The Demon Detective - Film Review

 

A man haunted by his past, from his youthful dabbling in the occult that saw someone he loved lost to the forces of hell, now dedicated his life to finding ghosts and demons and banishing them to protect the living. Whilst I'm talking about Miles Mako (Dustyn Gullede), the central character of new supernatural horror The Demon Detective, this is a character archetype that will immediately feel familiar to fans of the genre. Whilst The Demon Detective is a relatively enjoyable film, never straying into the realm of being too awful to watch, this sense of familiarity will be present throughout.

The Demon Detective focuses on Miles Mako, a demonologist and exorcist who gets called in when ghosts and other strange forces start to give people problems. Working alongside his partner Pin (Eugene Young), he does what he can to atone for the mistakes of his past. At the start of the film we see the two of them moving to a new neighbourhood that's rife with the supernatural, an increase in strange activity in the area providing the perfect opportunity for the two of them to find more work.

As Miles and Pin investigate a Catholic school gymnasium that's so haunted they had to shut it down, a woman named Clara (Dani J. Scott) begins to experience strange occurrences in her parking garage, hearing a strange voice. Jumping from one case to another, Miles is surprised by how strong the entities involved are, with more demonic forces than normal becoming entwined with people's lives. It's when Clara tells him of a name she heard the strange voice say that he realises that a quite literal demon from his past is pulling the strings, and that he may be in the centre of a web of revenge.

Despite being a low budget movie there's quite a lot to like about The Demon Detective. The writing is pretty strong, and there's a lot more plot here than you'd normally get from a film like this. It's clear that Writer/Director T.C. De Witt is trying to make a cohesive story, one with clear character motivations and development. In a lot of ways the film felt like a two-part episode of TV, because in very short order you can feel that these characters have been through a lot, that they've got a history and a supporting cast to help them. De Witt spent the time to make The Demon Detective feel like a more lived in world, and I definitely appreciated that.

The film also doesn't feel the need to rush things, to throw everything at the viewer immediately in order to keep your attention, instead hoping that the characters and story keep you engaged. Some of this is reflected in the fact that the film is just shy of two hours long. A lot of lower budget horror films seem to aim for around 90 minutes, creating faster paced films that sometimes feel a bit light in places because it's clear that there just isn't enough to really fill in the full time. In contrast to that The Demon Detective takes its time to get things right, giving us scenes with character development, key story points and lore, and whilst you could probably trim some stuff here and there to make a shorter version of the film you never really feel like there's anything that obviously needs excising to the cutting room floor.

Whilst the writing is strong the effects are perhaps best described as somewhat middling. The ghosts are nothing unusual, depicted as lank, pale people who hand around in the corners of rooms or off in the distance, looking somewhat sad and bored. These wandering spirits aren't much of a focus in the film, and are more often used as set-dressing, reminding the viewer that not only can Miles see ghosts, but that they're basically everywhere. It's the demons that are perhaps the films biggest stumbling block, however. The first demonic entity we see, in the first scene, is barely seen, offering more of a hint at what demons look like than anything else. This is fine, as it leaves more to the imagination than anything else. However, when the demons have to become a big part of the story their designs end up feeling like something from the wrong film.

There's a scene where the entity that's haunting the school gymnasium is revealed as a demon, and we see this creature full on, and while the make-up effects are good, it feels incredibly out of place here. It's basically an orc from The Lord of the Rings resembling an Uruk-hai more than any movie demon I've ever seen. Other demons featured include an all black creature with feathers and a mouth filled with fangs who haunts a woman at night whilst she sleeps, and a creature who just looks like a woman with dreadlocks who's been covered in thick white body paint. And there's the demon that's a shirtless Doug Jones with a few scars on his body. There's no real consistency to the designs, and whilst none stood out as badly done they failed to have a cohesive whole to them, and thus none of them ended up feeling like they particularly fit well. Jones, presented as almost human, was the best of these creatures, largely because he was able to make the creature feel like it had a personality and drives beyond 'be a monster' that the others had.

Connected somewhat to the demons, the lead actors felt somewhat weak when it came to them exorcising and fighting monsters. Being a fan of the Matt Ryan version of John Constantine, I've seen perhaps the best example of someone bursting into Latin and other dead languages, waving his arms around with CGI magic effects laid over them that you can get. Dustyn Gulledge and Eugene Young do their best to emulate this, but neither of them manage to make these moments feel particularly real. Their delivery fails to convey the energy of the scene, nor do either of them feel like they're confident in what they're doing, perhaps aware that these moments can be quite silly, and as such these scenes that should feel like they have some weight and importance to them end up kind of flat.

The Demon Detective isn't trying to reinvent the wheel, and anyone familiar with this kind of genre will see the influences quite clearly, from characters like John Constantine to films such as Insidious, but just because the movie is playing it relatively safe doesn't mean it's a bad thing. The Demon Detective delivers a competent yet flawed film, but those flaws aren't big enough to make it a bad film, and you can have a decent time with it, especially if you're a big fan of this kind of story and want to watch something new. The cast and crew of The Demon Detective have clearly tried hard to make a decent film, and I think they've done pretty well in delivering something enjoyable.

The Demon Detective is available on UK digital services from Miracle Media now.

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The Name of the Rose - Limited Edition Dual 4K UHD/Blu-ray Review

 

Before a few weeks ago my only knowledge of Italian author and philosopher Umberto Eco was his essay Ur-Fascism, which outlined fourteen core tenets of fascism that help to not only define the ideological movements that fall under the fascistic umbrella, therefore helping you to identify and fight against them. His work on this topic is hugely important, and work that I respect; so I was somewhat surprised when I was offered the chance to review a medieval murder mystery film based upon a novel by the same man. Of course, I leapt at the chance, not only because of Eco and the general concept of a mystery solving monk, but because the central cast of The Name of the Rose is quite exceptional.

The Name of the Rose transports the audience back in time to northern Italy in 1327, where Franciscan monk William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and his young novice, Adso of Melk (Christian Slater), are travelling to a remote Benedictine abbey where a church conference is soon to be held; with representatives from various branches of the church, and the Vatican itself, will be arriving. Upon arrival at the abbey William is surprised to learn that one of the illuminators appears to have recently committed suicide, having thrown himself from the abbey walls to the rocks below. William, who has a history in investigations for the church, is given permission to look into the death by the Abbot (Michael Lonsdale).

As William and Adso begin to look into the mysterious death they encounter a number of unusual figures throughout the abbey, including a strange hunchback named Salvatore (Ron Perlman), the blind monk Jorge de Burgos (Feodor Chaliapin Jr.) who hates laughter, the stern librarian Malachia (Volker Prechtel), the self flagellating library assistant Berengar (Michael Habeck), and a young peasant girl (Valentina Vargas) who doesn't speak but snuck into the abbey to trade sex for food. When more bodies begin to appear around the abbey it becomes clear that the first death wasn't a suicide, and that a larger plot is at work inside the abbey walls. As William tries to get to the bottom of the mystery he's hampered by the arrival of an old colleague of his, Bernado Gui (F. Murray Abraham), a member of the Inquisition. 

Whilst The Name of the Rose features a formula that's somewhat reminiscent of many murder mystery novels (someone who's not law enforcement but a skilled investigator coming to a remote location filled with a colourful cast of suspects to investigate and solve some crime before an authority figure arrives) its setting and the reasons behind the events of the film feel so unique and unusual that it sets this film apart from many others in the genre. Due in large part to popular literary characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple, most historic mystery stories take place roughly within the last 150 years, and so going back several hundred years, to a time that most viewers have few references for outside of things like Robin Hood stories or perhaps Braveheart immediately puts the viewer on a back foot.

This is only continued by almost all of the characters (and all of the speaking roles) being monks, cardinals, and members of the Inquisition. The Abbey is a world unto itself, isolated from the 'dregs' of society by thick walls as these 'men of god' set themselves apart from the poor, consuming in isolation as they literally toss their waste down the hill so that those outside their walls can survive off the scraps they leave behind. It feels alien, and this feeling is enhanced by director Jean-Jacques Annauld's decision to cast actors with unusual, often ugly faces for the roles of the various monks, as viewers spend half their time marvelling at the striking appearances of the actors. These unusual faces, most of which are old, rugged, and worn with time, only helps to set the Abbey apart as somewhere different to the world outside, the world from which the much more conventionally attractive William and Adso come from. 

It's strange to think that The Name of the Rose was met with an uncertain production with the casting of its lead, as most moviegoers now will see Sean Connery's name as something of a draw. However, The Name of the Rose was produced at a time when Connery was in something of a 'slump', where he was struggling to really set himself apart from his time as James Bond, and when his inclusion in the project quite literally led to outrage from Umberto Eco, and for Columbia Pictures to back out of the project. Despite this, Connery manages to make William of Baskerville into a likable character, one who's genuine warmth and care for others comes through in his performance, setting him apart from the other more experienced monks featured in the film. He becomes the one decent, moral beacon that the young Adso is able to look up to, a man who's unwilling to allow an injustice to continue on, even if it puts his own life at risk. The scene in which William recounts his past work with the Inquisition, and the way in which it haunts him to that day is one of the best in the film. 

Whilst The Name of the Rose helped Connery to get out of a slump in his career it also helped to boost two actors early on in their careers who would go on to huge success, Christian Slater and Ron Perlman. Both Slater and Perlman had been in a movie before The Name of the Rose, but it was here, in this film, that they were really given the chance to shine. Slater's Adso is a young novice completely unsure of himself, full of nerves and questions, and Slater brings this to life wonderfully; perhaps in part because he himself felt somewhat similar being thrust into a film on the other side of the world, surrounded by much older, more accomplished actors. Despite this, Slater holds his own and delivers a decent performance, one that at times feels like it's filled with the folly of youth (believing he's in love after sleeping with a girl one time being a prime example), yet also with a hope for a better world than the one the older men around him can see.

Perlman's performance is, in contrast, completely different. As has become something of a staple for Perlman, he's acting under heavy make-up, having to act through a fake hunchback, a piggish nose, and a set of make toothless gums in his mouth. Despite the hinderances of this make-up, Perlman delivers one of the most impressive performances in the film. Salvatore suffers not just from physical ailments, but mental ones too, and has difficulty not just staying on subject when he talks, but also sticking to one language. Salvatore skips through English, French, German, Italian, and Latin between words. In the special features Perlman talks about how he made the decision to do this, and went out of his way to get multiple language copies of the book, and write out and memorise Salvatore's dialogue using random words from each language. Despite jumping through these languages Perlman is able to make Salvatore feel compelling, showcasing the humanity in a man who the society at the time would have pushed as a monster. It's not hard to see why Perlman would go on to secure the work that he did following his performance here, in what might be one of the most impressive pieces in his filmography.

It's hard to talk about The Name of the Rose and not mention F. Murray Abraham, who plays the villainous Bernado Gui. Introduced more than an hour into the film, Abraham quickly becomes an imposing presence, the grandeur and power that he commands radiating from him almost immediately. There is some behind the scenes talk about Abraham and his behaviour during the making of The Name of the Rose that seem to bleed through into his performance somewhat. According to cast and crew, Abraham, who had just won an Oscar for his performance in Amadeus, came to the production with a sense of superiority, of believing himself to be of higher calibre than the rest of the cast. If this is true it certainly seems to help with his performance as Gui, a character who radiates arrogance, self importance, and ruthlessness. Despite him only being in the film a short while, and having nothing to do with the larger murder mystery plot, he dominates the role of antagonist so well that you're happier to see his character earn his comeuppance than the person who's been killing monks the entire movie.

Alongside an impressive cast is the film's stunning production details. The largest set built in Europe since 1962's Cleopatra, the film boasts an stunning monastery set that you would believe to be a physical location if you weren't aware it had been created just for the movie. The production team do an impressive job at crafting a film that feels period accurate, even if they miss some details here or there. I'm sure that there'll be some expert historian who can look at The Name of the Rose and find something wrong, but as a layperson it at least feels impressively authentic, and as if a ton of time and care went into crafting a film that evokes the period in which it was set.

Alongside the film the new Second Sight release features a host of extras, including a brand new audio commentary with film critic and journalist James Marsh, and another with Director Jean-Jacques Annaud, both of which offer interesting insight into the making of the film. There are several new interviews with key members of the cast and crew, including Annauld, Christian Slater, Ron Perlman, and Writer Andrew Birkin. There's also an older making-of that features interviews and behind the scenes from the time the film was made. The Limited Edition version of the movie also comes with a slipcase featuring new artwork, as well as some art cards, and a book featuring new essays and writing about the film.

The Name of the Rose is an unusual piece, part murder mystery, part critique of the church, part historical drama, it's hard to pin down exactly what it is. Despite this, it ends up being a fairly compelling piece, largely due to the quality acting on display here from its central cast, as well as some stand out performances from the eclectic group of supporting actors. Whilst The Name of the Rose might not be to everyone's tastes, it is an interesting piece of cinema, one that showcases some stand out early career performances, as well as the beginning of the return of Sean Connery, something that will lead to an era in which he gives some of his best performances. A worthwhile addition to anyone's shelf, particularly those who want something a little different.

The Name of the Rose is available now on Blu-ray and 4K UHD from Second Sight Films for £39.99.

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Dead Man's Shoes - Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

Whilst I had seen Paddy Considine in a few smaller roles it wasn't until House of the Dragon and his absolutely stellar performance as King Viserys Targaryen that I really started to take notice of him. The level of warmth and kindness he brought to a role that needed such a depth of humanity to avoid becoming at times monstrous was something that he had in spades, injecting every scene he was in with subtle, endearing performances that should have won him awards. One of his earliest roles, a film that has gone on to achieve cult status in the two decades since it was releases, is 2004's British crime thriller Dead Man's Shoes, which has just received a new Limited Edition Blu-ray release from Second Sight Films.

Dead Man's Shoes follows the story of Richard (Paddy Considine), a paratrooper who's returned home to his small Derbyshire town of Matlock. This is not a happy homecoming, however, as Richard has come back to take revenge on a small group of low level criminals and thugs who tormented his younger brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell) into taking his life. Richard spends a day stalking various members of the group, watching them from a distance, before breaking into each of their homes that first night, leaving behind evidence that he was there as a warning that he could get to them at any time. As the gang of drug dealers and thugs try to come up with a plan for dealing with the vengeful Richard he starts to pick them off one by one, and they quickly realise that despite their numbers there's little they can do to stop a man out to avenge his family.

The plot for Dead Man's Shoes isn't a complicated one, which considering how quickly the film was made and for the tiny budget it had it's not all that surprising. It's a very by the numbers plot, someone wants revenge and starts killing the bad guys. What makes Dead Man's Shoes stand out from dozens of other films that have the exact same set up is in how brutally depressing it is in how it goes about things, and just how very real and human it feels. 

One of the things that I think British cinema is able to do that American movies just can't touch is making something that feels so real and gritty that you sometimes forget that you're watching fiction and you just feel the movie. Dead Man's Shoes is a dull, grimy looking film, one that rarely has any strong colours, that shows real, rundown locations, and features actors that look like they walked in off the street. There's no glossiness to it, no handsome stars that look like they stepped out of a fashion show, not fancy camerawork or big stunts; and the result is a film that you feel like you could live in, which just makes the brutality of the film hit all the harder.

Richard is out for blood, and when the violence happens is sudden, short, and shocking. There's one scene that's filled with blood as Richard takes someone out with an axe and we see the aftermath, but for the most part there's little in terms of gore and violence. People die after getting stabbed a single time, Richard kills someone with a hard punch to the face, there's no action, and might be one of the most accurate films I think I've seen for showcasing just how fragile a human life can be.

Whilst the violence of Richards revenge is brutal, it's nowhere near as shocking as the reason for it. Scattered throughout the film are grainy black and white scenes that show what happened to Richard's brother Anthony. A young man with learning disabilities, Anthony thinks he's been taken in by the group, seen as one of the gang, little realising that he's there for them to mock him, to be their plaything. As the flashbacks progress we see things turn more sinister, as he's forced to take drugs, beaten, raped, and eventually tortured and abused into taking his own life. These scenes often come after Richard has killed one of Anthony's tormentors, and I don't know if the intent is to remind you why its a good thing why Richard is killing them, but instead it just makes you feel sick. These scenes tell you that violence and torment only beget more violence and torment. Any high you may feel at seeing bad people get what's coming to them is torn away as you watch what Anthony went through.

The scenes with Anthony's torment are for myself the worst to watch in the film. They're too brutal, too realistic. Not everyone will have been in a situation where they've been treated like that, or seen it happen to others, but I think that these scenes will be shockingly familiar to a lot of people, and they certainly reminded me of some awful moments from my childhood. This brutality is deliberate, and in some of the behind the scenes features on the movie Writer/Director Shane Meadows talks about his own youth, of growing up around skinhead neo-Nazis and the violence that he saw first hand. It's clear that these events had a profound effect on him, and it certainly feels like Dead Man's Shoes is him in some way excising some of those demons onto film, recreating that violence.

Balancing out all of the violence in the film is the almost docile performance of Paddy Considine as Richard. Rather than displaying his anger as explosive loudness, Considine plays Richard with an eerie kind of calm. He's quiet, deliberate, often gentle up until the moment when he needs to kill. There's an early scene in which the leader of the gang, Sonny (Gary Stretch) tries to get Richard to leave before the killing starts, and the way that Richard talks to him like he's chatting to someone down the shops makes him so much more sinister than if he was angry. His calmness projects a level of confidence on Richard that feels earned, and that makes his eventual breakdown at the end of the film all the more tragic. 

Alongside Considine I want to mention the performance of Kebbell as Anthony. Despite not being alive during the course of the film we get to know Anthony through both the flashback scenes, and via Richard, who spends time talking to an imaginary version of Anthony. The imaginary Anthony is probably supposed to be a big reveal, but it felt very obvious from the start of the film that only Richard acknowledges him, and that he's not really there, and I'm glad that the film never makes a big dramatic scene in which it's revealed that Richard is talking to himself, instead being treated like something that the audience should have worked out by that point. Whilst these moments with Anthony are brief, and mostly told through Richard's memory of what his brother was like, Anthony is given real humanity throughout. You can't help but see the goodness in him, can't help but see how easy it would be for him to fall in with a bad crowd and be taken advantage of. Kebbell talks candidly about his worries about playing the role respectfully, of not being exploitative, and I think he does a good job in not making a mockery of the character and instead playing him with great pathos.

The Second Sight release comes with a decent amount of special features to accompany the movie. There's three full audio commentaries, two of which are brand new for this release. These feature Director Shane Meadows, Producer Mark Herbert, Paddy Considine, and film experts Jon Towlson and Andrew Graves. Across the three commentaries you're covered for every aspect of the film's production, as well as discussions about the impact of the film and it's place in British cinema, so if you're the kind of person who loves learning about movies they'll tick those boxes for you. There are also several interviews, including brand new ones with Shane Meadows and Mark Herbert, Toby Kebbell, and Gary Stretch. Deleted and extended scenes, as well as an alternate ending are included, alongside In Shane's Shoes, an archival behind the scenes feature that goes into Shane Meadows history with violence in his youth and his journey to making Dead Man's Shoes. The short 30 minute movie Northern Soul, which features cast from Dead Man's Shoes, and a music video round out the disc.

Having not seen Dead Man's Shoes before, but having heard of it, I was glad to be given the chance to not only experience it, but to be able to dive into the behind the scenes of the film and have the chance to understand it better thanks to this new release. Whilst the film isn't a long one, the trio of commentaries, interviews, and other extras make this feel like a release that's absolutely worth the money, and one that any fan of the movie will want to experience. 

Dead Man's Shoes is available now on Limited Edition Blu-ray from Second Sight Films for £39.99.

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Chum - Film Review

 

Animal attack movies are a popular genre, one that often plays into the primal fears that humans have of the natural world around us. We might be the most intelligent animal (in our own way), and the best at using tools to exploit the world around us, but we're far from the fastest, toughest, or most dangerous if we came face to face with many of the other inhabitants of the planet. Films that strip humans of our advantages and put them at the mercy of the natural world remind us just how fragile we are, and how brutal nature can be. The more popular films in this genre can vary wildly in tone and style, from the incredibly serious and well made Jaws to the absolutely ridiculous and schlocky Snakes on a Plane. Chum, the latest entry in the shark attack genre, fails to be either, and ends up delivering a movie that's at best completely forgettable, and at worse insulting in its quality.

Chum begins with a couple having a romantic evening in a small cove somewhere in the Mediterranean, soaking up their love for each other. When the woman goes for a swim whilst her husband goes to grab some more drinks disaster strikes when she's attacked by a shark and ripped to pieces. Cut to five years later and we join Tina (Alice Eve) and her new husband Tom (Eric Michael Cole) as they celebrate their luxurious resort wedding with friends and family. However, it soon becomes clear that there's trouble in paradise as they spend their wedding night apart and argue with each other first thing in the morning the next day. But we've got little time to explore this marriage that's falling apart less than a day in as their friends drag the two of them out onto a boat to celebrate and drink out on the ocean.

Despite Tina being unable to swim (an important plot point that vanishes towards the end of the film), the two of them agree and the group piles onto a party boat and heads out to sea. As the trip goes on the friends begin to realise that Tina and Tom are having trouble; but before they can try to help their friends patch things up their boat is attacked by a great white shark, their captain gets knocked overboard and loses a leg, Tina ends up in the ocean, and the engine catches fire. As chaos ensues and the shark bears down to kill the group is rescued by Roy (Jim Klock), the husband from the opening scene who's spent the last five years trying to become Quint from Jaws.

Roy saves the group before their boat explodes (though no one bothered to bring the injured captain along with them), and they think that they've found safety. As they settle onto Roy's boat, waiting for him to bring them back to shore they all begin to pass out, having been drugged by their rescuer. When they wake up they learn that Roy is hunting the shark that attacked them, and that he's found the only bait that will work at attracting it is human blood. Now the friend group must contend with a crazed captor who's feeding them to the shark one by one in his desperate attempt to kill the animal that took his wife's life.

The concept of Chum isn't on the surface (no water pun intended) a bad one. I realised part way through watching Chum why I thought it sounded somewhat familiar is that it's pretty much the plot for last year's Dangerous Animals; though Chum lacks any real creative chops to stand apart, and ends up feeling something like a cheap knock-off.

A large part of this goes to the script and acting. Despite having the recognisable Alice Eve attached to the film Chum feels like it's made with first-time or low budget stars. Dialogue is stiff and clunky, and no one is able to really delivery it well. From the attempt at a deep and dark narration from Roy at the very beginning 'The sea takes what it wants and leave the rest for us to pick up the pieces. But I am not the sea. I am a man. And a man does not forget.' to the wedding speech in the very next scene that feels like nothing but cringe, to the friend group that talks to each other like they learned to act from watching porno films, there's not a single line in Chum that didn't come across like it was being delivered by someone just having learned how to talk. 

I wasn't expecting high level acting from a film such as this, but when what's supposed to be the triumphant moment of 'Let's kill this son of a bitch' as the survivors take down Roy makes you roll your eyes at how bad it sounds you know that there's a problem. Though my favourite line of the film was when one of the captured friends says they've not seen the shore for hours, yet the shore has been present large in the background the whole time, and is literally behind them as they say it. That moment actually managed to get a genuine laugh out of me, though I suspect it wasn't the intention.

Worse than the bad script and laughable acting, however, is the film's visual effects. CGI in cheap horror films is never going to be good, and I didn't go into Chum expecting any, but I noticed throughout the film that there was a surprising lack of consistency to the shark effects, as well as the blood when characters were attacked. In years gone by this could have been chalked up to bad visual effects artists, but today it's more often a sign of something more insidious, AI. The film doesn't credit any visual effects artists, which is absolutely shocking on its own. It does however credit Tunnel Post, a company that states that it uses AI in it's effects work and filmmaking. 

And thus any amount of credit or good will that Chum may have somehow had goes out the window as it joins the sadly ever increasing ranks of films that are turning to AI effects and artwork to create their finished product. If your film cannot exist without the use of AI don't make your movie. AI is theft, it's destructive towards the environment, it takes wages away from actual workers, and if this film is any example, it's not even being made to crate anything worthwhile. Chum is a bad film, even before the AI generated shark rears its crappy looking head. Chum isn't any kind of masterpiece that's going to change the world so the use of AI can be overlooked, it's a bad film that I would find shocking to learn actually entertained anyone. With AI being used in the effects department I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the bad script also made use of AI in it's creation as it would explain how bad it is.

Chum could have been a fun, schlocky film that managed to entertain despite a low budget and bad acting. As it is, Chum is dull and uninspired. The acting feels phoned in, the script is shaky, it relies on AI to deliver a terrible product, and honestly, the choice of having the one Black actor be the first of the group to be used as bait, locked in a cage by a murderous white man felt both racist and sexist too. If you're desperate for a shark attack movie and you've literally seen every other one made you could watch Chum, but even then I'd still advise going and rewatching something better instead.

Chum is available on digital download from 17th August 2026.

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Mockbuster - Film Review

 

As long as there have been popular movies there have been knock-off films, movies that make fast, cheap cash-in's on whatever the popular thing is at the time. Over the last few decades, especially with the advent of digital technology, this business has exploded as filmmakers no longer need big budgets or practical effects wizardry to put their vision on screen. One company that has dominated this mockbuster market is The Asylum, an American independent studio who has been making movies since the late 90's, and has been responsible for some of the more prolific mockbusters like Snakes on a Train, Transmorphers, and Paranormal Entity, as well as giant animal movies such as Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus, and the Sharknado series. Somehow The Asylum has made dozens of films, and a lot of people will be aware of at least one of their films even if they've never watched them.

One of the main players at The Asylum says in Mockbuster that 'We make shitty movies for people with bad taste... and alcoholics.' It's perhaps a little unsurprising that a company with this kind of philosophy would be willing to try just about anything on one of their films; and that's what leads us to the documentary film Mockbuster which follows Australian filmmaker Anthony Frith, who's found himself stuck in a fairly boring life of making corporate training videos. However, when Anthony, who's something of a fan of The Asylum movies (hopefully not because he's an alcoholic) emails The Asylum and asks if he can direct one of their films. And of course, they say yes.

What follows is perhaps one of the wildest filmmaking journeys documented onto film as Anthony travels to Los Angeles to meet the studio heads, sign a contract, and get assigned a film... that he has six days to shoot. It turns out The Asylum make movies in the same way that an episode of South Park is made; and if you thought it wild that a 20 minute episode of animation can be knocked out in just a week wait until you see the absolute chaos of an Asylum shoot.

Over the course of Mockbuster we watch as Anthony returns to Australia and attempts to assemble a cast and crew, despite not having a script for the film, and then battles against studio oversight, filming difficulties, and a gruelling time constraint to somehow create something that can be assembled into some degree of a coherent 90 minute movie. 

Perhaps the most eye-opening thing about Mockbuster is that it completely changes the way that you'll look at these cheap knock-offs. Yes, they're still terrible quality filled with rambling incoherent scripts, bad acting, and terrible effects, but having now seen how they're made they kind of become miracle projects. No one is going to say they're any kind of high-brow art, or even middle-brow (The Asylum studio heads make it clear they dislike and discourage 'arthouse complexity'), but the fact that even something as mildly entertaining as The Asylum pictures can be made under such gruelling, impossible constraints is something of a testament to the people creating them. And I can't help but wonder just how much more the quality could increase if these creatives were given more time.

This is something that Mockbuster does touch upon when Anthony meets with former Asylum director Rachel Lee Goldenberg, who began her career making Sunday School Musical for The Asylum, but has gone on to win an Emmy, has worked with Hollywood stars such as Will Ferrell, and even worked as a White House liaison. Her example, and words of encouragement to Anthony seem to do little to lift his spirits as he fights to make his film, a loose adaptation of the public domain The Land That Time Forgot, as we see the stress mount over the course of the film. Whilst Anthony is able to salvage some degree of enjoyment out of the experience, on his last say according to his narration, it's clear that his initial statement of 'even a bad movie is better than no movie' may have wavered at times.

Despite the masses of stress and difficulties, including having to fly to the US for a day of reshoots to add entirely new story and characters into the film, Anthony makes his film and comes out the experience happy. The film ends with a screening at his local cinema, packed to the gills with friends and family who come to celebrate his bad film. Mockbuster shows the incredible lows of Anthony's experience, as well as his giddy highs, and it makes for an entertaining movie; more so than the film he actually made for The Asylum. 

Mockbuster is both encouraging people to pursue their dreams, to swing big and take those risks needed to do the things that they've always wanted, yet also acts as something of a warning that doing so won't be easy by any means. It offers an insight into the movies that you scroll past on streaming services or fail to pick up off the supermarket shelf because the terrible title and bad poster art screams 'terrible movie' and how they're made in a way that will probably change how you see them; even if it doesn't encourage you to actually watch them. 

Mockbuster is available now on digital services.

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The Mortuary Assistant - Blu-ray Review

 

Before watching The Mortuary Assistant I was somewhat aware of the game the film was based upon, having seen a couple of clips appear in places such as YouTube shorts and Instagram, usually showing a streamer reacting to some of the jump scare moments. It looked to be a fairly simple yet enjoyable game, one that had a fun concept of the titular mortuary assistant dealing with ghosts and demons whilst working alone at night. With relatively little about the game known to me, and as fairly decent trailer to go off, I was excited to get the chance to see if The Mortuary Assistant film would end up being one of those video game movie adaptations that people would rave about.

The Mortuary Assistant tells the story of Rebecca (Willa Holland), a recovering addict who's been working towards qualifying as a mortician. When we meet her she's being evaluated by a potential new employer, Raymond (Paul Sparks), in his old mortuary facility that's filled with unusual creepy character. We get hints that there might be something a bit more than the usual going on when Raymond stops Rebecca from going down into the basement, something he insists she'll never need to do, before the audience sees some kind of weird naked figure crawling around at the bottom of the stairs acting creepy. After satisfying her new boss that she's got the skills for the job Rebecca is hired. Unfortunately for her, she's barely signed on before she's getting called in late at night to work until dawn.

Things begin to get stranger as the night goes on, first with Rebecca being told to embalm a body before burning it, something she questions the reason for as why would they need to do both? Shortly after Rebecca begins to see a red eyed shadow figure around the building, as well as a few unusual hallucinations. Thinking that perhaps it's just the stress of the new job Rebecca is surprised to awake at home the next day as her sponsor bangs on her door. She claims that Rebecca has relapsed despite Rebecca having no memory of it. Things spiral out of control as Rebecca believes she loses control of herself and kills her sponsor before realising it's all a hallucination. Returning to work, Rebecca is told that a demonic force has latched itself onto her, and that she will need to face the dark forces trying to take her over alone in the mortuary if she has any hope to survive.

The premise of The Mortuary Assistant is fairly simple, push your way through ghostly visions and dangerous encounters with the spirits of the dead in order to find the pieces of the puzzle that you need in order to perform a ritual and save yourself. It definitely sounds like something that's the perfect set-up for a video-game that would encourage you to keep exploring a frightening environment. But when it comes to the film, there's just something missing in The Mortuary Assistant. I think it's that the film doesn't really explain what's happening in any really satisfying way. It's clear that demons are trying to get into Rebecca, but the how and why are barely discussed. How Raymond learned about demons, where he got the fancy demon decoder ring needed to burn them is left unspoken yet is an important piece of the plan to save Rebecca. I understood what the characters were doing, but had very little context or solid world building around it, and so was left feeling somewhat uninterested and bored; sentiments that were shared by the other people I was watching the film with.

The real lack of much plot isn't helped by the film having almost no scares. The film tries to build atmosphere, and whilst it works somewhat to begin with I found that this tension very quickly faded away when things began to get a bit campier. The red eyed shadow entity looked more like a tall Jawa watching Rebecca than some kind of spirit, the sudden eye opening corpses who'd squirm and shift on the table when Rebecca wasn't looking felt over used. And the moments when Rebecca became possessed, complete with yellow eyes, was more cheap Deadite than anything else. And whilst I don't like movies that rely on the over use of jump scares I can't help but think that The Mortuary Assistant really could have used some.

Lacklustre is perhaps the word that I'd have to settle on for The Mortuary Assistant. There was nothing egregiously wrong with it, the acting was competent, the set design was really nice, the script was unoriginal but not terrible, and the effects work was largely good. It just felt like the film lacked any real punch, innovation, or identity of its own. I did question if perhaps this was an issue I was experiencing because I wasn't familiar with the source material, so after the movie I went and checked out some streams of the game on YouTube; and I have to admit these were much more entertaining. Where the films lack of any real depth or explanation felt like a detriment in the game it allowed the player to explore and learn more on their own terms. I came to realise that without some substantial changes to the formula of the game the concept that worked so well in that format just didn't make the translation to film medium. Which is a huge shame.

The blu-ray release of the film is also fairly light when it comes to extra features, having only a short six minute behind the scenes feature that goes a little into the making of the movie. The new release feels more like it's been designed for those who want to watch the movie but don't have a subscription to Shudder's streaming service; so if you're someone who's already seen the movie or has Shudder and wanted to check out the blu-ray for the special features and to learn more about the film this is perhaps not the best investment. However, if you're a fan of the game and haven't yet had the chance to see the film this is probably a release that you're going to want to pick up.

The Mortuary Assistant attempts to capture the fun and frights of the game that it's based upon, and whilst it gets some of the details spot on it felt like it fell short of capturing the magic that has made The Mortuary Assistant a popular game. A movie that fans will want to see, but casual audiences might find a little lacking.

The Mortuary Assistant is available now on blu-ray.

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Cold Prey Trilogy - Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

 

I recently watched my first Norwegian film recently, Insomnia, thanks to the recent release from Second Sight, and now I've been able to expand that number even further thanks to their latest release, collecting together the three Norwegian slasher films Cold Prey. 

Originally released at a time where bland remakes and gory torture porn were the headline horror offerings from big studios, Cold Prey gave viewers something a little different; a smaller scale slasher movie that felt more in line with the iconic franchises of the past, yet managed to deliver it with a visual flare and style that felt refreshing and new to those not used to Norwegian cinema.

The first Cold Prey follows a group of friends who travel to the Jotunheimen mountains in the middle of winter to go snowboarding. One of the group, Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen) takes a nasty fall down the mountain and ends up breaking his leg. With the nearest town too far to reach before night falls, the group decide to take shelter in an old hotel nestled in the mountains. The five of them are able to care for Morten Tobias' wound as best as they can, stay warm, and even find some alcohol inside to help while away the long night. 

Disturbingly, however, they find evidence of the lodge having been abandoned decades before after the owners young son went missing in the mountains a few weeks before the parents were killed in an apparent avalanche whilst searching for him. As the group explore the sprawling building someone else is watching them. This hulking, fur clad figure, enters the hotel and begins to hunt the group through its halls, picking them off one by one with traps and his pickaxe. 

The second film picks up almost immediately where the first film leaves off, with the lone survivor of the massacre, Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) found wandering the mountain roads, barely alive. Taken to a hospital in the small town of Otta, the police question her as to what happened. When a search party is sent up into the mountains they discover the icy grave of her friends, and the monstrous Mountain Man (Robert Follin) responsible for killing them. When the bodies are brought back to the hospital Jannicke is faced once again with the trauma that she just lived through. But, when the Mountain Man begins to show signs of life the hospital staff work to revive him; a decision that will lead to a new night of terror and the Mountain Man works his way through the hospital, targeting doctors, patients, law enforcement, and Jannicke once again.

The third film decides to move to the past, telling a prequel story instead of trying to somehow justify the return of the Mountain Man a second time (something that would be even harder to explain away following the conclusion of the second movie). The film opens with flashbacks to the Mountain Man's childhood, where it's shown that his parents tried to kill him in the mountains due to his psychopathic tendencies. However, after surviving their murder attempt he returns home and kills his own parents, vanishing with their bodies. Twelve years late, the Mountain Man remains hidden in the wilderness of the Jotunheimen National Park, where a group of young friends are travelling to, wanting to check out the long abandoned hotel with strange rumours attached to it. 

Despite not staying in the hotel, and leaving it almost immediately (a pretty smart choice for horror protagonists), the group still attract the attention of the Mountain Man, and begin to fall prey to the traps he's left out in the wood. As the group realise that someone is hunting them down they attempt to make their way back to safety. Unfortunately for them, the Mountain Man has been hunting in the forest for years, and now that he's decided to switch from animals to humans he won't abandon his prey.

Cold Prey isn't really anything new or original when you look at the bare bones of it. It's a group of friends with very broad, archetypal characteristics who travel to a remote location, go somewhere they shouldn't, and then get picked off one by one. It's adhering to the expectations of the slasher genre, even if it has a Norwegian flavour to it. What makes the film stand apart from other on offer, especially against other horror films of the era, is how visually unique the film feels. Where the US is offering things like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes remakes, and new slasher franchises like Wrong Turn, films set in warm summer locations such as the forest and deserts, seeing a movie shift to the middle of winter, to the cold barren wilderness of the Norwegian mountains feels like the complete tonal opposite.

The new type of setting offers what feels like more realism in some ways too. Our protagonists can't just head for the nearest road and try to get help because the road is miles of trekking over the mountains away, and no one is using them anyway. They have to break into the abandoned building they find because if they don't they'll freeze to death outside, meaning they don't have to go into the obvious murder house simply because they're curious idiots. Where other films have their group of victims making stupid choices because they need to for the story here it feels like the creators are trying to justify why things are happening, which leads to a much more grounded and relatable story. Plus, just having the amazing visuals of the snow covered mountains is such a pleasant change that gives the movie its own character.

I also have to give the franchise points for trying something different with each movie too. The choice to shift location from an isolated mountain resort to a small town in the sequel is a bold move. Yes, there's still a sense of isolation in some ways thanks to the small hospital that's in the middle of closing down so only has a handful of staff for even fewer patients, and the snow and darkness outside gives the impression that it's cut off from the rest of the world, but it's still in a place where our protagonists can literally flee the building, run down the street to someone's house and ask for help, or where a dozen police can turn up to help (something that does actually happen in the movie). Considering most horror franchises will try and stick to the same kind of formula for several films before opening up the world, taking things from a distant isolated location to a more populated one, Cold Prey made the bold choice to do that.

This willingness to change their formula is also present in the third film in the series. Set decades before the events of the first film, Cold Prey 3 changes things up by moving from winter to summer. This simple shift in season changes the bleak white wilderness of snow covered mountains to luscious green forests and grassland. This immediately gives the prequel film a flavour of its own, making it instantly unique from the others just at a simple glance. I found the locations that were used for the third film to be the most gorgeous of the trilogy, presenting an amazing look at some of the stunning wilderness that Norway has to offer. And whilst the third film might be more limited in terms of its storytelling (we know that anyone who sees the Mountain Man has to die as he's an unknown entity in the other films) this simple change in visual style keeps it fresh and interesting. 

Alongside the films each movie comes with brand new audio commentaries on each of the films that feature directors, actors, and film academics who offer some fantastic insight not only into the making of the franchise, but also on Norwegian cinema as a whole. The first film has the most extra features to accompany it, featuring some original behind the scenes videos, an alternate ending, new interviews with cast and crew, visual effects breakdowns, and two short films. The second movie also comes with new cast and crew interviews, cut scenes, and original behind the scenes featurettes, whilst the third film sadly only has some short original behind the scenes features to go alongside the commentary track.

On a whole, I really enjoyed the Cold Prey Trilogy. It was a lot of fun to discover horror cinema from a country where I'd never experienced it before. They stood out against other films of the era, and made me come away wanting to see more of what Norway has to offer, especially in genres that I love. This new blu-ray set offers a fantastic way to either discover these films for the first time, or add an updated version to your home collection.

The Cold Prey Trilogy Limited Edition Blu-ray set is available now from Second Sight Films for £39.99.

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Shadows of Willow Cabin - Film Review

 

The horror genre is a vast and expansive one, one that allows filmmakers and audiences the opportunity to explore through themes than run the gamut of human experience. Horror can be used to explore trauma, personal fears, societal ills, and questions about the future. The genre is a perfect outlet for the marginalised too, for those more often unrepresented groups to tell their stories in ways that elevate the genre. The queer community is one that is often present in horror, though not always in the best ways, with expressions of sexuality and gender outside the accepted norm being given over to serial killers and monsters in ways that further other and dehumanise the queer community.

In more recent years, however, this community has been able to advocate for itself more, and has been gaining more of a positive voice in horror, with our stories slowly seeping into films. Even if the casual audience is unaware they're watching a queer narrative, gay, lesbian, trans, and other filmmakers have been making their voices hears; a recent example would be I Saw the TV Glow, a film that disturbed cisgender and heterosexual viewers for reasons they couldn't quite identify, but in which the trans community immediately saw themselves and their stories represented.

Shadows of Willow Cabin feels similar in this regard, a film that viewers outside the LGBTQ+ community will certainly get less from than it's queer viewers; but a film that is telling an important and very personal narrative.

The film centres on Albert (Bryan Bellomo), an older teacher who has travelled up to his old family cabin, affectionately named Willow Cabin despite the lack of willow trees, so that he can meet the much younger Devon (John Brodsky), who he met online and has been chatting with. Albert is still in the closet, and lacks any real experience with men, and so has turned to the openly gay, confident Devon to experience what it could be like to be his true self. Over the course of the next few days the two men drink, tell stories, lounge in the hot tub, and find a great deal of tenderness between the two of them. Albert gets to experience emotional and physical intimacy with a man, something that he's denied himself for decades.

However, we soon learn that Albert isn't only closeted, but also married with a son. He's snuck off to the cabin for the week under false pretence, and is cheating on his wife. This causes friction between the two men, and son the film also gets to explore some of the less savoury sides of intimacy. The film shows a rather truthful portrayal of a queer relationship, albeit in a very fast, condensed state as the two men experience attraction, lust, comfort, unease, anger, jealousy, and desperation over the course of their time together. But, Shadows of Willow Cabin is a horror film, and as such this slice of normalcy can't last forever.

When the two of them attempt to leave the cabin they find themselves unable to, with the forest around the building bringing them straight back no matter what they do. Not only that, but their food has gone rotten, the water is shut off, and the spectre of Albert's uncle is stalking them. As the two men desperately search for a way to escape this twisted nightmare they end up having to face their demons.

On the whole, despite the fact that ghosts and twisting reality exist within Shadows of Willow Cabin the film hardly felt like a horror film, and much of the movie is a very realistic, honest portrayal of a queer relationship involving two very different men. There's an age gap, one that comes into play as we see how childhood experiences and societal shifts resulted in very different experiences for them growing up gay. They have different positions in society, different expectations placed upon them because of their work and home lives. In some ways the film feels more like an examination of generational differences in the queer community than anything else.

As the film progresses and the paranormal elements are introduced it becomes clear that the titular 'shadows' deal with trauma, repression, and the fears that members of the queer community have, and even continue to go through. In a world where so many of us are forced into the closet, made to repress who we are and who we love, to live a live, it's not hard to see how such trauma can be present in so many of us. And whilst Shadows of Willow Cabin speaks to a more specific part of the LGBTQ+ community, the gay part, I think any one who is queer who watches it will be able to identify with it in some way.

The film, written and directed by Joe Fria, is decently made, and a good portion of it could be lifted out and presented as a drama about a closeted man dealing with his feelings and trying to figure out how to navigate his life. The shift into horror comes somewhat suddenly, and it jolts you into remembering that this is a horror film; yet manages to do so in a way that doesn't throw you out of the narrative. It's two leads, pretty much the only people in the film, bring a great deal of humanity to their roles, and despite the revelation that they're knowingly engaging in an affair that completely destroys the trust Albert's wife has put in him, you still manage to feel something for them even if you should hate them for this choice.

Shadows of Willow Cabin is a carefully crafted queer horror, one that may play a little too light on the horror elements for some, but will win others other thanks to its honesty and attempt to present a realistic representation of queer love and self discovery.

Shadows of Willow Cabin is available digitally in the UK from GrimmVision now.

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Lesbian Space Princess - Film Review

 

Queer media, depending on where you get your media news from, is either woefully underrepresented, or it's everywhere 'taking over normal TV' (the second one is usually the kind of complaint you hear from a boomer who sees one queer couple for three seconds of an advert and makes being angry about it their personality for the next six weeks). I definitely think that whilst there's more representation happening now than there ever has been it's still not at all even considering the size of the queer community, and the range of experiences that we have. It's also important that queer stories from queer creators get given attention over less personal depictions and throwaway representation from cisgender and heterosexual creators.

Lesbian Space Princess is a new queer led animation project from Australia, featuring first time writer/directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese. It also has the honour of being the first animated feature film made in South Australia. With queer creators, a queer (mostly) main cast, and it's weirdly Australian sense of humour, Lesbian Space Princess is a fun animated adventure that will appeal to younger adults, as well as those who want a queer story focused on queer joy.

The film centres on Princess Saira (Shabana Azeez) from the planet of Clitopolis, the main planet for lesbians in sector of the galaxy known as Safe Space; even if it can sometimes be hard to find Clitopolis. The daughters of two beloved queens, Saira has had a difficult time finding herself, and being accepted by the citizens of Clitopolis, in part due to her shy and fearful nature, her love of up-close magic tricks, and her inability to find or keep a girlfriend. As Saira's 22nd birthday looms she's sure that this is going to be her year thanks to her new girlfriend, the sexy space adventurer Kiki (Bernie Van Tiel). Unfortunately, Kiki breaks off the relationship, leaving Saira alone on her birthday once again, where she's publicly humiliated by Kiki dumping her, and her continued inability to summon her magical lesbian princess weapon, her cosmic labrys. 

Saira thinks that her world has fallen down around her, and that she'll never be able to win Kiki back thanks to her personal demons and self doubt. However, when she receives a message from the Straight White Malians (voiced by Mark Bonanno, Zachary Ruane, and Broden Kelly), who have taken Kiki hostage in exchange for Saira's labrys, she becomes determined to save her ex; and hopefully win her back in the process. Stealing an old, impounded spaceship from the royal hanger, Saira sets off into the universe. Along her journey she'll meet new allies and enemies, including non-binary singer/songwriter Willow (Gemma Chua-Tran), drag performer/club owner Blade (Kween Kong), and her ships slightly misogynistic AI (Richard Roxburgh).

The plot for Lesbian Space Princess is pretty simple, a girl gets dumped, doubts herself, goes off to save her ex to try and win her back, but learns about herself and gets the chance to grow along the way. At it's most boiled down aspect it's a coming of age story, one where the lead character is forced to deal with life-long trauma and self doubt, and must step out of the shadows to become the person she's always meant to be. This is a fairly common kind of arc for queer fiction, as a lot of queer stories feature characters discovering their queerness and coming out. But Lesbian Space Princess gets to play with this dynamic by having it be a queer story where the character's queerness isn't the driving force, isn't the thing they have to learn to deal with and figure out. Instead, it's feelings of inadequacy and self doubt that anyone can experience; and because of this I think that the film has a big change to connect with a wider audience than just the queer community.

Thanks to the film's bright and weird animation style, akin to things such as Rick and Morty or Adventure Time, and the often absurd nature of the humour used, Lesbian Space Princess is less likely to appeal to a more conservative, stuffy audience, but with younger generations, especially those around the same age as Saira, I think that it'll find a strong audience who love the weirdness. Whilst not every joke landed with me, it was still a great deal of fun, and had some laugh out loud moments. My favourite part of the film, however, wasn't the humorous bits, but a sequence in which Saira had to confront her inner fears and the darkness that had been looming over her the whole film. These moments really stood out against the rest of the film, and helped to connect me with the character in a way that was really missing before.

Lesbian Space Princess is sure to find an audience with younger queer folks, especially those who are into popularised queer media and culture. With a cast that includes queer comedians and performers from Drag Race, it at times does feel like the movie is both trying to appeal to a very queer focused audience (the kind of younger queer people who make queerness a big part of their personality) whilst at other times it feels like it's poking fun at that same audience and the stereotypes around them. As a middle-aged, stay at home disabled queer person who was unable to be openly queer most of my life the film is at times a little too over-the-top to really win me over, but the love that's been poured into it, and the fact that it's putting a queer spin on a genre where it's not usually found ended up getting me on it's side. 

Lesbian Space Princess is out in UK cinema's now.

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