Send Help

Let´s be honest for a moment. The world of horror would have never been the same without iconic horror director Sam Raimi if he never created the Evil Dead franchise. The Evil Dead, the cult low budget horror film released in 1981 turned out to be one of those horror films that inspired so many low budget director´s. Even until this day you can hear both director´s and film producers talking about how influenced they were making low budget horror, thanks to the work of director Sam Raimi. I can totally understand why since this film looked really good, considering only having a budget around 375.000 U.S. dollars. Ok, i will admit that the practical make up effects in this film might look a little bit silly today, but we are talking about a horror film released in 1981 and a lot have improved since then. A young actor Bruce Campbell proved himself in this film, that he was something special among the characters in The Evil Dead. The sequel Evil Dead II - Dead By Dawn ( my personal favourite in the Evil Dead franchise ) turned out to pretty much me a remake of the first film but with even more brutal kills, even more slapstick humour, and so much blood that it becomes hillarious. Director Sam Raimi returned to direct, taking iconic horror actor Bruce Campbell back in his role as Ash. Evil Dead II is without a doubt one of the craziest horror comedies of the 80´s and in my opinion a masterpiece. This is still my favourite Sam Raimi film until this day, even if i really do enjoy Army Of Darkness. Since then director Sam Raimi have directed several other great films such as Darkman, The Quick And The Dead, A Simple Plan, The Gift, three different Spider-Man films and of course his return to horror in the 2009 film Drag Me To Hell. The one thing that director Sam Raimi always been really good at, is mixing horror and comedy together. And this is exactly what he seems to be doing in his latest film called Send Help. I was supposed to see this film in cinema ( that was the plan at least ), i ended up watching it on Disney + instead. Is this another delightful film from director Sam Raimi, or have he taken on a story that he should have left at the writing board instead?

Linda Liddle ( Rachel McAdams ) is a very hard  devoted worker, she is working as a strategist for a financial management company. She have been promised a promotion from her CEO, until the son of the CEO named Bradley Preston ( Dylan O´Brien ) one day takes over his father´s company. Linda finds out her promotion will not happen, since Bradley have decided to give the promotion to recently hired Donovan Murphy ( Xavier Samuel ). Linda is not happy and confront her new boss Bradley about her promised promotion. Bradley makes a suggestion, that she can go with them to Bangkok, Thailand to prove that she can finalize a company merger. The plane crash on the way unfortunately, only leaving two survivors, Linda and Bradley, on a deserted island. They will have to try and adjust themselves to survive.

Imagine if you combined the reality TV show Survivor and mix it with the 2000 drama film Cast Away with Tom Hanks, and you basically have an the combination of what Send Help looks like. One of the things though that we do find in this film as well, is the classic brutality of Sam Raimi films of the past. As a big fan of films of his past i expected to see Sam Raimi go back to his classic ingredients, and in certain scenes i do feel he manage to bring that cinema magic back to the big screen. There are a few brutal kill scenes ( especially towards the hog killing scene ) where it really feels like Evil Dead brutality, but then the film go in a completely different direction and becomes much softer. I can understand why director Sam Raimi wanted to do something different with this story, and do something that feels more like a Robinson Crusoe inspired story. He have done a lot of different kinds of films, and i would imagine sometimes you get fed up just sticking to gory horror scenes only and actually want to tell a story. Speaking of story, you do feel bad for the lead character Linda Liddle ( played really well by actress Rachel McAdams ). She might be very nerdy and not dress modern, but she have a big heart and mean well. There are certain scenes that are actually difficult to watch, because how terrible certain people bully her. So to seer her become a true fighter on this deserted island located in Thailand is a fun idea. Especially since her surviving boss Bradley ( also played well by actor Dylan O´Brien from The Maze Runner trilogy, all three films are worth a watch ), who is a complete ignorant asshole. The survival story on the island is something we have pretty much seen before, but it is the screen chemistry between actors Rachel McAdams and Dylan O´Brien that makes this film work ( outside of the gory scenes ). Is this a future classic by legendary director Sam Raimi? I still prefer the Evil Dead films plus Darkman over his latest film, but i do enjoy Send Help and can easily recommend it, streaming on Disney +. Nice to see that you can still make a solid survival horror thriller, while having some fun in there as well. Send Help should do the trick if you want something easy to digest.

Rating: DDD

The Stickman´s Hollow

I have a female friend in my hometown Uddevalla named Maria, i actually met her through my work in health care back in the early 2000´s. When i got to know her really well i found out she loves horror movies in many different cartegories. So we used to have horror movie nights in my apartment, where we would rent DVD´s downtown of horror films that looked interesting. But she did have one rule, no found footage horror films. She hated that category while i enjoyed some films in this genre. So, whenever i wanted to watch a found footage horror film Maria always told me:- You will be watching that one without me. I was completely fine with that since she liked most horror films in general. I have not seen her for many years unfortunately, probably because she moved to a complete different city with her fiancee, far away from where i live now. But we did have a lot of enjoyable horror nights together that i always will remember. Found footage horror films have followed with me for many years, and there are several titles i could easily recommend. Instead of going through a whole list, let´s just dive into one specific title for a moment. My recommendation for a found footage horror movie would be, the 2014 horror film known as The Taking Of Deborah Logan. This film is directed by Adam Robitel ( who horror fans might recognize the name since he directed the sequel Insidious: The Last Key ). The Taking Of Deborah Logan tell the story of Deborah Logan ( played by actress Jill Larson ), an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer´s disease who have a film crew filming her, filming her condition and what changes she goes through with her disease. As the film crew capture more footage of Deborah´s behavior they notice some unexpected changes. The Taking Of Deborah Lamb was one of the better horror films of the year 2014, and i love it just as much today. One of the better found footage horror films that i can remember, highly recommended picking up on physical media. One found footage horror film i have wanted to see since early this year is a film called The Stickman´s Hollow. The reviews were pretty positive, and the plot looked interesting as well. I decided to rent this film on VOD and give it a chance. Is this a solid horror choice for true fans of horror, or is The Stickman´s Hollow not as good as i was hoping it would be?

A family travel out into the wilderness to enjoy a family holiday together. As they spend their first night out in these woods, they are about to find out that this is no ordinary hunting ground.

When you make a found footage horror film on a very limited budget, to make the audience fascinated you have to be creative and tell an interesting story. Since you are not supposed to use CGI effects and everything is supposed to portait a certain event on camera, this is where you have to prove yourself as a film maker. I have to say director Jack Cox manage to make this film far more interesting than what i expected. If some of you remember the 2013 found footage horror film Mr. Jones, i could proabably say that The Stickman´s Hollow reminds me of that film a little bit, but still have a completely different plot. Mr. Jones managed to capture the mystery surrounding strange symbols and wooden figures, and this is something that we will find in The Stickman´s Holllow as well. Let´s be clear though that both of these films have not much else in common, just in case you happen to be a huge fan of Mr. Jones and was hoping for something similar. The Stickman´s Hollow is divided into different chapters, where each chapter is connected to why certain specific locations have a important meaning to a young possessed girl. I like that the film is divided into different chapters, makes you think a litle bit more than just being served the entire plot. The acting in general is alright and i can´t really complain about some of the performances. The best part of this film is where the most effective horror scenes kick in, and they actually deliver. You also later find out how these symbols are connected to the story, and i love the design of these wooden figures ( especially the biggest one ). Director Jack Cox manage to find the right tone towards the end of this film, making it a creepy anthology horror film. Nothing original or any surprising twists, still i feel that The Stickman´s Hollow deserve some respect for actually making an effort to bring back this genre on the right path. This is a difficult genre to succeed with and this film proved that it´s still possible. Worth a watch on VOD if you also enjoy the genre of found footage horror films.

Rating: DDD

Marty Supreme ( Blu ray review )

No matter what you are doing at this very moment, grab yoursself a cup of fresh brewed coffe, or a fresh cup of tea and let us go back to the year of 2019. That´s not that long ago right? Very true, but there is a very good reason to why this year is very important, especially in the subject known as movies. This was the year when director´s  Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie brought us one of the best films of that year, that was actually released on the streaming service Netflix. If you don´t know what film i am talking about, i can tell you that it is the powerful Netflix drama known as Uncut Gems. Now, if you have read my reviews over the years you may have seen i have been critical to some Adam Sandler films, for a very good reason. Some of his streaming comedies on Netflix have been pretty terrible, except that i enjoyed his 2024 space drama Netflix film Spaceman. But it´s still nowhere near as good as Uncut Gems is, the best film Adam Sandler have ever done in my opinion. Uncut Gems tell the story of Howard Ratner ( played by Adam Sandler ), a Jewish-American jeweler and gambling addict who must retrieve an expensive 2008 NBA Championship ring he purchased, in order to pay off his debt. Uncut Gems is a perfect example of how dangerous it is being a gambling addict, or addicted to making money in general where you don´t have any limits. Howard Ratner may be a character in a script, but there are so many people out there struggling with gambling addiction as this character does. Adam Sandler is absolutely brilliant in the lead role and the film looks so gorgeous. This is my personal favourite streaming film on Netflix so far and i have probablu watched it 10 times since it came out. There is actually a really good 4KUltraHD release of Uncut Gems from the distrubution company Criterion Collection. One of the director´s of Uncut Gems, the man known as Josh Safdie, released his own film Marty Supreme last year with critical praise and being nominated at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards and the 98th Acadamey Awards. I was supposed to see this film in cinema late last year, but somewhere a long the way those plans were changed. So, to prepare for this review of Marty Supreme i decided to get a physical blu ray copy from the UK ( since this film is not coming out on physical media until June 9th here in Sweden ). Being such a critically acclaimed film worldwide, is Marty Supreme as good as many films critics have been saying or is this just a waste of your precious time?

In New York City in 1952, Marty Mauser ( Timothée Chalamet ) works as a shoe salesman in his uncle Murray Norkin´s ( Larry "Ratso" Sloman ) shop while also competing profesionally as a table tennis player. Marty dreams of winning the British Open to bring American attention to the sport. He also pitches selling orange "Marty Supreme" novelty table tennis ballsto his friend Dion Galanis ( Luke Manley ) and his father. But the journey to reach his goal to have a successfull career within table tennis comes with many challenges, queston is if Marty is prepared to sacrifice everything to reach to the top?

I know that last year there were many film critics calling this film as ome of the best of the year of 2025. My personal opinion is, i don´t think it´s that brilliant. I do think this film holds some really solid levels of quality, especially when it comes to the acting, the costume deisgn and some really effective dialogue scenes. But best film of 2025? I personally feel that i would have probably chosen the Netflix horror film Frankenstein over this one if im being completely honest. Of all films to compare between, why compare Frankenstein to Marty Supreme? One of the biggest issues with Marty Supreme is that the story is all over the place. And even if Frankenstein is a very classic tale that have been told in many different film adaptations, i feel that this version proved to be the most powerful adaptation so far. Director Guillermo del Toro proved with Frankenstein you can make a classic story, tell it slightly different than before and still make if feel so fascinating. I can sort of understand why Marty Supreme needs to be told the way the story is developed, because there are some parts that´s actually really good. But the table tennis scenes is where this film lost me a little bit. Never been interested in table tennis ( even though i have played some back in the early 90´s with school friends ), and even if the table tennis scenes looks good from a technical camera perspective, this is still a sport that i never really cared about. Where this film really works is outside the table tennis scenes where we follow Marty´s chaotic life. This is where things get much more interesting regarding our main character. Lead actor Timothée Chalamet ( really good in the latest Dune films )  as Timmy Mauser is the strongest acting performance in this film. The way he manage to portrait Timmy with facial expressions, his attitude combined with personality is a true winning combination. I personally never cared about if he will be succesfull or not in table tennis, i just want to know how he will be able to control himself before things fall apart. Actress Odessa A´zion gives a really powerful performance as the pregnant character Rachel. The soundtrack filled with 80´s classics actually works well with this film, even though this film is set in the 1950´s. You might think that shouldn´t be possible but this is not an issue for me, somehow the story manage to match to the music. Marty Supreme is a story of finding your place in life, taking chances and work really hard to reach your future goals. A film filled with real top quality acting, smooth dialogue and strong characters. Director Josh Safdie may not have made a future classic, but this is definetely one of the better films i have seen this spring. Marty Supreme hits all the right notes and proves that there is still hope for high quality films.

Rating: DDDD

If you want a physical copy from the Uk with some nice special features, you can pick up your own copy on the following link:

MARTY SUPREME BLU-RAY: Amazon.co.uk: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary, Tyler the Creator, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher: DVD & Blu-ray

Exit Protocol ( Blu ray review )

Everyone have something that will always cheer you up, no matter if it´s a specific song, perhaps a favourite book, or could even be a favourite film. No matter what makes you happy on a bad day, i say go for it. After all we go through so many rough times in life, we have to be able to enjoy certain moments as well. Me personally i have several things that can make me really happy. For example i love listening to Kula Shaker´s debut album K released in 1996, one of my personal favourite rock albums of all time. Whenever i hear songs like Grateful When You´re Dead, Hey Dude, Govinda, Tattva, Knight On The Town and many other songs, i just get into the groove and just rock out. Now, when i have to choose a film i could easily choose a classic like Taxi Driver, Fargo, Leon The Professional, Godfellas and many more. Sometimes though i just want to watch something that really entertain me, for a completely different reason. And this is where i would choose without a doubt to wach the 1992 action sci fi film Universal Soldier. Seriously, what else do you need? Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren as super soldiers, fighting against each other in a whole film? There are some funny scenes as well that comes out of nowhere. You can´t ask for much more than this, and this is why i love Universal Soldier being just a fun action movie for movie nerds like myself. Since i mentioned Dolph Lundgren, i have always said over the years he is one of the best actors ever from Sweden. He may not be the best always at delivering dramatic acting, but he really knows how to deliver funny dialogue and of course make great action films. I love so many of his films, how can you not watch Red Scorpion, The Punisher, Dark Angel, Showdown In Little Tokyo, Men Of War? I have seen a lot of his more modern action films as well over many years, most of them i do enjoy. One of the films that came out on blu ray in Germany this spring is called Exit Protocol. Not only does this film include Dolph but also action actor / martial art actor Michael Jai White. Of course i had to pick up a physical copy for this review. Is this another solid action release with Dolph, or have he lost some of his charm along the way with Exit Protocol?

Professional assassin Sam Hayden ( Scott Martin ) have been killing clients for many years, he is fed up with this job. He decides it is finally time to end his assassin career, and find a different purpose in his life. But what do you do when your past never leaves you behind, and you are forced to find a different way out, knowing it could end your life completely?

Let me be very clear by saying this. If you don´t enjoy old school American action films from the VHS era, i can tell you right now that Exit Protocol is definetely nothing that will make you happy. This is as basic as you could get from an action formula that we have seen so many times befiore, and yet we keep coming back to watch these kinds of movies. I could sit here and find flaws and talk about what this film doesn´t have that could have been interesting, but this is the kind of film that was made for the true fans of Dolph Lundgren. Where the script doesn´t matter, we don´t care about the main plot, just give us action scenes with guns and cheesy dialogue just like we did in the 80´s and 90´s. And this is exactly why you should watch a film such as Exit Protocol if you just want to be entertained, a film so easy to digest you don´t have to think anything at all. And it´s actually nice to have films like these made still to this day, everything doesn´t have to be serious all the time. So what does work with this film? Let me point out that if you enjoy simple plots that don´t feel complicated at all, then this should be something for you. The plot is so simple it could have been written at a McDonald´s restaurant napkin ( on both sides of course or there would be no plot ). This is basically an assassin action film that reminded me of films like Assassin with Sylverster Stallone, and even the 2011 action film Assassination Game with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Scott Adkins. None of these films have the same plots as Exit Protocol, but you can sense that it is similar films that inspired director Shane Dax Taylor to make this film. Dolph is actually not the lead actor in this film so that´s kind of surprising, but i can totally accept that. Lead actor Scott Martin does alright in his lead role as assassin Sam, fun to see him work together with Dolph since they worked together on the action film Best Man. Michael Jai White does alright as well, i can´t really complain. Something i appreciate about this film is to show that working as an assassin, that means you can´t have a normal family life. Sam is bascially going from work to work, no real family, no purpose in life other than work. That really show you that this job doesn´t give you much else other than just a paycheck. One of the issues i might have is that some of the gun battle scenes might feel a little bit stiff. If you are going to make shoot out scenes, make them fun and entertainng at least. Otherwise i think this is a pretty solid action film if you just want something simple to enjoy.  Director Shane Dax Taylor deliver a film made for old school action fans, i think that pretty much says all you need to know.

Rating: DDD

If you want a physical blu ray copy of this film, you can buy your copy on the following link:

Exit Protocol [Blu-ray]: Amazon.de: Martin, Scott, Lundgren, Dolph, White, Michael Jai, Kirk, Charlotte, Taylor, Shane Dax, Martin, Scott, Lundgren, Dolph: DVD & Blu-ray

We Bury The Dead ( Blu ray review )

If there is one specific category where you can find a lot of different stories, it is within the catgeory known as post apocalyptic films. You have pure horror films within this genre, and then you have more science fiction inspired stories combined with some drama influences. There are a couple of thriller post apocaplyptic films out there as well, but for the most part it seems that films makers forcus on horror stories mostly. There are several post apocalyptic films i could easily recommend, depending on what genre you enjoy most between horror or science fiction films. But let´s focus on one specific title at this moment that you can actually find on Netflix where it´s streaming. We are of course talking about the 2017 post apocalyptic horror film Cargo, based on a short film from 2013 directed by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke. The short film Cargo is actually great ( you can watch it on YouTube ) but the 2017 Netflix film adaptation from the same directors is actually even better. Cargo tell the story of father Andy ( played by actor Martin Freeman, mostly known from the British TV series Sherlock, who does a really good performance in this film ), who tries to protect his baby daughter Rosie ( Lily Anne McPherson-Dobbins ) from the undead walking around the Australian wilderness. He lost his wife who unfortunately turned into one of the undead, so he is basically alone out there trying to survive. Cargo is a very well made post apocalyptic film where the Australian outdoors looks really beautiful, the characters are well written and the acting is in general really good. I do think the Australian wilderness mathches the story really good, since this is in the middle out ow nowhere so if you get attacked there is no one who can help you. Definetely worth a watch on Netflix if you have not seen Cargo. Speaking of Australia and zombies, early this year a new horror film called We Bury The Dead was released in cinemas workdwide. Sweden didn´t show this film in theatres here, so i decided to pick up a physical blu ray copy from the UK instead. Considering i have always been a fan of post apocalyptic films and zombie films in general, is this film worth to watch or should you rather go and watch Cargo on Netflix instead?

After the United States accidently detonates an experimental weapon of the Eastern coast of Tasmania, the city of Hobart is destroyed, and victims on the island not caught in the immediate blast are rendered brain dead. It seems like some of these undead function in different ways, some of them barely move while others are far more advanced and may attack. The Australian military need all the help they can get, to take care of all the rotting dead bodies they have to move from different locations. American physiotherapist Ava Newman ( Daisy Ridley ), volunteers to help taking care of the dead bodies. Ava is placed on a team with Clay ( Brenton Thwaites ), who go through homes looking for the undead, where some of them might still be alive. Ava´s biggest concern is to find out if her husband Mitch ( Matt Wheland ) is still alive.

To say that We Bury The Dead is a very traditional zombie film would be wrong to say. Sure, there are zombies seen in this film during different locations, but what this film really is trying to say is how we deal with a world that changed. Nothing is what it used to be, and when we need ordinary citizens working to pick up dead bodies everywhere, you know that this is not the society that we were all hoping for. There are no ordinary schools running, no shops running either. It is basically just taking the supplies that you need too survive. Some people don´t even know if their loved ones have survived or have turned into the undead. Which is why our main character Ava is very important, connected to the main plot and the struggling she is going through trying to find her husband. One thing i really appreciate about We Bury The Dead is that they mostly use still standing zombies, not running, just giving us very disturbing eye contact with their dead eyes. Even if some of them move they do this in a creepy way, while we get too see a few faster. Reminded me a bit of director Lucio Fulci´s classic Zombie Flesh Eaters, since this is one of those zombie films where zombies barely move that fast at all. I appreciate that We Bury The Dead tries to go back to that old school format of 1970´s zombie films, it helps this film stand out a little bit in this specific genre, and the practical make up effects of the zombies look great. When it comes to the main character Ava Newman, i personally feel that actress Daisy Ridley ( who you most likely recoginze from the latest Star Wars films as the character Rey ) deliver a solid performance of a woman trying to deal with so many issues. The horror elements works well with the plot, and i have to say the cinematography by Steve Annis looks great. We Bury The Dead is actually a nice surprise in a horror genre that´s been having a difficult time finding interesting stories, this is actually a solid choice if you enjoy movies that includes zombies. Perhaps some dialogue scenes are a bit too long and dull, otherwise i can´t really complain. Director Zak Hilditch ( who directed the solid 2013 Australian post-apocalyptic thriller These Final Hours, worth checking out on physical media ) proves with We Bury The Dead it is still possible to give life to this specific horror genre, and definetely worth picking up if you love physical media just like myself. No speacial features on this UK blu ray release that i got, still worth adding to your horror collection.

Rating: DDD

If you want a special release of We Bury The Dead on a 4KUltraHD release with a blu ray included, you can get a special release of this film from the Australian distribution company Umbrella Entertainment on the following link:

We Bury the Dead (2025) 4K & Blu-ray — Umbrella Entertainment

Trap House

A lot of wrestlers have turned into actors in their wrestling careers. We saw it happen with André The Giant, Hulk Hogaan, "Rowdy"  Roddy Piper, Jesse Ventura, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena, Steve Austin and many others. In a way i can understand why this is a great oppurtunity, to continue your career outside the wrestling ring. With the right script, the right character and a story that works well, it is possible to make a film focused on a famous wrestler. Wrestling icon Hulk Hogan definetely proved his acting ability in the 1982 film Rocky III against Sylvester Stallone as legendary character Rocky Balboa. Unfortunately, the films that followed in Hulk Hogan´s career did not really give him any superstar recognition. It was basically in the wrestling ring he could continue his career. I will say though i did enjoy him in the TV movie Shadow Warrior ( also known as Attack On Devil´s Island ) from 1997, together with legendary actor Carl Weathers, martial arts action legend Billy Blanks and actress Shannon Tween. I remember recording this film on VHS while Swedish TV channel TV3 showed this film. Basically i would say that the TV film Shadow Warrior is a very typical macho American action film. Big muscles, big guns and hot chicks all combined. Hulk Hogan plays SEAL team leader Mike McBride with his SEAL partner Roy Brown ( Carl Weathers ) travel to the Bahamas, to lead an assault to an island fort named Devil´s Island. If you just want a very simple action film that reminded you of the action movies of the 80´s, then Shadow Warrior should be what you are looking for. I can´t remember if i ever saw the sequel released in 1998, i just remember the first film honestly. Anyway, wrestler Dave Bautista have made a lot of films over the years of different qualities. His most famous role by now is without as the character Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise. I did enjoy him in the 2013 film Riddick with Vin Diesel as well, and of course in Blade Runner 2049 where he proved he does know how to act. I have to mention i appreciated his performance in the 2021 Netflix horror film Army Of The Dead as the character Scott Ward, he was the right kind of character leading a team of zombie killers. I recently sat down to watch one of his films released last year on Amazon Prime called Trap House, that had very mixed reviews online. Being a fan of Dave and some of his previous film, is this one of his better titles or ir Trap House a hopeless attempt to cash in on his name only?

DEA Agent Ray Seale ( Dave Bautista ) is a single father after losing his wife in cancer, raising his son Cody Seale ( Jack Champion ) as good as he can. When the father of Jesse Padilla ( Blu del Barrio ) is murdered during a DEA operation, the whole family is shattered. They can´t afford to live in their house anymore and DEA won´t help the family with any money. Cody and his friends decide to do a very risky operation to collect money to their friend Jesse and his family. They will steal money from the Mexican drug cartel in trap houses, where they stash money. Their first attempt only manage to steal around 500 U.S. dollars which is far from enough. They decide to do more heists, even though they know they are risking their own lives and others around them.

The first thing that came to my mind after watching Trap House is how 90´s this film feel. It really felt like something that would have been released on VHS back in the day, where you throw different ideas together and mix it all into a blender. Now, i don´t mind if you try to combine two genres as long as you make the film work. And this is where we find one of my issues with Trap House. Because the action scenes with Dave Bautista is actually the best part of the film, in the few scenes where he actually have something to do. It´s the other genre that this film try to combine that does not work with the action scenes. And that is this film is trying to be a High School Musical without the musical numbers, but starring a gang of annoying young people. Why are they annoying? How realistic is it to see these young people survive against a Mexican drug cartel? Not realistic at all and honestly none of these teenagers have any professional weapon training or know how the cartel works. So to let these young people do several big heists against the cartel when we all know they would be killed instantly, this is my main issue with Trap House. If it was a smaller criminal gang doing money laundry or something, that might have worked. But to go up against the Mexican cartel and fix things this easy? To be completely honest this makes this film looks silly. If they would have focused on telling the story with Bautista´s character Ray Seale and his work at the DEA, this would have been a more fun action film. The teenagers could have just showed up in certain scenes, and leave the hard work to the real professionals. Some of the action scenes looks ok, and i do thing the cinematography by Matt Flannery ( who worked as a cinematographer o both The Raid films ) looks good. But that´s about it that i can say that´s positive. If they only would have given Dave Bautista the main character role and just went for an old school action story, Trap House could have been enjoyable. What we are left with is a 90´s inspired action film with family film influences thrown in there. Director Michael Dowse ( who directed the brilliant film It´s All Gone Pete Tomg ) deliver a film that have a few fun moments, but fails to entertain me thanks to the annoying teenagers. It´s not a disaster, but you might as well watch Shadow Warrior with Hulk Hogan and you might be more entertained. Trap House is one of those streaming films that will most likely be forgotten, once you have watched it.

Rating: DD

Posthouse

Creating a full feature film is a lot of work, and it takes a whole team to be able to create a professional film. You have to have a cinematographer, a screen writer, producer or several producers, the whole cast, costume designer. set designers, i mean we could go on forever. The point is that making a film takes a lot of time to create, and there is a lot of hard work behind it, you have to make sure everything works. Obviously things can chane along the way, the budget may have to change or you have to change the script. You can´t always guarantee everything will go smoothly. There are actually movies telling the story of making a film and i have especially one title on my mind. That film is called Barton Fink, directed by Joel Cohen and Ethan Cohen. This is a very well written dark comedy about a screenwriter known as Barton Fink ( played by legendary actor John Turturro, who i especially remember from the classic gangster drama Miller´s Crossing ), The year is 1941, up-and-coming Broadway playwright Barton Fink ( John Turturro ), accepts a contract from Capital Pictures in Hollywood to write film scripts for a thousand dollars per week.  Upon moving to Los Angeles, Fink settles into the cheap Motel Earlie. Fink is assigned to a wrestling film by his new boss Jack Lipnick ( Michael Lerner ), but he finds it difficult writing this script since he knows nothing about wrestling. As he begin working in his motel room, he is often disturbed by loud noices by the room next door, where his neighbor Charlie Meadows ( John Goodman ) lives. As the noises gets bigger and disturb Barton trying to work, he is about to find out that his neigbor is no ordinary hotel guest. This is a very charming, and surprisingly funny black comedy about the film industry as well as the challenges of being a writer of scripts. Very well acted performances, wonderful set designs capturing the historical view of the 1940´s, with strong character development. Barton Fink is a cult classic worth picking up on physical media from The Cohen Brothers brilliant film catalogue. Speaking of film making and trying to create film, i came across a horror film on Netflix from The Philippines called Posthouse, with a interesting plot regarding a film editor. Netflix have actually released some good horror films over the years, so does this film Posthouse deliver as well or should you avoid this one for sure?

Film editor Cyril Anderson ( Sid Lucero ) is working hard on a new commercial film, trying to edit it as perfect as possible to make sure the commercial will be succesfull. Cyril have a past of a broken marriage and alcohol problems, while trying to have a good relationship with his only daughter Rea Anderson ( Bea Binene ). Cyril come across some very oldfilm footage that might be the oldest silent hororr film ever made in The Philippines, that was never completed. Cyril decides to go through all the material to see what was actually filmed. While he does, strange things begin to happen inside the editing room and the photography studio.

Imagine if you could see The Philippines silent movie version of Sinister, throw in a creepy woman similar to The Ring, doesn´t that sound like an interesting combination? I was actually surprised that i have never heard of this film last year, until i accidently discovered it myself on Netflix. But i am glad that i did since i have not seen many horor films at all from The Philippines. Not that i don´t want to see films from this specific country, but here in Sweden we only get a handful of horror films released for example from South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam or The Philippines. There may be many different reasons why they only choose certain titles, i still find a lot of foreign horror films more interesting than American horror releases. It could be because some of these foreign films have a religious undertone, or folklore connected stories in to their country´s history. The story about the very first silent horror film made in the Philippines, is a very fascinating idea for a horror film. If you had the actual footage in your hand, knowing it was never released, would  you want to finish the film or at least try and get it released? Would you go through all the footage to learn about the making of this film? I find the concept of Posthouse very interesting, since this is a pretty different approach than we are used to see. Knowing that the main character is a film editor, that also makes the discovery of this silent film even more interesting since he knows how to edit films. The mysterious lady that we see in the silent film, we do find out a bit of her background story and why she is connected to the mystery behind this silent film. I would say that her creepy looks works, especially with her long fingers. The acting from lead actor Sid Lucero as the film editor Cyril, is actually a solid acting performance. I think his chemistry with actress Bea Binene playing his daughter Rea matches well on the screen, portraying father and daughter relationship in a natural way. Posthouse definetely stands out a little bit for doing something different than the usual horror release. It may not be a film for all horror fans, but if you appreciate the horror film Sinister then this might be for you. Director Nikolas Red proves with Posthouse you don´t need to spend lots of money to tell interesting horror stories, and manage to make this film work with such a simple plot. Worth a watch on Netflix for sure this late spring.

Rating: DDD