EvilPhoEniX

A clever little horror thriller from the director of Disturbia. Shut In is a surprisingly solid thriller that obviously didn’t cost much, but works well as both a survival drama and a thriller, and surprised me quite a few times. The film is set in a house with a mother with two young children who accidentally lock themselves in their pantry and can't get out. A pretty scary situation for both the main character herself and the small children behind the door, where practically anything can happen. Her drug-addicted ex hangs around with his friend who is known for abusing children and the problems start. Rainey Qualley is both likeable and gutsy, and for a film that takes place mostly in a pantry, there are a surprising number of tense situations (the hand under the door scene definitely leads the way). Of course there are a few illogical situations and the film itself doesn't have much ambition to deliver anything more than a suspenseful genre piece, but if you don't mind that, Shut In can reliably entertain on a dull evening. Story 2/5. Action 2/5, Humour 0/5, Violence 3/5, Fun 3/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 3/5, Actors 3/5. 6/10.

"This is the only passage in the Bible where Christ says: A man who commits sin against a child deserves to die." Ultimate hell! Patryk Vega! The Polish butcher delivers a new film in which he crosses absolutely all boundaries and taboos, this is heavyweight exploitation of the greatest evil that will make you scream, cry, have your stomach clenched and hold your hands in fists! After mobsters, football hooligans, hookers and gritty crime dramas, Vega now takes on the most sensitive subject of all, pedophilia, human trafficking and child prostitution, and it's an insane emotional chilling hell. The Russian mafia kidnaps Polish girls and smuggles them into Ukraine, Moldova, England and Thailand, turning them into brainwashed sex-slaves, and I couldn't believe my eyes at how unashamedly Vega presents this material to the audience. The main character is a police officer who has been fighting pedophiles for 12 years and promises one mother that he will bring her little girl back, and this turns into an international manhunt for the fastest growing criminal organization in the world- Trade-sex-slaves. 1.5 million children are sold annually! From the beginning of the film, Vega had me riveted to my seat and swept me away with an uncompromising atmosphere with chilling dialogue and scenes (the gore is less than usually is in his films, but here I say thank God). There’s a scene where an 11 year old pregnant girl dressed as a prostitute jumps in front of a train and then they show what's left of her; it shattered me to millimeters. To make matters worse, Vega also manages to cram in a crazy Satanic cult that performs ritual sacrifices on children, and I have to say that the den, with its caged children and perverted rich men in masks accompanied by screaming and pain, was reminiscent of a living hell on earth. A nasty, evil, authentic and chilling flick that will sway even the most hardened. In Poland, weaker characters fled the cinemas, so watch out, you're in danger of a few days of depression. Emotional inferno and Polish exploitative twisted purgatory! The only downside I see is that the better half of the film is spoken in English and it slightly devalues the performances, but given the theme and form, this is a Vega genre masterpiece. Story 4/5. Action 3/5, Humour 0/5, Violence 5/5, Fun 5/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 5/5, Suspense 5/5, Emotion 5/5, Actors 3/5. 9/10.

A decent folkloric, religious and ritual found footage from Taiwan. As an Asian outsider, Tai-Wan is making a decent bid for attention this year (The Sadness is still this year's top pick), and Incantation doesn't have much competition within the found footage genre either. The Buddha has a dark side! The film has two timelines, it's two hours long and there are some duller spots, which lead to the film failing to fully immerse the viewer in the plot, which, regardless, it’s interesting and fresh in itself, but not completely engaging. The film evokes a lot of the cult-classi Noroi and I believe this one will be a small cult-classic for Tai-Wan as well (the reviews are very favourable). Incantation relies on an unsettling atmosphere, haunting music, local curses and folklore, and elements of found footage, which are among the better ones. There are two sequences in the middle and at the end that are among the most poignant with an atmosphere that could be chopped up and that is appropriately quite creepy and uncomfortable. There is one nasty scare and some blood - I was expecting a lot more gore (the teeth falling out and the head smashed against a wall was cool, but I wanted more). Cutting it by 20 minutes would have definitely benefited the film, as it is a decent contribution to the genre, but due to the slightly confusing plot and slower pacing it didn't blow me away that much. Story 3/5. Action 3/5, Humor 0/5, Violence 3/5, Fun 3/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 3/5. 6.5/10

Hercule Poirot for the second time, and another borefest. Murder on the Orient Express is one of the few films where I fell asleep in the cinema, and Death on the Nile has a similarly leisurely pace, but thankfully it didn't cost me my cinema ticket. Nothing happens for an hour, nothing at all. They introduce uninteresting characters in an uninteresting way with uninteresting dialogue, but fortunately in a fairly attractive setting (Egypt, the Nile) – a minor plus point compared to a Train – but I still found it woefully underwhelming. I don't find Hercule Poirot interesting as a detective, he doesn't have any gripping, revolutionary investigative methods, nothing to stand out, he's an intelligent gentleman doing his job but it doesn't add much to the viewing experience. The wait for a murder here is longer than the wait for a payday, and on top of that it's just the usual uninterestingly rendered murders in every other B-grade crime series. I don't see how a fan of Se7en, Hannibal and the like, where everything from the murders to the actual investigation works, can be satisfied with the outcome here. I was counting on at least the final reveal, where an interesting twist might come, but even that is readable from the opening minutes, even without knowing the source material. For me, the prototype of the most useless and least attractive crime drama that the world may see. Only pensioners can be entertained by this. Decent visuals, fine actors, but everything else completely passed me by both cinematically and as a viewer. Story 3/5. Action 0/5, Humour 2/5, Violence 1/5, Fun 2/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 3/5. 4/10.

The South Korean version of The Transporter. Too sterile and ordinary for my taste, an action thriller, which adheres to the parameters of South Korea: good visuals, decent actors, R-rated action, though not much of it, there is something bigger at the end, but even that seemed not enough compared to other films. The film focuses on a likeable courier who is transporting unusual goods and is now tasked with picking up a client who wants to run away, but instead him, his young son is waiting there with the code to a 30 million dollar account, and as you would expect everybody will go after him. The storyline is a bit too simple even for Korea, I found the little kid quite annoying and the film comes across more as a family drama wrapped between car chases and with a bit of action. Unfortunately I wasn't too keen on that, but I suspected it so I'm not too disappointed. The girls will probably enjoy it, I'm off to get something more manly. Story 3/5. Action 3/5, Humor 2/5, Violence 2/5, Fun 3/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 3/5. 6/10.

After the excellent animation film Big Hero 6, Chris Williams tries his luck again and even if it's not such a hit, it's still very good within the genre. Sea Monster is a mix of Pirates of the Caribbean and How to Train Your Dragon, and I enjoy that combination. It's got gorgeous visuals, decent action, fun characters and a nice adventure. On the other hand there's a lack of humour – which is slightly reprehensible and the story isn't exactly original, but I don't mind it here, the setting and the premise were entertaining. Netflix animated flicks are fine. 7/10

The behavioral agent said he's a typical abused child. He's sad and he doesn't smile. Netflix has hit the bullseye again, serving up a sad, twisted and engaging true crime drama about kidnapping, murder, abuse, identity swapping and prostitution. If this were a movie, most people would complain about the over-the-top twists and plot, but it's a documentary based on true events, and as we've come to know, the most powerful stories are written by life itself. The documentary is nicely shot and unravels the mystery surrounding a dead woman found by the roadside very nicely, where we gradually learn who she really was and also the man who is supposedly her husband. There are plenty of twists and turns and they are solid. There is a sad, depressing and mysterious atmosphere throughout and thankfully the documentary only has a 100 minute running time, which I welcome, as the usual 3 hours tends to be too much for me. A fan of true crime but also suspenseful thrillers should give this a chance. 8/10.

Comic book fuck! Amazon's big phenomenon presents itself with a 3rd season, and as expected, it's brutal, twisted, perverse, but also smart, emotional, wacky, and damn funny. The new season brings a number of interesting surprises where the cards are shuffled brilliantly and the whole thing paces from start to finish with no significant deaf spots, though I still have minor reservations that make me unable to go for the full rating. Once again, stealing the whole show for himself is Anthony Starr, aka Homelander, who seems to have been born for this role, a wonderful prototype of a cold psychopathic bastard who has no mercy, but for the first time in the series he gets scared and it's quite a sight to behold. Alongside Homelander, Butcher also classically excels, and for the first time in the series he also becomes a full-fledged rival to his arch nemesis. Of the other characters, I enjoy Starlight and Kimiko, who provides some decent action. Of the new characters, Soldier Boy is worth mentioning, he has an interesting development and an interesting denouement. There could have been more action, but once it comes to the meat-grinding, it's incredible, R-rating driven, pushing the boundaries far beyond other TV series. The very opening gay gore scene will definitely stick in my memory for quite some time, but there are plenty of nasty and juicy deaths throughout the series as well, where a gore fan is bound to get downright creeped out. There were a few unexpected character deaths and few plot twists, making The Boys the best R-rated comic-book adaptation ever for the third time. My one criticism is the fact that it doesn't make full use of the potential of the individual superheroes. The Seven are pretty haphazard and they should change – A-Train and Deep are downright useless, Black Noir has minimal space again, and Maeve doesn't get much time here either. I wouldn't be at all upset with the recruitment of new heroes with new abilities and interesting characters, maybe something like Stormfront, which revitalized the 2nd season nicely. So we'll see next time, but satisfaction definitely prevails and no one should miss The Boys. 8.5/10.

The biggest phenomenon of Netflix and these days, which is experiencing a similar hype as Game of Thrones or Squid Game. Once again it is a great retro horror spectacle that is hard to fault. The Duffer brothers are smart, and Stranger Things is already one of the highest rated horror series ever. Season 4 brings an interesting villain, Vecna – I praise the unpleasant appearance and the original way of killing (breaking bones in the air was awesome), and I liked his background and plan. Of the new characters the most interesting are Eddie, who will please Metal fans, and Jason the teen bully. I was impressed by the splitting of the story into several lines (similar to GOT) where some are less interesting (Winona Ryder didn't amuse me much and both Will and Mike, except for the emotional scene in the car, also had weaker arcs), but the line with El is again perfect, and she finally gets her powers back (that bothered me about the previous season). The best is without a doubt the line with Hooper with Kamchatka, Alaska and demogorgons. There were dialogues, action, a immersive atmosphere, everything in abundance. What I love about Stranger Things is the big budget and the many references to older horror films; the fact that the series is in the vein of A Nightmare on Elm Street is a prime example of this, not to mention the touch of Lovecraft. We'll see how the creators handle the final 5th season, but everything is in good hands and I believe we'll get a worthy ending to another great era. 8.5/10.

Phase 4 is without a doubt Marvel’s weakest – Black Widow, Eternals and Dr. Strange are all mediocre comic book movies and it shows in the ratings (the days when every new Marvel movie was in red are over). The new Thor may not be a revolution, but it is definitely the most fun and the best of the aforementioned three. I would have preferred to see someone other than Taika Waititi in the director's chair, his style doesn't suit me that well, I wasn't too keen on Ragnarok either, probably because it was too similar to Star Wars, but I enjoyed Love and Thunder. The plot is simple and it doesn't bring anything particularly interesting to the MCU universe, which is a bit disappointing, but as a fun, colorful, funny and effective blockbuster it works reliably. The chemistry between Hemsworth and Portman is awesome, Christian Bale plays a solid creepy villain for the first time in a long time in a Marvel movie, Gorr the God Butcher. He stole all the scenes to himself and added some darkness to all that colour. The humour is rather juvenile but there were a few laughs (Korg and the goats were the most entertaining – their roars always made me laugh). the music was also good and the emotions work in the end. The action isn't exactly spectacular and it's not my style, but it suits the film. (I have no idea if I will ever get more intimate and contact action like in Captain America: Winter Soldier). I was disappointed with Russell Crowe as Zeus. Story 3/5. Action 4/5, Humor 4/5, Violence 0/5, Fun 4/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 3/5, Actors 4/5. 6.5/10.