A babysitter is kidnapped and another girl takes her place to watch over a couple’s three children as they celebrate their anniversary. The minute the parents leave the house, the new sitter turns the weird factor way up and begins with a series on increasingly creepy games and situations. Written by Richard Raymond Harry Herbeck and director Michael Thelin, the story gets going very fast here.
I really like where director Steve Rudzinski’s head is with “The Survivors.” I love the idea of a movie about the survivors of slashers and serial killers teaming up to bring down random slashers around the country. The war of good and evil materializes in to a wicked concept where the slashers have the tables turned on them, resulting in the slashers forming their own cabal where they murder people in various towns around the world. Director Rudzinski pokes fun at the horror genre and team movies in general, offering some fun and funny satire of horror icons above and beyond.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, uh—I mean, many moons ago in a distant universe, there lived a young miner and slave named Orin. He was a long haired heroic young man who mined for red gems for an advanced race for… whatever reason. It’s never fully explained. One day while in the mines, Orin and his other slaves discover a long lost hilt from a mystical sword that contains advanced powers. Convinced by his friends to break free and fulfill the destiny from he magical entity within the sword, Orin breaks out from his imprisonment with girlfriend Elan, and seeks his destiny.
It only takes a ripple to make a tidal wave, and “Star Wars” is one of the greatest cinematic tidal waves to ever hit America. It’s no secret that George Lucas’ science fiction epic was inspired by classic movie serials, and was generally looked down upon by studios who thought it would barely strike a chord as it was being made. What’s surprising is that many decades later, in whatever form you enjoy it, “Star Wars” is still a fantastic and flawless space adventure. Lucas masters the art of telling his own self contained tale that would open the door for future films.
The 2001 anime spoof of “Star Wars” is so stuffed with inexplicable nonsense, you’ll likely get a few laughs out of if in the first ten minutes. And then get bored. And then begin fast forwarding until the very end. Thankfully the movie clocks in at a merciful forty five minutes in length; the rest of the film is all a lot of shots and scenes infringing on so many copyrights that it’s both impressive and moronic.
The folks behind “Holidays” try to cover all the bases of the resurgence of the horror anthology film. They tackle the holiday horror film, try to create original and unique horror segments out of rarely touched upon holidays around the world, and they also organize it with a faux arthouse gloss that became popularized in “ABCs of Death.” While “ABCs of Death” and its sequel were misfires of the anthology horror film at least they were amusing misfires.
I don’t know if I’d recommend Nick Basile’s “Dark,” since its marketing makes it seem like a thriller when in reality it’s actually something of a drama. I went in to “Dark” fully expecting something along the lines of “Repulsion,” but in the end this is more about the sadness of mental illness and the stifling alienation of New York City. “Dark,” produced by Joe Dante, isn’t a badly made movie, mind you. The direction by Basile is great, the performances are top notch, and I love the idea of the premise involving a thriller set during the great black out of 2003. It’s just the delivery falters mid-way and the narrative seems to ride on fumes by the time the second half rolls around.