A movie dealing with very heavy topics puts them aside for not altogether convincing romp through horror land. A bit incomplete, a bit overstuffed, but actually fairly enjoyable.
Category: Review Page 1 of 2
This movie about a young couple in a spooky mansion is a video-game adaptation that deeply embraces its source material, making some bold choices. Some work. Some don’t. Its unique style helps to stand up compared to others, though.
Bullied students start returning to schools wearing masks. As the fad spreads, and increasing numbers of people wear masks, there are outbreaks of violence mixed with admiration of the bold fashion statement which allows people to be their true self. At the center of the story is a mystery about a supposed suicide, a murder of another student, and a strange young mask-maker with a troubled past. A spectacle of a movie which leans strange, but I find it worth a watch and am confused why it has been so forgotten.
Hokum is an dream-like nightmare about guilt and encountering the other world. Damian McCarthy continues to craft well-built puzzle boxes and again the enjoyment you get from it is likely tied to how well you feel like solving it. But how doesn’t like Adam Scott playing an absolute ass of a character?
Two post-docs at the end of their school days journey into Hell to try and bring back the soul of their mentor, Professor Jacob Grimes. Along the way, they discuss paradoxes, depictions of Hell, the many sufferings of grad school, their personal failings, and the many different ways great people can have failed legacies. It works best when it is smart and funny (and alas Kuang abandons this combination for a fair chunk of the novel’s center) and seems a quite important book, just one as flawed as the book’s characters.
A nunsploitation horror that belts out several gross notes and moments of fairly extreme cruelty but which still manages to tell an engaging story. Only for those who are ok with the harder edge of horror, but when it hits it hits.
The trippy and questionable science at the surface of One Word Kill barely detracts from or adds to the novel’s fairly stereotypical coming-of-age style story. Not an astounding work but a fair one with its moments. If only it felt more like itself.
Chugong’s Solo Leveling is an unabashed power-scaling fantasy romp where the narrative borrows heavily from videogames and RPGs. If that floats your boat, then you might really enjoy this.
Nevill hits all the right notes in one of the best paced and balanced books of his long and (hah, pun!) storied writing career. While already a fan, this story of kayakers caught up in the tail-end of a much broader horror tale has helped to rekindle a spark. Too bad I’ve read pretty much everything by him, eh?