TYTD Reviews

As a fan of both Bill Rebane and Tiny Tim, I was MORE than piqued when I first found out about 'Blood Harvest'. An almost woozy, dreamy take on the horror film experience. And after waiting for the better part of 10 years to get a high quality copy of the film, I was a little underwhelmed. But! Its been at least 5-7 years since I last watched it, So tonight while on the road to Halloween, I thought i'd give it another spin.

The films about as straightforward as it comes, opening with a grizzly double suicide in a barn, followed by reports of murder/suicides in the surrounding area, before the film flashes forward and we're introduced to Jill. Jills a local to the area, but has been away for a few years studying. However; she's returned to her hometown with her partner 'Scott' to try and settle back in. And on returning she decides to drop by her childhood/teenage friends place to see how they're doing.

Jills friend is Gary, and; for a time, the pair were a little romantically involved. But nothing really ever got serious enough to go 'official' and then Jill left for her studies…and on returning Jill gets the fright of her life when standing in Garys kitchen, is a lumbering terrifying looking clown brandishing a bouqet of ruffled, hand picked flowers.

The clown, is 'Merv' (Tiny Tim) Garys brother who…at best is described as eccentric and at worst, mentally ill. Merv is a bit detached from reality, he was a bit quirky as a kid, and enjoyed largely talking to the animals on his parents farm. But when they were all slaughtered to bring money in to try and help keep the farm afloat. Something snapped in Merv and he slowly became more and more detached, and more and more into taking on the persona of a clown.

With the players all set in place, the film begins proper, and its basically a low budget slasher. with a mysterious killer appearing in town, having a VERY special interest in Jill and slowly but surely picking off all her friends and connections, with the ultimate goal being to 'get' Jill…The film HEAVILY implies that 'Merv' is the killer…but…it couldnt be Merv right?…right!?

What we have here is a CERTAINLY memorable, but not necessarily well made offering from Rebane, that mixes genuinely bizarre situations and choices with a LOT of padding, basic technical ability and a genuine struggle on line deliveries.

Tiny Tim is the only element here that elevates the script out of being THE most generic slasher movie of the 80s. And almost all of his moments in this film could be removed and it wouldnt make a lick of difference to the story or plot overall.

Tims sequences (with literally 1 or 2 exceptions) are largely isolated out of the main plot, and are the main reason to check this film out. He struggled badly with trying to remember lines, had to rely on cue cards and method acting when in his clown make up to make it through the scenes. and honestly, its a memorising performance that has to be SEEN to be believed. Dancing the line in places between something pseudo lynchian and horrendous. Its great!

The rest of the script though? well…its not the most inspiring slasher ever made, the pacing sluggishly pushes things along, there is a clean three act structure but its a bit heavy handed and doesnt quite flow naturalistically. The characters get a bit of backstory, but nothings seriously developed, the character arcs are all a bit shallow (with one or two exceptions) and the ending is 'shrug' worthy. Without Tiny Tim playing Merv. id have said this was a bore of a slasher film you could easily skip. But the deliveries he gives of the script combined with his improvisational moments really pull this production up to something that I still cant outright say is good, or even meets the basic brief of technical ability…But it IS fun in places and I cant deny that I enjoyed at least a good chunk of this one.

outside of that though? its generic across the board, Rebane as a director wasnt exactly known for being a polished creator or for pushing the medium into new places. He was a 'boxy' director who clunkily and painfully dragged his vision across the celluloid on multiple occasions. and 'Blood Harvest' is no different. we have a quite flat, low on flare, low on colour, low on finer detail and cast direction affair that feels blunt, aggressive in its minimalism and largely for function over form. This is not a pretty film, it communicates what it needs to, no more, no less.

The cine too is quite rough, compositions arnt always in focus, composed to the rule of thirds or following 'the line', sequences feel 'cleavered' together, and theres a burning sense that Rebane didnt have the time, budget or inclination for multiple takes. What was shot, was shot, and what was good enough got into the edit. In a way I admire that mentality of brutalism. But at the same time…it sits like sandpaper to any willing viewer.

Performance wise, Ive already sung the praises of Tiny Tim, who is just…SO bizarre and stilted in this thing, he's easily worth the price of admission and its clear to see why the branding reflects this. But credit I feel also has to go to Itonia Salchek as Jill. While the rest of the cast have very narrow tunnels to work with in terms of bringing their characters to life and defining their performances. Salchek gets a VERY meaty turn here with a good range of emotions to work with, a chunky set of dialogue and she relishes the chance to bring some real physicality to the role that the rest of the cast seem to have all but given up on (apart from Tiny.) Shes fantastic here and easily has some of the 'other' best moments of this film.

And as for the soundtrack…its synthy gubbins, but I liked it! and if you needed selling on it, check out the 'end credits' theme tune sung by Tiny himself! its a real trip!

''Blood Harvest' isnt a particularly well made film, its saggy, draggy and VERY rough around the edges. But it also has a cultish charm that I really appreciated. This absolutely wont be everyones cup of tea, Im not even 100% sure I can actively recommend it. But I can say that, for the most part, while I cant commend it for its quality. I did enjoy it, and I sat through the whole thing waiting for the next oddity to pop up.

So…my advice, if you have the patience for the more generic elements of this movie, and want to see Tiny Tim get PARTICULARLY weird…this may well be the movie for you!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/blood-harvest/1/

The Third (and currently final) film in the 'Annabelle' series is effectively an 'A Pup Named Scooby Doo' effort. A film that dares to ask the question: 'What if the Warrens leave a house full of horrifying demonic and cursed entities in the hands of a babysitter, her friend, her crush and their child for the night'? Well; if you ever wanted to know, this film will answer that question.

Thats…pretty much literally the plot, the film opens with the Warrens collecting 'Annabelle' from the nurses (as seen in 'The Conjuring') they bring her home, put her in a glass box, and then about a year later on a random tuesday, they have to head out to go and attend to spooky business, leaving the house and their daughter Judy in the capable hands of the local babysitter Mary and her friend Daniela. Daniela has a bit of a troubled past and is obsessed with the occult. So while Mary takes Judy round the block to break in some new roller skates, Daniela sneaks into the Warrens 'Cursed' room and just…touches absolutely bloody everything.

AND! As a result, she allows half a dozen demonic entities (and more) escape the room into the Warrens house and gardens. leading to a night of SPOoOoooOoOKY Shenanigans as the girls fight the forces of evil to get Annabelle back in her case before dawn, seal the evil away AND get Judy to bed at a reasonable time or Old Man and Lady Warren are gonna be like…SO narked dude…

I really wish there was more to it than that. But this honestly feels like the kind of movie you could show your kids as a gateway film into 'real' horror…only *slightly* scarier than your average 'Goosebumps' episode and with a distinct 'adventure/comedy' vibe running through it. I'd argue it defangs the demonic entities that this franchise has spent so long trying to uphold…But that would imply I was invested enough in these films to have been spooked by them to begin with.

To quick cut across all fronts, the plot, the cine, direction, music, performances…they're all generically fine. In fact, most of this movie feels like a generically fine tween adventure horror film…something like 'The Monster Squad' or The recent 'Goosebumps' movies…just a lot smaller budget and a lot smaller scale. In that sense, I quite enjoyed it. Its nothing particularly adventurous. But on all fronts its a fairly robust, but not groundbreaking watch with a handful of fun moments, and a handful of scenes, shots and plot points that elevated it just above average.

Id be being dishonest if I didnt say that I had fun with this one…Its a grilled cheese sandwhich of a movie, nothing fancy, and it isnt going to change your life. But when you want a grilled cheese ONLY a grilled cheese will satisfy.

It puts me in the rather difficult position of struggling honestly to decide whether this film deserves to rank higher than the other 'Conjuring' movies that DID push the boat out, DID try and experiment and had a mixture of successes and failures…because at least those films DID try to do something outside the box…this film is arguably one of the safest 'Adult' horror films i've ever seen…and its enjoyable…but…I dont know, part of me would feel bad saying this was better than say 'The Conjuring' 1, 2 or 'Annabelle Creation' which at least TRIED to move the needle a bit…

I may need a rewatch to fully appreciate my feelings on this one truthfully…All I can say with any degree of certainty, is this isnt a classic, this isnt even a particularly great example of what its trying to do…But I liked this one, in fact, i'd go as far as to say its an active recommendation, and especially so if you didnt enjoy the mainline 'Conjuring' films and want to see what a reconfigured version could potentially look like.

I'd say if your at a bit of a loss and can get your hands on a copy of this this halloween, go check it out! its a surprisingly fun, if not a tad generic watch.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/annabelle-comes-home/

This review may contain spoilers.

An offering I picked up not *too* long ago from 'Bleeding Skull', 'The Soultangler' is an SOV horror film that has a strong and vocal cult following, and given 'Bleeding Skulls' reputation for releasing some of the strangest and bizarre cinema from the world of SOV. I figured it was my moral duty to see what this was all about. After reading up a bit about the film, I decided to watch the 'Directors cut' for my first time viewing. In part because, its what the director has decided is 'their' vision for the film. But also because apparently 99% of the cuts made to shrink the film down to a brief 62 minutes are just extended walking and driving sequences, with a handful of dialogue scenes truncated to help keep the pace…Sounds like my kind of party.

The plot follows Dr Anton Lupesky, a genius in his field who has begun to explore the supernaturalistic world of 'Soultangling' a process wherein, by injecting ones self with a drug he's developed called Anphorium, a person is able to transfer their soul into a dead body, essentially reviving the corpse and allowing the drug taker to live on through the corpses body.

Naturally; when he tries to publish his findings, he's labelled 'insane' and laughed out of his workplace, promptly fired and struck from the register. Leading him to relocate to the backwoods of a small rural community to continue his work on the serum and on transference.

Its here that we meet Kim Castle a reporter for a local paper who's learned of Lupesky's works, has discovered his staying in the local area, and is doing everything in her power to get an interview with the scientist. Which she does…albeit a brief interview that is VERY passive aggressive and ends with her leaving his lab with barely a word exchanged. But the conversation doesnt put Kim off, and slowly but surely she begins to piece together that the isolated doctor may be working on something quite sinister, using his henchmen to secure unwilling victims for his 'experiments'…

From here Kim enters a hallucinogenic rabbit hole of blood, guts, gore and some half decent special effects for SOV. As the dark past of Dr. Anton is revealed, and Kim finds, she may be next on the block for the doctors experiments.

Quite honestly; I dont have a lot to say about this one, I wish I did, because all the reviews I read about this film before I purchased it, REALLY sold it to me as something not to be missed…but the reality is, I found it kind of slow paced and flat…even at only 62 minutes.

For a starters, this thing has 'Reanimator' printed all over it. The misunderstood glasses wearing illusive genius mad scientist working on a serum that allows him to resurrect the dead is here given a small twist by introducing henchmen and a 'mad laboratory' set to work from…But thats about it.

I think when people rave about this film, they're really raving for about 5 minutes collectively of surreal trippy scenes dusted across the runtime…and the final 10 minutes, which genuinely are pretty amazing for SOV and showcase a real talent for special effects…Otherwise. This things SO slow. Slow to the point that I cant even BEGIN to imagine how slow the 90 minute cut must be.

The plots glacial for about 45 of the 62 minute runtime. Most of that time is either the doctor monologuing about how misunderstood he is, the henchmen kidnapping people or Kim wandering around town and talking to people. very VERY little actually happens for most of that time, barring the occasional psychedelic freakout sequence where Kim will rip the skin off her own arm or get chased by zombies. those moments are fleeting, but fun. The rest…is SO slow.

The 3 act structure is super loose and doesnt transition between the acts particularly well. The characters are all just either kind of boring, or are heavily cribbed. the dialogue is a bit bland and stale…not helped either by the fact the soundtracks louder than the audio track at times making it near enough impossible to hear whats ACTUALLY being said…made all the worse by the fact that Bleeding Skull didnt include a subtitle track on this release…So I had to guess at what was happening on some of the more critical parts of this film.

To be blunt. it all feels a bit thrown together, less like a coherent, carefully thought out plotted story, and more like they got the key scenes down, which came to about 18 minutes. and then they fleshed the rest of the story out with extra sequences from there.

The direction is pretty much lifeless outside of the surreal trippy sequences. the cine is ultra basic too with compositions that are FAR from inspirational. However, I will say that the final 10 minutes in which a HUGE freakout featuring puppets, body doubles, prosthetics and full on severed head gory action is actually pretty incredible (and is what makes up the bulk of the stars i've given for this overall rating) Had the film NOT had this kind of quality up its sleeve throughout this production. I'd have probably said this was one of the dullest SOV's i'd ever seen…mercifully when this film DOES rev up, it becomes a creative powerhouse which just about pulls it back.

The performances arnt great, strange deliveries of lines…but not fun strange…just awkward strange, are present throughout. The cast dont really emote physically all that much creating a somewhat bland set of performances, and because cast placement wasnt really factored into the direction, quite often cast members will have their full backs to the camera, be off shot, be randomly plonked down within the scene…its a mess.

I will say though that I absolutely LOVED the soundtrack for this one, an artistic, synthy rocky score that gives this film an unmistakeable presence and energy that I loved…with the only issue really being that, as mentioned, the music drowns out the dialogue. Making it hard to follow along.

All in all? I went into 'The Soultangler' hoping for a crazy over the top gore fest of horror and surreal comedy. And what I got was 45 minutes of slowboil 'lore' dropping, married up to 15 minutes of some of the best directed and produced gory psychedelia i've seen in a LONG time…unfortunately though, thats not enough for this one to coast on far enough for me to give it the pass.

Soultangler is worth checking out for that 15 minutes or so of good stuff…IF you know what your getting into up front. Otherwise? There are WAY better SOV flicks out there that would more urgently need your time. 'Boardinghouse', 'Things', 'Sledgehammer', 'Ozone' and 'Video Diary of a Lost Girl' are all WAY better explorations of the subgenre and FAR more worthy of your time. This one? is one you can mop up after catching most of the greats.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-soultangler/

We span the 'roulette wheel' tonight for our Halloween pick of the day, and wound up with 'Slender Man' the 'Official' cinematic adaptation of the creepy/pasta created in 2009, popularised through 2010/2011 and slopped half heartedly down the cinematic meat chute in late 2018…the PRECISE window of time needed for a film like this to be positively fossilised in terms of cultural relevance…but also WAY too early to fall into the 'Nostalgia' window that can have folks like me going 'Oh yeah…I remember that!…Kind of…'

Right out of the gate theres a pretty significant problem with this movies plotting. The original 'Slender man' was created to take part in a photoshop contest. with a short story outlining what it was and what it does. Then in the early 2010s a 'Slender Man' video game came out…which assumed everyone had read the short story before playing, and was basically a multi-stage 'fetch quest' in which you had to collect 8 pages of 'reference' to Slender man lore while also surviving being hunted down by 'Slender Man' himself.

Thats the version of 'Slender man' that I would *think* most people are aware of and know about. Well! This film decides to basically airlock 90% of the lore, fanfiction and R34 imagery in favour of a reinvention of the character that keeps the absolute barest bones of the ship, and then runs with it as its own thing.

The film follows Wren, Katie, Chloe and Hallie. 4 high school girls getting up to high school girl stuff (This film doesnt clarify) who, while 'girling' around or whatever teens in 2018 were getting up to. Hear that a similar gathering is happening with the guys on the other side of town, and that they're going to attempt to summon 'The Slender Man'. A mysterious entity that may or may not be real…But you can summon him by watching a video on the dark web.

So, the girls decide to watch it…and at first not much happens. But then the next day, the girls are all feeling a bit offside, and while walking to school Katie stops at a nearby woodland…and seemingly vanishes.

The other girls are in shock, and after ruling out all the logical options for what might have happened. Wren, the member of our gang who's obsesses with paranormal happenings and knows a fair bit about 'Slender man' to begin with, suggests that maybe Slender Man has taken her.

the girls are dismissive at first, but as time goes by they all begin to become more and more paranoid about Slender Man, and increasingly begin to see visions, hallucinations and false realities of Slender man. Slowly, but surely, the girls all begin to deteriorate, and an attempt to appease 'Slender Man' goes horribly wrong taking another of the girls…leaving the survivors to try and find a way to sever the ties to Slender Man, or end up joining him.

I'll be honest, I really didnt have the time or inclination for this one. 'Slender Man' as a 'Thing' was fun for a glint in time around 2010/2011…But by 2018 it had really died of death, Indeed, the very idea that a studio like Sony would license the distribution of a film based on a game, a wiki full of fan written 'Lore' and a photoshop job from the 'Something Awful' message boards' feels like a level of corporations trying to be 'relatable' that I actively baulk at…and thats BEFORE we even GET INTO the fact that a lot of the charm this creepy internet lore…thing…had. Was utterly obliterated in 2014 when two mentally unwell girls tried to murder a 12 year old in a woods near their house because 'Slender Man told them to.'

Its kind of hard to pop up the popcorn, and dive into this as 'Entertainment' when a studio knowingly pushed this film out only 4 years after that event happened…

What this film is, is a generic horror film of its time, with 'Slender Man' branding wrapped around it and unceremoniously booted into theaters because Sony would lose the exclusive rights to make a 'Slender man' movie otherwise. And its every bit as generic as you'd guess.

The plot is nonsensical, relies heavily on people doing THE stupidest options consistently, doesnt have grounded rules for what 'Slender Man' can and cant do, doesnt have consistent caricaturisations of our core cast. doesnt have consistent pacing or plotting, doesn’t move through its three act structure particularly well or effectively, and ends in a dissatisfying way, that makes the viewer feel like the preceding 89 minutes were ultimately kind of pointless.

The characters are VERY generically coded, the dialogues rougher than ladies night down at the 'happy clam'. and…if I get to the point where I start asking 'Wheres Slender Man?' while im watching a movie called 'Slender Man' I do feel the films somewhat missed its brief.

The direction is super generic, it largely feels like elements of the 2013 'Evil Dead' movie, with some trippy visuals and a STRONG over reliance on CGI to smooth over the fact that the direction that isnt CG'd up the wazoo just…isnt really that interesting or good. It generic, low effort stuff that doesnt really pull you into the world, and doesnt even really try to make this look or feel any different than any of the other hundreds of movies that have this exact same style and tone that can be found dumped on Tubi from 2012 – 2020.

The cine is much the same, dull, lifeless cinematography that overly safe, compositionally strong, but now HEAVILY let down by the CG, which…now even only 8 years on is creaking HORRENDOUSLY. Sequences feel roughly cut together, CG transitional cuts dont work right, its an ugly movie truthfully, with almost nothing really redeeming of note that I can raise. Its not the worst thing i've ever seen. but the bare minimum isnt a sign of a winner in my books.

Performance wise, you would think with a cast consisting of Annalise Basso (Of Ouija: Origin of Evil fame), Joey King (of 'The Conjuring' and 'Fargo' fame) and Jaz Sinclair (of 'Paper Towns') that there'd be some decent turns here…but there isnt really. Of the lot, i'd say Joey King is probably the strongest performer of the bunch. But the material they all have to work with is so dire, even with their best attempts its a slow deflation of an acting gig. These ladies are all decent in their other respective works…but here, they all looked bored, and seemingly could barely work up the energy to go much above the barest of what was asked.

And the soundtrack is just droning…just ambient droning and weird clicky sounds periodically…bleh.

All in all, dont bother. thats all I have to say. They'll no doubt make a MUCH better 'Slender Man' movie 10-15 years from now. This? this was a contractual obligation on Sony's part…and it shows.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/slender-man/

Another trip into the extended 'Conjuring' universe finds us at the earliest entry into the franchise to date with 'The Nun' a film that represents the cinematic equivalent of copying the smart kids homework' and does little else but flesh out a brief scene from the first 'Conjuring' movie and expands on a few seconds long sequence in 'The Conjuring 2'…Essentially; this film exists to add a smoothing layer of context to a handful of moments in the mainline films that noone really asked for…But hey ho! its not the point, its the journey that counts! And so we're here!

This film takes place in 1952 in a convent in Romania, the same Convent that 'Sister Charlotte' attended between 1954 and 1956 before leaving for America and her involvement in 'Annabelle: Creation' as strange happenings are afoot. a deeply demonic presence is being felt in the Convent, and after a string of mysterious suicides, including one of a Nun herself who's spotted by a local villager delivering supplies. News reaches the Vatican of the incident and the decision is made to investigate.

They decide to send one 'Father Burke' a priest who's just settling into life as a regular every day priest after a harrowing period of time working as a parson during the second world war in france, who also has done a little bit of demonology and the old 'exorcism' lark on the DL.

His mission is simple, he's to be paired with a Nun in training who hasnt taken her vows yet called Sister Irene who is known to have visions and extra sensory perception, 'A gift from god' and the pair are to travel to the convent and find the source of this mysterious evil.

On arriving they meet the villager who found the nun, 'Frenchie' and the trio head up to the convent, where things are indeed troubling. Blood that will not dry lines the steps of the convent, the nuns are trapped in 24 hour prayer to keep the evil at bay, and reports of a demonic presence in the form of a Nun who stalks the halls of the convent by night attempting to pick the nuns off are whispered throughout the building…

Non the less, Father Burke, Sister Irene and Frenchie begin their investigations, and discover a horrifying history on the site of the convent, in which tremendous evil forces were summoned, but not fully sealed away, and a temporary preventative measure to keep the beasts of hell from breaking free, appears to be crumbling away. Leaving the trio with a harrowing mission to locate the source of the evil, fight the forces protecting it, and restore order and light to the convent. Or lose their lives trying.

For anyone just getting into Horror as a genre, or someone whos maybe well tuned in on the new stuff, but is a bit lacking on a touch of the old 'Horror history' I could see how this film could be percieved as being a bit of a refreshing change of pace and a strike away from the typical fodder the 'Conjuring' films are known for…However; I am not one of those people, and BECAUSE im an annoying film critic with a touch of the horror historian in my blood. I spent most of the runtime being THE WORST person you can watch a movie with…the 'OH! They nicked this bit from THAT movie!' kind of viewer.

Because dear reader…The Nun isnt an original idea…not by a long shot, in fact its basically a finely mashed up paste of sequences, scenarios and ideas 'Alf Inched' from about half a dozen other, more recognisable, better horror movies. Just a handful of things I picked up on (not the full picture or this review will be double the length) is Directional and cine choices copy/pasted from 'The Evil Dead 1&2', plot lines predominantly stolen from 'City of the Living Dead' that were SO aggregious that I feel that James Wan and Corin Hardy should send a cheque to the estate of Lucio Fulci, colour notes and plot themes from 'Susperia' and
'The Church', Directional and plot threads from 'Hellraiser 1 & 2', 'The Exorcist' is low hanging fruit, Elements of 'Sinister' are present here and they even pinch bits from their own franchises entries to mash into this thing.

And while I wont say the film is ENTIRELY without its own originality or merit. The fact that SO MUCH of this film is just 'Hey that was great in that OTHER movie, lets do it in OURS!' really means I'd be being disingenuous to sing its praises beyond the remit of its own purposeful movements.

The plot itself is just kind of middle of the road, its consistent, has good pacing and the three act structuring is fluid and transitions fine enough, the dialogues good, the ending is satisfying…but its nothing remarkable. its a fine enough solid build for a horror film. But the over reliance on other peoples plot points and scares left a very bitter taste in my mouth honestly.

The characters feel a bit underdeveloped, they do have backstories and do get a *bit* of depth, but they're tremendously generic characters ultimately that I just didnt feel all that invested in truthfully. The film tries…But at this point the main issue I had was wondering why I should care about any of this, as non of it has really tied all that heavily into any of the other films barring passing mentions and a few flickered seconds on screen. A well written script can make that not matter…So I ultimatlely have to conclude that this isnt a particularly well written script.

The directions much the same…altogether (sans the 'homaging') it holds up as a relatively solid work…but when you take into account that 33% of the time we have original stylistic choices and shots that feel refreshing, 33% of the time we have just kind of 'Middle of the road' fodder thats neither great nor awful, and 33% of the films direction and cine is just tidied up but largely cribbed sequences and ideas from other movies…it again just leaves a lot to be desired. I came away less thinking it was a creative venture, and more that it was a technical exercise…which snt what I want from my films really.

The cine as mentioned is a mixed bag because of this, and while the edit is pretty tight for the majority of the runtime, its a drab and somewhat colourless experience up until the closing 5 minutes or so when they use colour as a contrasting element…which is fine…But i'd have rather it been the other way around and had an hour and a half of colour and vibrancy with a closing grey with the occasional flicker of life than a grey and drab film that occasionally is bold enough to flash a bit of red. The ends looking like 'The Lord of the Rings'. Again, to reiterate, its a solid looking picture, its just not anything new or interesting and is largely cribbed.

Performance wise Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet and Damien Birchr are fine as our leads for this picture, theyre arguably the best part of this film as their on screen chemestry is solid, if not a little bit heavy on the theatrics, and their Physicality and delivery choices are decent enough, if not a bit over the top. Bonnie Adams as 'The Nun' gives a solid turn again…its not for me, but I can totally understand why some people find the appeal in her perforamance. its good!…Just not my kind of 'Scary'.

The supporting cast barely get a sniff in, and that does put a lot more pressure on the core cast to deliver the goods…which I feel on the whole they do.

The soundtrack however is totally unremarkable. generic drone and choral stuff again, the same as almost all the other Conjuring movies…and by this point Im just finding it all a bit stale. I REALLY want them to explore horror soundtracks beyond just loud tones and drone honestly…

All in all? if your not that familiar with the world of 'Older Horror' and want a consistent scary movie that ticks all the boxes, 'The Nun' will be the film for you. If you've been around the block a few times and know your onions, you'll likely find 'The Nun' a frustrating sanitisation and compacting of a better era of horror than this. I'd say its worth watching once if its in your hands or playing on TV and theres no effort in trying to hunt it down. If your new to horror, its a good short hand for a lot of horror films best moments…But if its ANY more involved than 'type 'Nun' into a streaming service and hit 'play'…Then you may wanna look elsewhere.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-nun-2018/

It was the Missus' turn to pick the horror film tonight, and she chose one with a short runtime because we've been quite busy today, 'Host' is a Pandemic era horror movie that *just* manages to breach an hour long runtime.

The plots pretty straightforward, set during the height of the pandemic when lockdowns were commonplace. a group of girls (and Teddy…a guy who's only in this for collectively around 8 minutes) decide to spice up their time stuck at home by paying for an online spiritualist to hold a seance with them. But when one of the girls who doesnt take the activity seriously decides to poke fun of the event. She inadvertently releases a tremendous evil onto the group, that slowly begins to infiltrate and take down the ladies one by one…

The entire film is framed as a 'Zoom' call, and the best way I can describe this feature is, it feels like the 'skype' segment of 'V/H/S' combined with 'Ghost Watch' and just a smidge of irreverent British-ness to finish the mix.

This isnt my first rodeo into this genre, and I suppose the best way I can sum up my feelings about it, would be to say that its a very well made film, but ultimately one that isnt a particularly original or innovative idea.

The script itself is a bit slow to get going, taking almost a quarter of the runtime to even really BEGIN to sow the seeds of malevolence that will eventually lead to the film getting going. And that opening slow burn where we get to know the characters better CAN be an effective way to give the audience a sense of familiarity to the characters and their scenarios…But it just goes ON for SO long. That by the time spooky stuff actually DID start to happen, had I been watching this on my own, i'd have probably already checked out.

Mercifully, somewhere between the 25% – 40% mark, the film finally DOES get into gear, and from that point on things really do pick up, as the pacing really ramps up, the characters get a lot more depth and backstory, and theres some interesting uses of both the Pandemic 'lockdowns' and how conference call tech like 'Zoom' operate which really helps give the narrative a good lick of paint.

If I were in a less generous mood, i'd say that this was essentially just someone pinching bits of 'ghostwatch' and trying to 'update' the 90's TV special to bring it into the internet age. And while I do feel that is kind of the case…I also have to admit that, if it does that, and does it well. I cant honestly be too put off. I like 'Ghostwatch' and if someone makes something thats vaguely 'Ghostwatch' adjacent thats actually pretty solid as work…Im not exactly going to refuse it.

While I was a bit bothered about the overreliance on jump scares, and the fact that a lot of the plot isnt really given enough context or background to really properly lead to a satisfying conclusion. I'd say at least half of this movie is pretty bloody good. and the other half feels like a mixture of dead weight and good ideas that just didnt quite land.

The direction is predominantly presented as an unbroken zoom call. and I think they pretty much nail that, it looks and feels like a very accurate depiction of what being on a conference call feels like. I had a bit of a gripe around the mouse movements being a bit too smooth, and I had a bit of an issue with continuity around who's 'screen' we were supposed to be viewing this from, as the girl we open with is established as being the 'POV'…but she steps away from her screen at multiple points and the call continues to operate as if she's still there. Which was a bit odd.

But otherwise, its a very convincing and accurate run, even small details like signal interference, connecting/disconnecting noise and other bits help sell it as an authentic piece and the cine across the board equally matches the aesthetics and vibes of how people set up their phones/webcams when streaming for things like this.

The cast all feel very genuine and sincere, rock solid performances in my opinion across the board, with the only break in reality for me being a moment where the girls lose contact with the spiritualist on the zoom call, and decide to phone her. At which point she sounds clear as a bell through a phone being held up to a laptop mic…Despite the fact she'd sound a lot more garbled and border incomprehensible because of the distortion and feedback that kind of thing causes.

Ambient room tone and desktop 'pings' comprise the soundtrack pretty much, its very effective and really helps establish a sense of coldness…especially when everyones just silently staring on in horror as things go horrendously wrong.

All in all? this ones a game of two halves for me. the front 20 minutes or so are slow, a bit hard going and while it does help to better establish the tone and the characters lives and backstories…I'd have really rather it been 10 minutes shorter, and we got 10 more minutes with the crazy weird and spooky stuff. the final 20 minutes of this however are incredibly well done, thoroughly held my attention and absolutely made me glad we ended up checking this one out.

As i've said, if your a fan of 'Ghostwatch' you'll almost certainly enjoy this. And if you can get past the first 15-20 minutes, then even more so! One I can recommend just about…with the caveat that if you have low/no tolerance for slow burn stuff…you may end up bailing on this before it really gets a chance to show you what it can do.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/host-2020/

To say I was VERY dissapointed with 'Annabelle' would be a bit of an understatement. While I dont particularly hold 'The Conjuring' films in high regard (They're fine enough 'haunted house' movies, but I feel they're WAY over-bloated and have various other issues dragging them down) They are at least decent enough scare movies both plot wise and technically to enjoy every once and a while…

'Annabelle' was their first attempt at expanding the franchise into an extended universe. And it was laboured, heavy handed, overly simplistic and overly safe, with poorly written dialogue, bad character structuring, bad plot structuring and ended abruptly and in a way that left me fairly dissatisfied…In short, after watching that one, I REALLY wasnt looking forward to having to sink another 2 of these.

Well! I shouldnt have worried! Because 'Annabelle: Creation', While still a bit off being something truly 'Great' IS absolutely moving things in the right direction and was STREETS ahead of 'Annabelle' on all fronts.

The film acts as an 'origin' story for 'Annabelle', The film opens in 1943 as we're introduced to the 'Mullins' family, Mr. Mullins is a doll maker and bread winner for his wife and child 'Bee' (formally: Annabelle). In the introduction, we get to see a happy and fun, freeloving church going family loving life and everything in it! That is until tragedy strikes! when, while fixing a flat tyre by the side of the road, 'Bee' runs into the road to grab a Nut that fell of the tyre and is instantly obliterated by an oncoming truck.

We then flash forward 12 years to 1955, and we're introduced to Janice, a young girl whos just survived Polio, is recovering in a leg brace, and is on a bus with a whole bunch of other children who are being relocated to a new 'permanent residency' as they're orphans being cared for by the catholic church.

Sister Charlotte is leading the trip, and when they arrive at their destination, its non other than that 'Mullins house'! But things have changed somewhat, the lively and happy family home is now a drab and deteriorating place, with Mrs. Mullins seemingly kept out of sight at more or less all times, and Mr. Mullins being a shadow of his former self.

The girls are given free roam of the house barring two rooms, a downstairs space where Mr and Mrs Mullins primarily reside, and a locked room upstairs that Janice tries to explore, but is stopped by Mr. Mullins who tells her the room is locked, and that she's never to go in there…

Well, Janice is a bullied Polio survivor with only one other friend 'Linda' who is split between wanting to support and help Janice, while also wanting to just…Be a kid and explore and have fun with the other girls…Needless to say this creates a small bit of animosity between the pair, and a great sense of isolation for Janice who, when things finally DO get too much, decides to break into the room to see whats going on.

She finds what appears to be a little girls room, and after exploring for a bit, she finds a key, and after exploring for a little bit more she finds a door, and on opening that door, she finds the 'Annabelle' doll seemingly locked in what appears to be a closet filled with Bible passages (im sure this wont be an issue…)

Anyway; as you can imagine, once that doors opened, strange things begin to happen in the house, people start going missing, getting injured, the Annabelle doll starts teleporting around the house, and a sense of unease grows and grows as Linda begins to worry about her friend and the dark forces that are congregating on the house. Eventually leading to a devastating incident and revelations about the Mullins family that will result in a fight for life, death and a battle against the forces of good and evil.

And across the board, theres some big improvements here over their original attempt at spinning this series off. For a starters, the script is much more compelling, much more engaging, has nowhere near as much 'character fluff' or meandering while character info dump heavily. the pacing is a lot tighter and quicker than the first film, the dialogue feels a lot tighter, more naturalistic and believable, the characters feel deeper, more complex and it feels like they actually get some decent development across the runtime.

There are still a few moments where things lull a bit, and what im assuming is plot points where the camera will linger on a shot for a while (I assume to create a sense of tension) where instead, it'll just feel a bit boring. This one also is about 10 minutes longer than the first film, and I do feel it could have benefitting from one more pass through on the editing front to tighten it up just a *bit* more…5-10 minutes tops…but that really would have made a difference.

Otherwise? this is a pretty solidly scripted venture, that I was engaged with pretty much throughout. And while, again, it isnt the most original or refreshing watch in the world. its definitely a step up on what preceded it. and is getting closer to something I could wholeheartedly endorse.

On the direction front, again, its much the same. This outing felt a lot higher quality. the previous film had moments that bordered on 'asylum' level quality in terms of a creative vision, whereas this outing felt much more in line with the 'Conjuring' films in terms of stylisation, tone and creative direction. Theres still an heir of drabness to the colour choices and set design. But they have mixed at least a BIT more vibrancy back into the fold, creating a kind of compromise between 'what I want, and what I'll settle for.' It looks fine, it feels like an actual studio grade picture! which, given it IS an actual studio grade picture is definitely a plus!

Same goes for the cine, compositions are MUCH more considered than 'Annabelle' was, sequences feel more thought out and are better structured. it results in a smoother, neater and MUCH more professional looking production. And while again, it isnt exactly redefining horror cinema. It feels visually like a sturdy and grounded piece intent on just, really nailing the basics. Which I think it does rather successfully.

The performances too are a massive step up, I wont talk about the child actors in this, as per my own personal moral rules around not critiquing people who are still in the VERY early years of a professional career. Other than to say I had no broad issues with any of them, and they all brought a decent sense of 'realness' to the production.

Stephanie Sigma and Anthony LaPaglia as Sister Charlotte and Mr. Mullins are basically our human cast for this production outside of the kids, and they're both fairly solid…if I was going to be crtitical, I think LaPaglia's performance is a little flat and one note, I appreciate theres a reason for that (which I wont get into because…spoilers) But even so, I do feel like he could have given the deliveries just a little more range, even if it was within the area that hes been asked to work within. Theres PLENTY of shades to be played with a flat/depressed character style…but his turn feels like we spend most of the film with him just constantly idling in one gear…which is a shame. Otherwise though, they're both very solid performers who more than meet the brief!

As for the soundtrack…its trying to be 'Insidious'…I mean, theres nothing INHERENTLY wrong with wanting to try and imitate the music cues and styles from 'Insidious'…it did it quite well! But, thats how the music and timings and cues came across to me when watching this, it felt like a slightly poorer attempt to copy it…and…it works for this movie, but it does also make it feel a bit half hearted at the same time. I think they'd have been better off trying to give this thing a new voice musically, something that seperated it from the ambient malevolence combined with old novelty 'jukebox' hits style that a LOT of films from this time, and now, repeatedly find themselves falling into…I know its asking a bit much for the 2nd 'Annabelle' spin off to try an original 'strike out' against the status quo…but its an ask non the less…

All in all? 'Annabelle Creation' is a solid work. theres nothing here I can inherently point to that completely ruins the work, and I came away from it thinking that it was a sturdy, but ultimately kind of 'safe' watch that I wished had gone a bit further than it did. One I can almost certainly see myself watching again, and as for whether I can recommend it or not? Well; i'd say if you liked 'The Conjuring' films, movies like 'Sinister' or 'Ouija: Origin of Evil' But REALLY didnt like the first 'Annabelle' this one may be worth your time…If your more of a 'cream of the crop' horror fan though, you may want to look elsewhere.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/annabelle-creation/

One thats been on the back burner for quite some time 'Lets Scare Jessica To Death' is a kind of pseudo Hitchcockian work crossed with a dash of 'The Wicker Man'. an oft forgotten mid budget studio flick thats had a larger resurgence over the past few years. I'd had it recommended to me a few times over the past few months, so I swiped it from Shout factory during a recent OOP sale and I really dont have any regrets.

The film follows 'Jessica' a new yorker whos spent the last 6 months in psychiatric care for 'unknown' reasons. Who's travelling with her husband and best friend out to the 'sticks' to get away from the hustle and bustle and hopefully start a new life in an old orchard and farm house.

The locals to the area however dont take too kindly to the gang when they turn up with a Hearse packed with their personal belongings…nor are they happy that said hearse has a tiny 'Love' hippie logo on the side of it. and so, the gang are more or less immediately shunned.

Nevertheless, they head up to the farmhouse, only…Jessica is having a bit of an issue, she keeps seeing strange women staring at her from a distance. She tries to convince herself that they arnt looking at her, but when she gets into the house she finds a squatter who frightens the life out of her. This, is Emily. A woman with almost no background, history or explanation for how she got where she is. She almost packs up and leaves then and there…But Jessica and the gang are an affable bunch and ask her to have dinner with them, and to spend the night.

But things start to go a bit strange from there. Emily seems to have a bit of a hypnotic presence over the household. the gang find various antiques in the place that Emily tries to pursuade the gang to keep, rather than sell…and when Jessica and her husband finally DO take some of the antiques down to a local trader. He explains that, unbenownst to the pair, the house they've purchased has a bit of a macarbre history, with theories ranging from ghosts, to vampires, to murderers and beyond being flung around.

As Emily begins to get more and more involved in the gangs lives, and slowly Jessica begins to feel more and more isolated, paranoid and unwell. the tension escalates into a violent and thrilling finale that'll have most on the edge of their seats!

And, i'll be honest, while some people rave about this film (Kim Newman claims this is his favourite horror film of all time) I thought it was a really solid slow burn psychodrama/horror piece…But not one without its faults.

The plot itself is, as mentioned, very slow burn, very much around building up atmosphere and tension, and I think it really succeeds at that. the pacing is a little bit *too* slow in places for my taste, but when it gets the balance right, its a masterclass in building unease and suspense. the tone has a serious feeling of forboding running right through its core. Which it also handles fantastically.

We have a clean 3 act structure with borderless smooth transitions that work fantastically, the characters are detailed enough to make you care, vague enough to keep you asking questions. they all get decent exploration and development across the runtime, and their various payoffs I feel are very much worth it.

The ending is a little bit sudden, but is ultimately still satisfying, and the twists and turns will make sure you're firmly planted to your seat throughout!

The direction and cine is gorgeous, taking on an almost 'folk horror' aesthetic. The choice to shoot this in early fall creates a misty, amber toned colder toned feature that really puts you in the mood for that autumnal vibe. Theres a clear and distinct creative vision behind this that really helps keep the audience hooked and the consistency really has to be applauded.

Same for the cine, beautifully choreographed shots that have rock solid compositions, are creative and burst with colour and rich detail. I loved the visuals here, and while it does share some elements of its cinematography with films like 'Night of the living dead' it feels in many wayt to be an evolution of that style. All of this is beautifully curated into a wonderfully precise edit that I really just fell in love with.

The performances are where I do have to dock it some points. while, broadly speaking, the cast are pretty solid and DO get some really great moments to work through a good range of emotions with some VERY meaty dialogue. I really struggled at times with some of the delivery choices…particularly from Zohra Lampert and Mariclaire Costello…Both of which were fine for about 75% of there deliveries…but that 25% where they didnt nail it, either came across as totally unbelievable, or overtly campy in a way I am (assuming) was not intended.

The soundtrack was also a bit of a mixed bag for me, its a very stripped back ambient piece of heavy bass, synth and acoustic guitar. A strange brew for sure, and one that hits about as much as it missed for me. I still cant quite make my mind up as to whether I loved it, or hated it…

All in all though, colour me impressed! I thought 'Lets Scare Jessica to Death' isnt an overt horror in the traditional sense. It has more in line with 'The Haunting' or 'Footprints on the Moon' than it does more traditional horror offerings. But its script and aesthetic really won me over, and I can definitely recommend checking this one out if you havent seen it before. I personally think it would pair up as a great 'warm up' film for something like 'The WIcker Man' as a double feature.

But if your looking for a more soft touch psychological horror this Halloween, then I think you should really give this one a go.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/lets-scare-jessica-to-death/

After the 'Netflix'/'Gizmoplex' era came to a rumbling halt. The IP for 'Mystery Science Theater' was purchased by 'Shout! Studios' who decided to contact the chaps and chapettes behind 'Rifftrax' to see if they'd fancy having a go at making a few episodes of the show. Which…well, they did (otherwise I wouldnt be writing about this right now).

'The Rifftrax Experiments' is more of a 'homecoming' experience, than an experiment to modernize. Whereas the 'Netflix' era of the show wanted to experiment and grow MST3K into a more modern iteration of the show started on public access nearly 3 decades prior. The Rifftrax Experiments aims to preserve as much of the core foundations of MST3K from 'The Mike Years' but simply update and modernise the technical standards of the old show to a more modern sensibility. If the Netflix era of the show was taking the house back to its bones and remodelling with 'tasteful' sensibilities, the 'Rifftrax experiments' is very much renovating the place while trying to retain as much of the original structure, design and aesthetics as possible.

And they've really gone all out on that front bringing back Bill, MIke, Kevin, Mary-Jo, Trace, Frank and as many of the original 'Mike Era' production staff as could be traced and willingly pulled back into the mad house. all older, all wiser and all ready and willing to go with the paint rollers and spackle.

My biggest concern with this iteration was that it may pander a bit too much to 'fanwank' as its dubbed. I love MST3K when its good, and something that would stop that dead in its tracks would be a show that was overly self referential, a little TOO happy to pat itself on the back, and willing to sacrifice quality for easy 'low hanging fruit' style gags.

And Im VERY pleasently appeased to say that while this very much has the face of the 'Sci Fi' years, its absolutely moved with the times and is embracing the new world. Mike and the bots glide naturally back into their roles, the humour is a 'moved with the times' update on their original patter. It feels different to their 'Rifftrax' offerings in terms of joke structure. but it feels more open to darker or stranger humour than the original MST run. And while their are still obscure witticisms to be had, they never go for the easy targets.

A big critique I had with the 'Netflix' years was the quality of jokes felt a bit inconsistent, and the pacing was so breakneck that it meant there wasnt room for the humour to breath. While we're only one episode into this 'limited time event' series. I felt the humour was consistently good, the tone was well balanced between whimsy, dark humour and goofball riffs. and the pacing was WAY more in line with the original MST3K giving the audience some time to process what was ACTUALLY being said.

To that end, 'Sting of Death' is a fantastic choice for an opening gambit, giving me mild 'Blood Waters of Dr. Z' vibes its a cheesy pseudo 'monster movie' from the 60s comeplete with a 'hick-a-doo-la' soundtrack. its just the kind of thing that viewers need for familiarity. Its a truly cheesy movie, and the gang relish the chance to take it to town. I dont know if I could stomach watching it 'unriffed' but riffed, it definitely takes on a new dimension.

In short, this is a REALLY strong start for the new era of the show. One im glad I backed on kickstarter, and if you had any doubts about the quality of this run, I can absolutley confirm, this is very much like slipping into some well worn and very comfy shoes. With a strong personality and sense of familiarity. 'The Rifftrax Experiments' are definitely worth checking out if your an old school MSTiE. And im very much looking forward to seeing what comes next.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/mystery-science-theater-3000-the-rifftrax/

Having enjoyed the first two chapters in the 'Insidious' franchise last Halloween. Myself and the missus decided to continue on this spooky season to the next entry for better or worse. and throwing even more 'danger' into the mix, this ones a prequel…

'Insidious: Chapter 3' follows the 'Saw' pathway to sequels and prequels, in the sense that it takes place just before the original 'Insidious' but because the first film jumped around in time between the *then* present and the more distant past. Characters and elements from the 'past' segments of that film end up tying back into this film helping create a firmer bridge in the narrative storytelling of this world.

Our story here is set a year or two before the first 'Insidious' and our main character is 'Quinn' a student who dreams of getting into a performing arts academy in New York, and has been handed a golden opportunity to interview for a placement there. When we meet Quinn however for the first time, she's on a somewhat different mission. As she arrives at Elise's house looking to try and make contact with her mother who passed away from Breast cancer a short time ago.

Elise politely, but firmly tells Quinn that she doesnt contact the dead anymore. But after hearing how far Quinn had travelled to meet her, and how desperate she is for closure, she reluctantly agrees…triggering a horrifying incident for her that brings the meeting to an abrupt end.

Things go from bad to worse for Quinn, when her audition flounders somewhat, and she gets increasing pressure of her Dad to 'step up' in supporting him in running the house. AND, to cap it all off. She randomly gets mowed down by a car.

The injury nearly kills her, but she just about manages to hang on. With two broken legs, a neck brace and a LOT of bruises, she's essentially bedbound and feeling very depressed about the whole incident. But when she starts hearing noises in the wall, she thinks shes found a friend…Little does she know this new found friend is anything BUT friendly…in fact, they're rather 'Insidious!'

While this goes on Elise starts to really struggle with the fact that whenever she tries to contact the dead, her special skill and a gift she's used for years, she winds up in a horrifying recurring scenario. Not only that, but her husband recently took his own life, and she's still trying to process the grief from that.

When Quinn begins to have bizarre and distinctly paranormal events happen to her, her dad reaches out again to Elise asking for help, she steps in, but is quickly overwhelmed. WIth the spirit thats invaded their apartment seemingly having untold levels of terror and a thirst to claim as many new victims as it can…it'll be down to Elise, Quinns family and some paranormal investigators to find out what is attacking Quinn and the family, and put a stop to it.

I was skeptical going into this one. The first two insidious films were fine enough, definitely enjoyable, but I felt kind of flawed…So I was pleasently surprised to find that this one, while not exactly 'groundbreaking' was a step up from the last two entries for me.

The script moves at a clip, its 98 minutes long and feels a lot shorter than that. The plots engaging, contrasting some really nice horror moments with some more lighthearted segments in a blend that I feel by this point has really been perfected. The tone of the film is consistent and has some genuinely eerie moments across the runtime. While it didnt exactly 'wow' me. I appreciated what it was trying to do, which was keep things simple, but very well done. And I feel they succeeded at that.

The act structuring is solid with nice, smooth transitions; the characters all get some nice depth and complexity, almost all of them have decent arcs that leave the characters clearly in a different place from where they started. We get a lot more backstory and depth to Elises character which is nice, and it helps set the ground work for the first film up nicely.

My only concern with this series at this point is that I feel that this series is going to encounter the same problem as the 'Saw' films have had, which is that they killed their central character in the first movie…Which means every subsequent film either has to be a prequel to the first, a film that happens in parallel with the first film, or in the case of 'Insidious' as a weird kind of 'force ghost' cameo in each movie that cant interact with the main story, but can appear to offer vague cryptic advice or to help kick the ghosts in the nads. I dont think it'll be a dealbreaker. But the more they add to this franchise with Elise as the lynch pin, the more bizarre and disjointed the series will likely become.

Other than those gripes, theres quite a good run in this! The direction here is a good solid piece of work with some nice developments on ideas brought in through the first 2 films. There are some Parallels to be drawn with the way this film is shot creatively, and the creative choices in 'The Conjuring 2' which I thought was interesting…But! whats here works well, they dont often lean on jumpscares which wins it some points in my books and they manage to give the film an unsettling feeling without having to 'try' to be scary all that much.

The cine isnt revolutionary, but this is a sturdy work with maybe a smidge too much CGI for my tastes. But shots are consistent and follow the rules. composition is interesting and engaging. with lots of nice tracking and motion shots helping create sequences that flow and ebb smoothly creating a seemingly constantly moving picture that I actually had quite a soft spot for.

Performances here were a bit up and down. Stefani Scott as Quinn is a bit of a wasted opportunity for me. shes set up as the lead, but doesnt really get much chance to shine. While she does get a reasonable range to work with, The film basically pulls her out of the hot seat around halfway into the 2nd act, and she never really gets to have the deserved level of closure that her character should have had. She gets a rushed closing to her story that, while tying off all the loose ends. Felt unsatisfying.

By contrast Lin Shaye has the opposite problem. Shes brought into the film initially as a supporting character that *should* have ended up as the B-plot soft launching her character into a more main character position that would be 'Insidious'…But as this film goes on, she slowly creeps more and more into the forefront, eventually turning the entire film into an 'Elise' movie. Her performance for the most part is really solid. But as her character slowly but surely minimises everyone elses requirement to be in this film. shes put in increasinly 'fan fiction' style scenarios that I simultaineously found a bit cringy…But also bizarrely watchable. I really like Shayes performances in these movies, because she genuinely seems to be enjoying herself and she gets a really good range to work with…But there were moments here where I really wish the scriptwriters hadnt leant on her quite so much.

The rest of the cast run a spectrum of 'Passable' to poor. and much like my comments on Shayes performance. how good/bad they are is generally determined by how much/little they're on screen. Are they a support character thats got 30+ minutes of screen time? they're pretty solid. Are they a Z-list character thats on screen collectivley for 2 and a bit minutes? they're horrendous. theres no middle ground.

And as for the soundtrack? well…they mainly stick to ambient drone here…sometimes harsh, sometimes soft. with the occasional jukebox track to break things up. Its inoffensive, but kind of unoriginal…It would have been nice for them to have tried something a bit different. Though, I will say, they use 'silence' here VERY effectively in creating horror and suspense. its particularly notable I feel.

All in all? I think this may be my favourite 'Insidious' film up to this point. Its got a decent runtime, solid cine and direction. the scripting is maybe a little basic, but sturdy. And even though I feel the characters and performances have some issues. They seem to have compensated for it by giving these characters a bit more depth and personality.

This is the first 'Insidious' film i've seen that I think i'd have absolutely no problem popping on for a rewatch in future. Its a smooth watch and perfect background fodder. I'd also be more than happy to recommend this one, and given its a prequel you could watch this one first and not really have anything spoiled in the later movies. So yeah! This halloween, check out 'Insidious 3' why dont you! its pretty good!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/insidious-chapter-3/