Fear The Invisible Man

I always wondered what it would be like to be invisible. You can walk anywhere you want and no one can see you, as well as you can also go inside any building you want and just chill watching films especially in a cinema without paying for a ticket. Some of the things i would want to do if i were invisible is to be a visitor at Steve Bannon´s War Room show up and out of nowhere and throw pencils at him. Either he will believe there are demons there in that studio or he will believe that it´s a sign from the holy spirit. I would also visit a library and let books fall down when someone is looking for a specific book, just to see if they believe that the library is haunted. I can also imagine running out in a lake to see people´s reaction not seeing anyone but still something is going out in the water. Invisible people have been told about in comic books as well as in books. Of course the most famous portrait of someone being invisible have been around in the movie industry for a very long time, and it all started back in the year of 1933 when the film The Invisible Man was released in cinemas from director James Whale. I did see this film on DVD and it´s actually not a bad film at all. Mostly thanks to the performance of legendary actor Claude Rains ( who have been in a number of classics such as The Wolf Man, Casablanca and Lawrence Of Arabia of course ) as Dr. Jack Griffin. The Invisible Man starts off on a cold winter night where Dr. Jack Griffin with his face covered in bandages and his eyes obsured by dark googles. He arrives to the English village of Iping of Sussex where he takes a room at the local hotel The Lion Head´s Inn. The owners soon find this man to be not quite normal, and when things go out of control Dr. Jack Griffin go out invisble causing chaos around town. The Invisible Man may be a very old film today but i still think it´s a charming sci fi horror film that shows what might happen if you loose your mind and is not able to live a normal life. There are several sequels after this film and i have not seen any of them so far. But the original film is worth checking out if you don´t mind very old horror films. A while ago i heard online about a low budget sci fi horror film called Fear The Invisible Man. Since i have seen other kinds of sci fi horror films in the past with an invisible man such as the year 2000 classic Hollow Man i am always open for similar films to be released. Is this film Fear The Invisible Man much better than i expected, or should it be dropped in the nearest lake next to where i last threw my DVD copy of Movie 43?

Scientist Griffin ( Mike Beckingham ) is in a race against time to finish his experiments. The reason, his landlord and a bailiff are pounding on the door, ready to evict him. Griffin inject himself with a formula he have been working on and make himself invisible. As the men break up the door Griffin manage to escape invisible while starting a fire to burn his lab. Elsewhere Adeline ( Mhairi Calvey ) is reading about the horrific crimes happening. But at the moment she is more concerned about paying the bills since her husband passed away. She is not prepared to have a visit from former classmate Grifin completely invisible and injured as well. She helps him as good as she possibly can. Griffin suggest that she should help him retrieve his stolen journals that are holding very important information. If she does he promise to help her make her life better. The question is can she trust him?

If you enjoy the original The Invisible Man or other films similar to this one that includes someone invisible, i actually have some good news. I was expecting this to be a horrible film since the poster of the film did not look good but this is actually not a bad British independent sci fi film. You can sense that they must have been inspired by the original The Invisible Man from 1933 while making this film, because you can clearly see some similar ideas in this film. So does this film have anything to offer the fans of this specific genre? I would say if you can accept that the budget isn´t very high and appreciate that they tried to do a film that captures the feeling of the original film with a different twist, you might actually enjoy Fear The Invisible Man. I have to tell you that this is not a horror film but more of a sci fi thriller. So if you are expecting a pure horror film of an invisible man you might be disappointed. I don´t have a problem with this though because it gives the story a different approach. I do enjoy the costume design, it feels that they made an attempt to capture the right time period the way the actors are dressed up. Actress Mhairi Calvey as the character Adeline is without a doubt one of the most interesting characters in this film. The invisible effects on actor Mike Beckingham´s voice is actually better than i expected and for a low budget film this could have been a disaster. Ok so we might have to discuss some negative details and let us begin with some of the acting in this film. Certain actors don´t really do much at all with their characters, when you know they are trying to portrait people from the past. If they only would have tried harder it might have helped the film look better, considering i do find the time period interesting. Some scenes have a bit too much dialogue where they could have made something different, such as the invisible man doing something unexpected. Overall i do feel that Fear The Invisible Man is a film that is fun for us who appreciate the original film from 1933. Director Paul Dubridge is clearly a fan of The Invisible Man and you can tell since he manage to find the right tone for a film such as this. Fear The Invisible Man is a film for sci fi fans and for people who are interested in science and that´s definetely good enough for me.

Rating: DDD

Expend4bles

I sometimes wonder what will happen to the new generation of the youth of today and what might inspire them. Today in society a lot of young people are inspired by social media influencers, and it´s gone so far with these influencers that people actually live to be in the spotlight with them. This is why i am so happy that i have never been a part of this generation but i grew up as a teenager in the late 80´s. The best part about the 80´s apart from some really good studio albums from Queen, Mötley Crue, Metallica, Don Johnson ( yeah that´s right, he did make awsome music and if you disagree i will beat you up ) and many more artists and bands, the 80´s had so many great action films such as Rambo - First Blood Part II, The Terminator, The Road Warrior, Predator, Die Hard, Commando, RoboCop, Code Of Silence and so many more titles that helped our generation become as intelligent as we are today. You could say that the 80´s was the right time era for action movies because clearly film makers seemed inspired to use the VHS video violence that was making lots of money on VHS sales and rental stores. Of course some of these films made lots of money at the box office as well but it was on VHS where action films really found it´s real audience. I mentioned Rambo - First Blood Part II earlier with action legend Sylvester Stallone and he was really creative during the 80´s. Not only the Rocky sequels Rocky III and Rocky IV of course but several action films as well such as Over The Top, Lock Up, Tango & Cash, Rambo III and Cobra as well. Many years later in 2009 something magical happened when Sylvester Stallone decided to make a real throwback to action films of the 80´s with The Expendables. A cast filled with familiar names such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Dolph Lundgren and many more hit the screens worldwide in 2010 becoming a huge hit. It was clear that The Expendables was something action fans have been waiting for. Since then we had 2 really good sequels and for a while it seemed that we would not get any more. But in 2020 we got the news that a 4th film was confirmed and was going to be made. I was really happy about this announcement since i thought they may not make one more. So with a 4th film in cinemas worldwide, is Expend4bles one of the better sequels so far or is this not a worthy film to such an important franchise to carry on the legacy of the 80´s into the future?

The Expendables led by Barney Ross ( Sylvester Stallone ) is sent to Libya to prevent mercenary Suarto Rhamat ( Iko Uwais ) from stealing nuclear warheads from a mysterious terrorist named Ocelot ( Andy Garcia ).  While the team with Christmas ( Jason Statham ) taking the lead to guide the soldiers including new recruits. When Rahmat shoots down The Expendables plane with Barney still on board the place crashes and Christmas looses focus and let Rhamat get away. A burned body is found in the plane crash where they identify the body to be Barney. Grieving over their lost friend and long time leader they are sending in a new team to revenge the death of Barney and get the nuclear warheads. Christmas is not welcome to join the team for not following orders in their last mission, but he is not letting anything stop him from going and finish this once for all.

Unless you like any of the previous Expendables films you will most likely not have any fun with this film either. Since i am a big fan of The Expendables franchise i was really pumped up for this sequel since it has almost taken 10 years to get a 4th film. So how do i feel about Expend4bles in general? I would probably say that this is sort of mixed feelings for me since i feel they did one big mistake with this film. So let´s begin with the positive and that would definetely be that Jason Statham as the character Christmas is always as charming as we all remember him to be. His fighting scenes in this film are definetely some of the best and i can easily say that Statham is the real star of Expend4bles. Oh and i love him beating up a social media star while filming himself, that was hillarious. Dolph Lungdren as the character Gunner have a couple of fun lines along the way and his hair looks like a lost 5th member of the 2000´s Canadian rock group Nickelback ( even if they were formed in 1995, they didn´t become popular until 2001 ) , so that alone makes him worth checking out in this film. Even if Iko Uwais may not get to fight as much as i was hoping he would do, he does have a pretty cool fight scene against Jason Statham towards the end. Martial arts action actor Tony Jaa is fun as the character Decha with a war painting on his face looking like he came straight of the jungle of Predator. Even if i am usually not a big fan of actress Megan Fox, i think she did ok in this film as the character Gina. That doesn´t mean she´s acting any good, but i do feel that at least she made an attempt to act compared to some of her other films. Fun to see legendary actor Andy Garcia here as well, especially towards the end. Ok so i might as well get into the biggest problem i have with Expend4bles and that is the use of so much green screen. In several scenes they have thrown in so many green screens that it becomes very clear they did that to make it easier for themselves making this film. I rather see action scenes done old school style using real locations. If you can´t film an action scene the old school way then at least try and attempt to do it without using green screen and use real backgrounds instead. Does this damage the film in general? I would say yes because they could have fixed this during production of the film if they really wanted to please fans of this franchise. I still had a good time with Expend4bles simply because i love lots of action and violenced combined. Will we ever see a 5th Expendables film? I seriously doubt it since this 4th one is a massive box office bomb in ticket sales. I still feel that you should go watch the film anyway if you enjoy these types of films. Director Scott Waugh may not have done everything perfectly with Expend4bles but still deliver a fun popcorn moment. Expend4bles is a film for a specific audience and if you just want to see lots of bullets, explosions and fighting, this is the film for you. Special kicks? I would love to do that on 200 Russian soldiers, that´s when i really feel at home.

Rating: DDD

Beneath Us All

We all suffer at certain moments in our lives no matter if we loose a family member, fighting a disease or if we are having a difficult time for a number of reasons. But thankfully we can find a way to move on with our lives, as good as we possibly can. Knowing that life isn´t always easy gives us an oppurtunity to learn how to deal with pain, that it´s ok to speak out if you feel you need a helping hand. But what if you constantly live in darkness and you see no other way out, knowing that you are forever trapped and may never be able to live a normal life again? That is exactly what happened in the 1994 horror film Interview With A Vampire from legendary director Neil Jordan. This film is based on the 1976 book Interview With A Vampire by author Anne Rice and i actually read this book many years ago. I believe it was around the time the film came out in cinema and i have to say i was very impressed by this film adaptation. Interview With A Vampire clearly shows how much suffering it means being a vampire who can never die, unless you are forced to see sunlight. It is a very well made historical horror film set during the year of 1791 where wealthy plantation owner Louis de Pointe du Lac ( Brad Pitt ). After his beloved wife passes away with their unborn child as well, Louis drunkenly wanders the waterfront of New Orleans one night and is attacked by the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt ( Tom Cruise ). Lestat senses Louis´s dissatisfaction with life and offers to turn him into a vampire. Louis accepts the offer, but will soon realise that this is not the life he dreamed of. Interview With A Vampire does not only show a very interesting historical time period where vampires would have fit in perfectly but the film also clearly shows the misery of livin as a vampire. Imagine never being able to age normally or have a normal friendship to anyone. Not even being able to fall in love in a normal way and experience a relationship. Without a doubt one of my personal favourite Tom Cruise films and a must see if you enjoy vampire horror films. I must mention the wonderful performance of a very young actress Kristen Dunst in this film as well. Imagine a different kind of historical connection in a vampire film where the viking era is connected to the story. That does sound interesting right? Well this is exactly what you find in director Harley Wallen´s latest film Beneath Us All but there also seems to be a different story as well. Since i enjoy the work of director Harley Wallen in the past, is this one of the more interesting indepenent horror films released this year or is it not as good as i was hoping it would be?

Julie ( Angelina Daniella Cama ) is a foster child living in a home owned by foster parents Todd Gibbs ( Sean Whalen ) and Janelle Gibbs ( Maria Olsen ) with 3 other foster children. The family situation is really bad where both foster parents are not nice towards the children. One night Julie discover an unknown man lying outside in the woods who calls himself Frey ( Yan Birch ). She takes care of him but doesn´t know his real background, not knowing she and everyone else will be in danger.

I have to start by saying that director Harley Wallen is becoming more professional on every film that he makes. Each film he have released in the last 6 years clearly proves that he is becoming better at making quality films, and you can tell that especially on his latest film Beneath Us All. That doesn´t mean i don´t enjoy his previous film i do, but to see him become a stronger director is of course a sign that Harley is definetely on the right path. I really hope he will get more respect on the indepenent film scene after Beneath Us All. So let´s get into some of the details that i really appreciate about this horror film. I really enjoyed the opening scenes with Swedish vikings as they even spoke Swedish language, this is a detail i think a lot of Scandinavian people will especially appreciate who understand the language. I think connecting a vampire story with a vikings story is actually a really cool idea since i don´t believe i have seen this been done before. I could be wrong of course, but i have never came across this before in any horror film that i have seen in the past. Now, you may think this is a pure vampire film but Beneath Us All is so much more than that. This is especially a deep psychological look into 2 foster parents ( both played really well by actors Sean Whalen and Maria Olsen ) who clearly have a lot of issues and should not be raising foster kids, especially their foster father Todd Gibbs. Wonderful actress Kaiti Wallen gets a chance to shine in her role as social worker Rebecca and i like that her character get a lot more dialogue than we are used to see in her previous films. Director Harley Wallen is here as well as the nicest Detective you have ever seen named Donovan Booker. Legendary actor Yan Birch as the vampire Frey is without a doubt the most interesting character in Beneath Us All and i really love his transformation. To be able to combine a psychological atmosphere in a family home with vampire influences is not an easy task, but director Harley Wallen knows what he is doing and manage to combine this into the story. The only thing i wish i could have gotten more of is probably a bit more of the viking story regarding the vampire Frey. The few details we do find out about the vampire character Frey are very interesting but i feel there is more to his personal story. Otherwise i feel that Beneath Us All is definetely one of the more original vampire films we have seen in quite a while. There is much more depth into this story than you might expect, so if you are looking for a horror film that doesn´t follow the same path as many vampire films usually does, Beneath Us All is definetely the film you should see. I salute you director Harley Wallen for giving hope into indepenent horror films with Beneath Us All and you clearly show that there is a way to combine ideas to do something different in this specific genre and actually make it work. 

Rating: DDDD

They Wait In The Dark

Over my 24 years in health care i have met many poor people who barely have money to pay for food or even their own rent. I have heard some very tragic stories regarding their lives, and in some cases they didn´t always live poor but had no choice because of health issues. I do not believe you should judge someone who lives in poverty, because usually there is a reason to why they are living the way they do. And honestly some of these people living in poverty would help anyone, no matter if they use the last money they have just to help someone else. How many rich people would do that on the street? Not many i can guarantee that. I have personally dropped off clothes and shoes to refugees living in poverty of clothes i no longer use. If you can help someone i think you should, no matter how you do it. I remember back in the early 2000´s me and a working collegue of mine arranged a Christmas dinner for disabled people. We asked everyone to lay a small amount of money in a box and we would use that money we gathered to make a Christmas dinner for everyone. And we did and get plenty of food for a descent price. Of course we had to pick a good price for the Christmas Ham as well as other products but we actually managed to stay within the budget. That Christmas dinner became a lovely evening and the disabled guests had a really good time. Even today almost 20 years later i heard that the disabled people are still talking about the Christmas dinner we arranged that year. Speaking of poverty there are a lot of horror films talking about homeless people or someone struggling to survive on very little money. One of the best especially showing the rough life of being homeless is the 1988 sci fi horror film They Live from legendary director John Carpenter. A film that really showed society how real life looks on the streets and how you suvive, until you discover that the world is taken over by aliens who control our lives daily. Wresting star Roddy Piper did a great performance as homeless worker Nada and the film itself is very interesting for showing how controlled society is. A must watch on DVD or Blu Ray. I recently came across an indendent film called They Wait In The Dark that looked interesting from the poster. I didn´t really know much at all about the plot other than a mother struggling with her son. Is this a film that deserves to be seen this autumn or should you forget about They Wait In The Dark completely and see something else instead?

Amy ( Sarah McGuire ), a young woman is on the run with her son Adrian ( Patrick McGee ) from an abusive ex-girlfriend named Judith ( Laurel Catherine Winkel ). While ordering coffee and some food for Adrian she meets an old friend called Jenny ( Paige Maria ) who offers them to stay at Amy´s child home that´s been abandoned for many years. Having nowhere else to go and not much money at all, Amy have no other option. Not only is she struggling with her past but Amy is about to find out there is something more to be concerned about regarding Adrian.

Even though this film does tell a story of a very poor woman taking care of a young boy, the poverty isn´t the most important message of this film. The most important message of this film is that unless you deal with your past you may never be able to move on with your life. They Wait In The Dark may be made on a very limited budget but i personally think horror films such as this is more interesting than most big budget horror films. When you work on a limited budget you have to be creative and come up with ideas to make it work into the story. And this is something that They Wait In The Dark actualluy manage to do and still make the story interesting. At first i thought this was pretty much a story surrounding a poor mother and her child, and you could say in one way the story does include that. But there is much more going on from the past that we have no knowledge of that is later revealed in the film. And i really appreciate the unexpected twist towards the end because i did not expect that at all. So how is the acting in this film in general? I would say that the best acting performance comes from actress Sarah McGuire as the character Amy. What i find interesting about Amy is that she´s clearly struggling from a very rough past and i feel that Sarah manage to show that in her performance in certain scenes. Child actor Patrick McGee also deliver a solid performance as the young boy Adrian. The horror influences that takes a while to kick in turns out to be quite effective. Especially when we find out what Adrian is really seeing in the house. So now to the negative details. Some of the performances outside of these characters are not very good ( except for the woman playing the spirit she´s ok ). I do feel that certain characters could have been better in their performances. But overall i have to say that They Wait In The Dark susprised me with such an unexpected twist towards the end and i do enjoy this film. Director Patrick Rea manage to make an indepenent horror film in a clever way on such a limited budget. Definetely worth checking out this upcoming Halloween weekend, They Wait In The Dark proves that you can make good horror films compared to big budget releases in cinemas.

Rating: DDD

Sympathy For The Devil

In every movie stars film career there might be one film, or a few films that they might not be so proud of. For example i know how Sylvester Stallone feel about his comedy Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot from 1992 that he actually regret making the film. I can understand why he doesn´t think this film was good and it´s definetely not one of his better films. But i can actually go back and watch this film pure out of 90´s comedy feelings and enjoy the film for what it is. Even action legend Arnold Schwarzenegger have said in public that he regret making Red Sonja, a film that i actually enjoy. It´s not a good film in any way, for example the acting is terrible and some of the action scenes are really cheesy but i would call this a guilty pleasure film that you can watch just for good laughs. One of the actors that comes to mind who have made some terrible films ( while made some really good films in his career as well ) is the actor known as Nicolas Cage. He himself doesn´t seem to regret the films he have done, except a scene in the 1988 horror comedy Vampire´s Kiss where he ate alive cockroaches. He regret doing that scene he have said in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment. Even though i am a fan of a lot of Nicolas Cage films he have also done some terrible low budget action films as well. But in my opinion his worst film is the evangelical drama film Left Behind from 2014. I have no idea why he even accepted being in this film but i would imagine that he needed the money. But a year earlier he actually released one of his best films in over 10 years ( yes since Matchstick Men, worth checking out ) and that was the independent drama film Joe from director David Gordon Green. Joe tells the story of 15-year- old difter Gary Jones ( Tye Sheridan ) who ask Joe Ransom ( Nicolas Cage ), a boss of a Texas tree-poisoning crew, for a job and impresses Joe. Gary bring his alcoholic father, Wade Jones ( Gary Poulter ) to work, but Wade´s poor attitude and laziness get them fired. Joe witnesses Wade beat Gary and takes his money. Gary later visits John´s house to get a second chance for a job and he give him another chance. Joe is a very well made drama film where you really see the reality of how rough real life can be, and just because you don´t have money doesn´t make you worth less than anyone. The performance of real life alcoholic Gary Poulter is outstanding, it´s such a shame he never got to continue his acting in other films because of the tragedy of his death. If you have not seen Joe you should pick it up on DVD. Even though i do not watch every film that Nicolas Cage release every year i try to check some of them out at least. One of them i did pick up on blu ray is a psychological thriller known as Sympathy For The Devil. Being a fan of Cage for over 35 years, is this thriller a worthy release of such an iconic actor or is this another horrible release that will dust in rental stores worldwide and no one will remember?

The Driver ( Joel Kinnaman ) is ready to go to the hospital to meet his pregnant wife who is ready to give birth to their child. While stopping at a parking lot an unknown man The Passenger ( Nicolas Cage ) gets into the car and demands that he drives away to wherever he wants to go. The Driver have no other choice but feel worried over his wife, while he tries to listen to The Passenger. This journey along the highway will change both of their lives.

Sympathy For The Devil is sort of a road thriller that takes place mostly inside a car or on the highway. The two main characters discuss different things along the way where clearly the kidnapper known as The Passenger ( of course played insane by legendary actor Nicolas Cage ) doesn´t seem to be fully aware of his mental problems. I do feel that this character is the strongest part of this film and what makes this film work, since Nicolas Cage knows exactly how to construct a character in his own unique way. You could say that The Passenger is the kind of man who seems to believe that he is in control, when it becomes very clear that he is the oppisite of that. He is that kind of criminal who probably never felt loved by anone and have to try and make people respect him, when in fact he doesn´t know anything else or how to behave in public. There is especially one dance scene inside a highway diner where Nicolas Cage does a brilliant dance, and this is where the real magic of the film finds the right tone. I wish they could have kept some of the atmosphere that we get inside the diner because that´s where Sympathy For The Devil feels more interesting than on the highway. Actor Joel Kinnaman is known for not being a very powerful actor, and i would probably say the same this time as the character The Driver. He is not bad in any way but when you are acting against a legend like Nicolas Cage it is not easy to reach his level of acting performance. But i will say this, in certain scenes we do get to see Joel shine with a tougher attitude. The action scenes are ok and the psychological thriller influences that this film have works especially towards the last 30 minutes of the film. So any issues that i have with Sympathy For The Devil? I feel that they should have stayed at the diner more and made the film there instead of the highway. This film might have been more interesting as a psychological thriller if they would have used this location more because a diner is actually a great choice for a story like this. Overall i would still say this is a thriller that does work for the most part but that is thanks to Nicolas Cage. Sympathy For The Devil is a film that will most likely be appreciated if you enjoy films such as the 1981 classic Roadgames. A thriller that does it´s job without leaving another bigger surprises.

Rating: DDD

Nefarious

A lot of people worldwide have very different opinions about death sentence. Do we kill someone who commited horrible murders or raped children? Where do we draw the line where we feel that certain people deserve to die? I have a very personal opinion about pedophiles and that is every single one should be sentenced to death. If you rape a child you should not be allowed to live anymore. I understand there might be someone who disagree with me and that´s ok, but that is my personal opinion. I remember telling a pastor this and he disagreed with me of course, maybe because he doesn´t believe in death sentence at all. Overall i would say that some criminals does deserve it but that is something that the judge will have to decide in court. Of course in a lot of countries this is not allowed and these criminals will be sentenced to prison for the rest of their lives instead ( depending on their criminal acts ). However you feel about death sentence i am pretty sure we all have different opinions about this. When it comes to films that talks about death sentances i do have a favourite film that i have seen quite many times since i first saw it in cinema back in 1995. And that is the drama film known as Dean Man Walking from director Tim Robbins. The film tells the story of Sister Helen Prejean ( Susan Sarandon ) who is requested to be the spiritual adviser to a convict known as Matthew Poncelet ( Sean Penn ) who was sent to death row after he and two others are said to have brutally murdered two teenagers. He claims he is innocent and becomes close to Sister Helen feeling that he can trust her. Matthew doesn´t have much time left unless they can prove that he is innocent. Dead Man Walking is a very powerful crime drama with really incredible acting performances from both Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon. You have to see this film so if you for some reason have not seen it, rent it online today or watch it on streaming if possible. Speaking of death sentence i have heard about a faith based horror film called Nefarious that was recommended to me from a close friend. I have only seen the poster before but have not seen any trailer or read about the plot. So i decided to go into this film knowing as little as possible. Is this a suprisingly good faith based horror film or is Nefarious nothing you will remember at all?

At a state penitentiary, psychiatrist Dr. James Martin ( Jordan Belfi ) arrives to evaluate a notorious serial killer and death-row inmate named Edward Wayne Brady ( Sean Patrick Flanery ), believed to have mudered at least eleven people. Warden Tom Moss ( Tom Ohmer ) warns Martin that Edward is an expert manipulator who can " get inside your head ". Edward is scheduled to die by electrocution unless Martin finds him ill and incompetent to be executed. However, if Martin finds Edward sane he will be executed. As Dr. James begin to talk to Martin he realise that something seems not completely right with Martin, as if he is 2 different personalities.

If you for some reason do not believe in God or in the of the world creation according to the bible, you should probably know that Nefarious tries to tell a story of how a man claiming to have taken a soul of prisoner while being a demon. The religious tone in this film becomes very clear as we hear the different discussions between Dr. James Martin and Edward Wayne Brady, where they disuss many subjects within religion, faith and of course regarding demons. I have to be honest and say the following, if you don´t like films with a lot of dialogue you are not going to enjoy Nefarious. This is a film with a lot of dialogue scenes and have some very deep conversations, and this might not be a film that everyone would look for. However, if you do want to experience something different than most films released, i have to say that Nefarious does give us a different approach on films that takes place in death row. I actually find the conversations interesting, especially from the character Edward Wayne Brady who also transform into the demon Nefarious played by actor Sean Patrick Flanery. When he change personalities you can tell that actor Sean Patrick Flanery tries to capture the transformation from one character to the other. To be able to do that as an actor you have to be good at capturing the right facial expressions and body language and i have to say Sean does this really well. In fact this might be one of his better acting performances in quite a long time. Actor Jordan Belfi also does a good job on his character Dr. James Martin. Thanks to these men´s great acting it really helps the dialogue scenes become more interesting. The religious discussions are actually fascinating and intriguing and works better than i expected in a film such as this. The only negative thing i can say is that i wish the film would have been even more daring than what it is, regarding some intensive discussion scenes. Directors Chuck Konzelman and and Cary Solomon have made quite a different and interesting independent horror film that looks like nothing else you will see this year. If you are open minded and don´t mind something different in the independent film section, you might appreciate Nefarious for trying a different path in this genre. Being a fan of indepenent films i actually appreciate Nefarious for taking some chances for telling a story that we are not used to see this specific way. Rent the film Nefarious online and give it a chance, you might actually enjoy it just like i did.

Rating: DDD

Talk To Me

We all have someone we love who have passed away. Doesn´t matter if it´s an aunt, cousin perhaps a sister or a brother or even your parents. It´s ok to miss them no matter how many years go by, and it´s ok to cry whenever you feel like it. Next year in February it will be 2 years since my beloved grandfather Ingvar passed away and i can cry just looking at a picture of him. He was always there as my real father when my dad wasn´t around. And we had some really good times all the way from my childhood to my adult life. I can not tell you how many Swedish Midsummer celebrations i had with him and my grandmother Elsa but they were many times. We always had a tradition to drink the very strong alcohol O.P. Andersson Aquavit, reminds you of a very strong brandy and very spicy. So, sometimes i pick up a bottle and cheers to my grandfather and remember the good days. Speaking of missing someone, have you ever wished you could talk to someone you miss from the other side? There are those who say that you can who say they can connect with the spirit of someone who passed away. Personally i would never try this myself, simply because i wouldn´t know how to handle a situation like that or know exactly what to do. In the cinema world of horror there have been quite many horror films taking on the subject of contacting the dead. One of the best films in my opinion to bring up the subject of contacting the dead is the horror film Hereditary from director Ari Ester. The story surrounds a family where big brother Peter Graham ( Alex Wolff ) takes his odd little sister Charlie Graham ( Milly Shapiro ) to a party. Not knowing that his sister taste some chocolate cake, she have severe nut allergy and goes into anaphylactic shock. As Charlie drives Charlie to the hospital, Charlie open the window and stick her head out to get air, while Peter swerves to avoid a dead deet lying in the road. Charlie is decapitated by a sigil telephone pole. In shock, Peter drives home and leave Charlie´s headless body in the car. The mother Annie Graham ( Toni Collette ) discover the body in the car the next morning. Following the death of Charlie, Annie becomes resetful towards Peter while her husband Steve Graham ( Gabriel Byrne ) tries to keep it together. Annie meets a support group member named Joan ( Ann Dowd ), who also lost her child. Joan tells Annie that she have been able to communicate with her dead child, and suggest Annie should do the same to her daughter Charlie. At first she isn´t sure but decide to try. She does seem to get in contact with Charlie and tries to show this to the rest of the family. But something is quite not right after her latest seance. Hereditary is not only a very intelligent horror film but also very well made on a budget of 10 million dollars. I highly recommend that you watch this film no matter if it´s on streaming or on a phyiscal copy. For quite some time i have heard a lot of buzz this year about an Australian horror film called Talk To Me. I did hear some movie critics praising this film for actually beeing really good compare to a lot of American horror films so of course i had to check this film out. Is Talk To Me just as good as many people say or is the hype surrounding this film way too positive and is actually not that great?

When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

Those who really know me personally they know how much i love the Australian horror film The Babadook from 2014. I own this film in 3 different versions on different physical releases and i do have the Babadook book with the paper figures that i can look in. Talk To Me is a completely different kind of horror film than The Babadook, since Talk To Me is more about contacting spirits on the other side while The Babadook is more of a psychological horror film. So how do i feel about Talk To Me in general? Let´s begin with what i enjoyed most about this film. First of all i feel that all the young actors in this film did a brilliant job with their acting performances. They really seem to have taken their characters seriously and wanted to make sure they would work with the plot of this film. Even if i could probably talk about several characters and how good they are let´s get into a few of them. Let us begin with the party animal known as Hayley, played by actor Zoe Terakes. What makes Haley fit so well into this environment of young people is that she clearly loves to party and is not afraid to push others into crossing limits. Zoe give a performance that you can easily connect with, especially since you get a feeling that if Zoe continue this path she might head into trouble in her adulthood, the way she keeps pushing limits. Actress Sophie Wilde as the character Mia is a character who is a perfect example of someone who is having a hard time dealing with her loss of her mother. You could say that her story becomes a very important part of Talk To Me as she get in contact with her mother. I have to mention actress Miranda Otto ( who is brilliant in The Lord Of The Rings sequels ) as the character Sue. I just love how easily Miranda manage to make any character she does so natural and effective. What about the special hand that they use to contact the spirit? It is a very cool design and a really good idea to do something different in this horror genre. What about the horror influences in this film, are they surprisingly good? I would say yes, especially when the film really becomes much more brutal and bloody as everything is getting out of control. Talk To Me is definetely one of the better horror films i have seen this year, and even if i enjoy The Babadook a bit more for different reasons i would highly recommend this film for true fans of horror. Directors Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou deliver a horror filmt that does not only give possession horror a well needed different approach than we have seen before, they clearly knew that we need more brutality back in modern horror movies as well. Talk To Me will definetely inspire you to look forward to a lovely Christmas Dinner this year. 

Rating: DDDD

Meg 2: The Trench

I still remember my first real foreign trip in 1990 with my grandparents Ingvar and Elsa to San Agustin, Las Palmas. I was 13 years old and used my Sony Walkman digging to a cassette tape with mixed songs. And it was especially when i heard the pop song Name And Number from British pop band Curiosity Killed The Cat i felt at home with the white beach and the palm trees. Every time i hear that song it feels like im back in 1990 at this specific beach. I remember as we sat at a restaurant near the beach there was a fisherman working on a fishing net. At that time i was pretty good at speaking English so i had no problem understanding. After the meal i wanted to look at the fisherman´s supplies and he said it was ok i can look. I asked him if he have caught many different kinds of fish and he told me some of the biggest ones he have catched. He was a very fascinating man to listen to and he also told me that when he worked on a ship 20 years ago ( that would have been 1970 ) that travelled across the world to different locations. And he told me when he for the very first time saw a white shark in South Africa while working there on the ship. The way he told the story was fascinating and how much he loved seeing a real white shark in the ocean. I found out before i had to leave that this was one of the moments he will never forget, more than any fishes that he catched working as a fisherman in his older years. I have always been fascinated in sharks and i did visit The National Aquarium Denmark, also known as Den Blå Planet in Kastrup where you actually can see Hammerhead sharks among a lot of other fishes and sea life. If you have not been there i highly recommend you to visit. Since sharks is very popular especially among B movie lovers ( i am one of those fans ) we did get a much bigger budget shark movie in 2018 with the shark action film The Meg. I actually enjoyed this film with action star Jason Statham and there were some impressive shark attack scenes in this film ( even though they could have done a bit more i think ). I actually bought this film on Blu Ray during Christmas in 2018 and gave everyone a copy in my family. Since the film was a box office success they decided to make a sequel, but the film was delayed while making the film because of the pandemic. So here we are in 2023 with the sequel Meg 2: The Trench. Is this a worthy sequel to the great first film or is this a desperate attempt just to cash in on fans for box office profits?

Five years have passed, Jonas Taylor ( Jason Statham ) has been involved in fighting environmental crimes while also helping Mana One in exploring a further deep part of the Mariana Trench where the Megalodon had been found. Following the death of Suyin Zhang ( Li Bingbing ), Jonas has been raising her teenaged daughter Meiying ( Sophia Cai ) alongside her uncle and Suyin´s brother Jiuming Zhan ( Wu Jing ), who has acquired his father´s company alongside wealthy financier Hillary Driscoll ( Sienna Guillory ). While Jonas and Jiuming and a team explore the trench it seems that an operation is being done in the trench that none of them have heard of. But that´s not their only problem, it seems there are more Megalodon´s out there than they expected.

I think it would be fair to say that this is a film that will only appreciated if you enjoyed the first film, or if you are a fan of shark films in general. If you want powerful dramatic acting and interesting conversations, then this is not the film you are looking for. Meg 2: The Trench is more a technical updated version of the first film with more technology than last time and you could say that the story does have some similar ideas from the first film. So as a sequel does this film manage to deliver anything outside of these details? I would probably say that one thing this sequel does right? I think the underwater technical suits are really cool when they walk on the bottom of the ocean as their craft isn´t working. It almost feels like this scene is inspired by Ridley Scott´s classic Alien film but with the ocean instead of a planet to explore. Of couse we know what the enemy is right from the start, but i think this particular scene helps Meg 2 become more interesting than a usual shark film. I also like some of the closer scenes on the massive Megalodon that really leaves an impact. The cast in this film is alright in Meg 2, but it becomes very clear that lead actor Jason Statham is clearly the character that really stands out in this film while some of the other characters don´t leave any bigger impression. The other characters that are good are without a doubt Jing Wu ( from the great Wolf Warrior films ) as the character Jiuming Zhan and i would also say Sergio Peris-Mencheta ( yes the bad guy from Rambo: Last Blood ) who is actually a good villain in this film. So anything negative to say about Meg 2? If i really wanted to find flaws and problems i could probably do that easily, but i feel like i knew what i was getting myself into with Meg 2. This is not a film that is made out of perfection and is supposed to be made for shark fans, so you can´t really expect to have any big expectations. Could this film have been better? Absolutely, but i don´t really have any big issues with this sequel and just take this film for what it is, an entertaining sci fi action film. Meg 2: The Trench manage to do justice to the first film while adding some new interesting details that i think this film needed than just copying the first film. Director Ben Wheatley ( director of the cult British film Kill List, a must pick up on DVD or Blu Ray ) clearly knew what the fans of this wanted and he does a good job capturing the right tone of the previous film, while taking some chances and add some refreshing details. Meg 2: The Trench have no problem delivering the goods that fans of this genre appreciate. Shark bait anyone? Don´t mind if i do throw it there myself, a MAGA supporter should do just fine.

Rating: DDD