Get Out (2017) - Horror Film Review

It is quite rare when a horror film gets into the public consciousness, so I was pleased to see Get Out achieve that. All my work colleagues had heard of it and appeared interested that I was off to see it, my favourite podcast did a big segment about it, and going into the cinema there was a broad section of both old and young people in attendance. If only all horror was this broad in its viewers, though if only all horror was quasi-original and socially relevant as this, rather than the same old tedious paranormal stuff that is so prevalent these days.

British actor Daniel Kaluuya (Black Mirror) stars as Chris; a twenty something black man who is heading away with his white girlfriend; Rose (Allison Williams) for the weekend to meet her parents. Worried how they will react to their daughter dating a black guy she puts his mind at ease explaining they are quite liberal, Things start off ok, the family are welcoming to Chris, though there is a sense of awkwardness around their interactions with him, while Rose's brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones who looked distractedly like a guy I used to know) comes across as a bit shady. With odd acting black staff, and a strange hypnotism incident at the house Chris becomes more and more convinced he needs to...get out.

Split (2016) - Horror Film Review

Split is the latest film from M. Night Shyamalan, of course he needs no introduction as everyone has heard of at least The Sixth Sense. Personally I would put his super hero flick Unbreakable as one of my top 30 films of all time, yet as the years went by he began to seem like a one trick pony, cursed with the expectation that there would be a huge twist at the end of whatever film of his you were watching. For me I had lost faith, none of his films after the first couple were memorable to me, the twists became obvious (The Village, The Visit) and despite always choosing the perfect actors the films just had lost the zing that I had come to expect. As such going in to see Split my expectations were pretty low.

Three teenage girls including loner Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy from Morgan and The VVitch) are just about to head home from a party when they get abducted by a serious looking man (James McAvoy) . They awaken in a make-shift prison cell and soon discover that their captor has dissociative identity disorder, the most dominant personalities being the stern OCD inflicted Dennis, matriarchal Patricia, and a nine year old called Hedwig. Learning that someone dangerous referred to as 'the beast' is going to come for girls they must try and find a way to escape their confinement.