I think when it’s time for distribution that audiences (especially long time fans) might just connect with what director Larry Fessenden puts down here. As for me, it lost me after the blood soaked prologue. Like most film outputs from Fessenden, “Blackout” suffers from a lot of sub-plots that are either left dangling or abruptly closed, all while never quite deciding on a tone. Is “Blackout” a horror drama, just a drama, or a drama comedy that happens to have a werewolf?
Tag Archives: Drama
Cobweb (2023)
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.
Director Spotlight: Your Friends & Neighbors/Possession/The Shape of Things/Nurse Betty (DVD)
Neil Labute is one of my favorite directors, he’s a man who specializes in making movies about the ugliness of humanity, and he never really aspires to pull punches. Before being sadly well known for his god awful “The Wicker Man” remake, Labute delivered on some unique arthouse cinema, all of which garnered some big star power. They acted as the cushioning for the inevitable upsetting story that Labute would unfold for us. I guarantee you at least one of these movies in this “Director Spotlight” DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment will make you want to punch something out of sheer anger.
Quicksand (2023)
There’s that funny meme on the internet about how fiction always warned us about quicksand but very few of us rarely come across it. It’s funny also how there aren’t many movies revolving around the idea of being stuck in quicksand. Andrés Beltrán approaches the idea with a survival thriller that’s quite good, but doesn’t re-invent the wheel. When it comes to films of this ilk, everything you think is going to happen does happen, and the movie doesn’t mind hitting on those tropes along with handing us an ambiguous finale that felt kind of like a cop out.
Insidious: the Red Door (2023)
It’s a real shame that the “Insidious” series would go back to its roots with “The Red Door” and end up being probably the worse entry in the franchise yet. Patrick Wilson is a fine enough director, but “The Red Door” is such a misfire that you can’t even really call it a cash grab. It feels a lot like the studios attempts to add some sense of closure to the Lambert family, but rather than this emotional journey through the Further, all they hand us is a half baked rip off of “The Babadook.” And that’s saying a lot since I’ve been such a fan of the “Insidious” series since it arrived in 2011. But these films have done so much better, even with “The Last Key.”
Insidious: The Last Key (2018)
Elise Rainier has been one of the most fleshed out horror movie heroines of the modern era and I’ve enjoyed her quest throughout the “Insidious” series. After dying at the end of the first film, every subsequent film has backtracked to not only explore Elise more, but also give us a bigger wider bridge to the first film. “The Last Key” is perhaps the most personal quest featuring Elise as it does fit in to the general mythology of “The Further” but is more intimate and lower stakes. The movie can be seen more as a stand alone one shot featuring Elise in where she not only garnered full control of her powers, but also foresaw her fate in the first “Insidious.”
Shortbus (2006) [LA&M Film Fetish Forum]
Director John Cameron Mitchell’s “Shortbus” is a movie I’d only ever heard about since its 2006 release but never actually sat down to watch. Nothing really prepared me for what he had to offer in terms of not only commenting on sexuality but on sex in general. “Shortbus” is unabashedly shocking in its presentation, offering up a movie about a group of New Yorkers, all of whom are seeking human connection. Some of them think that sex will grant them that connection, while some of them are just seeking emotional connection that may or may not allow them that desire with sex and various sexual acts.