JAKOB'S WIFE (2021) Blu-ray Review

Jakob’s Wife (2021) d. Travis Stevens (USA) (98 min)

Mouselike Anne (Barbara Crampton), having spent the last 30 years living in the shadow of her small-town minister husband Jakob (Larry Fessenden), is tempted to explore her baser desires when an old flame (Robert Rusler) comes back to visit. But while indulging in a few stolen kisses in the basement of the old deserted mill, Anne encounters an ancient vampire who puts the bite on her, awakening a voracious lust for life and, well, blood. Needless to say, his bride’s newfound empowerment and desire for an undead life on her own terms puts a strain on the man of the cloth’s worldview, as well as highlighting his own latent patriarchal tendencies. Can Anne and Jakob’s marriage survive, not to mention the rest of the congregation, who now look a lot like lunch?

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (2017) Blu-ray Review

Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) d. Issa López (Mexico) (83 min)

Set against the backdrop of Mexico’s drug wars, this dark fairy tale follows Estrella (Paola Lara), whose school is closed due to a shooting, an act that unleashes a mysterious, potentially malevolent force that marks the young girl, tracking her to her home where she discovers that her mother has gone unexpectedly missing. She ultimately falls in with a group of similarly abandoned children, led by the fiery pre-teen Shine (Juan Ramon Lopez) who has stolen the cell phone (and pistol) of a former drug cartel member, an act that has the young gang running for their lives. Estrella, having been given “three magical wishes” by her schoolteacher, is tasked with facing one of the criminals as an initiation into Shine’s gang, an assignment that only escalates their perilous situation, leaving them pursued by dark forces both of this world and from beyond.

WOLF CREEK 2 (2013) Blu-ray Review

Wolf Creek 2 (2013) d. Greg McLean (Australia) (106 min)

In 2005, audiences were introduced to Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) stalking tourists in writer/director McLean’s supremely nasty and well-executed slice of suspense and pain, based on Australia’s notorious “backpacker murders.” The young filmmaker’s debut outraged mainstream critics who ignored the slow-burn character development, palpable disorientation, excruciating suspense, and late great cinematographer Will Gibson’s breathtaking lensing of the bucolic Outback vistas, focusing their ire on the admittedly brutal third act of young bodies being bloodied and broken. Horror fans, however, immediately identified one of their own, embracing McLean and his psychotic creation with open arms.

COLOR OUT OF SPACE (2019) Movie Review

Color Out of Space (2019) d. Richard Stanley (USA) (111 min)

Living with his family on their small and isolated farm, Nathan Gardner (Nicolas Cage) enjoys a laid-back existence, eking out a meager existence milking alpacas and cultivating tomatoes while his online stock-trader wife Theresa (Joley Richardson) does daily battle with their sketchy internet bringing home the proverbial bacon. Their kids are a relatively well-adjusted if offbeat brood, with older brother Benny (Brendan Meyer) holding down the level-headed fort between bong hits, aspiring spiritualist Lavinia (Madeleine Arthur) trading time between healing spells to repress her mom’s cancer and complaining about living out in the boonies, and young dreamer Jack (Julian Hilliard) drawing and tinkering his home-schooled days away. Of course, all that changes one night when a strange purple glowing meteorite crashes down in their front yard and proceeds to slowly influence everyone and everything around it.

MARY (2019) Blu-ray Review

Mary (2019) d. Michael Goi (USA) (84 min)

Stymied by having to struggle to make ends meet working for other venues, over-the-hill captain David impulsively purchases an abandoned ship, much to the dismay of his practical wife (Emily Mortimer) and two girls (Stefanie Scott, Chloe Perrin). After pouring their savings into repairs and restorations, the family takes the Mary out for her maiden voyage, with first mate Mike (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and youthful family friend Tommy (Owen Teague) aboard. But as is so often the way with discarded seacraft, a sinister curse seems to hang over the ship from bow to stern, muddling the minds of passengers and crew alike and causing them to lash out at one another with increasing violence and unpredictability. Trapped in the middle of the ocean (near the Bermuda Triangle, as fate would have it) with nowhere to escape, the hours tick by with certain doom drawing ever nearer….

THE MIND'S EYE (2015) Blu-ray Review

Scare-A-Thon Totals to Date:

Total Movies Watched: 29
Total First Time Views: 15
Amount raised for AMAZON WATCH: $2,400.04

The Mind’s Eye (2015) d. Joe Begos (USA) (87 min) (1st viewing)

It’s easy to dismiss and/or diminish writer/director Begos’ second feature merely as “a Scanners rip-off,” but it’s worth remembering that David Cronenberg did not invent the notion of a telekinetic monster (Carrie), nor the idea of an evil organization weaponizing such paranormal abilities nor even the spectacle of exploding body parts onscreen (The Fury did both three years earlier). As such, it seems a bit unfair not to at least acknowledge that Begos is doing quite a lot with a little (as was the case with his debut, Almost Human) and that his film does exactly what it sets out to do, which is to pay homage to what has gone before and tell his own version of the story. I don’t have a problem with that, and I’m a little surprised how many armchair critics have taken the film to task for its “lack of originality” when the horror genre is built upon endlessly recycled ideas and concepts.

THE CLEANING LADY (2018) DVD Review

The Cleaning Lady (2018) d. Jon Knautz (USA) (90 min)

Professional aesthetician and self-described “love addict” (complete with AA-type meetings) Alice (Alexis Kendra) finds herself embroiled in an affair with married man Michael (Stelio Savante) who seems to have no intention of leaving his wife (Elizabeth Sandy). On the advice of her sponsor, she institutes a “no contact” rule and attempts to reset her life, starting with hiring her condo’s maintenance woman Shelly (Rachel Alig) to clean her house. The two begin a tentative friendship, Alice feeling sympathy for her shy and sheltered employee, who bears severe scarring on her facial features, and Shelly reveling in the attention shown her by this immaculately beautiful woman. But when Michael continues to call/text and Alice violates her vow of separation, Shelly’s image of her newfound “perfect” friend is threatened and steps must be taken – cleansing steps – to help.

ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING (2018) DVD review

All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018) d. David Ian McKendry / Rebekah McKendry (USA)

While several horror anthologies have incorporated a single Christmastime story (1945’s Dead of Night, 1972’s Tales from the Crypt, to mention some of the classics) into the mix, there are precious few compendiums whose energies are directed exclusively toward celebrating the Santa season. (In fact, until 2015’s A Christmas Horror Story, there were exactly zero.) But the husband-and-wife team of David Ian and Rebekah McKendry (the latter being a longtime Fangoria alum, horror journalist, and Shock Waves podcaster) have arrived just in time to fill the shocking stockings and change the stats STAT with their quintet of deadly and droll hors d’ouevres, all present-ed within a snappy wrapping, er, wraparound.

HOUSEWIFE (2017 ) DVD review

Housewife (2017) d. Can Evrenol (Turkey) (82 min)

Two decades after her mother brutally killed her sister Hazel and father (an amazingly stylish pre-credits sequence), Holly (Clementine Poidatz) can still find no peace in her life and is increasingly terrified at the notion of starting a family of her own. She numbly endures lovemaking with her husband Timucin (Ali Aksoz) and has to urinate in sinks and tubs due to the trauma incurred by her sister’s toilet-related murder. When her former friend and lover Valery (Alicia Kapudag) returns, now a “family” member of the mysterious cult Umbrella of Love and Mind (ULM), Holly finds herself falling into a hallucinogenic realm where past and present crosscut and where charismatic leader Bruce O’Hara (David Sakurai) holds sway over her future.