The Stylist

"The Stylist" (2020, Jill Sixx Gevargizian, Sixx Tape Productions).

Claire (Najarra Townsend) is a lonely, awkward woman and a hair dresser. She wishes she could be someone else and, occasionally, she takes this desire to extremes...

When she is asked by an acquaintance, Olivia (Brea Grant), to be her wedding hairstylist, Claire finds herself invited into Olivia's life... and, what's more, she finds herself wanting Olivia's life...

A dark tale about obsession. We feel for Claire despite the atrocities she commits; she is awkward and intense, people don't know how to take her. She is obsessed with becoming someone else; being accepted. These obsessions lead her from gruesome act, to gruesome act in her unrelinquishing desire to become these other women. 

More of a thriller than a slasher, the film has a fairly slow pace that is punctuated by the violent and bloody murders Claire commits. She is methodical, determined and almost whimsical in her pursuit of becoming someone else. 

Her odd behaviour sets off red flags around Olivia's friends, but their catty remarks just spur the obsession further on and eventually this leads to Claire's crescendo in a final, shocking act that closes the film in a memorable way.

Beautifully acted and with some very nice and bloody effects.

Despite some slower pacing in the middle, The Stylist is a really interesting film and delivers a feature film that truly builds on the powerful 2016 short of the same name. 

Currently available to stream on the Arrow Player.

[Image: Sixx Tape Productions]

Hani

I Married a Witch

"I Married a Witch" (1942, René Clair, Paramount Pictures) is a black and white comedy romance based on the unfinished novel titled "The Passionate Witch" by Thorne Smith which was later completed by Norman H. Matson .

The witch, Jennifer (Veronica Lake), curses the Wooley family in Puritan times after she and her father Daniel (Cecil Kellaway) are denounced as witches and sentenced to death by Jonathan Wooley (Fredrich March). The Wooley curse is to never find happiness in love, and this haunts the descendants of the Wooley clan up until 'present' day.

When Jennifer and Daniel's spirits are released by accident on the eve of Wallace Wooley's (also Fredric March) wedding to spoiled, gold digging bride, Estelle (Susan Hayward), Jennifer sees an opportunity to further punish the Wooley clan and attempts to woo Wallace and ruin not only his unhappy wedding, but also his run for Governor. But spells can be tricky things, and often go awry...

Veronica Lake is stunning, but the best thing about her is her comedic timing. Jennifer is a marvellous character and we enjoy every devious minute that she's on screen. The film enjoys great pacing, fantastic effects, considering the time of production, and a delightful and well portrayed story.

If you're looking for some lighthearted Halloween entertainment, this could definitely be for you.

[Image: Paramount Pictures]

Hani

Ready or Not

"Ready or Not" (2019, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Mythology Entertainment, Vinson Films, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) is a dark comedy horror about marrying into families with weird traditions.


Grace (Samara Weaving) has only known Alex Le Domas (Mark O'Brien) for 18 months, but she knows he's the one and they're getting married. Alex is from a rich family famous for their boardgame empire, but Grace does not love him for his money and is worried that his family dislikes her. Grace is an orphan, so the family's perception is important to her. Alex is really nervous about the whole thing, which Grace attributes to wedding nerves. The wedding is held at the family's large stately home and seems like a classy, but snooty affair. That night, however, instead of having an ordinary wedding night or drunkenly falling into a bridal suite, the couple are taken into a secret family room where it transpires that the Le Domas' have a quaint family tradition of letting a spooky box belonging to their long dead family benefactor, Mr. Le Bail, choose a game for the new family member to play. Grace takes a card from the box reading "Hide and Seek" and with that, is told to hide whilst the family members arm themselves with antiquated weaponry and begin to hunt the poor unsuspecting bride down or else face the deadly wrath of Mr. Le Bail.


A fun film which balances comedy and gore in good measure and offers a good selection of entertaining and over-the-top characters to enjoy amongst the carnage. It has the right pitch between the humour and the gore and the on-edge dread we feel whilst in hiding with Grace. There are also a few very well timed twists and turns and overall I enjoyed second guessing where we were going in the end.


The acting is solid in all cases, but Samara Weaving particularly creates a strong and sympathetic protagonist in Grace. She's likeable, relatable and swears like a sailor. The end result is very engaging and, at the end of the day, all the characters have a pretty good reason for doing everything they do... except for perhaps Alex, who could have possibly thought this through a little more in the long run.


Definitely a crowd pleaser, by the audience reaction around us last night and certainly a film with a rewatchability factor. I would certainly put it on my shelf along with the likes of "Tucker and Dale vs Evil" for a fun, Friday film.

[Image: Fox Searchlight Pictures, et al]

Hani

Bite

"Bite" (2015, Chad Archibald, Black Fawn Films, Breathrough Entertainment) is a gross out body horror movie.

While on her exotic hen party weekend with her friends, in between drunken and disorderly behaviour, Bride-to-be Casey (Elma Begovic) is bitten by a bug. When she gets home she begins to have serious cold feet about getting married and her bug bite also becomes infected. But that's not all, she starts to change...

A low budget film that delivers some surprisingly disturbing gore reminiscent of, if naturally unequal to, Cronenberg's classic remake of "The Fly" and also Andy Stewart's 2014 short, "Split" (http://horrorev.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/split.html). Casey's transformation is both gross-out and entertaining and also highly likely to put you off of drinking bubble tea with strawberry boba for while.... Eew, Casey-spawn....

Aside from the fun effects the film doesn't offer anything ground breaking. The plot is relatively simple and the characters are all highly unlikeable: Casey is a moany flake, her betrothed is really pushy, her pals are self-interested bitches and her future mother-in-law is a presumptuous hag. It's safe to say I didn't become emotionally attached to any of them in any way.

I did, however, feel my lunch threatening to come back up several times and I think that's a fairly good sign that this body horror film did its job. So while you might not find the film particularly enthralling, if you can stomach it, it has a pretty good gore pay-off.

I'm kind of glad I'm not going abroad for my hen party now though....

[Image: Black Fawn Films, et al]

Hani

REC 3: Genesis

"REC 3: Genesis" (2012, Paco Plaza, Canal+ España, Filmax) is the third installment in the 'REC' franchise. This sequel takes the setting out of the house in Barcelona, and instead to the wedding of Clara (Leticia Dolera) and Koldo (Diego Martin) in a large country estate. The film setting is in parallel with both first and second "REC" films.

The first thing which struck me about this film was that it has taken an almost "Evil Dead 2" turn into gory comedy! The film does still use the 'Found footage' film technique, whether it be by mobile phones, the professional wedding camera man's footage or Koldo's cousin Adrián (Àlex Monne)'s camera. However, for some of the film, they have resorted to a normal third person filming style.

I liked this film. It was funny, gory, linked and yet completely separate from the other films in the series. You could happily watch this film as a stand alone. The two main characters are good fun and the action remains high energy. Although, they maybe tried a little too hard to create a "Resident Evil" 'Alice' character in the form of Clara.

I would say that this film loses something for the franchise, but as a film alone, it's pretty entertaining but not really very scary.

[Image: Canal+ España]

Hani