You Should Have Left Review

There are still several spots left for this year’s Christmas in July Blogathon. If you’re interested in joining in, check out this post.

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Synopsis
Theo (Kevin Bacon), his wife Susanna (Amanda Seyfried), and their daughter Ella (Avery Essex), take a trip in the Welsh countryside where their vacation house is not as it seems on the outside.

Review
For a long time I stayed away from any film in the horror genre. However, over the years I have found that supernatural horror is a niche that I do enjoy. When the trailer for You Should Have Left dropped just two weeks ago, it seemed like a film right up my narrow horror film alley. According to the trailer it had supernatural elements, some thriller pieces, and Kevin Bacon. Those are ll things that I enjoy in a film, so I gave it a chance. I was right that is was the kind of film I would enjoy, unfortunately it was better on paper than it was on screen.

Everything about You Should Have Left falls way short of being bearable. Firstly, the characters have little to no actual development. Theo, Kevin Bacon’s character, is completely defined by the death of his ex-wife. He does not go through any kind of growth as the film goes on, nor is his ex-wife’s death really expanded on. By the way, he was tried for and found innocent of his ex-wife’s death. You would think that would be a larger part of the Theo’s character but it hardly registers throughout most of the film. Susanna, Amanda Seyfried’s character and Theo’s much younger wife, also gets minimal development in the film. To be honest, other than Susanna is an actress, I could not tell you anything about her. Bacon and Seyfried, two great actors, are truly wasted in this film.

It doesn’t help either that two-thirds of this movie is used to set up this big mystery about the house Theo, Susanna, and their daughter Ella (Avery Essex), are staying in while on vacation. An attempt is made to create a mystery about the house, at the same time the film is also trying to build up the “troubled past” of Theo mind you, but like the human characters, building the mystery around the house simply falls flat. Even as the credits roll, little explanation is provided about the place, other than some vague remarks by a local shopkeeper (Colin Blumenau). It’s not until the final thirty minutes or so before the mystery is even begun to be explored. With little time left, the film feels like it is sprinting towards the end, finding a way to wrap up the “arc” for the characters and gets lost along the way.

For a film billed as a supernatural horror and thriller, You Should Have Left has very little of any of those elements. The scare attempts are amateurish at best; the supernatural is a little science-fiction-ish but with little explanation it’s hard to even determine which one it is; and the thriller is completely reliant on the mystery element and since that falls short, so too does the thriller aspect. I am honestly surprised a film this abysmal was made by a filmmaker with such a storied history as David Koepp.

I thought You Should Have Left was BAD 😦 I am usually fairly optimistic when it comes to reviewing films. Even in widely panned movies like the recent Artemis Fowl I can often manage to uncover some sort of redeeming quality buried within the mound of bad. Regrettably, I can’t find anything in this film that I really enjoyed. The characters were flat, the set-up took too much time, the mystery wasn’t that gripping, the reveal wasn’t even that good either, and the payoff simply didn’t exist. In a perfect world I would not have taken the time to watch this at all. The next best scenario is I would have seen this in theaters rather than on-demand because there is no price worth the admission for this film but at least in the theater, I would have payed less for such a poor experience.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
David Koepp – Director / Screenplay
Geoff Zanelli – Composer

Kevin Bacon – Theo
Amanda Seyfried – Susanna
Avery Essex – Ella
Colin Blumenau – Shopkeeper
Lown Ann Richards – Welsh Woman
Joshua C. Jackson – Production Assistant – Susanna’s Movie
Eli Powers – Susanna’s Assistant

Ready or Not Review

Synopsis
Grace (Samara Weaving) just married Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien), the love of her life. In the Le Domas family, it is tradition to to play a game whenever someone new joins the family. For Grace, The game takes a sinister turn when she must hide for her life.

Review
When I saw the trailer for Ready or Not, I was hooked. Lately I have been trying to watch more horror-y movies ever since I was a guest on an episode of Damien’s podcast and this film looked to be right up my alley. The trailer was humorous but still seeped in horror elements. Leaving the theater, Ready or Not was everything I could have hoped for and more.

I think what I enjoyed most in this movie was how darkly hilarious it was. It actually reminded me a lot of Game Night. Where Game Night is a dark comedy with thriller elements, Ready or Not is a thriller/horror with dark comedy elements. Also like Game Night, Ready or Not never takes itself too seriously. It is also very absurd at times and it revels in that absurdity, making it all the better. If Ready or Not had tried to be a serious film despite its ludicrous and somewhat supernatural concept, I don’t think it would not have been nearly as entertaining.

Even though I was constantly laughing, this film kept me on the edge of my seat. It is mostly a thriller but it also employs many techniques used by traditional horror movies to build anticipation and make you hold your breath. This is actually more of a horror/thriller but with more of the latter with some of the former sprinkled in. Because of this mix of humor, horror, and thriller, Ready or Not never feels like it drags on, keeping at a brisk pace and never letting go. Even with this movie’s pace, it feels like it’s just the right length at around 100 minutes or so. Some things could have been explained a little better with a few extra minutes but that’s pretty trivial and doesn’t detract too much from the film.

With such a focused cast, it fell on Samara Weaving to carry much of this movie. Luckily, she is more than up for the task! Weaving is fantastic. She has some of the funniest lines and moments in the film and pulls them off with ease. Weaving has a few action moments as well that she handles like a pro. Her performance is filled with both energy and vulnerability. Basically, she’s the perfect fit. I’m unfamiliar with most of her work but she is definitely on my radar now as an actress to look out for.

The entire story takes place in or around the Le Domas family mansion. As such, it needed to be as much of a character as the actors. The set designers managed to do just that. Everything is absolutely gorgeous and brimming with personality. Despite only spending 100 minutes in the Le Domas residence, it feels like there is a tangible history to the mansion. Truly an excellent set design.

I thought Ready or Not was GREAT 😀 Circumventing many horror tropes and expectations, this darkly twisted comedy will keep you on the edge of your seat with thrills while at the same time will have you rolling with laughter.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin – Director
Tyler Gillett – Director
Guy Busick – Writor
Ryan Murphy – Writer
Brian Tyler – Composer

Samara Weaving – Grace
Mark O’Brien – Alex Le Domas
Adam Brody – Daniel Le Domas
Henry Czerny – Tony Le Domas
Andie MacDowell – Becky Le Domas
Elyse Levesque – Charity Le Domas
Nicky Guadagni – Aunt Helene
Kristian Bruun – Fitch Bradley
Melanie Scrofano – Emilie
John Ralston – Stevens
Liam MacDonald – Georgie
Ethan Tavares – Gabe
Hanneke Talbot – Clara
Celine Tsai – Tina
Daniela Barbosa – Dora
Chase Chruchill – Young Alex
Etienne Kellici – Young Daniel

The Autopsy of Jane Doe Review

Synopsis
Tommy (Brian Cox) and his son, Austin (Emile Hirsch), are coroners in a small town in Virginia. One night, a Jane Doe (Olwen Kelly) is brought in for examination. Shortly after they begin the autopsy, weird things begin happening around them and they try to solve the mystery of who this woman is.

Review
When I went to Toronto ComiCon this year, one of the booths I visited was for Raven Banner Entertainment. While perusing their movie selection, I came across The Autopsy of Jane Doe and remembering being intrigued by the trailer, and after talking with the guy in the booth for a bit, I picked it up. In the time since, I have heard a lot of praise for the film so I was eager to finally watch it. Maybe I missed something but I wasn’t drawn in like everyone seems to be.

I’ll give this movie its credit. It did a fantastic job of creating an eerie atmosphere. The entire film takes place in one location and is claustrophobic. It reminded me a lot of the video game Dead Space where it took place in a tight location and used that confined space to build the tension. Things like light and sound become very important and elevate the movie. Every small thing you see in the corner of your eye draws your attention because you know something is around the corner waiting to jump out and you can’t help but think that might be the thing. Then surprise! It’s not. This is a classic horror trope but in such a confining environment, the effect is amplified.

Since this movie takes place in a single confined space, the film rested on Brian Cox’s and Emile Hirsch’s shoulders. Thankfully, they were up to the task. This could have been one of those films where they simply phoned it in and make it seem like they were there just for the check. But no, they put an effort into their parts and it shows. Besides the great atmosphere, Cox and Hirsch make the watch worthwhile.

About the first half of the film is spent on performing the autopsy. As Tommy (Cox) and Austin (Hirsch) make their way through their examination, we slowly learn more and more about the body, which in turn builds and builds the mystery about Jane Doe. This is probably what I like most about this film. There is this “character” who never moves or says anything for the entire movie and yet she is still interesting and just as captivating as the characters who walk around and speak. That is a very hard thing to accomplish but director André Øvredal pulled it off without a sweat. It might move fairly slowly for the first portion of the film but it works out to great effect.

Now here is the problem I had with this movie: I didn’t feel any fear or tension. As a horror, I wasn’t scared. As a psychological thriller, I didn’t feel tense. I know I just said the film did a great job to build the tension, and it did, but I didn’t feel tense, if that makes sense. I could tell there was tension but I didn’t feel it. I thought it was predicable which took me out of the horror element of it. The build up was great and the film was interesting once it started ramping up but I unfortunately wasn’t drawn in to it like I feel I should have been.

I thought The Autopsy of Jane Doe was OK 😐 Horrors are not unlike comedies where the success of the film depends completely on the audience’s reaction to it. In comedies, it comes down to if the director can make them laugh. For horrors, it depends on if they can make the audience be scared or feel tense. Regrettably, I did not have that feeling from this movie. It did everything right, from the characters to the mystery to the atmosphere, I just wasn’t engaged by it. I’m sorry André Øvredal, it’s not you, it’s me.

My Toronto ComiCon buddy, Kim, also picked this film up from the Raven Banner booth. You can read her review of this film here. Spoiler alert: she enjoyed it more than I did.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
André Øvredal – Director
Ian Goldberg – Writer
Richard Naing – Writer
Danny Bensi – Composer
Saunder Jurriaans – Composer

Brian Cox – Tommy
Emile Hirsch – Austin
Olwen Kelly – Jane Doe
Ophelia Lovibond – Emma
Michael McElhatton – Sheriff Burke
Jane Perry – Lieutenant Wade

Don’t Breathe Review

Synopsis
Three burglars, Money (Daniel Zovatto), Alex (Dylan Minnette) and Rocky (Jane Levy), learn of a man who is sitting on a large sum of money. When they break into his house, they realize the job won’t be as simple as they thought.

Review
Back in the day, I would have avoided any movie that was remotely horror. In recent years, I have found a few sub-genres of horrors that I will watch. Even today, I’m still a little bit hesitant about watching anything that is considered “horror.” And I will admit the only reason I was interested in seeing Don’t Breathe was because it starred Jane Levy, one of my current favorite actresses, and Stephen Lang, the best thing from the underrated TV series Terra Nova. I’m glad that I decided to go outside my comfort zone and give this film a shot, otherwise I would have missed one hell of a thrilling ride.

Fede Alvarez proves that he knows what he is doing when it comes to manipulating the atmosphere of a film. With the exception of a few scenes, the majority of the movie takes place inside one house. Alvarez uses this small space to add an hint of claustrophobia to his film. Throughout the film, I was constantly on the edge of my seat from the suspense. Between feeling the characters had no escape and the Blind Man being a physical and commanding threat, my heart was constantly pounding. Every time something happened, I thought “That just happened! What’s next?” Then the movie stepped it up. And this happened over and over. It did a great job building suspense as the film went on and never fizzled.

As I said, the Blind Man’s house was the primary setting of Don’t Breathe and the cinematography made great use of the relatively small space. Every shot was deliberate and provided you with just enough scope to see what you needed but nothing else. When the burglars first enter the house, there is one moment when the camera is panning back and forth between them throughout the house that is an absolutely great piece of camera work. After that, I was hooked.

In suspense and horror films, great sound work can manipulate the audience. Sometimes, a lack of music can be just as important as the music itself. Throughout Don’t Breathe, there were moments when the music stopped and all you could hear were the floor creaks and/or the characters breathing. In these moments, my heart was beating the fastest and I was furthest on the edge of my seat. Then when it was most impactful, the music returned and built on the moments when it was missing. This is a superb example of how great sound work positively affects a film.

I thought Don’t Breathe was GREAT :-D. The entire film I could feel my chest tighten from the suspense and was taken in by the great cinematography and sound work. Don’t Breathe offers one gut-wrenching moment after another and I couldn’t help but want to see what happens next.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Fede Alvarez – Director / Writer
Rodo Sayagues – Writer
Roque Baños – Composer

Stephen Lang – The Blind Man
Jane Levy – Rocky
Dylan Minnette – Alex
Daniel Zovatto – Money
Jane Graves – Rebecca
Emma Bercovici – Diddy
Christian Zagia – Raul
Katia Bokor – Ginger
Sergej Onopko – Trevor

Lightning Review: Crimson Peak

Synopsis
Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) is the daughter of an American business man (Jim Beaver) who falls for the mysterious Englishman Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston). When Edith marries Thomas, she moves to England with Thomas and his sister, Lucille (Jessica Chastain). Once in her new home, Edith realizes there is more to the house than she is being told.

Review
So far, the fall movie season has been filled with movies that have been different than I have expected. Going into Crimson Peak, I was expecting a supernatural horror along the lines of Mama, which is coincidentally another Guillermo del Toro film. However, it was much more of a suspense thriller with a supernatural element. The beginning made it look the former but it quickly became apparent that’s not what this movie was going for. Horror elements were present, only they were used to build the suspense, not to make you jump out of your seat (mostly). On that note, it did great to build the suspense, especially as it reached the final scenes. A lot of this can be attributed to the acting skills of the three main actors.

The majority of the movie was spent with Wasikowska, Hiddleston, and Chastain. My favorite was Chastain as Lucille. From the beginning, you could tell something wasn’t quite right about her. She maintains a noble poise that is unnerving but natural at the same time. I constantly found myself on the edge of my seat, not from fear but from how uncomfortable she could make me feel. Chastain really hit it out of the park. Like many of del Toro’s movies, the special effects look wonderful. I really liked how the ghosts looked. Sometimes they were just the skeletons and other times they were filled in to varying degrees but they always had these wisps coming off them. There were three different colors of ghosts: black, red, and white. I’m sure the colors mean something but I’m not sure exactly right now. Or maybe I’m looking too much into it. In any case, Crimson Peak looks beautiful and thanks to Chastain, it really keeps you looking towards what happens next.

Rating
3.5/5

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Guillermo del Toro – Writer / Director
Mathew Robbins – Writer
Fernando Velazquez – Composer

Mia Wasikowska – Edith Cushing
Tom Hiddleston – Thomas Sharpe
Jessica Chastain – Lucille Sharpe
Charlie Hunnam – Dr. Alan McMichael
Jim Beaver – Carter Cushing
Burn Gorman – Holly
Doug Jones – Edith’s Mother / Lady Sharp
Emily Coutts – Eunice

Insidious Review

Synopsis
Shortly after Josh (Patrick Wilson), Renai (Rose Byrne) and their children move into their new home, strange things begin happening around the house. After an accident, Dalton (Ty Simpkins) slips into a coma, meanwhile Renai begins to see unexplainable things around the house. Thinking the house is haunted she convinces Josh to move the family into a new home. However, it soon becomes clear that it wasn’t the house that was haunted, but their son, Dalton.

Review
I’ve said this a few times but in case you didn’t know, I’m not a fan of horror movies. However, over the past few years, I have come around to a few sub-genres of horror films, namely supernatural horror. Mama and Insidious were the films that got me to budge on my no horror stance. Given that today is Halloween, I’ve decided to go back to one of the few horrors I’ve enjoyed (so far).

Many horror films like to rely on jump scares to get the audience’s heart pumping. Insidious employs this technique but it doesn’t use it in excess. Also, they aren’t “false” jump scares, meaning every time something is there to make you jump it’s because the thing is worth jumping at, such as a ghost or one of the demons. There isn’t anything like a door closing loudly or an object falling over to make you jump when in actuality it’s nothing to jump at.

A decent portion of the film, almost a third or more, is simply spent with the Lambert family before the antics happen. I liked this a lot because it allowed the characters to be fleshed out quickly and without interruption. So when the crap hits the fan, there is a connection with the characters and I cared more about them getting through their ordeal together and unscathed. They are a very relatable family and you may find aspects of you or your family in them.

The sound editing for Insidious greatly adds to the atmosphere. I am impressed by the score, composed by Joseph Bishara. It is eerie and creepy and just fits perfect, adding to the tense moments during the final act, as well as the intimate moments towards the beginning I mentioned before. Adding to the ambiance was the vivid colors, or rather deep reds, heavily present during the third act of the film. It gave off this uneasy feeling that fit the environment well.

If you look closely, this film is composed of several horror genres. It starts out as a haunted house film, then turns into a possession film, then into something all it’s own (or at least nothing I can classify, but as I said, my knowledge on the subject isn’t that extensive). It acts as a homage to these different types of film while trudging its own path, and doing so successfully. Rather impressive for a movie genre that can be considered saturated.

Despite my initial hesitation, I found myself enjoying Insidious. After watching this again, I’ve realized my horror survival kit doesn’t cover ghosts and demons and those are hard to outrun. So… yea. Oops. Anyway, Insidious is a fun twist on the horror genre that offers up several good (and meaningful) scares. Even if you think horror isn’t your thing, give it a try. Who knows, you may end up enjoying it like I did.

Rating
3.5/5

Trailer

Cast & Crew
James Wan – Director
Leigh Whannell – writer
Joseph Bishara – Composer

Patrick Wilson – Josh Lambert
Rose Byrne – Renai Lambert
Ty Simpkins – Dalton Lambert
Andrew Astor – Foster Lambert
Barbera Hershey – Lorraine Lambert
Lin Shaye – Elise Rainier
Leigh Whannell – Specs
Angus Sampson – Tucker
Joseph Bishara – Lipstick-Face Demon
Philip Friedman – Old Woman
J. LaRose – Long Haired Fiend
Corbett Tuck – Nurse Adele
Heather Tocquigny – Nurse Kelly