tree. I'm familiar with the production company, though not very well. From the previews of their other films (a couple of which I'd heard of) I figured this would be fun and irreverent.

Indeed, it's fun in general. The setup, the variety of characters, the likes of whom we've all met in real life, are now elevated to the absurd. However, this is what I'd call a gore comedy. It's not horror. Not even a little. Sure, Freddy Kreuger - especially later in his movies - could get pretty campy, but those movies always tried to remain horror. This one is very distinctly comedy first and horror a distant second. And even that smidge is more body horror, very visceral and not at all scary.

The writing (and much of the acting) is fine, though it gets overly clever several times. Sure, I'm not looking for realism after the first ten minutes, but it's still hard to watch a thirty-second long diatribe (clever as it may be) and not find it more absurd than actually funny. No one who's actually afraid is quite so... long winded. Thus, it borders on try-hard.

I like the coven of witches, though it would have been nice to see at least one male character who wasn't either skeevie or a bumbling idiot. It eventually just feels like punching down.

All in all, not something I'd watch again, but if I knew someone liked gory comedies, I'd say they could definitely do worse.

Nuclear (2019)

Good acting and atmosphere but not much else

Got this title at Dollar Tree and - despite not being sure of the genre - I thought I'd give it a chance. So, the cover seems to suggest horror, but it's not. That's all right, but I was expecting a bit more tension based on the cover and the description.

What it does have going for it, however, is atmosphere and solid acting. I like Emilia Jones from "Locke and Key," and George MacKay from "Captain Fantastic." The other cast was also good, so no complaints at all in the acting department.

The setting (northern England) was also cool. Great use of minimal space without it feeling like they were just recycling locations. How little things changed actually complemented the atmosphere, giving the impression that very little changes there.

The story, however, is lacking a bit for me. I'll try not to add spoilers, but the twists are not so much transparent as they are trite and - worse - don't really fit with the POV. That is: there's really no point in having a scene over the shoulder of someone who isn't actually there. It becomes disingenuous and seems only there to maintain the situational irony (where the viewer isn't supposed to have put things together yet). This also greatly lowers the stakes, which are supposed to go up, not down (generally speaking).

Thus, I don't know I'd ever watch it again, but I definitely don't feel I wasted my time on it, either. If someone likes the chiller, more atmospheric sort of film, this will likely work for you. If you're looking for much else, I'd probably pass.

Everfall (2017)

Enough positives to stay afloat

I found this at a Dollar Tree and was pulled in by the cover, which is pretty cool, though the back shows one person with a knife and another with a rifle for some reason (note: there are no knives or rifles in the film, lol).

So, the setup is good, building tension with Daniel's extreme video series. It grows a little muddy after protagonist Eva falls during a skating tryout, and then it reveals she's injured. Turns out this injury is from another, earlier time.

This telegraphs some issues with the story throughout - namely that a bit too much is left to mystery, hoping to fill viewers in later. Normally, this is fine, but occasionally here it ends up just confusing. For example: who's the little girl that pops up every now and then? Still not sure. Is the skater who died there the same as the current event organizer and the shapeshifter witch lady? I think so.

On the upside, the dialog is well done for a lower-budget project. I seldom felt like people were speaking out of character or ruining immersion (save for the firefighter telling his guys to stay and then yelling at them to leave to comical effect).

The CGI was quite good for this level, as well. In fact, I'd have leaned even more on it. That is, some of the effects that were based on set design would have been better suited as CGI. For example, I didn't really buy that the rink looked burned down from the odd charcoal coloring on the walls, but perhaps CGI could have more accurately conveyed this impression.

Another positive is that it never tried to be anything other than a horror film. Each element of the story was clearly there to up the tension and build the horror. It didn't always work, but at least it didn't feel meandering in that regard.

As with many lower-budget horror films, a tighter edit in post, where the editor was willing to scrap visual cues that just weren't working, would have bumped it another star.

Dead Heading (2018)

Not bad for lower budget

I bought this on disk from a Dollar Tree having never heard of it, just taking a chance on some lower budget horror.

The set-up is a bit different than the tagline. It's not really "on a plane" but in a hotel, mostly in the main character's room. But other than the tagline suggesting more of a "Turbulence" or "Red Eye" sort of film, we get the idea pretty quickly, as she's in the room right away.

I'll do my best to avoid spoilers, but I'll say that the MC's "motivation" is a little heavy handed. Sure, guys can be skeevie and garbage at taking hints, but I'm not sure viewers will necessarily feel like they're on her side, let's say that.

I wish I could see the budget, because I suspect it was pretty low and yet I liked how it was shot, how things unfolded, and the buried guns as the story progressed. The effects were about on par with what I'd expect at this range, as well.

The story and writing was actually not shabby, considering that many low-budget horror flicks get mired in justifying why the characters do X or why circumstances went in Y direction. That was all right.

Inevitably, the acting is going to get a little rough, but that was pretty much with anyone save for the two central characters, meaning they did a pretty solid job, while you're one-liner supporting cast could prove a little weak (again, kinda expected).

It held some twists I didn't see coming or details I'd failed to remember, which is good. The ending could have been stronger, but that very much felt like a budget issue not a skill issue, if that makes sense.