The Meg

"The Meg" (2018, Jon Turteltaub, Warner Bros. Pictures, Gravity Pictures, Flagship Entertainment, Apelles Entertainment, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Maeday Productions) is a giant killer shark movie.

Jonas (Jason Statham) is a submarine rescue pilot who has been out of the business for a while following a rescue mission where he had to leave two of his crew mates behind after the stricken sub was hit by something very large, forcing the rescue vehicle to detach. As well as feeling tremendous guilt over the death of his friends, despite his actions saving everyone else aboard, Jonas' story about the submarine being hit by a giant creature is disbelieved by everyone. And he is assumed to have suffered a mental breakdown.

His services are once again required, however, when a deep sea exploratory mission financed by a millionaire (Rainn Wilson) and crewed by a varied team of scientists and engineers is trapped at extreme depths citing the aggressive presence of a gigantic shark; the megalodon.

This movie asks all the important questions. Can Jonas save this submarine crew? Will he fall for the daring and intelligent (although perhaps not the best at making decisions) Suyin (Li Bingbing)? Is Meiying (Sophia Cai) the most adorable, yet unsettlingly smart kid on screen yet? How many unrealistic submarine gadgets will we get to see while our heroes do battle with a huge shark? Will the humans inevitably destroy everything they find, as befitting the B-movie nature-bites-back trope we have come to know and love?

A genuinely fun action B-movie with some tongue in cheek humour, shiny, shiny gadgets and a big, bad killer shark. Jason Statham delivers a reluctant hero with his usual swagger and the film doesn't pretend to take itself too seriously, but enjoys a good budget, nice special effects and there are plenty of scenes featuring the titular Meg in full-on attack mode.

It's never going to be Jaws, but it wasn't trying to be in the first place.

[Image: Warner Bros. et al]

Hani

Tarantula

"Tarantula" (1955, Universal-International, Jack Arnold) is an American monster movie about a giant tarantula terrorising a desert town.

Dr. Matt Hastings (John Agar) is called in to investigate the mysterious death of a deformed man. Hastings is shocked to find that the man is an acquaintance of his, Professor Deemer (Leo G. Carroll), a biological research scientist who has been testing his experiments on a variety of organisms, including his assistant. He had been attempting to find a solution to overpopulation and food shortage, but his serum has differing effects on different creatures. One such creature, a tarantula, has grown to gargantuan proportions. The creature escapes, heading for the town and the locals are forced to try to stop it.

An iconic giant arachnid monster movie that uses impressive techniques for the time to create impressive giant tarantula scenes featuring a real tarantula. Other highlights include the shots from the tarantula's perspective and some humorous 'spider looks through window' scenes. Clint Eastwood also makes an uncredited appearance.

One of my favourite classic 50s giant monster movies, "Tarantula" has an enjoyable plot and is a fine example of this sub-genre of horror.

[Image: Universal-International]

Hani

Aftershock

"Aftershock" (2012, Nicolás López, Eli Roth, Cross Creek Pictures, Dragonfly Entertainment, sobras.com Productions, Vertebra Films) is a Natural Disaster movie with some twists and turns in there. 

A visually shocking and exciting film, it starts in a way similar to "Hostel" (which isn't surprising when you consider that Eli Roth plays a large part in both writing and acting in this film), where Gringo (Eli Roth) is currently in Chile with two Chilean friends, Ariel (Ariel Levy) and Pollo (Nicolás López) enjoying the underground nightclubs, vineyards and pretty young women, in particular the company of Kylie (Lorenza Izzo), Irina (Natasha Yarovenko) and Kylie's uptight, straight lace, half-Hungarian half-sister, Monica (Andrea Osvárt).

All the fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when an earthquake hits while they're partying. Soon they're fighting for their lives, but they've yet to learn that the earthquake may not be the total of their troubles!

The film starts off like a completely different kind of film, which as much as this is becoming the horror norm these days, I actually really enjoyed, the characters, although not entirely likeable, were nicely built up and the scene was set. I quite enjoyed the repartee between the characters and they reminded me very much of some of the kinds of people you meet on holiday. 

When the horror begins it's pretty brutal and the disaster scenes are edgy and realistic. The panic on display is also pretty lifelike, and seeing this on the big screen definitely adds to the feeling. 

There's a lot going on and, like all horror movies, you could easily over analyse the plot into rags, but that's not part of the amusement!

An effective, bloody film with enough to keep you watching. However, as a warning, there are rape scenes (because what else would you do while an earthquake is destroying your home?!).

Hani

The Bay

"The Bay" (2012, Barry Levinson) is a found footage 'mock-umentary' about the ecological side-effects the human race is having on the globe, and is pretty much a nature-bites-back-film.

Based in a small American Seaside town called Chesapeake during their 4th of July celebrations, we watch through the confiscated found footage of the inhabitants and a small student news blog as the town falls into chaos when a terrifying menace begins threatening the lives of the townspeople.

I'm not usually fan of found-footage, but I'm happy to report that "The Bay" is a winner for me. It was gross, scary and had a plot. While it's evidently a platform for Levinson to preach a little about global pollution and governmental transparency, it does so with style and excellent effects.

Some good old jump scares keep the pace, while we also get a lot of disturbing visuals and an engaging and almost 'mystery'-like slow reveal of the true cause of the panic and deaths.

While it's certainly no "Jaws", it's a really good yarn. Hey, and Kirsten Connolly from "Cabin In The Woods" is in it!

Hani