Director: The Spierig
Brothers
Notable Cast: Jason
Clarke, Helen Mirren, Sarah Snook, Finn Scicluna-O’Prey, Angus Sampson, Laura
Brent, Tyler Coppin, Eamon Farren, Bruce Spence
By all means, Winchester
should be one of the best horror films of the year. The Spierig Brothers have a
fantastic visual style, the film features two phenomenal leads in Jason Clarke
and Helen Mirren, and the time period setting is ripe for a classic Gothic/ghost
tale tone. So what exactly goes wrong with Winchester
that it stumbles so badly? The answer is nothing really. There is nothing
distinctly wrong with any of these things. Visually, the film uses its sets and
period setting to give it enough of a decent look, the performances are
certainly fine, and the film goes for that old school appeal of dramatic
haunting with just enough modern tricks and jump scares to curb the appetites
of the modern audience.
Yet, that’s also inherently the problem. Winchester should be so much more. This
is a film that should soar with all of the great things behind it, but it
simply comes out with a loud ‘meh.’ It’s a film inherently caught between being
the artistic and atmospheric throwback it might have been and the more
consumable mainstream scare flick it thought a mainstream audience wanted. The
film so desperately wants to replicate the balances, tone, and effectiveness of
James Wan’s The Conjuring films that
it forgets to have its own identity. Winchester
never truly spirals into being a terrible film at any given time, but it also
never sets out to truly define itself from being mediocre. It has moments where
one can see the more impactful film that it could have been, particularly in
key moments like the garden room sequence of the third act, but ultimately Winchester never takes off the safety.
Director: Ryuhei
Kitamura
Notable Cast: Kelly
Connaire, Stephanie Pearson, Rod Hernandez, Anthony Kirlew, Alexa Yeames, Jason
Tobias
I've been awaiting the new Kitamura film for quite some time
and, while Downrange does represent a
slightly different film than expected, it does not disappoint. After his last
few films in the US like No One Lives and The Midnight Meat Train, it’s easy to
get excited for what he has to offer in terms of modern exploitation horror.
His style has always worked well with the genre, but initial trailers would
indicate that perhaps this film would be a more subdued and realistic foray
into horror. Of course, this is a Kitamura film. We should know that he
wouldn’t hold back.
Downrange is a
brisk film that starts off as a stripped down and gritty flick that seems a lot
more realistic than what fans might be used to from the director, but by the
time it ramps up to the third act it has gone full exploitation with plenty of
outlandish and logic defying moments that embrace the silliness of its plot for
maximum entertainment. There are times when the dialogue or gimmicks of the
film don’t necessarily make a lot of sense, particularly as some of the
characters feel a bit thinner than needed for the full pay off of the suspense
in the narrative, but it works enough to hook the audience. As the film plays
out, the Kitamura we all know and love starts to shine through and the film goes
off the rails using violence, dark humor, and some surprise twists to drill the
film home. It’s not a film for everyone, thanks to some of the oddities of its
narrative and approach, but I had a blast with what Downrange had to offer and it’s another massive success for the
director in my book.
Directors: Jeremy
Dyson, Andy Nyman
Notable Cast: Andy
Nyman, Martin Freeman, Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther, Paul Warren, Kobna
Holdbrook-Smith, Nicholas Burns, Louis Atkins
Based on a stage play, Ghost
Stories was a much more intriguing experience than I expected from the
initial trailers. Going back to watch those trailers, it’s not like they trick
a viewer into thinking the film is going to be something other than what it is
- at least on a surface level, but the full film plays off in ways that are
both unexpected, perplexing, and often impressive. It’s almost like an
anthology, weaving three individual ghost stories into an overall narrative of a ‘non-believer’ tasked with
uncovering why they went unsolved. Yet, the film is not as nearly as disjointed
as some anthologies are because each of the stories have a role to play in
developing the lead character and the overall narrative. It works much better
than expected and it moves swiftly through each of the stories and each
development adds a new layer and sense of discomfort on top of the last.
It helps that Ghost Stories has a fantastic sense of humor to go with its well-developed sense of tension and spooks. It’s an impressively dry sense of humor, at times even running close to being Monty Python-esque, particularly in the third act as some of the questions of the mystery being built are “answered,” but in that regard it may not be for everyone. As the film finished, I had to digest what the strange third act did, twisting the film in some unique ways. In the end, however, Ghost Stories has such a strong sense of identity that it works and those who keep an open mind are likely to find a lot to love.
It helps that Ghost Stories has a fantastic sense of humor to go with its well-developed sense of tension and spooks. It’s an impressively dry sense of humor, at times even running close to being Monty Python-esque, particularly in the third act as some of the questions of the mystery being built are “answered,” but in that regard it may not be for everyone. As the film finished, I had to digest what the strange third act did, twisting the film in some unique ways. In the end, however, Ghost Stories has such a strong sense of identity that it works and those who keep an open mind are likely to find a lot to love.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
No comments:
Post a Comment