BARE BONES: INITIATION (2020)

INITIATION (2020)

Initiation is another horror with a message about inappropriate sexual behavior towards women. The slasher focuses on a college campus where girls thought to be promiscuous are marked in texts with exclamation points by predatory males. Pretty Kylie (Isabella Gomez) finds herself waking up in a male student’s bedroom after passing out during a homecoming party and not sure of what happened to her. Soon, one of the boys possibly involved, star student Wes Scott (Froy Gutierrez), is brutally murdered. While Kylie struggles with what happened to her and Wes’ sister Ellery (Lindsay LaVanchy) struggles with the murder of her brother and what he’s accused of, a mirror masked killer begins stalking and murdering students.

Flick is stylishly directed by John Berardo from his script with Brian Frager and star LaVanchy. It finds inspiration not only from contemporary themes from the #metoo era, but classic slashers like Scream, and it’s visual style, with it’s mirror masked face killer and bold neon colors, hinting Berardo may have been a fan of Dario Argento, as well. The kills are quite vicious and there is some graphic bloodshed, as the stalker uses various tools to savagely kill his or her victims. It’s a very somber slasher for it’s first hour with it’s gruesome kills few and spaced out, while focusing on the emotional turmoil of both Kylie and Ellery. It cranks up the intensity for it’s climax, where we get a reveal which works in context of the story, though isn’t a complete surprise, as, at this point, there are not too many suspects left. Overall, this is an effective and stylish slasher with a more moderate pace, until the last act, which deftly applies some very topical themes with it’s subtext of young women being taken advantage of and more concern show for the victimizer than the victim. Worth a watch on streaming outlets like Amazon Prime and has a good cast that also stars veteran actress Yancy Butler, as a police detective and horror vet Lochlyn Munro (Freddy vs. Jason), as the university chancellor, who may be more concerned with reputations than justice.

-MonsterZero NJ

NEW SLASHER “INITIATION” GETS A POSTER AND TRAILER!

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A trailer and poster for the new slasher Initiation has arrived!

“Whiton University unravels the night a star-athlete is murdered, kicking off a spree of social media slayings that force students to uncover the truth behind the school’s hidden secrets and the horrifying meaning of an exclamation point.”

The film is directed by John Berardo from his script with Brian Frager and Lindsay LaVanchy and stars Isabella Gomez, Yancy Butler, Jon Huertas and Freddy vs Jason’s Lochlyn Munro. R-rated slasher flick is due to be released theatrically and on demand on 5/7/21!

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-MonsterZero NJ

Source: Horror Society and IMDB

BARE BONES: SPIRAL (2019)

SPIRAL (2019)

Spooky thriller finds a gay couple, Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) and Aaron (Ari Cohen) moving into a suburban town with their daughter Kayla (Jennifer Laporte). Malik is still suffering trauma from a vicious hate crime perpetrated against he and a former lover and starts to feel something is not right in this town from the moment they move in. Aaron thinks it’s all in his head, but Malik comes to believe their is something very sinister going on here and it has set it’s sights on them. Is he being paranoid?…or is there evil here beyond small town, narrow-minded prejudice?

Horror is very well directed by Kurtis David Harder from a strong and smart script by Colin Minihan (What Keeps Us Alive) and John Poliquin. The story deftly mixes social commentary about the prejudice and hate homosexuals endure at times, with a very unsettling yet more traditional horror scenario. Kurtis David Harder creates some very tense, atmospheric and spooky scenes, as poor Malik is manipulated and isolated from the people he loves by something sinister…or is he? We are kept guessing, for quite some time, as to whether Malik’s emotional trauma isn’t letting some simple prejudices and the ominous warnings of an old townie, “spiral” out of control in his head. It’s heartbreaking to see Malik, tormented, broken down and separated from his loved ones, whether it be mental or supernatural, and the last act is very disturbing and chilling, once we find out whether this is a result of past trauma, or something far more diabolical. The cast is very good, especially a strong, emotionally charged performance by Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman as Malik. The players also include horror vets Lochlyn Munro (Freddy vs Jason) and Chandra West (Shudder’s Z, Puppet Master 4 & 5), who evoke Get Out, as neighbors who seem a bit too welcoming to the gay couple to be legit. Kurtis David Harder is a director to keep an eye on and co-writer/producer Colin Minihan once again proves he’s a filmmaker more people should be talking about. A very chilling and relevant Shudder Original streaming now.

-MonsterZero NJ