Bury Me When I'm Dead (2025) - Horror Film Review

Reading the synopsis for the Seabold Krebs written and directed dramatic horror Bury Me When I'm Dead (in his feature length directorial debut), you could be forgiven for not seeing where the horror in this bleak and morose storyline would come from. In reality, I would say it is far more woolly whether there is anything supernatural happening or not. Thankfully, in the absence of much horror, there is a mostly decent film.

Catherine (Charlotte Hope - The Nun) has a seizure one day and learns from the doctors that she has inoperable brain cancer. While she is given the option for chemo, which could extend her life by several years, she instead chooses to go without treatment. Her and her husband, the unfaithful, yet dedicated Henry (Devon Terrell) decide to head away to New Hampshire to a holiday home of her rich parents. It is here she reveals to Henry that she wishes to be buried naturally in a clearing near the home, far away from the reach of her controlling parents, in particular, her lawyer father Gary (Richard Bekins - You're Not Alone, Daredevil TV show). Henry agrees to this, but unknown to Catherine, he has already been threatened by the man, with him stating he will take everything from Henry if he doesn't relinquish the body to her family come Catherine's death. It isn't long before she passes, and as agreed with Gary, Henry gives up her body, breaking his promise to Catherine's dying wish. A serious of bad events begins to lead the man to believe that he is being haunted from Catherine beyond the grave, for failing to give her the peace in death that she so desired.

It was over an hour into this barely one hundred minute movie that I realised that not much artificial horror had actually happened. Sure, the story isn't a happy one, dealing with the death of a loved one and the grief that follows, but on screen horror had been at an extreme minimum. When it does arrive it is very brief, a few nightmare sequences and a trippy arthouse style sex scene with Henry's affair partner Rebecca (Makenzie Leigh - Salem's Lot 2024) is about the lot you get. These sequences can easily be seen as Henry applying anything bad that occurs as being a result of breaking his wife's promise, explaining them in his mind as a way to process what is happening. Gary renege's on his promise to Henry, vowing to ruin the man's life despite following his orders was hardly surprising seeing as how much the man obviously disliked him. To be fair, Henry doesn't really deserve the happiness he is seeking. He has chosen to be with Rebecca as she is pregnant with his child. Not the best situation, but at least he didn't deny the affair when Charlotte brings it up, and Rebecca was liked by her. Henry was a lost protagonist, and one who spends much of the film in sorrow, turning to drink, but not really taking his anger out on others. The small cast were rounded out by hunter Buck (Mike Houston - Jessica Jones TV series), a more common man role compared to the rest, but he also shares in the discussion about what it is to live and to get old in one key scene.

My main issue comes with the key events that happen within Bury Me I'm Dead to zoom the story on in the third act. This includes a big bugbear of mine, a tired trope of something that only ever happens in movies. Without going into spoilers, the second this character did what they did I was fully expecting what happened to them to happen, and so it wasn't the slightest surprise when events played out with nothing but a quick eye roll from me. This again occurred later on at the film's conclusion, perhaps slightly less surprising, but hardly something that hasn't happened in countless other movies. By the time the end credits rolled it was clear that the film was far more of a drama than any type of horror or thriller.

Bury Me When I'm Dead was a well cast drama with a good assortment of flawed characters. Its horror elements were extremely light, and I wouldn't in good conscience say it really includes much of that at all. Still, it told its story in a mostly intelligent way, outside of those clumsily implemented late film twists. Bury Me When I'm Dead came to Digital and VOD beginning July 18th.

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Lizzie Lazarus (2024) - Horror Film Review

It seems this week's theme for films I watched for review is one of unexpected outcomes, with Grace Point and now the Aviv Rubinstien written and directed Lizzie Lazarus fitting that criteria. I make it a point to not read the synopsis before sitting down to watch a film and I think that really benefitted me with this one.

After an odd opening that sees the corpse of Lizzie (Megan Oesterreich) lying in a creek singing a song about dying, the film starts properly with two people deep in woodland carrying a corpse between them. It is soon revealed that the body is that of Lizzie, and that the two people carting it around are Lizzie's sister Bethany (Lianne O'Shea - A Taste of Phobia segment 'Somniphobia'), as well as her boyfriend Eli (Omar Maskati). In the past, after an argument with Eli, Lizzie crashed her car on route to her sisters, resulting in her death. Bethany being a believer in wild conspiracies and myths, had discovered a book in the local library that spoke of an area deep out in woodland that Native American's believed had the ability to bring the dead back to life after a specific ritual was performed. With her and Eli deep in mourning, she convinces him to help her dig up her sisters body and take it to this area, on the off chance that the legend about resurrecting the recently deceased is actually real.

Expecting a movie about a woman who can't truly die, I was surprised to find one in which the titular character is already dead. It was light on action, and if not for the fact the duel protagonists are carrying a corpse between them, this would appear as a straight drama. It was unique that the whole movie was the journey to this Pet Sematary style location, rather than that part just being the first act. As they slowly travel they converse on the nature of life and not only get to know each other, but get a good idea of how each of them perceived the type of person Lizzie had been. With so much dialogue and so little really happening, this conjured up the feel of a stage play, the amount of serious po-faced talking giving off a vibe of a darker Garden State.

There was a rich vein of black humour running through this, the set-up of two bickering characters awkwardly carrying a corpse was funny in itself, then there is the gallows humour that comes from them dealing with issues such as accidentally dropping the body, and running out of duct tape to keep the body bag they had created intact. It felt like the journey to the burial site was intended to be the core story, rather than what happens when they eventually get there. After twenty minutes had passed and it was still just two characters walking through woods, I hoped that it would turn continue this trend. Forty five minutes in, still walking through woodland, over an hour in, still the same, amusing in itself that the characters were doing exactly the same thing they had been doing when they were introduced. I would have been fine with it being simply conversations, but there are concessions to make things more exciting at times. These include having to sneak past a couple having sex in an abandoned car, or avoiding a passing hunter and his curious dog. Adding to the plot are a couple of short flashback sequences that show how Bethany first suggested her wild plan, as well as silent images of Lizzie back when she was living, that play out over certain comments the characters make about her. The two main characters were expertly cast, but I also thought Oesterreich was great as Lizzie, despite barely featuring in the conventional sense. Her most memorable part was the weird opening song she sings, but I guess the lyrics of that song were meaningful to the themes of the film.

I loved Lizzie Lazarus, the surreal story and setting had me engaged despite it mainly just being an hour and a half of two characters talking amongst themselves. It ends up going in a somewhat unexpected direction, finishing on an entertaining note that seemed to be a neat and satisfying full stop to end the story with. Lizzie Lazarus came exclusively to streaming platform SCREAMBOX on 14th January.

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The Reflected Self (2024) - Thriller Film Review

The Reflected Self is an English indie film that was written and directed by Kelvin Richards. It started off appearing to be a typical supernatural thriller but it isn't long before that is all turned on its head. Calling this a slow-burn would be an understatement, though does somewhat put itself together within the last few minutes of its hundred minute runtime. 

After the death of their parents in a house fire, siblings Dion (Barney Jones) and Nia (Daisie Boyes) have moved into a small house out in the countryside, but it isn't long before Dion starts seeing the ghostly figure of a woman.
Elsewhere, after the death of his entire family in a house fire, Dion repeatedly falls into a comatose state where he believes his sister is still alive. His live-in therapist, Aria (Marielle Clare) is determined to use hypnotherapy to get him to see the real reality.
But are either of these two states what is really happening to the troubled man?

I did like how this started off seeming like a ghost story but then became a more subdued version of classic horror Dark Corners. The protagonist slipping between two different realities was actually handled well, with characters in both realities recognising Dion when he falls into a comatose state again. The problem for me was that this started of slow and then just never really got moving until there was any film time left to go. It was a very sentimental film, but it was also incredibly dull and dreary at times. Rather than the thriller it appeared to be, The Reflected Self was far more a drama with very light horror elements to its plot. Along the way there were a bunch of melodramatic twists that were all taken super seriously, but which were not that exciting to watch play out. One good part I would say is the ending, I did like that, even if it was too little too late.

It was hard to get a good handle on the cast when their roles kept changing throughout the story, at times Nia is Dion's sister for instance, other times she is his daughter, while the therapist slips between a person doing that role and Dion's lover. For the most part this is a film with just the three characters, with a good 90% of the film taking place in the dark and somewhat bland looking house, there wasn't much to be interested about. The drama was all perfectly fine but didn't have me caring too much about what was really going on. Acting was varied, I thought two of the side roles that appeared later seemed very odd, though that might play into the ever evolving story of what is actually real and what isn't.

One good thing the movie did well was its soundtrack, especially later on it really fitted the vibe of the movie well and added needed emotional cues to the scenes it plays out over. In general though, this was far too slow and stale for me to really get much enjoyment out of it. It felt like it dragged, and the minimal cast of characters I didn't care about sadly did little to spice things up. The Reflected Self is released on Amazon on December 10th.

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Queen Rising (2023) - Thriller Film Review

Directed by Princeton James, with a story written by Allison Chaney and Henry E. Reaves III, Queen Rising is a thriller/drama featuring a predominantly black cast. Taking place across three different timelines of present day, ten years previously, and at some point in the 1990's, this told a mystery that was at times a bit obvious where it was going. That didn't alter the fact that I found this a fun watch that had an interesting lead.

Madison (April Hale - Witching Hour II) is a teacher whose friend and fellow teacher, Greg (Xamon Glasper) one day discovers that she was caught up in a past criminal event that came to be known nationwide as the 'College Town Slayings', with her having dated Ben, the man blamed for the killings. Sensing an opportunity for them both to make some money, Greg convinces Madison that she should tell her side of the story in a book, with him ghost writing it, and getting it published via a contact he has. She is hesitant to revisit the past, but with her beloved childhood home in danger of being foreclosed she decides to take him up on his offer, as the advance would help her to save her house.

Queen Rising mainly takes place ten years in the past when Madison was living in dorms at college. As she narrates the events of what happened back then to Greg in the present, this also serves as a narration for the slayings storyline, meaning the film can jump around in time without it feeling jarring. Madison uses the writing sessions as a form of therapy with her not only talking about her college days, but also talking about her tough childhood that had such lows as her father being murdered, her mother hooking up with an abusive boyfriend, and her mother's subsequent early death. College doesn't seem to go too much better with a series of dates with terrible guys. The lead up to the killing starting takes around half an hour of this eighty five minute film. Not having read a synopsis. I began to get a little nervous that this wouldn't turn out to be a thriller at all. This wasn't the case thankfully, and with Madison having known each of the victims, and with her dating the man who it would turn out was behind the killings, things began to get a lot more interesting. Wrinkles are added in to the tale when it is shown to the viewer that Greg isn't being completely honest with Madison, creating a mystery as to his true intentions.

Of course, if this had been real life and not movie life then there is no way that the story would have been able to happen the way it did. You have to assume the police in the film were totally incompetent when it came to studying crime scenes, but there you go. Madison made for a good protagonist, she was a strong willed woman who was shaped by both the good and bad of her childhood. The danger might take a while to make an appearance (outside of a prologue sequence taking place with Madison, her younger sister Brooke and their abusive stepfather), but when events do begin to escalate I found myself on board for the unfolding mystery. I liked the way Madison was narrating her life story in the present, it gave a logical flow to the story, while explaining why so many various flashbacks are used (sometimes a flashback even occurs within a flashback). The story is complimented by a perhaps stereotypical mysterious soundtrack, but the sound fitted the film well.

While Queen Rising may have had an obvious route as to where things would eventually end up, I feel this must have been on some level intentional. Regardless, I was still entertained watching how it got to that point. Obvious then, a little silly, but also enjoyable, and sometimes that's all that matters. Queen Rising comes to video on demand on Tuesday June 18th from Breaking Glass Pictures.

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They Are Strangers (2018) - Drama Film Review

I rarely read the synopsis for any film I am going to watch for review as I prefer to go in with my expectations completely neutral. Sometimes that does bite me however if I realise the film I have requested a screener for might not actually fit anywhere near the horror genre. For much of its eighty minute run time I was certain that They Are Strangers (written and directed by Zane L'Erario) may be one such film. Having agreed to review it I had to carry on, hoping there would be some way I could tie it to the horror genre. Thankfully this does finally deliver even if that does come virtually at the dead end of the movie.

Emilie Krause stars as Rebecca Thayer, a successful romance novelist who has hit writers block trying to write the follow up novel to her critically acclaimed last novel. Part of the reason for this is that she strongly suspects that her boyfriend William (Tom Schmitt - The Listing) is cheating on her, but not wanting confirmation of this, she hasn't confronted him about her suspicions. With a looming deadline for an initial draft of her new novel, Rebecca struggles to focus, becoming obsessed with finding out who the woman is that she believes has stolen her man's heart.

So, until around ten to fifteen minutes before the film ends is when elements of thriller move into what was otherwise a straight up drama. While not a perfect fit for this site, I still found myself enjoying They Are Strangers (the title referring to what happens to a once madly in love couple after they have broken up and gone their separate ways). I thought the protagonist was a great character, someone who is manic, confrontational, and a little bit eccentric. Meeting the character with her relationship already seeming doomed means that her wild persona makes sense, due to dealing with a broken heart. With a vivid imagination there are parts of this that have an unreliable aspect to them. This even includes a whole scene that plays out before it is revealed that it was just a daydream of Rebecca's. There was a good supporting cast for her, in particular I thought her publicist Kendra (Julie Stackhouse - The Listing) was great. The actions of the main character make a kind of sense, coming from a place of hurt as she is. It leads up to a twist ending that while not the most original was still something that I really did not expect, made for an interesting way to finish the film.

I thought the editing and directing worked well for this type of film. I liked the way the words she is typing when she is in the zone then show up floating around her. I also thought the close-up flashbacks of Rebecca and William in love were done well. For the most part there isn't much call for special effects, but when they are used I thought they looked great, can't really say what the effects actually were for fear of spoiling later elements of the plot.
They Are Strangers might not have exactly been what I was expecting, but it still told a good story with a twist that I appreciated, making this not a waste of time to watch. They Are Strangers has won numerous festival wins. It was released on EST/VOD/SVOD Digital platforms on 28th November 2023 and came to AVOD on 1st January.

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Boy Makes Girl (2023) - Sci-fi Drama Film Review

Boy Makes Girl is a sci-fi tinged drama that doesn't feature any moments of real horror. Of course, if I had read the synopsis before hand that would have been obvious. Written and co-directed by Mark Elias, alongside Mark David, this heartfelt drama uses sci-fi as part of its storytelling, but it isn't really the main aspect of this.

Aaron Barnes (Elias) is an autistic I.T genius who desperately wants to experience what it is to love. After some failed dates, in which his eccentric behaviour puts off his dates, he comes to a unique decision, to create the perfect girlfriend using his knowledge of A.I and robotics. That strangely turns out to be the easy part, with his newly created girlfriend, Emma (Meeghan Holaway) outwardly resembling a real human perfectly. Initially things go well for them, but when she begins to exhibit behaviours outside of her programming, Aaron struggles to retain control. Elsewhere, Aaron forms an unlikely friendship with an elderly man, the cantankerous Ben (Paul Dooley), whose rough and selfish ways help Aaron understand people far more than his own detailed notes ever did.

The elephant in the room is Emma, with her creation really glossed over. There is no real explanation how he was able to make her, though he already had a working A.I construct, so that part was explainable enough. It was interesting seeing her transformation from a person who acted just as 'robotically' as Aaron, to becoming more and more integrated into the world. Her change does trigger an eventual transformation in the man however. Ignoring the part about a lifelike robot swiftly being created, the film is really quite grounded with the events that happen. The film is a journey for Aaron, his autism has made him feel forever isolated and apart from the rest of society, unable to understand people's actions, and taking many things literally. This does fall into stereotypes, with Aaron's genius intellect a familiar trope that autistic characters in films and TVs often display. Moments, such as when he is walking around with mathematical equations floating around the world reminded me a lot of similar instances in the hospital drama, The Good Doctor. His behaviour is very typical, but there is a get out clause in that Elias himself is on the autism spectrum, so his portrayal comes from a place of love.

It often felt like things were going to take a turn for the truly dark, there was a definite Black Mirror type feel to how wrong things begin to go for the hapless protagonist, but the stakes are never as bleak as they sometimes appeared to be. One scene for example, I really believed he was about to get beaten up, but the scene ended up going in a slightly less nasty direction. His lowest point might have been where a typical Black Mirror episode would head, but the third act really is a path of redemption, with this keeping an optimistic and feel good aspect to Aaron's journey. It may share some similarities with Black Mirror, but this is Black Mirror-lite, with everything working out for the best, while important life lessons are learnt. The acting of the core cast was all fine for the story being told, I thought bar owner Geneva (Saundra McClain) was a lovely character, and Dooley's performance made for a character that slowly became more likeable as the movie went on.

This may not have been a horror, but I didn't mind my time with this. It is nice to get some positivity in films sometimes, as that is something horror is often lacking, so the feel good culmination of events was something I did enjoy, even if there were many, many awkward moments along the way. The award winning Boy Makes Girl was released on October 24th on VOD platforms, including iTunes and Apple TV.

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The Coffee Table (2022) - Comedy Horror Film Review

The Coffee Table (original title La mesita del comedor) is a Spanish horror film directed and co-written by Caye Casas which includes comedy so jet black that it can sometimes struggle to be seen. This vantablack comedy horror felt like a skit from surreal British sketch show Jam stretched out into a feature film. Annoyingly, the screener email requested that a very early film changing twist is not revealed within the review, so I'm going to have to do my best to dance around that particular elephant in the room.

Middle aged couple, Jesus (David Pareja) and María (Estefanía de los Santos) have recently had a baby, something which has caused them conflict in their relationship. The film begins with the couple at a furniture store looking at a hideous glass coffee table, something which Jesus is determined to buy from the sleazy salesman (Eduardo Antuña), as a response to feeling powerless in a lot of the other decisions made in his life. Once the table is delivered, Jesus discovers one of the screws is missing, so the glass top can't be attached to the base, he requests the salesman brings the missing screw around. Meanwhile, with Jesus' brother and new girlfriend coming round for dinner in the evening, María heads out to do some shopping, leaving her husband in charge of looking after the baby. It turns out buying that coffee table may well be the worst decision Jesus ever made...

The majority of the movie was like watching a car crash in slow motion. Something extremely terrible has happened, and Jesus is the only one who knows about it, and so in a farcical way does everything in his power to prevent others from finding out his secret. Even the viewer is not privy to the exact details as the biggest event in the movie takes place off camera. By the time his brother and girlfriend have arrived, as well as the nextdoor neighbours teenage daughter and her dog, the tension has ramped up to unsustainable levels. The horror comes mainly from the plight Jesus finds himself in, as the viewer it is obvious everything is going to come crashing down around all the characters, so it's an endurance race watching the horrific event play out. The subject matter is so unspeakably dark that at times you forget you are watching a comedy horror, but there are signs if you are looking out for them, such as with the baby's name (Cayetano), which everyone who hears it reacts with barely concealed dislike. There was also lighter comedy with the salesman, a fun performance from a well suited actor. The acting throughout while in Spanish, still seemed believable, Pareja in particular had a tough role to do, which he performed admirably.

The majority of The Coffee Table takes place within the confines of the small apartment the couple live in, with the pacing leading to events ramping up in a believable way. The camera work was perfect, often lingering on characters facial expressions, and the script was designed to be as obliviously cruel as possible, each line spoken innocent without context known, but pure agony knowing all the details. Jesus' torment is reflected by both visual and auditory hallucinations which really helped with bringing his inner turmoil to the forefront for the viewers.

I did not enjoy my time with The Coffee Table, but I was completely hooked watching it, a morbid curiosity meant I had to see how this would all end up. Very well shot, with great choice of actors, this supremely dark story is something that is sure to stick in the memory. The Coffee Table begins a limited theatrical run starting in Los Angeles at Laemmle Glendale on April 19th, and it will arrive on DVD and VOD on May 14th.

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My Apocalyptic Thanksgiving (2022) - Drama Film Review

My Apocalyptic Thanksgiving is at its heart a drama about the importance of family. There is one element that made this a good fit for my blog, and that is zombies. With the special needs protagonist obsessed with the undead, and in particular a show about them, around a fifth of the film's runtime uses scenes from the fictional show, to contrast what is happening there to what is happening to the main lead. This was directed by Charles B. Unger, with writing by Richard Soriano. Soriano says of the film "This film is a love letter to the special needs adults that have become my family as well as the caregivers and their families and the adults without loved ones in their lives."

Joshua Warren Bush stars as Marcus, a special needs adult in his early twenties. With the characters in his favourite zombie show placing a lot of importance on family, the man decides he wants to find his mother, someone who he hasn't seen since he was a child. Eventually she is located, with Marcus needing to get some money to be able to afford the trip to see her. He gets a job at a nearby laundromat and soon befriends the owner, Jung (Ray Chang - Lethal Weapon 4), his wife Me Young (Grace Shen - Grey's Anatomy TV series) and their son Kim (Chris Wu). However, after a criminal sees the potential in Marcus due to his size and gullibility, the man falls in with the wrong crowd, and soon he must make a choice as to where his loyalties lie.

Obviously for me the best part about the movie were the scenes set within the fictional zombie show. These sequences were always fun to watch, the show is given more of a muted drab look than the real world, and features lots of scenes of characters battling the undead. The undead looked great here, and while this only made up a small portion of the overall run time, it was fun to keep re-visiting and see the progression of the character's plot. This feeds back into the main story due to the themes of family that are present within the show. Special effects are kept to a minimum but they were enjoyable, a zombie with its face on fire in a blatant use of CG for example, was still entertaining to watch.
The main film felt a little convoluted at times, perhaps one less subplot would have smoothed things out as there seemed to be a lot going on at times. Marcus wanting to meet his mother may have been the driving force for his actions, but this scene when it happens became almost farcical due to the extreme nature of the character he meets.

Shellfish (2022) - Comedy Drama Film Review

I feel slightly guilty about reviewing Shellfish on what is essentially a horror blog. This coming of age comedy drama tangentially has some moments of horror (in a film played within the film) but to be honest that is me scraping the barrel. Written, directed and starring Hunter Hopewell (Intern of the Jedi), this zoomed along at a brisk speed and was mostly feel good.

Keller (Hopewell) is a film school graduate for isn't the most giving of people. Typically he ropes in his younger brother Bailey (Mackenzie Amar) and best friend Harper (Savanah Joeckel) to help him on his film projects, but when it comes to helping them out they are often left wanting. Faced with a week deadline to create a short film, he stretches his relationships to breaking point and is forced to confront his own flaws as a result.

One of the things that drew me to Shellfish was the stop motion and animated elements that blend into the film. Being an creative type, with equally creative friends, Keller has an active imagination that is reflected in these animated flourishes. So for instance, upon seeing the week deadline target with which to make his film, an animated eyeball on a stork juts out of his eye socket. The short films and stop motion parts both looked good, though the plasticine figures used weren't so amazing to see. It all works however as filmmaking is Keller's life and so using the same elements that he uses for the short films shown in his real life meld well.

Surfer: Teen Confronts Fear (2018) - Drama Film Review

Surfer: Teen Confronts Fear is a passion project from Douglas Burke. He not only wrote, directed produced, made the music and acted in this, but his real life son plays the protagonist. What is a drama doing on this horror focussed blog? Well, this movie is so darn weird that it felt like a good fit, this almost felt like a companion piece to Tommy Wiseau's legendary The Room with how earnest and straight faced this is played, despite being off the wall crazy.

Sage (Sage Burke) is a teenage boy who used to enjoy surfing, that is until one dark day when he nearly drowned. Since then, the boy has been fearful of the sea, instead choosing to fish from it instead. One day, while fishing on the beach, he catches something, but is surprised to see it is a man (Douglas Burke) who has been pulled out of the ocean. This man soon reveals himself to be the spirit of his father, a person that Sage never knew. The spirit imparts his wisdom onto his son, providing him with the cryptic knowledge of how to conquer his fear, he also heads him in the direction of an old friend, Captain 'Banks' Bancroft (Gerald James), who Sage is told will be able to give him lots of money.

The film is an extreme slow burn, there are only a few scene changes, with most the movie being long spoken essays from Douglas. The first half takes place on a beach, with the monotoned Sage readily believing that this strange man who has washed up on the beach is not only his missing father, but that the man had only been given a body for a few hours as a favour from God! The washed up man displays some wildly emotive acting when he reacts to the pain of being able to 'feel'. Douglas later appears as a disabled man, again some really out there acting is displayed!
The second half of the film has Sage arriving at the offices at a naval base, where Banks tells him about the bonkers backstory for what happened to his father. This brings a paranormal element into the film, but again is filmed statically with just the two characters conversing with each other. The directing and quality throughout gave a feel of a straight to TV movie, but it fitted the vibe really well.

The Expat (2021) - Thriller Film Review

I was sat on my office pondering what films to watch for review this weekend when the Gregory Segal written and directed The Expat dropped into my inbox. It was a thriller rather than a horror, but sounded like it was about a serial killer and so I decided to give it a shot. In truth, it is far more a drama, with the killings relegated to the background, yet I came to enjoy the film for what it was.

Nick (Lev Gorn - Maniac TV show) is a former American Marine who is now on a very long extended vacation in the Philippines, having left his job due to PTSD. He spends his days relaxing in bars, while he spends the evenings with various women that he meets on a local dating app. Things take a dark turn however when the bodies of girls Nick has been seeing begin to turn up all over the city. Due to the connection to him, a local Manilla detective, Cruz (Mon Confiado) pins him as the prime suspect, yet with no evidence Nick is free to leave. After the man moves to a beachside town he thinks all his troubles are behind him, and even meets a woman (Delilah played by Lovely Abella) who could mean more to him than just a casual fling. The killings follow Nick however and he begins to realise that whoever is responsible has a deeper connection to him than he at first suspected.

So, The Expat is far more a drama than a thriller and that is mainly due to the killings being almost treated like a side plot. They happen in the background and aside from one of them, they are not even something that is shown on screen. Typically the first the viewer knows of it is when Cruz is visiting a crime scene. The whole second act is almost completely murder free and instead falls into a deep look between Nick and Delilah, working on building the relationship between these two disparate characters who nonetheless begin to build an attraction. With Gorn you have an actor who always makes his character feel like he is a fish out of water, never able to shake the foreigner label. This can be seen both with his interactions with characters but also how he is shown on screen, often being accosted by beggars and being stared at by locals. The PTSD part of Nick is barely ever looked into, there are a couple of scenes where we are shown him having an episode, while this could have been used to implicate the man in perhaps killing people while under the effects of PTSD there isn't enough done to create that suspicion. The way the protagonist acts never once made me think he could actually be the killer, far too chilled out.

The Sacred Spirit (2021) - Comedy Drama Review

One of the many films joining the Arrow streaming subscription service in March is the Spanish comedy/drama/sci-fi film The Sacred Spirit (original title Espíritu sagrado). Written and directed by Chema García Ibarra this surreal movie plays its comedy with a super straight face and was all the better for it.

The film begins with Charo's daughter Vanessa (and twin sister of Verónica, played by Llum Arques) having recently gone missing with the story all over the local news. Elsewhere, Julio (José Angel Asensio), the head of a small group of ufology enthusiasts made up of misfits has recently died, he left his belongings to José (Nacho Fernández), who just so happens to be Charo's brother. Unknown to the rest of the group, who believe the aim for them is to be taken by aliens, Julio and José had a secret plan, one that involves bringing an ancient spirit into the world, using a young child as the vessel.

The Sacred Spirit takes place in a bizarre world, but one that within its context feels completely normal. The humour here is deadpan and comes from the many characters. I would say it kind of shares similarities with Napoleon Dynamite in the way the comedy plays out. There is nothing laugh out loud funny here, instead it is the dialogue that is said, and the way it is spoken by the deeply earnest characters. It seemed to begin with that Charo was going to be the protagonist, but this instead falls on José. This man, obsessed with Egyptian mythology (his apartment that he shares with his Alzheimer's afflicted mother is full of gaudy and tacky Egypt themed knick knacks) was strangely likeable despite the film hinting at a darkness that he may be involved in. He genuinely believes that an ancient spirit is going to return to the world, and that he alone is the one who can get this done, there is almost a sadness with José and despite everything I didn't want anything bad to happen to him. That comes with many of the characters who while extremely weird had an innocence to them that made them endearing. The UFO group for instance have share a strong bond.

Typo (2021) - Drama Film Review

Typo is a drama that was directed by Antony Meadley (Witch Hunt). I actually knew the synopsis going in as I have previously mentioned this in a news post back in October. The core topic Typo is made up of deals with domestic abuse, there isn't any fictional portrayal of horror, I wouldn't even call this a thriller, more a straight up drama. It can be said though that real life domestic abuse is an awful thing, a real world horror and so with that slim escape clause this gets featured on my blog.

In present day, Abbie (Melissa Hollett - As A Prelude to Fear) talks to her apparently comatose husband, Tim (Guy Barnes - Rock Band Vs Vampires) who lays silently in bed. Her one sided conversation leads to her reminiscing about the past, first about the early days when the couple first met, and then the gradual decline in their relationship to the point where Tim is regularly beating her.

If I had a Woody style pull string on my back one of the quotes I would say is that I love films that begin in the present day and then head back in time to show how events came to be. Such is the case with Typo, the core dangling thread is just how Abbie came to be the one in control, and just what has happened to the off camera Tim. Things start off well enough with scenes featuring when the two first met, the early happy memories they have. It is about the second act onwards when things take a nosedive. 

Ape Canyon (2019) - Film Review

I knew going in to this Joshua Land (Bad Witch) directed movie that it wasn't going to be a horror film. It does however have a story that revolves around the hunt for Bigfoot (a similar non horror Bigfoot film I have previously reviewed was A Wish for Giants). Sometimes it is nice to have a break from life or death situations and so I thought it would be a nice breather from all that with Ape Canyon. It was a nice breather, a road trip movie (I always enjoy those) that has the horror element not on likely non real monsters, but on the turmoil that mental trauma can cause.

Cal (Jackson Trent - Bad Witch) unexpectedly turns up at the college his sister Samantha (Anna Fagan - Lotus Eyes) teaches at one day. Having gotten obsessed with going to a place called Ape Canyon that is said to be the home of some Bigfoot creatures, Cal tricks his sister into coming along with him on an expedition to the area. Things don't go according to plan however, and with the odds increasingly against him Cal takes more and more drastic measures to reach his goal, no matter the obstacles in his way.

The tagline for the film describes it as a 'cryptozoological dramady', and to begin with it is that. The films first act is light-hearted and as annoying as some of the characters can be they fitted the vibe. Ape Canyon never really loses sight of that light-hearted tone, but it certainly takes some steps off that path. What seems at first an eccentric yet loveable character in the form of Cal takes on a more darker feel, his eccentricities more and more feel like they are due to a real mental illness that has taken root in his mind, rather than him just having a kooky larger than life persona. There are a variety of characters along the way, though as the film progresses it becomes much more about the two siblings. Some of these side characters added a lot to the pairs adventures, in particular Charlie (Donny Ness), a young Jewish boy brings a lot of the comedy elements due to the way Cal talks with him. Once he is gone the film begins to take on a darker edge, beginning with a rant Cal has that shows his obsession to get to Ape Canyon is not a healthy one.

Entombed (2020) and My Autopsy (2020) - Horror Film News

Post apocalyptic horror Entombed was released on DVD and Digital on March 16th from Bayview Entertainment. This Kjell Hammerø directed film stars Martine Johansen, Grethe Mikaelsen and Herbrand Larsen. The synopsis is that in the near future a pandemic has brought about the collapse of civilisation. Seamus, a man on the run, discovers an underground shelter which he thinks will grant him safety. However, he soon finds out that he is not alone and that things may be even more dangerous than up on the surface.

Also from Bayview Entertainment is Holly Mollohan's My Autopsy which stars Dominic Cancelliere, Joseph Moreland and Hunter O'Harrow. This drama is about a woman named Rachel who is so desperate for love that she stumbles into an abusive relationship. Even after escaping this relationship she is haunted by the memories of her abuser. Described as 'sex, drugs, rock and roll, and stream of consciousness poetry with a dreamlike twist' this movie is available to buy now.