The Strangers Chapter 1

Let us travel back to the year of 2008. I remember this specific year for a number of reasons and especially in the music year of 2008. This was the year when i for the very first time saw British rock band Stereophonics live in Stockholm after being a fan of them since their 1997 debut album Word Gets Around. This was for their Pull The Pin worldwide tour and let me just say that one of the songs from that album called My Friends is a brilliant live song. If you need to get the audience feel more alive this is the song you should be playing. Let us continue with the music of 2008 and i remember listening to the debut album Workout Holiday from the American rock band White Denim at a local record store. It sounded something like a mixture of The Strokes and White Stripes and since i have always been a fan of The Strokes that did make me curious. Even though i prefer The Strokes i will say this, i can not deny that the band White Denim are talented musicians and i do enjoy a couple of songs on this debut album, especially the song Heart From Us All. Is this album worth checking out? If you happen to enjoy The Strokes or similar bands there is a possibility you might enjoy this album. Also check out their 2011 studio album D which in my opinion is their best studio album so far. Let´s move forward and continue talking about the year of 2008 and now let´s get into the movies of this year. 2008 was the year when we had the really good Swedish horror film Let The Right One In, perhaps the best Swedish horror film ever made so far. This was the year when we also got the 4th Indiana Jones movie simply called Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. I know this film have divided a lot of Indiana Jones fans over the years but i enjoy it for what it is, a throwback of old school action adventure films. 2008 was also the year when the psychological horror film The Strangers was released in cinemas worldwide and became a huge hit. On a budget of 8 million U.S. dollars it made over 80 million U.S. dollars in ticket sales. I did enjoy this film and especially the chemistry between actress Live Tyler and actor Scott Speedman and as a psychological horror film i think it is a well made film on such a limited budget. When the sequel The Strangers: Prey At Night came out in 2018 i thought it was ok, not as good as the original film but i can accept it for what it was trying to do. So here we are in 2024 and The Strangers franchise continue with a new relaunch called The Strangers Chapter 1 from legendary director Renny Harlin ( director of Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and Cutthroat Island ). Before i checked this film out i did read some other reviews out of curiousity and they seemed very mixed. So i decided to go into this film with an open mind, just in case i might actually enjoy it. Is this a solid horror film or is The Strangers Chapter 1 a film that didn´t need to been made?

Maya Lucas ( Madelaine Petsch ) and her boyfriend Ryan ( Froy Gutierrez ) drives across the country, celebrating their five years anniversary. Lost, they stop in a small town in Oregon called Venus. The locals disturb them and their car breaks down. The town´s mechanic, Rudy ( Ben Cartwright ), agrees to fix their car the next morning and they are forced to stay the night in an Airbnb. Suddenly they get an unexpected visitor knocking at the door, asking for an unknown person. Things are about to become even more strange from here.

If i understand this film correctly this is not supposed to be a remake of the 2008 film The Strangers but should be seen as a relaunch of The Strangers franchise and two more chapters are on the way. For those who have seen the original film i can tell you right now that The Strangers Chapter 1 will not give you a completely different version of the original film. This is basically the same film with a couple of changes, using pretty much the same basic ideas as the original film. The first question that comes to my mind is, if you are going to do a relaunch of a franchise why not try add something unexpected into the plot to make it more interesting? This is one of the big issues i have with this film since i am beginning to wonder if we really needed this relaunch if it doesn´t add something interesting? We all remember how bad the 1998 version of Psycho was right? The Strangers Chapter 1 is not as terrible as that film but i do feel that this film feels more like it was made just to cash in on ticket sales instead of making a good horror film. Because they clearly thought that people who enjoyed the original film will hopefully want to see this relaunch ( i would imagine that´s what they are hoping for, unless they thought this relaunch would find a new audience ). Who knows maybe the other 2 chapters that are coming will be more interesting. Let´s get into the something positive at least and that is director Renny Harlin didn´t make every scene the same as in the original The Strangers. That´s the mistake director Gus Van Sant did with his Psycho remake trying to reshoot every scene to look like the original Psycho film from 1960. I think this film would have been a more interesting if they made the film inside the small town diner that we see in the beginning instead of a cabin. Small changes can give a film a different look. Ok so let´s move to something negative and i have to say the acting in not good in this film. There is no character you really care for and there is no real character development. The horror scenes feels very predictable and uninspiring. I used to love director Renny Harlin´s films in the 90´s and i even enjoyed his 2004 crime slasher Masterminds with Christian Slater, Val Kilmer and LL Cool J. The Strangers Chapter 1 may not be his weakest film so far but it definetely shows he needs to find more interesting stories to tell than films such as this. I really hope Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 will change my mind. See the original film instead and skip this one, unless you really want to see it.

Rating: DD

50 Years Anniversary Review Of Murder On The Orient Express

In the early 90´s i used to spend a lot of time in my hometown library, especially after school since there was a book café next to the library and you could get hot chocolate for a pretty good price. I would borrow different books and get myself a warm chocolate while reading a book at the library café. I remember some of the books i found during this time and especially the 1973 autobiographical German novel Das Boot by author Lothar-Gunther Buchheim. I remember it was quite a heavy book to read at that age ( at least for me ) but i was very interested in the subject of World War II books so i would look for recommended books in this category. Das Boot turned out to be a really interesting book that is based on the true story of Lothar-Gunther Buchheim own experiences as a war correspondent on U-boat submarines. If you are interested in World War II stories this might be a book you want to read, i can at least recommend it. I remember borrowing a book copy of The Amityville Horror by author Jay Anson, simply because i was interested in the story surrouding the Amityville house murders that took place back in 1974. Another book i found during this time was a complete different book called Murder On The Orient Express by legendary author Agatha Christie. As that time i had only seen anything related to Agatha Christie in the TV series version of Agatha Christie´s Poirot with English actor David Suchet as the main character Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective. The book called Murder On The Orient Express turned out to be a great detective book and i remember really enjoyed reading it at the library café and it sparked more interest for me to check out other novels by author Agatha Christie. It has been quite a while ago since i read some of Agatha Christie´s novels but i might pick some up again someday because i feel she was a really good writer. At the time i read the book Murder On The Orient Express in the early 90´s i didn´t know there was a 1974 film adaptation of the book with a very big Hollywood stars cast. I didn´t see the film until early 2000´s on DVD while i was still watching Agatha Christie´s Poirot with David Suchet on TV during weekends. I noticed this year that it is now 50 years ago since the film Murder On The Orient Express came out in cinema and i thought this would be a nice time to revisit the film, especially if there are fans of this film out there who plan to rewatch this film in celebration of it´s 50 years anniversary release. Is this still a solid film after so many years or have Murder On The Orient Express aged a lot more than i expected?

In December 1935, famed Detective Hercule Poirot ( Albert Finney ) travels from Istanbul to London on the Orient Express. He see his old friend, Signor Bianchi ( Martin Balsam ), who is a director of the company that owns the rail line. Bianchi is determined to make sure Poirot´s journey on the Orient Express will be as comfortable as possible. When passenger Ratchett ( Richard Widmark ) is found dead who was stabbed twelve times, Detective Poirot begin to investigate the murder and looks for the suspect on board this train.

Since i have seen both this 1974 version and the 2017 remake it would be easy to discuss which film is the best considering both films have a really powerful cast. I personally prefer the 1974 film for a couple of reasons while i still enjoy the Kenneth Branagh remake. Let´s dive right in and talk about what makes Murder On The Orient Express from 1974 a great mystery film. First of all we can not deny this film have an incredible cast of legendary actors, there are so many legends here the list never seems to end when we see names like Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Michael York, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Perkins and many more. But the best part of this cast is that they actually give us some great character development, maybe not from every single one but most of them do. This helps the film while it is trying to build up the mystery aboard the train as you begin to think about what really happened. For those of us who have read the book may not be very surprised over the ending of this film, but i still feel that the mystery is well crafted in this film version. Since this film is focused on legendary detective Hercule Poirot we should talk about actor Albert Finney in the lead role. I enjoy his performance and i think he managed to balance the style and intelligence of Hercule Poirot in a solid realistic way. I honestly prefer actor David Suchet as Poirot ( at least that is my personal favourite performance of this legendary character ) but i do enjoy the acting effort from Albert Finney. The film looks really good thanks to cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth ( who also were the cinematographer on Stanley Kubrick´s classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey ). Of course worth mentioning is that this film is directed by legendary director Sidney Lumet ( director of the cult classic Al Pacino film Dog Day Afternoon, a must own in your film collection ) and it is not difficult to see why he is such a powerful director. He can capture emotions and atmosphere even in the most smallest places, he knows how to use camera techniques and make a powerful impact through the solid acting peformances. On a negative note i have to mention not every single passenger get questioned about the murder, you would think that would be something you would do to make sure you find the murderer. This is just a small detail i feel could have been fixed to make the investigation more interesting. If you love mystery films from the past with great majestic costume designs, beautiful locations and solid acting performances combined i have a feeling this 1974 film adaptation of Agatha Christie´s novel will please you. Who doesn´t want a murder mystery while travelling on a train? I know i would happily help out on that mystery.

Rating: DDD

40 Years Anniversay Review Of Children Of The Corn

I may have said this in the past but there is something very unique about the horror films of the 80´s. There are so many great titles and releases during this time period that if you would compare a lot of films back then to todays horror releases i guarantee a lot of modern horror films would fall flat compared to horror films of the 80´s. Back in those days they were much more creative, they could construct horror films in a completely different way and especially make iconic horror characters that people still love even today in a modern society. Just the fact that they couldn´t use CGI effects back then also forced them to use different techniques such as practical make up effects, different camera angles and sound effects to capture the right atmosphere for the horror film they were making. I actually miss a lot of this in modern horror films so i have a big love for horror films of the 80´s for making my childhood unique. I have told this story before but my very first horror film i watched in 1986 was A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 thanks to my grandmother Maj. She was the one who introduced me to horror films with Freddy Krueger and for that i am forever grateful. Since then i have pretty much seen all the horror classics of the 80´s ( i have not seen Nomads from 1986 with Pierce Brosnan i can admit that, but i promise it´s on my watch list ), at least if we are talking about 80´s horror films that are considered to be classics. So let us travel back to a specific year in 1984 when i was 7 years old at that time. In the year of 1984 a film adaptation was made by a short story written by horror author Stephen King and that short story was called Children Of The Corn. Directed by Fritz Kiersch this film started a really big horror franchise where basically children kill people out in the countryside among cornfields and small towns. Interesting concept for a horror film and i have seen the original film several times as well as the sequels. Since the film turned 40 years old this year i thought it would be interesting to revisit the film with a review. Is this still a solid horror film 40 years later or have Children Of The Corn aged more than i expected and lost it´s charm along the way?

In the small town of Gatlin, Nebraska, the town is run by cult leader Isaac ( John Franklin ) who have managed to recruit children all across town to kill all adults. Happily couple Burt ( Peter Horton ) and Vicky ( Linda Hamilton ) drive across Nebraska on their way to Seattle. While passing by a cornfield they manage to drive over a child who suddenly show up on the highway. Not knowing what to do they try to figure out a solution while Burt notice that the child´s throat was cut before the accident. While searching for help, the couple finds Diehl ( R.G. Armstrong ), an elderly mechanic and the last adult of Gatlin. He refuses them service, as he has agreed to supply the children with fuel in exchange for his life. Isaac´s helper Malachai ( Courtney Gains ) breaks the pact and murder Diehl after he tries to steer the couple away from Gatlin. Burt and Vicky are about to find out how bad the situation really is and have no other option than try to find a way out.

What i feel makes Children Of The Corn a true 80´s classic is the children in this film. It is not everyday you see a horror film where the children actually feel really creepy and in this film they manage to capture that feeling with some of the most terrifying children characters i have ever seen. Especially two of the characters and i will get to them later in this review. But let´s specifically talk about what makes this film unique when it comes to horror films in a smaller town. It is not very often where you see a film where children have taken over a whole town. They control the adults and run the whole town, and if any adult that have survived so far doesn´t do what they say they will be sacrificed. Just the thought of that mentality is really insane and clearly shows a pattern that reminds of something similar as an extreme religious cult, except here it is full of children. I personally feel that the religious cult pattern does matter in this film since it helps the horror elements become more effective. Sure, i can admit some of the special effects towards the end in the cornfield looks cheesy, i can accept it though since i know this film wasn´t made on a big budget. Now we have to talk about especially two characters that i feel really make this film work and let us begin with the children´s cult leader Isaac played by actor John Franklin. The powerful impact he makes in certain scenes can not be denied and i believe he is one of the reasons why this franchise have survived through his strong character. We also have to mention actor Courtney Gains as the killer Malachai, another character that really bring something special into this film with his brutality and have no mercy for anyone. Of course we have legendary actress Linda Hamilton here from The Terminator franchise, she´s completely fine from an acting perspective but i actually think the children in this film is the real power of the original film Children Of The Corn. As a horror film i feel that this film still holds up all these years especially thanks to the sickening behavior of the religious cult and the cornfield add some unforgettable scenes that still works even today. It is not one of the greatest classics based on a Stephen King short story but i feel this film still manage to find it´s rightful place within the 80´s horror classics. Director Fritz Kiersch have made a simple horror film and still manage to find the right tone to make it work in a small town out in nowhere. Children Of The Corn may teach us a lesson, never underestimate people in a small town or you might have your throat cut open. That actually sounds lovely indeed i might have to visit the town of Gatlin after all.

Rating: DDD

Furiosa - A Mad Max Saga

I sometimes wonder what the future will look like. Will we live in a future built with so much technology we barely have to do anything ourselves or will it all fall apart that we have to go back to living a life where we are forced to adjust and plant our own food, build our own homes to make a good living while society falls apart? Will the next generation of kids live in a society where we don´t have too much negative diversity between people and they can be respected for who they really are? Unfortunately the real world isn´t looking very good unless we really fight to change it. A lot of people believe that the apocalypse will happen at some point and nothing will ever be the same again. The normal life we used to have and the calm society some people are fortunate to live in will be forever gone and chaos is just a part of our ordinary lives. There are so many stories told of the apocalypse and how it could look. You have classic films such as the 1982 apocalyptic Italian action science fiction film 1990: The Bronx Warriors from legendary director Enzo G. Castellari ( the director of the original The Inglorious Bastards film ), that looks like a combination of the 1979 classic The Warriors combined with Escape From New York. This is a terrible film in some ways but it is entertaining to watch. It has cheesy cool characters, funny dialogue and real early 80´s music included, basically everything you need for a Friday pizza night with cold beers. Plenty of violence and i love the motorcycles with glowing skulls on the front, this is the kind of way you want to look driving around the Bronx. I suggest you pick up the DVD / Blu ray combo release of 1990: The Bronx Warriors from distribution company Blue Underground. This release have some lovely special features included on this release you wont get on the ordinary DVD release.. Speaking of apocalyptic films there are a lot of fans worldwide to the legendary Australian dystopian action film Mad Max from director George Miller. Released in 1979 with a young Mel Gibson in the lead role as Max Rockatansky, this is a great classic action film that not only looks great but also manage to portrait a very dark future. The sequel The Road Warrior is my personal favourite Mad Max film that i can rewatch every year. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is ok but definetely the worst film in the Mad Max franchise. In 2015 legendary director George Miller gave us Mad Max: Fury Road the best action film of that year with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. Perhaps the best action film in many years to be honest and is still just as good today. So here we are with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga that is a film focused on the character Furiosa in the Mad Max universe. I know a lot of fans of director George Miller was curious to see what he would do with this character Furiosa, considering this is not an official Mad Max film but belongs within that universe. Is this a action filmt that is almost as good as Mad Maz: Fury Road or is this film nowhere near as good as i was hoping it would be?

Decades after the apocalypse, Australia is a radioactive wasteland and the Green Place of Many Mothers is one of the last remaining areas of fresh water and agriculte. Raiders discover the Green Place while two children, Furiosa ( Alyla Browne ) and Valkyrie ( Dylan Adonis ), are picking peaches. Furiosa is kidnapped by Raiders but manage to signal her mother Mary Jabassa ( Charlee Fraser ). While Furiosa is being taken to the Raiders leader, Dr, Dementus ( Chris Hemsworth ) her mother is following the Raiders all the way to get her back. Her rescue operation doesn´t go as planned and Mary is captured by the Raiders and sacrificed infront of the eyes of Furiosa. Dementus keeps Furiosa as a slave while they scavenging the desert for fuel and supplies. Dementus manage to make a deal with Citadel warlord Immortal Joe ( Lachy Hulme ) that they will arrange supplies for Dr. Dementus and his men if he gets the girl and Smeg ( David Collins ), Dr. Dementus henchman. Furiosa is kept locked inside a vault with other women. One night Furiosa manage to escape while Rictus Erectus ( Nathan Jones ) is fooled by her. Not knowing where she is hiding she manage to hide dressed as a man within the city and just adjust herself doing work as everone else. As time goes by older Furiosa ( Anya Taylor-Joy ) is now a trained warrior and knows how to survive in the wasteland.

Ever since i saw the trailer of this film i was really excited, especially since i have always been a big fan of director Geroge Miller´s films in the past and i especially love the second Mad Max film known as The Road Warrior. Of course i knew that this film would not be about Mad Max so i accepted that, i don´t have a problem if you tell a story from the same universe as another character as long as you do it good. There are several good things to say about Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga that i feel makes this film entertaining to watch, especially if you like these kinds of apocayptic action films. But we also have some details i feel that i need to talk about that definetely felt disappointing for me personally. Let me take a moment and tell you what i felt worked with this film. Actress Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa is definetely the most physcial acting role i have seen her do so far in her career and i think she does a great job with this character. Not only does she manage to do a great physical performance but i also feel that she manage to give another approach of Furiosa as a younger woman compared to Charlize Theron´s performance in Mad Max: Fury Road. I personally prefer Charlize Theron as Furiosa without a doubt, but considering the pressure Anya Taylor-Joy must have felt knowing the Mad Max fan love the franchise and know they want a certain kind of style of George Miller films must have been a difficult challenge for her. Chris Hemsworth as the evil Dr. Dementus is a wild, fun performance that matches this insane world. I don´t know how to describe him but imagine if Boyzone singer Ronan Keating completely lost his mind in the desert being a ladies man, add a big beard, a well builded body and a big self loving personality and you pretty much have Dr. Dementus. There are some really fun action scenes in this film that reminds you of Mad Max: Fury Road and even feel like hints to the past of the Mad Max universe. I also think it´s interesting to find out Furiosa´s background story, how she became the warrior she becomes as an adult. Ok, so here we go regarding things i personally didn´t enjoy about Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. While there was CGI in Mad Max: Fury Road they use it even more in this latest Furiosa film. A problem with that is that some of the action scenes does not feel as effective as they did in Mad Max: Fury Road and this is a very important detail to make this film work. This is still a fun action film without a doubt but compare it to Mad Max: Fury Road but it becomes clear to me that this latest film in the Mad Max universe lacks the same energy and impact as the 2015 film. Some of the side characters are not really that interesting, they make look good by costume design but doesn´t really have much character development. I am fully aware some fans of Furiosa will disagree with me in this review and that´s ok i don´t take it personally, i just feel that Mad Max: Fury Road is a better film on so many levels. With that said i still enjoy Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga for being a fun apocalyptic action film that still show a crazy world with a lot of crazy characters. If you are a fan of the Mad Max franchise or apocalyptic films in general i think you might have a good time with this film. Director Geroge Miller still knows how to make action films in his own unique way and his latest film proves hes not too old to deliver cinema entertainment. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga may not be the best film from director George Miller but it definetely gives you a good time if you love misery, death, destruction and hate, which combined sounds like a perfect marriage to me. A film worth checking out for sure.

Rating: DDD

Road Wars: Max Fury

Say what you want about the well known film production company The Asylum but i happen to enjoy several of their films from the past. There are some really terrible ones i can admit that, but sometimes we get some fun releases that you know are going to be bad but in a entertaining way. I think by now alot of my readers over the years know how much i love the Sharknado franchise by The Asylum so let´t not talk about these films. Because if i start talking about my love for this franchise i will never stop, so i try to avoid it so you don´t think im insane. Instead i would like to take this moment to tell you what The Asylum film you should pick up on DVD that´s a personal favourite. The film i especially have in mind is the B horror movie known as Empire Of The Sharks from director Mark Atkins. This is a fun B movie shark film where it feels like a shark version of Waterworld combined with Mad Max. I also enjoyed a similar fim that director Mark Atkins also made called Planet Of The Sharks. Both films are worth checking out if you just want to enjoy fun shark movies. Speaking of director Mark Atkins he is very familiar with directing The Asylum films. Some of them are alright while some of the other ones could have been better. One of his films we may not hear much about these days is the apocalyptic action film known as Road Wars. This is kind a film clearly inspired by Mad Max on a very low budget but also combined a zombie ( or a vampire? ) story. I didn´t mind Road Wars for what it was trying to do, tell a simple story on survival out in the desert and it didn´t matter if you could tell the budget was limited. I liked the car design and i didn´t mind the costume design either. It´s probably not a film i would recommend over any Mad Max film but if you enjoy desert movies and especially low budget action films then you might enjoy this one. I had no idea that a sequel was coming out but i guess they wanted to time it well into the release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Story. So here we are with the sequel known as Road Wars: Max Fury a film directed by the same director as the first film. Is this sequel even better than the original film or is this a film no one will most likely remember after watching it?

In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, two sisters Naomi ( Chandni Shah ) and Greta ( Preet Kaur ) leave their stronghold to get medicine for their wounded mother Sarah ( Lindsey Marie Wilson ). Armed with limited ammo in an old car they head out into the wasteland to get the medicine they need.

If you expected this sequel to be the same as the 2015 film Road Wars i can tell you right now this film follows a similar pattern, with some differences of course. One big difference is that this sequel doesn´t have anything similar to zombies or vampires this time, and feels more like a rip off from the Mad Max franchise. Now, i am going to be completely honest. What made Road Wars function back in 2015 was thanks to having these so called zombie vampires included, because without them the film would not been that fun to watch. This sequel skip that part completely and tries to do a more traditional Mad Max similar story with a lot of desert scenes. If they would have made the action scenes well this could have worked, unfortunately this film doesn´t really try to do anything exciting with the action scenes and just make everything as predictable as possible. You can make a great action film set in the desert if you use the right tools and also include cool characters. Unfortunately this is one of the problems i see with this film, especially if we are talking about characters. Even if some of them have cool weapons and do act in battle scenes the character development isn´t very good. If you would have asked me:- Hey Daniel what characters from Road Wars: Max Fury did you enjoy? i probably would have answered:- Well, maybe two out of 10 characters. And when you have that many characters and can´t make the other ones work you do have a problem. So let´s get into the two characters i do feel work and let us begin with legendary actor Vernon Wells ( The Road Warrior, Commando ), playing the evil character Shane. Even if he doesn´t do any real physical action scenes ( which is completely fine ) you can tell Vernon at least deliver dialogue that matches his character. Actress Lindey Marie Wilson as the character Sarah is the coolest chick in this film with her airbow. How are the action scenes? Pretty much what you could expect from a low budget film like this. I think the biggest problem for me outside of the characters is that the story regarding survival doesn´t feel as dangerous as the first film did, that film at least showed a threat on a different level. Road Wars: Max Fury could have been a fun mockbuster of Mad Max if they improved some details and we are left with another The Asylum film that i am pretty sure won´t be remembered. Director Mark Atkins have made some fun The Asylum films in the past but i feel he missed the mark with this one. See this film if you enjoyed the first Road Wars movie but it´s nowhere near as good as any of the Mad Max films.

Rating: DD

Locked In My House

There are people out there who do not want complicated plots or original ideas, they prefer traditional TV movies that follow a certain pattern that are very easily constructed so you can easily enter the film without thinking too much. I can appreciate certain TV movies as long as they are good enough to be entertaining and i do believe there is a market for TV movies since not everyone likes movies that cost 200 million U.S. dollars. Back in the early 2000´s i actually had The Hallmark Channel on my digital box. I barely watched that many films on there since so many of them seemed so similar and the only ones i could appreciate were mostly western films. Since then a lot of things have happened and TV channels like Lifetime have gone in a different direction than Hallmark Channel and produced more criminal drama films, even some thrillers sometimes. I personally feel that Lifetime have managed to balance TV movies better than Hallmark Channel and actually made an effort to do something more interesting with a simple plot. Every film they release are not good but i do feel they have more powerful stories to tell compared to Hallmark Channel. Over the years on my movie review blog i have reviewed a couple of Lifetime movies even though i don´t look for all their releases. Sometimes i review one title just to mix it up a bit and perhaps please some of my readers who happen to be Lifetime fans. Sometimes i watched a Lifetime movie and didn´t even review it and that´s exactly what happened with a film called Safe Room from director Boris Kodjoe. This is actually one of my personal favourite Lifetime movies that i have seen, it reminded me of the 2002 thriller Panic Room with Jodie Foster except in Safe Room the mother Lila Jackson ( Nicole Ari Parker ) is not only trying to survive against criminals but have to make sure her autistic son Ian Jackson ( Nik Sanchez ) doesn´t struggle more with his diagnose. Too bad this film never had a physical DVD release because this is actually pretty good for being a Lifetime movie. Recently i went through a list of Lifetime movies that´s been released within the last couple of months and decided to review one title, just to give one of them a try and see if i would enjoy it. I picked the film Locked In My House from director Adrian Langley without knowing that much about the plot. Is this a TV movie that you probably will enjoy this summer or is Locked In My about as exciting as watching a grass field grow?

Caris Carter ( Natalie Brown ) is hoping to get pregnant by going to a very well known clinic getting help from Dr. Ryan Marrick ( Damon Runyan ) through IVF treatment. While she gets a health check from Dr. Ryan he touch her innapropriate and this causes Caris to feel sick and disgusted. She goes straight to the police station and let her partner know what happened to her. She get to speak to Detective Corali ( Conrad Coates ) who promise to look into Dr. Ryan and see if they can get more information from him. Caris finds out more women have gone through the same thing as her, and this is where she takes matters into her own hands.

While the 2022 Lifetime film Safe Room at least had some suspense and some interesting characters i feel that Locked In My House could have delivered something more than what we are served. Not saying this is a horrible film for being a TV movie regarding sexual assault because it is a very important topic that should be told, they just tell the story too soft and too polished. I think if you want to make an impact with such an important topic you should avoid polishing the surface too much, because then the subject itself doesn´t get the same impact as it may have if you tell the story more raw ( without showing any specific details ). The most interesting detail is when victim Caris Carter ( Natalie Brown from TV horror series The Strain, a must watch ) kidnap Dr. Ryan and keep him locked inside her basement. This is where i feel Locked In My House works best in the scenes where she tries making him confess his crimes. Not that she does it in a effective way but i would imagine she just decided to do anything she could to get his confession. I think if she would have been more violent towards Dr, Ryan, pushed him much more in certain scenes that would have helped Locked In My House be more interesting as a revenge film. I fully understand this would not help the fertility story anything but let´s be honest, that part of the story is lost very early in the film so i think they should have gone for a revenge story instead. Actress Natalie Brown is the best actor in the film and even though the performance may not be really strong it matches the character and that´s good enough for me. Actress Lora Burke from the independent horror film Lifechanger is not too bad either in this film. At the end of the day it feels like Locked In My House had potential to be an interesting revenge story but decides to go all over the place instead of focusing on that particular part of the story. Since this is a Lifetime movie i know it can´t be too violent, too bad it actually would have needed that. Director Adrian Langley directed the 2020 solid horror film Butchers that i enjoyed. His film Locked In My House looks good but should have been made to a more raw revenge story and not a softly polished female empowerment drama. A Lifetime movie i am pretty sure will be forgotten unless you are a fan of actress Natalie Brown.

Rating: DD

Arena Wars

One thing that TV show producers knows worldwide is to be able to hold good ratings you need a TV show that people would want to watch. For example in America one of the shows that had a lot of viewers is America´s Got Talent where people have a chance to show their talents no matter if they are good at singing, doing magic tricks, dancing or any other way to perform a number on stage. In Europe we do have similar shows but you also have some other TV shows that go in a different direction, especially when it comes to reality TV shows. Here in Sweden one very popular reality TV show is called Bonde Söker Fru ( Farmer Looking For A Wife ) that´s been going on for 16 seasons where the idea is that ordinary farmers living across Sweden get hand written letters from people who is looking for marriage with a farmer. It is like a softer version of the American reality TV show The Bachelor but it´s not about looks it´t more about a personal connection between two people. I am surprised myself how popular this reality show is still today, but clearly people enjoy watching people falling in love at a farm house. However, back in the 80´s they realised that we have to have a very cool show that everyone will turn on for sure, a TV show like no other where you never know what will happen. And that TV show is called The Running Man and takes place in a dystopian future, a game show where criminals have to try and survive in each episode from different armed mercenaries called "stalkers" to earn a government pardon and tropical vacation. This is taken from the 1987 classic sci fi action film The Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role as the character Ben Richards. What makes this film so special is the game show itself that you have to fight for survival while the audience watches. So even if you are killed the audience get to see everything live on TV, quite a bizarre scenario right? The film is directed by the creative film maker Paul Michael Glaser ( who also directed the odd 1996 family comedy Shazam with basketball legend Shaquile O´Neil ) and i think he did a really good job combining a futuristic look with a game show and at the same time almost making a violent satire of family weekend TV entertainment. Speaking of being very creative film makers i think we have seen for several years now that film producer brothers Sonny Mahal and Michael Mahal have managed to put out several entertaining films such as Attack Of The Uknown, Bridge Of The Doomed, Night Of The Tommyknockers and many more titles. This summer their latest release Arena Wars seems to be a futuristic action film with some similar ideas as The Running Man. Being a fan of previous films from producers Sonny Mahal and Michael Mahal i was curious to see what Arena Wars would bring to the table. Is this one of the best action films of this summer or is this not as good as i was hoping it would be?

In 2045 convicted criminals are given the oppurtunity to compete on the #1 televised sporting event known as Arena Wars. They must survive 7 rooms and 7 of their most vicious killers in the country. If they win they regain their freedom.

It comes to no surprise that Arena Wars might have been inspired by similar films such as The Running Man but i feel that this film manage to stand on it´s own. It doesn´t try to copy arena fighting films in the past but actually tries to upgrade it on a more modern level by using the right kind of characters to make the action scenes more effective. While you had unique characters in The Running Man i can definetely say that Arena Wars have taken a step in a different direction and really tries to capture the danger of this event with some of the most lethal characters we have seen in a long time. Just look at what kinds of weapons some of these characters use while fighting for survival combined with their fighting costumes. In some ways Arena Wars reminds me as well of the 1992 Cannon Group classic American Samurai with legendary martial art actors David Bradley and Mark Dacascos. In that film they also battle against each other inside an arena for survival with weapons and it becomes very clear that Arena Wars definetely tries to bring back that feeling of old school VHS violence we don´t see very often these days. Is there something specific that makes Arena Wars such a fun movie experience? I would say the violence is perhaps the part where the film find the right balance to make the audience entertained. The more violent the fighting scenes are the more Arena Wars manage to find it´s rightful place in a futuristic world where we love to see violence and murder. Let´s talk about the arena killers and my personal favourite evil character in this film is defintely Cutie Pie ( Maria Bova ). She feels like a futuristic version of Harley Quinn with som really lethal qualities. I also enjoy the chainsaw maniac Master Blaster ( Edward Stachyra ) who clearly likes to have a good time. When it comes to the other cast it´s really fun hearing TV hosts Samson and Moses played by legendary actors Michael Madsen and Robert Donavan presenting each battle. Robert LaSardo is in here of course from CSI: Miami and i do enjoy his performance as Perez. I have to mention John Wells as the tough character Luke Bender, he matches perfect as a convict and a fighter in this arena. There are several actors i could talk about but let´s get into one detail i feel didn´t feel as important for this film. There are some more dramatic dialogue scenes and i understand they were probably meant to capture the prison mentality. For me personally i prefer just pure action scenes in a film like this but i understand if you need to mix it up a bit. Director Brandon Slagle and the whole film crew give the audience an action feast with Arena Wars that´s especially made for fans of futuristic action movies. If you have good memories from your local VHS rental store in the 80´s and 90´s then i guarantee Arena Wars will lead you on a similar path.

Rating: DDD

Tarot

What if you could predict your own future or know what will happen to another person, would you want to know that? Personally? No thank you. I don´t need to know if i die in an accident or if something else will happen, whatever happens will happen for a reason and im pretty sure i can´t control that. If anyone else want to know their future from a fortune teller, a psychic or someone who is a tarot reader by all means i am sure they will help you. Since i mentioned tarot reader i have always wondered if tarot cards actually work. I am not planning to try them out myself but i do wonder how will these cards tell something about a person, and especially proof that they can tell the truth? I may never know but i am sure a tarot reader is convinced that the cards are telling the truth. Speaking of tarot cards there are some films that mention the use of tarot cards. One of the films that came to my mind is a film some of you might have seen at some point and that is the 1978 horror film The Manitou from director William Girdler ( director of the 1976 horror film Grizzly).  The Manitou was the final film from director William Girdler before he was killed in a helicopter crash in 1978 only 30 years old. The film tells the story of Karen Tandy ( Susan Strasberg ), who is suffering from a growing tumor on her neck. After a series of X-rays, two doctors, led by Dr. Jack Hughes ( Jon Cedar ), find evidence that it is a growing fetus. They advice Karen to undergo surgery to remove the tumor, she agrees despite some anxiety. Karen seeks the comfort of of an old friend fortune teller Harry Erskine ( Tony Curtis ). He is sure everything will be alright after the surgery is done, but have no idea what is growing inside of her is actually a 400-year-old Native American medicine man spirit. The Manitou is actually a solid horror film where the ending is a bit over the top but still entertaining. The tarot cards are actually included in some scenes but the film is more focused on the Native American medicine man spirit. If you have not seen it you should pick up a physical copy. Speaking of tarot cards this year we had a new horror film released called Tarot, a film that clearly wanted tarot cards to be the a big part of the plot of the film. I didn´t know much more than this since i have not even watched a trailer for the film and just saw the official poster ( which does look pretty cool honestly ). Being the big horror film fan that i am of course i had to give this film a chance. Is this one of the horror films you should be watching this summer or is Tarot just as bad as the 2008 album Slick Dog And Ponies ( where i can at least accept the song Tina ) from the San Diego band Louis XIV?

A group of college students, Haley ( Harriet Slater ), Grant ( Adain Bradley ), Paxton ( Jacob Batalon ), Paige ( Avantika Vandanapu ), Madeleine ( Humberly González ), Lucas ( Wolfgang Novogratz ), and Elise ( Larsen Thompson ) - rent a mansion in the Catskills for Elise´s birthday. With tension in the group following Haley and Grant´s recent breakup, they distract by having Elise read their horoscopes with the help of a very old Tarot deck she found in the basement. What they don´t know is that these cards will show what they must face before they are dead, that each character on their final card will be their final destiny.

Since i have been watching horror films since the 80´s i have seen so much that very few horror films these days either feel interesting or try anything interesting. Even though we have seen tarot cards being used in horror films in the past it is not very often we see a film focused on specific tarot cards and for that i have to say they at least have made an attempt to do something interesting with Tarot. I can´t really think of any horror film recently that is especially focused on unique designed tarot cards so this is an interesting detail. When i watched this film i was reminded of the 2001 horror film Thir13en Ghosts from director Steve Beck. In what way you might ask? Well in this film we are presented with different kinds of ghosts who kill victims in different ways. In the horror film Tarot we see something similar where each character on the tarot cards also kill each victim in different ways. Just to make it clear this doesn´t mean these two films are connected in any way but i can see it´s possible that the makers of Tarot might have been inspired by horror films such as Thir13en Ghosts. Ok so let´s talk about the positive things regarding this film. Each of the evil entity on each tarot card actually have a cool design, no matter if we are talking costume design or entity design i do appreciate the effort they put into making each evil character work. I actually feel like it is these evil characters that make the horror scenes work. The tarot card themselves are designed really cool and this is a important detail since the film is focused on the faith of these cards, since they can predict your future you know it might end badly. For being a PG-13 horror film i have to say some scenes are pretty effective considering how limited they are, they can´t show too much and can´t be too violent. So let´s mention the negative and i have to say the young characters of this film doesn´t really work that well. We don´t find out much about them or you won´t feel that you have to care for them. I think with stronger human characters this film could have been more interesting. Not saying all of the young actors are bad but clearly they didn´t put much effort telling us anything about their lives. Other than that i have to say im surprised since Tarot feels like a 90´s college horror film and it´s actually not a bad one. Considering the limited resources for PG-13 i have seen a lot worse than Tarot and that´s good enough for me. If you enjoy college horror films and don´t want too much blood or violence this could be what you are looking for. Directors Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg deliver a simple but effective horror film that shouldn´t be taken too seriously. I might have to change my mind and get myself tarot cards after watching this film, who knows i might be more lucky than i expected.

Rating: DDD

Calamity Jane

I am terrible at watching movies at premieres or close to a film is released. Those who know me personally knows it usually takes time for me to see brand new films and im ok with that. I feel no need to see a film as soon as it is released unless it´s been one of The Expendables movies. That is holy ground to me and i need to see them when they get a release date. The Expendables franchise is one of the most beautiful franchises ever created in film history and should be on physical copies in every single home. I did the same thing with every Sharknado film as well, i watched every single film as soon as it was released so sometimes a miracle does happens. If you have read my movie review blog for many years you might have noticed i take plenty of time and don´t review films as soon as they are released. I just pick out what titles i should review and it doesn´t matter if it was over 2 months ago the film came out. What matters to me is that my readers enjoy reading my reviews and so far i have not gotten any complains if im late with any reviews. So with that said, sometimes i like to pick titles that have been out for quite a while and still review them. I did that for example with 2022 horror film Shepherd ( which is really good by the way ) and is worth checking out. But let´s leave this subject for now and talk about women in western films. Women have been a part of western films ever since the beginning of western Hollywood films but mostly as side characters while legendary male actors as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Franco Nero have been cast as the main characters. That did change in the 1995 western film known as The Quick And The Dead from legendary director Sam Raimi. In this film you see actress Sharon Stone as the lead character Ellen, a female gunfighter who agree to be a part of a duel tournament run by the town´s mayor Herod ( Gene Hackman ). Every duel can only end one way, only one survivor can walk out. This is a really fun western action film where director Sam Raimi uses his very unique camera technique from his past of horror films and adapt it into the western genre. It may have been a box office flop when the film came out but this is one of my personal favourite western films of the 90´s. How many of you have heard of the 1953 western musical Calamity Jane? Well since then there have been several different movie versions based on the character of Calamity Jane, including the 1995 TV mini series Buffalo Girls where legendary actress Anjelica Huston plays Calamity Jane. I have heard about the latest movie version released this year and i decided to check it out. Is this latest film adaptation better than i expected or does it fall within the same trap as Hallmark forgettable releases?

After her husband Wild Bill ( Stephen Amell ) is killed in a poker game, Calamity Jane ( Emily Bett Rickards ) must break out of prison and seek revenge for the death of her husband. On her journey she must face her past as well as an outlaw.

Calamity Jane feels like a TV western movie you could watch at Lifetime, except in this film there is far too much violence and swearing than Lifetime would allow to show in one of their films. Still i would say this reminds you of a similar production where you can tell the budget is limited. I can tell you right away that Calamity Jane doesn´t try a different direction than most western films. It knows exactly what kind if audience it was aimed for and i do have a couple positive things to say and some critisism as well, So we might as well start talking about what i felt could have been better with Calamity Jane and i am a bit surprised that they didn´t research the costume design for this time period better. That doesn´t mean everything looks bad but you can tell that some of the clothes doesn´t really match with the time period. Of course this is not one of the most important details in a film, i just feel that if you are making a western film set within a certain time period in history you probably want to make it look like we are back to that time period where costume design helps making it work. Another detail i feel that this film does is have too much dialogue. If you want the lead female character to be cool as Sharon Stone was in The Quick And The Dead, you should have had more gun shooting scenes included. There are some shooting scenes with Calamity Jane that works, but i think this film could have been more fun if you really would have let her go even more wild. Ok so let´s get to the positive about this film and let me say actress Emily Bett Rickards ( who fans of TV series Arrow will recognice ) as Calamity Jane is the highlight of this film. Not saying the whole cast is bad but she´s one of the few characters that really stick out in this film. I do enjoy the performance of actress Priscilla Faia playing the crazy character Abigail, she actually help some scenes become more enjoyable with her screen presence. The film looks good and i do enjoy the cinematography from Jan Klompje ( who also did the cinematography on the 2016 western film Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story ). Since i have not seen any of the previous Calamity Jane film adaptations not even the one from 1953, i can only judge this film for what we are served. Since the 1953 film was more of a musical western film then this 2024 version definetely show a more serious adaptation of the character. As long as the violence is on and Calamity Jane get the opputunity to show her anger i feel this film have some good moments. In the end Calamity Jones may not give the main character the cool look she should have had but i still feel the film is a solid western film if you can accept a very simple story. Director Terry Miles have directed western films in the past and you can tell he loves this genre, Calamity Jane should please you if you enjoy traditional western stories.

Rating: DDD