I have to admit that “Ghost Stories” was something of a surprise this year, because I’m shocked so many people liked it, while I just didn’t. Surely, “Ghost Stories” is a beautifully directed film but it builds on a momentum that it can’t deliver. It seems to be leading up to one big bang, and in the end when that big bang finally arrives, it’s more like a trick gun with the flag that reads “Bam!” The message is also pretty heavy handed and feels tacked on. Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s “Ghost Stories” is a beautifully directed film with excellent cinematography, and brilliant sound design, it’s just all glimmer and no substance.
The Bootleg Files: Hare-Breadth Hurry
BOOTLEG FILES 656: “Hare-Breadth Hurry” (1963 animated short with Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote).
LAST SEEN: On DailyMotion.com.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It seems to have fallen through the cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It’s not a priority.
I wasn’t expecting to do another Bugs Bunny-related column after covering “Rabbit Every Monday” a few weeks ago, but I stumbled over the 1963 “Hare-Breadth Hurry” by accident and felt that this deserves a second look.
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Malevolent (2018)
Netflix’s penchant for premiering “original” movies on their platform is typically hit or miss, and I’m glad that “Malevolent” for the most part is a hit. It’s kind of taken a well worn premise but adds a bit of heart to it, thanks to the very good performances, and atmosphere. “Malevolent” has a very subtle sense of terror behind it, and while it does rely on jump scares every now and then, what keeps the film consistently creepy are the quieter moments, the instances when we’re never quite sure what’s going to pop up behind a door. Director Olaf de Fleur has every chance to fall in to the trap of delivering shock after shock, but “Malevolent” ends up as so much more.
Funny Man (1994)
To say that Simon Sprackler’s “Funny Man” is a bizarre horror film is doing no justice. It is probably one of the most bizarre horror movies I’ve ever seen, and I’m sad to admit I’ve never heard of it until 2018. I’m usually very good about horror movies and slashers, but “Funny Man” jumped right over my head, and I was finally able to see it. I wasn’t so much entertained as I was genuinely baffled most of the time, and I’m not sure if that was a bad thing or not. It’s a good enough horror movie if you’re willing to accept it’s sheer insanity.
You Have to See This! Beyond the Gates (2016)
The eighties are often credited as the time of the VHS and video stores, but the nineties is where the VHS truly hit its stride. Throughout the eighties, the VHS spent most of its time in a war with Betamax, trying to lure customers to their format. Although Betamax was technically superior, VHS eventually won out, and by 1990 while VHS was collecting and reaping its rewards, Betamax was still trying to convince us that it was the superior format. VHS was so powerful it even evaded being sideswiped by the technically superior, albeit more expensive, Laserdisc, which jumped out like a rocket in the early nineties and eventually faded away.
Hold the Dark (2018)
With a Jeremy Saulnier movie there’s always the feeling of hopelessness and existential dread. Saulnier is a man who doesn’t let his characters or his audience off easily, opting for narratives that explore the bleakness of life, and how remorseless human beings can be. With “Blue Ruin” and “Green Room,” Saulnier kept the audience in a choke hold and didn’t relent until the end credits, and he continues that tradition with “Hold The Dark” a flawed but stellar thriller about the darkness in the human soul and how it easily connects with the darkness of the wild. “Hold the Dark” is about the darkest and bleakest film Saulnier has yet to deliver to fans, because his new cinematic offering relies on slow mounting terror and inherent menace.
Ride (2018)
It’s saying a lot when you finish with a movie and the best thing you can say is “Well, at least it was a short movie.” At seventy six minutes in length, “Ride” is never quite sure what it wants to be. It tries to be this thriller about a villain kind of bringing two people out of their shells with violence, and then other times it feels like some goofy drama with a thriller bent injected in for the sake of broader appeal. Really it just feels like writer and director Jeremy Ungar loves that segment from “Fight Club” with the convenience store worker and decided to extend it in to a feature film.