It’s unusual that Stephen Dorff gets top billing in “Heatstroke” when his character is really only there to supply exposition and die. He’s really only a minor plot device meant to emphasize the attitude and anger of Maisie Williams’ character Josie and how she hates her divorced dad’s new girlfriend. Dorff gives a solid performance all things considered, but “Heatstroke” mainly belongs to stars Maisie Williams and Svetlana Metkina. I’d only suggest watching “Heatstroke” if you’re a big “Game of Thrones” fan and want to see Williams out of her medieval element and in to something more contemporary. I say that since “Heatstroke” is only a mediocre thriller with barely anything above middling basic stalk and chase fodder to really keep audiences invested.
Tag Archives: Thriller
Alien (1979)
As its successors, carbon copies, and wannabes have shown, “Alien” is a film that easily could have taken its premise and diluted it in to exploitation or just another stock monster movie. There’s something eerie and absolutely unnerving about “Alien” from the moment it begins. Director Ridley Scott, paired with the brilliance of H.R. Giger and Dan O’Bannon, spawns a truly creepy tale of a phallic alien hatching in the belly of an old ship that begins wreaking havoc on its surrogate caretakers. It takes a powerful woman to conquer the male manifestation with a protruding orifice, one who defies all kinds of gender stereotypes and tropes.
Grave Shivers (2014)
It’s hard enough to produce a decent anthology horror film, but director Brent Sims composes a trio of horror tales with a fourteen minute window. You wouldn’t think it were possible since a lot of anthology movies get ninety minutes and botch it big time (ahem—“Tales from the Hood”), but director Brent Sims’ horror anthology short isn’t just a success, it’s an impressive horror film altogether. Filled with imagination, excellent plot twists, and incredible special effects, “Grave Shivers” is a dark horror comedy that delights in offering audiences the unexpected.
Omen IV: The Awakening (1991)
O,While it can be a tad silly at times, I think “Omen IV” is very underrated. What you think is just a goofy reboot with a switching of genders for the anti-Christ ends up being something so much cleverer. Asia Veira plays the cute but deadly Delia, a young girl adopted by Gene and Karen York, two attorneys that have had a tough time conceiving. While Karen begins focusing on motherhood, Gene finds himself being pushed by his coworkers toward a political career that could become very beneficial to the family.
Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981)
One thing I never understood about Damien Thorne is his character as a whole. Is Damien pre-programmed to be evil? Did his disciples and handler have to brainwash him to believe his God is the only God? Did Damien believe this stuff? And why does he seem to fully embrace his role as the anti-Christ in the third film when in the second film, he was a young boy struggling with his urges for good and evil? What clicked in him to inspire him to continue his plan for world domination?
And once he dominated the world, what then? Is he the one who rules the world or does he hand the duties over to the dark lord of the underworld? In either case, “The Final Conflict” is the final leg of the “Omen” series, where Damien has finally risen to power. He now runs the Thorne Industries and has no one to defy him. He’s wealthy, and powerful, and now he’s making a play to campaign for ambassador. Over the course of his teens in to his adulthood, the one lone Damien is now a man with an army behind him.
Not only does he have a handler, but a league of believers, many of whom are willing to do Damien’s bidding with his flick of a brow and a smile. Sam Neill is adequate as Damien Thorne, presenting a smarmy and very smug quality to the character. I would have depicted Damien as something of an unassuming man, but Neill is able to salvage his miscasting by making Damien likable. He’s a clean cut young politician with youth on his side, and he begins taking a liking to the son of a journalist who he thinks has promise in the evil business of destroying mankind.
As the followers sight a sacred constellation, Damien realizes the second coming of Christ at hand, and now in order to prevent it, he must murder the first borns of every family in the world. Meanwhile, he persists in dodging the assassins that have made it their mission to murder Damien and end his reign of tyranny. He does this in the most bad ass methods imaginable, first posing as someone, which ends in a confusing murder of an innocent person, and then turning hunting dogs on their master, possessing them in to eating him alive. “The Final Conflict” was not the final conflict as we witnessed with “The Omen IV: The Awakening,” but for a last outing of the original trilogy, it’s a solid last adventure for Damien Thorne and his evil plan to rule the world.
WolfCop (2014)
Director Lowell Dean’s indie horror actioner “Wolfcop” is probably one of my favorite superhero movies of the year. While it’s a loving tribute to horror schlock, it’s also an unabashed superhero movie filled with mythos, a bonafide origin, and even a customized vehicle that our titular wolf cop travels around to maul bad guys in. You’d think wolf puns and a Dirty Harry-esque vigilante with claws would be a complete and utter misfire, but director Dean embraces his premise and offers up a great horror action comedy.
Strippers vs. Werewolves (2011)
I appreciated “Strippers vs. Werewolves” for being just a good enough movie with a lot of fun moments. Surely, it’s not a flawless film, as it aims mainly for cult appeal with goofy comedy, and a meta-format that breaks the fourth wall on occasion. You have to appreciate how writer Phillip Barron tries to inject an interesting story in a movie where you expect nothing but strippers fighting werewolves. To be honest, the fact that there’s an actual story with twists makes up for the fact that a movie with strippers doesn’t actually feature any bare skin at any point.