Things Will Be Different (2024) #503

 

What kind of world would it be like if people easily believed in the ability of time travel, or rather, a room that could grant time travel with a spell and a phone call? This is the kind of world that "Things Will Be Different" takes place in, and the film is presented in a way that it works. Kept on a small scale with only a handful of characters, this bizarre time twisting movie forces the two main characters, Joseph and Sidney, moments to reflect on the choices they have made. The film presents more than one montage showing the passing of time in such an engaging creative fashion that fits perfectly in a movie centered around time.

Joseph and his sister Sidney have successfully pulled of some kind of heist. Jospeh is waiting patiently, with the money, for her at a small breakfast diner. They leave quickly when they hear sirens in the distance, heading off into the woods. They change clothes and walk off into nature, coming out to a cornfield near a solitary farmhouse. The siblings scare away a group of guys drinking and shooting, which results in a call to the local police. With sirens in the background again, the siblings quickly perform a multi-step ritual that ends in a dark attic like room with a phone. When they emerge, the two are in a different timeline, and all they have to do is wait fourteen days before repeating the process and returning to their timeline. All seems well as they make plans on how to spend their share of the loot, and returning to loved ones, but when it's time to go back to their timeline, they discover that they are trapped.

Learning that they are caught in a time vice, Jospeh and Sidney are forced into an agreement with the powers that be to kill an assassin determined to use the "Time Closet" and disrupt the timeline. Communication is made by a safe and a tape recorder, with only some questions answered. They wait, a very long time, for the assassin to come and when it does, Jospeh and Sidney fight to the death against the mysterious stranger. It all leads to the promise that "Things will be different." 

"Things Will Be Different" is the debut feature film from Michael Felker, the longtime editor for Justin Benson and Aaron Morehead, which might be why they both appear in some capacity in the movie. Riley Dandy carries the movie as Sidney, bringing the emotional weight as the mother longing to be returned to her young daughter. Adam David Thompson also does a great job as Joseph, acting the stoic and caring older brother while trying to redeem himself to Sidney for some past wrong. The two made a great sibling pair and I can't wait what all three do next.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) #502

In the vein similar to that of “Halloween”, the new “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” follows the events after the first film while bypassing the existence of the other entries in the series. Knowing that, this film still doesn't make complete sense if you're trying to connect it narratively to the first film. So instead, go into this movie as if it is the first in a series, just one that reminds you of a movie of the same name. Doing this, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is a taunt slasher that presents some memorable kills. Unlike the original, which hinted at the extreme violence but isn't shown, this one has it all on screen.

The film opens with a group of young entrepreneurs, Melody and her sister Lila, and Dante and his girlfriend Ruth, who have plans to auction off properties in the ghost town of Harlow, creating a vibrant and gentrified scene for other people their age. Things go astray when they find that one of the houses is still occupied by an old woman her silent, hulking "son". She is rushed to the hospital with her son, driven by the two officers who had come to evict her; Ruth, goes along after feeling guilty about the old woman. The others stay and welcome a bus load of investors, while Lila gets to know the local mechanic Richter. During their conversation, we learn that Lila is a traumatized survivor of a school shooting.

Things take a sudden turn for the worse when the old woman dies on the way to the hospital. Her son reacts violently, attacking the police officers, causing the ambulance to crash. Ruth is momentarily knocked out but awakes in time to see the man cutting off the old woman's face, only to overlay it over his own. Leatherface is back and angry! He quickly kills the driver and Ruth before heading home, where he finds a town full of fresh victims!

When Richter finds out that the old woman might actually still own her home, he takes the keys from Dante and Melody, telling them that he'll return them once they prove they own her house. The two are forced to search the house but run into Leatherface, who attacks Dante. He's distracted by Richter, whose death allows Melody time to escape. She runs to the bus, where the investors are staying dry during a storm. Leatherface enters the bus for one of the most memorable horror moments of 2022. With chainsaw in hand, Leatherface does what he does best, pure bloody chaos. Lila and Melody escape only to run into Sally, the sole survivor of the first film. She has revenge on the mind, but she isn't a Laurie Strode and gets killed before she gets to take Leatherface down for good. It's up to a gun wielding Lila, coming to terms with her fear of firearms, to go toe to toe with Leatherface. He's old, he's getting tired, right?

Favorite moment of the film is the final death. If you know, you know.

Clown (2014) #501

From the director and writer team that gave us Marvel Studios beloved Spider-Man trilogy comes “Clown”, a grisly story about a loving father who dons a cursed clown outfit and unwittingly becomes the avatar for a murderous Icelandic demon. What fun! It’s a subtle trend that Marvel hires horror creators due to the fact that they are able to produce effective movies with lower budgets, essentially proving themselves worthy of a large blockbuster budget. This film was produced by Eli Roth, who also makes a brief appearance in the film. "Clown" is also a great film to those that love body horror, so you easily watch this with "Killer Klowns From Space" or "The Fly".

Kent is a loving husband and father and takes the task of donning a clown outfit that he finds in a house he is preparing to sell when the clown that was hired for his son's birthday doesn't show up. A smash at the party, Kent falls asleep in the clown outfit, and in the morning, he finds that he can't remove the wig, take off the nose, of pull off the outfit. He's forced to go to work in the clown outfit and tries once again to remove it but ends up hurting himself. When he arrives home, his wife Meg is able to pull off the nose but doing so causes Kent extreme, blood pain. It seems that he's become one with the outfit. 

Kent tracks down the owner of the outfit, who warns him not to touch it. The mysterious man, Karlsson,played by Peter Stomare (Bad Milo), knows the history of the outfit, explaining that it is the embodiment of an Icelandic demon known as the Cloyne, who must consume a child for every month of winter. Karlsson drugs Kent in order to decapitate him, but Kent awakes and escapes in time. Unfortunately for Kent, he begins to change into the demon, slowly becoming possessed and giving in to his hunger for small children. Trying to resist the demon, Kent tries to kill himself, with disastrous results.

Finally, the demon takes control, and the feeding begins. His first meal was Robbie, who dies in an accident involving Kent's attempt to decapitate his own head. The second is a bully from his son's school. Then two more at a Chuck E Cheese. The movie is dark! For the fifth and final sacrifice, the demon goes after Kent's son. Meg tries to fight off the full demon Cloyne, but will she be able to save her son from the maniacal killer clown? 

There's a great moment in the film when Meg meets Karlsson, who goes on to explain that he fell victim to Cloyne, and the only way to be set free was to devour five terminally ill children from the hospital that he volunteered at, as an entertaining clown!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) #500

Watch the trailer here

For my 500th review, I've chosen one of my favorite horror movies of all time, 1978's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"! This movie is a true classic and represents what a real remake should be! It retains the thrilling scares and premise of the original movie while updating enough elements to have it feel modern. Both films are iconic and are enjoyed by horror fans of all ages. The sets are characters as much as the actors, and the special effects of the time are truly haunting. Yes, some of these aspects may seem dated when compared to films produced today, so remember that this film is 46 years old.

The film opens with a montage of transparent amoebalike organisms leaving their planet, somehow, and floating on the cosmic winds towards Earth. Some land and take root in San Francisco, becoming a pod with pink flowers. The next scene introduces our hero, Matthew Bennell, a health inspector for the San Franciso Health Department, giving a surprise visit at a French restaurant. I love this character because he is a government employee, but he isn't the typical cop or military type. Next, a lab tech from the Health Department, Elizabeth, finds one of the plants and brings it home to the house share with her boyfriend Geoffrey. The next morning, the plant is missing, and Geoffrey begins to act strangely. Concerned, Elizabeth turns to Matthew for help. He offers to introduce her to his psychiatrist friend David Kibner, but then the next day Matthew is approached by his dry cleaner, telling Matthew that his wife is acting like an imposter, the same way that Elizabeth was describing Geoffrey.

At a party, Matthew is able to introduce Elizabeth to Kibner, who is trying to calm a distressed woman who is also explaining that her husband isn't who he is. He tells the woman that she has nothing to worry about, the same advice he gives to Elizabeth. Feeling dismissed, Elizabeth leaves for home. Also at the party is Jack, played by Jeff Goldblum (Mr. Frost), another friend of Matthew, who personally has issues with Kibler's work. The film then follows Jack as he returns to the mud bath spa that he operates with his wife Nancy, played by Veronica Cartwright (Alien), and the clients that are passing their time at the spa. Jack becomes lethargic as Nancy finds an unfinished body double of her husband laying on one of the massage tables. They contact Matthew, who brings an unresponsive Elizabeth with him. The four realize that something of a large scope is taking place and that they are all in danger. 

Over the course of the following day, Matthew finds evidence of the replacement of the people he knows around town. When he tries to call his government contacts, he finds that they've been compromised as well. Matthew and Elizabeth come to realize that everyone is being replaced by a pod, and when one is near you, it takes your form while you sleep. That night, Matthew, Elizabeth, Jack, and Nancy try to elude mobs and authorities when they find out that they are some of the last humans left in the city. Kibler is leading the search for the humans, explaining that everything is so much easier after the change. One by one the group is split up, and despite his best efforts, Matthew is unable to keep Elizabeth from being replaced. Matthew is able to burn down a warehouse full of the pods, but his efforts may be in vain. Sometime later, a day or two, Nancy comes across Matthew, who she thinks is still pretending to be a pod-person. To her horror, he points and screams!

Matthew and Elizabeth pretending to be "replaced"

Smile (2022) #499

Watch the trailer here

"Smile", a dark and haunting psychological thriller that offers some new ideas for the horror genre. The film examines the mental breakdown of Rose, a therapist who works in a hospital's psychiatric ward. Some blame her mental decline on working too much while others believe that she's suffering from the same mental disorders that plagued her mother, who had finally succumbed to suicide. The truth is that she's been cursed, or marked, by an evil force that is taunting her until it finally possesses its victim, causing them to kill themselves violently in front of a witness.

It was a normal day in the psychiatric ward for Rose until Laura was brought in. She was having a manic episode, reportedly suffering from insurmountable stress ever she witnessed her professor kill himself in front of her nearly a week before. She begs for Rose to just listen to her, that she is seeing people that others can't, and that she needs help. Rose begins to respond her as if she is delusional, and Laura realizes that Rose does not believe her. She pleads and pleads but suddenly stop. Laura's behavior abruptly alters, she quiet and smiling directly at Rose, and before Rose can react, Laura takes a shard of clay from a broken flowerpot and fatally cuts herself. Afterwards, she is interviewed by police detectives, one of which is a former boyfriend of hers named Joel.

The next day, Rose finds one of her patients with the same creepy smile that Laura had on her face. He begins to scream at Rose that she's going to die soon, but when she calls for help, he's found to be sleeping. Rose is given some time off to recuperate but soon Rose starts to see vague images in the darkness and strangers in the distance looking at her. Random people as well as those she knows begin to smile at her, and as her hallucinations continue, those in her life become concerned and afraid of her. Looking more closely at the details surrounding Laura and suicide she witnessed, and with some help from Joel, Laura learns that there is a pattern of suicides with a single witness going back for a few months. 

The pattern seems hopeless and that her time is running out but a glimmer of hope arises when she learns that one person survived the curse by killing someone with a witness present; the witness then continued with the curse. After contemplating this option, Rose realizes that she can just face the evil alone, and if she died alone, the curse might be broken. Returning to her childhood home, Rose has a final confrontation with the evil entity, as well as her own personal demons.

"Smile" is the natural evolution of horror movies like "Ringu" and "It Follows", where the lead character becomes cursed and the only way to survive is to pass it along on to a new victim. In "Ringu", the video must be shown to someone within seven days, and "It Follows" is about finding a new sexual partner. "Smile" is about violent death and the unfortunate soul who watches it. "Smile 2" has just been released with great reviews, so I can't wait to see how this mythos continues.

Jakob's Wife (2021) #498

Watch the trailer here

"Jakob's Wife" is so much more than just a well-made vampire movie, it offers a serious examination of the dynamics of a married woman working through the struggles that had slowly developed over the years. While the husband thinks everything is fine, she wife is living a life of regret and boredom. This is perhaps one of Barbara Crampton's finest performances, as this script gives her plenty of dynamics to work with. She gets to be quiet and demure and then sexy and commanding. This may also be the most screen time that she has in a single film. Co-starring Larry Fessenden, watching these two old friends on screen together again is a pure joy.

To say that Anne is a rut would be an understatement. She feels trapped, underappreciated, and that she's wasted her youth after she married Jakob, the minister in the small town that they live in. When her old high school crush takes the opportunity to work with her renovating the old mill, Anne's temptation flares in the moment. Unfortunately for her and her old flame, they are attacked by the Master, a Nosferatu/Barlow looking vampire that had made the abandoned mill it's new lair. 

Over the next few days, Jakob notices that his wife is acting different, and he naturally suspects that something happened between her and her ex. While Anne begins to experience life as a vampire as she slowly turns, Jakob finds the vampire nest when he is attacked by a former parishioner. He rushes home just in time to clean up the mess that Anne makes after devouring a curious neighbor. Jakob loves his wife, so together they try find a way to move forward and free Anne from the sway of the Master. Does she belong to Jakob or the Master ultimately, or does she become the master of her own destiny?

This film has fantastic makeup and practical visual effects. It also has some memorable body horror moments, something that is often skimmed over in monster movies when it's such an obvious choice. For example, Anne's bite puncture begins dripping blood while she is taking a bath, so heavily that you can hear the drops hitting the bath water. Another moment is when she is having her teeth bleached at the dentist office. Her sensitivity to bright UV lights causes her face to alit and scorch and blacken her skin. Once she feeds, a horrific body mutilated moment in itself, she heals back to her pale, pasty new normal.

Abigail (2024) #497

 

“Abigail” quietly hit the theaters for a few weeks before becoming available on streaming and digital purchase. Much like other films after Covid, its theatrical run was limited but it still managed to build up some notice. It’s a quirky little film about an anonymous group of paid specialists on a job to kidnap and ransom the daughter of some ultra rich businessman. Details of who she is are left vague but all these six specialists need to do is keep the girl safe for 12 hours and then walk away with a $50 million payday. Seems fine until they begin to be killed by an unseen foe...

Melissa Barrera, best known for her roles in "Scream" and "Scream 6", leads the cast as Joey, a former army medic and recovering drug addict. She is one of six specialists, all who are using fake names to keep their anonymity from each other. Other roles include a marine sniper, an ex-cop, a getaway driver, and so forth. Joey becomes hesitant when the target is revealed to be a child but promises to keep the girl safe while she is with them. In return, haunting and ominous, Abigail merely states that her father doesn't care about her and that she's sorry for what is going to happen to them. The group soon finds out that they've kidnapped the daughter of a godlike crime lord, and their chances of pulling of this ransom are highly unlikely. Before anyone can leave the remote mansion, they are using as a hideout, they find that they are locked in and unable to escape.

After the driver is killed by an unseen assailant, paranoia grows as the remaining five strangers point fingers at each other. When the sniper is found mutilated a short time later, the crew goes to Abigal to demand answers. This in when Abigail reveals her true nature as a vampire and attacks her kidnappers. They try to fight back with classic vampire weapons, all of which seem useless against her speed and agility. Joey is able to use a tranquilizer, the same one she used Abigail during the kidnapping, and this works long enough to lock her in a cage. While in the cage, Abigail reveals that she knows who each one of them is and it was her plan to lure them here in revenge for wronging her father, hoping that such an act will get his attention.

Double crossing, turning in vampires, domination, and sunlight are all a part of the narrative as Joey tries to survive the night. When Abigail's father finally shows up, will Abigail be happy or will there be hell to pay for the disruption? Will Joey escape or become the newest member of the family, or dinner?

"Abigail" is a fun thrill ride brought to life by two horror film directors, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet, known for "V/H/S", "Southbound" and "Ready or Not", among others. It's a solid vampire movie and is worth a watch during the Halloween season.