You can almost see where Alec Baldwin would have been a wonderful Bruce Wayne and Batman at some point in his career. Early in his life, Baldwin was heavily considered for the part of Bruce Wayne and Batman in the first cinematic incarnation of the Dark Knight. Back then Baldwin was thing, dark, had a sense of mystery to him, and garnered a raspy gravelly voice that made him sound mystifying. Unlike Batman, The Shadow operates on an entirely different code of ethics and crime fighting, and is never above using his two trademark hand guns to instill justice on the slime of the city.
Director James Watkins survival thriller is one part mediocre social commentary, two parts solid thriller, and one part moronic drama. “Eden Lake” seems to want to be it all, offering characters that simply can’t let their confrontation with rowdy teens go, all the while hinting at the complexities of dysfunctional violent home and how they breed violence within their confines. But much of that is destroyed when Watkins seeks to turn his juvenile villains in to scowling black and white monsters motivated on violence and violence only. There aren’t any shades of grey to them until the very end, and by then the movie has become so ludicrous it’s hard to soak in the thoughts on the vicious cycle of violence.
Jack Sholder’s 1982 horror film “Alone in the Dark” suffers from undeserved obscurity; it’s a morbid and utterly mind bending little thriller that taps popular films, but still ends up a truly great little horror flick when all is said and done. “Alone in the Dark” is its own breed of the revenge film mixed with a Monster in the House film, ending with a mish mash of genre tropes audiences will appreciate when the dust has settled. Jack Sholder’s horror film has a surefire unique style of its own with some scenes that are just outright surreal.
Director Daniel Benmayor seems to want to create his own version of “Battle Royale” with a hint of “Saw” and “Predator” mixed in to the fold. In the process, he manages to create one of the most moronic genre entries in a very long time. “Paintball” tries to take a normal sport and turn it on its head, in hopes of becoming something in the arena of “Jaws.” But the only thing this movie will inspire you not to do is watch it again. “Paintball” works against logic and common sense from the get go by writing characters that are all numbskulls. They’re so idiotic that when it becomes painfully clear they’re being hunted, they still hold their paintball guns in front of them like weapons and aim. What were they hoping to do with ineffective paintballs? Stain the killer to death?
The role of the grim reaper isn’t an easy one, and the Grim Reaper himself knows it all too well. He’s getting on his years, and is now looking to train his daughter to become the new Grim Reaper. She is a young girl who is obsessed with her own life, and isn’t looking forward to becoming a reaper. She just wants to be like the cool girls in school, the Banshees. But, being the daughter of the Reaper, she will eventually have to keep the scales of life and death balanced, and the Reaper is intent on making her uphold her duties, or endure a terrible grounding.