Hello out there internet! I hope you are having a great New Year’s Eve, unless you are reading this somewhere that has already reached the new year in which case, Happy New Year! Well, I did it, I finished my own movie challenge for the year. My final challenge was to watch a movie that helps you see the world with a different perspective. For this part of the challenge I watched the gripping film Beasts of No Nation. There will be some mild spoilers below so fair warning for that.
Beasts of No Nation tells the story of Agu, a young boy who is thrown into a war far outside of his control. It starts with him doing things typical of a young boy. He plays games with his friends, doesn’t really enjoy school, plays pranks on his brother and is overall a good kid. He might be a bit mischievous but he doesn’t do anything terrible. The film escalates quickly as government soldiers come and kill a bunch of people in his town. Pretty soon Agu is separated from his family, his older brother and father are killed and he ends up wandering in the jungle.
Agu is then recruited into a sort of guerrilla army made up of mostly child soldiers. Idris Elba plays the Commandant of these rebel forces. He expects these child soldiers to kill anyone he deems an enemy and brutally kills people himself. Agu obviously doesn’t have much choice but to join up. Things continue to get terrible through the rest of the film for Agu and his fellow child soldiers.
Idris Elba, as usual puts in an incredible performance but the stand out star has to be Abraham Atta who plays Agu with a touching and personal performance that is outstanding. We’re with Agu from start to finish in this film and you simply can’t look away.
The film is gripping, heartbreaking, terrifying, and yet somehow hopeful. The movie helped me see the world with a different perspective. It’s not like I didn’t know about child soldiers being a huge problem in war torn countries but this film personalizes it in a way that I think only film can. It’s this kind of film that makes us remember why we have a need to tell stories. The fact that it is a fictional story doesn’t take away any of the truth of it.
Hey there, movie fanatics, it’s me Slick Dungeon. I’m still working my way through my movie challenge and for this one it was to watch a movie that makes you laugh so hard you cry. After this one I only have four more to go for the year so I am getting there. I decided to watch Death at a Funeral from 2010 which is an American remake of the original Death at a Funeral from 2007.
Death at a Funeral starts with a somber look at a man in a casket who turns out to be the wrong body. From there, the farce continues and things become more and more outrageous. I don’t want to spoil too much here because it takes away from the comedy if I do but let’s just say things get absolutely ridiculous. And by the end if you haven’t laughed, there may be something wrong with you.
There are solid performances from Chris Rock, Marin Lawrence, Danny Glover, Kevin Hart, Zoe Saldana and a host of other recognizable names.
While it doesn’t necessarily make you laugh from start to finish, the funny parts are funny enough that yes, I did end up laughing so hard I cried. So fair warning, don’t choke on your popcorn with this one. If you haven’t seen it I definitely recommend it. If anyone has seen both the original and the 2010 version let me know which one you think is better. I would have watched the original first but it wasn’t on any of the streaming services I have and I didn’t want to pay for it when I could already see the remake.
Hey movie fanatics, it’s me Slick Dungeon. I’m still working on my 2021 movie challenges and I watched one that hit two categories for me. Pan’s Labyrinth is a film set in a fantasy world as well as a movie that was made in a country I do not live in. There will be mild spoilers for the movie below so consider yourself warned.
Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark fairy tale set against the backdrop of the start of Franco’s reign after the Spanish civil war. It was a very bleak time for the country. The film focuses on Ofelia, a young girl who is thrown into a new and unsettling world when her pregnant mother marries a captain in Franco’s army. They move to the countryside where Ofelia discovers a magical land of bizarre creatures and strange events.
Unlike most fairy tale films, the creatures in this film do not look friendly and inviting. The faun of Pan’s Labyrinth is no cute faun from Narnia. These creatures can be quick to anger and one gets the impression they are capable of great violence.
Just as gripping is the story of Ofelia and her mother who are simply caught up in events they cannot control. The film is very emotional and the ending is one the viewer will certainly remember.
I have not been a great fan of Guillermo Del Toro films but I can see why this would be considered one of his best works. There is a fair amount of death and gore in this movie and there were moments that made me cringe watching it. Toro does not shy away from the darkness in this film and it’s shockingly refreshing to see a film maker do that.
My only small complaints about the film are that at times the pacing is a little slow and the motivations of the creatures in the fantasy land are not very clear. But those complaints are not enough to make this anything less than a brilliant film.
Hey everyone, hope you all had a great Halloween. It’s me Slick Dungeon and I just watched the next episode in the Ash vs Evil Dead series. There are some spoilers for the episode below so fair warning.
The third episodes starts out with a mysterious woman driving a cool car who is willing to kill some deadites to find out where Ash is. That’s about all we know about her but obviously it looks like she’ll be an essential part of the show.
As soon as that is over we see Kelly, Pablo and Ash trying to get the book of the dead interpreted to put the army of the dead back where they belong. While trying to do this Ash decides the best idea would be to summon a demon who could tell them how to fix everything. He figures since the book already made things bad it can’t make things any worse. Or in his words, “It’s like spilling paint on a painting. It’s okay because there is already paint on it.” It’s lines like that which keep me watching this show.
You can bet things don’t go smoothly here but Ash, Kelly and Pablo do end up meeting up with Amanda, the cop who seems to know whaat is going on because she had to shoot her partner in the first episode. That doesn’t go so well either.
The show continues to be full of fun and entertaining comedy but I will say the special effects in this episode are not as good as the ones from the first two episodes. The demon that is summoned just doesn’t look as real as the people around it. I’m not expecting perfection here or anything and that is just a minor flaw in the otherwise solid episode but it does distract a bit.
Still, the plot and the comedy is certainly enough to keep me watching the series. So, until next time stay safe out there and don’t spill paint on any paintings.
Howdy evil fighters, it’s me Slick Dungeon back with another review for the Ash vx Evil Dead television series. There are some spoilers below so go have a look at the episode before reading the review. Or in other words, “Focus up and let the boomstick do the talking.”
When we last left Ash he had just finished fighting off a bunch of Deadites in his trailer. His coworkers Kelly and Pablo are still new to the fact that the dead rise and are a bit overwhelmed by the bloody gore they’ve just seen. But Kelly is convinced her missing mother has turned up at home. She takes off on Pablo’s motorcycle so of course Ash and Pablo have to follow behind, hoping to protect Kelly.
The utter gore and insane humor of the series continues in the follow up episode, especially when Ash is told to play nice at family dinner. Bruce Campbell continues to ham it up in every good way in this show and it makes it well worth watching.
In addition to Ash some of the other characters have great lines in this episode, especially Kelly who gets to start to give as good as she gets. For example, “Pablo, believe it or not, the rude, middle-aged man you brought is kind of ruinin’ my mom time.”
The plot to this series is never going to be even the slightest bit believable but the fun factor here is just too good to pass up. I could attempt to write a super lengthy analysis of this episode but I think I will let the words of Ash sum it up, “Don’t you get it? If you snag a little fish, you’re not gonna eat it. No, you use it as a bait fish, to catch the whale. I’m the whale, Pablo.”
If this series continues like this I am going to be all here for it. Until next time Deadites.
Hey internet it’s me Slick Dungeon. I wasn’t sure if I was going to review this series because I didn’t know much about it but I got through all of the Evil Dead films so thought I would give this one a chance. There are spoilers below for the first episode so fair warning. Groovy? Groovy.
The show begins with Bruce Campbell tightening a man-girdle while the song Space Truckin’ plays in the background and… I. Am. On. Board. For. This! I can’t think of a better way to start an Evil Dead series. This gets right into the comedy by showing Ash picking up a woman at a bar and telling an obvious lie about his severed hand. He has a moment while he is uhh… having an intimate moment in the restroom… where he sees the face of a Deadite. He hasn’t seen this in the last thirty years and can’t figure out why it happened.
He goes back to his trailer and realizes he read the passage from the Necronomicon while he was high and, you know, unleashed Hell on earth yet again.
We see a pair of police officers investigate a house where there is a demon and one of the officers ends up shooting her partner. She’s not sure if she is crazy or really saw what she thought she saw. This part of the show gives us the best chance for horror since it’s pretty unlikely Ash will die and we are not yet attached to these characters. There’s a decent amount of gore and scares here but it still seems to have a sense of fun.
We switch back to Ash who is still working in a big box store but now has lackeys who basically cover up his poor work ethic for him.
To keep from giving too much away, I will just say Ash has gotten himself and some of his coworkers into trouble and he’s going to need to get them all out of it.
So far, the show has kept the same mix of fear and fun you find overall in the Evil Dead film series and I feel like this is a much more natural follow up than the remake of the original film was. I’m excited to see how the rest of the series plays out.
Hey everyone, Slick Dungeon here to tell you about the second film in the Fear Street series Fear Street Part 2: 1978.
This is the second film in a trilogy of movies based on author R.L. Stine’s series of books. These movies are much more mature than his better known Goosebumps series. So far, the films have been call backs to some of the better slasher films horror fans already know and love. I will be giving some mild spoilers for parts 1 and 2 in this review so before you take a bloody axe to my blog, watch the movies first if that sort of thing matters to you. You have been warned.
The second film in the trilogy is one I really want to like more than I do. My favorite type of horror to watch is slasher films and I have a strong affection for the teenage camp counselor variety of slasher film popularized by the Friday the 13th series. Fans of that series will definitely find a few easter eggs and references to smile at in Fear Street Part 2. But, if you’re like me, it may only make you want to go back and watch the originals.
This film finds us following Ziggy and Cindy, two sisters who have grown apart for reasons revealed later in the film. The story of what happened in 1978 at Camp Nightwing is delivered to us via flashback. We’re getting the story because the characters from Fear Street Part 1: 1994 have found the only survivor of the tragic murder spree at Camp Nightwing.
There are two vastly different towns in the Fear Street trilogy. Sunnyvale is a calm, safe place full of brightness and promise while Shadyside is dubbed the “Killer capital of the country.” Everyone knows Shadyside has been cursed by a witch and no one can get out of the town easily or safely. That doesn’t stop the two towns from being rivals.
In the first film the rivalry plays out at a football game, in this one it’s the “color wars” at camp. Basically a big game of capture the flag is going on between the two towns teenagers. This means there are tons of kids and teens running around in the forest after dark. The perfect setting for a low budget slasher film. (This isn’t low budget but they want you to think it is)
Since this is a slasher film, we know some murder is gonna happen. It doesn’t take long for the first murder to occur and we are left to watch the gruesome killings from there. Unlike a lot of slasher films, in this one we know who the killer is and even why they are doing it before the carnage really gets going.
We have all the usual characters and actions from most slasher films. There are stoners, nerds, teenagers who follow every rule, and we even get the requisite pranks gone wrong. I’m guessing you know who survives and who doesn’t. I sure did.
The main question is how one of the sisters will survive. We know she does because she is telling the story. The movie also gives us more background on the witch who has cursed the town. It seems there may be a way to stop the curse and with the characters from Part 1 learning the background, more of the puzzle is solved. We won’t know how right they are until Part 3 though.
Like virtually every camp slasher horror film there is a twist at the end but it was the most obvious twist possible in my mind so it really lost its oomph when it was revealed.
Also, it was clear from the beginning that there was way more than one survivor of this tragic night. This makes the impact of the story we are told feel much less important than it could have.
If you love slasher films you’d probably do better to watch an original. However, if you have seen all of those and want something a little more fresh and a little different, this one is serviceable. I’ll be sticking around for Part 3, mostly to see if they tie everything up well in the end. If they do then the reverse chronology angle might be a neat trick. I still don’t think it will put this above classic horror films but it’s a least trying something newer.
Welcome back dungeon crawlers, it’s me Slick Dungeon. I’ve been a bit busy this last month so haven’t posted as much as I would like but I’m back to review a pair of zombie films by the same director. My favorite movie monster (and the one I’m actually afraid of) is zombies. There are a million zombie films, shows, books and comic books out there so if you’re a zombie fan, there’s plenty of content to choose from. Zack Snyder has directed not one but two zombie films and although they are not directly related, they are both zombie films so I decided to watch them back to back to see if either one is worth watching. I’ve got my opinion on which one is the one to watch but there will be spoilers for both so you have been warned.
Dawn of the dead
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Dawn of the Dead is a “remake” of the incredibly memorable and hard to find on streaming film of the same name. The original was directed by the king of zombies himself, George A. Romero. That film was groundbreaking in its use of the zombie film to make commentary on society and consumerism. In many circles the original film is considered to be one of the best if not the best zombie film ever made. I’m not sure I would go that far on the original but if you have not seen the original and you like zombie films, do what you need to in order to get your eyeballs on it, because it is worth watching.
The Zack Snyder directed remake released in 2004 is not what the original was by a long shot. It’s full of zombie action and gore, stars several of the original cast members in cameos and has a fantastic soundtrack. In other words, it’s all gloss and no substance. I can’t recall a single character name after watching it. There are definitely memorable scenes and I did enjoy the film as a whole but this is no transformative movie going experience. I’m not saying every zombie film should be an in-depth character portrayal that reflects the soul of our world back to us. I’m just saying it would be nice if the film didn’t feel like a ninety minute movie trailer where the best thing about it is each scene delivers a little more shock than the last.
Like the original, the central plot of this film is a group of people from different walks of life end up in a shopping mall at the end of the world and must rely upon one another if they want to survive. Because of some assumptions on the part of the characters there is a lot of conflict and it’s just as likely some of these people will die because of humans as they will from the zombies. The goal for the group is to survive and figure out how to escape the mall without losing their lives in the process.
There are some stand out stars in the film and as always Ving Rhames shines in his role. It’s entertaining to watch him blast zombies with cold hearted proficiency and be realistic enough to want to leave everyone because they are likely to get him killed. Of course he stays with the group.
There are plenty of plot holes in the film but I don’t really think that’s what makes this film disappointing. Rather, I think the problem with it is that it is in no way a new idea when it comes to horror or zombies or… anything. It might as well be a series of vignettes of what someone thinks might be needed to get audiences into theaters to watch a film. It does that job but barely. I’ve certainly seen worse zombie films but I have absolutely seen better. If you’ve seen every other zombie property under the sun and just need a little zombie fix, this film is serviceable, just don’t get too excited over it.
Now that I’ve laid out my feelings on Dawn of the Dead that leads me to….
army of the dead
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Army of the Dead is an original film directed by Zack Snyder made for Netflix. It’s a heist film inside a zombie film and has a star line up including Dave Bautista, Tig Notaro and Ella Purnell.
It’s the end of the so-called “zombie wars” and there is only one hot zone left. Las Vegas is still teeming with the infected but the city has been walled off and is scheduled for nuclear destruction to finally rid the world of zombies.
In the opening sequence we see how the zombie infection originally spread and we see scenes of our cast of misfits kicking zombie butt. It’s a glossy sequence with an Elvis Presley song playing over it but in less than five minutes establishes a large cast of characters quickly and is done well. Soon we meet our heroes who are all living mundane lives again, despite their life saving actions during the zombie wars.
Scott Ward is making a living flipping burgers when a mysterious man offers him a job. There’s still a ton of money left in the Vegas casinos and if Scott and his team can recover it, they will be rich, no taxes to be paid on their earnings.
This sets up the heist adventure and allows the movie to have the required “getting the team together” scene. In this film, I really liked how that played out. Usually with these things there’s at least one character who has to think about it and is barely convinced to come despite all the good reasons for doing it. In this one everyone jumps at the chance and the sequence ends up not only being funny but unexpected.
I don’t want to spoil too much of this film but suffice it to say that there being zombies in the hot zone of Vegas where the characters need to be is not nearly the only threat. It turns out there are smarter, faster, and armed zombies here who have an army.
Things go awry and the team is going to have to try to escape.
Unlike Dawn of the Dead there are several quiet character moments. Some of them do seem rushed but overall I felt like I got to know at least a few of these characters and could understand why they were in the movie. And the way Tig Notaro played her character is going to go down in zombie film history as the perfect way to deliver dry, dead pan humor that works in a zombie film. She actually gets some of the best lines in the whole film.
Now, the idea of a heist film inside of a zombie film is not one hundred percent original, there have been other films that do something similar. The idea of smarter, faster zombies is not new either. But there is enough new or mashed up here that the film feels like an original idea. The action is good albeit predictable and it adds up to a really fun ride.
While this film may not be as worth watching as the original Dawn of the Dead it is absolutely worth watching.
If you’re trying to decide on Snyder’s zombie films go with Army of the Dead.
Do you have a favorite zombie film? If so, let me know what it is in the comments.
Hey everyone out there in internet land, it’s me, Slick Dungeon. I watched a movie on Netflix called Vampires vs. the Bronx and I’m here to tell you all about it.
Most vampire movies are pretty standard fare, you have blood sucking immortal enemies, some group of heroes and the two groups face off in a bloody battle for the world. That’s basically the plot of Vampires vs. the Bronx so I can’t say it is touching much new ground here. However, this film has something in spades that I have missed in vampire movies lately. What is it? A sense of fun.
The film follows a group of boys who live in the Bronx and are concerned with the fact that their neighborhood is being sold off bit by bit to a wealthy real estate development company. In addition to that, there are people that have gone missing lately. Some of those people seem to have sold off their property or business and it would make sense that they left but others are simply missing persons cases.
One boy, Miguel is particularly concerned that one of the businesses he basically grew up in is in danger of being sold. He goes around the neighborhood trying to raise funds to save Tony’s Bodega. He has a pair of friends who help out, although they are a bit more interested in just hanging out than saving the neighborhood.
Since this is a film about vampires, I think you can guess the real reason these people have gone missing and businesses have been closing. Miguel is the first in the neighborhood to clue into what is going on. And like any good horror film, they main character is not believed by anyone else until they see definite proof of the vampires themselves.
I don’t want to get too much more into the plot here but this is basically The Lost Boys set in the Bronx. The location is a refreshing change for a vampire movie and although there are plot holes you could drive a semi-truck through, it doesn’t really matter because it’s just an enjoyable watch. It’s not scary and it’s not particularly original but it still works.
If you have been looking for a vampire film that can be a fun and enjoyable watch, have a look at Vampires vs. the Bronx.
Hey everyone, how’s it going out there? It’s me, Slick Dungeon back to give you a review of a genuinely creepy movie on Netflix called His House.
The film stars the phenomenal Wunmi Mosaku who showed off her horror skills recently in Lovecraft Country. Alongside her is Sope Dirisu. The pair play a couple of refugees who are trying to make a new home in London. Helping them is a social worker played by Matt Smith, best known as the 11th doctor from Doctor Who.
Star power aside, His House has something going for it that almost no other haunted house movie has. What is it? A legitimate reason to stay. Most haunted house movies seem to be about a family that buys a new house to find it is haunted. Or to be about people who just have to stay one night to win an inheritance at a haunted house. Or about people who drive out to some remote location for fun and end up in a haunted house. What do all of those types of movies have in common? If people really wanted to, they could just leave. The characters in His House are refugees and if they move for any reason, they lose their refugee status and will be sent back to war torn home they fled. Ghosts and ghouls can hardly be bad enough to make anyone want to do that.
The movie starts out with a few glimpses of the tragedy and loss that the couple experience. Soon they find themselves in a house in London that is much more spacious than they expected, albeit, the home is not in a nice neighborhood by any stretch of the imagination.
Soon strange things start happening in the house and many of the things you would expect in haunted house movies happen. There are weird noises, unexpected visions, and nightmares. What’s really interesting though, is that sometimes it’s hard to tell what is caused by the house or whatever is haunting them and what might just be traumatic memories playing out as they would for anyone who had experienced such real life horrors.
There are major surprises in the film that I won’t give away here but I will just suffice to say that even the reason for the haunting makes sense. This gives the whole film more legitimacy in its scares and if this film doesn’t leave you at least a little bit unsettled, I don’t think anything will.
If you haven’t checked out His House yet, make sure you take some time to take it in. It’s gripping and horrific in the best way possible.
