The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Throwback 20

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Lord of the Rings is one of those books that for many years people were saying would be impossible to make into a film. Due in part to its length, the amount of detail and attention that would be needed, and the huge budget that would be required, it became one of those books that people thought would never make the leap to the big screen. An attempt was made in 1978 to make an animated film, which did about half the combined three books across its runtime. Despite being a success, a follow-up was never made, leaving the only attempt at an adaptation half finished.

As such, producing a live action version of the story was seen as something of a gamble, one that a lot of directors and studios wouldn’t want to take on. The one person who seemed eager to do so was Peter Jackson, who began pitching to make the films back in 1995. His original plan was to make three films, The Hobbit as the first movie, with The Lord of the Rings split across two to follow it up. As Jackson took the project around, the plan changed, with studios wanting just The Lord of the Rings, and as a single movie.

Moving from studio to studio as the rights for the project shifted, Jackson eventually ended up with New Line Cinema, who not only loved the project, but insisted that each part of the trilogy get its own film. With the time and budget to tell the story the way that it was meant to be told, work on The Fellowship of the Ring began in 1997. Wanting to make a film that felt real and lived in, Jackson used Weta Workshop to work on the armour, weapons, creatures, and costumes that would feature throughout the trilogy; a decision that would pay off as the film would end up being both believable and realistic even twenty years later.

Despite following the plot of the first book quite closely, several changes were made; most notably the removal of several characters and plot points towards the start of the book as the hobbits made their way through The Shire. The film also expanded on some parts for smaller characters, introduced elements that would pay off in later movies, and provided a primer for the history of the ring at the start of the film.

Gathering together a group of established actors, as well as up and coming talent, Jackson was able to assemble a cast who were not only perfect for the roles, but for most of them defined the characters. The film proved to be turning points in the careers of several of the actors, plucking them out of small television roles and making them Hollywood stars, including Elijah Wood who played Frodo Baggins, Billy Boyd who played Pippin, Orlando Bloom who played Legolas, and Viggo Mortensen who played Aragorn.

Joining these up and comers were several well established actors who helped to give the project notice, such as Sean Bean as Boromir, Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, and Christopher Lee as Saruman. Lee, much like Jackson, was a lifelong fan of the books, having read them every year since their release; he is the only person to work on the film to have actually met Tolkien. With a cast set, the film began production in New Zealand in late 1999. Making use of dozens of locations across the country, the production would film all three entries back to back across three years, including pick-up work.

Once the first film was released in December 2001 it became an instant hit, smashing box office expectations to go on to earn $897.7 million against its $93 million budget. Not only was the film a commercial success, but it received critical acclaim as well, with both long time fans of the book and newcomers alike loving it. The review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes lists the film with 91%. Reviewers gave the film consistantly high marks, praising it for its visuals, pacing, characters, and ability to adapt Tolkien’s work so well.

The following year the film would go on to be nominated for dozens of awards, including Oscars, BAFTA’s, and Golden Globes, eventually winning 98 awards out of its 152 nominations. It was firmly cemented as as hit, and became a film that people were excitedly talking about in the build up to the second movie in the trilogy.

Over the twenty years since its release The Fellowship of the Ring has become one of the greatest, and most influential movies of all time. Not only was it a smash hit, but it inspired dozens of other projects to try to follow suit, and showed people that fantasy projects could not only be taken seriously, but could be lucrative too. Without The Fellowship of the Ring, and the subsequent two movies, there would likely be less book adaptations over the years. We might not have had The Hunger Games or Harry Potter movies, and shows like Game of Thrones and The Wheel of Time probably wouldn’t have been made.

With The Fellowship of the Ring still being a stunning movie twenty years later, and a legacy that’s still inspiring other productions to this day, this is easily one of the most important and well made films of all time.

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Top 5 Games of 2021

 

2021 has not been the best year for me from a gaming point of view. I've found that the amount of time I actually spend gaming has gone down a lot, and that I'm struggling to find games that I'm actually enjoying. As such, the list for my top games of the year is only five entries long, because after that the other games I played this year are ones I either played before 2021, or have not enjoyed playing at all. It's also worth noting that whilst some of the games featured on this list came out before this year, I didn't play them until 2021, so I'm counting them.

Alan Wake Remastered 

I absolutely loved Alan Wake when it first came out way back in 2010, when life seemed so much simpler. It was a game that I originally rented, but loved so much I went out and bought my own copy; splashing put extra money for the pretty special edition with the extra books and soundtrack. I was sucked into the story, the atmosphere, the unique use of light as a weapon, and the masterful blending of horror and the ridiculous.

When it was announced that a remastered version was coming out I was over the moon, I knew that this was going to be a game that I needed to play again, even though I still had the original sitting on my shelf. I spent a good few weeks on this game, playing through the story on each difficulty, gathering up all of the hidden manuscript pages and coffee thermoses, worked my way through the extra chapters, and set out to try and beat every challenge the game had.

So now I have two copies of Alan Wake, both of which have been 100% completed, with every achievement unlocked, and every scrap of content wrung out of it; and I still love it. It's a game that I can come back to time and time again, and having it looking even prettier, ready for me to play again before the sequel comes out, is an absolute delight.

Resident Evil 8: Village 

I've been playing the Resident Evil series since the very first game, that wonderfully clunky, ugly game that wormed its way into my heart and never left. It's a series that has had some huge highs and terrible lows over the course of its life (still giving you a look of disgust Resident Evil 6), but on a whole it remains a series that is extra special thanks to how wonderfully odd it can be at times; never being afraid to try new things.

One of these new things that was a huge departure for the series was the change to first person perspective, and a bigger focus on horror in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Whilst I enjoyed this game a lot, it was an entry in the series that felt very different to the others. It was scary first time playing through, but after that it tended to lose some of the magic, and just became a rather dull slog of a game with very little enemy variation, and some pretty dull visuals.

Resident Evil 8: Village continues on the story from 7 but seems to have taken on board a lot of the criticism and developed a very different, much more enjoyable, game instead. Instead of having a tight, claustrophobic sense of horror the game went for a bigger setting, with huge castles, creepy factories, and the titular village, besieged by a host of classic monsters with a Resident Evil twist, including vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein monsters.

The result is a game that several months later is still one that gets me excited when I think about it (I have to be careful not to get too eager to play it if I'm going through another game), and one where even though I've already beaten it several times I'm happy to go back and do it all again. It might not be my absolute favourite in the franchise, but it's damn close to the top spot.

Terminator Resistance

A game that didn't come out this year but that I thoroughly enjoyed in 2021 is Terminator Resistance, a game that is very easily the best Terminator game I've played. Set within the future was that we only see briefly in the first two films, players are put into the shoes of Jacob Winters, a resistance soldier whose entire platoon is wiped out by the machines. You begin the game in Pasedena, sneaking and hiding from T-800's as you meet up with some other survivors and make an escape from the area. From here you'll end up going on several missions across a handful of maps that sees you trying to meet up with other fighters, dealing with an infiltrator Terminator, and eventually taking part in the assault on Skynet.

This is a game that I'd very much call a mid-tier game, though in the most complimentary way. This isn't a big budget 'triple A' game. This has been made by a smaller studio with a moderate budget, who clearly love the source material, and have done what they can to create an enjoyable first person shooter. And that's what they've got here.

The game feels like Fallout in a lot of ways. The ruined locations you play through are a lot like the Wasteland, you get given quests and side-missions to do for people to develop relationships, and you get to hack into computers and pick locks to get through doors. The familiarity of the game play is actually rather lovely, and means that you don't really have to think too much about the mechanics of things and just get to enjoy a well crafted and engaging story.

I spent a lot of time playing through this game, ticking off every side mission, developing relationships, and fretting over whether I'd made the right choices or not to get the ending I desired. I loved the nods to the films, the moments where I got to play through some scenes that I recognised, and was super pumped during the final assault on the machines as the Terminator theme blared out on the soundtrack. If you like decent, well built shooters that are a lot of fun to play this is a game you want to check out; and if you're a Terminator fan I think its one you're going to genuinely love.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

The Mass Effect trilogy is probably my favourite game series of all time. I love the characters and the story, and have played through the entire thing more times than I can count. As such, getting a shiny new version of these games was an instant day one buy for me. Whilst all the games looked better than ever it was the first Mass Effect that really showed how much work had been done on it, looking like a completely different game in places. The level of care and attention to bring this trilogy to a new generation of consoles, to try to give the a shine and a gloss that they didn't have before really shows, especially when we've seen other older games get this re-release treatment and turn out to be an absolute shit show (sorry GTA fans).

I spent a lot of time with these games across 2021, fitting in time playing wherever I could; probably spending close to three months on them overall. That wasn't just playing the games, but trying to unlock every codex entry, completing every mission, beating them on the hardest difficulties, and milking them for every second of entertainment I could.

It had been a few years since I'd played the series through, but it felt like I'd never been away from them. I fell in love with these games all over again. I love the story of Shepard and her crew of misfits, renegades, and heroes. I spent time talking to everyone I could, learning all about them and in some cases, romancing them (I love you so much Garrus). Words cannot describe how much I love this trilogy, how much the action makes me feel like a hero, the quiet moments draw me in, how much the characters make me care for them, and how many times the game breaks my heart. Mass Effect continues to make me cheer, and to make me cry floods of tears. It is simply, wonderful.

Control

Control is another game I was late to come to, having heard great things about it but never having actually gotten around to playing it. It was thanks to the Alan Wake Remaster that I finally took the plunge and gave it a go; and I wasn't disappointed. 

As someone who loves games for their storytelling abilities I was very much drawn into the world of Control, and found it to be one of the most fascinating games I've played. They slow reveal of information, only allowing the player to understand small pieces of this hugely intricate puzzle was absolutely a hook for me, and made the earlier stages of the game worth playing. However, once I'd began to unlock new powers and upgrades I very quickly started loving the game for the creative game play.

There have been two things that I've described Control as feeling like to my partner as they watched me playing, that the powers feel like you're a Jedi with a gun instead of a light sabre, or it sometimes feels like you're playing a game as Scarlet Witch. The ability to throw things across the room, rip chunks out of the floor to form shields, float across the battlefield, control the minds of your enemies, all of it leaves the player feeling incredibly powerful, and means that there are always dozens of ways to approach any given fight or puzzle.

I'm still playing my way through Control now, and it's a game that I'm sure I'll be playing for a good while more thanks to how much I've been enjoying unlocking all its secrets, as well as feeling like a super hero.

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Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack – Throwback 20

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Whilst Godzilla in the first film was depicted as a force of nature, causing destruction as he made his way across Japan, it was never really put forward that he was an evil creature. This was something that seemed to be confirmed in later entries in the Godzilla franchise as he became a force for good, protecting the Earth and fighting various threats. 2001’s Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack would change this completely, presenting Godzilla as a force of pure evil.

The film begins with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces being briefed about an American nuclear submarine going missing off the coast of Guam. Photos of the remains of the sub, torn to pieces, show a giant fin in the background, hinting that Godzilla may have risen again for the first time since his attack in 1954. Meanwhile, reporter Yuri Tachibana (Chiharu Niiyama) is producing a programme on the Guardian Monsters of Japan and investigates strange occurrences, such as a mysterious earthquake, and a giant cocoon that suddenly appeared in a lake.

When Godzilla suddenly returns and starts destroying cities across Japan, a mysterious old man tells Yuri that Godzilla has been awoken by the spirits of those who died in the Pacific in World War 2, and that he is a spirit of their vengeance upon Japan. As Godzilla terrorises and destroys, the creature called Baragon emerges to fight him, but is ultimately destroyed. Witnessing this, the old man tells Yuri that only the ancient creature King Ghidorah, asleep in an ice cave, can defeat Godzilla.

Eventually, Mothra hatches from her cocoon, and with Ghidorah’s help, travels to Yokohama, where Godzilla is nearing the amassed military forces. Together, Ghidorah and Mothra fight against the evil Godzilla; but are ultimately killed. Thankfully, they’ve weakened the creature enough for the military forces, led by Yuir’s father, to launch a new type of missile into him, killing the monster. The film ends with Godzilla defeated, but his heart beginning to beat once again on the bottom of the ocean.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack discounts all of the films that came before it, bar the first film, and takes the horror elements from that movie and continues them on. The film features staggering levels of destruction, but rather than just showing buildings being destroyed, focuses on the human elements of that destruction. Godzilla seems to target people, rather than smashing buildings indiscriminately, and this leads to some harrowing moments. There’s one part of the film where a woman lays in a hospital bed, wounded from the previous Godzilla attack. The creature passes by the building as the woman looks on, horrified. She thinks that she’s safe, that Godzilla has moved on, but then his massive tail smashes through the building, destroying it and killing her. It’s a pretty extreme moment.

The idea of turning Godzilla into some powerful force of vengeance, with an apparent supernatural origin, is one of the boldest retcons in the series; but it works really well and makes big G scary. The fact that he also has all white eyes, with no pupils, adds to this unearthly, monstrous quality; and this tiny change to the design is surprisingly effective.

The decision to have Godzilla be the villain also leads to a strange inverse as rather than having Godzilla and Mothra team up to stop King Ghidorah, this time those two work together to fight him, making this one of the only times that Ghidorah is actually a heroic monster. To make Godzilla more threatening, these other monsters were also scaled down in size, allowing the evil Godzilla to tower over them both during their climactic fight. The film also incorporates some CGI elements to the monsters, particularly Mothra, which allows her to fly and fight in much faster and more fluid ways than in the past. Despite not being in the title, Baragon is possibly one of the best monsters in the film, getting a lovely new suit that looks great.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack is a very dark entry in the Godzilla franchise, with a tone that you don’t tend to find in a lot of the other films. Thanks to this change in the formula this proved to be one of the highest grossing of the Millenium series in Japan, and was held up by critics the world over as an example of Kaiju films to show those who aren’t normally fans of the genre.

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The Worst Bestsellers – 12 Days of Podmas

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

I love a good book. There’s nothing better than finding a really good book to read to pass the time. But with so many books out there, how can you make sure you’re going to be picking up a good one? Well, if you’re looking for recommendations about what to pick up, The Worst Bestsellers is not the podcast for you. If anything, it helps you to know which books to avoid or, occasionally, which books are so bad that they actually end up being quite good.

Hosted by Kait and Renata, two friends who have worked in book selling and libraries, and who have been lifelong fans of reading, the series takes listeners through some of the biggest names on the bestsellers lists which don’t quite live up to the hype.

Over the course of their 185 episodes to date they cover books like Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (not as bad as you might think), Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard (a stepping stone to a cult), and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (probably not as bad as you’d expect). All the books they cover are bestsellers, even if they’re ones you’ve never heard of before. There are dodgy erotica novels about the US President, self help books that seem incredibly toxic, YA novels that are clearly trying to cash in on the big things, and tie-in books to films that were big disappointments. But no matter the quality of the book they’re reading, the hosts always make it fun to hear about how bad, or sometimes surprisingly good, the books they cover are.

We occasionally get treated to some theme episodes too, with Flashback Summer seeing them covering popular books from their childhoods like Animorphs, Goosebumps, The Babysitters Club, and Sweet Valley High. Sometimes, they decide to focus on a particular series, such as going back to the Twilight series for their anniversary episodes.

The hosts share their thoughts on the books alongside the guests joining them each week, but also throw a few games and features in to spice things up. You get candy pairings that recommend a good candy to eat whilst reading your book, alternate recommendations to read instead of the book (or in addition to it if you liked it), and ‘The Rock, Paper, Snikt’, in which they will pitch ways in which the story could have been improved with the inclusion of either Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson or Wolverine, which their guest has to decide.

It might not add too many books to your TBR, and it might be really silly at times, but The Worst Bestsellers is a fun, wonderful podcast that book fans will be sure to enjoy.

You can listen to The Worst Bestsellers on Podbay, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify among others.

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Godzilla vs King Ghidorah – Throwback 30

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Following the commercial failure of 1989’s Godzilla vs Biollante, Toho was in a tough position of which route to take their iconic monster in its next instalment. Due in part to the more complex plot in Godzilla vs Biollante that children struggled to follow, and the large competition the movie faced from Back To The Future II, the studio decided that they needed to introduce more fantastical elements to the next film, as well as time travel. This was the beginning of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah.

The film begins in 1992, and sees a mysterious spaceship land at mount Fuji. Upon investigiating the strange vessel, people are shocked to find that the ship doesn’t come from another planet, but Earth’s future. On board the ship are a group called the Futurians, who have come backwards in time to warn modern day Japan that in their time, 2303, Godzilla has completely destroyed the nation. They plan to travel even further back in time to 1944, where they believe that they can prevent Godzilla from ever coming into being.

There have been reports surfacing of a strange event that occurred on Lagos Island in the pacific, where a group of American GIs were attacked and killed by a strange dinosaur-like creature. The Futurians believe that this dinosaur would go on to be irradiated by Atomic testing in 1954, becoming Godzilla. Travelling back to 1944, they’re able to locate the creature following the attack on the GIs, and transport it to the Bering Strait.

When they return to 1992 they find a Japan under the domination of the monster King Ghidorah. It turns out that the future they warned about was a lie, and that they wanted to take control of and destroy Japan to prevent it becoming a dominant superpower in the future. With King Ghidorah raging across Japan, one of the Futurians, Emmy (Anna Nakagawa) makes an agreement with a modern day scientist to try and repair the damage that’s been done.

The scientist learns that in 1977 a Russian nuclear submarine sank in the Bering Strait, and believes that this may have mutated the dinosaur into Godzilla. Travelling to the Bering Strait, they’re able to locate Godzilla and bring him back to Japan to fight Ghidorah. Whilst Godzilla is successful, killing the monster by destroying one of his heads, he then begins to attack Japan. Emmy travels into the future, returning with the mechanised corpse of King Ghidorah, now Mecha-King Ghidora, and uses it to fight Godzilla back into the sea, saving Japan from destruction.

To say the plot of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah is  bit complex is something of an understatement, as this is one of the more complicated plots to exist in any of the series. The use of time travel, the ever shifting present and alternate pasts, are definitely inspired by the more complex nature of Back To The Future II, though I’m not as sure that this film pulled off its time travel concepts as well.

One of the biggest reasons why the time travel in this film doesn’t work as well, at least for western audiences, is due to what at first appears to be a number of plot holes. After returning from the past and having moved the dinosaur that would become Godzilla, people are still aware of what Godzilla is, and it only seems to have changed certain events. Whilst this seems to be a strange plot hole in the English dubbed version of the film, this is actually playing into the more complex history of the franchise. You see, the creature whose creation they had just prevented wasn’t the creature that appeared in the very first Godzilla in 1954.

That version of Godzilla was not a mutated dinosaur, or at least not the same mutated dinosaur, and as such was still able to appear when it did and cause destruction across Japan. The creature that this film prevented the creation of was the version of Godzilla that would appear in 1984’s The Return of Godzilla, which saw a new version of the monster appearing, with the only film coming before it acknowledged being the original. As such, this film presents a closed loop style paradox, whereby the Futurians moving the dinosaur to a place where it would become irradiated by the Russian sub actually helped to create the creature they were trying to stop. Like I said, complex.

Whilst the film’s plot may have been a bit all over the place, the effects and monster fights were absolutely top notch. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka wanted a film where there was a monster fight every 30 minutes, and that’s pretty much what we got. The sequence with the dinosaur Godzilla – dubbed Godzillasaurus – battling American troops is particularly brutal and bloody, and the two fights between the titular monsters feature some great new suits and impressive wire work.

If you can get your head around the more complex than usual plot this is a really stand-out entry in the Godzilla franchise, one that adds some interesting new elements to the lore, and has some pretty interesting designs and effects work throughout.

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My Top 5 Christmas Movies

 

Christmas time is a time of year where people try to come together, to spend time with the people that they love, eating good food, drinking well, sharing gifts, and just enjoying each other's company. And one of the best parts of this time is watching fun, enjoyable Christmas movies, either on your own or with the people you care about. But, with new Christmas films being released every year it can be hard to find good ones, and you'll often end up watching the same movies year after year. After all, you can only watch Hallmark movies about a businesswoman moving from the big city to a nice small town to learn the real meaning of Christmas for a handsome man she falls in love with for so many times before the plot feels overused.

Here are the five films that I absolutely love to watch around Christmas time. I doubt that there'll be any here that you haven't heard of as they're popular ones; but they're the ones that I adore, and that I try to fit in around Christmas time.

Elf

I'm going to be honest about this one, I absolutely hate Will Ferrell movies. I normally can't stand him, I don't really find him funny, and have never enjoyed his work. Elf, is the one exception to this.

Released in 2003, Elf tells the story of Buddy (Will Ferrell), a human who ended up being taken from an orphanage to Santa's village when he was still a baby. Having been raised by the elves all his life he's shocked to learn that he's a human, despite being three times everyone's size. After he gets told who his real father is, a publishing executive living in New York, Buddy sets out to find his family and make a connection with him. Unfortunately for Buddy, his father is on the naughty list, and he's going to have a hard time winning him over.

As I already said, this is one of the only Will Ferrell films that I can actually watch and enjoy. I think the thing that I dislike about his other roles is that he tends to play egotistical ass holes, people who it's hard to like. Buddy is actually someone who's really quite a sweet and nice, despite not really knowing how to act around people outside of of Santa's village. He's a kind man who just wants to make everyone around him feel good; which isn't that all we want at Christmas time, to feel happy and cared about?

Thanks to the sense of fun, the humour, and the general feel good attitude of Elf it's made it's way high on my Christmas movie list despite my negative feelings towards the main actor.

Arthur Christmas

I only watched Arthur Christmas for the first time last year, despite it being out since 2011. I'd heard about it, but had never made the plunge to actually give it a go. But once I had, it was a film I immediately loved.

Arthur Christmas tells the story of Arthur (James McAvoy), the youngest son of the current Santa. You see, Father Christmas isn't a single man who's lived for centuries, but a family who has passed the title, and the responsibilities, down to each new Santa. The current Santa, Malcolm Clause (Jim Broadbent) is making his 70th mission, and is expected to soon retire. His eldest son, Steven (Hugh Laurie) is expected to take over, especially as he's innovated the entire operation; introducing a new high-tech ship instead of a sleigh, handheld devices, and using the elves to help deliver presents.

However, when Malcolm refuses to step down Steven is so put out that he doesn't care that a child was missed out, happy with this margin of error on the mission. Arthur disagrees with this sentiment, refusing to let even one child go without at Christmas, so with the help of Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) and Bryony (Ashley Jensen), a punkish elf from the wrapping division, he sets out on the old sleigh to make sure that the little girl gets her gift.

Arthur Christmas is the only animated film to make it on my list, and out of all of the Christmas cartoons it's easily my favourite. I love the way the Santa myth has been portrayed in this film, with the family of Santa's passing on the mantle one after the other, as well as the fun ways in which they've updated the mission of Christmas with their huge spaceship and commando-like elves. But it's the central message of the film that I love. The message that at Christmas all that matters is making people happy. 

Arthur sets out to make sure that one little girl is happy, that she doesn't end up thinking that Santa didn't care about her, because he loves hearing about the joy that Christmas brings others. He's willing to put his life on the line to do this, even when everyone around him is telling him it's the wrong decision. There's a level of sweetness about the movie that genuinely brings joy to me, that makes me emotionally happy, and for that this film will always have a place in my home at Christmas time.

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York

This choice might get me some hate, as there are a few people out there that will love to argue over which of the Home Alone movies (the first two at least) are the best. Whilst I do adore both of them, the sequel definitely manages to do better with the formula.

Released two years after the first movie, the sequel picks up with Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) a year after he was left home alone over Christmas, and prevented a pair of criminals from robbing his home. This year the family are planning to head off for a Christmas break again, but they're making sure that Kevin isn't forgotten this time. Unfortunately, thanks to a mix-up in the airport, some bad decisions from Kevin, and general bad luck, he ends up on a flight to New York whilst his family head down to Florida.

Arriving in New York, Kevin decides to make the most of a bad situation, and instead of going for help, uses his dad's credit cards to book himself a suite in the Plaza Hotel, where he runs up a huge bill and has a good time. However, the fun times can't last, and Kevin ends up being chased out onto the streets of New York, where his old enemies Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) are waiting for him, having just escaped from prison. Now Kevin needs to survive alone in the big city, as well as preventing the two criminals from stealing the charity money from a toy store. Luckily, his uncles empty home is nearby, ready to be converted into a whole new house of horrors for the criminal duo.

Whilst Home Alone 2 received some criticism upon release for being similar to the original it's hard to really see what more could be done to set it apart from the formula established in the first film. The fact that every subsequent entry in the franchise since has been absolutely awful shows that perhaps it did in fact deviate from the central conceit enough to be the only successful sequel. And personally, I much preferred the plot for this one than the first. Opening things up and having Kevin be a complete fish-out-of-water away from his home and his sense of safety made this much more interesting.

The film also felt like it was more comfortable with the characters this time round too, and definitely seemed to be having more fun with thing. Despite Kevin being alone in New York he's definitely more confident and outgoing, and you can even see this before he ends up getting lost when he makes cracks to his uncle Frank about being a cheapskate. His parents also feel better realised this time round, and seeing them going through this situation a second time is much more interesting.

Harry and Marv are a lot more fun this time around too, and their previous experiences with Kevin give them pause and lead to them being more cautious in the search for traps; something that is used for great comedic effect more than once. We also get the inclusion of some fun new characters in the staff at the Plaza Hotel, with the legend that is Tim Curry leading proceedings there. 

As a film that takes everything that was fun about the original and does even more with it, shapes things up and gives us unexpected new twists on the formula, gets the cast to try new, funnier things, and just has a great sense of humour, this has been a favourite of mine for decades. Just ignore the sexual predator who gets a five second cameo.

The Christmas Chronicles

The newest film on this list, The Christmas Chronicles won me over very quickly thanks to one thing, Kurt Russell as Santa. Having grown up watching films like The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, and Escape From New York I love Kurt Russell, and him as Santa just works. Honestly, I'd never understood the whole idea of finding Santa sexy until this movie.

The Christmas Chronicles tells the story of Teddy (Judah Lewis) and Kate (Darby Camp), a brother and sister who used to love Christmas, but since the death of their father their relationship has grown tense. When Kate watches through some old Christmas home movies she's convinced that the camera spotted Santa's arm for a brief second, and gets Teddy to agree to help her set up a trap for Santa. Whilst the trap doesn't work, it does let them know that someone is in the house, and the two of the sneak outside to see a red blur jumping from rooftop to rooftop; as well as a floating sleigh and reindeer.

Sneaking into the back of the sleigh they end up being taken into the air as Santa returns. Unfortunately, they end up distracting Santa and the sleigh crashes in Chicago, hundreds of miles from their home, and they lose both the sack of presents and the reindeer. Now the three of them have to set out to try and get everything back in time to finish making the Christmas deliveries. 

Out of all the films on this list this is the one that most obviously deals with family, and about caring about the people in your lives. The focus of the film isn't Santa and the journey to save Christmas, it's the relationship between Teddy and Kate that's the real story here. It's the love between the two of them, strained because of the loss of their father, that sets them on this journey to begin with; and the journey makes them both realise how much they mean to the other, and what they're willing to do to keep that relationship.

A big part of why this works so well is thanks to the casting of a couple of great young actors in Judah Lewis and Darby Camp, who manage to really get you invested in their stories. Teddy is a young man floundering without his father, he desperately needs to see his father again, to get guidance from him, and without that he's falling in with the wrong people and is close to throwing his life away. Kate can see that, she can see her brother heading down a dark path and wants to prevent that, whilst also getting back that feeling of family that they've lost along with their father. It's a story that feels a lot more human and heartfelt than a lot of Christmas films get.

Added onto all of this is the amazing sense of fantasy and whimsy that Kurt Russell brings to the role of Santa. He's a Santa who hates the propaganda about himself, who dislikes the pictures of fat old men who say ho ho ho. He's quick witted, makes fun cracks, and generally tries to have a good time even when things are going badly. Plus, his ability to know what presents anyone wants and to just pull them out of his pockets like they're a bag of holding leads to some fun moments.

This might be the newest film here, but it's one that I know I'm going to be watching for many years to come.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Lets be honest, this is the best Christmas movie of all time, and whilst you're welcome to disagree I'm sure you'll agree that even if it's not your favourite its going to be high on your list.

Telling the story of A Christmas Carol this version of the film casts Michael Caine in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, a man who's dedicated his life to earning money, no matter how it might harm those around him and leaves him isolated and alone. As Christmas approaches the ghosts of his old business partners Jacob and Robert Marley appear to tell him that if he doesn't change his ways he'll be doomed to an afterlife of torment. To make him change he will be visited by three spirits of Christmas.

Over the course of the story Scrooge is taken through a journey across time, seeing key moments from his past that helped to shape him into who he is, the events that will happen to the people close to him this Christmas, and what will come to pass the next Christmas, which will see both he and the disabled son of his employee Bob Cratchit die. 

Muppets aren't my favourite thing in the world, I've only ever seen a few episodes of the show, and haven't really seen many of their movies, so my love for this film doesn't come from Muppet nostalgia. I think what makes me love it so much is how despite having 90% of the cast played by puppets the film is played completely straight. Michael Caine has said in interviews he never performed in any way other than completely serious, as if he were acting for the Royal Shakespeare Company; and it really shows. Caine gives a powerhouse performance, delivering one of the best versions of Scrooge to ever be committed to film. He goes from utterly foul to a man you come to care about, with some moments that still bring me close to tears despite having seen the film dozens of times.

I've been watching it since it came out, sometimes even when it's not Christmas, and it's my favourite adaptation of the original story. The Muppet Christmas Carol is the film we watch every Christmas Eve, its the film that means Christmas has finally arrived.

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The Rebels of Vanaheim - Richard Lee Byers Interview

 

After reading through the latest Aconyte Books release, The Rebels of Vanaheim: A Legends of Asgard Novel, I sat down for a chat with the author, Richard Lee Byers. My review for the book can be found here.

This is your second book in the Legends of Asgard series, how did you come about writing more than one book in the series, did you plan for this story when writing the first one, or was thing something you planned after?

From the start, I knew I wanted to do more than one novel about Heimdall. So, assuming I received approval from Aconyte Books and Marvel, there was always going to be a Book Two. But when writing The Head of Mimir, I hadn’t yet figured out what specific story problems, settings, antagonist, etc. would be in The Rebels of Vanaheim. That came later.

The Rebels of Vanaheim once again focuses on Heimdall as your previous entry in the series did. What is it about this character that you enjoy writing so much?

Well, for one thing, I focused on Heimdall partly because it seemed to me that Marvel had told less about his early career than it had told about those of some other characters. So there was room to create his origin, and origin stories are usually interesting.

Also, I enjoy writing intelligent characters who solve mysteries and puzzles and generally figure things out. Heimdall is the character who literally sees farther than others, so I thought, why not build on that and make him someone who also thinks more deeply and clearly than many of his Asgardian compatriots? So that’s the take you get in these books. (Although he’s not always right as The Rebels of Vanaheim demonstrates.)

Uschi featured briefly in The Head of Mimir, why did you choose to bring her back and give her more of a focus, and did you ever consider using Sif again too?

It’s quite convenient if a hero has a sidekick, someone to explain himself to and argue with. So I went with that in both The Head of Mimir and The Rebels of Vanaheim.

In the first book, I went with Sif. She’s Heimdall’s sister, so it made sense to use her. She’s also someone familiar to Marvel fans, and I figured that was an asset. Uschi was a character I conceived over the course of the writing because the plot required that there be someone who does the things she does.

When I started planning The Rebels of Vanaheim, I did indeed consider using Sif again. But I’d already discovered I liked Uschi, and she had the advantage of being a character I created. That meant I could do whatever I liked with her. That wasn’t true of Sif because she was already an established character being used by other novelists and in the comics, too.

This book has more of a horror theme than most of the other books in the series, yet manages to include a lot of mystery and intrigue as well as character moments. Did you find it difficult to balance out the various aspects of the plot? And was there one side of the story that you enjoyed writing over the others?

I’ve written a lot of horror and a lot of fantasy, so combining the two doesn’t feel especially difficult to me. (Of course, I’m scarcely the first writer to do this. The works of Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Karl Edward Wagner, and C. L. Moore all do it, too.) I don’t know that one side of the story seemed more fun than the others. I was fortunate enough to enjoy writing all of it.

There seems to be a big focus on family in this book, and how parents can place undue expectations on their children. You explore this in two different ways with how both Heimdall and Uschi are viewed by their families. Is this a theme that particularly appeals to you?

I don’t know that it’s a theme that particularly appeals to me. It’s a theme that developed organically given that Heimdall and Uschi are going back to Vanaheim to visit their parents.

Considering how many fantasy-adventure novels I’ve written over the years, it’s obvious that I like the Good Guy vs. Bad Guy template. But in a novel, there has to be more than that or the story feels superficial and unsatisfactory. In addition to all the supernatural brouhaha, you have to make the central characters multi-dimensional by giving them other issues to address, ideally, issues that will resonate with readers. This relatability is part of the reason for the success of Marvel Comics. Teenage Peter Parker, for example, is a bullied nerd when he acquires the powers of Spider-Man, and venturing forth as a superhero doesn’t make his mundane problems go away.

Your story includes some creatures that would go on to become a part of the Thor mythos in the comics, the thing that’s behind everything (trying not to say its name due to spoilers) was it exciting to get to go back and explore how a part of the comic mythology came to be in that way?

It was fun, and I think that explaining how things in the contemporary Marvel Universe came to be as they are is part of the appeal of these particular novels. At the same time, you don’t want a sense of familiarity to blunt the excitement and suspense. Keeping the ultimate antagonist behind the curtain for a while was my attempt to work within the Marvel canon while also pulling out some surprises.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was the way in which we got to see how different peoples and different realms behave and operate, especially when we get to delve into the dwarves. Did you have many strict rules you needed to follow in order to keep things in line with existing canon, or did you have a lot of free reign?

I try to work within existing canon, and there are reviewers at Marvel who’ll ask for revisions if I accidentally deviate. That doesn’t cramp my style as much as you might think, though, because it’s in the nature of comics that they do a wonderful job of laying down the broad strokes but don’t cover a number of the details. In the case of Vanaheim and Nidavellir, there’s less established lore than you might think, so by setting much of the story in those Realms, I could give my imagination pretty free rein.

Whilst the Legends of Asgard series is set within the Marvel Universe the books seem to draw more heavily from real world Norse myths and culture than the comics do. Did you find yourself doing more research into the real-world legends and stories to help with writing The Rebels of Vanaheim?

As noted above, even after decades of stories, there are things about the Nine Realms that Marvel Comics hasn’t really gotten around to explaining. My books get into some of the subjects, and I figured it only made sense to draw on “real” Norse mythology to do it. Where applicable, I also drew on real Viking history and real details of life in Scandinavia to paint a vivid, convincing picture. In The Head of Mimir, for example, when Heimdall and Sif are traveling across Asgard, the trees and other plants they see along the way are ones you might see when hiking in Norway.

As this very much feels like the next step in Heimdall’s journey to becoming the god and protector of the Bifrost as we know him, but he’s still yet to attain those things, will you be returning to write more stories for him?

There’s nothing I can announce at this time, but I will say your question is a shrewd one.

Are there any other characters from the Thor stories that you’d like to write for but haven’t had the chance yet?

No doubt everyone contributing to Marvel Legends of Asgard would like a shot at the Big Two, Thor himself and Loki, separately or together, and I’m not exception. Beyond that, it would be fun to tackle the Warriors Three (I already have a Volstagg cameo in The Head of Mimir and a Hogun cameo in The Rebels of Vanaheim), Hela, and definitely Amora. (The Enchantress is the antagonist in The Head of Mimir, but in a different story, she’d make a fine antihero.)

Are there any other projects that you’re working on at the moment, what can fans hope to see from you soon?

I don’t have too much else I can talk about that’s absolutely, positively lined up at the moment. Some people may know I’m a frequent contributor to the “Basil & Moebius” series of books and graphic novels. I did three novelettes for the next volume, which series creator Ryan Schifrin advised me will be out soon.

Beyond that, someone has commissioned a short story from me, but I don’t know how soon that anthology will be available. I’ve also got pitches in for a couple other projects, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

Anyone interested in seeing more of Richard and his work can head over to his website to learn more.

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Death Valley – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Death Valley is one of those films that grabbed me with its trailer, investing a decent amount of its budget on practical monster effects, despite some obvious flaws thanks to it seeming to wear its influences on its sleeve. It won’t win any awards for originality, but it absolutely gets points for being a half decent way to spend an hour and a half.

It begins with a man and a woman, later identified as Doctor Chloe (Kristen Kaster), desperately running through a dark facility as an ominous computer voice counts down. When the woman fails to escape and a lock-down comes into place, she does the only thing she can: she makes a call for help. She asks for someone to come and save her, revealing that whatever information the lab was working on will be lost in twenty four hours time – giving the rest of the movie a sense of urgency.

After this we cut to two mercenaries, Beckett (Jeremy Ninaber) and Marshall (Ethan Mitchell), who have been employed as part of a team to try and enter the lab and rescue Doctor Chloe and her research. We get some hints of drama to come between the two of them, as this is Beckett’s last mission before he retires to become a father – a fact that his best friend Marshall knows nothing about yet. The two of them are sent to join the rest of their squad in the search for a way into the facility, having to dodge the heavily armed militia in the area who are also looking for a way in. Whilst the men are facing dangers from the militia, they’re unaware of what’s waiting for them inside the facility: a deadly creature with the ability to kill them all.

Death Valley feels like a Resident Evil knock-off. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. There’s a remote lab where dangerous experiments have been taking place. Something went wrong and monsters are on the loose. A specialist team is being sent in to rescue people. And the monster design looks like a mix of the Lickers and Nemesis.

Whilst these obvious parallels might put some people off I actually found them to be quite delightful. The Resident Evil franchise has been around for almost thirty years, so of course it will have had an influence on people in creative fields during that time. If anything, I think it’s wonderful when creators come along and play around with the themes and ideas from franchises they love and put creative new spins on it. The new spin for this film being the origins of these creatures.

The creature design really is a highlight of the movie, and I loved the fact that the creators chose to take a practical approach to it rather than going digital. Thanks to this, the monsters feel a lot more real than some other smaller budget creature features that chose to go the CGI route. The monsters have a physical presence and weight to them that digital rarely gives you. Plus, it’s fun to discover that the suit actor is none other than the film’s writer and director, Matthew Ninaber. I can’t think of too many director cameos where they play the creature.

Sadly, where the film feels like it’s lacking is really in the writing. Despite having some moments early on that seem to set up a clear difference between the two leads, they never feel very distinct from thereon, and become almost interchangeable. There are times where the characters do things that seem contradictory to things they’ve said and done before, and it feels as if they only exist scene to scene, doing whatever the story dictates, rather than being fully fleshed out characters.

The film also feels rather small in scale, and whilst this isn’t always a bad thing in horror movies where you want a tight, confined environment to help with the sense of terror, it doesn’t always work here. Characters rarely have any time on screen together, and I think the most we ever see in a single scene is four characters. Despite the heroes of the piece having several members of their team, they are never shown together, only in pairs or trios. It makes the film feel small, as if it didn’t have the budget for scenes involving groups.

Despite these flaws though, Death Valley is decent enough fun. It probably won’t end up on many top horror lists, as pretty much everything done in this film has been done better elsewhere, but it tried. It took a chance to make something entertaining and it succeeded for the most part. If you’re looking for something to scratch that Resident Evil itch, this film will certainly do that.

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The Rebels of Vanaheim: A Marvel Legends of Asgard Novel by Richard Lee Byers - Book Review

 

'The dead have returned. Odin, All-Father of Asgard, dispatches the heroic warrior Heimdall and the Valkyrie Uschi to eliminate a mysterious infestation of draugr – the living dead – in the proud realm of Vanaheim. Yet his home is not as Heimdall remembers it. 

'Anti- Asgardian sentiment is rife, and the arrival of just two warriors from Asgard to deal with the draugr threat only incenses its people further. With rebellion growing in Vanaheim, Heimdall must investigate this conspiracy and the undead, even if it pits him against his own kin, to preserve the peace of the Realm Eternal.'

Aconyte Books have been producing some wonderful Marvel novels, featuring characters from across the comics universe. and whilst these books have been nothing less than amazing some of the best have easily been the Marvel Legends of Asgard line, which are set within the nine realms and follow characters from the Thor series. What makes these books so good is that they're set long before the comics, and focus on the early days of the gods and heroes that we know, allowing the authors to explore them in ways we don't often get.

The first book in this series was The Head of Mimir, which followed Heimdall and his sister Sif as they travelled into Frost Giant territory to save Asgard; and revealed how Heimdall received his unique powers of perception. Now we get to catch up with Heimdall once again as Richard Lee Byers continues to chart his journey from solider to god of Asgard.

The story begins with Heimdall and his friend, the valkyrie Uschi, being granted leave from Asgard and returning to their home realm of Vanaheim to visit family and relax for a bit. Upon arriving at Heimdall's family home, however, they're surprised to find a strange atmosphere hanging over the land. They soon learn that this is due to a series of attacks from darugr, fierce, deadly undead creatures that have a host of strange powers. Volunteering their help, the two young warriors help to quell the next draugr attack; thinking that the threat has been defeated.

When Uschi travels to her own parents home, meeting a frosty reception from her father thanks to old grudges, she begins to suspect that there may be more going on in Vanaheim than first appears, especially when the god Frey arrives offering swords capable of killing the undead. Meanwhile, Heimdall is shocked to discover that the draugr threat hasn't been stopped, and must help his people fight back against creatures much stronger and more monstrous than he ever thought possible. With the undead threatening everyone in Vanaheim, will Heimdall and Uschi be able to investigate into the bigger mystery at play before it's too late to save everyone?

The books in the Marvel Legends of Asgard series have felt like big, fantasy stories, tales from myth and legend having come to life. And whilst that's definitely true with The Rebels of Vanaheim this book is something more too. This is a horror story. The draugr in this book are absolutely terrifying. Before this, my main experience with these creatures was a handful of myths that I'd read over the years, and as creatures that I have killed in their thousands in Skyrim, and whilst some of those myths and stories were creepy I'd never really felt afraid of these things. That definitely changed reading this book.

The draugr aren't just zombies, there's nothing average about the creatures that Byers has thrown at our heroes. These things have powers and abilities that make them incredibly deadly; as well as adding to the horror of never knowing where they are our where they could attack from. For starters, they're hard to kill, and even warriors like Heimdall seem to have great difficulty putting these things down. Some of them even begin missing limbs or their head, and their wounds quickly close up after you attack them. If that wasn't scary enough, their victims can become infected, becoming more of the creatures. But we're not just talking about zombie bites, just having a draugr looking at you with their horrific gaze can infect you, slowly changing you into one of them. Add on to this their abilities to move through water, shape-shift into other creatures or people, and their ability to move through walls and appear whenever they want, they might be some of the most frightening monsters I've seen employed in this series yet.

The scenes where our heroes and the warriors of Vanaheim are stalking through dark hallways, searching for the creatures that are making their way from room to room attacking people are incredibly tense. The moments where they're waiting for an attack to come, knowing that their weapons can do little to hurt these things are some that have definitely stuck with me, and make for a frightening read at times. Horror rarely gets used in the superhero genre, at least outside of characters that are heavily connected with horror such as Blade or Ghost Rider, so seeing scary moments like this in a setting where we're not used to seeing them make them hit so much harder. 

But the book isn't all about draugr and horror, as there's a lot more going on than is first revealed. There are things that happen, especially during the second half of the book, that really test Heimdall and Uschi in a way completely different than just fighting monsters. The book has a lot of character development for the two of them, and tests their connections to their families and their oaths to Asgard, forcing them to have to question what matters most to them. Thanks to the family connections, of Heimdall and Uschi literally having to go home and interact with their parents, this is one of the books in the series that has the most personal stakes too.

There's a lot I'd love to be able to talk about from this book, but thanks to a central mystery filled with twists and turns and startling revelations I'm not sure I really can say much without giving too much away. What I will say is that this was easily the best entry in the series so far. It was packed with action, horror, character focus, and had a central plot that kept me invested throughout. I got the sense from the end that there's still a lot more room for Richard Lee Byers to tell stories about Heimdall in the future and continue his journey to becoming the god we know him as; and I really hope that that's the case, as I can't wait to see what the character gets to do next.

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Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #11 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

After a few issues of getting to focus on one of our characters, as well as further stoking the flames of the conflict between the Jedi and the Nihil, things take a quieter approach with the current issue of IDW‘s Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, as the Jedi  take some time off for fun and games, and political machinations begin within the ranks of the Nihil.

The action this issue is split between two storylines. The first follows the young Jedi Padawans as they get to compete in the Great Jedi Rumble Race, a competition that hasn’t been held in a long while. The race will see any who want to compete taking part in a mad dash through Starlight Beacon, racing to be crowned the winner. There’s only one rule: there are no rules.

This is actually quite a delightful idea, and it’s a lot of fun to see this funny, ridiculous competition unfold across the issue. Over the years fans have seen the Jedi train to master their emotions, to learn to live without attachments, to think of the greater whole and not put themselves first. They’ve been taught that competing to win isn’t the goal in life. So to see those lessons put aside, even for a short while, and see these usually calm and reserved people just having fun is lovely.

We get to see the young characters getting excited over the competition, we see Zeen happy to find out she can compete even though she’s not a Jedi, Ram Jomaram gets to plot how to use his droid to help him win, Quort refuses to use his enhanced speed and agility to win because its more fun to race with his friends, and Master ‘Buckets of Blood’ Buck cheering everyone on and screaming that there are no rules. After a year of seeing these characters being thrown into life-threatening scenarios, dealing with losses, fighting for their lives, its great to see them just acting like kids and finding joy in life.

Sadly, this seems to be in stark contrast to the other story being told this issue. Far from Starlight Beacon, on the planet of Corellia, Krix Kamerat is meeting with allies of the Nihil to further the plans to take over the galaxy. Unfortunately, one of his subordinates, Sabata, seems to dislike the idea of serving under a kid who got put into a position of power due to favouritism rather than experience, and is arranging a plan to get Krix killed.

The difference in these two stories, in the two different paths that Zeen and Krix are walking, have never been more apparent than they are here. Zeen has found a family that loves her, that takes care of her, includes her in their lives even if she’s not one of them, whereas Krix is being barely tolerated, has people out to take him down, and consider him an outsider no matter what he does.

The art on the issue, provided by Harvey Tolibao and Rebecca Nalty, has some really great moments scattered throughout. The scenes where the panels are filled with characters, such as the Jedi meeting up together to take part in the Rumble are fantastic, and you’ll find yourself spending a long time looking through everyone in the room, checking the backgrounds, and trying to pick out all the little details.

Whilst the scenes on Corellia aren’t as busy, they make good use of the space, and there are a lot of pieces of art there that are absolutely packed with background characters and small details. The other place where this issue really excels is in the energy. During the race it really feels like there’s a lot going on, that the characters are rushing around, jumping over each other, and making a mad dash to the finish line.

After a lot of doom and gloom, big action sequences, and some galaxy changing stakes, it’s nice to just take a breather for an issue, to see these characters in their down time. It shows not only how different life is for the different sides, but the kind of simple, wonderful joys that the Jedi are fighting for.

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The Last Matinee – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Slasher movies were a big force in the ’80s. They unseated huge box office movies from the top spots, they launched the careers of world famous actors, and it seemed like you couldn’t move without tripping over a new one being released. But over the years slasher movies have become less and less common, and other than the odd big budget US movie once a year or so you’ll have to turn to independent cinema in order to find new ones. The Last Matinee is one of these films, a Spanish language horror production from Uruguay that not only tries to live up to the slasher films of the past, but is a love letter to some of the great Giallo classics too.

The film begins one stormy day in Montevideo in 1993, as we see various people begin to gather in a run down old movie theatre to watch a horror film as the rain comes down outside. There’s a young woman who takes over running the film projector so that her sick father can go home, a boy who’s snuck in to watch a film he isn’t allowed to see, a trio of drunken teens, and a young couple on a date, to name but a few. As they all settle in to watch the film a mysterious figure enters the cinema, locks the doors behind them, and begins to use the cover of the darkness and the loud noises to kill the people inside one by one.

For the first half of the film we’re only really given hints and promises that there’s something sinister to come, that things will take a turn for the horrific, as we spend a good deal of time getting used to the environment and learning about the characters. We don’t get huge backstories for the people there, and for the most part I can’t even remember if we get given all of their names. But compared to a lot of horror films where all you get is broad caricatures, these feel like pretty well crafted characters. We understand the kinds of people they are, why they’ve come to this almost deserted cinema, and we come to care for them as the killer begins to strike.

The killer himself, played by horror director and producer Ricardo Islas, is a figure that we only get the briefest of glimpses of until the final act of the film, with him sneaking through the darkness, always just out of frame or blurred in shadows in the background. When we do get to see him more clearly it becomes clear why director Maximiliano Contenti cast Islas in the role. It’s not just a cameo towards an icon in South American horror, but because he’s a genuinely creepy actor, who’s able to steal the focus in the scenes he’s in. There’s one particularly creepy and disturbing moment when he has a few of the characters cornered that easily stood out as one of the best sequences in the entire movie; and this was largely down to his screen presence.

The rest of the cast are great too, and whilst this does fall into the slasher genre trope of having a ‘final girl’ there were times I found myself wondering if I might be wrong as to which character I believed that was going to be. They all felt like they were given enough of a foundation that any one of them could live to survive the end, and were all acted well enough that they could have been the lead.

One of the things that really impressed about the film was how much it was clearly a love letter to older movies. The camera moved a lot slower, you were given time to sit with the shots and things were allowed to linger, instead of being a mess of movement and fast cuts. Atmosphere was allowed to build, and certain camera angles and direction felt like things from films forty years old. In the ‘making of’ featurette, the director talks about how he was inspired as much by Giallo as he was the slasher genre, and you really can see that translate onto the screen. It felt like a film that could have been directed by Mario Bava, or Umberto Lenzi; and it being set in a cinema certainly made me think of the Italian horror film Demons.

The new Blu-ray release from Arrow Video comes with a full length audio commentary by director Maximiliano Contenti, as well as some behind the scenes making of videos and a short that takes a look at the practical special effects used on the film. ‘The Matinee Massacre’ are a fun series of three mockumentary shorts that act like the events of the film really happened, and we get a few short films from the director included too. One of the extras that I found really interesting is a conversation between Maximiliano Contenti and Ricardo Islas, as the two of them discuss not only working on this film, but horror cinema in Uruguay itself.

If you’re a fan of slasher movies and Giallo cinema, The Last Matinee will feel like a throwback to movies that don’t really get made any more. It’s a love letter to a part of the horror genre that has fallen out of mainstream cinema focus, but is still a wonderful genre in which to create. A definite must see.

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