Review Category: Movie

Aimy (Allisyn Ashley Arm) is a creative young woman who is hated by her strict and cruel family. Her spiteful Grandmother Micry (Terry Moore) decides Aimy has gone too far, when she breaks one of her Grandmother’s childhood toys. She orders an invasive operation to make Aimy more docile. Meanwhile, the whole family is trapped in quarantine inside their house as an outbreak of illness sweeps the country.

The opening credits say that this is a Hooroo Jackson trip. This gives you a pretty good idea of what you are in for. The film certainly acts like the mixed up and incoherent product of a person on drugs and someone’s drug trip is never really any fun to watch. Maybe actually being on drugs would make watching this film enjoyable. Maybe a large dose of morphine, Valium or even horse tranquilizers will make the hour and eighteen minutes of this film fun to watch- perhaps all of them together. Sober, this film is soul suckingly annoying to the extent that as the film drones on you begin to wonder whether it is an endurance test put together for the sick enjoyment of the filmmakers.

Aimy in a Cage is based on a graphic novel, also by Hooroo Jackson, which goes some way to explaining its aesthetic, though while some films can take the kinetic and absurd aesthetic of their comic book source material and use it to create their own unique style, like Edgar Wright’s wonderful Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Aimy in a Cage is not one of those films. Though there is some good production design, the film’s style just does not work and it comes across as a hugely amateur version of a Wes Anderson movie, all ADHD editing and flashing images combined with a wet sounding keyboard score.

The film’s plot is difficult to expand on precisely because there is nothing to expand on, as it seems like Hooroo Jackson doesn’t want to focus on anything or give the viewer anything to bring them through the film. The backdrop of a plague, which is apparently ravaging the outside world, is never capitalised on and we barely see beyond the news that a baby has been infected. If I was being generous I’d say that the film showed the family abuse of Aimy, who the family dislike because of her awkward difference, and the barbaric misuse of medicine to treat potential mental illness shown through the unique world view of the highly creative Aimy but if that is the intention then it is a resounding failure as you come away from the film with nothing.

Aimy in a Cage is an annoying frenzy of a film that will push your patience further than any film should.

AIMY IN A CAGE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: HOOROO JACKSON / SCREENPLAY: HOOROO JACKSON / STARRING: ALLISYN ASHLEY ARM, CRISPIN GLOVER, TERRY MOOREPAZ DE LA HUERTA / RELEASE DATE: 8TH JANUARY 2016 (USA); TBA (UK)

“A long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away…” these are a small assembly of words that mean a great deal to many people. Star Wars began as a wild dream in 1977, by George Lucas and a crew that veered from being frustrated to feeling tormented by what seemed to be, at points, a certain failure in the making. Until something special happened and in the following years, with Irvin Kershner’s even greater sequel The Empire Strikes Back and Richard Marquand’s story closing Return of the Jedi, Star Wars became way more than a series of films, it became a phenomenon. Star Wars is a modern cinematic myth, for many it is a way of life and even in the controversial and turbulent times of the franchise (the prequels remain an avid source of debate), these films have influenced cinema unquestionably and impacted culture unshakably. So when Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, after (for all intents and purposes) the final film Revenge of the Sith came out in in 2005, and announced that the story would continue, it created a bigger bang than a thermal detonator in a Mustafar volcano or a proton torpedo down an exhaust port. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is indeed an awakening.

Not content with attempting to continue a story concluded back in 1983, this sequel re-unites certain cast and crewmembers of the original trilogy and places them next to new faces. Director J. J. Abrams, fresh off a rough trek with Star Trek Into Darkness (which led to huge fan backlash) is the man tasked to try and ensure the survival of a saga in these changing times. “Do or do not, there is no try”, so the big question you all want to know is one we can actually answer without spoilers. Does J. J. manage it? Yes…yes he does. The Force Awakens is a shattering, exciting, engrossing and at times even tiring (in the best possible way) experience that marries the old and the new to create something that is really quite magical. The opening crawl and ever-masterful John Williams score accompanying it was met with applause at our screening and the beautiful final shot of the film and closing credits were likewise applauded. Believe us, this will be a universal occurrence.

The plot, well what we can tell you of it, sees Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) missing and ace resistance fighter pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) hides vital information to his whereabouts on his loyal droid companion BB-8 but when the dastardly First Order, led by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), comes calling BB-8 must flee. BB-8 soon meets a scavenger called Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Dameron meets First Order stormtrooper “Finn” (John Boyega), who struggles with his dark duties and attempts to escape, fate naturally brings Rey, Finn and BB-8 together on an unexpected adventure in a fight against an ever growing galactic darkness. Ok, there are some details there but we have kept it as condensed and vague as possible (honest) because The Force Awakens is a journey best left for you to discover yourself. It embraces the successes, the flaws and the beloved moments of all that came before to deliver a film some may well accuse of fan service or rehashing A New Hope but which actually takes the familiar flourishes of the series and uses them to create a brand new exciting direction for Star Wars. 

Kasdan, Abrams and Arndt’s screenplay plays out simply but boasts a sense of joy, heart and brewing darkness in equal measure. The story has multiple tangents and twists and the central plotline is unexpected, emotional and ripe for advancement across what will be a new generation of Star Wars lore. The biggest draw of The Force Awakens may be its nostalgic implications and indeed the film constantly nods to and references what many viewers will see as the franchises glory days. However these classic tropes of the narrative serve a greater purpose in helping to establish an all-together new course for Star Wars. While not forgetting its past, Abrams’ film looks to the future and leaves audiences eager to see potential arcs and characters introduced in this film, develop later. The script, like the direction, retains the franchises core elements of action, comedy and romanticism and adds an epic sense of progression in scale and themes. This is a refreshing film, one that continues the Star Wars binary opposition of good and bad constantly in battle to balance out the force but which is boosted by a sense of innovation. From updated colloquialisms to the prominent female presence in the film, this is another case of Sci-fi being a gateway for leading the way in cinematic development and the overall film feels fresh and exciting as a result. In fact the film often feels drawn from years of expanded universe developments and almost like it was made in conjunction with fans…which it kind of was. 

The less said about the cast and characters the better but needless to say seeing Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels back in the roles they made iconic is stirring and often heart swelling for viewers brought up on a healthy dose of bun haircuts and Chewbacca impressions. They all have major roles in this story but of the original cast, it is perhaps most appropriately Harrison Ford who most stands out. His Han Solo here is a changed man, his outlook has changed and with every passing year so has he. Ford excels in showcasing this brilliant development in the Solo character. Yet through it all, he remains the gun-slinging rogue that won our hearts back in that cantina in Mos Eisley. The nostalgia value may be undeniable but The Force Awakens is far more than a reunion of old mates and the new leads are exceptional proof.

Ridley is a likable, well developed and a very strong role model as Rey and her chemistry with John Boyega’s Finn is immediate. Boyega too takes the opportunity to showcase a range of emotions and is a lead you can relate to. Though they are made to bring their best thanks to the impeccable creation that is droid BB-8, who looks superb in design and is a blissful scene stealer worthy of taking over from R2-D2 in the cute, character-filled and expressive droid department. The new cast all bring their passion to this project, be it the authoritative Domhnall Gleeson or the cool as ice Oscar Isaac, if anything there are too many characters to choose from who have an important presence in the film. Although the show stealer is Adam Driver’s new big bad Kylo Ren, who is a mesmerising presence in the film, played with seething rage and emotional turbulence by the ever-exceptional Driver. Ren pursues the darkness psychotically and obsessively to give the Star Wars franchise one of its most unstable and compelling villains (and that is saying something). Ren is the best bad guy of the year, in one of the best films of the year.

The Force Awakens also marks a welcome return to the days of practical effects and props and while there is an integration with a great deal of CGI (which is reliably brilliant), the film has not overstuffed the digital side of things and this is to its benefit. The sets are intricate throwbacks to behold, whose hidden treasures will undoubtedly benefit from repeat viewings. However when we speak of visual grace, it would be foolish not to mention Dan Mindel’s cinematography, which is possibly the greatest of the franchise, with the set pieces proving big, explosive and exciting and the locations being picture perfect for them. The Skellig Michael filmed closing moments of the movie in particular are a change of pace for Star Wars scenery and breathtakingly beautiful. Then you have Williams’ scoring that once again strives to strike the perfect tone and succeeds, with the occasional cheeky use of an iconic Star Wars riff, inevitably making the hairs on your arms stand to attention- especially in the dark closing lightsaber-filled action set-piece.

From old joys to fresh twists, this is a unique blockbuster experience that celebrates the franchise whilst also expanding it. There are shocks, there are thrills and at times it takes a few moments to absorb what you have seen in this vast, enthusiastic and sometimes overwhelming experience. Fans of Star Wars are well served here (as are non-fans to be honest) and will likely get emotional themselves at Abrams’ accomplishment. Bottom line, this is glorious, involving and top-notch entertainment. This is both the Star Wars you know and the Star Wars you don’t but it is also the Star Wars you love, The Force Awakens is calling out to you, just let it in…

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS / CERT: 12A / DIRECTOR: J. J. ABRAMS / SCREENPLAY: LAWRENCE KASDAN, J. J. ABRAMS, MICHAEL ARNDT / STARRING: DAISY RIDLEY, JOHN BOYEGA, HARRISON FORD, ADAM DRIVER, OSCAR ISAAC, CARRIE FISHER, MARK HAMILL, LUPITA NYONG’O, ANDY SERKIS, DOMHNALL GLEESON, PETER MAYHEW, ANTHONY DANIELS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Expected Rating: 9 out of 10

Actual Rating:
 

Perhaps best known for Scrat, that poor little bastard of a squirrel who pops up in the Ice Age franchise and in several shorts before their other movies, Blue Sky Studios have now commandeered Snoopy and the hopelessly unlucky Charlie Brown for a Peanuts reboot. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Blue Sky bunch are absolute sadists, obsessed with watching Scrat squirm through terrible ordeals and now keen to watch poor old Charlie Brown completely fail at life’s everyday obstacles.

Based on Charles M. Schulz’s much beloved scribbled cartoon strips, Blue Sky have updated the animation, giving Charlie and pals a shiny 3D digital makeover, but little else has changed. Not messing too much with the formula or characters that made Peanuts famous, Blue Sky have played it very safe and pretty damn smart keeping most of the charm of Schulz’s original work.

Charlie is surrounded by old familiar friends; benevolent Linus with his trusty blanket, Beethoven-idolising pianist Schroeder, sporty ginger Peppermint Patty, and dust-cloud covered Pigpen. When a new little red haired girl moves to the neighbourhood, Charlie’s attempts to impress her go predictably pear-shaped or seemingly unnoticed. While he musters up the courage to actually talk to the object of his affections, his trusty canine pal Snoopy goes in search of adventures in his own imagination, hunting down a poodle named Fifi who is being menaced by Snoopy’s nemesis The Red Baron.

It’s an incredibly slight story with absolutely nothing of any consequence at stake. That might make it admirably true to the comics, but it also leaves the movie feeling incredibly episodic, disjointed even, as it lurches from one sequence to another. The story bumbles along like Charlie Brown, but with none of the character’s determination. He might want to talk to this new girl in town, but it’s not a goal that all viewers will be able to get behind, particularly the younger ones in the audience who probably just want to see more of Snoopy flying his kennel into barmy battles with The Red Baron.

Peanuts ends up feeling like two separate films, one in Snoopy’s mind and one in Charlie’s real world, neither of which gel particularly well with the other. Both are full of imaginative visual gags and plenty of slapstick to make kids giggle, but overall the first half of the film drags with little sense of purpose or direction. It eventually feels as though it’s getting somewhere, but it’s impossible to shake the idea that Blue Sky should have brought Charlie, Snoopy and the always entertaining scene-stealer Woodstock back for television. As a series of episodes, Blue Sky have done a fantastic job at keeping the spirit of Schulz alive, but it fails to work nearly as well at feature length.

Everything about the Peanuts movie feels reverential and traditional; from the boy meets girl story, to the one token black kid character, to Charlie’s bossy stereotype friend/bully Lucy. Even the 3D digital animation doesn’t diverge from Schulz’s original drawings much. It’s clearly a labour of love, but in stretching Charlie and Snoopy’s story to nearly 90 minutes, Peanuts becomes laboured itself. By all means let Blue Sky keep making Peanuts adventures, but put them on TV where they’ll find a snugger fit in future. Like with the mini-adventures of Scrat, a little Snoopy goes a long way.

THE PEANUTS MOVIE / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: STEVE MARTINO / SCREENPLAY: BRYAN SCHULZ, CRAIG SCHULZ, CORNELIUS ULIANO / STARRING: NOAH SCHNAPP, BILL MELENDEZ, ALEX GARFIN, ANASTASIA BREDIKHINA, KRISTIN CHENOWETH / RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 21ST

Expected Rating: 5 out of 10

Actual Rating:
 

Whatever Quentin Tarantino’s snow-bound bastards get up to in his forthcoming opus, it’s doubtful that any of them will be as truly hateful as Adam Sandler at his Adam Sandler’est. The Ridiculous 6 is a collaboration between Sandler’s Happy Madison filmmaking studio and Netflix, of Jessica Jones, Daredevil, W/Bob and David, Orange is the New Black and brand new Arrested Development acclaim. To no-one’s surprise, The Ridiculous 6 will not be remembered as one of Netflix’s successes.

It should do a good job of capturing the Adam Sandler audience though, being absolutely everything one has come to expect from a modern Sandler movie. Case in point, Sandler as a surprisingly competent gun (or knife) slinger (like his turn in You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, except less surprisingly great) and Rob Schneider as his Mexican half-brother. Steve Buscemi cameos as a dweeb town dentist, and there’s a mule, which exists only to fart and shit everywhere. We’re only one Kevin James away from a full house in Sandler bingo.

Of the performers, we’re in two camps: the terrible and the wasted. While one can probably guess up the former (give or take an atrocious Taylor Lautner and surprisingly rubbish Jorge Garcia), the latter makes for truly depressing reading. Buscemi is just one name in a list, which consists of Luke Wilson, Will Forte, Steve Zahn, Harvey Keitel, Nick Nolte, Danny Trejo and, most unforgivably of all, Terry Crews (who at least gets all the best laughs, and wardrobe). As wasted potential goes, it’s up there with Movie 43.

Seth MacFarlane can breathe a sigh of relief – One Million Ways to Die in the West is no longer the worst comedy Western ever made (we’re not counting Wild Wild West). There’s sharting asses, Adam Sandler doing a stupid voice, numerous racist stereotypes, and Taylor Lautner doing an even worse voice. And yet it’s the best thing Sandler has done in years. Given the cast assembled and sheer amount of jokes being cracked, it’s impossible not to smile (and even laugh!) at least a couple of times, as bad as you might feel afterwards. They’ll grow on you, this Ridiculous 6, much as you might hate them for it.

THE RIDICULOUS 6 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: FRANK CORACI / SCREENPLAY: TIM HERLIHY, ADAM SANDLER / STARRING: ADAM SANDLER, TAYLOR LAUTNER, JORGE GARCIA, TERRY CREWS, ROB SCHNEIDER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (NETFLIX)

A vicious murderer, The Laughing Mask, is on the loose killing people. Jake Johnson’s (John Hardy) wife and daughter were murdered by the psychopath and now he has written a book in the hope of luring the killer to him so that he can seek his revenge. Meanwhile, detective Katherine O’Malley (Sheyenne Rivers) is trying to catch The Laughing Mask before he kills again.

It’s difficult to know where to start with this film and as advice to a potential viewer, we would say it’s best not to start it at all. We’re not entirely sure that The Laughing Mask knows what type of film it is as its tone veers widely. There are moments of what seem to be attempted comedy, which sit there bloated like the washed-up corpse of a whale, but there aren’t enough throughout the film’s extremely protracted running time of an hour and forty minutes to justify saying that it is intentionally a comedy. On the other hand, it is never scary so it’s difficult to call it a horror though it is definitely an attempt at a slasher film. So this leaves us nowhere.

It’s part crime drama, as we follow the attempts of detective O’Malley to capture The Laughing Mask, but her occupation seems only to be useful in sticking her in the story, as she does very little police work and certainly none of it is any good. The police force in The Laughing Mask are possibly the worst ever committed to film. Our first proper introduction to them is when they meet at the scene of a murder where they proceed to make wildly inappropriate jokes and comments about whether the murder victim has breast implants or not. Their police station is woefully unconvincing; for some reason O’Malley has a world map poster on her office wall like that found in a Ten-Year-Old’s bedroom and the chief has a poster that is a stock image of London phone boxes.

The acting is unswervingly bad, leaving every scene stilted and often unintentionally funny. Characters drift around speaking dialogue that seems like they’ve only just read it and acting like they’ve never felt actual emotions before. The film blunders on towards an ending, stopping for several drawn out scenes along the way that could easily have been trimmed down, with a random and nonsensical twist that falls out of nowhere.

What we can say though is that the actual Laughing Mask killer is fairly well styled, even if he is completely uninteresting, and there are some laughs to be had at the blunders that make up the film. A moment starting with a flat line reading and ending with animated pickles is also genuinely laugh out loud.

The Laughing Man is a film that doesn’t really do anything right. You may laugh but it won’t have been because of anything intentional.

THE LAUGHING MAN / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: MICHAEL AGUIAR/ SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL AGUIAR / STARRING: SHEYENNE RIVERS, JOHN HARDY, GABRIEL LEE / RELEASE DATE: TBA
 

We may have reached saturation point but the zombie and found footage sub-genres continue to shuffle in. I Am Alive sandwiches them both together in a film that may not be entirely original but still has some merit to it.

A television crew attempt to film another episode of survivalist TV show I Am Alone in the American Rockies but they get wrapped up in a zombie outbreak.

I Am Alone uses its Bear Grylls/Ray Mears survivalist television show as a useful justification for the common found footage problem of ‘Why are they still filming this?’. On one side, we have Jacob (Gareth David-Lloyd), the presenter of the show I Am Alone, who is laden with GoPro cameras to film his survivalist exploits. After he is bitten his story then becomes about charting his gradual decline to the zombie infection. This is the most effective part of I Am Alive, helped in no short part by David-Lloyd being the best actor in the film. David-Lloyd effectively portrays the desperation and breakdown of a man who realises that he is in serious trouble and tries to keep the hope of his survival intact as he attempts to make it to safety.

The film is not big on in your face gore effects, so a lot of Jacob’s breakdown is portrayed through his deteriorating mental state. This section works most effectively as Jacob is an enjoyable character and he gives us the most emotional investment in the film. The cameras he is left with become a personal diary to him, as he attempts to keep filming footage for the series and charting his own decline, though you do still sometimes wonder why he takes the time and effort to create effective two camera framing shots while in such obvious bodily pain and degradation.

On the other side of the film are Mason (Gunner Wright) and Adam (Rory Zacher), the two crewmembers who go to film interviews with locals and then attempt to find Jacob. Their section is more the action side of the film with them mostly running away from infected zombies. Here the conceit works less well as you really do wonder why they bother attaching cameras to themselves before running into life and death situations. This section works better to begin with as we see the confusion as things start to fall apart but is less interesting when it’s just people running from zombies. It also hints at some of the madness that could occur during an outbreak but never runs with that idea which is a shame.

Wrapping around these two parts is an attempt at a framing narrative as Mason is interviewed in a scientific bunker in the hope that the videos can help find a cure. This is a largely unnecessary attempt to justify us seeing the tapes that doesn’t really add anything and at worst interrupts the flow and slows things down as it takes away focus from Jacob’s more interesting story.

Though it doesn’t bring anything new to the table and isn’t all entirely successful, I Am Alone is an enjoyable if forgettable entry into the zombie and found footage subgenres.

I AM ALONE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: ROBERT A. PALMER / SCREENPLAY: ROBERT A. PALMER, MICHAEL A. WEISS / STARRING: GARETH DAVID-LLOYD, GUNNER WRIGHT, RORY ZACHER / RELEASE DATE: TBA

Despite a couple of hiccups, Pixar have for the most part released inventive, entertaining, enjoyable and above all touching films, however, with such a track record and the weight of expectation that brings, even the slightest of flaws in any new release tend to get magnified unfairly. In a year that also saw the release of the superlative Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur has a hard road ahead of it to impress as much as that movie did.

In a world where the asteroid that supposedly hit the Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs actually missed, Arlo the Apatosaurus also has a rough task ahead of him. On his family’s farm each member must ‘make their mark’, usually by knuckling down and overcoming some difficult task; but try as he might, Arlo just can’t seem to find an area to excel in. He’s too small to till the fields or take on clearance work like his brother and sister and the family’s chicken-like birds that he’s supposed to be in charge of terrorise him mercilessly. Most things, in fact, scare him senseless.

After some Bambi-like trauma which younger children may find very upsetting, an encounter with a ‘critter’ who keeps raiding the family’s food stocks leads both Arlo and the critter to be swept downriver and far away from home, out of sight of even the huge clawtooth mountain that overlooks the farm. Arlo must now face up to his fear and find his way home, perhaps with some help from an unexpected source.

Working like a reverse Finding Nemo, The Good Dinosaur follows Arlo and his occasional companions on the journey home, providing a pretty sparse look at a world where the dinosaurs lived on for millions of years than they did in reality.

Needless to say, the ‘critter’ that Arlo runs into is, in fact, a small human cave boy and the majority of the film focuses on the growing relationship between the two, as they come to trust each other. They come across a number of different dinos along their way but the cast feels relatively small and while Finding Nemo had the banter between Marlin and Dory to keep adults entertained, Arlo’s travelling companion doesn’t talk, which, when coupled with Arlo’s frequent habits of screaming and getting knocked out, does make the film feel as if it’s aimed at younger viewers.

To make up for this the film does provide some beautiful vistas, much of it looking almost real but this does  create an odd tension with the design of Arlo and the other dinosaurs, as they are quite cartoony while the world around them is not.

While the story may be relatively slight, Pixar have not lost their penchant for emotionally devastating audiences, with a couple of moments of intense sadness, one of which is almost entirely wordless and a piece of bravura filmmaking that is as well done as anything Pixar have done before. Unfortunately the rest of the film doesn’t quite feel as if it can support these moments.

With Inside Out still so fresh in the mind, comparisons with that film are inevitable and a little unfavourable. The Good Dinosaur is a much simpler film, basically the story of a boy and his dog, only the boy is an Apatosaurus and the dog is a boy. While it’s still very enjoyable, it doesn’t quite live up to the standard expected of Pixar, even if those expectations are completely unfair and unreasonable. It’s your own fault Pixar, for putting out so many good films in the past!

THE GOOD DINOSAUR / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: PETER SOHN / SCREENPLAY: MEG LEFAUVE / STARRING: JEFFREY WRIGHT, FRANCES MCDORMAND, RAYMOND OCHOA, JACK BRIGHT, STEVE ZAHN, SAM ELLIOTT, ANNA PAQUIN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Expected Rating: 9 out of 10
Actual Rating: 
 

A group of strangers arrive for a drug trial where all they have to do is take a pill and stay in a locked room together to be observed for eight hours. This certainly seems simple enough despite the pills seeming to contain some odd crystals, but things get quickly out of hand when it transpires that the pills have granted each of them an otherworldly ability.

The Subjects takes the concept of a superhero origin story and gives it an infusion of realism. Taking place entirely within the confines of a single room, it treads similar ground to the abridged body horror aspect of the much maligned Fantastic Four reboot, presenting the idea that far from developing a sudden affinity for garish spandex and histrionic crimefighting, becoming physically altered in ways you can barely comprehend would probably be quite traumatic. Instead of blessed chosen ones being bestowed with superhuman powers by a quirk of fate, this group are little more than human lab rats whose confusion and suffering exists only to be observed by faceless, unseen scientists (hence the film’s title). Things are given an added degree of tension when the group realise they were selected for the trial because nobody would miss them if they were to suddenly disappear.

The manifesting powers vary in strength from standard abilities such as teleporting and invisibility to slightly naff ones like being able to change an object’s colour. Despite the gamechanging nature of some of them, events continually transpire to keep the action contained in ways that never feel forced.

However, it’s primarily the people that drive the story rather than the powers. The enforced intimacy of the scenario places the focus on the characters, and the diverse assortment of clashing personalities makes for engaging viewing. No character is secondary or superfluous, and the individual plight of each of them goes some way to advancing the story. Even stock characters like a thuggish ex-con or a vacuous party girl have their own quirks. These are just ordinary people thrust unwittingly into an extraordinary situation.

Not all questions are answered by the end, which can be forgiven given the unenlightened position of the characters, while later revelations that cause you to question what you’ve previously seen manage to hold up when the film is rewatched.

THE SUBJECTS / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ROBERT MOND / STARRING: PAUL O’BRIEN, KATHARINE INNES, FRANK MAGREE, CHARLOTTE NICDAO, PAUL HENRI, EMILY WHEATON, SPENCER MCLAREN, TOSH GREENSLADE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
 

A cute busty blonde gyrates around her home half naked, chugs a pack of beer, sparks up a joint and screws a random guy on the sofa. With such carefree and irresponsible behaviour, it seems like she’s intentionally doing everything that slasher movie tradition dictates will get you killed. And she is.

With 1996’s Scream, Wes Craven mercilessly deconstructed the subgenre he in part helped to create, highlighting the tropes and clichés that had become predictably consistent during the 20 years or so they were developed and subsequently driven into the ground. Almost another two decades later and people are still finding new and interesting ways to invoke them.

Night of the Slasher blurs the line between traditional throwback and postmodern irony, taking place in a world where these movies exist but simultaneously adheres to their rules. Jenelle is the Final Girl from an encounter with a slasher movie killer and is likely still coming to terms with the deaths of several of her closest friends. Now she is deliberately committing Horror Movie Sins (she even has a checklist of them) to draw the ire of the masked killer and allow her to finish him off.

That this character history can be inferred with nothing more than a raw scar across her throat (Jenelle never even speaks a word throughout the encounter) is a statement of the extent that these films have become familiar, but is also an indication of how well Hamassian understands his audience.

The whole short appears to be filmed in a single shot – if there are any cuts they are deftly hidden within the blur of whip pans – infusing it with a focused intensity that never relents. It invokes slasher traditions with such blunt force audacity that they become part of the humour, such as the masked killer not even being out of Jenelle’s line of sight before inexplicably vanishing like a ninja with the One Ring.

Be honest, have you ever given much thought about the kind of person a young woman would become after surviving such a traumatic attack? Jenelle might have the looks of the ‘sexy one’ who is usually dismissed with an unceremonious early demise in an advanced state of undress, but after previously coming so close to death she also has the resolve to do whatever is necessary to survive regardless of the consequences. She is victim, survivor and avenger rolled into one, and her horrific experience has hardened her against human feeling in order to finish what has been started, pushing her ever closer to becoming that which she hunts. The film cuts through the inherent ridiculousness of slasher movies and submerges itself in the true darkness of human nature.

NIGHT OF THE SLASHER / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: SHANT HAMASSIAN / STARRING: LILY BERLINA, ADAM LESAR, SCOTT JAVORE / RELEASE DATE: TBC