In a city riddled with poverty and crime, a local corporate boss decides to go political to take control of laws and what is allowed to be built within city limits. At the same time, a gang war seems to be brewing. Soon, a special police unit is put together to investigate.
I’ll be the first to admit that I have never been a fan of Wes Craven’s “Last House on the Left” despite its legacy. I respect it for it becoming a platform for Craven but otherwise it was a fairy dull movie that squanders a good premise. Plus I could never get over the comedic sub-plot involving the pair of deputies. Dennis Illiadis completely remakes “Last House” in to the revenge picture that I was originally hoping for. In doing this he side steps about a quarter of the rape and torture, and amps up the revenge plot involving the pair of parents that are outnumbered but not outwitted.
No other director was able to evoke such feelings of relentless doom and darkness like William Friedkin. “Cruising” is a bold movie from a director that no other studio would touch in this day and age. It’s a movie from a time that’s pretty ancient but also very relevant in modern times. Friedkin squares his lens on the unending darkness and bleak landscape that is New York City, side stepping any and all gloss in favor of unflinching realism. There’s so much to this New York City that’s still so familiar from seedy undergrounds, sub cultures, corrupt police, and a hopelessly broken justice system.
A man is given one hour to make a difficult decision: Financial ruin or protect his family by killing someone.
What we’re seeing with “Mutant Mayhem” is what happens after every movie makes a bang at the box office. The “The Spider-Verse” movies were so beloved and influential that we can expect studios to ape its animation and storytelling style for at least a few years. The first of what will probably be many to come is “Mutant Mayhem.” Jeff Rowe’s animated movie is a new re-imagining of Eastman and Laird’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” franchise, but aimed a lot more toward Generation Z. That’s both a quality that improves what producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldbergh aim to be the beginning of a new wave of popularity for the Turtles, and a hindrance.
Director Yuval Adler’s “Sympathy for the Devil” is a movie for the Nicolas Cage fan base, those people that love to see Nicolas Cage go berserk and completely the chew the scenery for ninety minutes. It’s as if Yuval Adler went on set and told Nic Cage to just be Nic Cage, because out of all the Nic Cage performances in his repertoire this is the Nic Cagest you’ll see. He Nic Cage’s the hell out of this movie. “Sympathy for the Devil” is part horror movie, part survival thriller, part crime thriller and part mystery. It’s “Collateral” but on acid.
I’ve always had a soft spot for horror movies that present themselves as dark twisted versions of fairy tales, and Samuel Bodin’s “Cobweb” is one of the highlights of the sub-genre. “Cobweb” is a dark and twisted tale of family that watches almost like and Edward Gorey folktale that’s suddenly sprung to life. It’s shocking that Lionsgate hasn’t promoted this movie at all, since as we’re entering in to the Halloween season gradually, “Cobweb” is the perfect dose of autumnal tinted horror. Director Samuel Bodin manages to concoct a mystery horror film that is not just creepy, but suspenseful and twisted all at the same time.