Review Category: Movie

THE NIGHT SITTER / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ABIEL BRUHN, JOHN ROCCO / SCREENPLAY: ABIEL BRUHN, JOHN ROCCO  / STARRING: ELYSE DUFOUR, JACK CHAMPION, JERMAINE RIVERS, AMBER NEUKUM, JOE WALZ, BAILEY CAMPBELL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

A routine job for “Amber” (Elyse Dufour), a babysitter with an ulterior motive, becomes a nightmare when a trio of Witches is unleashed in this giallo inspired horror comedy; The Night Sitter.

From the opening segment alone, with its rock/synth score and neon-soaked visuals, it’s definitely clear to see that Dario Argento, king of Giallo, was an inspiration for Directors Abiel Bruhn and Job Rocco. The story follows “Amber”, a new-to-the-neighbourhood gal who is trying to make ends meet by babysitting. Her first job is to look after Kevin (Jack Champion), the son of paranormal investigator Ted Hooper who specifically mentions that his office is OUT OF BOUNDS – a rule we know as an audience know will most certainly be broken. When Ted adds his hot dates’ son Ronnie (Bailey Campbell) into the mix, the two boys become too much for “Amber” to handle when they unwittingly Evil Dead three witches, known as “The Three Mothers”, out of a book and a bloodbath ensues.

Whereas The Night Sitter fails to live up to the superiority of its peers such as Netflix’s The Babysitter in terms of pure insanity and twisted genius, it surpasses all of its competitors in the cinematography and directing categories. For an independent film, the attention to detail in creating an atmosphere and making the most of what the filmmakers have at their disposal has to be commended. As previously mentioned, the majority of scenes are bathed in a blue, red or purple neon glow which harkens back to the Argento classics – with one scene in particular showing two doorways, one with the room a welcoming blue colour representing safety and the other with a menacing red colour representing potential and certain danger – touches which make a hell of a difference.

The Night Sitter also utilises a vast variety of practical effects which, once again, brings to mind classic horror films like The Evil Dead. This choice is one that may have been mainly down to budgeting but in the long run, helps out the narrative immensely. As the characters; including “Amber”s stereotypical friends; begin to fall to the might of the witches, the audience is greeted with some great gore from slashed throats to fingers in the eyes – the blood never lets up.

However, with all the positives of a good looking film that is a testament to independent filmmaking, there is, unfortunately, something lacking. “Amber”s motives are weak but serve a purpose to the story and the “comedy” element of the film never seems to find its stride but the prospect and groundwork were most definitely present – but as a reasonably entertaining 90-minute paranormal slasher, The Night Sitter is ultimately worth a watch as a late night romp.

YESTERDAY | CERT: 15 | DIRECTOR: DANNY BOYLE | SCREENPLAY: RICHARD CURTIS | STARRING: HIMESH PATEL, LILY JAMES, KATE MCKINNON ,ED SHEERAN | RELEASE DATE: JUNE 28TH

“From the writer of Love Actually and the director of Slumdog Millionaire” threatens the poster, and that’s exactly what’s served up in this warmed-over marriage of convenience between Richard Curtis and Danny Boyle that sees gormless singer/songwriter Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) smack his bike into a bus and wake up as the only dude in the world to remember the Beatles. Ker-ching! It’s a cracker of a concept, of course, and starts out well enough, as our hero finds that just knowing the songs themselves doesn’t bring instant fame in these brand-obsessed times. It’s here that the film shows some promise but soon it’s off, careening down that rusty old rom-com chute that Curtis keeps permanently greased.

The way this cops out on The Beatles quickly starts to grate; the only version of them relevant here is the safe as houses ‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da’ one that Jimmy Tarbuck and Cilla Black used to cover on Live at the Palladium. Yes, The Beatles were that, but they also had sharp edges; you see ‘Revolution’ and ‘Helter Skelter’ written on post-it notes on Jack’s memory wall, but you know he’ll never play them. A rooftop concert by our time-sick troubadour that cries out for an incendiary and completely narratively appropriate version of ‘Get Back’ pointedly fumbles the pass. Still, if Paul McCartney singing ‘Hey Jude’ for the umpteenth time is your idea of heaven, this is for you.

Ed Sheeran fans will also be pleased because he’s in it a lot, and to be fair to the ginger pestilence, while he’s no actor, he’s miles better here than in Game of Thrones. There is one initially gob-smacking moment when Jack is dispatched to find an old musical hero who by all rights should be dead, but, this being a Curtis script, the opportunity to sprinkle some dramatic grit over proceedings and explore the SF dimension is thrown away in favour of the sort of mawkish man-hugging that would have had the real Lennon gagging on his popcorn.

By the third act, when the inevitable, schmaltzy confession of love in front of a lighters-aloft Wembley Stadium crowd is cranking the Curtis-meter to eleven, whatever edge Boyle tries to inject into Working Title’s pensionable boy-meets-girl formula (©The Tall Man, 1989) has been suffocated to death. The big reveal, when it comes, opens up an intriguing can of worms that Boyle and Curtis simply toss into the long grass in favour of a brain-dead dash for the finish line. If you’re hoping for some timey-wimey capital from the Twilight Zone conceit of all this, help yourself to some open-goal jokes about Harry Potter and Oasis and a lot of comedy Google searches.

In an age when character comedy has brilliantly come of age and left the Curtis model high and dry somewhere back in the late ’90s, this tired mix of his usual tropes with a misguided attempt at sanctifying The Beatles into some sort of dewy-eyed Northern religion rings decidedly hollow. If you must gorge yourself to this soft-focus treacle, be prepared to have the White Album on constant repeat for a full week afterwards to get your insulin level out of danger.

THE FINAL LAND / CERT: TBC /  DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: MARCEL BARION / CAST:  TORBEN FÖLLMER, MILAN PEŠL /  RELEASE DATE: TBC

German indie sci-fi Das Letzie Land (The Final Land) is a claustrophobic two-hander set aboard a cramped and dilapidated space craft on which a pair of ill-matched crew members (an escaped prison inmate and a guard sent to capture him) battle to save the ship and themselves from disaster and somehow navigate their way to a new life.

From the moment the salvaged semi-wreck takes off, it’s a life-and-death struggle to keep the thing flying as the duo try to master the controls and bring systems back online. Forced to rely on each other’s talents, trust on board still remains in very short supply.

With almost all of the film set aboard the beaten-up vessel, The Final Land would deserve plaudits for its design and cinematography alone. Channelling the sensibilities of films as diverse as Dark Star, Alien and Delicatessen, this imaginative piece of low-budget European cinema makes great play of a ship that’s almost entirely built of vents, ducts, pipes, shafts, dimly-lit display panels, grimy keypads and failing tech. Beautifully lit and shot, the intensity of these strangers’ shared predicament feels up close and palpable.

As the fellow travellers are drawn into ever sharper conflict, escapee Adem attempts to uncover the backstory of the vessel’s previous crew and unearth the clues that might get them direction, while prison guard Novak becomes increasingly drawn to the lure of a hypnotic homing signal. Frequently framed in close-up, the committed performances of cast members Torben Föllmer and Milan Pešl are suitably intense. As Adem grows ever more concerned about the behaviour of his obsessive ship mate, some kind of explosive showdown seems inevitable.

Writer-director Baron’s first feature (which began life as the one-liner “two or three emaciated people in a poky spaceship cockpit”) is impressively self-assured and strong on sweaty, grimy atmospherics. The set design is top-notch, and the soundscape, score, model work and practical effects all vastly exceed the expectations of a minimalist crowdsourced budget.

It’s only in the final act that the pace slows sharply, as the mood becomes unexpectedly ethereal, dissipating much of the tension that the previous eighty minutes had ratcheted up so effectively. But this remains a striking directorial genre debut, a new entry in the “failing spaceship” genre that’s unexpected, unpredictable and superbly rendered on screen.

BRIGHTBURN / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DAVID YAROVESKY / SCREENPLAY: BRIAN GUNN, MARK GUNN / STARRING: ELIZABETH BANKS, DAVID DENMAN, JACKSON A. DUNN / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 19TH

Somewhere in Kansas, a spaceship crashes down outside the Breyer household. Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle Breyer (David Denman) find a baby in the wreckage. They lock the ship beneath their barn, and take him in (naming him Brandon). As Brandon grows up he develops powers. So far, so Superman. But this isn’t Superman. Written by Brian and Mark Gunn, and directed by David Yarovesky, this film explores what would’ve happened if Clark Kent had been a force for evil instead of good. The film mixes a superhero movie with a horror film. Great premise, but spoiled by the execution.

 Tori and Kyle are idiots. If you find a child in what is clearly a crashed spaceship, and you don’t call the FBI and stamp the thing to death, you can’t act surprised when things don’t go well for you later. Needless to say, as it grows up they find it harder to keep a lid on their adoptee’s antics.

We understand the logic behind their decision to keep the baby. They wanted to adopt a child so badly, and they weren’t thinking entirely rationally. Fine. Here’s the problem: none of their decisions throughout the film convince us that they would have been good parents anyway. They actively try to avoid getting law enforcement involved and dismiss any growing signs of trouble. It makes it really hard to sympathise with them.

Brightburn attempts to make up for thick characters by cramming the film with jump scares. We stopped counting after 13. At that point, you’re just using the audience’s flight or fight response to cover up the film’s shortcomings. Credit where credit is due, though: the gore is really effective, and Banks gives a great performance. She makes the film as much about her as it is about her son. We’ve barely touched on him in this review, but Jackson A. Dunn plays the role of Brandon really well.

With sympathetic characters, and less of a reliance on startling the audience, this could’ve been something special. It could have shaken up both genres. But drawing so heavily on established characters just invites us to make comparisons, and this leaves Brightburn wanting.

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

IN FABRIC / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: PETER STRICKLAND / STARRING: GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE, SIDSE BABETT-KNUDSEN, MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE, CAROLINE CATZ, JULIAN BARRATT / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 28TH

It’s a rare thing to find truly distinctive filmmakers, those who seem to project their unique way of looking at the world into every frame of their art. Those whose films you can identify immediately as the work of a particular director, a true auteur, and the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Peter Greenaway, and Terence Davies all spring to mind. Peter Strickland is such a director. Strickland’s presence is woven into In Fabric‘s every scene as much as fiendish devilment is woven into the dress which is at the centre of the plot.

A winter sale in a hilariously yet disturbingly bizarre department store draws the attention of a lonely, recently separated middle-aged woman (Jean-Baptiste, who’s brilliant) searching for something to wear as she goes on dates as a result of her lonely hearts advert in the paper. Captivated by a particularly eye-catching red dress, she’s seduced by it and the hypnotic, elaborately eloquent, ultra-mannered shop assistant (Fatma Mohamed – even more brilliant in one of the finest performances of the year so far). She buys it, not knowing that the dress is possessed and the shop some kind of gateway to something eternal, something sinister.

And that’s just the first part, as the dress goes on to possess again in a second, unexpected but connected story of a washing machine repairman and his fiancé.

Throughout, there are montages of ‘70s fashion catalogues, sudden bursts of sound (he’s a director who is just as particular about his soundtracks as his visuals), an absolutely terrifying yet mundane TV ad for the hellish department store and some of the most bizarrely erotic images seen on screen for some time, if masturbating shop dummies is your thing. Sound bizarre? Well, yes, and quite gloriously so.

Anyone who has seen a Peter Strickland film before will be familiar with his distinctive style, reflecting obvious obsessions with the likes of giallo cinema and soft core ‘70s euro porn. Previous films such as Berberian Sound Studio (2012), and what could be his masterpiece, the stunningly original The Duke of Burgundy (2014) have suggested what a singular talent Strickland is and in In Fabric, he maintains that status whilst not quite offering a fully successful narrative.

What does come across brilliantly at all times is how well he understands cinema and what he’s doing. The film is in turns creepy, sensual, gory, and laugh out loud funny. Really, you’ll be hard pressed to find better comic moments in a full-on comedy this year, with great turns, in particular, from Julian Barrett, Steve Oram, and Gwendoline Christie of Game of Thrones fame. And that’s very deliberate, Strickland playing with our expectations of what a horror film is, acknowledging and playing with the absurdity of a haunted dress flying around and slipping underneath doors. This is nowhere better evidenced than in the film’s climax, which manages to mix utter hilarity and horrific terror within the same scenes – not an easy trick to pull off but here it’s done masterfully.

It’s not going to be for everyone, certainly. And, as mentioned, even if the whole this time doesn’t quite add up to the glorious parts, In Fabric is still a must see because it is, after all, a Peter Strickland film.

Expected Rating: 9 out of 10

FONOTUNE: AN ELECTRIC FAIRYTALE / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREEENPLAY: FINT / STARRING: FINT, KAZUSHI WATANABE, KIKI SUKEZANE, GUITAR WOLF / RELEASE DATE: TBC

Just what to make of Fonotune, the first non-factual feature film from Berlin artists FINT, depends largely on what you’re looking for in a movie; if you are after a tight story, with action points, beguiling dialogue, and a cohesive, satisfying ending then this is not the film for you. If, however, you are willing to immerse yourself in a starkly beautiful, minimalist road trip, set to a soundtrack of electropop, synthwave, and radio hiss, then you might just have found a great way to spend seventy-five minutes.

The story, if you can call it that, picks up with Mono, a man dressed all in black, who is walking. Somewhere. Mono, played by the director, is silent throughout, and constantly tuned into distant DJ Radio’s FONOTUNE station through his headphones. Radio is urging his listeners to make their way to Blitz, and there is an air of The End of the World about things. Along the way, Mono picks up and discards other drifters, all similarly tuned in to whatever’s out there in a sparse landscape; their names – Stereo, Analog, and Bubblegum – tell us nothing about them, or what’s happened to get them to this point, although there are tantalising hints that Stereo, at least, is not all about the music.

Fonotune is almost entirely filmed on location – in Tokyo, Berlin, and the deserts of New Mexico and Utah – and lingers lovingly on the empty landscapes and cityscapes dwarfing the often tiny walking figures. The soundtrack uses its radio gimmick to full effect, and there is a clever encounter with the Japanese noise band Electric Eel Shock which could be overlong if it wasn’t so ambitious.

FINT wears his influences – Jim Jarmusch, Shinichirō Watanabe, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and graphic design, amongst others – plainly on his sleeve, and there is much to love here for cinefiles who are that way inclined. It treads a similar path to Daft Punk’s Electroma, and the aesthetics invoke the work of their collaborator Michel Gondry. This is a film intended to be ART and it succeeds in its aim.

The movie ends with Analog opining, “well that was pointless, gotta find something new to do,” and it’s hard not to agree with him, although the point of Fonotune is to spend seventy-five minutes doing something exactly as useful as anything these characters can do in the world they inhabit.

CERT: 15 | DIRECTOR: TATE TAYLOR | SCREENPLAY: TATE TAYLOR, SCOTTY LANDES | STARRING: OCTAVIA SPENCER, JULIETTE LEWIS, DIANA SILVERS, LUKE EVANS, MCKALEY MILLER, MISSI PYLE, COREY FOGELMANIS, MARJAY ROSS, GIANNI PAOLO, AND DANTE BROWN | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Ma stars Spencer as the titular character; a seemingly lonely middle-aged woman who befriends some high school teenagers after they ask her to buy them alcohol. Worried about them possibly drink-driving or getting into trouble, she lets them use her basement to drink in. They have to follow rules, however: they can’t ‘take the Lord’s name in vain’, the driver has to remain sober and they cannot go upstairs.  As the partying begins, new teen in town Maggie (Silvers) notices something isn’t quite right…

At first you expect a house of horrors kind of film, and it very nearly begins like that. Instead, Ma reveals itself to be more of an obsessive, psychological thriller with a twist. What unravels is a film with elements of Carrie and Misery mixed with a John Hughes nightmare. Music often makes a horror film and you’re treated to an incredible ‘80s-style score in a similar vein to Stranger Things and It Follows. Unfortunately, the film often comes across as unintentionally funny more than scary, despite a great performance from Spencer. As Ma, she claims a worthy place in the canon of horror movie psychos, one with a modern spin who incorporates social media into her antagonism.

The movie’s main twist is painfully obvious, as is the sub-plot regarding what’s upstairs in Ma’s house. There are unexplored avenues; themes of race and sex are touched on but then passed over. The older supporting actors (Lewis, Evans, Janney, Pyle) are somewhat wasted. You find out a little bit about their characters and their relationship with Ma, but not quite enough to build up more of an emotional investment.

Perhaps a more cliché’d house of horrors film may have been better, although the character of Ma is memorable and refreshing.

CERT: 15 | DIRECTOR: TOM PATON | SCREENPLAY: TOM PATON | STARRING: SAMANTHA SCHNITZLER, ANGELA DIXON, TOBY OSMOND, SOPHIA DEL PIZZO, BENTLEY KALU, KRIS JOHNSON | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (VOD)

Thousands of years ago, mankind was ruled by the Elder Gods – a species that came from the far reaches of space. After losing her parents when she was young, Ren Reid (Samantha Schnitzler) works at a facility called The Artemis Black Site, which specialises in catching and deporting the Elder Gods away from Earth, and she is soon thrust into a battle for survival against not only the God who killed her parents but those who worship him.

In the past few years, Director Tom Paton has been pushing the boundaries of independent cinema and has proved that having a low budget does not prevent you from creating captivating and unique genre films. His previous works of Pandorica and Redwood both showed that with expert attention to detail in cinematography and using every last drop of available resources to his advantage, you can create something great- and Black Site is no different.

With Black Site, the first thing that truly stands out is the cinematography. George Burt, who works closely with Paton on all of his projects, creates a stunning throwback to the likes of Escape from New York and other works of John Carpenter – with the retro lightning, darkened narrow corridors and nightmarish visions that Ren has (although they are used a little too much and feel quite repetitive) all add up to create a beautiful looking film. Along with that, the 80s inspired synth score really hammers home exactly the tone that Paton wanted with this film.

But that isn’t the only inspiration that Paton took. With the Elder Gods, who in this particular story are primarily seen in human form, they are most certainly plucked straight out of Lovecraftian lore with their grand stature and design which is displayed in Ren’s visions. Even though there is a mash-up of things we have all seen before, Paton has managed to create something that still feels unique.

Ren’s story is equally compelling – her journey to want to become a soldier stems from her damaged past and she is a strong female character that isn’t one for the sake of it. Towards the final act, her pent up aggression and badass fighting skills are on full display. However, Ren is honestly one of the only properly memorable or well fleshed out characters that we are presented with. A lot of the side characters, unfortunately, felt a bit flat with that coming from a combination of lack of backstory and stilted dialogue. But that aside, the overarching story and powerful performance from Schnitzler in the lead role managed to keep the film afloat and a rather gripping and fresh entry in the Sci-Fi genre.

Black Site is more proof that Tom Paton is a true rising Director in British Independent cinema and must be championed for taking inspiration and adding his own flavour. With the way the story ended and the introduction to the Elder God lore, there is every chance that this world and these characters may be revisited in the future which would answer a lot of questions that the audience left with.

CERT: 12A | DIRECTOR: MICHAEL DOUGHERTY | SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL DOUGHERTY, ZACH SHIELDS | STARRING: MILLIE BOBBY BROWN, VERA FARMIGA, KYLE CHANDLER, KEN WATANABE, SALLY HAWKINS, O’SHEA JACKSON JR | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Five years after the attack on San Francisco, the world is still coming to terms with the news that we are not alone on this planet any more and that monsters live amongst us. The Russells are but one of many families who felt the devastating brunt of San Fran in 2014, but a much larger scale event is on the horizon that will test the will of man in Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

After the ultimately lukewarm Godzilla (2014) and the mildly successful Kong: Skull Island in 2017, Warner Bros and Legendary’s MonsterVerse needed to knock this out of the (Fenway) park and they absolutely did that thanks to director Michael Doughtery’s extra special touch. One of the major criticisms with the previous instalment centering on the kaiju God was that he didn’t receive enough screen time – but Doughtery, in his wisdom, has corrected that particular balance whilst also ticking a lot of the boxes that Gareth Edward’s attempt, unfortunately, failed to. In this pure summer blockbuster event, the stakes have been raised in more ways than one – Godzilla himself has a much more prominent role while also sharing the giant screen with other beloved Toho kaiju including Mothra, Rodan and the One Who Is Many, King Ghidorah, and a wonderful balance of a much more compelling human than its predecessor, with giant monsters beating the unholy hell out of each other. On top of that, Doughtery’s attention to detail from being a lifelong Godzilla fan is in full effect throughout the entire film.

The human story follows the Russell family – a broken mother, Emma (Farmiga), a damaged father Mark (Chandler) and their daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown). After losing a member of their family during the MUTO attack in 2014, the family has been torn apart, but their connection to Monarch and the Titans is much deeper than first imagined. When the sinister and mysterious Jonah Alan (Charles Dance) takes Emma and Madison hostage in order to use Emma’s crucial scientific creation that could help humans and titans live in harmony for his own nefarious means, they end up unleashing the Titans, causing a global apocalypse that could end humanity as we know it… But, of course, it’s up to Godzilla to save the day by restoring balance and confirming himself as the true King of the Monsters.

This time around, the human cast is much more likeable and, although the dialogue is most definitely not the strongest part of the narrative (let’s be honest, we are here for the fights!), they are a welcome addition to the pure animalistic carnage of kaiju war and never feel like they overstep their boundaries. Each of the main characters has an interesting story arc that is much more captivating than Brody in2014’s Godzilla. Couple that with Doughtery’s (who also served as co-writer with Zach Shields) slapstick quips that try to add light to a terrifying situation, and you have some real feeling characters.

Of course, the centrepiece of the film is the kaiju themselves – the mighty Godzilla, the three-headed dragon King Ghidorah, the adorable yet feisty Mothra and the fire demon Rodan. Each member of this iconic quartet gets multiple moments to truly shine. As each one is introduced to the audience they all encapsulate the grand nature of the situation at hand – from Mothra’s hatching in its blue luminescent glory to Rodan bursting from a volcano, every one feels important and massive. There are so many breathtaking shots placed throughout that you could easily take a screenshot of and proudly frame it on any wall too – especially that one shot of Ghidorah. This is only heightened by some honestly spectacular creature design and state of the art visual effects that, although they are giant monsters, give each kaiju a personality. Not only that, but Bear McCreary’s incredible score is certainly one of the most staggering and jaw-dropping elements of the film. The filmmakers were given the rights to Akira Ifukabe’s original score from the classic Godzilla, and McCreary has crafted a mind-blowingly gorgeous score that uses elements of the classics while also giving it a stunning 21st-century makeover. Our personal favourite track is the remastered Mothra theme, made even more special in the context of the movie.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is hands down the greatest multi-monster movie of the modern era. The astonishing special effects and edge-of-your-seat thrilling battle scenes expertly paper over the minute nitpicks that one may have but, ultimately, this is one hell of a kaiju rollercoaster ride that you do not want to miss. McCreary’s score elevates the rip-roaring action, and it is absolutely apparent that this is a movie made by a fan, for the fans.