Synopsis
CT Commie Tiger Mommy
America's most Irish author to come out of Eastern Europe
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
"The Iron Claw" 2023 - "Black Swan" meets "Godfather"
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
9 Miles Down: bad casting kills a horror movie
Greetings, commies!
Winter is a great time for self-reflection and self-flagellation, a great opportunity to remember all those times you wronged others and reflect on how you are going to pay for them ... in the afterlife. Just kidding! I am no moralist. However, if you come across "Nine Miles Down" while flipping through your Amazon Prime options, consider giving it a go.
Synopsis:
Nine Miles Down is a 2009 horror film[2] based on the Well to Hell, a widespread urban legend (spread mostly in the 1990s) that Russian scientists had drilled so deep that they had broken through into hell and recorded the screams of the damned emanating from the borehole.[3] It was the last feature film credit for writer Everett de Roche.[4] It is an international co-production between the UK, Hungary, and the US.
My thoughts:
Released five years before a more known and acclaimed "As Above So Below" (2014), "9 Miles Down" takes the idea of personal hell to new depths, blurring traumatic memories, fears and imagination into an unsettling concoction. The problem is that the actors portraying the two lead characters are too ... generically "hot". Jack, played by Adrian Paul, does not come across as a bereaved father and husband, tormented by guilt. And Kate Nauta looks like a cast member of "Baywatch". She's just not a good actress. Her abilities are suitable for C-rated direct to stream flicks. Her seductive antics are affected and borderline histrionic. Meredith Ostrom is another traditionally hot and awkwardly stiff as Jack's betrayed wife Susan in the flashbacks. She looks like a model who walked off of a bikini photo shoot into a horror movie set. The casting director could have made different choices to make the characters more convincing and sympathetic. The casting choices do nothing for the plot and detract from the overall message.
Thursday, January 18, 2024
47 Meters Down: a low budget version of "Gravity"
Greetings, commies!
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
When Evil Lurks: Children Love Evil
Synopsis:
Post-apocalyptic rural Argentina. In a remote village, two brothers find a demon-infected man just about to give birth to evil itself. They decide to get rid of the man but merely succeed in helping him to deliver the inferno.
My thoughts:
Monday, November 20, 2023
Parable: an eclectic South African horror gem
Greetings, commies!
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
White Lie: faking cancer for cash
A cautionary tale to those inclined to kneejerk acts of generosity. Every day we get bombarded with GoFundMe requests. How do you know the money goes to a worthy cause? As you are about to get assaulted with more holiday nudges for donations, check out this flick White Lie.
It's really scary how easy it is to fake a deadly disease, while harvesting sympathy and money from the gullible public. Katie does not come across as a crook. She is a coy, articulate tomboy who projects an image of vulnerability and courage at the same time, which endears her to her fellow students, school administration and donors. People around her, including her naive girlfriend, are eating up that narrative with a spoon. I guess, none of them had family members who had been through cancer treatments. I am not a medical professional by any means, but even I could pick up inconsistencies in the main character's appearance. Not sure if it was a flippant oversight on behalf of the writers, or the telltale signs were left there on purpose. People going through chemo do NOT grow a 5 o'clock shadow on their heads. Nor do they keep their eyebrows and eyelashes. That should have raised some questions.
The ending if the movie is a little sloppy. I got the impression that the writers ran out of ideas on how to wrap the plot up, so they left it open-ended. Will Katie's lies be uncovered? Will she pay for them? Who will be by her side when she is cornered?
Monday, September 18, 2023
Afraid of the Dark - 1991 - a French-British slow burn