Recommended
Bamy (2017) (Japanese Horror) – A red umbrella falls from the sky and brings a man and woman together, but their relationship may be linked to a supernatural threat. This low-budget film has effective scoring with abrupt intrusions of silence, which creates a sense of unease. The lighting in this film is really significant. The way the indoor scenes are lit makes the film look like its practically black-and-white. Natural sunlight is used abundantly, but it’s accentuated and intensified so much that it creates pitch black areas within the indoor locations. This proves to be a major tactic for use in presenting the spirits. Some very cool ghost shots in this one. The high contrast lighting makes the ghosts look like shadows in the light. There are no jump scares whatsoever. This is glacially paced and has some ambiguous elements, but the romantic relationship is important here and the connection to horror is both thought-provoking and interesting.
Avengement (2019) (British Action) – While released on furlough from prison, a lowly criminal (Scott Adkins) evades his guards and returns to his old haunts to take revenge on the people that made him a cold-hearted killer. Lots of fighting, some of which is bloody and wince-worthy. The story is actually pretty good too, with antagonists who are definitely unlikeable. Solid flick.
Witchfinder General (1968) (British/American Drama/Horror) – Set in 1645, a young soldier seeks to put an end to the evils caused by a vicious witch-hunter when the latter terrorizes his fiancée and kills her uncle. Vincent Price plays a bad guy in this one, and his subordinate is also very difficult to kill. The conflict is strong here, and the film shows the dubious methods of witchcraft hunting that were used during the era. There are a few disturbing moments. I’m not sure I agree with this being classified as a horror film, but I’m very lenient with my genre classifications.
The Great Outdoors (1988) (American Comedy) (repeat viewing) – A Chicago man’s (John Candy) hope for a peaceful family vacation in the woods is shattered when the annoying in-laws drop in. There are some funny and memorable scenes, my favorites of which involve the raccoons who talk to each other via subtitles. The bear attack is fun and the “Old 96er” eating scene is good too. The subplot involving the local girl is utterly pointless and boring, but at least she’s hot. This movie also has one of the biggest goofs I’ve ever seen, with Dan Aykroyd counting to the other actors for a reaction shot.
Young-ju (2018) (Korean Drama) – Young-Ju's parents died in a car accident and she is now responsible for taking care of her younger brother. Her financial situation gets increasingly worse. This movie does a good job of showing the difficulties of our protagonist, and it touches upon some interesting dilemmas. A bit on the slow side, but as a drama this definitely works.
Duel (1971) (American Thriller) – A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer. The filmmakers never show the truck driver’s face, which was a great choice. It does get a bit repetitive after a while and you do have to suspend your disbelief a bit, but this is effectively unnerving stuff by Stephen Spielberg.
Suzzanna: Buried Alive (2018) (Indonesian Horror) – A woman is murdered and comes back from the dead to both visit her housekeepers and inflict vengeance on her murderers. This movie feels a bit different from other stories of this kind. The film shifts between two groups of humans (protagonists and antagonists) while the ghostly entity interacts with both. It’s an interesting structure that allows the film to shift tones. It also takes its time to set up its big sequences, which makes them feel lengthy and satisfying.
Split Second (1992) (British/American Thriller) – In a flooded future London, Detective Harley Stone (Rutger Hauer) hunts a serial killer who murdered his partner, and has haunted him ever since. He soon discovers what he is hunting might not be human. The scriptwriting and dialogue are underwhelming, and none of the thriller/action scenes are particularly good, but it’s still kinda fun to watch for its violence and the lead actor.
Brewster’s Millions (1985) (American Comedy) – A minor league baseball player has to spend thirty million dollars in thirty days, in order to inherit three hundred million dollars. However, he's not allowed to tell anyone about the deal. The rules are limited and basic, but too ill-defined regarding the details, which creates a situation where the viewer really has no idea what the protagonist is truly allowed to do. The female lead is an unlikeable, pretentious wench who does nothing but lecture people the entire movie. The scriptwriting in general is weak, but it’s still fun watching someone spend absurd amounts of money and think of ways to do it yourself. I want a better written remake.
Not Recommended
Missbehavior (2019) (Chinese Comedy) – The plot is dumb and the script is very flimsy with some horrible gags (farting in the elevator, toilet jokes). To make matters worse, there’s a blunt score that plays throughout the entire film and over-accentuates the mood of every scene. The big name supporting actresses have very little screentime and disappear completely from the film. This is all low-hanging fruit that is severely lacking in interesting content. It’s only 88 minutes long, but it feels longer. Ho-cheung Pang needs to get his act together.
Dad for Rent (2014) (Korean Comedy/Drama) – An unemployed, immature man has let his daughter down so many times, she decides to put him up for rent. The acting is too exaggerated and silly; I suspect the film was made for little kids. It’s watchable early on, but outstays its welcome pretty quickly and has a runtime that’s way too long for this material. It’s cheesy and lame, with an insufferable lead protagonist, then it tries (and fails) to get really dramatic and serious.
Blast (1997) (American Action) – Terrorists are holding the U.S. Olympic swim team hostage, and only the janitor can stop them. Linden Ashby (Johnny Cage from “Mortal Kombat”) is the lead, and Rutger Hauer has an extended cameo and one memorable scene. Unfortunately, all of the performances are painfully flat. Even Ashby’s character is portrayed in a very boring manner; they should have had fun with this and had him be more cocky, like in “Mortal Kombat.” Also, everyone in the movie is wearing the same damn clothes; I know it kinda makes sense given the plot, but it makes the film seem very cheap. The action is really lame too. The hand-to-hand fighting is abysmal, as is the gunplay and chases. There are no squib effects at all! This sucks.
Bottom of the Barrel
Elektra (2005) (American/Canadian Action) – Elektra the warrior survives a near-death experience, becomes an assassin-for-hire, and tries to protect her two latest targets, a single father and his young daughter, from a group of supernatural assassins. Jennifer Garner is totally unconvincing as an action hero and a terrible actress as well. There’s not enough action, and the editing during the fight scenes is atrocious. The story and conflicts are mind-numbingly boring. Some abysmal CGI effects are used that do not age well at all. This is an embarrassment in every aspect.
