INFRARED (2022)
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-MonsterZero NJ
-MonsterZero NJ
-MonsterZero NJ
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Dashcam has rapper and vlogger Annie (Annie Hardy) traveling to England and almost upon arrival beginning to cause trouble for her friend and former bandmate Stretch (Amar Chadha-Patel). She accepts the task of driving an old woman named Angela (Angela Enahoro) to a destination for cash and soon she and Stretch learn to regret it, as Angela turns out to be something quite unexpected…and dangerous.
Found footage horror is directed by Rob Savage, who made the quarantine filmed internet sensation horror Host. The script is by he with Gemma Hurley along with Jed Shepard and is simply a bloody mess. This is literal as the film is quite the splatter-fest, but also because the mess of a story seems to be making itself up as it goes along, instead of following some sort of cohesive narrative. Sure, there are a few creepy sequences, and the gore can be fun, but the flick is as loud and obnoxious as it’s heroine Annie. By presenting a lead who grates on ones every nerve, it leaves no one to endear or fear for, except for maybe the hapless Stretch, as we really don’t care what happens to a woman who is basically a big, selfish, a-hole. Angela…or whatever she is…can be spooky at times, but the rapid-fire hurling of crashes, mutilations and chases being thrown at us gets tiring very quick. That and at already less than 80 minutes, the film pads out its runtime with a grating, precredit Annie Hardy rap sequence that feels like it goes on forever. A sadly disappointing sophomore effort by Savage, who showed potential with his first flick.
-MonsterZero NJ
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Finnish horror finds young Tinja (a wonderful Siiri Solalinna) caring for a bird’s egg after she is forced to put its wounded mother out of her misery. The egg starts to grow to an unnatural size and soon hatches into bird-like creature. The animal endears to Tinja and she to it, until it becomes obvious it’s means of pleasing and protecting Tinja are quite lethal.
Creature feature from Finland is directed by Hanna Bergholm from a script and story by she and Ilja Rautsi. By giving Tinja a pair of self-absorbed parents (Sophia Heikkilä and Jani Volanen) it makes the girl sympathetic, and also believable that the child could keep such a creature in her room unnoticed, except by her brat of a little brother (Oiva Ollila). The creature is an interesting design and portrayed by some nice old-fashioned prosthetics and proves to be very intelligent, as well as, quite dangerous. There is also an unnerving caveat of Tinja having a mental connection with her surrogate child and having seizures and visions when it kills. They also feel each other’s pain. The creature she dubs “Alli” becomes a conduit to releasing Tinja’s inner turmoil. It makes for a tense and sometimes disturbing monster movie with some effective gore once “Alli” starts to viciously protect Tinja and also begins to transform into something quite startling. Altogether an impressive horror feature debut from Hanna Bergholm.
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Blumhouse/Universal flick is a remake of the 1984 thriller, which in turn, was an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. The story is the same. A young couple Andy (Zac Efron) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) undergo drug experiments that give them special abilities. More troublesome, is their daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) is born with the power to set fires with her mind. Now the shady organization that created them is hunting them down to take control of Charlie’s incendiary skills.
Update is lamely directed by Keith Thomas from a weak script by Scott Teems that fixes none of the problems with the original film’s screenplay. There is no suspense, the film is extremely by-the-numbers and dull, the villains are boring and the performances stale. Only young Ryan Kiera Armstrong gives her underwritten role a little life. There has been little or no publicity for this release and now it’s obvious why. Aside from being completely forgettable, the film even looks cheap. The only redeeming thing about the flick is the score by legendary filmmaker/composer John Carpenter, his son Cody and Daniel A. Davies. The delightful irony here is that Carpenter was originally set to direct the 1984 version before being fired after the lackluster box office performance of The Thing. Now his contribution is the only memorable part of this pointless remake. Film is currently available in theaters and streaming on Peacock.
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