The Painted

Something not that many people know in my private life is that my mother Lena painted several beautiful paintings, especially in the early 70´s. Even though i have not seen all of her paintings over the years i remember one specifically. It was a painting of Swedish nature around the city known as Skövde. She really captured a realistic look of nature surrounding this city and i have visited this city in the past, so i can remember where this painting was supposed to be located. The majestic trees and even a small details such as leaves was very well crafted in this painting. So in 1992 at the age of 15 i decided to try art class at my school. At first i struggled finding what  painting style would fit me, but then i noticed the art of The Netherlands painter Vincent Van Gogh in several art books and i was especially interested in his sunflower paintings. Before summer break of 1993 i finished a painting inspired by Van Gogh´s sunflowers and my art teacher was suprised how well i managed to capture the style on Van Gogh. My painting with other students at art class was included in a art school exhibition and it was a wonderful experience seeing your own painting beeing shown to visiting guests. I don´t know if you knew this but there are several horror films that includes the subject of art. It could be paintings, sculptures or even wood used to create art. One film i personally recommend is the 2015 psychological horror thriller Deep Dark from director Michael Medaglia. Deep Dark tells the story of non sucessfull art creator Hermann ( Sean McGrath ) who still lives in his mother´s home. He is informed he needs to leave since she will be renting his room out. Hermann manage to rent an apartment that his uncle owns. It is in this apartment where Hermann manage to create his most impressive art work yet, but his dark personal lifestyle will affect him. Deep Dark is a bit of a different film experience and should be appreciated by some people who loves art related stories, give this film a chance on VOD. One of the horror films this year i have been looking forward to see is the art inspired film The Painted, it´s not often we see horror films influenced by art. Is this a film that turned out to be better than i expected or is this a film you should skip at all cost?

Mother Evelyn Elster ( Aleksa Palladino ) is informed that her estranged cousin passed away and Evelyn inherits her fortune and her house as well. Evelyn move here with her husband Adam Elster ( Sean Bridgers ) and their two children. What this family doesn´t know is that in this house there is a unique painting that is cursed.

It might sound difficult to make a horror film that´s inspired by art combined with supernatural horror influences and make this combination work. Thankfully this film manage to find the right balance and especially make the art influences a very important detail connected to the plot. I will get into the art a little bit more later but i have to mention something i appreciate about this film. The fact that the story takes place in the late 1960´s and they actually capture the time period in a realistic way with family life during this time period as well as costume design and 1960´s home design. This is important to me personally that you make an effort to capture the time period in history, that you are trying to tell a story set in the past. The cast of this film does in general a good job with the acting, and i especially appreciate the chemistry between actors Aleksa Palladino ( perhaps mostly known for TV series Boardwalk Empire ) and Sean Bridgers ( you should check him out in the 2011 horror film The Woman, especially the Arrow Video blu ray release ) as the married couple Evelyn and Adam. I feel that these characters capture a realistic portrait of how marriage can be after many years while raising children. Speaking of the children i really appreciate the performance of actress Jessica Ruth Bell. Seeing this young woman break down by fear from the entity works pretty effective. The paintings coming to life is a very cool detail and especially the main painting transforming through the evil entity. The background story to the cursed main painting matches well with the plot. As a horror film i feel that The Painted manage to tell a classic paranormal story while making a positive impact with the art influences. Perhaps some of the horror scenes could have been more scary, but in general it works. Director Sasha Sibley proves that you can still make paranormal horror films with a different approach. The Painted will most likely be appreciated if you watch this film with  an open mindset.

Rating: DDD

Gunslingers

With such a modern world that we are living in it´s easy to forget about what really matters. Some might say that having many cars is the true joy in life or what set of golf clubs you own ( even though they were expensive as hell ). The way i view things is different because none of what i mentioned matters to me. I feel it is more important to appreciate the smaller things, such as Sunday dinner with family or having a drink in a pub with a good friend. Sure, i do have a big movie collection that i have gathered for many years, but at the end of the day my family and friends matter far more to me than any physical things. Sometimes when i look back in history and read about how life used to be, i can see why families spent more time together. Just look at the late 1800´s in America around the Gilded Age that started around the year of 1870. This was a time where some families got to experience immense wealth through big business, while other families had to struggle to survive through extremely hard work and rough working conditions. One imporant detail though during this time was the importance of having a solid family ground, spending time together even if times were rough and find ways to survive. I really enjoy watching western films in general that tries to portrait how life was in America during the late 1800´s. One film i feel should be mentioned more often when we discuss the genre of western is the 2015 film known as Diablo. Directed by Lawrence Roeck this film is actually a little bit different than other western films that turns into a psychological thriller. This film have a great cast with Scott Eastwood ( son of Clint Eastwood ) and especially a great performance by actor Waltor Goggins ( mostly known from TV series The Wire ). Diablo is beautiful filmed western and the twist towards the end is a nice surprise, worth a rent on VOD. I always look forward to check out western films and one movie poster of Gunslingers caught my attention. A good cast and a cool title for this genre? I decided to rent this film on VOD and give it chance. Is this the perfect western film to end this summer or is this far more terrible than i expected?

In a town named Redemption, reformed gunslinger Thomas Keller ( Stephen Dorff ) and mad genius Ben ( Nicolas Cage ) are guided by spiritual leader Jericho ( Costas Mandylor ) towards vindication. While confronting their violent histories, their newfound peace is challenged by violence and revenge.

Oh boy, i have to talk about something for a moment that´s definetely the worst part of Gunslingers and that is the performance of Nicolas Cage as the Bible loving character Ben. The voice of this character sounds hillarious on so many levels, and the acting? Let´s just say that this is worse than his performance in the horror film The Wicker Man. I have seen Nicolas Cage do classic performances in films such as Wild At Heart and Leaving Las Vegas ( i even enjoyed his performance in the 2011 medieval horror film Season Of The Witch ), so to see him do a performance as bad as in Gunslingers is just sad. You might ask yourself does this western have any redeeming qualities at all? I would say that the best part of this film is the actual gun battle scenes and let me tell you, they shoot down a lot of people in Gunslingers. That is something we don´t see often in more modern western films so that was a positive surprise. When it comes to acting in general i would say only a few characters stand out. The main character Thomas Keller ( played by actor Stephen Dorff, yes the vampire leader Deacon Frost in the 1998 classic action horror film Blade ) reminded me of classic western characters, doesn´t say too much and is focused finding his kidnapped wife. Stephen have a certain charm in this genre and even if i have seen him do better acting, i do feel he helps this film get back on track for a bit. Actress Heather Graham have some enjoyable scenes, but she should have had more screen time honestly. One big issue with Gunslingers is that the character development is not good. We don´t find out much at all about any character really, and in a western film you expect at least some kind of character development. Gunslingers could have been a fun experience, unfortunately we are left with a forgettable western film. Director Brian Skiba once directed the awful action film Pursuit with John Cusack and Gunslingers is definetely a better film than Pursuit, but that´s not enough to make this a good western film.

Rating: DD

Vacation Ends, Back To Writing New Reviews

Greetings everyone!

I hope you all enjoy summer so far and had some fun moments. The reason why i have not published anything lately is because i had 3 weeks of vacation and decided not to write anything during these weeks to just enjoy summer in general. So this month there will be reviews published but not as many as you may be used to see me write. I have not exactly decided how many i should publish this month but there will be a couple at least. 

I have decided one thing though and that is that i will only write only movie reviews of horror films in the entire month of October, considering that Halloween is during that month. So if you are a big horror fan then the month of October will be something to look forward to, where i will review horror films in several different genres. Thank you all for reading my reviews worldwide, this blog exist thanks to my readers and i appreciate you all. See you soon with some fresh reviews and enjoy the remaining time of this summer. 

Cheers from Daniel 

Finding Nicole

Women all over the world have a lot of struggles to go through. We have female politicians who constantly get attacked just because they are women and ( according to some men ) should not be allowed to be politicians. We also have women who are constantly seen as nothing more than sexual objects, that their voices doesn´t matter while they are hard working women trying to do the right thing to make a positive society. We also have a lot of women who unfortunately are victims of different kinds of abuse, where men have no respect at all for any women and basically use them for their own pleasures. It´s a sick world we are living in where women have to fear for their lives, when they should be able to live a normal life without being worried or not knowing if they will survive. If we for example look at statitics for domestic abuse in the UK we have facts that says that 26% of women aged 16-59 report having experienced some kind of domestic abuse as adults. 15% of men report the same. When you read these numbers of statitics for domestic abuse you realise how bad it really is. Speaking of this subject, perhaps some of you remember the 1991 psychological thriller drama Sleeping With The Enemy from director Joseph Ruben ( director of the 1987 classic thriller The Stepfather with brilliant actor Terry O´Quinn ). Sleeping With The Enemy tell the story of librarian Sara ( Julia Roberts ) who fakes her own death from a sailing boat to escape from her abusive husband Martin ( Patrick Bergen ). At first Martin tries to accept that she is dead, until he finds proof that she escaped to the town Cedar Falls, Ohio. Martin travel there to bring back his wife to him, no matter what she feels. Sleeping With The Enemy is a solid thriller that shows domestic violence in a marriage and i have to say Patrick Bergen is really good as the abusive husband. A film worth watching on streaming. Recently i had an oppurtunity to watch director Harley Wallen´s latest film Finding Nicole, a film based on the true story of domestic abuse victim Nicole Beverly. Director Harley Wallen have directed several quality films in the past. Is this one of the better drama films this year or is Finding Nicole not as good as i was hoping it would be?

Nicole Beverly ( Kaiti Wallen ) thought she would have a good life with her two children and her husband Warren Beverly ( Mari. G ). But everything is falling apart thanks to her abusive husband who even threaten to kill her and their children. Nicole have no option, she has to fight for her rights, her life and the safety of her children.

It becomes very clear that Finding Nicole is a very emotional film that captures a realistic view of how a woman can suffer in a domestic abusive relationship. All the punches the main character Nicole have to recieve, death threats on both her and her children as well, where she also is forced to have sex, all of this is very difficult to witness as a viewer. Knowing that this is something that happens every single day to women all over the world, where some of these women will never be heard ( some of them might end up dead ). I have not read the book about Nicole Beverly that this film is based on, so i don´t know how much of this book is told within the film. When it comes to acting i have to say this film is filled with powerful performances. Actress Kaiti Wallen who plays the main character Nicole Beverly, she really digs deep into her portrait of Nicole Beverly. You can feel her pain through her facial expressions and the sadness through her own words. To be honest this is the strongest acting performance i have seen actress Kaiti Wallen deliver in her career so far. Actor Mari G. who plays Nicole´s abusive husband Warren Beverly reminded me of legendary actor Patrick Bergen´s abusive character Martin in the 90´s classic Sleeping With The Enemy. Both of these men have deeply disturbing behavior towards women and are addicted to control their partners. Mari G. manage to capture the personality of domestic abuser in a realistic way. Actress Shawntay Dalon who play Nicole´s attourney Shonda Wright, Esq have some court scenes that are especially really powerful together with actor Sean Whalen. Wonderful actress Debra Lamb have no problem delivering a solid performance as Nicole´s mother Susan. Finding Nicole does not only tell the story of Nicole Beverly, this film will make female victims worldwide feel a connection and a chance to finally be taken seriously after many years of abuse. Director Harley proves once more what an excellent director he really is with beautiful camera angles and knows how to tell stories that will affect you. Finding Nicole will touch your heart, a film everyone needs to see to fully understand victims of domestic abuse.

Rating: DDDD                           

Clown In A Cornfield

There are some memories we may remember from our childhood that we will never forget, no matter how many years have gone by. I can still remember when i was 6 years old back in 1983 when my mother took me to a circus show in my hometown. This was a true old fashioned circus with elephants, acrobats, a magician, a jongleur and other circus performers. One of the things i will never forget at this circus show was two clowns doing their number. It wasn´t the performance itself it was more about their creepy clown make up that made me feel uncomfortable. At that time i didn´t tell my mother why these clowns creeped me out, they just had this clown face that looked completely different than the usual clown face. After this circus visit i didn´t return to another circus show, i put my focus on watching The Incredible Hulk, Thundercats, G.I. Joe and other VHS cartoon tapes at our local VHS rental store. Let´s move forward to the year of 1991 when i bought my copy of the TV mini series of Stephen King´s IT on VHS. When this TV mini series hit VHS shelves everyone was talking about Pennywise The Clown ( played by actor Tim Curry ) and was one of the biggest horror selllers on VHS that year. Based on the novel by horror author Stephen King, IT begin in the American town Derry, located in Maine. The year is 1960 and George Denbrough ( Tony Dakota ) playing on a street with a paper sailboat during a heavy rainstorm. The paper sailboat goes down a storm drain, where George meet Pennywise The Dancing Clown ( Tim Curry ) in the drain opening. Pennywise trick George to reach for his boat while killing him. George older stuttering brother, Bill Denbrough ( Jonathan Brandis ) had no chance to save his little brother and is filled with anger and guilt. Bill and his astmatic friend Eddie Kasprack ( Adam Faraizl  ) put together a club of children who feel like outcasts, calling themselves The Losers Club, where they together face Pennywise The Dancing Clown. Stephen King´s IT from 1990 is a true TV mini series classic and Tim Curry as Pennywise is absolutely brilliant. You should see this 3 hour film on streaming or physical media. Speaking of clowns early this year i watched the trailer for the slasher horror film Clown In A Cornfield. This film looked like fun, who does not want to meet a clown with a chainsaw out in a cornfield? Based on the book ( with the same title as this film ) by author Adam Cesare, is this a must watch this summer or is Clown In A Cornfield a big disappointment?

Student Quinn Maybrook ( Katie Douglas ) relocates to the small town of Kettle Springs, where her father Dr. Glenn Maybrook ( Aaron Abrams ) has taken a new job as the town´s new doctor. The Maybrook´s relationship is strained following the death of her mother, Samantha. As the town of Kettle Springs begin to celebrate 100th Founders Day Festival, they are about to face the local legend Frendo The Clown.

This might shock some horror fans what i am about to say but this is my personal opinion. Clown In A Cornfield is a better slasher horror film than the entire Scream franchise. I have never been a true Scream fan at all and i never really liked the mask design of Ghostface. Don´t get me wrong i love some of legendary horror director Wes Craven´s classic films such as The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Serpent And The Rainbow and Wes Craven´s New Nightmare, but  i couldn´t feel connected to the characters in the Scream franchise or the main killer Ghostface. I am really surprised how good the young cast is in Clown In A Cornfield and this is something you don´t see very often in this specific horror genre. In the 80´s and the 90´s we were used to see dumb young people mostly making stupid desicions in slasher horror films. We have a couple of young dumb people as well in Clown In A Cornfield, but surprisingly the lead female character Quinn ( played really good by actress Katie Douglas, also worth watching in the 2024 thriller Lazareth ) is way cooler than i expected her to be. She have such a likeable personality and screen presence that this is exactly what this film needed to be more entertaining. The majority of the cast does a great acting performance in this film, and for once im so happy to see a slasher horror film with good characters that matches the plot. We have to talk about the clown of known as Frendo The Clown and i had a really good time watching Frendo killing people with different weapons. The clown mask looks alright and there are some really brutal kills in Clown In A Cornfield . Thankfully this film have a good sense of humor and i love the fact that this all takes place in a small ordinary American town. The plot is nothing out of the ordinary but works well thanks to the characters. I might be saying this too early this year but in the category slasher horror i will say this is my favourite film in this category, for this year so far. Director Eli Craig ( director of the horror comedy classic Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil ) deliver one a hell of a good time with Clown In A Cornfield, a film that looks really good considering the low budget and gives slasher horror fans exactly what we need. I really hope we get a sequel, i get the feeling Frendo The Clown have not stopped to party...yet.

Rating: DDDD

Havoc

Whenever i am in a discussion with a movie fan about martial art action films i always recommend a couple of films that you need to see. Films that may not hit cinemas worldwide but become popular on physical media instead. For example you have to see the film Ninja - Shadow Of A Tear with action star Scott Adkins, the sequel to his 2009 action classic Ninja ( also worth watching ). What made Ninja - Shadow Of A Tear such a worthy pick is because of the fighting scenes, they are not only really well made but you can almost feel the kicks and the punches. In my opinion this is one of the best Scott Adkins film so far. I would also recommend the 2019 martial arts action film Triple Threat with an incredible cast such as Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Tiger Chen, Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Michael Bisping and Celina Jade. There are plenty of cool fighting scenes in this film and action scenes looks good as well. Since i mentioned Iko Uwais recently he have done two of the best martial art action films in the last 20 years with the Indonesian films The Raid and The Raid 2. Luckily both of The Raid films did get a cinema release and i can happily say these are two of my personal favourite martial art action films in many years. I can promise you that you will not find many martial arts action films more violent than The Raid and The Raid 2, they are on a completely different level than most martial art action films with some extremely hard hitting scenes. If you have not seen these films buy them on digital or physical media ( unless you rent them on VOD ), they are definetely worth being a part of your movie collection if you love physical media. The director of The Raid movies Gareth Evans ( who also directed the very well made Netflix gothic horror film Apostle, a must see ) have been working on an action film called Havoc with actor Tom Hardy. The film was finished back in October of 2021, but the studio decided that the film needed reshoots, which were delayed until July 2024 due to scheduling conflicts and the SAG-AFTRA strike. Considering that i am a fan of director Gareth Evans and actor Tom Hardy is it possible that Havoc is better than i expected or is this film a disaster from start to finish?

A gang of thieves, consisting Charlie ( Justin Cornwell ), Mia ( Quelin Sepulveda ) and two other members, steal a batch of washing machines that contains a hidden shipment of cocaine. They are pursued by a group of narcotics squad detectives, where one of them Cortez ( Serhat Metin  ) is badly wounded during the chase and hospitalized. Later that night, Charlie and Mia take the stolen cocaine to Tsui ( Jeremy Ang Jones ), the head of the local Triad. While they are still there, a gang of masked people storm inside and kill everyone they can including Tsui, while Charlie and Mia manage to escape. Homocide Detective Patrick Walker ( Tom Hardy ) finds out that Charlie and Mia are witnesses to the shootout and need their testimony. But things are about to become even more complicated when Tsui´s Mother ( Yeo Yann Yann ) demands revenge on her son´s death.

The easiest way to describe a film such as Havoc is to say that this is like the police version of the 2020 Netflix action film Extraction with Chris Hemsworth. Plenty of action scenes and of course slim looking gun shooting battles. This is a very basic film that knows exactly what audience it was made for and does not take many chances at all. The plot is very simple, the characters we have seen in plenty of police action films in the past and the acting is not anything out of the ordinary. What makes this film work is that it´s effective as a throwback to the 80´s films ( i was reminded of the 1989 classic Black Rain with Michael Douglas ) thanks to really violent and good looking action scenes from director Gareth Evans. For example the city night scenes looks beautiful with bright colors while we get to experience a very violent street life, it all matches well considering the underground world of drug dealers. Main actor Tom Hardy is known for delivering good performances in the past, while he may not be as effective in the Venom films. I think he finds his place here in Havoc as the character Walker, a man who have experienced a rough life and know how to deal with criminals. I would´t go as far and say his acting performance is solid, i would say it works for his character since it´s not a complicated one. Legendary actor Forest Whitaker have no problem delivering dialogue in his own unique way while actress Yeo Yann Yaan´s character "Mother" is the most fascinating character of Havoc. I think it´s fair to say that Havoc doesn´t care about what is trending on TikTok, this is a film that wants to stay old school to the generation of VHS videostore violence. Anything negative about Havoc? If you are expecting something similar to the martial arts The Raid franchise then this may not be what you are looking for. If you just want guns, violence and appreciate a simple plot then Havoc will propably save your Netlix movie night. Havoc proves that the action genre is still alive and doing well.

Rating: DDD

The Windigo

In many different cultures around the world you have folklore creatures that people believe still exist or may have existed in real life. For example in Portugal you have the mythical monster called El Cucuy ( also known as Coco ) and this monster that is also mentioned in Mexican folklore as well. El Cucuy is described as a shapeshifter, also described as a hairy monster that hides in closets or under beds who eats children that misbehave when they are told to go to bed. The very first time i heard about this monster was back in the early 2000´s when i was reading a book about different folklore creatures. I still remember the picture of El Cucuy in this book and it definetely looked creepy. I can´t remember the book title but im sure there are several books that tell you about the folklore of El Cucuy, if you want to know more about this specific creature and others as well. In the year of 2018 ( not that long ago ) there was a SyFy TV horror film released called Cucuy - The Boogeyman from director Peter Sullivan ( who have directed a lot of TV films and the Netflix thriller Fatal Affair ). This film tried to combine the folklore story El Cucuy while being a pretty basic American horror film. Best part of this this film is without a doubt the Cucuy monster and the design of this creature. As a horror film it´s ok but nothing you will remember after you have seen it. If you just want to watch a simple horror film then Cucuy - The Boogeyman might be something you may apprecite. Speaking of folklore creatures how many of have heard of the Windigo ( also spelled Wendigo or Wiindigoo )? If you have not heard about the Windigo it is acccording to Algonquinan-speaking people in North America described as a folklore cannibalistic monster, associated with starvation, greed, and the dangers of selfishness and isolation. During spring this year i noticed a horror film called The Windigo, a film that would include the indigenous folklore creature. Since i am a big fan of horror films in general and appreciate folklore stories by different cultures this sounded like something i might enjoy. Is this a film you should add to your watch list or is The Windigo not as good as i was hopened it would be?

Brother Ry ( Marco Fuller ) and his sister Bree ( Fivel Stewart ) are attacked out in the wilderness by hillbillies where they physically harm Ry. Being a shy young man with a lot of personal issues he finds away to revenge these hillbillies by bringing the creature The Windigo back to life.

Since im not a part of the indigenous people i can only speak about the film itself and share my opinon. The Windigo is a mixture of a revenge horror and folklore horror that reminded me of horror films such as the 2019 Indonesian film Impetigore. These films may have completely different plots from each other, but what they do have is a strong connetion to folklore history and the importance of family traditions. The main story is very simple, a family travel to visit their Grandmother ( played by Native American actress Casey Camp-Horinek who you might recognize from the Netflix TV series The Last Airbender ) to check up on her living by herself in the forest. Where this film becomes interesting is when we see the Windigo creature be summoned back to life and i have to say the creature design is pretty cool indeed.  You can sense that this creature is very feared by the indigenous people while they also have a lot of respect for the creature itself. I feel that this film manage to bring up the important subject of revenge while delivering some brutal attack practical make up effect scenes ( i really appreciate they decided to use practical effects ). If you revenge on those who hurt you physically do you dare to cross over the line, or would you lose control and cause even more damage than before? The bullied character Ry ( played by Native American actor Marco Fuller ) is someone im sure a lot of people can relate to, a nice guy who is easy to attack because hes a shy young man carrying a lot of anger. Marco manage to portrait a young man with all of these emotions while losing control, becoming an easy target for The Windigo to use his physical body. Indigenous actress Tonantzin Carmelo and Native American actress Fivel Stress both deliver solid performances. The Windigo is a creature feature horror film that respect the history of the indigenous people while giving us a chance to learn about indigenous folklore. This is a good looking horror film from director Gabe Torres that will be appreciated if you enjoy monster films in general. It is nice to see that folklore horror films are alive and tell stories from different cultures, The Windigo will hopefully make people interested learning about indiegnous history.

Rating: DDD