Chris McKay’s take on the Dracula dynamic with Renfield has a lot going for it, but it also has so much stacked against it from the starting gate. In a year teeming with Dracula iterations, “Renfield” has a real shot at standing out among the other interpretations of Bram Stoker’s lore, but never really rises to the occasion. That’s mainly because while the concept is interesting “Renfield” never decides what it wants to be. It wants to be a satire on “Dracula,” and a commentary on abusive relationships. It tries to be a cop action, a buddy comedy, a vampire film, and straddles the dangerous line of being a satire on the abuser and abused relationship at times.
Tag Archives: Crime
The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023)
Bomani J. Story’s horror film is one part family drama, one part Frankenstein, and one part Re-Animator. Deep down beneath its grue and gore is a very relatable and heartbreaking tale of a family divided by death and a girl determined to beat it. Much of “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster” is centered around young Vicaria, a literal mad genius who is convinced that she can cure death, and like most mad geniuses, she finds out along the way that what is dead should stay dead, and that her madness might be symptomatic of the world she lives in.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
While “In to the Spider-Verse” demonstrated Stan Lee’s philosophy that anyone can be Spider-Man, and anyone could be a hero, “Across the Spider-Verse” is an exploration of the hero’s biggest mantra. “Spider-Man’s” core philosophy has always been that with great power, comes great responsibility, and with the follow up to the immensely successful “In to the Spider-Verse” we garner a look at the fallout from the abuse of massive power, and how it can corrupt even the best of us.
Influencer (2022)
One of the best things about “Influencer” is about how absolutely unprepared I was for it. I didn’t know what was getting in to with Kurtis David Harder’s film, as I knew almost nothing going in to “Influencer” and I ended up with what amounts to a pretty slick and tense crime thriller. “Influencer” is a movie that is absolutely disarming and completely out of left field, as director Kurtis David Harder successfully subverts a lot of expectations with thrillers of this ilk. The movie is set in a foreign, mysterious land, centered on two gorgeous American women that are traveling abroad. From that smaller concept, Harder uses this as a launch pad to introduce us to one of the more sociopathic and cunning movie villains that I’ve seen in years.
You Have to See This! Selena (1997)
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Redbox
If you’re a tik tok addict as yours truly is, then you’ll have noticed the more entertaining memes of adult Latina women introducing their daughters (or younger female friends or family) to “Selena.” It’s a bittersweet series of memes that inspire big laughs and big frowns all around. Like everyone in the nineties, the young women quickly fall head over heels in love with Selena Quintanilla. And like every person in the nineties, the rug is pulled right under them when shockingly she dies a pointless, tragic death. The series is interesting as it serves only to illustrate how much of a spell Selena put on people around the world.
Pillow Party Massacre (2023)
One of the things I wish horror movies would stop doing is the meta-dialogue drop where a character proclaims “I feel like I’m in a horror movie!” to which someone replies “Well this isn’t a horror movie! This is real life.” Please stop that. I know I’m watching a horror movie. I don’t need to know that the characters know that we’re watching a horror movie. That said, “Pillow Party Massacre” is a mix of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Slaughter High” but with none of the fun hacking and slashing that goes with them. There’s nary a pillow party or a respectable massacre to be had.
Women Talking (2022)
“What follows is an act of female imagination.”
Sarah Polley has always been a wonderful actress who turned in to an Oscar worthy director. It’s just a shame she’s yet to be recognized as one by the Academy. “Women Talking” is a potent indictment of modern civilization where women are gradually losing not only bodily autonomy, but the clear power to punish those that do harm to their bodies. “Women Talking” and its release does not seem like an accident, as Polley, a staunch activist manages to create a very tense tale of women grappling with their duties to themselves, their community, and their faith.