Tag Archives: Mystery

“From: Season Two” Packs in More Terror and More Nagging Questions

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We were granted access to Episodes 1 through 5 of “From” Season Two from MGM. Mild Spoilers abounds.

With the brand change, and the penchant for studios to cancel their series, lately fans of “From” have been aching for news about a second season. Thankfully, MGM granted fans of the high rated horror series a second season and for better and for worse, it offers up mostly the same neat twists, turns, and terror, but there are even more nagging questions that are propped up for the audience. Some fans might love this, and some might be turned off, immediately.

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Martha (2019)

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Director Christopher Haydon’s short film is both a compelling drama, and a rather captivating mystery. In its own way it’s a horror movie, but more a horror movie about loneliness, isolation, and repetition. The entirety of “Martha” is meant to be cryptic, as Haydon begins the film on a single scene of a woman sitting in a hall with a single red balloon.

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The Pope’s Exorcist (2023)

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It feels a lot like the studios behind “The Pope’s Exorcist” is intent, or at least trying, to build a new horror hero in the vein of the Warrens a la “The Conjuring.” While normally I would never root for a film to fail, I hope we don’t get any sequels because I can’t picture Gabriele Amorth being a dynamic or even compelling horror protagonist. Even with his first film, Gabriele Amorth is explored as a massively skeptical priest pulled in to an extraordinary and genuine exorcism. There really isn’t much beyond what we learn about Gabriele Emorth or “The Pope’s Exorcist” for that matter.

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Summoning Sylvia (2023)

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It’s really sucky that Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse’s horror comedy “Summoning Sylvia” is one of the genre gems that audiences seem to be sleeping on. I say that because “Summoning Sylvia” is everything you can want in a horror comedy. Not only does it adhere to the classic supernatural movie tropes, but it also subverts them by unfolding a very heartfelt narrative with richly developed characters. While a film like this could have served the fully LGBTQ cast as stereotypes, directors and writers Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse introduce these characters one by one and then smash our pre-conceived notions.

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Brightwood (2022)

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The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. While “Brightwood” is in essence a horror movie, deep down it’s a movie about a toxic relationship. The couple we meet in Dane Elcar’s horror film are stuck in an endless circle of pain, abuse, and infidelity. By coincidence one fateful day, they find themselves stuck in an endless time loop near a pond. The setting for “Brightwood” comes off as very unassuming, but director Elcar manages to really inject a sense of terror within this scenic pond. The moment both characters realize that they’re probably stuck in this endless circle, it pits them against one another.

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Dead Silence (2007): Collector’s Edition [2 Disc 4K UHD/Blu-Ray]

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I think with the massive reputation James Wan has built, as well as the large success he’s had with genre films, the modern horror icon’s weaker works have aged well. “Dead Silence” was initially considered one of Wan’s lesser genre fare, but in light of a lot of his contemporary entries, “Dead Silence” has come full circle. It’s now become a somewhat underrated genre gem, and I think in spite of its obvious flaws, it’s another of James Wan’s ace horror films.

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Malum (2023)

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I have to admit that I never did catch Anthony DiBlasi’s original 2014 film “Last Shift.” Despite its acclaim and reputation in the horror world, it never quite caught my attention. Anthony DiBlasi does what many indie filmmakers do, and uses this opportunity to not only remake “Last Shift,” but expand upon it with bigger scares, more gore, and a greater emphasis in to the mystery of John Malum. The results are ultimately a mixed bag of horror highs and lows. I tend to appreciate with director Anthony DiBlasi and writer Scott Poiley do here, taking “Last Shift” and giving it a polish that allows their universe to breathe better.

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