Damnit. Timothy Woodward Jr’.s “Til Death Do Us Part” is a wonderful idea, one ripe for a great horror comedy with a ton of action and what we ultimately got was just… not what I was completely expecting. Granted, the movie does have a wonderful grasp on what it’s trying to do, but the delivery just felt off. It’s a movie that clocks in at almost two hours, and rather than charge in head first with the laughs and action. Instead the movie takes a lot of time, at least twenty or thirty minutes, establishing the initial storyline and back story.
Tag Archives: Survival
“Twisted Metal” is a Wild Ride, Flaws and All
There was just something so appealing about playing “Twisted Metal” as a kid. I fondly remember when it first came out on Playstation in 1995 and was hooked. When we got our first Playstation we played “Twisted Metal” for hours, finding new ways to eviscerate our opponents and win the battles. For those that have never had the pleasure, “Twisted Metal” is a based on an all out free for all battle video game where you man one of multiple armed vehicles in an attempt to come out the victor. The big bad of the game you’d have to ultimately face off against was the armed Ice Cream car with the clown on top called “Sweet Tooth.” There was always room for “Twisted Metal” to become something of a live action property, but now that video game movies are on the verge of become hotter than ever, it seemed like the right time for an adaptation.
Fear The Night (2023)
It pains me to say this but “Fear the Night” is by no means top tier when it comes to survival home invasion thrillers. I love Neil Labute, and I love Maggie Q, I think they’re both great. I also love me a good home invasion film or survival film. But “Fear the Night” feels like someone along the way watched 2011’s “You’re Next” and thought: I can do that! “Fear the Night” has all the obvious influences with none of the context or subversive behind it. The villains even attack with their faces covered and garner their own hunting weapons including a bow and arrow.
Bird Box: Barcelona (2023)
Netflix’s 2018 surprise hit “Birdbox” was a pretty good movie that skated on thin ice from minute one since it was accused of aping the concept for “A Quiet Place.” But the efforts of a sequel have firmly placed it as a movie better off left as a one and done horror film. “Barcelona” is considered kind of a sequel and kind of a spin off, but in reality it’s kind of a glorified pilot. I don’t know if Netflix is planning more sequels down the road, or a TV series, but “Barcelona” feels like the first of many incoming spin offs. And it never once feels like a complete movie, but only a buffer and promise of things to come. And as a follow up to the original, it fails epically assuring I won’t be back to see how they further develop this premise.
Vultures (2023)
Writer and Director Jacob Thompson’s “Vultures” is a short teeming with feature film potential. There isn’t a ton of exposition or extrapolation on the world he’s unfolding, but considering the limited budget, I think we get the point pretty well. Thankfully with a lot of good editing and direction we catch on almost immediately and garner a glimpse in to a pretty terrifying world.
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.
The Flood (2023)
So basically, Brandon Slagle’s “The Flood” is “Assault on Precinct 13” but with killer alligators. That’s it. That’s the whole of the concept and premise. You can fill in the rest, if you’ve been watching movies for a while; which is not to say that “The Flood” is a bad film, it’s just not something that I haven’t seen before. Truth be told, there are nuggets of a great film embedded within “The Flood” but if you’re expecting a full on alligator siege movie in the vein of “Crawl,” then your best bet is looking elsewhere.