Leaky Loonage

We review movies!

[leakyloonage]

Scary Bride has the premise for a gripping plot but the screenwriter has incorporated into the screenplay a tedious mix-up of comical horror styles.

A young man goes to Russia to find himself a beautiful bride, inspired by his friend who has successfully done the same. However, the potential bride he comes across there turns out to be... inhuman in every way. After watching the entire pic, the question arises if he really is in danger.

The murky atmosphere created with the poor amount of light in a number of scenes, especially the ones in which he tries to escape for his life, has only degraded the potential of the horror segment instead of enhancing it. The comedic acting is hardly a match for the predominant semi-darkness. A number of scenes following the lead's first encounter with the truth about the Russian woman he got strongly attracted to are so predictable that the comedy is lost even if his actions try hard to suggest randomness. It also causes the more or less surprising end a little too difficult to wait for.

[leakyloonage]

How could director Darren Lynn Bousman let a propitious premise with an intriguing beginning go down the drain?

The screenplay, written by three screenwriters, has turned a good concept into something painfully pseudo-intellectual. A couple on a strange Thai island wake up in a dirty room to realize that they don't remember what they were up to the night before. They try to leave the island but soon figure out that their essential documents are missing. They find a few photos and a long video from the previous night on one of their phones. The video shows one of them kill the other. So, how are they both alive watching the video together?

The story emphasizes too much on the dark cult practiced by the islanders which shapes the ambiguity faced by the lead character. Within the first half of this horror, it is evident that its makers just aimed at confusing the audience. But the kind of recurring vagueness presented in the pic is only likely to diminish the curiosity. Amulets and pregnancy holding great importance in some mumbo jumbo cult are such old chestnuts that instantly remind a horror fan of Rosemary's Baby.

The constructive cinematography and bold performances may, however, compel one to watch Death of Me till it comes to a dull end.

[leakyloonage]

Finally, we have a film upholding feminist sentiments! But, it isn't extraordinary in any manner. We all know that dangerous man who can be both easygoing and secretly terrifying at the same time. We also know how an iron-willed hero can overpower that type of villain. So trite.

A recently widowed woman (Jules Willcox) is driving to her new house with all her belongings when she is chased by a stranger who happens to be a serial killer on the loose. This man, played by Mark Menchaca, sports a noticeably amusing moustache. He's quite creepy from the moment he introduces himself to the protagonist. This leads to a cat and mouse game between the two.

Like in many other similar movies, there's the uselessly good character with a weapon who the victim comes across while escaping from danger.

The screenwriter has been quite partial in creating unrealistic fleeing tactics to let the lead win somehow.

Willcox's character has such unbelievable survival skills that when she finally gets the opportunity to properly call 911 using her fierce captor's phone, she rings up his wife instead to let her know of his criminal acts.

The third act heavily relies on some ridiculous contrivance.

[leakyloonage]

Set in the early 1990s, Rent-A-Pal is a slow depiction of a lonely middle aged man's desperation for company as he initially tries to find a girlfriend through a dating agency heavily relying on VCRs. This man called David is a round the clock caregiver for his old mother with dementia. He randomly comes across a strange VHS tape which begins to invade his solitude as he finds a friend in its host called Andy whose prerecorded chat is formatted in a way that makes him feel heard and understood.

The screenplay has invested a little too much time into familiarizing the audience with the man's lifestyle. However, what inspires David to open up to Andy isn't convincing enough as a result of the stylized editing which speeds up and limits the scenes that are supposed to make the audience empathize with David's disturbing vulnerability.

We are not shown if David ever had a romantic or social past and what he was up to when he didn't have to care for his mother. All we see is a man so desperate for someone to talk to that he starts memorizing Andy's words, a little at a time, to build a friendship between himself and Andy on TV who doesn't even know about his existence. He even prioritizes Andy over a potential girlfriend the dating agency finally matches him with after a long wait.

The script doesn't include any satisfying reason behind a man choosing a VHS tape for companionship when he has found his perfect woman. The cinematography is good enough for giving us only a bird's eye view of David's present world. The final act is as predictable as a mediocre formulaic thriller can be.

But, kudos to Jon Stevenson for writing, directing, producing, and editing Rent-A-Pal!

[leakyloonage]

Director Julius Berg's The Owners is based on Une Nuit de Pleine lune and subtly influenced by the home invasion thriller Don't Breathe in which the victim isn't as vulnerable as the intruders initially believe them to be.

A group of friends invade an old couple's house in their absense to steal cash and valuables. But, they come across a locked safe that, they realize, nobody but the owner can open. So they decide to scare the couple into telling them the code that unlocks the safe. However, tables turn in quite a predictable fashion.

The film has a dark comedy feel in the beginning which intensifies into a blood-spattered twisted thriller.

What's hidden in that safe, anyway? The ending, although too unoriginal, can give the callow audience a spine-tingling sensation. However, minimizing the screen resolution in the final act has been a really bad idea.

The consummate performances have saved this mediocre film from being a dishonor to the genre.

[leakyloonage]

By Night's End (2020)

By Nights End has a singular plot which raises a few intriguing moral questions when a couple suddenly find their home invaded by a man who they kill in an act of self-defence and don't inform the police immediately.

Hoping that the intruder had been searching for wealth hidden somewhere in their house, the husband decides to find it to secure their own future.

The story has sufficient suspenseful elements but the script follows a pretty formulaic path like most indie thrillers, especially when it comes to dialogues.

The respective expressions of Michelle Rose and Kurt Yue are powerful enough to convey the couple's misgivings without that many dialogues.

At times the cinematography gives the feel of a Lifetime T.V. movie.

The one major drawback of this film that often seems to overpower all its positive aspects is the inadequate lighting which doesn't accentuate the varying psychology of the individual characters.

The feminist side of this crime thriller, touched by violence and ethical conflicts, along with the strong cast compensate for most of the technical shortcomings to an extent.

The gripping tension gradually comes to a predictable conclusion, following the revelation of what the hidden valuable is.

☆ DarkCoast will release BY NIGHT’S END onto various digital platforms Oct. 6th (Amazon, iTunes, DirecTV, FlixFling, Google Play, Vudu and AT&T). 

[leakyloonage]

This one's a funny short about a lonely young man in love with the surveillance cameras that the government has installed indoors and outdoors to monitor every citizen.

Filmed using an iPhone, each shot has an arresting composition that conveys this tragicomedy with a wonderful simplicity.

[leakyloonage]

I really want to ask Andy Newbery why he even went ahead with the The Host's severely unoriginal screenplay poorly written by three screenwriters.

The film so heavily relies on the format of Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock) that I thought it must be a modern feminist version of the classic.

Robert Atkinson is a London banker who has a number of dangerously bad habits. He steals cash from the bank's security deposit box in the hope of changing his life, only to end up falling prey to a Chinese mafia boss. Robert's character is a little too naive for someone with that level of determination to change his situation by any means.

I must say, for a bank that significant, the security is really poor. There are hardly any cops visible and nobody is even monitoring the security cameras in the building. A dense guy like Robert successfully escapes after stealing cash from a security deposit box.

Then comes the character of Vera, the rich heiress of a powerful family in Amsterdam, who hosts Robert at her place when he arrives there with a mysterious suitcase, acting according to the mafia boss' instructions.

She is the female Norman Bates and her place is equivalent to Bates' Motel. There are some disturbing sadism scenes that add no newness to the plot.

The rest is mostly a brief repetition, done by Robert's brother Steve, of whatever Robert did to carry out the order of the mafia head, that leads to a desirable outcome in a vapid way.

With the production design noticeably up to scratch, I expected something much better than a complete rip-off.

[leakyloonage]

Black Water: Abyss is a monster movie with a number of flaws that don't really affect its potential to keep the audience curious about its ending.

A couple in a rocky relationship, a recovering cancer patient with his newly pregnant girlfriend, and their friend decide to explore a cave system despite knowing about people who have gone missing there before and an upcoming storm. They go through tunnels leading to some underground watery zone which fascinates them initially.

The camera work is rather dreary and doesn't capture the complex world below ground very well.

The screenplay is just like any other mediocre action thriller movies' that don't give characters some convincing reason to go towards danger and rely on a stereotypical twist related to relationships.

But when there is a killer croc and five people in a more or less enclosed space, you will definitely sit through whatever may come just to know which ones come out alive and how.

Was a sequel to Black Water (2007) really necessary? Atleast it isn't boring...

[leakyloonage]

If you are someone fascinated by the poop emoji or into scatology, then Feces is for you. A young man comes across a corpse of a female lying somewhere in the middle of the woods. There's the character of a mysterious bearded old man who alarms the young man. The script, possibly penned with the budget in mind, is effective enough to make one wonder what really is going on throughout it's length even though this is a silent short film. The expressions of the two main characters give Feces a dark comedy vibe. The technical side, especially the editing, is impressive.

Although the short's title means shit, the film is pretty much not.

[leakyloonage]

The Bay of Silence is a hotchpotch of unnecessary subplots. Based on a novel by Lisa St Aubin de Terán, the screenplay, written by Caroline Goodall, convolutes a film which has an intriguing premise.

It's about a man named Will who discovers his new wife Rosalind's illness and her deeply troubled past when the worst happens to him.

For the major part of the film, Will single-handedly sleuths for information regarding his wife's many secrets while apparently taking great care of her. Normally, a relationship falls apart as soon as someone finds out that significant details about their partner's life have been kept from them. But our hero, Will, goes to extreme lengths to ensure Rosalind's safety despite suffering an irrepairable loss because of her.

The film tries to depict an unconditional trust of a husband in his wife while making it obvious that he doesn't even understand her. Not even as much as the audience does. Like, in that one scene, Rosalind is seen destroying a part of a wall in the middle of the night and Will thinks she is just sleepwalking when she is clearly awake.

If nothing else, this film simply serves as a window to some picturesque locations in the UK and Italy. That's not bad, considering the present travel restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic...

[leakyloonage]

Intruder is one of those films that doesn't have even one yawny scene. The writer and director, Sohn Won-Pyung, grasps the suspenseful essence of the story and precisely devotes every scene to it.

A widower with a young daughter struggles to find the driver of the car that caused his wife's death when his long lost sister suddenly shows up. Despite a DNA report proving their biological relation, he doubts her as she moves in with his family and everything begins to change gradually.

A significant part of the thriller is depicted from the protagonist's perspective. He is singled out as the only sane (or insane) person who is severely disturbed by the stupefying turn of events with the arrival of his sister but, unlike everyone else, doesn't fall prey to her apparent tactics. A little too much in the villain's favour, but this doesn't diminish the curiosity about the new woman taking over the household. What does she even want? However, one of the important plot twists can easily be predicted by any movie buff.

Mu-Yeol Kim gives a satisfying portrayal of the protagonist's emotional mayhem. Ji-Hyo Song's mystifying guarded demeanour heightens the spine-chilling effect of the film.

The camera work flawlessly conveys the tension among characters to which the fine editing adds timeliness.

The ending doesn't disgruntle.

[leakyloonage]

Nowhere Alaska has a simple and intriguing concept which demands an audience's complete attention for a good understanding of the mystery it offers. Derek with his brother, Kevin, and best friend, Scott, search for his missing wife on an island near the coast of Alaska.

One big advantage of the film is the location where most of the incidents take place. A dense forest on an uninvaded island can key someone up for no apparent reason.

The script does create the necessary suspense but fails the plot with timid action. The dialogues of Derek (Danny Royce) narrating his experiences on the island disclose much of what should have been veiled to make the climax worth waiting for. Royce's portrayal as a man who has just gone through some gut-wrenching moments is a little too far from perfection. Some of his expressions during the ordeal of looking for his missing wife, however, are vivid. Aaron Phifer as his brother, Kevin, delivers a great performance, boldly highlighting different emotions with ease. The story lacks a strong contrast to the simplicity of Kevin's character. The character of Scott (Conner Floyd) should have had much more depth and unpredictability.

The cinematography and editing make up for a few of the directional flaws that this film has.

Amateur detectives might not want to miss Nowhere Alaska.

[leakyloonage]

Sinful is one of those films heavily dependent on suspenseful rising action as the premise takes a back seat.

A drug addict couple in love, Salem and Remy, hide in a house, after committing a horrible crime, where strange incidents take place. Their limited backstory is conveyed through dialogues, a few of which are less audible than the others.

The minimum and repetitious flashbacks are more confounding than terrifying. The screenplay sucessfully integrates a slow burn with drug-fuelled paranoia to some extent. Christina Lo as Remy displays a decent amount of righteous panic which, accompanied by no new revelations for a while, gradually becomes monotonous. Salem, played by Nicole D'Angelo, initially remains rather composed as she tries to calm a constantly freaked out Remy, coercing her into waiting for their friend to arrive and help them escape. The masked man is a challenging character wasted. His role in intensifying any mystery is minimal here.

A series of long-drawn-out scenes, including those in which the two leads make love or snort drugs, serve the purpose of giving Sinful its feature-length. In a few other scenes, the depth of the characters' petrifying expressions overpower the exhibition of horror elements. The film does speed up a little towards the climax that surprises the audience with a plot twist.

The cinematography, editing, and eerie sound effects are good enough for a flick made during quarantine. Yet I think Sinful would have been more absorbing as a short film.

[leakyloonage]

Peril at vacation home is pretty much an out of the arc mystery story concept today. But, first-time director Dave Franco recycles it in accordance with today's technological advancement and ongoing racism.

Two brothers with their respective partners head out to enjoy their weekend at a luxurious vacation house that they have rented online. The formulaic yet gripping relationship complications moving with the times fuel the tension when a pair of them realize what they plan to hide may have all been recorded by someone spying on them using hidden cameras installed indoors.

The script remains interesting until features shamelessly borrowed from 80s nightmarish slashers start dominating the time frame.

Then the film starts going downhill as if to pay tribute to some amateurish low-budget horror flick in which there are disturbingly inadequate struggle to escape scenes. The frustrating ending suggests a sequel which I hope will be worth looking forward to.

[leakyloonage]

There are quite a number of films inspired by John List's crimes, including the excellent cult film called The Stepfather (1987), starring Terry O'Quinn. In writer and director Andrew Jones' A Killer Next Door, the predictable manner of storytelling dulls the essential suspense that a pic so heavily based on a murderer like List must have.

The beginning may be promising but the fight scenes much later on are botched. This film is also devoid of a steady pace. Some scenes are too tedious while some others are unnecessarily short. A few shots are noticeably repetitive. Mediocre direction along with the many hammed up portrayals give this film a very low-budget flavour. However, William Meredith's performance as John List makes A Killer Next Door much less ridiculous. Delores Clark's acting is noteworthy as well. So is Nigel Barber's. Patrick O'Donnell's and Harriet Rees' respective expressions of sadness are impressive even if they have been miscast as father and daughter.

The cinematography is almost up to scratch compared to the other technical aspects of this film.

I am about to rewatch Hithcock's Rear Window which A Killer Next Door reminds me of.

[leakyloonage]

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau immerses himself in the role of a father going through the perils of tracing a serial killer who may have kidnapped his daughter a number of years ago. Annabelle Wallis plays a very underdeveloped part, morally going from one extreme to the other.

Too many characters apart from the leads, including a few unnecesarry supporting ones and some others in minor roles having inadequate and often misspent screen time within those 93 minutes have deteriorated the good story concept. Although the cat and mouse aspect is played out, it is the sole strength of this film. There are quite a few cliff-hanging action scenes. Then there are slow-paced sequences, some very dragged out, ultimately leading to an abrupt and unsatisfying ending. The camera work and editing are no great shakes. But the production design stands out.

The Silencing, quite far away from being a top-drawer thriller, is an OK whodunit for a lazy evening.