FILM: Prey for the Devil (2022, Daniel Stamm)

Supernatural horror film Prey for the Devil is distributed by Lionsgate. With a global rise in demonic possessions, the Vatican open new exorcism schools all over the world. Recognising her gifts, including empathy with the victims of possession, Father Quinn (Colin Salmon) starts training young nun Sister Ann (Jacqueline Byers), against the regulations of the Catholic Church, but with special permission from Cardinal Matthews (Ben Cross). However, there is a dark secret from Ann’s past that is the real reason for why a young girl named Natalie (Posy Taylor) is possessed.

PROS

• Jacqueline Byers and Posy Taylor throw themselves into the film with terrific, intense physicality.
• Good practical effects in some of the exorcism scenes, whilst the make-up department create some haunting imagery.

CONS

• A predictable, patchily-paced screenplay with various subplots and backstories receiving only surface-level depth.
• Due to the lack of substantial characterisation, most of the cast (including talented veterans) get no chance to shine.
• Director Daniel Stamm relies too much on cheap jump scares, many of which can be seen coming a mile off.
• Cinematographer Denis Crossan overly relies on (primarily artificial) low lighting and shadows, to the point that it is too heavy-handed to be atmospheric.

VERDICT: 3/10

PREVIEW: November 2022

Well, October was a busy month on this blog as I posted daily for The Third Annual October Scare Fest. There will also be a fair amount of content published in November, including reviews for new releases from October that I have seen but not got around to reviewing yet, including Bros, Hocus Pocus 2 and Prey for the Devil. I also have a number of cinema trips lined up for next month, including Aftersun, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Bones and All, Call Jane, Confess, Fletch, Living, Matilda the Musical, The Menu, She Said, Strange World and Watcher. I will endeavour to get reviews published for all of these films – time permitting, of course.

Thank you as always for visiting this blog, and for the month ahead I wish you good health and Happy Reading!

The Third Annual October Scare Fest

Throughout October 2022, I have done The Third Annual October Scare Fest on this blog – there we are, it is now officially a tradition! What did that look like? Well, every day of the month I did a post about something that was in some way related to horror, scares or the macabre! Some of the things I wrote about were most definitely horror, whereas others were absolutely not, but nevertheless had creepy or sinister elements, had chilling premises or concepts, had unsettling qualities or moments. Hence it was the “October Scare Fest”, not the “October Horror Fest”.

Below is the full list of posts, in order of publication:

1. FILM REVIEW: Hocus Pocus (1993, Kenny Ortega)
2. FILM REVIEW: Scream (1996, Wes Craven)
3. FILM REVIEW: Smile (2022, Parker Finn)
4. LITERATURE REVIEW: The Plague Stones (James Brogden, 2019)
5. FILM REVIEW: Hatching (2022, Hanna Bergholm)
6. FILM REVIEW: Orphan (2009, Jaume Collet-Serra)
7. RETRO REVISIT: Saw (2004)
8. TELEVISION REVIEW: I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021)
9. PILOT REVIEW: I Know What You Did Last Summer – ‘It’s Thursday’ (October 15 2021)
10. FILM REVIEW: Werewolf by Night (2022, Michael Giacchino)
11. FILM REVIEW: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936, George King)
12. FINE ART REFLECTION: Women & Children (Nina Beier, 2022)
13. FILM REVIEW: Friday the 13th Part III (1982, Steve Miner)
14. FILM REVIEW: 1408 (2007, Mikael Håfström)
15. FILM REVIEW: She Will (2021, Charlotte Colbert)
16. FILM REVIEW: Halloween Ends (2022, David Gordon Green)
17. VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (2017, Monolith Productions)
18. FILM REVIEW: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992, Fran Rubel Kuzui)
19. FILM REVIEW: Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005, Tim Maltby)
20. FILM REVIEW: Red Eye (2005, Wes Craven)
21. TELEVISION REVIEW: Hemlock Grove (2013-2015)
22. PILOT REVIEW: Hemlock Grove – ‘Jellyfish in the Sky’ (April 19 2013)
23. TELEVISION REVIEW: Scream (2015-2016)
24. PILOT REVIEW: Scream – ‘Pilot’ (June 30 2015)
25. FILM REVIEW: Lake Mungo (2008, Joel Anderson)
26. Top 5 Darkest Creatures in Harry Potter
27. FILM REVIEW: Lake Placid (1999, Steve Miner)
28. FILM REVIEW: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022, John Lee Hancock)
29. FILM REVIEW: Barbarian (2022, Zach Cregger)
30. FILM REVIEW: Prevenge (2016, Alice Lowe)
31. FILM REVIEW: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982, Tommy Lee Wallace)

I had a fantastic time doing this, and look forward to doing it again in October 2023!

FILM: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982, Tommy Lee Wallace)

Welcome to this, the thirty-first instalment in The Third Annual October Scare Fest!

Science-fiction/horror Halloween III: Season of the Witch is distributed by Universal. On October 23rd, Harry Grimbridge (Al Berry) is rushed into hospital with a Halloween mask in his hand screaming “They’re gonna kill us all”, before he is then murdered at the hospital. Harry’s daughter Ellie (Stacey Nelkin) and Dr. Challis (Tom Atkins) start investigating his death, which leads them to the Silver Shamrock factory in Santa Mira – who manufactured the mask that Harry had been holding. There they discover that the company have a sinister plan which, if successful, will result in millions dying on Halloween night.

PROS

• Director/screenwriter Tommy Lee Wallace ratchets up tension well in some early Santa Mira scenes by creating a sense of mystery around the factory and surrounding town, with the sense of eeriness elevated by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth’s score.
• Stacey Nelkin gives a good performance and has decent chemistry with Tom Atkins, whose performance is perfectly okay, whilst Dan O’Herlihy’s turn as Conal Cochran is suitably unnerving at times.

CONS

• Tommy Lee Wallace’s direction is at times feels a bit unfocused and a tad uncertain, and although he did become director at the eleventh hour after Joe Dante’s resignation, this is surprising as he was a veteran of the franchise.
• I appreciate that they were trying something different in an effort to make Halloween an anthology franchise, but any antagonist whose plan requires stealing part of Stonehenge, killing those who ensure his wealth and does not account for America’s time-zones cannot be taken anywhere near as seriously as Michael Myers.
• The narrative becomes increasingly more clichéd as the film progresses and Tommy Lee Wallace’s work becomes increasingly derivative of older, better films, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Village of the Damned.
• Unlike Laurie Strode in the first two films, Challis is not a protagonist whom we can invest in due to his excessive drinking, poor parenting and misogynistic treatment of colleagues, plus he does not even ask Ellie how old she is until after they have slept together.
• Poor practical effects which look and feel cheap and tacky are used to create the that which inflicts damage and the damage that is inflicted upon those who become victims of Silver Shamrock.

VERDICT: 3/10

FILM: Prevenge (2016, Alice Lowe)

Welcome to this, the thirtieth instalment in The Third Annual October Scare Fest!

Horror-comedy Prevenge is distributed by Kaleidoscope Entertainment, following its premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Several months after the death of her partner (Marc Bessant) in a climbing accident that she believes should have been preventable, the heavily-pregnant Ruth (Alice Lowe) becomes convinced that her unborn baby (Della Moon Synnot) is speaking to her. Believing that it is what the baby wants her to do, Ruth starts to track down the other people involved in the accident with the goal of killing them all.

PROS

• Director/screenwriter Alice Lowe brings a nuanced hand to her original take on grief and female trauma (common themes in horror), and also incorporates some witty moments, but much more powerfully a consideration of the fears and anxieties that pregnancy can induce in some women.
• A solid cast led by a nuanced Alice Lowe, who brings plenty of raw emotion to screen and (being 7 months pregnant when filming) took method acting to an extremely intimate and personal level.
• A visually chilling and at times shocking film, thanks to the cold quality of the footage framed with intimacy by Ryan Eddleston, whilst the make-up department make very vivid use of fake blood.

CONS

• The narrative is rather episodic and gets increasingly predictable, whilst a number of scenes with potential for enormous shock and horror do not fulfil it due to the over-reliance on comedy.
• Particularly given the events and realisations of the final 15 minutes, it is frankly astonishing that there was not an additional scene or two considering the repercussions (both immediate and long-term) of the film’s events upon Ruth.

VERDICT: 7/10

FILM: Barbarian (2022, Zach Cregger)

Welcome to this, the twenty-ninth instalment in The Third Annual October Scare Fest!

Horror film Barbarian is distributed by 20th Century Studios, following its premiere at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. In a rundown Detroit neighbourhood, Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives at her Airbnb, only to discover that it has been double-booked and Keith (Bill Skarsgård) is already there. Realising that they will not get the issue resolved that night, they agree to share the house. However, Tess cannot foresee what sinister things will happen to her in that house.

Yes, I realise that was an incredibly vague blurb, but I was so vague for good reason.

PROS

• Director/screenwriter Zach Cregger keeps us on tenderhooks by rarely taking the narrative in the expected direction as he frequently subverts genre tropes and, by proxy, our expectations. His altogether gripping final screenplay is intense, gritty, at times brutal and with some well-realised comedic moments
• An excellent central cast, with Georgina Campbell and Justin Long bringing bags of palpable emotion and raw energy, and another uniquely captivating turn from Bill Skarsgård.
• With cinematographer Zach Kuperstein making terrific use of low lighting and shadows, this is an atmospheric film of (after a certain point) the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Wrong Turn ilk, thanks also to the detailed production design.
• Quite striking and detailed practical make-up is used for a certain aspect of the narrative (again, not risking spoilers), whilst the use of fake blood is utterly vivid.

CONS

• A number of the scenes do end rather abruptly with no real transition from one to the next, making the film at times feel episodic and somewhat disjointed.
• A flashback to the early-1980s provides some answers whilst also setting up others, but the truly shocking aspects are not played to their full potential, and the suburbia depiction has an almost fairy tale visual quality that is inconsistent with the sense that it is a neighbourhood going down the toilet.

VERDICT: 8/10

FILM: Blonde (2022, Andrew Dominik)

Adapted from Joyce Carol Oates’s novel of the same title, biographical-fiction Blonde is distributed by Netflix, following its premiere at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival. The film depicts the turbulent life of entertainment and media icon Marilyn Monroe (Ana de Armas), from the abuse she suffered as a child (Lily Fisher), through the ups-and-downs of her careers, turbulent romances and marriages, to her premature death at aged 36.

PROS

• Ana de Armas gives a career-best performance as Monroe, portraying her with a range of complex and palpable emotions, a highly moving sense of vulnerability and a unique form of raw energy. There are several memorable supporting players, most notably Bobby Cannavale, who portrays Joe DiMaggio with brilliant intensity.
• The production design and costume design departments do an excellent job of recreating the 29-year-long era of 1933-1962, giving the film very good period authenticity, whilst it is always nice to see the Golden Age of Hollywood revisited without rose-tinted glasses.

CONS

• Andrew Dominik’s direction and overlong screenwriting is heavy-handed and unfocused as he presents a series of vignettes about aspects of Monroe’s life, through which there is a lack of balance between her personal and professional lives, and jumps from one to the next with no natural transitioning. Additionally he plays parental abuse and domestic violence for shock value when they should be handled with sensitivity and nuance; and he also tries to create horror through CGI foetuses guilt-tripping Monroe over past abortions in what is (at absolute best) a ham-fisted anti-abortion message.
• The enormous amount of focus on turbulent romances and affairs – some of which draw upon ancient rumours and gossip that has never been definitively proven true – are often rather graphic, plus Marilyn’s childish efforts to use these to resolve her “Daddy” issues not only feel disrespectful to the real-life Monroe, but are also highly exploitative and frankly unethical.
• Many of the characters receive the minimal amount of characterisation as they are brought in purely to help complete a tick-list of Monroe’s life (both that based on fact and that based on rumours/gossip), and whilst some of the supporting performers are wooden, what is more frustrating is that several talented veteran performers (such as Adrien Brody and Scoot McNairy) are noticeably underused.
• Cinematographer Chayse Irvin chops and changes between aspect ratios and styles (HD technicolour, technicolour film, black-and-white), which is frustratingly inconsistent and quite frankly distracting.

VERDICT: 3/10

FILM: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022, John Lee Hancock)

Welcome to this, the twenty-eighth instalment in The Third Annual October Scare Fest!

Adapted from Stephen King’s novella of the same title, horror Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is distributed by Netflix. When lonely multi-millionaire Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland) passes away, his teenage employee and friend Craig (Jaeden Martell) places the iPhone that he bought Harrigan in the coffin just before he is buried. As a way of coping with grief, Craig starts leaving voicemails on the phone, and is subsequently horrified when he receives texts from Harrigan’s phone and those who Craig had admitted had hurt him are found dead from what is deemed a tragic accident.

PROS

• Two solid leads in Jaeden Martell and Donald Sutherland, who have an excellent chemistry, with the former bringing raw emotion to Craig’s grief.
• Screenwriter John Lee Hancock successfully increases the possibility of something supernatural as coincidences are ruled out, plus there are indications that Harrigan has a sinister past.
• Some well-realised moments that emphasise the importance of recognising the humanity within even the most seemingly-awful people.

CONS

• Director John Lee Hancock plays the film’s most horrific aspects much too safely, and it feels like he is trying to keep it accessible for younger viewers.
• The supporting cast are altogether very forgettable, including those with significant roles, thanks not least to paper-thin characterisation.
• The narrative does drag to begin with, whilst some of the efforts to be more shocking are at best illogical, and the resolution is found much too quickly in the build-up to an abrupt ending.

VERDICT: 5/10

FILM: Decision to Leave (2022, Park Chan-wook)

Neo-noir mystery Decision to Leave is distributed in the UK by MUBI, following its premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. When the wealthy Ki Do-soo (Yoo Seung-mok) is found dead at the bottom of the cliff, it at first looks like he had an accident when climbing. As Detective Jang Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) investigates the death, he spends time with the mysterious widow Seo-rae (Tang Wei). An intrigued Hae-joon starts to become increasingly smitten with her, but things are made much more complicated when the investigation makes it clear that Do-soo’s death was no accident, and Seo-rae becomes the prime suspect.

PROS

• Director Park Chan-wook takes a well-executed slow-burn approach to the narrative, finding an excellent balance between police investigation, murder mystery and romantic drama, but most importantly ensures that everything is character-driven.
• A well-realised police investigation, with a clever puzzle full of small details that is pieced together over the course of the narrative and the viewer seeing things from the police’s viewpoint as we never know anything that they do not.
• A unanimously strong cast that boasts two fantastic, nuanced leads who have terrific chemistry. Park Hae-il brings raw emotional range to Hae-joon and throws himself into the physical aspects, whilst Tang Wei is utterly captivating as Seo-rae.
• Exquisitely shot imagery and and cinematographer Kim Ji-young ensures that every frame has a cold visual quality to it, which subtly conveys the narrative’s tragic nature and compliments the sombre, serious tone.
• Editor Kim Sang-bum does a slick job that ups the intensity in a number of scenes, and also brings a lot of attention to smaller details that compliments the nuances of the police investigation and gives insight into how Hae-joon’s mind works.
• Whilst there is some quite gory and vivid imagery, Park Chan-wook wisely keeps it to a minimum, thereby giving what there is some real shock value.

CONS

• There are a few amusing moments (sometimes seemingly unintentionally) that really should have been played straight rather than farcically.
• The film does end slightly abruptly and with some character arcs not receiving a wholly satisfactory conclusion.

VERDICT: 9/10

FILM: Lake Placid (1999, Steve Miner)

Welcome to this, the twenty-seventh instalment in The Third Annual October Scare Fest!

Horror-comedy Lake Placid is distributed by Fox. In rural Maine, Sheriff Keough (Brendan Gleeson) witnesses Walt Lawson (David Lewis) get bitten in half by an unknown creature below the surface of Black Lake. He assembles a team of scientists and academics, who determine that the creature is a 30-foot-long saltwater crocodile who is native to South-East Asia. With this creature posing such a threat to human life, leaving it in the lake is obviously not an option but, with it not being native to America, Kelly (Bridget Fonda) and Hector (Oliver Platt) insist that they take it alive for the purpose of scientific research.

PROS

• Brendan Gleeson is a suitably grouchy presence as Sheriff Keough and often says what the viewer is thinking, whilst Betty White absolutely steals her scenes with brilliant comic delivery and her natural charisma.
• When on-screen, the crocodile is given a great sense of scale and is brought to imposing life by Stan Winston’s terrific creature effects. A particularly good use of it is in an underwater scene in the climax.

CONS

• In a formulaic film that is already short (82 minutes, including end credits), far too much of the focus is on the humans on the land and their bickering over what to do, which is replete with gags that miss the mark.
• Due to the former con, the crocodile receives too little screen time and gets fewer kills than other iconic creatures (e.g. the shark in Jaws), and therefore there is scarce and minimal use of fake blood and gore.
• A mostly weak cast, with a wooden turn from Meredith Salenger, Oliver Platt and Bridget Fonda not hitting the comedic beats, and Bill Pullman very surprisingly lacking a memorable presence.

VERDICT: 4/10

POINT OF ANNOYANCE: The film is called Lake Placid and is set in Maine…why not set it in Lake Placid, Essex County, New York!?!