Tag: Thriller

Green Room (2016): Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots Nailing It (Review)

Anton Yelchin as Pat

Written and directed by “Murder Party” and “Blue Ruin” auteur Jeremy Saulnier, Green Room has the sad distinction of being the last film released starring Anton Yelchin before his untimely death on June 19, 2016. The film follows the misfortune of a struggling punk band who stumble onto a murder while playing at a skinhead roadhouse.

Saulnier, whose debut feature length film was the brilliant low/no-budget offering “Murder Party,” has a knack for making American film that have a distinctly English feel to them.  Taking a note  from such talented Brit filmmakers like “Dog Soldiers” (Neil Marshall, who wrote and directed the werewolf picture, specialized in violent and terse thrillers like Doomsday and the gloriously scary, and all female, The Descent before moving onto mainstream television.)

Yelchin plays the meekest member of a punk band who later teams up with Poots as they fight against a group of white supremacists tasked with killing them.  Patrick Stewart plays wonderfully against type as the club owner who calmly arranges for all the witnesses of the murder to be disposed of.

Green Room, for the most part, takes place in a claustrophobic setting. The band members plus one, Poots’ character Amber, are trapped in a club (roadhouse) in the dressing room, aka green room as Darcy (Stewart) and his Aryan lackeys work out how to kill them all.

The band, which consists of three young men and a female guitarist, and Amber work together and the film is really all about survival. Everyone does a great job in their respective roles but Poots and Yelchin almost effortlessly nail their performances from word one.

Poots boasts a sort of “bowl” band cut and pigtails that makes her looks like a demented Pippy Longstocking’s wannabe while Yelchin appears to be almost emaciated. At one point early in the film Pat (Yelchin) takes Sam (Alia Shawkat) on the back of a folding bicycle and he looks so rail thin that one wonders how he pedals the thing with her balanced on the back. 

All  the band look thin and somewhat wasted, as behooves a young musical group struggling to find gigs, food and petrol. Wisely, the film spends little time on white supremacy themes and opts instead to have Darcy remind his club members to “remember, it’s a movement, not a party,” as the only reference to their leanings.

There are pit bulls, the usual “pet dressing” of these members of society, and they are used against the young band members throughout the film. Saulnier, who has already proven that he can do comedy horror on a budget, with “Murder Party” and a quirky, bloody, crime thriller (Blue Ruin) has now shown what he can do with a horror/thriller.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the entire film is Darcy’s unflappable calm as he plots the demise of so many people. He even instructs, via a seemingly throwaway remark, how to kill the people responsible for the whole “cluster-f***” in the first place.

The soldiers who willingly go after the targets are also unsettling but as they are really quite two dimensional they serve more as bogeymen cohorts rather than the real deal, like Stewart’s character.

Green Room looks top notch with its grimy sets and gritty decor. Black walls with graffiti scrawled everywhere and a dressing room that looks too disgusting to walk through add to the grungy feel of the bar where the band play.

Once again, the late Yelchin proved just how versatile an actor he really was by playing a more unconventional lead character. Saulnier even allows his lead to be somewhat horrifically injured, a move that causes the audience to wonder of the actor’s character will make it past the first reel.

The band comes across as a real group of musicians who are working hard to make it happen. Kudos to all the actors for finding the truth of characters that could have been flat two dimensional people without a perfect marriage of script and actor.

Green Room is a solid 4 star film. It entertains and keeps the audience close to the edge of their seat as the characters are hunted down through the film. The movie can be seen on Amazon.com, as part of the “Prime” stream and if you have not already done so, head on over to watch this one.

The Girl on the Train (2016): Gone Girl…Not (Review)

Emily Blunt as Rachel

Directed by Tate Taylor (The Help, Get On Up) from a screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson based on the book of the same name by English author Paula Hawkins, The Girl on the Train is a splendid mix of layers hidden amongst a myriad of smoke and mirrors. The film has been compared to the 2014 film Gone Girl, but there really is nothing to bring the two together. 

There is a missing woman, which is the big theme in the Gillian Flynn novel and movie. But where the characters in Flynn’s opus are all self centered and obsessed with their own character arcs, Hawkins’ people are all illusion, pain and hidden misery.

No one is as they appear initially. Emily Blunt plays Rachel, the “girl on the train,” who seems to be calm and retrospective. She fantasizes about the young woman she sees from the moving vehicle. On her journey to and from New York, she sees Megan (Haley Bennett) and her husband Scott (Luke Evans) as the “perfect couple.” 

As the film progresses we learn that the couple she “spies” on live right near where she and her ex-husband lived. Justin Theroux plays Tom, Rachel’s ex, and he has a new life with Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and their child Evie. 

The Girl on the Train is a long film that manages to seem much shorter than its nearly two hour running time.  We are lead down a path that twists and turns with each new revelation. Things are seen mainly from Rachel’s point of view but we are also let in on Megan’s state of mind.

Each character in the film has a secret, some hidden on purpose and others via misdirection and at least one character has the truth skewed by someone else. The end of the film, as well as the murder midway through, is surprising.

This drama/mystery/thriller is a perfect whodunit with a trail of confusing  clues that slowly but surely lead us to the killer.  It is only with the final reveal that we learn the truth and on top of it being somewhat heartbreaking for at least two of the characters  it is also shocking.

Not having read the source book by Hawkins it is unclear just how closely Tate and Wilson followed the original storyline. In the end, however, it does not really matter as the film is put together perfectly. We stick with the story, as it unfolds in fits and starts, and we get caught up in each character’s tale.

Blunt may have the best backstory and she manages, with the aid of some brilliant makeup and spot on acting, to utterly convince as the alcoholic with memory problems. She unflinchingly allows the camera to linger on her blotchy complexion and those slightly unfocused eyes. It is a real tour de force performance.

Bennett is sexy, sultry, remote and dissatisfied. It is all too easy to see where her fixation with sex comes from and her need to live in the moment.

Ferguson comes across as the trophy wife who is, like Bennett’s character, a little distant.  She has issues with Blunt’s character and emotes a certain naivety that is both sad and surprising.

Lisa Kudrow makes the most of a crucial cameo as Tom’s old boss and Allison Janney almost steals the show as Detective Riley. 

The Girl on the Train has also been called a “woman’s film” and indeed this story features a microscopic look at the three women featured in the movie. However, the film works on many more levels than just a “chick flick” and as a mystery/thriller hits every single note without one miss.

By the end of the film we care and feel for each major female character. It says a lot about the quality of the script, the acting and the direction that we can empathize with everyone but the one real villain of the piece.

The Girl on the Train is a full 5 star film.  Once one begins watching it, there is no question that it must be finished. The urge to learn the truth amidst all the false clues and misremembered events overwhelms all. Watch this film now and get caught up in the story and its characters.

After Hours (2016): Short, Effective and Spot On (Review)

Bill Oberst Jr.

Written by Adam Weber (This was his first time up as scribe.) and directed by Michael Aguiar (His second stint in the big chair.),  After Hours  stars the prolific Bill Oberst Jr. as a detective investigating the murder of a young girl in what appears to be a thrift store. 

The young lady is working after hours and once the lights go off, before she can leave the shop, it seems that she is not alone. When she goes to investigate, things take a tragic and deadly turn.

Detective Harris arrives to find that the girl he questioned earlier in another case has been brutally murdered in the store’s elevator. As he searches for clues, the killer stays busy.

After Hours proves how effective camera work, spot on lighting and some on point suspense, via sound, can take a short film and really make it shine. Cinematographer William Schweikert gives us crisp images, even in the darkened shop, that focuses on the events without distraction.

The FX in the film pack a satisfying wallop that is just this side of brilliant. (Keep an eye out for it and see if you do not agree that it is more than effective.)

The lighting is used to set things up, as is the soundtrack itself, and Aguiar, who edited the film, puts it all together flawlessly.  The end result is a thriller cum horror film that delivers its punch very nicely.

Bill Oberst Jr. has over 164 credits under his belt and the actor brings a stamp of truth and authority to whatever role he plays. In this film, his portrayal of the detective with drive and a keen attention to detail makes the ending come across brilliantly.

Gabriel Lee, as Detective Cordova, projects a sense of realism in the few seconds he has on screen and Tracy Decresie screams the place down very convincingly. 

Aguiar pulls us in nicely and moves the tale along at a solid pace. This short horror thriller manages to deliver a one-two punch that surprises as much as it pleases. The build up to pay off is expertly done, so much so that even with a repeated viewing or two, the essence is still there.  Watching the film several times also allows the viewer a chance to catch all the clever nuances that Michael has “hidden” in the movie.

The director recommends watching After Hours “in a darkened room.” He also suggests wearing earphones to enhance the experience. His advice is sound (pun intended) but watching the film without the tips still entertains and has an impressive scare factor.

After Hours is still on the festival circuit and will, no doubt, garner some excellent reviews from horror fans and critics alike. Film’s like these are what the short film category was invented for. Succinct, punchy and clever this film earns a full 5 stars for effectiveness and an O. Henry flavour that delights.

Have a look at the trailer for a taste of this nigh-on perfect offering:

American Violence (2017): Anti Death Penalty Message? (Review)

Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau as Jackson Shea

Written by Al Lamanda and directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. American Violence can be seen as both a cautionary tale with more than its fair share of tragedy and an anti-death penalty message all rolled into one.

Starring a number of well-known faces, including Bruce Dern, Denise Richards,  Johnny Messner and Patrick Kilpatrick, the film features Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau as Jackson Shea. A man on death row awaiting his execution by lethal injection. 

Richards is psychologist Dr. Amanda Tyler. She has been asked to review the man’s case file to find violent flags. What follows is a journey through Shea’s life.

The entire story borders on a clichéd premise. The young Shea is sexually abused by his uncle, his mother drinks herself to death and after his first stint in prison, Jackson’s convict partner in crime is tortured to death.

American Violence is a tragedy in several acts that approaches the subject matter with an attitude that takes itself a tad too seriously. Shea’s life is interesting but the movie takes too long a look and loses something because of it.

At 107 minutes, the film drags a bit in the middle and could have benefitted from a little less imagery. There are shots in the film that indicate the criminals who inhabit this world are victims. (Pay close attention during the torture scene at the icon on the wall behind Martin Bigg.)

Regardless of the main message that the film projects – that violence begets violence – the underlying theme is that too much violence corrupts as it deadens those who are consistently exposed to it.

All the people in Shea’s life are unpleasant and, no real surprise here, violent. If they are not prone to kill other people they are, at the very least, aggressive and threatening.

Although we are led to believe that the “love of his life” Olivia (whose father is a criminal kingpin) is something special.  The killer’s story is one of a ever deepening spiral into death and revenge that ultimately destroys him even before his execution can be carried out.

Even the legal system in his world is corrupt and full of people who take advantage of their position and power to push others into doing bad things. As the film reveals the story of Shea’s life, it takes great pains to show the convict as both victim and sinner.

There are some solid performances from the actors that fill out the film. Richards may be that bit too serious but it fits the character. Bruce Dern delivers in spades, as usual, and Emma Rigby, as Olivia Rose, satisfies as the femme fatale love interest.

Despite the length of the film and the more obvious stereotypical characters and tropes American Violence is almost compelling. It is hard to be uninterested in Shea’s story as it unfolds via his session with Tyler.

The number of capable actors who interact with Lyman-Mersereau help to sell the story.  At the end of the film we may not agree with the its heavy-handed message but we can at least understand it.

American Violence is a 3 star film that strives to be much more than the sum of all its parts. There are bits that work extremely well however. The lighting, for example, tells us that the very character of Shea is a mixture of light and dark. Just as the framing, and lighting, of Dern’s character reveals that he is not evil but acting naturally given his position.

The film will premiere on February 3, 2017. Check out the trailer below and see what you think.

AMERICAN VIOLENCE – THEATRICAL TRAILER from Status Media & Entertainment on Vimeo.

Clinical (2017): Twist and Shout (Review)

Promotional poster for Clinical

Directed and co-written by Alistair Legrand (the other writer on the film was Luke Harvis) Clinical is an effective combination of the thriller and horror genres. This is Legrand’s second film and it offers up enough twists and turns to keep the viewer guessing right up until the final reveal.

It could be called a “twist and shout”  movie as there are enough false leads and surprising turns to keep the most astute viewer on their toes. There are hints that things are not necessarily what they appear to be but not until later and not until we have been sucked into the good doctor’s world.

Vinessa Shaw is Dr. Jane Mathis; a psychiatrist who is attacked by a former patient who then slits her own throat. The doctor has scars from the attack, both mental and physical, but she continues to help other patients as she recovers. 

The patient who slashed her with a broken bit of glass is Nora (played with creepy, and damned scary, conviction by India Eisley) who ends up in a mental hospital for the criminally insane. Jane, who has started treating  new patient; Alex (Lethal Weapon‘s Kevin Rahm) a man horribly disfigured by an auto accident, starts seeing Nora everywhere. 

As the film progresses things take a severe shift into another direction. We now question Jane’s version of events  and indeed wonder if anything seen to this point is actually real.

Some of the effects are quite horrific; one scene with Rahm’s character’s face is very nearly nightmarish, and while the plot may not be clear enough for some to follow, Legrand manages to keep things moving well enough to entertain.

Rahm is brilliant as the mystery patient and Eisley is disturbing as the mentally tortured kid who “haunts’ Jane. Shaw makes the transitions required to tell the story convincingly and helps to move the tale along with its many twists and turns.

William Atherton has a small role as Terry; Jane’s therapist. The actor is best known for his role in the first two Die Hard films as that reporter. Character actor Nestor Serrano is spot on as the antagonistic and despicable psychiatrist who “treats” both Nora and Jane.

Aaron Stanford, who worked with Vinessa on The Hills Have Eyes remake has little screen time as Miles, Jane’s cop boyfriend. It is nice, however, to see the two in another project together. 

Clinical is now available on Netflix either to stream or to download and watch later offline. This is a cracking film. It earns a solid 4 stars for having enough mystery to keep one guessing until the final reveal.