Repossessed: The Exorcist: Believer (2023) Review

Director: David Gordon Green

Notable Cast: Leslie Odom Jr, Lidya Jewett, Olivia Marcum, Ann Dowd, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Okwui Okpokwasili, Raphael Sbarge, EJ Bonilla, Ellen Burstyn

 

Although David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy certainly had its issues, those films were at least interesting to some degree. Big swings were being taken by the end, and whether you liked it or not, it deserves some respect. To that degree, while I didn't love the latter two entries, those films are worthy of the occasional rewatch, if only for those swings and choices being made. 

 

Which is why, to some degree, The Exorcist: Believer is such a wild misfire on so many levels. At its core, it deals with some interesting ideas about world religious practices, the pairing of girls who become possessed, and two families from different backgrounds forced to come together to face a mutual evil. 

 

Yet, no matter what, The Exorcist: Believer never capitalizes on any of it. Instead of dwelling on those topics, the film is far more concerned with playing things safe within the world of The Exorcist. The callbacks to the original feel trite, the scares are mundane in a world of more interesting Exorcist knockoffs, and the overall narrative feels bland. Compared to some of the other Exorcist films, particularly the wild swings of The Heretic and Exorcist III, Believer feels more like a drab love letter to the series rather than a new and exciting continuation. It's baffling. 

 

Magic Is Real: Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman (2023) Reivew

Director: Kim Seong-sik

Notable Cast: Gang Dong-won, Heo Joon-ho, Esom, Lee Dong-hwi, Kim Jong-soo, Park So-yi, Yoon Byung-hee, Joo Bo-bi, Park Kyung-hye

 

Kim Seong-sik's directorial debut Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman is sure to be one of the sleeper hits of 2023. It’s a gorgeously directed horror-tinged swashbuckling adventure film filled to the brim with fun characters and great action.

 

Dr. Cheon and the Lost Talisman don't waste any time building the world around the characters or explaining too much. There is an exorcist who goes around dispelling fake curses and scheming folks out of their money. It's something we've seen before, but once things become reality, the film begins to happen. It kicks the story into overdrive, and we get to see the titular Dr. Cheon (Gang Dong-won) showcase his real wizardry powers, which are imbued within a nifty-looking broken sword that he wields. Esom plays a woman with eyes that can see into the other realms of existence, and thus, the two pair up to stop a villain that is threatening their very existence.

 

A Place at the Table: Thanksgiving (2023) Review

Director: Eli Roth

Notable Cast: Nell Verlaque, Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Gabriel Davenport, Tomaso Sanelli, Jenna Warren, Rick Hoffman, Karen Cliché, Gina Gershon, Ty Olsson

 

Sixteen years is an incredibly long time. To think where I was in my life sixteen years ago, is to feel like I’ve looked back upon a half dozen lifetimes. For director Eli Roth, it’s damn near half a dozen films. Yet, his 2007 fake trailer for Thanksgiving has remained one of those fan-favorite ideas that kept coming up repeatedly. Attached to the Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse, this throwback trailer to some long-lost sleazy slasher had fans in a tizzy for nearly two decades. Watching a fake trailer became a staple of the turkey-powered holiday, and everyone just kept asking, “When, Eli, when?”

 

Eli Roth always remembered, and now, sixteen years later, he has fulfilled that promise of delivering his own holiday treat, Thanksgiving. Trying to compare this film to its fake trailer is something of a fascinating way to view it, but really what Roth has done with this film is he’s delivered a raucous and gory classic slasher with a modern lens that fits right in with his style of filmmaking - updating genre pickings with a dark comedic bent as a love letter to cinema. Thanksgiving gives thanks to all the slashers that come before but manages to hold its own identity with piss n’ vinegar. 

 

Horrors in the Aftermath: Godzilla Minus One (2023) Review

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Notable Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Mio Tanaka, Yuya Endo, Kisuke Iida, Saki Nagatani

 

At this point, we might be in one of the best ages for Godzilla. As a long-time fan myself who used to watch Godzilla Vs Megalon on repeat on a shitty VHS tape, it’s truly a golden age. Just in one year, we have a new Godzilla TV show on Apple+, a new Godzilla/Kong film, and the topic of this piece - the latest Toho Godzilla stand-alone story, Godzilla Minus One. It’s so much content it’s hard for my heart to hold it all in. 

 

Godzilla is the word. And the word is spreading, even in the US. 

 

Despite Godzilla’s dominance in newer US films, TV, and video game appearances, it’s hard to deny that a new Toho Godzilla film isn’t the most exciting thing from the kaiju franchise. Even though Godzilla Minus One is essentially remaking the original Godzilla film at its base, the participation of director/writer/visual FX guru Takashi Yamazaki and strong initial marketing hyped this film to a new level. Could it hold a candle to the strength of the last Toho Godzilla “reboot,” Shin Godzilla? Could it tell a new story with Big G in a way that could still be exciting?

 

The standing ovation that Godzilla Minus One received at my theatrical screening says in its own deafening Godzilla-like skreeonk, abso-fuckin-lutely. 

 

With Our Powers Combined: The Marvels (2023) Review

Director: Nia DaCosta

Notable Cast: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Lewis, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Park Seo-jun, Lashana Lynch

 

Although I was overly optimistic about Captain Marvel initially, I’ve cooled quite a bit on the film since its release. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has struggled to figure out how to use the character in any kind of exciting way outside of being a deus ex machina-esque plot device in Avengers: Endgame. Yet, the Disney-led Marvel machine seemed intent on creating more layers around the character by introducing two other Marvel-style characters, Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan, introduced in the Disney+ Marvel series WandaVision and Ms. Marvel, respectively. 

 

Thus, powered by the synchronicity of the MCU, we are now delivered with Captain Marvel 2. Oh, I’m sorry, it’s called The Marvels and not Captain Marvel 2. A film where Ms. Rambeau and Ms. Khan join Captain Marvel to take on the latest threat of world-ending sky beams powered by a villain with a semi-relatable cause in a spectacle-driven blockbuster. You know, it’s a post-Avengers MCU film through and through. 

 

Yet, don’t let my inherent sarcasm in that last statement dissuade you from this one. While the MCU has undoubtedly struggled to be consistent in recent years, The Marvels is a shockingly fun and loose ride that moves like lightning, warts and all. After the abysmal garbage fire that Marvel released under the title Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, maybe The Marvels feels like it's worth its weight in gold, but it’s a film that finds a pop and energy that makes it move like it has places to be. 

 

Don't Touch That Dial: Late Night with the Devil (2023) [Telluride Horror Show 2023]

Directors: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes

Notable Cast: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri, Georgina Haig, Josh Quong Tart, Christopher Kirby, Steve Mouzakis, Gaby Seow, Michael Ironside

 

A dedication to the gimmick is always a welcome change of pace from the usual mainstream, overly noted-film fodder. Late Night with the Devil, the latest film from directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes, is absolutely dedicated to its gimmick.

 

It starts like a documentary about a fictionalized 70s late-night talk show host Jack Delroy. Then, it quickly becomes a “lost” television show episode where wild, horrific events happen to Jack and his guests. It’s found footage to a certain degree, but the choices around replicating the style of a 70s late-night show fully embrace the gimmick to an impressive end. Embracing its style with vigor while delivering a building tension and underpinned dramatic sadness makes Late Night with the Devil one of those cinematic experiences that sticks with you. 

 

Does its narrative always make sense with its intentional style choices? No, but goddamn, is the ride for Late Night with the Devil worth taking. 

 

Mad, Mad World: When Evil Lurks (2023) Review [Telluride Horror Show 2023]

Director: Demián Rugna

Notable Cast: Ezequiel Rodríguez, Demián Salomón, Silvina Sabater, Virginia Garofalo, Emilio Vodanovich, Luis Ziembrowski, Paula Rubinsztein, Feerico Liss, Marcelo Michinaux

 

When Terrified appeared on Shudder six years ago, I would have placed writer and director Demián Rugna as THE artistic voice to watch in horror. That movie, with all its flaws, scraped my bones with its tension and conceptual horrors. Indeed, it is the kind of statement film that should have had Rugna on the shortlist to direct every horror film for any studio project. 

 

Although I’m sure he was on that list, he took approximately six years to release his next feature-length film. Of course, he did have a segment in the recently released Satanic Hispanics anthology film, but the man took his time dropping his follow-up When Evil Lurks. Waiting to see this effort was almost as tense as watching Terrified.

It was absolutely worth the wait.

 

When Evil Lurks is the horror film to beat this year. And, if I’m being perfectly honest When Evil Lurks is the kind of horror that beats up its viewers too. While its “evil entity” is treated like a biological infestation, the combination of folk horror elements within a possession film is impressively navigated. All the while, Rugna and his team deliver some of the most brutal sequences since the French Extreme movement of the 2000s. When Evil Lurks is the kind of horror film that pulverizes its audience’s nerves and stomach in all the best ways. 

 

Resharpened and Retooled: Saw X (2023) Review

Director: Kevin Greutert

Notable Cast: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Renata Vaca, Paulette Hernandez, Octavio Hinojosa Martinez, Steven Brand, Michael Beach, Joshua Okamoto, Jorge Briseño

 

The third time’s a charm, huh?

 

Although the 8th and 9th films of the Saw franchise both essentially sold themselves as soft reboots for the long-running horror series, see our reviews for Jigsaw and Spiral: From the Book of Saw, respectively, neither one really grabbed the core ideas or style in a way that genuinely recaptured audiences after a brief hiatus after the seventh film, Saw 3D. 

 

Two failed attempts, but Saw X - which I like to pronounce as “socks” for the record, was going to find that sweet spot, right?

 

Well, Saw X rectifies previous misfires by returning to the start but taking a few exciting side roads. A combination of simplification in the now very lore-heavy Saw franchise and bringing back the series’ two most famous villains, Saw X does many things right, even when treading on some new territory, which has always been a problematic area for the series. With brutal new traps and a renewed sense of dramatic heft, Saw X threads many thin lines and manages to do impressively. At least when it comes to the Saw-iverse, is that a thing?

 

Untouched Corners: Cobweb (2023) Review

Director: Samuel Bodin

Notable Cast: Woody Norman, Cleopatra Coleman, Lizzy Caplan, Antony Starr, Luke Busey

 

At a brisk runtime of 88 minutes, Cobweb still took at least 20 minutes for me to latch onto what it was doing. It was focused on the 8-year-old protagonist, the acting for the family - including his mother and father - felt four times larger than life, and the house they lived in felt like an intentional set, particularly when compared to his school life outside the home. 

 

I had only seen the trailer once, but my assumption from the trailer was that this film looked to capitalize on the “trauma horror” trend currently running circles in the genre. Still, this - this opening of the film all felt like it was two steps disconnected from reality in some heightened way, and my brain was desperate to figure out the tonal intent. Twenty-ish minutes in, it hit me like the clawed fingers of its spider-infested antagonist. Cobweb is a fairy tale horror flick. Not some high-brow artistic supernatural yarn. Duh. 

 

Once I finally grasped what this film would be with its more serious and realistic tone, I totally bought into it. Cobweb is a film that embraces this other-worldly, Halloween-injected-fun-scare style, wrapped in a fairy tale aesthetic, and is a tight, entertaining horror flick. It swirls its audience into a kind of silliness not unlike James Wan’s Malignant did with its blend and still manages to deliver just enough soul to sell the entire thing. By the time the bonkers final act came ripping out, I was fully cocooned in Cobweb - in all the best ways. 

 

Godsmacked: Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (2023) Review

Director: Wuershan

Notable Cast: Kris Phillips, Li Xuejian, Huang Bo, Yosh Yu, Luke Chen, Naran, Xia Yu, Yang Le, Chen Kun, Yuan Quan, Ci Sha, Yafan Wu, Luoyong Wang, Hou Wenyuan, Tim Huang

 

Now that the Chinese film industry has punted many of its lower-budget films to streaming services, it’s not shocking to see a massive CGI-heavy multi-film adaptation of a classic fantasy story look and feel so much like modern Hollywood blockbusters. The initial trailers for Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms were brimming with massive superhero-like action set pieces, while the promise of this being a “part one” of a trilogy indicated that this would be E.P.I.C. Truly, this looked like the Chinese fantasy blockbuster to end all blockbusters. 

 

Director Wuershan’s adaption of the Investiture of the Gods story is undoubtedly just that. Nothing in Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms is subtle or straightforward. This is a big scale to the blockbuster nth degree, and it shows for better or worse. As the first part of this trilogy, it’s still a highly entertaining film; for that, it does get credit. It’s just par for the course that its stunning visual feasts and entertaining action sequences come with a script that is scattered in trying to jam in dozens stacked upon dozens of characters, plots that never feel fleshed out, and a narrative that feels elongated and still rushed. 

 

But it also features two massive stone monsters possessed by an occasionally headless evil wizard chasing a god stripped of his powers on horseback. So, you know, give a little, take a little.