I’m very surprised by how great “Lookouts” ended up being, as often times fantasy films from independent directors never really change my idea about the genre in general. “Lookouts” is thankfully a very unique and heartfelt fantasy thriller centered on a young boy who has to grow up to become a man, and face down a monster that’s stolen almost everything in his life that he cherished. I think if “Lookouts” is ever financed as a major motion picture, we could have a wonderful epic on our hands. Based on the popular Penny Arcade comic series “May we Die in the Forest, directors David and Kristin Bousquet do a bang up job realizing a world that’s both awe inspiring and teeming with menace.
Category Archives: Halloween Horror Month
Nightmare Fuel: Scary Horror Shorts [Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2016]
Tilly (USA) (2016)
A child is scared of the monster in her bedroom and her father is trying to convince her there is nothing to be afraid of. He is very, very wrong. In director Robert Kotecki’s short film, things are not as they seem. He takes a simple premise and twists it a couple of times. The main twist, what makes it what it is and makes the story effective is actually unexpected and it creates an interesting story. The second twist woks as well, however the ending kind of breaks the film for this reviewer.
Broken (2016) [Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2016]
Evie is trying to make her life better by taking a job taking care of a tetraplegic, John, who can be a disagreeable handful. As she cares for him and attempts to bond with him somewhat, her past comes popping back up. Written by Shaun Robert Smith and co-writer Craig Conway and directed by Shaun Robert Smith, Broken is as much about John’s battle to regain some happiness after becoming tetraplegic and not giving up on life as it is about Evie trying to help him become more independent as she attempts to redo her life and forget her past. Evie is the definite lead, but John’s story is about as important.
ABC’s of Death 2.5 (2016)
“ABC’s of Death 2” left a lot to be desired, and seemed to really leave a lot of the more interesting segments on the wayside. The folks at Drafthouse Films have been kind enough to spotlight 26 runner ups, all of whom tackled the letter “M.” These shorts were not only popular with audiences and judges but get the chance to appeal to the same audience that the winners did, and it’s a great opportunity to see what we missed out on. I think the sequel really left out some excellent shorts, many of which deserve to see light on another anthology somewhere down the road. As with “ABC’s of Death,” the segments are very hit or miss, but this semi-sequel is a much more solid collection of shorts than the official sequel was.
Kristy (2014)
Oliver Blackburn’s survival horror film is an engaging and tense thriller with a deceptively simple premise. It is mostly a single setting horror film, but implements its college setting to feel terrifying and completely alien. Even when we’re watching heroine Justine walking around campus with utmost familiarity and soaking in the peace of the usually crammed halls, once the darkness falls, it feels like one of the most terrifying hunting grounds for evil ever depicted. “Kristy” is set during Thanksgiving break, where young Justine is stuck in college. With all of her friends and boyfriend off to see their families, Justine has the campus to herself, along with two random security guards. Haley Bennett is fantastic as young Justine, a seemingly random victim of a group of hooded masked killers.
What We Become (2016) [Blu-Ray/DVD]
It’s “Night of the Living Dead Yuppies” in what is easily one of the most asinine foreign zombie movies of the year. In a year where we were able to see brilliant zombie fare like “Train to Busan” and “Seoul Station,” it’s sad we have “What We Become,” a pretty frustrating horror drama that ends just as it begins to pick up steam. It’s not really a zombie movie, but it feels like one heavy handed commentary on how vicious and cruel we become when we’re faced with the task of surviving and caring for one another. It’s nothing we haven’t seen covered in George Romero’s films, or “The Walking Dead,” before. Yes, when faced with survival, we will tear each other’s throats out for a can of beans, the military is shifty and violent, the elderly are usually the first to go, and deep down we’re all selfish bastards. Also kids never stay in the damn house, even during a zombie apocalypse.
Child’s Play (1988): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
Killer dolls are popular once again and now seems like a better time than ever for Chucky to enter stage left and remind people that once upon a time he was the plastic maniac with a butcher knife. 1988’s “Child’s Play” is still a mini-classic that dabbles in the killer doll sub-genre and offers up its own twist. It’s essentially a slasher movie through and through, but it has small doses of the supernatural, and mysterious to add some kind of logic to the origin of Chucky. Brad Douriff’s turn as Chucky is immortal as he plays serial killer Charles Lee Ray, a man who is chased by police during a robbery. After being mortally wounded during a shoot out, Ray ducks in to a toy store and finds no other option but to summon magic to keep himself alive. Said magical incantation allows his soul to be transferred in to a popular doll named the “Good Guy Doll.”