J*A*S*M

There are many things that can be praised in this film: technically and visually is an improvement over the previous and made-for-TV looking The Pact, the performances are solid and some scenes manage to generate a scary atmosphere. But the lack of one main character, stretching the plot to a relatively long time and not trying to be anything other than your typical scary genre flick are a series of tragic decisions that result in a film that works only very problematically, if at all, to the point that I fell asleep watching it the first time. On the other hand, the ending is WTF material, and not in a good sense.

I like home invasion movies, but too many of them have popped up in the last year for me to be in any way excited about the next one (even if this one is a “campus invasion”) that doesn’t try to do anything new. Technically speaking, Random is well made. The only thing that captivated me in any way was the colour palette, it gives the night scenes a pretty interesting atmosphere. Other than that, nothing. Filmmakers should realise that for a hide-and-seek or chase to be tense if it’s taking place in a big area, there are some basic time-space rules that have to be observed, like the villains shouldn’t appear improbably fast in an unlikely place, which is something that here happens all the time. I even had to convince myself to give it that third star.

The nicest indie sci-fi movie since… well, I don’t know since when. This is proof that to deliver a great experience all you need is one house (multiplied X times), several likeable and well written (meaning distinguishable) characters (multiply X times) and a catchy paranoid premise. An evening with old friends is interrupted by a comet that puts the protagonists in a Schrödinger box. I’d rather not reveal any more of the plot, is better to be surprised. In any case, if that’s enough for you, you will have a lot of fun with this cheap mysterious sci-fi movie.

The more space the characters have to move around, the more space they have to behave like morons. If anything, I have to acknowledge that the second Purge at least tries not to copy the first episode and makes better use of its initial premise, though its hollowness hasn’t changed at all since the previous one, but whatever. What bothered me the most were the characters, in particular the mother with her daughter, who were very annoying. In contrast, Frank Grillo was fine and I wouldn’t mind if he was the only protagonist, and the entire second Purge was only about his journey across the chaotic city towards his rightful revenge. Another thing that bothered me were the moments where the creators probably think they are delivering a sharp social satire (the scene of the auction, in particular, is utter nonsense), but they actually don’t say anything at all about society, because their world stands on a very wobbly logic. But overall, I have nothing against this film, it’s an inoffensive and eager B-movie.

García isn’t very good at building an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty and, therefore, the first half is the very derivative, sterile and ineffective cliché of how a group of characters gets stuck in a forest cabin or a Columbian haunted house. But the moment the cards are put on the table and something starts to happen, the film becomes quite fun. What holds its head above water are the technical aspect, the quality gore and, in particular, the fun idea that a body possessed by a demon can’t be killed because the demon would possess you.

The thriller label that Filmbooster and IMBD gave to Locke generates the wrong expectations. I waited pretty long for those family and work phone calls to be interrupted by some extortionist or psychopath who would terrorise the protagonist over the phone. Yet, to my surprise, nobody like that called and the entire film stayed with the work and family calls. But it wasn’t boring even for a second, which must be credited to all interested parties.

I like Eubank’s work, I really enjoyed the emotional Love. The Signal is more plot centred and even though it doesn’t hit the bullseye, at least it aims in the right direction. It can be mysterious and slightly unsettling, and brings up interesting questions as any proper mystery film should do. But Eubank sort of lost me after the story leaves the lab, because there were already too many of those “weird things without answers”. Overall, slightly above average and I’m certainly curious about his next movie.

It starts as a likeable indie zombie rom-com with a personality of its own, which is nice. But then it starts falling apart, loosing the theme it has been building up to that point, and the intimate rom-com suddenly becomes a zombie outbreak, the development of the characters is forgotten and the humour is cringe rather than funny. And the creators don’t try horror, even for a second. The result is a lot of nothing. I didn’t suffer, I laughed a couple of times during the first half, but I don’t feel necessary to recommend it to anyone.

This film’s world makes no sense, not even at its most elementary level. Why should permanent peace and quiet be guaranteed by dividing society into five fractions? The system separates children from their parents and creates hundreds of outcasts, and yet it seems that everyone quietly agrees with it and that it works? And if it does work and everyone is where they belong and there’s peace and quiet, why does this society need a cast of lawyers? And a police cast? Or, on the contrary, do these five narrowly defined casts have all the necessary professions? How many people live there? It doesn’t seem that a lot. And why I’m a bothering with this when the adolescent author of the book probably didn’t even think about it? And what was the conspiracy of the intelligent exactly about? I’m just asking. But it’s nice that there’s room for that adolescent cow (whom are supposed to root for, even though her first decision in the film can be summarised as “I don’t want to help people, I’m going with those sexy athletes because they are cool”) to fall in love with the beefcake. Bugger me!

Hats off for how well the scary scenes are created, how effectively they are shot, edited and (in most cases also) scored. Scenes like “the hand in the park” and the “hospital hall” would be remarkable even in a professional film. It’s a pity that “In the Shadows” is not quite a twenty five minute film, but a stylish twenty five minute scary montage. It’s missing a plot arc and a story, things that in amateur films I much prefer over good craftsmanship, even if that can result in the big disadvantage of requiring amateur actors to speak and whatnot. This could have easily been half as long, or also twice as long, without anything changing. At the same time, it’s clear that there is a problem whenever something that builds a plot comes up (screams, spoken words). In any case, there’s not doubt that In the Shadows is an example of talent and a rich visual and style imagination, while at the same time is not an example of an effort to write and tell a focused and self-sufficient film or story. But I believe in their future and root for them.