Girl on the Third Floor

*Spoiler warning*

"Girl on the Third Floor" (2019, Travis Stevens, Queensbury Pictures) is a haunted house story.

Don (CM Punk) is attempting to renovate an old and dilapidated house for he, his wife, Liz (Trieste Kelly Dunn), and their impending new arrival. As Liz ties up their affairs in the city, Don takes their dog and moves in to the house with his tools and an endless supply of beer. But things in the house aren't quite... right. Strange substances and sweets keep appearing, Don constantly feels like he's being watched and a very flirty stranger called Sarah (Sarah Brooks) won't stay away. He's also receiving strange vibes from the local pastor, Sadie (Elissa Dowling) and seems to be extremely unpopular at the local watering hole/bowling alley.

When he's joined by his friend, Milo (Travis Delgado), things change up a gear and it becomes apparent that the house, or something within it, wants them all out. Or worse...

I'd heard good things about this film and went in open minded and keen for a good spookfest. I'd first say that the set up is overly long. The scenes are well shot, but there are a lot of scenes of Don doing various DIY-ing without anything spooky happening so when the spooky stuff comes along it felt a little long winded. On the other hand, we get a good feel for the kind of character Don is and his less than savoury past and nature. There are also several well done shots where the various old mirrors around the house reveal some creepy happenings which I found to be very effective.

Whenever I see a dog in a movie I know it's not going to be around for long, and spoiler or not, poor old puppy does not last the duration.

The reveal and finale were fun but felt like a completely different film to the first half and didn't meld particularly well. Overall, I enjoyed myself but the film is very slow burning and took its time getting any actual plot started.

[Image: Queensbury Pictures]

Hani

Mercy Christmas

"Mercy Christmas" (2017, Ryan Nelson, No Mercy Pictures, Other Paw Films) is a festive holiday cannibal film.

Santa brought me this film for Christmas this year. Thanks, Santa.

Michael Briskett (Steven Hubbell) receives an invite to Christmas dinner from the office cutie, Cindy (Casey O'Keefe), and thinks he's won a watch. But after arriving at her family home, he discovers that he might not like what's on the menu...

The DVD box is littered with positive reviews and comments about the gore level of the film. While the film is a purposefully cheesy, low budget piece and does not deliver quite the level of gore I was hoping for, it is pretty funny and hosts some performances which were far superior than I went in expecting as well as a few recognisable faces. The sense of humour keeps the film going despite the cat being out of the bag fairly early in the plot, but the 83 minute run time also does not outstay its welcome.

Our family of religious, social climbing cannibals are both caricaturistic and delightfully reprehensible and, once the chaos ensues, we are treated to some funny fight scenes and physical humour with a definite festive slant. I never knew that fairy lights could be so practical. Our small band of victims/heroes aren't developed very much given the run time but definitely keep the audience on side and deliver a few good comedy moments also.

While it's nothing groundbreaking, "Mercy Christmas" provides that lighthearted black humour someone like me tends to enjoy around this time of year and will most likely enter my annual viewing rotation.

[Image: Other Paw Productions, et al]

Hani

The Dead Don't Die (2019)

"The Dead Don't Die" (2019, Jim Jarmusch, Kill the Head, Focus Features) is a comedy horror about zombies set in a rural American town. Not to be confused with the 1975 horror neo-noir film set in the 1930s.

Chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) and his deputy, Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver) are out in the woods confronting Hermit Bob (Tom Waits) about whether he has been poaching the racist farmer, Farmer Miller (Steve Buscemi)'s chickens. After doing that they leave, remarking that it is surprisingly still light outside despite the time. The cops are later called to a crime scene where it appears that the victims were attacked by wild animals. However, they soon find that some graves in the cemetery appear to be open and that the dead have arisen from them and are back for brains... and coffee. There is also that new undertaker in town, Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton) who speaks with a Scottish accent and seems fond of Samurai swords... Could this all be related to the Polar Fracking in the news? Is the world doomed?

In the hands of another director this film could have been pretty fun. With cameos and characters portrayed by Iggy Pop, Danny Glover, Carol Kane & Selena Gomez amongst others, not to mention having top billing with Bill Murray, this promised to be a nice new comedy horror to add to the genre. Unfortunately, Jarmusch's bleak, middle-American style and purposefully stilted scripting robs the film of a lot of charm rather than adding to it.

The styling and handling also seems to overpower the talented cast, whose performances seem to be constrained within the film's parameters and are unable to give it their all. Murray is the master of deadpan, but the forced style of the script undermined his performance a little. I did, however, enjoy the scene with him lying to comfort officer Mindy (Chloë Sevigny); it was decidedly the most human moment between any of the characters and showed a glimpse of what could have been.

The film attempts to have some political messaging but is handled in such an overtly clumsy way it's hard to tell what the stance is and there's some strange fourth wall breaking that doesn't seem to fit into the context of the plot and felt kind of tacked on.

Some of the jokes land, but there are some less witty moments that didn't seem to work and whole scenes of build up that go nowhere or wind up with off-screen deaths which make it all for nought. While this may be a purposeful joke intended to poke fun at the horror genre at large, it didn't read that way during viewing.

There are some fun gory moments, and a lot of Easter eggs (again some more subtle than others) and tropey in-jokes.

Overall I wasn't bored, but the film style didn't lend well to the plot and overall I was a little disappointed.

[Image: Focus Features, et al]

Hani

They Look Like People

"They Look Like People" (2015, Perry Blackshear, Signature Entertainment) is an independent psychological thriller about a man who is convinced that people are turning into evil creatures. He travels to stay with a friend in a bid to protect him.

Wyatt (MacLeod Andrews) travels to New York City to stay with his old friend, Christian (Evan Dumouchel). Both men have recently become single and Christian is tentatively seeing his boss, Mara (Margaret Ying Drake).

Wyatt is a withdrawn guy and it's slowly revealed that he believes that people are becoming possessed by some evil entity. He is seen to be stockpiling weapons in Christian's basement. Christian seems like a well adjusted guy, but he suffers from some insecurities and seems to be looking to find a purpose in life.

An arty film with a very slow pace and somewhat rudderless plot. It feels like it has a lot to say about mental health but the message, for me at least, was not particularly clear, and overall I found myself pretty bored throughout and have to admit that the film just isn't for me. The film likes to keep things unexplained, which can work in some ways, but in this case it just made the purposefully slow run time feel even longer.

The cast do a great job and the characters feel very human, but overall the styling of the film made my interest ebb after the first 30 minute mark and it felt like it was spending too much energy trying to be clever and not enough energy on actually being engaging.

For an early film from new film makers it's a good accomplishment and doesn't feel amateurish or badly made. Despite a low budget, the film uses the characters alone to build tension and does a good job of creating believable relationships between the characters; particularly between Wyatt and Christian.

If you're into slow paced, character-driven films this might be right up your street, but for me it missed the mark.

Hani

Look Away

"Look Away" (2018, Assaf Bernstein, Vertical Entertainment) is a dark psychological horror about the dangers of wishing you were someone else...

Maria (India Eisley) is an alienated teen girl, who's only friend, Lily (Penelope Mitchell), has a boyfriend Maria is harbouring secret feelings for. As well as being bullied and outcast at school, Maria is subjected to criticism at home, especially from her plastic surgeon father (Jason Isaacs). Maria discovers that her reflection, Airam, has a mind of her own and offers to switch places with Maria to help solve her problems. Maria submits to this and her more confident and aggressive double assumes her place in the real world, leaving Maria watching from the mirror realm... But, as Airam begins to exact ruthless revenge on those who upset Maria, Maria finds that she is unable to stop her or get her own place back in the world....

A surprisingly grim film, I especially enjoyed the scenes with the figure skating. The film also isn't scared to flirt with some darker aspects with the father character, without losing sight that it is a teen film. There are some plot twists that deliver quite well, some that don't seem to hit the mark as well, but without derailing the overall plot. And Eisley gives a great performance as both our timid protagonist, Maria, and our wily antagonist, Airam.

Overall, I found the film enjoyable, but it does suffer from having quite slow pacing, which takes away from the overall energy that is later built up during the revenge scenes. The intrigue of the premise kept me engaged, however, and, although it's certainly no perfect piece, I would venture  back for a rewatch in the future.

 [Image: Vertical Entertainment]

Hani

Doctor Sleep

"Doctor Sleep" (2019, Mike Flanagan, Intrepid Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures) is the film adaptation of Stephen King's 2013 follow up to his novel, "The Shining". It's also a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 classic film adaptation of "The Shining".

Mike Flanagan continues to impress with his spooky style and crafting. As a big fan of both The Shining and also the novel of "Doctor Sleep" itself, I was pleased to thoroughly enjoy this film.

Danny Torrance (Roger Dale Floyd) and his mother Wendy (Alex Essoe) move to Florida after the events at the Overlook Hotel. Danny is deeply affected by what he saw and learned in the Rocky Mountains, but he's also being dogged by the hungry spectres of the hotel who have followed he and his mother. Luckily, the spectre of Dick Hallorann (Carl Lumbly) is also still around and with his help, Danny is able to find a way to lock the Overlook's ghosts away.

Years pass and we find Danny (Ewan McGregor), now "Dan", has followed his father's footsteps and become an unemployed alcoholic with anger issues. But when he is contacted through the Shining by a young girl called Abra (Kyliegh Curran) who believes that she and other children with the gift are in danger at the hands of the devious True Knot gang lead by Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson), he finds himself and his friend, Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis) are the only ones able to offer their help.

It's a great tale and the film is perfectly cast, with possibly the exception of Jack Torrance who is a smidge unconvincing as a young Jack Nicholson. Essoe, however, is fantastic as Wendy without feeling too much like an impersonation. Carl Lumbly also brings Hallorann back to the screen exceptionally.

McGregor gives his usual great performance and delivers Dan Torrance right from the pages of the book. Kyliegh Curran also gives a strong performance throughout giving Abra the right level of spunk and optimism.

Our villains are perfectly villainous. Rose the Hat is page perfect, and manages to be monstrous but also demonstrates her own misguided determination to maintain her 'family'. The True Knot are fabulously brought to life and perfectly cast. It's almost a shame we don't get to know them better but the screen time we get with them is fun, dark and twisted .

The recreation of the interior of the Overlook is lovingly done and stands extremely well as a side to side comparison with Kubrick's film. The ghosts also are great fun and recreated with a fan's eye. Some scenes in the exterior of the hotel are a little less shiny, but overall don't mar the film.

All in all, I found this film to be exactly what I would have asked for. I look forward to it being released with some behind the scenes or documentary footage.

[Image: Intrepid Pictures, et al]

Hani

I Trapped the Devil

"I Trapped the Devil" (2019, Josh Lobo, IFC Midnight, Scream Factory) is an indie suspense horror about a man who believes he has the devil trapped in his basement.

Steve (Scott Poythress) is a paranoid man living alone. When his brother, Matt (AJ Bowen) and sister-in-law Karen (Susan Burke), unexpectedly show up to spend Christmas with him, he announces that he has captured the devil and imprisoned him in his basement. His brother and sister-in-law become increasingly concerned by Steve's erratic behaviour and the fact that they can hear someone trapped in the eerily lit darkroom/basement.

A very slow burning film where very little happens until the finale. The pacing was too slow for me and I found the plot did not have enough to it to fill the full run time. The characters seemed to behave somewhat illogically, which could be explained for the main character, Steve, where we are supposed to be on the fence about his sanity, but all of the characters were distractedly odd.

It does enjoy some moments of dread and an overall grim feeling with some cheerfully poignant Christmas lights, but overall I found the film a bit tedious.

[Image: IFC Midnight, et al]

Hani