Yet again, director Anthony Spaddacini smoothly tackles and assaults another common social topic concerning homosexuality in our modern age, and in many ways balances it to keep audiences from assuming this as a homosexual drama, and more just as a drama about people whom refuse to reveal secrets that could help them if not pulled out in the open. “Aftermath” is an immensely hard-edged and interesting drama that places its characters down in one room in the tradition of films like “The Big Chill” and has them force out these secrets.
Closer then comes the formation of Harry Potter as the wizard, or sorcerer he’s bound to become one day, and closer do we watch the character progress if only slightly to not only accomplishing the art of magic, but also coming closer to his dark side. The question remains is, will he reach his dark side before he masters magic? That’s many of the questions posed during this fourth installment of the Potter series. I didn’t read the book, honestly, and personally I don’t aspire to. “Harry Potter” has always been an overblown facet in modern pop culture to me, especially after reading the bland first book, so I prefer to review the films to their own merit. Bias’ aside, I was interested in seeing the fourth installment especially since Alfonso Cuaron did such a good job with the previous film.
The original film–well it was far from original–I’ll say the first film, was quite possibly one of the most ludicrous slasher films I’ve ever seen. One thing is for sure, I’ve never seen a slasher movie so intent on being taken seriously, and I’ve never seen a slasher film so intent on posing as a murder mystery, but it was so filled with lapses in logic, that I could have gone on for pages on its sheer stupidity. Here’s a film that further widens the gap between fantasy and reality adding a “digital twist” to its story. Are these studios so dumb they use the digital angle as a fail safe? Need a sequel to “Mangler”? Add a digital twist. Need a sequel to the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series? Add a digital twist. It can happen.
When can you tell that a horror franchise has run out of steam? When it begins spoofing itself. Much like “Scream”, much like “Halloween”, and, yes, much like my beloved “Friday the 13th” series. It’s safe to say that once a series has resorted to spoofing itself from the very beginning, you know its run out of ideas, and you just know its writers aren’t even trying, anymore. Mancini’s newest spin-off of the “Child’s Play” franchise is yet another sequel that takes every chance in saying “We’re stupid, and we know we’re stupid, so look how not stupid we are by pointing out how stupid this story is.”