Honest takes on cult, horror, sci-fi, world and arthouse film.
I cover cult, horror, sci-fi, world and arthouse film. Honest reviews, interviews with the people who actually make them, and a podcast that goes deep on the ones worth arguing about.
Such a fun movie. Shoutout to the cinematography and editing. Some shots in this film that are biblical. I do think a couple chapters were a little weaker than others but it made up for it with an great ending with some insane acting by Sterling Brown. Holy shit can he act.
Read the full Is God Is review on Letterboxd
This movie is so extra. The set design alone is maybe some of the most intricate and detailed work I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Every frame holds a million details and I loved how all the stories connected together. I did find it a tad long at times but the humour throughout kept me leaning in and having a great time. There are some more in-depth themes that I didn't fully understand. The ending alone was crazy. A rewatch is in order! I would love that Buick.
Read the full Survive Style 5+ review on Letterboxd
Pardon me but, what the fuck?Never trust a person who posts hospital selfies. That's my rule. A well shot documentary about a truly horrifying event. I feel like a bit of a sicko for enjoying these docs and... yeah I haven't changed my mind. This is awful and we're all awful for watching this. Hindsight is 20/20 but goddamn it's hard not to be upset at everyone around her not doing something while she was lying again and again, especially Wade. I want to give him a big hug but he should have listened to his Mom and everyone around that was confronting him about her lies. Which were all so easy to fact check. But he didn't. Shoutout to his best friend for being a real one at least. You can tell he feels awful about not doing more to help Wade figure it out. Lots left out unfortunately. What about her two kids? Where did they get the money to buy a 100k truck? This could have been a 5 part series and in a way I'm glad it wasn't because 90 minutes was harrowing enough. I'm sure there is a 6 hour breakdown video on YouTube but I think I'm good for now.
You're telling me no one recognised any of the missing people in the videos? Ok so this movie is not bad. It's just fine. It's actually got some clever ideas. The risks of spreading online content even though you're trying to stop it and the dangers of these algorithms that push the horrible stuff to the top. Add some great performances by Dacre Montgomery and Barbie Ferreira, a tight 90 minute runtime and you should have a banger, but it's not. Meta movies can be fun to watch, I'm thinking about Scream for example, but Faces of Death is too on the nose with its meta commentary. There is a scene where Arthur goes on a rant about remakes and I could feel my eyes roll back in my skull. More importantly though, I couldn't buy this world that is supposed to be a 1:1 of ours. The entire film revolves around the fact that people can't figure out if Arthur's home videos are actually real (or if they care), but wouldn't it be clear they are real when one involves a news anchor? Or even just a missing person? Maybe it's my fault for trying to find logic in this movie but I couldn't help it. Good movie for a party watch but I don't think this one is going to stay in our minds for long, it won't for me.
The balls on Cronin, Wan and Blum to make this mess of a movie 134 minutes long needs to be studied. It's not all bad though, there's some somewhat funny moments and plenty of gross bits with great sfx. I also enjoyed following the detective around Cairo, that part was neat. Unfortunately my dudes, the story the dialogue the pacing and the runtime didn't keep me engaged enough to care much about what the movie was making a big deal of ie: the family. Our main characters are as interesting as a couple of dry biscuits, as dumb as a bag of rocks and pulled me out of the movie no matter how hard I tried to suspend my disbelief. The movie could have either been a fun egyptian spinoff of Evil Dead Rise (that stays in Egypt!!) or a deeper more serious detective thriller and it tried to do both and fumbles hard. As much as I respect Wan's vision and work I can't help but feel like his involvement here led to a mirror copy of a Conjuring movie. Including all the tropes and structures which I'm getting really fatigued with. Watch When Evil Lurks for a better version of this. Looking forward to Evil Dead Burn! A Cronin, Raimi and Vanicek collab is exciting.
I love a horror movie that has set rules and gives you breadcrumbs throughout the scenes for you to find and figure out. When Evil Lurks managed to do exactly that and it's one of the great strengths of this movie but also it's biggest problem. When you have this much sauce you can get lost in it and when a character is introduced halfway through the movie to explain everything it feels like a bit of a studio note because the movie so far is a little too confusing. Nevertheless the setup and first half is so strong that I'll forgive the weaker second half and ending. The mix of practical effects with CGI is great throughout with some truly gory moments. But the one thing that really got me turned out to be the sound of polystyrene being scraped by a spoon... nightmarish stuff. Well worth your time.
