DETENTION is a new Horror Movie from Taiwan. For this one, profound sadness and regret are powerful undercurrents. If you like Asian horror, then read our review to find out if you should check it out. Read our full Detention movie review here!

Detention is a new horror movie from Taiwan, so this movie will probably speak to fans of Asian horror the most.

The horror genre typically exploits fantastical terror to serve its purpose.

And yet, history is saturated with real fear that can readily inspire the genre’s films.

Jordan Peele’s Get Out may come to mind, but under-seen gems such as Under the Shadow and Savageland excel in their abilities to tell and contextualize scary stories within scary settings.

As does Detention.

Illicit affairs elicit severe repercussions in Detention

“In 1962, during the Cold War, Taiwan was under martial law. All books containing Communist or left-wing thoughts were strictly banned. Reading them would be severely punished, even with the death penalty.”

Backdropped against this setting, Detention takes place at Greenwood High School, where two teachers (Zhang Ming-Hui, played by Meng-Po Fu, and Yin Cui-Han, played by Cecilia Choi have formed a secret book club to read and discuss banned books.

Late one night, one of its members, Wei Chong-Ting (Jing-Hua Tseng), and star student Fang Ray-Shin (Gingle Wang) wake up in the school… or at least what seems to be their school, its rooms and hallways damaged and vandalized.

Clueless to their circumstances, with Fang Ray-Shin even speculating that she has dreamed these experiences previously, Wei Chong-Ting and Fang Ray-Shin search the school’s grounds to uncover the truth of what happened to them at Greenwood.

Why are there “In Mourning” banners tapestried through the hallways? Who are the people with burlap sacks over their heads? And, why is Fang Ray-Shin asked, “Have you forgotten, or are you too afraid to remember?”

Profound sadness and regret are powerful undercurrents in Detention

Based on the “Detention” video game by Red Candle Games, Detention (language: Mandarin), originally titled Fanxiao, was first released in September 2019 and was later nominated for 12 awards (including Best Feature Film) at Taiwan’s 56^th Annual Golden Horse Awards (i.e., equivalent to receiving 12 Academy Award nominations).

Unsurprisingly, Detention is a very good film, albeit one that is not overly frightening in terms of traditional horror-film expectations. Instead, the real horror of the film is the perpetually oppressive regime, aptly referred to as White Terror (i.e., a 38-year period of martial law in Taiwan.

Like Savageland, Detention does well to sample from this inherently fearful historical context to complement rather than muddy its supernatural story.

Watch Detention in theaters nationwide now!

Exceptionally augmented in quality by its score (Luming Lu), Detention steers the viewer along a mysterious and emotional winding road, in which viewers’ initial frustrations at teenage angst may be supplanted by both a raw sadness of the observed adversities as well as yearning for easement of eternal repentance.

While the 103-minute film intends to have an atypical chronological structure, it’s too disjointed, which may leave the viewer struggling at times to properly piece together its disarrayed segments. Coupled with its surprisingly subpar CGI (despite being based on a video game), Detention earns 3/5 stars.

Recommendation: Stream it (but know that it will be more comprehensible with a second viewing)

DETENTION opens in theatres and virtual cinemas nationwide on Friday, October 8, 2021.

Details

Director: John Hsu
Writers: John Hsu, Fu Kai-Ling, Chien Shih-Keng
Cast: Gingle Wang, Fu Meng-Po, Tseng Jing-Hua, Cecilia Choi, Chu Hung-Chang

HOWLING VILLAGE is a new Japanese horror movie by the Ju-On: The Grudge director. Ultimately, a flawed movie in terms of storytelling but with efficient (if familiar) J-Horror elements. Read our full Howling Village movie review here!

Takashi Shimizu knows what he’s doing when it comes to horror movies. His 2004 American remake of The Grudge was an excellent film, arguably a more polished version of his original Ju-On: The Grudge.

This leaves me hoping for a Howling Village remake.

(And, truthfully, given the striking similarities in both content and color of the movie posters for The Grudge (2004) and Howling Village, maybe that’s the plan).

A hidden village with a hidden past

Howling Village centers on the village of the same name, one that had mysteriously vanished decades prior. Now, it is but an urban legend. You know, the kind of place that can only be found when you say the right words into a phone that rings at 2 a.m. in a lone phonebooth situated next to a middle-of-nowhere bridge.

The film opens with Yuma (Ryôta Bandô) and Akina (Rinka Ôtani) hoping to find and record Howling Village, unfortunately, cut short upon interaction with shadowy figures in the abandoned hamlet. Upon return to their homes, Akina acts strangely, ultimately committing suicide by jumping from a tower.

However, when Akina’s autopsy indicates that she died of drowning, Yuma’s sister, Kanata (Ayaka Miyoshi), becomes suspicious of the hidden village, especially when finding the tunnel to its alleged location sealed off.

As Kanata begins to piece together the village’s history and her family’s intimate connection with its past, she begins to parse the twisted truths of the urban legend, as well as her true nature.

Cinematic complexities fail to resolve in Howling Village

For many of you familiar with Shimizu’s work (e.g., The Grudge), his style is ever apparent in Howling Village, from ghosts suddenly appearing beneath bedsheets or rigidly and inhumanly ambulating. In these ways, Shimizu’s art shines.

However, while it has been several years since watching The Grudge and Ju-On, I remember feeling confused at times, as if the storyboard-to-production path resulted in lost scenes and details that may have left the viewer perplexed as well.

Sadly, this is Howling Village’s greatest flaw. Despite a well-constructed foundation of lore, tragedy, and terror, Howling Village’s ever-expanding storyline that favors breadth along with its disjointed beginning and unresolved plot points may stun the viewer into states of confusion and underappreciation for what really is an intriguing concept.

Indeed, Howling Village’s scares are of good quality, albeit too rare and too heavily weighted toward the film’s first half. And yet, in its second half, the film comes into its own, when the viewer can not only appreciate Miyoshi’s strong performance but also the origin of the underlying tension enveloping Kanata’s family.

Coupled with beautiful scenery and a comparably strong performance from Masanobu Takashima as Kanata’s father, Howling Village has the bones of a powerful film, even though it sporadically suffers from subpar execution.

Watch Howling Village in theaters, on-demand, and/or on Blu-Ray

Originally debuting in 2019, Howling Village re-premiers in select theaters on August 13, 2021, subsequently available on demand (August 17) and on Blu-Ray (September 14).

In all, Howling Village deserves 3 of 5 stars. Overly complex without enough explanation or backstory, Howling Village was too ambitious for a film that wraps up in 108 minutes.

However, its lycanthropic resolve of the shameful undertakings yet curious genesis of one’s ancestors make for a worthwhile watch.

Details

Director: Takashi Shimizu
Writers: Takashi Shimizu, Daisuke Hosaka
Stars: Ayaka Miyoshi, Ryota Bando, Megumi Okina, Renji Ishibashi

Eye Without a Face is a solid psychological thriller that will be particularly enjoyed by fans of Criminal Minds. Read our full review here!

Previous films, like the Hitchcockian masterpiece Rear Window and, essentially, its remake Disturbia, made us question, “What do I really know about my neighbors?”

Subsequently, films like Hush and The Strangers brutally disrupted everyone’s psychological solace of being “in the comfort of my own home.”

And, then, The Den and Black Mirror’s “Shut Up and Dance” rode the coattails of such mental dissonance, invoking further paranoia of being watched in our own homes, albeit through more modern means.

Enter, Eye Without a Face, the psychological thriller that extracts and integrates the better features of these films to produce a Criminal-Minds-adjacent celluloid (sans the FBI).

“These are my friends…”

Eye Without a Face centers on Henry (Dakota Shapiro, making his feature-film debut), who spends his time watching women through their hacked webcams. 

Not for the sake of voyeurism, but because he believes they are his friends. He seems to genuinely care about these women: After observing a strained moment with one of his “friend’s” lovers, he remarks, “What a creep, Sky [Evangeline Neuhart]. You deserve so much better.” 

Naturally, as Henry is living in Los Angeles, his roommate/tenant, Eric, is an aspiring actor (Luke Cook; Lucifer Morningstar in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina). When Henry tells Eric about his webcam habits, Henry’s carefully constructed “reality” begins to collapse, especially after Henry believes he is witnessing one of his “friends”, Laura (Vlada Verevko), potentially murdering and cannibalizing the men she’s meeting on dating apps. 

However, when Laura realizes she’s being watched, speaking directly into her webcam to her unknown spectator, Henry’s Truman-Show-like observational seclusion is exposed, along with both Henry’s past and present psychological demons.

“… I watch over them…”

Despite Shapiro’s resume only including 6 acting credits, including Eye Without a Face, and this being writer/director Ramin Niami’s first writing/directing credit since 2014, Eye Without a Face is a film worth watching, brilliantly led by Shapiro’s Henry and complemented by Cook’s Eric.

Henry is creepy, but the thoughtful ways in which Niami humanizes this character, so that the viewer may actually mourn for Henry’s seemingly involuntary hermitage, required such a delicate balance that could easily topple. And yet, this was achieved, with these two aspects of Henry’s psyche converging in the final scene.

Along with Shapiro’s performance, there are noteworthy yet subtle details to Niami’s screenplay. Of Henry’s “friends”, there is an Instagram model (Sarah Marie) and a cam girl (Ashley Elyse Rogers), coupled with Laura (i.e., dating-app user) and Henry’s roommate, Eric (an actor who proclaims that he needs more social-media subscribers to get a leg-up in Hollywood); in other words, four people who voluntarily share much of their lives to online strangers (like Henry) on public or paywalled websites.

Thus, in the context of Henry’s life, the incorporation of these modern elements into the lives of his “friends” is such an interesting concept, allowing Eye Without a Face to differentiate itself from its cinematic predecessors.

“… I’m like their guardian angel.”

Eye Without a Face debuts on DVD and on-demand on August 10, 2021. With its primary weaknesses being periodic moments in which its pace was blisteringly slow and its background audio overpowered the dialogue that I really wanted to hear, Eye Without a Face is a solid psychological thriller that will be particularly enjoyed by fans of Criminal Minds.

Recommendation: Stream it (and cover your webcams on your laptop and phone).

Eye Without A Face will be available On Demand and Digital on August 10, 2021, from Gravitas Ventures.

Details

Writer & Director: Ramin Niami
Stars: Dakota Shapiro, Luke Cook, Vlada Verevko

The Final Ride is a Canadian rideshare horror anthology in 3 parts. It has a strong foundation with strong performances but it’s way too long. Read our full The Final Ride review here!

In 1408, John Cusack’s Mike Enslin says, “Hotels are a naturally creepy place… Just think, how many people have slept in that bed before you? How many of them were sick? How many… died?”

Now, think about rideshare services, like Uber and Lyft: We actively choose to pay strangers to ride in their personal vehicles, without knowing who they are, where they have been, why there are stains on the seat cushions, and who has been in that vehicle…

That irking feeling you might be experiencing right now is what The Final Ride tapped into.

An anthology with either too many parts…

The Final Ride is a 3-part anthology film, interconnected by the rideshare driver, Jean (Keegan Chambers. In Part 1, Jean picks up Peter (Matthew Chisholm) and Monica (Annette Wozniak), who have learned that they have successfully closed on a new home, which has been vacant for years after the death of its former owner, Jimmy (Ry Barrett, who was exceptional in Open Your Eyes). When Peter discovers a series of 80s workout tapes (starring Jimmy), it becomes apparent why the house may have been on the market for so long.

In Part 2, Jean picks up Cody (Brent Baird) and Ray (Geoff Almond). After a few drinks at a bar, Ray convinces Cody to get that tattoo he’s “always wanted” at a mysterious tattoo parlor. The next morning, as Cody notices that his new tattoo is spreading to the rest of his body, he is terrified, especially as that parlor has disappeared.

In Part 3, Jean picks up Richard (Steve Kasan) and comes to suspect that Richard might be the recently discovered local serial killer. To her relief, Jean gets pulled over by the police, hoping that the officer can free her from her perceived danger. But, like rideshare, really anyone could be driving a vehicle that appears to be well-intended.

… or that was 90 minutes too long

Whenever a Canadian horror anthology (like The Final Ride) comes across my screen, I think of Darknet, the exceptional Canadian horror anthology television series that effectively interwove several stories in 25-minute episodes.

But perhaps Darknet set the bar too high, as I was less impressed with Mike McMurran’s 117-minute Final Ride. While the format may have felt unoriginal, The Final Ride would have been considerably more enjoyable as a Darknet­-styled 30-minute cut.

The Final Ride has a strong foundation: three relatively interesting storylines, coupled with good performances from Chambers and Kasan.

However, being over twice as long as it should have been, there was little that the actors could do with a drawn-out screenplay, which begged for overacting so as to offset the global prolongation with faux upticks in tempo, unfortunately creating momentary absurdity that sullied the quality of the three storyboarded ideas.

For instance, a tattoo that keeps spreading (and the reason why) is a novel idea (at least based on my viewing history), but such intrigue was adulterated by subpar execution.

Watch The Final Ride on demand starting July 14

The Final Ride has redeeming qualities; it may even elicit thought as to how secure you really feel in an Uber or Lyft. To paraphrase Mike Enslin, “Rideshares are a naturally creepy form of transportation,” not only because of the concept but also the inherent connectedness it has created for humanity.

I’m intrigued by what McMurran will produce in the future, and perhaps this movie is worth viewing as merely a glimpse as to what that could be.

Recommendation: Stream it, but only after you’ve watched everything else in your queue (and without paying for it)

Details

Writer & Director: Mike McMurray
Stars: Keegan Chambers, Annette Wozniak, Matthew Chisholm

OPEN YOUR EYES is a horror, thriller, mystery hybrid of a movie. It has lots of twists and turns and should keep you guessing. It’s a low-budget production, but definitely not a B movie. And that ending is awesome and lifts the movie. Read our full Open Your Eyes movie review here!

“Are you a fan of low budget, B-horror movies without any discernible stars?”

With a line of dialogue like that (occurring halfway through Open Your Eyes), it might seem that the film is a low-budget, B-horror film, hoping to elevate its quality with a moment of self-awareness.

Now, it is a low-budget film, but it is not B-horror. And it is not self-aware.

But this was one of many well-timed red herrings that Open Your Eyes expertly employs to leave the viewer really questioning the film’s (and maybe his/her/their own) realities.

“I kind of live in my head sometimes”

Open Your Eyes is about Jason, a screenwriter struggling with writer’s block, despite assuring his agent that he is making headway on his next script. Amidst these struggles, Jason (played by Ry Barrett who has several horror credits) is hearing mysterious knocks at the front door of his apartment, only to find a rogue housecat slipping in and out of the building’s ventilation system.

Jason then meets Lisa (Joanna Saul), a neighbor who Jason has never met but claims to have lived in the building for some time. After awkward yet reciprocated flirting, Jason invites Lisa over for dinner, and things seem to be going well. Or are they…

Jason: “Well, I feel like I’ve just been rambling on about myself, and I haven’t heard anything from you today. Tell me something about yourself.”

Lisa: “I think you probably know more than you think.”

Jason: “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Lisa: “Why am I here, Jason?”

Along with some odd “glitches in the matrix” in earlier scenes, Jason (and the viewer) begin to question what is actually happening. What happened to Jason’s script? Why is there an expanding crack in Jason’s living room wall? What’s wrong with Jason?

A 3-star beginning with a 5-star ending

Open Your Eyes, written and directed by Greg A. Sager was a surprisingly brilliant film. As I mentioned in my first review for Heaven of Horror (Pooka!), I have a particular affinity for films that explore a character’s psyche (e.g., Donnie Darko, Memento).

Open Your Eyes excels on this front, but not only because the viewer is witnessing Jason’s coming to terms with his own perceptions, but because the film also plays with the viewer’s psychology. In my notes, I wrote, “Is this just an adaptation of Shutter Island?” I wouldn’t blame you for thinking the same thing, but I assure you, it’s not.

The film also succeeds with a very small cast, reminiscent of one of my favorite mystery/thrillers, The One I Love. While IMDb lists 4 actors, I counted 5, with 3 of those actors exceptionally being used for a single scene. Here, while Barrett shined in his role (embracing an expected social awkwardness), Saul seemed less impressive, but this primarily reflected Barrett being able to do more with a screenplay that was weaker during the middle third of the film.

But be patient. Given the film’s finale, Saul’s delivery and the vagueness and monotony of her dialogue (which work well) make sense.

Watch Open Your Eyes on June 1

There is a moment toward the end of Open Your Eyes when Jason’s facial expressions change so much that I thought for a moment that there was a new actor. And it is that change in expectation that sums up the trajectory of the film, one that truly came into its own in its final third.

While it is not perfect, it is quite a good mystery. And yet, I can only think how much scarier it would have been had it come out one year ago…

Recommendation: Stream it (the sooner you do, the scarier it may be)

Open Your Eyes is available on VOD, DVD & Blu-Ray on June 1, 2021.

Details

Director: Greg A. Sager
Writer: Greg A. Sager
Stars: Ry Barrett, Joanna Saul, Julianna Suzanne Bailey

CAPTIVE is a psychological thriller with a kidnapping plot. This is not a horror film, but it does have elements of pure horror. Definitely worth checking out if you like psychological thrillers. Read our full Captive movie review here!

In the summer of 1988, the glam metal band Cinderella released their single, “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)”, and, when listening to that song, most of us probably think of what we took for granted and moments we should have appreciated more.

But what if what we “got” was much worse?

CAPTIVE is a new kidnapping thriller and below is our full movie review.

Lily becomes Katherine in Captive

Captive (originally Katherine’s Lullaby) opens with Lily (Tori Kostic) and her boyfriend Neil (Jairus Carey) camping in the woods in Wrightwood, California (i.e., a couple of hours northeast of Los Angeles).

Flashbacks reveal that Lily suffered from an abusive relationship with her alcoholic stepfather (David Lee Hess), one from which she may be fleeing.

When Lily and Neil get separated, Lily runs for help and comes across a (stunning) mountain home (possibly one of these homes), inhabited by Evan (William Kircher).

Evan is thrilled with Lily’s “return,” as Lily begins to realize that Evan believes Lily to be his missing daughter, Katherine (Meghan Hanako). In an attempt to escape, so as to not be trapped in Evan’s basement, Lily concedes to Evan’s delusions, referring to Evan as “daddy,” embracing life as “Katherine,” informed by Lily’s discovery of Katherine’s diary.

Lily’s attempts to escape repeatedly fail, given Evan’s helicopter parenting, insisting that “Katherine” continue to train for and win the road-races at which he failed to succeed in his younger years.

Ultimately, Lily accepts the unhealthy parent-as-coach relationship, training harder, hoping that “getting faster” will facilitate her escape. Yet, as Lily embodies “Katherine”, the past and present collide, leaving viewers to question how “captive” Lily actually is.

A psychological thriller, not horror

Written and directed by Savvas Christou, Captive is not a horror film, even though certain scenes reminded me of House at the End of the Street. Much like Max Thieriot’s Ryan in the 2012 Jennifer Lawrence film, Evan’s grief due to Katherine’s missingness seems to have induced a psychotic break, leaving him to “see” Lily as Katherine.

Accordingly, in place of gore and traditional jump-scares, Christou’s film as a psychological thriller is very much reminiscent of several episodes of Criminal Minds (albeit without the FBI), laced with the philosophical, existential questions that characterize Gone Baby Gone (albeit without the Boston police).

Captive’s greatest strength is the psychology of the relationship between Evan and Lily/”Katherine”. Despite the film beginning quite choppily with poor pacing, the father-“daughter” dynamic may strike chords within those who have (or had) tense relationships with parents who forced an unwanted life upon their childhood.

Unfortunately, despite this well-laid foundation, an excellent performance from Kircher, and a good performance from Kostic, their chemistry felt forced beyond the nature of the story they were conveying, potentially leaving viewers slightly unsatisfied as the film concludes.

Watch Captive on demand on YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV, Vudu, and Amazon Prime

To my understanding, Captive is on the film festival circuit but can be viewed on demand for $7 USD on a variety of sites.

While Christou’s Captive begins as a standard kidnapped-prisoner film, its final scenes do well to reinforce the interesting psychology between Evan and Lily. However, despite impressive performances and an interesting twist, the actors’ overly forced chemistry and some derivative storytelling earned Captive 3 of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Stream it, but wait until it’s available for under $4 USD

CAPTIVE is out on VOD now in the US and Canada.

Details

Director: Savvas Christou
Writer: Savvas Christou
Stars: William Kircher, Tori Kostic, Jolene Andersen, Meghan Hanako, Jairus Carey, Chris Barry, David Lee Hess

Plot

A teenage runaway who’s trapped by a delusional man, pretends to be his daughter in order to escape.

Axeman at Cutter’s Creek​ is a new horror movie. Or really, a version was released back in 2013. However, this is supposedly the “new and improved” version of the movie. Yet, our reviewer wasn’t exactly impressed. Read our full Axeman at Cutter’s Creek review here!

​At the outset of this review, some of you may be thinking, “Didn’t an Axeman movie come out like 10 years ago? Is Heaven of Horror that backlogged for movies?”

#1: Yes. #2: How dare you?!?! (Just kidding 😊).

Let’s review Axeman at Cutter’s Creek…

Never-before-seen footage

In 2013, a film entitled Axeman (nee Axeman at Cutter’s Creek) was released in limited theaters, clocking in at 1 hour 45 min and earning a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. Per a recent article on Nerdly, Axeman’s director, writer, and co-star Joston Theney noted that the release of the 2013 film was “rushed, and we never really put our movie’s best foot forward.”

Naturally, Theney recut the film (which we’re reviewing here): “This one’ll include never-before-seen footage and a slicker, faster 80-minute run-time. What really killed me was not wrapping up the film as originally intended… But this release of Axeman At Cutter’s Creek course-corrects the ship…” (Nerdly).

While I have not seen the original cut of the film, I believe that any movie deemed entertaining and interesting should stand on its own as such. Alas, Axeman at Cutter’s Creek did not.

Absurdities abound in Axeman at Cutter’s Creek

Even if you have not seen the original cut, Axeman at Cutter’s Creek is a film that every horror fan (and even non-fan) has seen before:

A bevy of sexually charged 20-something-year-olds make their way up to a mountain cabin for a weekend, only to be hunted by the titular serial killer. In this case, the “Axeman” (see image below) portrayed by former professional basketball player, Scot Pollard.

Tries hard but fails

Given its simple concept, Axeman at Cutter’s Creek is without tricks, twists, mystery, or suspense. In short, Axeman at Cutter’s Creek is a classic ‘80s slasher… or, unfortunately, might have tried too hard to be.

‘80s slashers were peak campiness, a definitive period in the history of horror. Since then, some films have done well to simultaneously emulate this nostalgia while also invoking modern elements to both celebrate and advance the slasher subgenre (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, The Cabin in the Woods, Happy Death Day).

However, Axeman at Cutter’s Creek does not achieve either of these aims, perpetually stuck with an underdeveloped premise.

Weak and excessively raunchy

Despite its rare attempts at satire, occasional moments of real humor (i.e., a character’s clothing with the words, “Horror Apparel”), and some truly creative kill scenes, Axeman at Cutter’s Creek’s quality is diluted.

It’s diluted by a weak, excessively raunchy screenplay about superficial, tedious characters portrayed by actors’ whose talents seemed to far exceed the quality of the script provided.

Ultimately, the film’s most fatal flaw was that it tried too hard to be a campy ‘80s-like slasher flick, overly relying on both gory kill sequences (at the expense of any backstory as to serial killer’s motivation) and empty dialogue that felt more contrived than campy/cheesy.

Examples include unexpected yet cliched references to Apocalypse Now, Jerry Maguire, and Lord of the Dance).

Watch Axeman at Cutter’s Creek (2020) starting May 7

While some subpar films recognize themselves as just that, thereby excelling on its self-awareness, this is not one of those films.

Axeman at Cutter’s Creek’s overly ambitious efforts at a superficial campy slasher flick largely detracts from some of its more entertaining features (e.g., a surprisingly good soundtrack; inventive kill sequences, including one in which the axeman used part of a victim’s own ribcage as a weapon against that same victim).

Recommendation: Skip it

Axeman At Cutter’s Creek is out in major VOD platforms on May 7, 2021.

Details

Director: Joston Theney
Writer: Joston Theney
Stars: Tiffany Shepis, Brinkes Stevens, Elissa Dowling, Jamie Bernadette, Erin Maria Hogan, Scot Pollard

Plot

Nine vacationing twenty-somethings are hunted by an ax-wielding local legend in this gore-filled reboot.

BAD WITCH was a pleasant surprise of a horror-comedy with body horror and cult-like potential. Let’s just say that the use of dry and subtle humor combined with body horror worked well for me. Read our full Bad Witch movie review right here!

Prior to watching Bad Witch, I had zero expectations. I had not heard of its directors (Victor Fink and Joshua Land), its writer (James “Jimmy” Hennigan), or its lead actor/young-Cary-Elwes doppelganger (Chris Kozlowski).

But now, I just might keep my eyes and ears out for their future work.

Addictive black magic in Bad Witch

Bad Witch begins with Xander (Kozlowski) having just moved in with his best friend Henry (Hennigan) after succumbing to the revenge of a jealous, cheated-on boyfriend. Xander is a witch and promises Henry that he’s done “using” his drug of “black magic”, despite his fulfilled expectations of withdrawal if he stops doing so.

Needing to turn his life around, Xander is hired as a dishwasher at a local diner, where he befriends Roland (Jackson Trent), a friendless high-school senior who is the bullying target of Conrad (Jonathan Helwig), embodying very much the same bully-bullied dynamic of Crispin Glover’s George McFly and Thomas F. Wilson’s Biff in Back to the Future.

In a similar vein of 1989’s Teen Witch (but without the cool hip-hop battle), Xander uses witchcraft to make Roland cool (while also teaching Roland witchcraft) and to make Conrad’s life miserable.

Unfortunately, Roland’s and Xander’s friendship flies a bit too close to the sun, and, when Conrad grows suspicious of Roland’s newfound popularity, his desire to avenge a dermatological nightmare threatens to expose Xander and Roland for the bad witches they are.

Subtle humor + body horror = a pleasant surprise of a horror comedy

Given this synopsis, it might not be obvious that Bad Witch is a horror-comedy. After you watch it, it might not be obvious either, primarily because Bad Witch is very subtle with its humor.

From its well-timed one-liners and periodic humorous imagery to an overt dryness in both its actors’ deliveries and reactions. And also, a PowerPoint presentation that might muster a B-minus.

Bad Witch also excels in its subtle use of body horror (again, not as overt as films such as Slither or The Thing). I’d like to think I have a pretty strong stomach, and a movie has not left me as squeamish at times as Bad Witch did since the ending of the 2013 remake of We Are What We Are.

Watch Bad Witch on-demand starting April 27

Bad Witch made its rounds at film festivals in 2020, earning the award of “Best Horror Film” at the Wisconsin MidWest WeirdFest and “Best Actor – Feature Film” (Kozlowski) at South Carolina’s Crimson Screen Horror Film Fest.

Along with unexpected-but-it-actually-worked 80’s-synth background music, Kozlowski’s performance and his good chemistry with Trent’s Roland, along with the highs and lows of friendships, were convincing, rounding out a film that has cult-classic potential.

Despite these strengths, Bad Witch’s greatest weakness was a screenplay that couldn’t quite catch up to its clever idea for a film. However, even with its uneven pacing, occasional clichéd dialogue, and an ending that was just a bit too abrupt and ambiguous, Bad Witch was a worthwhile horror-comedy from a writer and directors with not a lot on their resumes.

Bad Witch’s dry humor, which requires a bit of attentiveness on behalf of the viewer, may not be everyone’s cup-of-tea, but deserves 3/5 stars, nonetheless.

Recommendation: Stream it, but don’t pay too much (if anything at all) to do so.

BAD WITCH is out on Demand, DVD & Blu-ray on April 27, 2021.

Details

Directors: Victor Fink, Joshua Land
Writer: James Hennigan
Stars: Chris Kozlowski, Jackson Trent, Clare Lefebure, James Hennigan

Plot

Xander is a witch whose abuse of black magic has led him to disaster after disaster. After trying to go clean of witchcraft, Xander befriends a young loner, helping Roland with bullies, girlfriends, and other teenage atrocities.

THE INHERITANCE is a horror movie that ultimately failed despite having so much potential. Our reviewer even loves hauntings in various forms. But not this one. Read our full The Inheritance movie review here to find out what went wrong!

I will preface this review with two points: (1) I love films about hauntings. (2) I really wanted to like The Inheritance.

With an impressive trailer and it being described as a film “in the tradition of The Haunting of Hill House,” how could I not?

But, that’s where the excitement ended.

And, please believe me in that I wish I could say otherwise. There was so much potential.

“Many years of life and death, yet ghosts are forever” in The Inheritance

The premise of The Inheritance is straightforward. Following the death of Sasha’s (Natalia Ryumina) grandfather, Sasha is willed a beautiful manor in the middle of Kyiv, Ukraine, which has been gathering dust for decades. Sasha and her partner, Peter (Nick Wittman), travel to Kyiv to sign paperwork that would sell all assets in the will.

Following suspicious encounters with a local lawyer and the manor’s caretakers and the nightly witnessing of strange noises and voices in the manor, Sasha grows reluctant to sell, becoming increasingly curious of the manor’s history: Why has no one lived there in years? Why are there are always three men guarding the manor from the street? What happened to the manor’s staff?

As she digs deeper into the home’s past, uncovering family secrets, her questions are answered…

…at the expense of the viewer.

A film that couldn’t quite figure itself out

As I mentioned, I love films about hauntings, so this review does not reflect a general distaste for the subgenre.

In turn, it reflects the incessant mediocrity of The Inheritance, which was neither resemblant nor “in the tradition” of the novel or cinematic adaptations of The Haunting of Hill House. And, yes, I do take such “empty promises” into account.

The Inheritance’s fatal flaw was that it gave up on itself, characterized by an anticlimactic “twist,” a gaping absence of both jump scares and eeriness (i.e., ghostly slamming of doors should not be the only scare tactic), and a plethora of unresolved plot points that left me internally pleading for a final scene that would significantly elevate the film’s quality (cf., Contact, Pandorum).

Fails as a horror movie

In these respects, The Inheritance ultimately failed as a horror film. With the exception of the ghost-induced door-slamming, which became more telegraphed than startling, the few moments of intended jump scares were poorly edited, happening much too quickly for the viewer to appreciate, forcing me to rewind in order to know what I was meant to have experienced.

Similarly, its intended eeriness and suspense, elicited by a combination of anxious conversations about some unnamed higher powers-that-be and the nightly sounds of ghastly screaming, continued to dull throughout the film, remaining vague at best.

Ryumina’s Sasha was meant to carry the film, but she could do very little with a screenplay that, even though it answered Sasha’s own questions, will leave the viewer confused, unsatisfied, and, well, bored.

The Inheritance can be streamed on-demand from April 13

From an originality perspective, The Inheritance embarked on an unfulfilling quest of doing nothing new with an overdone concept, with hints of better films, such as La Llorona and The House at the End of Time. I wish I could have said kinder things about The Inheritance, but I was unimpressed.

Recommendation: Skip it.

The Inheritance is out on Demand and on DVD on April 13, 2021, from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Details

Directors: Chad Barager, Kevin Speckmaier
Writers: Chad Barager, Kevin Speckmaier
Stars: Natalia Ryumina, Nick Wittman, Valeria Dymova, Yuriy Dyak

Plot

A woman’s inheritance takes her to Europe where she will uncover a dark and disturbing family secret. Once she is alone in the former family manor, paranormal occurrences in the home begin and slowly intensify. She is forced to face her fears to uncover dark secrets lurking in her family history. And the deeper she delves into the secrets the home possesses, the more horrifying the answers become.

DAWN OF THE BEAST is a new Bigfoot horror movie that does not disappoint. With the tagline “The legends are real… and they kill”, we’re in for some creepy moments – along with great makeup design. Read our full Dawn of the Beast movie review here!

DAWN OF THE BEAST is a new Bigfoot horror movie.

Before watching Dawn of the Beast, I was forwarded Uncork’d Entertainment’s description of the film. After its first four words, “Aiming to see Bigfoot…”, I was hooked, thinking, “Well, I liked Willow Creek, so let’s see what Dawn of the Beast can offer.”

It did not disappoint.

Bigfoot and beyond in Dawn of the Beast

In Dawn of the Beast, a group of graduate students attend an overnight “field trip” to a cabin in the woods led by the professor and teaching assistant of their cryptozoology class. (While the film describes these “woods” as “Northeastern”, Dawn of the Beast was filmed in upstate New York.)

Supposedly, these woods are home to many Bigfoot sightings, especially during “dead month” (i.e., September 4 to October 2), when there are clusters of missing persons cases or deaths. Naturally, this field trip occurs during the final days of “dead month.”

During a cryptozoologically oriented nature hike led by the professor, Dr. Dennis Kasdan (Willard Morgan, Lilly (Anna Shields) runs into eye-patched Everett (Grant Schumacher), staring at a large muddy footprint. Concurrently, while Chris (Adrián Burke) is photographing black-capped chickadees, teaching assistant Oz (LeJon Woods), Jake (Chris Cimperman), and Isabella (Ariella Mastroianni) find a skeleton (from which Isabella steals an emerald necklace) that they decide to keep secret to avoid ruining the field trip.

That night, when Isabella borrows Jake’s car for an errand, she sees the “unspeakable evil living out in those woods”. And it sees her back. Unfortunately…

“If it knows you’re there, they’ll be coming for you.”

Another bigfoot movie, but one worth watching

Dawn of the Beast, directed by Bruce Wemple and written by Shields, is basically an installment in an anthology film series about monsters in upstate New York. (Maybe there’s a New York equivalent of the Jersey Devil?)

In 2020, Wemple directed (and Shields wrote) Monstrous, another film about Bigfoot sightings in upstate New York, which starred Shields and Schumacher. In that same year, Wemple wrote and directed The Retreat, a film about the Wendigo (also starring Schumacher, Cimperman, and Mastroianni).

I have not seen Monstrous or The Retreat but, noticing that Dawn of the Beast’s “unspeakable evil” (i.e., the Wendigo) looked nearly identical to the Wendigo in The Retreat’s trailer, I went looking for an interview of Wemple to see what he had to say.

Per podcast Indie Horror Rising’s interview with Wemple and Shields, Dawn of the Beast was intended to merge the monsters from Monstrous and The Retreat. Wemple described Monstrous and The Retreat are “character-based”, in which the respective monsters “force[s] the characters to really examine themselves.”

In contrast, Wemple and Shields intended Dawn of the Beast to be monster-focused, emulating a fun 70s/80s drive-in movie (which they do achieve, as I noted, before listening to this podcast, “Dawn of the Beast has the campy feel of The Evil Dead, but with decent jump scares”).

Watch Dawn of the Beast on demand April 6

Pros: (1) As a native of the northeastern US, Wemple and Shields did well to capture the atmosphere of how eerie its woods are: While you may be watching one thing, something else may be watching you. (2) Burke’s performance was quite good, reminiscent of Warren from Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (3) Exceptional makeup design from Jared Balog.

Cons: (1) Its scariest moments were disjointed, given shaky and oddly positioned camera angles that did more to befuddle than terrorize, coupled with (2) blood and gore that were too digitized.

Overall, Dawn of the Beast is as Wemple and Shields intended: a fun “drive-in” movie, warranting 3 of 5 stars, as its strengths of setting, eeriness, and suspense were diluted with strange choices for cinematography in its most critical scenes.

DAWN OF THE BEAST premieres on DVD and Digital on April 6, 2021, from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Details

Director: Bruce Wemple
Writer: Anna Shields
Stars: Adrián Burke, Ariella Mastroianni, Grant Schumacher, Anna Shields, Chris Cimperman, LeJon Woods, Willard Morgan, Francesca Anderson

Plot

Aiming to see Bigfoot, a group of students venture deep into an area of the Northeastern wilderness known for its strange creature sightings. Soon, they learn that there is a much more sinister evil lurking in the woods, the Wendigo, and once the spirit knows you’re there, they will come for you. Who will survive in a battle between the two most notorious monsters of the forest?