Was that supposed to be a parody? Cause aside from some decent practical effects, which managed to be genuinely creepy, the characters were the most stereotypical and racially charged I've ever seen. Other than that, the movie had horrible acting, uneven pacing, a largely uninteresting story and quite a few unnecessary and fake jump scares.
Reviews
5 Reviews
Tigertail
(2020)
Good drama with a couple of standout elements
13 April 2020
Now available on Netflix, this multi-generational drama follows a Taiwanese factory worker who leaves his homeland to seek opportunity in the US, where he struggles to find connection while balancing family and newfound responsibilities.
The two aspects I loved the most about Tigertail were the score (which sounded amazing and perfectly fit the tone) and the non-linear storytelling that kept the story interesting to follow. I, also, liked how they shot part of the movie on film - when the lead character was young - as it gave it more personality. Other than that, I found Tigertail to be a rather by-the-books drama with interesting but, perhaps, underdeveloped commentary on immigration. The movie is quite short and never feels dull or boring, though, so I would recommend it to fans of this kind of dramas.
6/10 or 7/10 (can't decide)
The two aspects I loved the most about Tigertail were the score (which sounded amazing and perfectly fit the tone) and the non-linear storytelling that kept the story interesting to follow. I, also, liked how they shot part of the movie on film - when the lead character was young - as it gave it more personality. Other than that, I found Tigertail to be a rather by-the-books drama with interesting but, perhaps, underdeveloped commentary on immigration. The movie is quite short and never feels dull or boring, though, so I would recommend it to fans of this kind of dramas.
6/10 or 7/10 (can't decide)
The Cured
(2017)
The aftermath of a zombie apocalypse explored like rarely before
17 May 2018
The Cured is the third Irish horror film I watched in 2018.
And, just like with The Lodgers, I had a blast with this movie!
Directorial debut of David Freyne, The Cured is set in a world were, after a zombie outbreak, 75% of the turned have been cured. While society is trying to go back to normality, welcoming back the so-called cured, scientists are trying to reverse the zombification process for the remaining 25% of infected. The audience follows Senan (Sam Keeley), a cured person who's sent to live with his sister-in-low (Ellen Page) and her kid, as he struggles to deal with the 4 years he spent as an undead. Because, to make matters worse for the cured, they're both welcomed with hostility by people and must deal with the vivid memories from the period when they were zombies.
This is a great concept for a movie, a concept that's smartly developed by Mr Freyne: first and foremost, he decides to narrow down the story. Unlike the majority of zombie flicks, which show the whole world getting affected by the outbreak, here the story unfolds in a small Irish town, providing the film with a sense of authenticity and realism that is pretty much unprecedented in such movies. Very calmly paced, bleak and featuring sort of "human" zombies, The Cured is exceptionally directed: without a doubt, this is the most evenly paced horror film of 2018 - so far - since it presents no dull moments nor sudden and inexplicable switches in tone and vibe. Shot and edited in a somewhat minimalistic fashion - as in, photography and cinematography aren't anything mind-blowing, but they perfectly fit the movie - Freyne's first directorial effort flows seamlessly throughout the 90-minute-long runtime, becoming more and more down-on-earth as the time goes by. Without being pretentious or trying too hard, The Cured showcases an insane amount of competent shot compositions and framing, demonstrating how much effort was put into the project.
The same effort that each of the cast members surely put: Ellen Page and Sam Keeley are fantastic in the movie, displaying mesmerising performances that, at the beginning of the first act, reach a pinnacle with one of the most emotional confrontations I've seen in a while. Even the supporting cast, albeit rather one-note, do an outstanding job that fits their roles. Although The Cured is foremost a drama, the horror elements seamlessly blend in, with a few scenes that stand out as very creepy and impactful. Being fully aware of the budget restraints, the filmmakers rarely went for berserk zombie actions... but when they did, it was loads of fun. Not mindless fun, though, since the audience got invested in the characters, therefore we experience with apprehension these action sequences. A great, fitting grand finale perfectly wraps the movie up, leaving no room for major complaints. Besides, The Cured might have more to tell than meets the eye - I personally, have an interpretation for the movie's meaning that, albeit 100% spoiler-free, might affect your viewing experience, so feel free to skip the next paragraph.
THE CURED - MEANING EXPLAINED. Since the film is set in Ireland, my girlfriend and I figured it seems pretty obvious the story was a metaphor for the long-lasting civil war between Protestants and Catholics. In this scenario, the cured would represent Irish Catholics who are never really accepted as part of the society by the other religious group. Certain scenes in the movie (and other aspects I don't want to spoil), which resemble more terrorist attacks than zombie actions, seem to back up this interpretation.
Oh, welcome back guys! As per usual, I have a few minor complaints with The Cure: for instance, there are a couple of dialogue sequences that seemed very hasty, where the movie switches abruptly from two characters speaking to a completely unrelated scene. There are also one or two fake jump-scares just for the sake of it, I guess...
My biggest issue, which I'm sure bothers only me and 2/3 other viewers and won't be a problem for most of you, revolves around the opening scene: a caption tell the audience everything we need to know about the film (which is what I used as plot description for this review). I, personally, would have preferred a subtler approach, where the viewer is introduced to the story without knowing anything and has to figure out, gradually, what's going on. By doing so, the filmmakers would have enhanced the audience's attention even more, building up a mystery the viewer would have loved to figure out. I know, I'm a nit-picker! In fact, other than these very minute issues, I loved The Cured. I think most people are going to dig the movie as well, but I'm quite positive for some it would be too big of a departure from "traditional" zombie movies. Proceed with caution, and enjoy The Cured!
Check other reviews out at https://horrorworld.reviews/ The Cured 8.5/10
Directorial debut of David Freyne, The Cured is set in a world were, after a zombie outbreak, 75% of the turned have been cured. While society is trying to go back to normality, welcoming back the so-called cured, scientists are trying to reverse the zombification process for the remaining 25% of infected. The audience follows Senan (Sam Keeley), a cured person who's sent to live with his sister-in-low (Ellen Page) and her kid, as he struggles to deal with the 4 years he spent as an undead. Because, to make matters worse for the cured, they're both welcomed with hostility by people and must deal with the vivid memories from the period when they were zombies.
This is a great concept for a movie, a concept that's smartly developed by Mr Freyne: first and foremost, he decides to narrow down the story. Unlike the majority of zombie flicks, which show the whole world getting affected by the outbreak, here the story unfolds in a small Irish town, providing the film with a sense of authenticity and realism that is pretty much unprecedented in such movies. Very calmly paced, bleak and featuring sort of "human" zombies, The Cured is exceptionally directed: without a doubt, this is the most evenly paced horror film of 2018 - so far - since it presents no dull moments nor sudden and inexplicable switches in tone and vibe. Shot and edited in a somewhat minimalistic fashion - as in, photography and cinematography aren't anything mind-blowing, but they perfectly fit the movie - Freyne's first directorial effort flows seamlessly throughout the 90-minute-long runtime, becoming more and more down-on-earth as the time goes by. Without being pretentious or trying too hard, The Cured showcases an insane amount of competent shot compositions and framing, demonstrating how much effort was put into the project.
The same effort that each of the cast members surely put: Ellen Page and Sam Keeley are fantastic in the movie, displaying mesmerising performances that, at the beginning of the first act, reach a pinnacle with one of the most emotional confrontations I've seen in a while. Even the supporting cast, albeit rather one-note, do an outstanding job that fits their roles. Although The Cured is foremost a drama, the horror elements seamlessly blend in, with a few scenes that stand out as very creepy and impactful. Being fully aware of the budget restraints, the filmmakers rarely went for berserk zombie actions... but when they did, it was loads of fun. Not mindless fun, though, since the audience got invested in the characters, therefore we experience with apprehension these action sequences. A great, fitting grand finale perfectly wraps the movie up, leaving no room for major complaints. Besides, The Cured might have more to tell than meets the eye - I personally, have an interpretation for the movie's meaning that, albeit 100% spoiler-free, might affect your viewing experience, so feel free to skip the next paragraph.
THE CURED - MEANING EXPLAINED. Since the film is set in Ireland, my girlfriend and I figured it seems pretty obvious the story was a metaphor for the long-lasting civil war between Protestants and Catholics. In this scenario, the cured would represent Irish Catholics who are never really accepted as part of the society by the other religious group. Certain scenes in the movie (and other aspects I don't want to spoil), which resemble more terrorist attacks than zombie actions, seem to back up this interpretation.
Oh, welcome back guys! As per usual, I have a few minor complaints with The Cure: for instance, there are a couple of dialogue sequences that seemed very hasty, where the movie switches abruptly from two characters speaking to a completely unrelated scene. There are also one or two fake jump-scares just for the sake of it, I guess...
My biggest issue, which I'm sure bothers only me and 2/3 other viewers and won't be a problem for most of you, revolves around the opening scene: a caption tell the audience everything we need to know about the film (which is what I used as plot description for this review). I, personally, would have preferred a subtler approach, where the viewer is introduced to the story without knowing anything and has to figure out, gradually, what's going on. By doing so, the filmmakers would have enhanced the audience's attention even more, building up a mystery the viewer would have loved to figure out. I know, I'm a nit-picker! In fact, other than these very minute issues, I loved The Cured. I think most people are going to dig the movie as well, but I'm quite positive for some it would be too big of a departure from "traditional" zombie movies. Proceed with caution, and enjoy The Cured!
Check other reviews out at https://horrorworld.reviews/ The Cured 8.5/10
Family Blood
(2018)
Junky vampires will rule the world!
15 May 2018
Do you remember the subtlety of certain novels about the addiction to blood of the night creatures and its metaphors? Now, forget about it, because Family Blood will try to force down your throat the comparison between drugs and vampirism.
Despite the title of my review, Family Blood is not a horror-comedy. In fact, this is a horror-drama, produced by Blumhouse and distributed by Netflix, that centres on Ellie (Vinessa Shaw), a recovering drug addict who has just moved to a new city with her two teenage children. Ellie joins a support group, where she meets shady guy Christopher (James Ransone, Sinister 2), who helps the woman get past her addiction by providing her with a new one, for blood! Family Blood has a few enjoyable aspects. To begin with, the movie really tries to be original and tackle vampirism in a fresh, unconventional way: we see Ellie going to the phases of transformation and how they affect her life and the life of her children. Yet, albeit riddled with jump-scares (some of them fake), this movie creates a genuine tension during the first hour. This is backed up and strengthened by the very well-crafted technical features: very reminiscing of Let The Right One In (the remake, not the original) in terms of atmosphere and camera-work, Family Blood builds up its story through a sombre and dark tone. In general, the production values are really good and little cookie-cutter (surprisingly so for a Blumhouse production). Despite the Uwe Boll-esque CGI blood utilised during the last 20 minutes of the film, which really looked fake and cheap, the violence in the movie is quite effective and it's helped by the fact that many actions are only implied rather than shown. Unfortunately, that's about it. For starter, the acting is atrocious: I honestly wouldn't know whether to blame the cast (Ransone and Shaw never convinced me as actors) or the directing, since it's entirely plausible the director told them "just act and speak you're under suppressants okay?" I mean, this kind of line delivery makes sense for Shaw, since her character is kind of supposed to look and sound like an annoying, boring woman. It's inexplicable for all the others though. Aside from the performances, Family Blood suffers enormously from pacing issues. By that I don't mean the pace isn't balanced, more so all the scenes (excluding the last 20 minutes) are equally boring: I know, what one finds boring might be extremely exciting for others - heck, some of my favourite movies are considered boring by most - but here the movie is overall uneventful, every sequence drags for too long. In all honestly, I dozed off a couple of times while I was watching this flick. The aspect that bothered me the most, however, is the over-the-top and spoon-feeding social commentary (or agenda?) the movie is trying to push. Vampirism is shown as a metaphor for drug addiction, which is an old but interesting concept. The problem is that this concept is executed in an obvious and annoying way, which makes it impossible (at least for me) to be affected or involved by the idea. Horror movies can be a very powerful tool to convey a strong and important social commentary and several great horror films were able to pull that off. In Family Blood that doesn't happen, because the filmmakers were most likely too focused on making sure the message didn't get lost for anybody. The result is a superficial social commentary that is neither original nor impactful. This is the third Blumhouse flick I watched and reviewed so far this year: Family Blood surely isn't as wrenched and laughable as Truth or Dare, but it's also far from being as good and interesting as Stephanie. Check it out if you're into vampire flicks, just don't expect anything other than a little creepy movie that would help you catch some sleep. Check out this, and my other reviews at https://horrorworld.reviews/ Family Blood 4.5/10
Despite the title of my review, Family Blood is not a horror-comedy. In fact, this is a horror-drama, produced by Blumhouse and distributed by Netflix, that centres on Ellie (Vinessa Shaw), a recovering drug addict who has just moved to a new city with her two teenage children. Ellie joins a support group, where she meets shady guy Christopher (James Ransone, Sinister 2), who helps the woman get past her addiction by providing her with a new one, for blood! Family Blood has a few enjoyable aspects. To begin with, the movie really tries to be original and tackle vampirism in a fresh, unconventional way: we see Ellie going to the phases of transformation and how they affect her life and the life of her children. Yet, albeit riddled with jump-scares (some of them fake), this movie creates a genuine tension during the first hour. This is backed up and strengthened by the very well-crafted technical features: very reminiscing of Let The Right One In (the remake, not the original) in terms of atmosphere and camera-work, Family Blood builds up its story through a sombre and dark tone. In general, the production values are really good and little cookie-cutter (surprisingly so for a Blumhouse production). Despite the Uwe Boll-esque CGI blood utilised during the last 20 minutes of the film, which really looked fake and cheap, the violence in the movie is quite effective and it's helped by the fact that many actions are only implied rather than shown. Unfortunately, that's about it. For starter, the acting is atrocious: I honestly wouldn't know whether to blame the cast (Ransone and Shaw never convinced me as actors) or the directing, since it's entirely plausible the director told them "just act and speak you're under suppressants okay?" I mean, this kind of line delivery makes sense for Shaw, since her character is kind of supposed to look and sound like an annoying, boring woman. It's inexplicable for all the others though. Aside from the performances, Family Blood suffers enormously from pacing issues. By that I don't mean the pace isn't balanced, more so all the scenes (excluding the last 20 minutes) are equally boring: I know, what one finds boring might be extremely exciting for others - heck, some of my favourite movies are considered boring by most - but here the movie is overall uneventful, every sequence drags for too long. In all honestly, I dozed off a couple of times while I was watching this flick. The aspect that bothered me the most, however, is the over-the-top and spoon-feeding social commentary (or agenda?) the movie is trying to push. Vampirism is shown as a metaphor for drug addiction, which is an old but interesting concept. The problem is that this concept is executed in an obvious and annoying way, which makes it impossible (at least for me) to be affected or involved by the idea. Horror movies can be a very powerful tool to convey a strong and important social commentary and several great horror films were able to pull that off. In Family Blood that doesn't happen, because the filmmakers were most likely too focused on making sure the message didn't get lost for anybody. The result is a superficial social commentary that is neither original nor impactful. This is the third Blumhouse flick I watched and reviewed so far this year: Family Blood surely isn't as wrenched and laughable as Truth or Dare, but it's also far from being as good and interesting as Stephanie. Check it out if you're into vampire flicks, just don't expect anything other than a little creepy movie that would help you catch some sleep. Check out this, and my other reviews at https://horrorworld.reviews/ Family Blood 4.5/10
Forgotten
(2017)
One of the most impactful Korean thrillers
19 March 2018
There's a South Korean psychological thriller on Netflix that deserves your attention: Forgotten.
I will keep this little review as short and vague as possible, since I really think you should go blind into Forgotten.
Visually stunning, well-paced, extremely uneasy, beautifully scored and fantastically acted, Forgotten is definitely among my favourite thriller films... ever!
Very simply put, it tells the story of a regular family moving to a new house, something feels odd from the very beginning and, as soon as the story starts to unfold, it's one twist after the other. Forgotten is unsettling, depressing, compelling and features awesome characters, all of the extremely well written by writer/director Hang-jun Zhang (whose last film came out 15 years ago!).
If you haven't seen it yet... just go on Netflix and watch it asap.
I will keep this little review as short and vague as possible, since I really think you should go blind into Forgotten.
Visually stunning, well-paced, extremely uneasy, beautifully scored and fantastically acted, Forgotten is definitely among my favourite thriller films... ever!
Very simply put, it tells the story of a regular family moving to a new house, something feels odd from the very beginning and, as soon as the story starts to unfold, it's one twist after the other. Forgotten is unsettling, depressing, compelling and features awesome characters, all of the extremely well written by writer/director Hang-jun Zhang (whose last film came out 15 years ago!).
If you haven't seen it yet... just go on Netflix and watch it asap.
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