Clocking in at three and a half minutes (five with bloopers included), director Sydney Hord’s “Unbalanced Love” is a tight and very good short horror film that oozes potential. Granted, I would have loved twenty more minutes for exposition, but considering the context of the film’s production, “Unbalanced Love” unfolds the premise and narrative very well.
Sequels should always strive to be better than the original while paying homage to the film that came before it. James Cameron does a bang up job with a film that, in another reality, would have failed big time. Cameron takes what was a slow burn and gradually unraveling horror science fiction film about a woman battling a phallic alien and transforms it in to a brutally and entertaining action horror film. While some of the more ardent fans of “Alien” might have been thrown off by the change in tone, James Cameron embraces the action genre for a brand new generation, offering an extension of Ridley Scott’s film that compliments what came before.
In the remote Shetland Islands of Scotland, legends of ritual sacrifices of surrogate mothers to great warriors’ children crop back up after Dr. Tora Hamilton arrives with her husband to his homeland after losing a child. Soon after, Tora finds a body in her new yard, minus the heart which sends her on a hunt for the truth. Director Peter A. Dowling wrote the script based on the novel of the same name by Sharon (S.J.) Bolton.
Michael Dougherty is brilliant at completely rethinking and reformatting our image of popular holidays and the lore the masses have subscribed to for centuries. After doing an amazing job with Halloween, Dougherty tackles Christmas with what is easily one of the most demented holiday horror films ever made. “Krampus” is an intelligent horror comedy based around the lunacy of the holiday and how the hollow rituals and traditions practiced can build a sense of cynicism and pure hatred for what is supposed to be a fine time of year.
Forget what Hollywood has tried to feed you, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2” is the actual sequel to Tobe Hooper’s masterpiece, and is widely embraced by horror fans as such. It’s the wacky and surreal embracing of the madness from the first film carried over from the nihilistic cynical seventies, in to the consumerist eighties, where the Sawyer family is now devoting their lives to mutilating yuppies, and going around the world selling their own brand of chili that’s made of people. Hooper’s sequel is a massive tonal departure from the more disturbing original, introducing actual nemeses for the Sawyers including Lefty, a vengeful cowboy hell bent on bringing down the Sawyers, and Stretch, a hapless DJ who becomes the unfortunate recipient of attacks by the Sawyer family when she hears them murdering two victims when one of them calls her randomly.
It’s a shame that John Carpenter’s remake of “Village of the Damned” isn’t more highly regarded. If it were his own adaptation of “The Midwich Cuckoos,” it would be placed alongside his other apocalypse or alien films like “They Live,” or “Prince of Darkness.” I don’t think Carpenter’s film is better than the original George Sander’s horror film, but I think it holds up very well and can stand alongside it like Carpenter’s version of “The Thing” with the Howard Hawks original.
It’s very satisfying to see a director who understands Superman and gets the ideals and goals he strives for. Sure he’s a super man with god like abilities, but it’s not his place to bend humans to his will and make them follow his desires. At the end of the day, Superman understands the fragility of humanity, and he also comprehends that despite being a hero that’s taken on gods, and aliens, even the smaller problems count from time to time. Sarah is on her way out of the city set to venture out on her own and isn’t intent on going back home any time soon. While sitting in the park, she’s approached by a seemingly mundane bespectacled man in a blue suit who explains he’s a reporter.
She can’t understand why she’s so important, but the reporter is insistent and is abler to charm her enough to where she can open up to him for his “interview.” Director and writer Thomas spends the majority of the short film defining Superman and exploring common questions and themes that have alluded many people for decades about the character. Who else to understand Superman than Metropolis’ ace reporter Clark Kent? Soon enough, the pair are discussing the idea of beings with powers, humanity, and how we all matter in the scope of life, no matter how minute our problems may seem in the long run.
Erin Brown Thomas and John Nagle perform very well, providing fantastic chemistry and conveying the dynamic of wayward youth and wise hero well. John Nagle is the perfect Clark Kent and might even be a bang up Superman, presenting an excellent amount of humility and empathy to make him a noble crusader, even when he’s simply sitting around in a suit and tie. Thomas has a small budget to work with but aspires for larger than life storytelling, emulating the awe inspiring more misunderstood traits of Superman and conveying that it doesn’t take an actual superhero to change someone’s life and steer them in to promise and success. I hope we see more from Jake Thomas very soon. Hell, I’d even love to see him tackle Superman yet again.