Get Out

Review by Bob Ignizio

Jordan Peele is best known for being one half of the comedy team Key and Peele, so you might expect his first film as writer/director would be an overt comedy. Instead, he has produced a potent mix of social commentary, and horror. Sure, there's some humor. But with GET OUT, Peele is more concerned with building slow-burn suspense, hitting viewers with visceral shocks, and leaving them with insights on race than he is with getting a laugh.

The film's set-up is that fine-art photographer Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is preparing to meet his girlfriend Rose's (Allison Williams) parents for the first time. She hasn't told them that Chris is black, but assures him they aren't racist. Nonetheless, Chris' best friend and TSA officer Rod (Lil Rel Howery) is worried that his pal could be walking into an awkward situation.

He doesn't know the half of it.

31 Days of Halloween 2016: Killbillies (now on video)

[31 Days of Halloween 2016: KILLBILLIES is now available on home video and VOD.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

The folks at distributor Artsploitation have slapped the Troma-like moniker KILLBILLIES onto a serious-minded Eastern European thriller whose original title translates as the somewhat less marketable IDYLL. A somewhat ignominious fate (or is it?) for what is billed as the first horror movie to emerge from the young nation of Slovenia. The version extant isn’t even dubbed in English.

The plot (don’t tell the Slovenian ambassador to Cleveland) is not all that original. In fact it pretty much riffs on the 1977 Wes Craven THE HILLS HAVE EYES (which itself, you could say, owes a debt to Sam Peckinpah’s STRAW DOGS and Boorman’s DELIVERANCE, which themselves had slight overtones of Ray Milland's PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO etc. etc.). A group of “civilized” city folk are thrown into a fight for survival against a bunch of feral, misfit degenerates so crude and malformed that they can scarcely be considered human. Yet, after all the two-way bloodletting, you really can’t say one side is any “better” than the other.

31 Days of Halloween 2016: Observance (now on video)

[31 Days of Halloween 2016: OBSERVANCE is now available on home video and VOD.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr. 
 

Australian filmmaker Joseph Sims-Dennett's shocker evidently made some waves on the festival circuit (or otherwise somehow finessed a lot of favorable quotes from a lot of critics and bloggers you’ve never heard of).

I guess it’s a could-have-been-worse experience; a hallucinatory suspense drama with superficial resemblance to Francis Ford Coppola's THE CONVERSATION and some of Roman Polanaski’s early work on insanity and obsession, and maybe a scintilla of REAR WINDOW.

It’s got not so much a storyline as a situation: In an unspecified city (which struck me as Aussie locations dressed up to seem as American as possible) a young private investigator (Lindsay Farris) is deep in debt and grief from the loss of his young son. Stepping away from an imploding marriage (offscreen) he has taken a big-money assignment secretly monitoring an attractive young woman on extended leave from a biotech firm.

The unstable protag occupies a deserted apartment building across from her window and is distressed and powerless to see her seemingly at the mercy of an obsessed, possibly violent suitor. But repeatedly, the (unseen) client tells him over the phone to just remain and watch and not intervene. Or else.

31 Days of Halloween 2016: The Good Neighbor (now available on VOD)

[31 Days of Halloween 2016: THE GOOD NEIGHBOR now on VOD.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

*Note: As with last year’s 31 Days of Halloween marathon of horror movie reviews, we’ll be diving deep into the new release section looking for modern horror fare. We'll be hoping for the best, but frankly expecting the worst. *

Taking its cue from William Castle's 1965 thriller I SAW WHAT YOU DID, THE GOOD NEIGHBOR presents yet another tale of a teenage prank gone bad. It's not a remake or rip-off, mind you, but there's no denying a spiritual connection between the films.

The story begins with Ethan (Logan Miller) and Sean (Keir Gilchrist) relating their plan to convince their reclusive neighbor Harold (James Caan) that his house is haunted, recording the entire process on hidden cameras. Of course they first have to break into the guy's house and plant the equipment. Did I mention this was also for a school project? The kids may be computer and tech savvy, but they clearly weren't using their heads to think through the possible legal ramifications.

The 9th Life of Louis Drax

Review by Pamela Zoslov

Louis, the nine-year-old protagonist of THE 9th LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX, introduces himself as “the amazing accident-prone boy.” In his short life, he's been bitten by spiders, hit in his crib by a falling chandelier, electrocuted by a wall outlet, suffered food poisoning and meningitis.

Even his birth was violent, claims Louis, who describes a brutal Caesarean section that nearly killed him and his mother. His pretty, doting mom, Natalie (Sarah Gadon) tells Louis he's “an angel,” and he believes himself to be her protector. On his ninth birthday, Louis “dies” again, falling backwards off a cliff and into frigid water while on a picnic with his estranged parents.

Level Up (opens in Akron on August 26th at The Nightlight Cinema)

[LEVEL UP opens in Akron on Friday August 26th exclusively at The Nightlight Cinema.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Technology, particularly a technology as ubiquitous as the internet has become, has a tendency to engender fear in those who see its potential for misuse. That fear, in turn, is often channeled into works of art, including, of course, the movies. That's certainly been borne out by the volume of internet-inspired horror films and cautionary tales, among them DISCONNECT, UNFRIENDED, THE DEN, and FEARDOTCOM.  Only time will tell whether these films turn out to be prescient or quaintly laughable. In the meantime, director/co-writer Adam Randall gives us another film reflecting the anxieties of our modern age in LEVEL UP.

Dark (now on VOD)

Review by Bob Ignizio

NYC fetish model turned yoga teacher Kate (Witney Able) is having problems in her relationship with photographer Leah (Alexandra Breckenridge). For starters, we learn right off the bat that Kate likes it a bit rougher in the bedroom than her lover. But their problems go deeper than just sexual compatibility. Things come to a head when Leah goes out of town for the weekend just in time for the 2003 blackout to hit. Alone in the dark, Kate worries that she's being stalked. There certainly are some creepy guys around, but it isn't long before she slips from reasonable caution into something a little less rational, with ultimately grim consequences.

Thematically DARK is very much in the vein of Roman Polanski's REPULSION, but done in a more modern "indie film" style by director/co-writer Nick Basile. Lead actress Able delivers a strong performance, but Basile's slow burn approach ultimately wears thin, with a payoff that's far too predictable to have much impact. It's a solid, professionally made, and well-acted film that I'm sure will satisfy those just looking for a decent little thriller to kill the time, and Basile certainly shows promise as a director. But there isn't enough about the film that stands out from the crowd to make this one a must-see. 2 ½ out of 4 stars.

Repost: The Birds (June 28th at the Aut-O-Rama Drive-In)

THE BIRDS screens Tuesday June 28th at the Aut-O-Rama Drive-In on a double bill with PSYCHO.]


Review by Bob Ignizio

I would like very much to say that Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS, like the best films by the “Master of Suspense”, holds up quite well for modern audiences. Well, that's about half true.


THE BIRDS begins with a painfully stupid “meet cute” between well-to-do party girl Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) and ruggedly handsome attorney Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor). Mitch has evidently met Melanie before, and didn't care much for her devil-may-care jokester ways, so he turns the tables on her by pretending to mistake her for a salesperson at a pet store where he has come to buy a pair of lovebirds for his sister. Despite acting as though she is upset by this ridiculous ruse, Melanie comes down with a serious case of the hots for Mitch.

The Invitation (opens in Cleveland April 15th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre)

[THE INVITATION opens in Cleveland on Friday April 15th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

On the surface, most new-age beliefs are relatively benign regardless of whether they have any veracity or not. Some charlatan channeling chakras might bilk you out of a few bucks for crystals, but at least they aren’t going to ask you to drink the cyanide laced Kool-Aid like Jim Jones. But any time you have a charismatic figure who people believe has a personal hotline to truth and enlightenment, that possibility is always there.

That’s certainly the way Will (Logan Marshall-Green) views self-help group “The Invitation”, a group that his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard) joined after the death of their son. It’s been over 2 years since that tragedy when Eden invites Will, his new girlfriend Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi), and their old group of friends to a dinner party she’s hosting with her new husband David ((Michiel Huisman) and their live-in “friend” Sadie (Lindsay Burdge), both of whom are also group members. Later another group member, Pruitt (John Carroll Lynch), joins the festivities.

The Hateful Eight

Review by Bob Ignizio

A group of rough and rugged men and one female prisoner on her way to be hanged get trapped in a blizzard and make plans to stay in a tavern for three days in Quentin Tarrantino’s latest film, THE HATEFUL EIGHT. Most of the characters don’t much like any of the others, and fragile alliances can change quickly with just the right story or revelation. It’s going to be a tense, and ultimately bloody, layover.

It wouldn’t quite be fair to say that THE HATEFUL EIGHT is an uncredited remake of John Carpenter’s THE THING, but it certainly has some parallels to that movie. A small group of characters are trapped together during a blizzard. None of them can trust each other. And at least one of them is looking to take out some or all of the others through surreptitious means if possible, blatant ones if necessary. Only unlike THE THING, there’s no blood test to reveal who the bad guys are. And if there was, the whole cast would likely come up positive.

31 Days of Halloween 2015: The Guest (now on video)

[31 Days of Halloween 2015: THE GUEST is now available on DVD, Blu Ray, and On Demand.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

*Note: As with last year’s 31 Days of Halloween marathon of horror movie reviews, we’ll be diving deep into the new release section looking for modern horror fare, hoping for the best, but frankly expecting the worst. And a further note for this review: yes, I'm slacking off and reposting a review from earlier this year. But hey, it's a good movie, plus it takes place around and on Halloween.*

THE GUEST begins with Afghan war veteran David Collins (Dan Stevens, Matthew Crawley on the first few seasons of “Downton Abbey”) showing up at the home of the Peterson family. He claims to have served with their deceased son, Caleb, who asked David to check in on his family before he died.

David quickly ingratiates himself with the grief stricken Mrs. Peterson (Sheila Kelley), who offers to let him stay for a while. Dad (Spencer Peterson) seems a bit less sure about the idea, but he's too caught up with problems at work and his drinking to put up much of a fight. The kids are split as well, with Caleb's younger brother Luke (Brendan Meyer) seeing David as a surrogate big brother, while Anna (Malka Monroe) doesn't entirely buy his act.

The Kindergarten Teacher (opens in Akron October 2nd exclusively at The Nightlight Cinema)

[THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER opens in Akron on Friday October 2nd exclusively at The Nightlight Cinema.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Israeli kindergarten teacher Nira (Sarit Larry) is an artistic soul married to a working class guy who has little interest in or understanding of her passions. Nor does she stand out much in her poetry club, her own writing talents being minimal. Things change when Nira discovers one of her students, Yoav (Avi Shnaidman), is a child prodigy of sorts who, when struck with sudden inspiration, goes into a trance like state and begins reciting poems for his nanny (Ester Rada) to write down. Nira “borrows” one of Yoav’s poems for her poetry group, gaining newfound respect from her the group leader, and a greater confidence in herself. But things soon escalate from mere plagiarism into something far more disturbing as Nira goes to increasing extremes to “protect” Yoav from a modern day Israel, and a modern world, she views as being hostile to poets.

On the one hand, THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER is a creepily effective portrait of obsession in which a woman who seeks to escape the banality of her own existence by appropriating the genius of a child prodigy, and ultimately by appropriating the child himself. On the other hand, it’s meant to be an allegory for a world that has no use for poets and artists, the need to protect such individuals from being stifled, and the futility of doing so. Both aspects of the film are undermined by a subdued, realistic tone that clashes with the film’s growing implausibility, culminating in a final act that veers into “B” thriller territory, yet still tries to be taken seriously. It also doesn’t help that there’s an awful lot of padding in the film’s two hour running time. 2 ½ out of 4 stars.

Reckless (now on video)

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

I don’t know how many of you saw 2009’s THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED. The UK thriller from director J Blakeson was a three-character suspense drama redux, in the tradition of Polanski’s KNIFE IN THE WATER, that dragged the viewer in to seductions, shifting alliances, and betrayals among a pair of kidnappers and their well-to-do female captive. I’d give it a strong recommendation, for viewers not put off by the sense of female victimization (yes, I’m a rather quaint 20th-century guy; audiences in the torture-porn era probably feel misled if an actress isn’t degraded).

Now, for those of who prefer Dutch-with-subtitles rather than accented English, there comes RECKLESS. No relation to the 1984 Daryl Hannah drama (or, for that matter, the 1935 Jean Harlow musical), Joram Lursen’s feature is a very near subplot-for-subplot remake of the 2009 DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED. Now done in the Netherlands (under the original title BLOEDLINK) its heroine is blonde (compare-contrast Gemma Atherton in the original), if that buys interest points.

The Guest (now on video)

Review by Bob Ignizio

THE GUEST begins with Afghan war veteran David Collins (Dan Stevens, Matthew Crawley on the first few seasons of “Downton Abbey”) showing up at the home of the Peterson family. He claims to have served with their deceased son, Caleb, who asked David to check in on his family before he died.

David quickly ingratiates himself with the grief stricken Mrs. Peterson (Sheila Kelley), who offers to let him stay for a while. Dad (Spencer Peterson) seems a bit less sure about the idea, but he's too caught up with problems at work and his drinking to put up much of a fight. The kids are split as well, with Caleb's younger brother Luke (Brendan Meyer) seeing David as a surrogate big brother, while Anna (Malka Monroe) doesn't entirely buy his act.

The German Doctor (September 6th and 7th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[THE GERMAN DOCTOR screens Saturday September 6th at 9:45 pm and Sunday September 7th at 4:15 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

As anyone who ever saw THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL or THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN can tell you, after World War II a number of high ranking Nazis found sanctuary in South America. The part where they cloned the Fuhrer and/or kept his brain alive in a jar might be suspect, but there's no getting around the fact that Argentina in particular was willing to take in even the most heinous Nazi war criminals. Case in point, Dr. Josef Mengela, aka “The Angel of Death”, who was known for conducting unconscionable experiments upon prisoners at the German concentration camp at Auschwitz.