BARE BONES: FEAR STREET PART 3-1666 (2021)

FEAR STREET PART 3: 1666 (2021)

Third film opens in 1666 with young Sarah Fier (now Kiana Madeira) being thought wicked for her love for village girl Hannah (Olivia Scott Welch). With the warnings of “The Widow” (Jordana Spiro), a local woman suspected of practicing witchcraft, and the increasingly strange and gruesome events that are occurring in the village, Sarah—and the villagers—start to believe it. Soon a full witch hunt is underway and Sarah and Hannah become the targets of the villagers’ fears and anger, as they wish to purge their village of this evil presence.

Concluding R. L. Stine based installment is once again directed by Leigh Janiak from her script with Phil Graziadei and Kate Trefry. A strong and spooky finale that has some fun telling the origin story of “witch” Sarah Fier by having the cast members of the first two chapters play the parts. Kiana Madeira really shines here playing the part of Sarah, after already making a strong heroine out of her Deena. She’s a star in the making. There is sympathy for Sarah as we find out the surprising truth behind her story, one of an independent and passionate young woman and the ignorance and superstitions of others. It’s a dramatically strong finish, as we find out how the Shadyside curse came to be, it’s true nature, and then return to 1994, to wrap up the story in a thrilling climactic last act. It’s a spooky and strong concluding chapter, with the atmosphere and gruesome bloodshed we’ve come to expect from this Netflix series.

All in all a solid finale that manages to be the best of the three flicks. A fitting end for this wonderfully creepy and bloody three part horror series, based on the works of beloved author R.L. Stine.

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Click on the link here for my review of  Fear Street part 1: 1994

Click on the link here for my review of  Fear Street part 2: 1978

-MonsterZero NJ

BARE BONES: FEAR STREET PART 2-1978 (2021)

FEAR STREET PART 2: 1978 (2021)

Second film opens with Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) seeking out Christine Berman (Gillian Jacobs), the sole survivor of a previous massacre at a summer camp. The flick then goes back to 1978 to Camp Nightwing as Christine, known then to everyone as Ziggy (now Sadie Sink) is a picked-on outcast at the camp, who has a reputation for getting into and causing trouble. Ziggy is there with her older, good-girl sister, Cindy (Emily Rudd) and future sheriff, Nick Goode (Ted Sutherland). The Shadyside/Sunnyvale rivalry is in full swing and the legend of Sarah Fier (Elizabeth Scopel) hangs over the camp. Soon bodies start to fall, and both Ziggy and Cindy must try to survive and stop the witch’s curse.

Second R. L. Stine based installment is again directed by Leigh Janiak from her script with Zak Olkewicz, written from their story with Phil Graziadei. Flick follows the template of summer camp horrors fairly closely, yet also does it’s own thing, while adding the self aware movie references that contemporary horror fans expect. It has the stereotypical characters one also expects, well played by it’s young cast and both Ziggy and Cindy make for good leads. Much like the first installment, it’s fun, nostalgic and has some intense and scary moments. The makers, from Stine to Janiak, know their influences well, but also bring some of their own ideas, such as some spooky stuff in catacombs under the camp. Like Part 1 there is a lot of bloody action, some nicely placed homages and plenty of gruesome gore. There is also a great soundtrack of 70s songs and some very creepy visuals to add atmosphere. If there is anything that holds 1978 back a little bit, is that due to information given us in Part 1, we go in knowing the fates of our two leading ladies and a few others. That does mute the suspense a little bit. Other than that, this is another solid chapter in Nextflix’s adaptation. So far, this three part series has yielded two strong entries and hopefully, it ends as strongly as it has started. Bring on Fear Street part 3: 1666!

-MonsterZero NJ

HORROR YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: COME PLAY (2020)

COME PLAY (2020)

(Clicking the highlighted links brings you to corresponding reviews and articles here at The Movie Madhouse!)

Horror flick has mute, autistic little boy, Oliver (Azhy Robertson) being stalked by a supernatural entity. The specter known as “Larry” pursues the boy through his electronic devices, under the guise of wanting to be friends. Obviously, the being is malevolent in it’s methods and will harm anyone that gets in it’s way, including Oliver’s parents (Gillian Jacobs and John Gallagher Jr) and friends.

Movie is written and directed by Jacob Chase, based on his short film Larry. On the surface it is a generic PG-13 boogeyman horror, the type that is very popular right now. What sets it apart is that Chase directs the film very well and gets some legitimate chills and scares out of his routine story. He creates atmosphere and a sense of dread, but really reels us in with a likable family of characters, especially Oliver and his mom, Sarah. Having Larry’s target being a sweet and already sympathetic, handicapped child, makes us care about Oliver and that he is being stalked by a dangerous supernatural creature. Despite being a fairly generic boogeyman, Chase gives Larry some nice intensity and menace and his design may be familiar, but still effective. There is no strong violence, blood, or gore to be found, as the film relies on atmosphere and scares to tell it’s story. There are some effective jump scares and some solid spookiness, as well as, some clever uses of electronic devices to add scares when Larry is lurking about. It does come to a predictable conclusion, but the last scene is successfully both spooky and sweet and it does work.

Chase has a solid cast. Young Azhy Robertson is very good as autistic Oliver. He’s a likable and sweet little boy and his handicap makes him all the more vulnerable and thus sympathetic. It was also refreshing that Oliver was afraid of Larry from the beginning and not fooled into thinking of him as a friend, as the boy in Shudder’s Z from earlier this year. Gillian Jacobs is also very good as his caring and hard working mother. Once she comes to believe there is something otherworldly after her son, she fights to protect him. John Gallagher Jr (Hush) plays Oliver’s dad Marty. Marty is not a bad guy and loves his son, but there seems to be a bit of friction between he and Sarah, as he appears to be avoiding dealing with his son’s condition. Lastly, is a good job by young Winslow Fegley as Bryon, a former friend of Oliver’s who rebonds with the boy when mutually encountering Larry.

Overall, this may be a routine and generic flick plot-wise, but is elevated by a director that does good work with the familiar material. He gives the film some solid chills, scares and atmosphere and writes some characters that we can care about. He gives some menace to his boogeyman and even adds some underlying messages about the negative impact on kids raised with too much time spent on digital mediums. Was Oliver’s autism simply to make him more vulnerable?…or symbolic of the declining social skills of children raised with cellphones and tablets in their hands? It’s up to you, the audience, to decide. It does come to a predictable conclusion, but it still works well enough. Worth a look, especially if you have tween horror fans that aren’t ready for the more intense stuff.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) laptops.

 

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BARE BONES: A.C.O.D., IN A WORLD…, BAD MILO and CBGB

A.C.O.D. (2013)

Not bad, but, not overly good either. Comedy takes a look at the now grown-up first generation raised on the effects of widespread divorce and it might have been more fun if it actually went somewhere and leading man Adam Scott wasn’t so annoying a character and dull an actor. There is a talented cast, such as Amy Poehler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Catherine O’Hara and with such talent you just expect more then we get in this mediocre comedy.

IN A WORLD… (2013)

Lake Bell makes her directorial debut in this mildly amusing story of a voice coach (director, Bell) who wants to follow in her father’s (Fred Melamed) footsteps and enter the male dominated movie trailer narration business. There are some nice moments, a few solid laughs and Bell gives a spunky performance but, the story ultimately doesn’t really go anywhere and the film’s tone is rather flat and needed more energy to get us really involved. Original plot idea, though, I’ll give it that.

Bad Milo (2013)

Absolutely awful horror “comedy”  written and directed by Jacob Vaughn about a small creature living in a man’s (Ken Marino) colon that is a product of his subconscious rage and comes out to savagely murder anyone who causes him stress. Really!… that’s what it’s about! Crude, vulgar and completely unfunny. Also Peter Stormare and stars Community’s Gillian Jacobs. Pure crap but, at least the make-up FX guys come off with some of their reputations intact.

CBGB (2013)

How can you take the story of such an iconic place and turn it into such a pretentious and dull movie? Tries so hard to be hip and cool, that it forgets to simply be good… or that the story of this legendary club pretty much tells itself without all the self-indulgent ‘look what I learned in film school’ hocus-pocus. Worse of all, it succeeds in making the great Alan Rickman seem boring. At least there is a cool soundtrack and I still have my memories of actually being there which, I’m not sure co-writer director Randall Miller ever was. If he was, he completely missed the point of the place by making such a pretentious film about it and it’s infamous founder/owner Hilly Kristal.