Dahlia DeWinters - Author

Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Horror Movie Review: Final Girl

Title: Final Girl
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Tyler Shields
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124787/

HERE MAY BE SPOILERS

Portions of the movie may or may not be revealed.

 

Synopsis:

A man teaches a young woman how to become a complete weapon. Later she is approached by a group of sadistic teens who kill blonde women for unknown reasons. The hunting season begins.

 

final girlFor goodness sake.

I knew it was all going wrong when Wes Bentley appeared on my iPad screen.  That deadpan expression and that draggy way of talking he has.  So, I was eye rolling within the first few minutes of the movie.

Then the training sequences began and I became intrigue.  Was she going to be a spy?  Was she going to hunt serial killers?

This movie was highly stylized and seemed to take on the characteristics of a play being presented on film, much like Glengary Glen Ross or Oleanna.  The staging was stilted and the costumes and sets were very….play like.  But I stuck with it.

These four guys in tuxedos are supposed to be serial killers. They take blondes into the forest, give them a head start, then chase and kill them.  Apparenlty, no one cares about these girls enough to report them missing  – high school girls no less – and there is not one whisper of a police presence in the town.

killers from final girl
Who dry cleans their tuxes after a night out hunting?

Okay, I think, suspending disbelief.  No problem, I wanted to see how she was going to fight all these strapping young men and become “FINAL GIRL” (roll credits).

Boy, was I in for a sorry disappointment.  The concept was good, but the acting and the sets and the lackluster fight scenes…I couldn’t suspend everything.

I will say this.  I did like the style of the movie, the use of color and the bizarre lighting of the forest.  The visuals did keep me interested in the end.  However, the story didn’t hold enough water for me.  The dialogue was rather boring.

I don’t regret watching it, but it left me kind of meh.

Grade: D

Thriller Movie Review: Bound to Vengeance

Bound-to-vengeance-copy
Title: Bound To Vengeance
Genre: Thriller/Horror
Director: Jose Manuel Cravioto
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1230213/

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. HERE THERE BE SPOILERS.
Do not read this review if you don’t want portions of the movie revealed.

This movie was recommended to me by an author friend of mine. Given that I don’t shy away from the sometimes terrible thriller/horror movies on Netflix (except the ones that are CLEARLY Lifetime movies), I didn’t hesitate to give this one a shot.

Synopsis: A young girl, chained in the basement of a sexual predator, escapes and turns the tables on her captor.

First of all, the protagonist was a young woman, not a young girl. Young girl implies to me a ten year old. Second, after I viewed the movie, I went back to the imdb listing and discovered that two men wrote the screenplay, which didn’t surprise me at all.

One big thing for me with this film: Black woman dies first. WTF? We haven’t got past that yet? Seriously? Enough with this already.

Basically, young woman escapes, then realizes dude has women trapped up all over the place. He tells her, if he dies, they all die since he’s the only one who knows where they are. So, young woman makes the choice to try to rescue all the women.

One complaint I read about the movie was that if she’d just escaped, she’d be all about going to the police. I give the movie a pass, because, her decision to go rescue the other girls hooked me into the movie.

So, like I said previously, she goes to rescue the black woman first, and she dies by accident. The second rescue goes just as badly. But even as stuff went down, I found myself asking “Why are you letting the psycho dude do all the talking? You know these women must be a little nuts…at least TRY to talk some sense into them, don’t just sit back and let him run his mouth.”

These two incidents happened at the beginning of the action and kind set me against the movie. The flashbacks are interesting, but reminded me of Cloverfield. As a woman of a certain age, I was like “why the heck is all this being filmed, how boring”, even as I knew it was being filmed for a payoff at the end. Chekov’s video footage, if you will.

The confrontation with the secondary villain was just strange and not very compelling.

I will say that the main actress played the part to the hilt and she did an excellent job. The issue of sex trafficking and kidnapping is made real without being super obvious. The material itself, however, was not up to par and parts of the movie had me scratching my head.

This could have been much more than it was. I wouldn’t give it a second viewing, but I don’t feel it was a waste of time.

Grade: C

Movie Review – Flashback – Stir of Echoes

Title: Stir of Echoes
Genre: Thriller/Supernatural Horror
Director: Davis Koepp
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164181

Hey there lovelies!

I’m taking a little vacation for the month of the December, which means I’m cleaning house (literally and figuratively) and sussing out my goals for 2016. Which in turns means movies and music galore! It’s a relief sometimes to take a step away from the pen and paper….but that doesn’t stop the ideas from bubbling over.

0509008_BRWrapv4Back to the movies. I took a little step back in time to screen Stir of Echoes. I remember watching this back in the day when it first came out on DVD. It’s based on a novel by Richard Matheson, who, as you must well know, wrote Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, I Am Legend and a few other horror/thriller stories. (I use the word “few” as being funny. Matheson was pretty prolific.)

I must say, for a film from the 90s, it holds up pretty well. I enjoyed Kevin Bacon’s younger incarnation – he’s got the loveliest clear blue eyes. I could have done without the “magical negro” trope and the only non-white people in the film were located in a crappy part of town, but other than that, the narrative surrounding Kevin Bacon’s hypnosis by his sister in law (played by a cool Ileana Douglas) and the resulting plot madness is pretty good.

I’ve read the original Matheson story, and because of the dated plot, the screenwriter took some liberty in changing the plot that I don’t really think affected the overall tension and theme.

Also, a slightly tattooed (on his back)  Kevin Bacon, sweaty and shirtless. He’s kind of thin in this movie, but it’s still kinda hot in a trailer park kind of way.

stir-of-echoes-kevin-bacon-digging-yard-shirtless

Watch or not to watch?:

If you like supernatural thrillers and messages from the other side visited upon a common group of folks, I’d recommend this movie. Screen it for the story and remember it takes place in the 90s when cell phones were NOT commonplace. If you put yourself back in time and watch the movie for what it is, you’ll enjoy it. I know I did.

Grade: A minus

Horror Movie Review: Unfriended

unfriendedTitle: Unfriended
Genre:  Horror, Thriller, Drama
Director: Levan Gabriadze (as Leo Gabriadze)
IMDB link:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3713166/

Synopsis according to IMDB:
A group of online chat room friends find themselves haunted by a mysterious, supernatural force using the account of their dead friend.

I might be getting too old for this, I admit this up front.  I did not enjoy this movie on any level. Though I thought the story and the premise was excellent, the thirty year olds playing high schoolers did nothing to elicit my sympathy.  I couldn’t even enjoy it on the “so bad it’s good” level because there was little to no physical action. You couldn’t say “don’t go in there” or “stay out of the basement”.  Nope.  The entire movie took place on a laptop screen.

As I said, this was an interesting concept and on some level, it was well executed.  Since I watched the movie on a laptop, it was easy watching and some intriguing things happened.

The actors themselves were annoying.  The screaming, crying, cursing and yelling did nothing for the movie.  I won’t spoil it here, but in the end the viewer is left unsatisfied.

I’d say see it once, just to experience it.

As always….YMMV.

Grade: D

Horror Movie Review: The Frozen

Hey all!  I know I’ve been away for a bit.  With three little ones, the end of school week can a be a bit of a blur.  Between the graduations, the teacher’s gifts and the parties, it is a miracle I was able to take a breath.  But I’m back with another review for you.

 

Though I titled this a horror, it could easily be classified as a thriller.  It’s a little strange and confusing at times, but I enjoyed it…though I would not watch it again.

 

Title: The Frozen
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Andrew Hyatt
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2363439/

The Frozen Movie PosterNo, this is not the Disney movie that took the world by storm. Look, I’m a huge sucker for going into the woods and bad things happening movies. Here is the synopsis according to IMDB:

After a harrowing snowmobile accident, a young couple is stranded in the woods and must survive while waiting for help to arrive. Events take a turn for the worse after the disappearance of Emma’s boyfriend, leaving her on her own not only to battle the elements, but also to elude a mysterious hunter who is tracking her through the forest.

I’m a simple chick. I like movies that scare, surprise and make me think. I’m not that kind of gal who tries to second guess the movie or make predictions on where the movie is going to go. No. Nope, not me. I just sit back and enjoy the narrative as laid out by the director and actors.

It’s such a simple movie and the backdrop of the cold, unforgiving wilderness serves to put a telling chill into the setting. What would you do if you were in an accident and your companion goes off to get help, leaving you alone in a tent? Then, you start to hear things…..

There is a lot of good camera work and convincing acting by the lead actress. The atmosphere was tense, especially when the pursuing bad guy was introduced. And the pervasive snow in the movie made me feel cold!

I see most of the folks on IMDB gave it a 4 out of 10. I say give the movie a chance. Go into it with fresh eyes and no expectations/predictions of what will happen. I’m not trying to say it’s a masterpiece and it’s nothing new and different, but somehow this quiet little movie endeared itself to me.
Grade: B-