Voice of Shadows (2023) - Horror Film Review

I had a week off of my blog last week so that I could go on a mini-vacation with my best friend. I confess that lately I have been feeling a bit of burnout with this site in recent months, but the break helped, so I am back to a full five posts for this week (actually turned out just to be the four!). Voice of Shadows is the feature length directorial debut of Nicholas Bain, who wrote this also. It takes a typical idea and adds a surreal twist to it, something that kept my attention, even if I can't say I thought much of the characters here.

Emma (Corrinne Mica) her boyfriend Gabriel (Guillermo Blanco) and his sister Celeste (María José Vargas Agudelo) often spend time at the mansion of an elderly and eccentric lady named Milda (Jane Hammill) who thinks of the two girls like nieces. This is somewhere Gabriel hates going, due to Milda appearing to detest the man. With it implied the trio are in desperate money troubles they once again visit the old lady. The next day, Emma receives a phone call saying that Milda had passed away suddenly, and she comes to learn from an equally eccentric friend of the old lady - Ernesto (Martin Harris), that Milda left her the entire estate in her will. Being in so much financial trouble, the trio decide to move in, but Ernesto reveals some bizarre conditions of Emma getting the estate, such as Gabriel being forbidden to be there. They ignore this, but Gabriel soon begins to suspect all is not right, with Emma and Celeste acting very strangely, and a feel of a supernatural or demonic presence in the house.

Voice of Shadows is at least surreal, but that wasn't enough to save it for me from some less than fantastic characters. After an almost amusing prologue in which Gabriel is confessing his tragic backstory in a confession booth before realising there isn't a priest listening to him, the film has a mini-reset. Gabriel was a terrible character, he was set out as the protagonist but I thought he was a bit of a pathetic wet blanket. Emma and his sister pay him so little attention that in the early part of watching this I thought that he might be dead, with a late film reveal of this fact. No though, it seems that everyone hates him. It becomes a bit of a running joke with nearly every character either ignoring him or being mean to him, even the nice ones often have a feeling of taking the mick out of him, such as his creepy next door neighbour Birdie (Kevin Lokey).

Gabriel is very Catholic, so there is a feeling of a battle between good and evil going on, with it revealed Milda appeared to be into some sort of demonic worship, perhaps the reason she disliked him so much during life. He might be Catholic, but the church also appear to hate him, such as the empty booth in the prologue as well as several later scenes where he keeps getting told to go away each time he arrives at the church! Gabriel is also very annoying, it was amusing how much his girlfriend appears to hate him, with many different overhead shots of the two sleeping in bed quite distant from one another. I couldn't tell if he was meant to come across as a good guy, but with his super serious backstory and his ineffective bossy persona he was hard to take seriously.
There were only a small cast of characters, and they were not all bad to be fair. I thought Celeste was great, not so much Emma who came across as a bit bland and lifeless, then there was Ernesto who I did enjoy watching on screen with his bizarre tweed suit.

The horror here mainly comes from the feeling of paranoia and wrongness about both the mansion and the people revolving around it. I thought some of the investigation scenes were saved by strong props, but things such as slamming doors and rocking chairs moving on their own seemed a bit tired. Then there are the jump scare moments of figures with black eyes bursting out the darkness, not sure if they were meant to make the viewer jump also but those parts came across as cheesy. Now there was one legitimately great scene in the third act revolving Celeste, but it did only last around a minute, still it shows that there are some parts of Voice of Shadows that did shine strong. I would also say that the reveals of the antagonist's backstory was interesting when you stop to really think about it and what is suggested just by characters telling others the details rather than showing anything.

Voice of Shadows fell into the middle for me when it came to enjoyment. It wasn't a terrible film nor was it a boring film, I had no trouble watching this, but I had some bemusement with the strange choice of protagonist. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there was a feeling of round pegs being smashed into square holes with some aspects of this movie, with things not quite coming together as I had hoped. Voice of Shadows is to be released in North America on digital and streaming platforms on September 17th from Scatena & Rosner Films.

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Stupid Games (2024) - Horror Film Review

Directed by Nicolas Wendl and Dani Abraham who also co-wrote this alongside Tanner Adams, Stupid Games is a low budget indie horror film that nearly entirely takes place in the one room. It might take a heck of a long time to get going but when it does it really does.

Jaxon (Saad Rolando) and his best friend Rex (Gage Robinson) have been invited to a games night at the apartment of Celeste (Alyssa Tortomasi) and her house mate Riley (Cass Huckabay). The only problem is that Celeste was very insistent that he bring two friends with him, and the third has dropped out. As a last resort they invite nerdy cable guy Stanley (Grant Terzakis). Arriving at the apartment they meet Mia (Ashwini Ganpule) - a friend of the two house mates who had been staying with them. During dinner the power in the apartment goes out, but luckily with a variety of candles they are able to keep the night going. They decide to play a strange board game (titled something like 'Quest for Truth', apparently it was custom created for the film). The longer they play however, the weirder things begin to get, with various people seeing hallucinations and hearing strange noises. It turns out that there is something evil connected to the board game, and that it is very unwise to stop playing...

I didn't mind the majority of the film but it did feel like a lot of waiting around for the horror to begin. It really was only in the wonderful third act that it felt like things finally got moving. There are slight moments of horror, such as the hallucinations people have of seeing their eye bleeding, but mainly this is just a bunch of people playing a board game super seriously, even when it felt to me quite a dull game to play. The focus is more on the conversations between the various guests, the game offering chances for the characters to provide some backstory. 
I thought the special effects were well done, doors and drawers opening and closing on their own, game pieces and dice moving around unaided and people being dragged around the place all looked really good on screen. The first two thirds might not have had much horror at all to speak of, but the film's score really kept the atmosphere going. 

There were hints to a larger story playing out below the surface but this wasn't really reflected with the way certain characters act. Without going into spoilers, some of the characters know more than they are letting on, but it is only when the story gets to a decisive point that a sudden transition happens with previously normal acting people suddenly acting very strange with not many real hints of this before hand. The mystery of the story did keep me going, and it was worth the wait, but it really was a slow first hour. I loved how the little breadcrumbs came together for the final act, and I thought having a flashback sequence take place within the film world (a VHS tape that begins playing) was a neat way for both the viewer and the characters to be brought up to speed on what was really happening.

Despite the lack of much real horror for a good chunk of Stupid Games I did find myself really into the story. I appreciated the comedic elements around the sides of the main plot, and I did really enjoy where this eventually ended up heading. I found the characters interesting enough to want to root for at least a couple, and it all finishes up with a pretty fun finish. Stupid Games was released in March 2024 and can be found on Tubi as well as streaming for free on the Mometu app.

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Worst Laid Plans (2022) - Horror Anthology Film Review

It was only last week that I mentioned the horror anthology film Worst Laid Plans during my monthly news post. This vacation themed horror brought together three short films that came from the bestselling book from Grindhouse Press. I always have a real soft spot for anthologies and this one felt like a good 'un.

There are three stories contained here and for a change there wasn't a wraparound story to unite this together. I assume this was due to being an adaptation of a book and so with the book not having connective tissue, neither did the film. It begins with 'Deep In The Heart' which was written, directed and produced by John Hale (The Conduit short film) and was based on the short story by Waylon Jordan. In this one, a young man (Michael played by Christopher Trindade) visits a popular cave system at a tourist trap while on holiday with his mom (Jennifer Trudrung - Halloween Kills, We Are the Missing) and his moody dad (Greg Harpold - Mothman). A lot of the film is based around Michael, a closet gay whose father suspects and treats him and his wife badly as a result. It is while they are deep underground that they discover something truly monstrous.
The location here was fantastic as it was set an actual real-life cave system. There was a very unique creature here, while it didn't always look the most realistic it was definitely unexpected. The biggest problem for this one was the epilogue that went on for around ten minutes after the core threat was over with. Regardless, this was a good opening for the trilogy of tales.

Next up was 'You've Been Saved' which was directed and co-written/co-produced by Christopher G. Moore (Zombie World 2), based on the short story by S.E Howard. Two friends with very different personalities - studious Chris (Brian Ashton Smith) and deviant Ethan (Malcolm Mills) have met up after a long time apart to go on a road trip to reconnect. While at a diner, Chris notices a scared acting teenager (Emi Curia) with a creepy man (Nick Karner - Zombie World 2). His suspicions are confirmed when the girl secretly leaves him a note as she leaves requesting his help. While Ethan is happy to ignore this and continue their trip, this event plays on the much more noble Chris, with him eventually deciding he needs to do something to save the girl from what seemed like a dangerous situation.
I enjoyed this one also, I did guess where it was heading in a way, though the eventual reveal was a lot crazier than I expected. Some great special effects here for the most part, though were not all perfect, ending in a way that reminded me of a bit from an episode of dark British sitcom The League of Gentlemen.

Finally was 'Taylor Family Vacation '93' which was directed by Jeremy Herbert (The Thing with the Glowing Green Eyes, The Thing About Beecher's Gate) based on the story he himself wrote. Herbert is always known for his great short films, and it was lovely to see Morgan McLeod in the lead role here, having enjoyed his performances in previous films of the directors. This was a lovely mix of traditional film and super creepy camcorder footage.
Here, Dan (McLeod) is on vacation with his wife Amy (Marissa Gatsios) and their son Josh (Keegan Badillo), staying at a motel. Dan is startled to see that someone appears to be breaking into their motel room at night and using Dan's camera to covertly film them. The man strongly suspects it is their creepy neighbour (Jay T. Becker), and becomes determined to capture the man's guilt. This had a great vibe to it that drew slight comparisons with the almighty Sinister, especially with the home video footage combined with a really unsettling and discordant soundtrack. I did like this one even if I did guess the biggest twist almost immediately. There was a much more sad tone than I anticipated, with it devolving into something more different than I imagined it would be.

All three of the short films contained with Worst Laid Plans were a lot of fun to watch, it helped that all three were very different to each other also, despite sharing a similar theme of vacations. This is well worth a watch in my humble opinion, but I do always love a decent anthology. Worst Laid Plans is now available on Collector's Edition Blu-ray and VHS from Scream Team Releasing.

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Mon Mon Mon Monsters (2017) - Comedy Horror Film Review

Mon Mon Mon Monsters (original title Bao gao lao shi! Guai guai guai guai wu) is the second Taiwanese horror film I have ever reviewed on this site (after Zombie 108), I found it on the very start of my Shudder queue, I can't remember adding it but I must have stuck it there for a reason so decided to check it out. Written and directed by Giddens Ko, this school based horror may have elements of comedy to it, but it also is very much a horror film in its own right.

Lin Shu-wei (Yu-Kai Teng) is an awkward loner whose school experience is one of constant bullying, due to him having been designated the runt of the school population. Even his form teacher, Ms. Lei (Carolyn Chen) has no time for the student, and so after trying to exonerate himself from being blamed for stealing money after discovering the school's biggest bully (Kent Tsai as the psychotic Duan Ren-hao) and his gang were the ones responsible, Shu-wei is punished along with the bullies. They are made to do community service at a nearby apartment block for old people. With the aim of stealing the belongings of a senile old man (Ti-men Kan) they encounter there, the gang and Shu-wei return late at night, but end up encountering a young monster (Lin Pei-Hsin) who they decide to capture.
Due to their shared secret, the bullied boy is gradually accepted into Ren-hao's gang, and together they torture the little monster, as well as get revenge on those in school who have offended Ren-hao (after discovering monster blood causes terrible side effects if ingested). Unknown to the bullies, Shu-wei has ulterior motives and plans to free the monster, but initially unknown to all of them, the monster had an older sister (Eugenie Liu) who is now on a path of bloody rampage on a mission to rescue her sister.

Mon Mon Mon Monsters was a film that really improved the longer it went on. There was a feel of Deadgirl to the early parts of this, though thankfully this went down more of a torture route than the sexual assault route that horror chose to follow. The make-up effects for both monsters were really cool looking. They have sharp teeth, and seem able to regenerate whenever they are harmed. This is used to sick effect with the bullies beating it and yanking teeth out of their captured creature, as well as drill a metal face plate over the creature's mouth to stop it screaming. The creature's biggest weakness is natural sunlight, with it having a vampire effect of burning and eventually causing the creature to burst into flames. That was the main way they controlled it. 
While all that is going on there are also scenes of the bigger monster murdering lots and lots of people. This led to some crazy scenes were literal rooms full of people are brutally killed by the rampaging monster. A much higher body count than I ever expected.
With this story there is the obvious parallel between the literal monsters and the bullies, with the question being asked - who are the real monsters? The real ones were shown in the prologue to murder innocents and drink their blood to survive, but the bullies are just as bad, torturing the creature they captured over a series of days, and Ren-hao in particular having an out of control anger issue, at one point beating a fellow student unconscious with a wooden bar, in full sight of his form tutor who is too intimidated by the psycho to do much to try and stop him.

Shu-wei didn't make for the most likeable protagonist, he is made to seem like a pathetic person and there are many parts where it feels like his ruse might actually be legitimate. He appears to have found some solace in finally finding a group of people who in their own way have came to accept him into their fold. Parts where he has joined in the torture it really seems he is getting a similar sense of pleasure that the others are getting. There were funny moments here, but they happened naturally, this felt like a horror first and foremost that just happened to have some humorous scenes dotted in.
It leads to a bit of a strange looking ending, with much of the final ten minutes having a red tint applied to it, not entirely sure why. It leads to a wonderful finish that really brings the question of who is the bigger monster full circle. Throughout there were a bunch of montage sequences of either the bullies messing around, or the older monster killing people. These scenes were always very fun, I particularly loved the scene where the monster rampages through a school bus full of terrified students.

I enjoyed this Taiwanese horror, it was very well made and appeared to have some great performances. While I didn't really like the lead, he still made for an interesting character, with later plot developments being something I found pleasing to see occur. Mon Mon Mon Monsters can currently be streamed on Shudder.

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