Reviews

I really wanted to like this movie, unfortunately, there was nothing at all to like. A big calling point of this, for many, will be to see the directional debut of Dave Franco.

Well, where to begin? This is yet another 2020 horror film that should not even be classed as a horror film at all. When over 75% of the movie is a drama, then it should be classed that way. There is hardly anything horrifying or thrilling about this one, well, except for the awful production itself. There's hardly any horror elements except for in the very latter part of the movie, even those are poorly executed.

None of the characters here are likeable, there's a reason to dislike all of them. I found myself not caring about any of them, well, except for the dog. The pace is slow and the acting is mediocre. The concept itself is familiar and I couldn't help but think that I've seen this before, just executed a hell of a lot better in other movies.

It feels like Dave Franco was going for a slow burn type horror that had a stunning conclusion. This is so much of a slow burner that by the time any of the action happened, I was completely disinterested. I stuck around, waiting for the climax and felt greatly let down. The conclusion, is confusing and doesn't offer any real resolve. It's a waste of time and feels like a kick in the teeth after sitting through the rest.

The killer himself only gets a few minutes of actual screen time and those happen towards the very end of the film. You find out no information about him, his motive or his purpose. The kills are very weak and not at all graphic.

There's literally nothing interesting here at all. A complete lack of atmosphere and tension, it feels very amateurish. Avoid.

I'll be honest, I was pretty reluctant going into this one. The plot sounded fairly basic and without seeing the trailer I was essentially heading into this one blind. I was pleasantly surprised and not disappointed at all with the turn out.

Open 24 Hours takes a simple concept, only a few locations and turns it into a tense and suspenseful production. It'll leave you questioning what is real, what is going on in Mary's (Vanessa Grasse) head and what is actually happening in reality. It blurs the lines between hallucinations and reality very well, it's overplayed a little excessively at specific points but not enough to destroy the storyline.

The acting and characters themselves are pretty great, Vanessa Grasse's performance is gripping and Cole Vigue makes for a great twisted villain. There are a few plot holes and logical issues throughout if you choose to look for them. Is it a little predictable? At times, yes. But overall, this is just a real fun flick to watch. The body count isn't particularly high for this slasher, however, the deaths are pretty brutal and gory when they do occur. The SFX's are very nice to say this is a fairly low budget production.

Unfortunately, the weakest part of Open 24 Hours is the conclusion (or lack of) and the ending. I can't say too much as I'll spoil it, but you'll see what I mean if you watch it. Aside from that, Open 24 Hours is an entertaining and engaging indie slasher/horror, give it a try, it may exceed your initial expectations.

This is one night shift you wouldn't want to work but should definitely watch.

It's rare that politics finds its way into horror films, when it does, it's often poorly executed. This is no exception. The concept for this film is great, on paper it sounded really interesting but all of that is let down by the addition of political views that really didn't need to be there in the first place. If The Hunt left the politics to one side and stuck to the raw idea and structure of the film's premise then this could have been pretty wonderful. I'll give credit where it's due, the political skews on this made for some great publications and advertising.

The movie poster shared quotes cut from different reviewers, "dangerous" and "shows hollywood for what it really is, demented and evil" were among these quotes. From what I read, I expected to view something truly disturbing and sick. All I got was a fairly light hearted take on a battle royale with little substance in-between. The horror and violence here is not offensive, it's the politics that has so many triggered.

The Hunt doesn't take itself too seriously, which I think is a shame. Betty Gilpin is the star here, she delivers a really great performance that'll get you rooting for her throughout. Her "Don't give a damn" attitude is really refreshing in this production. It attempts to make fun of internet culture but comes up short and is even cringeworthy at times.

The introduction to The Hunt is probably the best part of the movie, for the first 15-30 minutes it's gory, has a heavy body count and will keep you guessing who is the main protagonist is. After that it, it gets a little repetitive and lacklustre. The movie relies on politics and comedy instead of the plot. There's quite a few plot holes in this film. The majority of the characters lack personality and are boring.

It seems to me that people rate this one so highly because of how it takes shots at left and right wing politics. Adding real life conflict doesn't automatically make a film great, just because it's relatable. Strip that down and people would be rating this a lot differently.

The opening scenes, gory nature of some of the deaths and Betty Gilpin's performance should be enough to keep you occupied throughout the duration of this one. Just don't believe the hype.

I've been awaiting the arrival of this film ever since watching the trailer a few weeks ago. It had that depth of darkness and a feeling of realness to it that I look for in a good horror film. Relic explores the subject of dementia in a unique fashion that will pull at your heart strings. Especially for those that have dealt with the illness first hand.

Relic is essentially a drama which disguises itself as a horror film by using a few of the classic horror conventions and clichés. The metaphors provide the real horror here.

The three main actors do a great job of conveying the story and deliver a wonderful performance that will leave you emotionally gripped throughout. Where Relic lacks, is in pace. At times it can be rather dull, long winded and only finally picks up in the last 1/3rd of the film.

The climax of the film will have you on the edge of your seat and is easily the best part of the film. Those that don't like thought provoking, symbolic conclusions will probably want to stay clear of this one. Still, it's one of the more memorable endings to a film I've seen in a while and undoubtedly uncomfortable.

This one is worth the runtime just for the brilliant score, ambiance and composition. You definitely need a decent pair of headphones or a nice sound system to get the most out of this one. The film is very dark, visually, it can be hard to make out specific details in most scenes. Obviously this is done to expand the creepy and unpredictable atmosphere but if anything, makes the film seem duller.

It's not a 10/10 movie by any means but it does serve as a mildly entertaining way to pass an hour and a half of time. Especially if you don't have anything else to do or watch. Give it a go, you may like it.

My retrospective on this one: sometimes you have to discard the old version of a person you knew and learn to love them for what they've become.

After enduring the hour and a half runtime of 'You Should Have Left', I had a lot of questions, the main one being - just why? The concept of this film sounded interesting, the plot didn't sound bad at all. However, the execution of it is one of the worst I've seen this year so far. Nothing really thrilling or exciting happens throughout the duration of the film as it turns more into a drama and mystery than a horror film.

The three main characters have little common sense to the point it'll leave you frustrated at certain points throughout the film. There's a scene where Theo and his daughter Ella attempt to leave the house, only to "return" there a little while after, knowingly putting themselves back in danger.

The overall message from 'You Should Have Left' is that you have to live up to the things you've done and you can't escape your own shadow. Or is it? Maybe I'm just searching too deep for an explanation after the cluttered conclusion to make myself feel better. This is what I believe the film-makers were trying to express anyway, however, it's sloppy and unclear. The ending of the film still leaves a lot of open questions.

'You Should Have Left' is slow paced, confusing, lacks tension & atmosphere and has no sense of direction. I found myself hoping for a surprise ending, a shocking twist or turn but was left just feeling more confused at the end. It seems to me that both Kevin Bacon & Amanda Seyfried didn't read the script and wanted an easy payday on this one.

I recommend skipping this film and reading the book if the plot interests you. I haven't read it, nor do I plan on doing so, but it can't be any worse than this production.

It's rare that I have to share my thoughts and opinions on a movie's age rating and certification. However, the UK rating from the BBFC seems to have been skewed for 'You Should Have Left'.

UK: Rated 18 for strong injury detail - this is legitimately all that is available on the official BBFC website. This rating makes absolutely no sense. There is no content in this film that constitutes an 18 rating. This should be rated 15 and a weak 15 at that. The only explanation that I can come up with for this is that BBFC have rated it so highly to stop younger teens from seeing this sleep-fest. If that's the case, then I tip my hat.

US: Rated R for some violence, disturbing images, sexual content and language - this is a more accurate age rating which constitutes a 15 rating in the UK. The content they've outlined here is more accurate of that in the film and you should use this as a benchmark.

The unsettling violent crashing of the waves in the intro of 'The Invisible Man' sets the mood and tone for what's to follow. I knew from the beginning that at the very least, the soundtrack and score would keep me hooked throughout. I wasn't wrong.

'The Invisible Man' begins with Cecilia creeping out of bed in the middle of the night, looking panicked and obviously desperate to form an escape. The intro to this film is shot sublimely, it kept me on edge and was a perfect starting point. If the rest of the film were able to maintain the same level of tension then we'd be looking at a horror classic right here. Things settle down after the introduction for a pretty considerable amount of time before Cecilia starts to notice strange occurrences.

Cecila is smart, much smarter than most of the other characters deem her to be. She has great direction throughout the film, utilizes space properly and uses common sense to get out of danger. Which is very refreshing to see in any horror film these days.

The main issue with this film are the plot holes and ultimately the lack of plot itself. There's not an awful lot of backstory to the events that transpired before the introduction of the movie. This causes a lack of emotional connection and empathy with the main characters. However, the unpredictable and tense nature of the film is enough to carry you through if you can forget about the plot. The 120-minute runtime doesn't do this film any favours and makes it feel a little drawn out at times too.

Surprisingly, there's not an awful lot of jump scares throughout 'The Invisible Man'. There's one real shocking scene and a twist or two that occur but most audience members will be able to sense and predict these. Especially those that are switched on to the horror genre. I highly recommend watching this with earphones or headphones that have good bass and audio quality. Either this or with a home surround sound cinema system. The best feature and detail of this film is the soundtrack and score.

Except for the soundtrack, Elisabeth Moss (Cecilia) is the star of the show here. She delivers an excellent performance which kept me hooked from the start and throughout. The other characters leave quite a lot to be desired.

'The Invisible Man' provides a somewhat enjoyable viewing experience, just don't get expecting film of the year material. It's certainly one that you could watch when you have nothing else to do or anything else to watch. Will it blow your mind and leave you speechless? Not really, maybe just in a scene or two. However, it's definitely something that will keep you occupied for a good couple of hours.

"Repent your sins" is the most commonly used phrase throughout this film and it's something that the directors need to consider doing themselves. This entire production is a sin to the horror genre. I went into this one after hearing mostly positive reviews from critics, a 6.0 on IMDB had me hopeful for what, on paper, sounded like an interesting flick. Instead, I was met with a vastly disappointing, boring and irritating disaster that only gets worse as time goes by.

The Lodge starts off promisingly, in fact, the strongest and most shocking scene takes place in the introductory 15 minutes of the movie. After this, it's only downhill as the film progresses.

Every single character annoyed me in this production, which is rare to feel in any movie. You have the father who deserves the worst father of the year award for leaving his two children alone. Mia who spends much of the two-hour-long feature crying. Aiden who spends the majority of the production emotionless and who may just be the biggest psychopath of all. Finally, you have Grace who I neither rooted for nor rooted against, due to the neutral and confusing nature of the film.

There are many plot holes and a lot of questions you'll be asking yourself throughout. There isn't enough twists to save this film as it progresses either. If you have any common sense, you'll be able to predict the key plot points as they unfold. A lot of it just doesn't make sense and there's a lot of scenes that add zero value to the story. The pacing alone is enough to make you want to sleep.

After an hour through this one, I found myself wishing for it to end as I imagined the conclusion would at least make up for the rest of the movie. Oh, how wrong I was. The ending 'The Lodge" is superiorly weak and doesn't make sitting through the rest worth it at all.