Director A.J. Briones’ short film “The Smiling Man” is a beautifully terrifying and demented short horror film that’s centered on building terror and then delivering one of the most warped final scenes I’ve ever seen in a horror film. The whole basis around the premise of “The Smiling Man” is not so much the inevitability of doom, but how we perceive evil and how evil can perceive good.
I liked “Neighbors” for what it tried to accomplish, but in the end it wasn’t a complete home run. Considering five people worked on it, “Neighbors 2” is a shockingly superior follow up to the original 2014 comedy. While it is, in essence, a cash in, it’s also a much more socially relevant comedy that offers interesting ideas and commentary about equality of the sexes, and how the deck is stacked against young women in society. “Neighbors 2” doesn’t get preachy, but it does provide audiences with a glimpse at how young women are much more objectified and taken for granted than younger men.
Though many people will probably see “After the End” as a somber look at the end of life, it is in reality a very cathartic look at how death can sometimes be the beginning of a new stage in life. “After the End” is an emotional and brutally heartbreaking look at loss, and how much we’ve all come to fear death and view it as a totality. Who among us hasn’t lost a loved one in our lives? Every single one of us has suffered at least the loss of a pet that has greatly affected us and caused us to re-think and approach the rest of our days in a new respect.
I think one of the main reasons why “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” has become such a classic, even thirty years later, is that Ferris Bueller is that character we wish we could be. Many of us have always dreamed of ignoring life’s responsibilities and obligations if only for one day, and Ferris has the guts to act on his desire. This is a guy who is working hard against becoming just another doting workaday suburbanite like his parents. And somewhere down the road, he might even become his best friend Cameron, a guy ruled by his fear and insecurity.
Rejoice “Bump in the Night” fans, Mill Creek has re-released the entire series of your beloved stop motion animated series on DVD. Every single episode is included in the new release, including the once rare episodes like “Night of the Living Bread” and “Twas the Night Before Bumpy.” Every single frame is included from every episode, so you can breathe easily, and pop in your DVD’s to celebrate one of the many misunderstood animated gems of the nineties.
It’s fantastic how effective “Howl” is considering the premise is so barebones and simplistic. If you’re a fan of survival horror like I am, “Howl” should be right up your alley, as it pits victims in an unlikely setting and puts them against impossible odds. Much like “Assault on Precinct 13,” the chances of the characters of “Howl” surviving are slim to nil, but I still rooted for them and eagerly awaited to see how they’d outwit their nemeses waiting in the darkness. Set during the middle of winter, Joe is a ticket taker and train guard who just missed out on a promotion.
It’s pretty fun to see Scott Baio and Willie Aames team up in what would be one of their many endeavors in “Zapped!” Baio was fresh off of “Happy Days,” Aames was off of “Eight is Enough,” they were a few years away from the comedy gold of “Charles in Charges” and decades away from being the douche bags we know today. It was an interesting time where Baio and pal Aames delved in to the sex comedy. “Zapped!” attempts to be as outrageous as silly as possible, but only really ends as a somewhat mediocre comedic effort that doesn’t do much with the premise it hands us.