Abigail (2024) Film Review

A group of would-be criminals kidnaps the 12-year-old daughter of a powerful underworld figure. Holding her for ransom in an isolated mansion, their plan starts to unravel when they discover their young captive is actually a bloodthirsty vampire.

Abigail is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett or as some people know them as Radio Silence. They previously directed Devil’s Due (2014), Ready Or Not (2017), Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023) and various segments from some of the V/H/S films.

2024 is looking to be a repeat of 2022 in terms of fantastic horror films, it was a bit of a rough start but we have already gotten a bunch of memorable and quite excellent horror films this year such as Immaculate, The First Omen, Late Night With The Devil, Lisa Frankenstein and a few others. Abigail adds to that list and quite honestly ends up being one of the most fun releases so far this year.

Starting from the cast, we have another case where everyone just works incredibly well together. Nobody turns in any bad performances mainly due to the material that is worked with here. Melissa Barrera and Kathryn Newton continue to show that they are scream queens here to stay, both of them give excellent and fun performances that absolutely blends well with Radio Silence’s atmosphere and style. Dan Stevens continues to show he can bring so much fun and intrigue to almost any role he does, that especially applies here with his performance as Frank who much like Barrera and Newton matches the tone and atmosphere Radio Silence is going for.

Alisha Weir gives one of the best child performances I’ve seen in awhile, her as a vampire was just such an excellent casting choice, one that she naturally fits into without any issue. The humor that’s thrown into the mix also makes her character Abigail incredibly fun. Kevin Durand and the late Angus Cloud both give fun performances as well, there might not be much to their characters but the fact they are instantly fun characters makes up for that.

Abigail is another instance where Radio Silence does a lot of attention to detail especially with the makeup and sets. It’s very reminiscent of Ready Or Not where the attention to detail to the sets was instantly recognizable and made the film all the more natural and investing to watch. The same can be applied here with Abigail the many different rooms, the lighting and such really compliments the thrilling and humorous atmosphere that all blends together to make an incredibly fun film.

Abigail really felt like the natural next step of Radio Silence, it shares a lot of similarities to Ready Or Not but it does it’s own thing. It uses a lot of what made the film so investing to audiences and applies here, Abigail really does feel like the film that Radio Silence’s last couple films have been building up to. One key part in all of this is the gore which Abigail has…a ton of it, which is where a lot of the fun elements come into play. The kills have that signature brutal but absolutely fun feel that Radio Silence loves and I would argue that it works best here simply due to the characters and how quickly they match the tone.

Overall Abigail is another excellent film by Radio Silence, they continue to be some of the most exciting and one of most notable eyes for attention detail when it comes to horror film directors. I truly can’t wait to see what they do next.

Abigail is currently in theaters!

10/10 A+

Late Night With The Devil (2024) Film Review

In 1977 a live television broadcast goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.

Late Night With The Devil is directed by Cameron Carines and Colin Cairnes both of which previously directed 100 Bloody Acres (2012) and Scare Campaign (2016).

Late Night With The Devil was a film that I was incredibly excited to see, from the concept alone it sounded fantastic and luckily that was the case. Before that however I will mention the AI usage in this film, even though I absolutely loved this movie the bits of AI used on the “Please Stand By” messages is very pointless since you could have easily gotten actual artists to do that. Luckily it was nowhere near enough to hurt the movie itself but the fact it was used at all is disappointing.

Outside of that Late Night With The Devil is an incredibly creative horror film, the film captures the spirit of a 70s late night show down from the narration at the beginning to the actions of the characters as well as the completely off the walls script. Right from the beginning the film resembles a late night show and even one of those random TV news documentary type of segments in this case one being about the film’s main character Jack Delroy who is played by David Dastmalchian.

David Dastmalchian is the key part of what makes Late Night With The Devil work so incredibly well, yes you have the look of a 70s late night show down. But if you don’t have someone who mirrors a late night show host as authentically as possibly then that could lead into a mess. Luckily Dastmalchian completely masters the performance right from when he appears on screen to the very end, he captures the mannerisms, speech, the humor and the personality of a late night show host. It’s mesmerizing to see and instantly draws you in, he gives by far one of the best performances so far this year and truly delivers on every single level.

The rest of the film is truly fantastic, while the show goes on you get this sense in the back of your mind that a lot doesn’t seem right, Late Night With The Devil accomplishes bringing the viewer along for the ride and rewards them with an incredibly bizarre final act that truly leaves you frightened and fascinated, it absolutely does remind me of some of the films from the V/H/S franchise. Only that the execution is much better here and makes for a far more interesting experience as well.

A slight criticism is the use of black and white filming, while I sort of get the attention I don’t think it completely matches with the rest of the film. I kind of like that these moments appear when they cut to commercial break, these moments do have some great and natural dialogue between Jack, his guests and his crew but when you compare these moments with when the late night show goes on they sort of pale in comparison. Having that said I don’t hate these moments just the use of black and white is very unfitting and doesn’t exactly add to the film’s already fantastic charm.

Finally we have the third act which I won’t spoil but will say that the build up to it is incredibly well done and really matches the build up to a 70s talk show. What is also great is the film captures the late night tv energy, what I mean by this is seeing bizarre commercials or bumpers (think Adult Swim on Cartoon Network) a lot of the third act has that sort of energy going on and it really works incredibly well.

Overall Late Night With The Devil is an incredibly creative horror film that is filled with humor, terror and bizarre moments that will have you wondering what’s going to happen next.

Late Night With The Devil is available on Shudder.

9/10 A

Problemista (2024) Film Review

Alejandro is an aspiring toy designer who’s struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in New York City. As time on his work visa runs out, a job assisting an art world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country and realise his dream.

Problemista is directed by Julio Torres which is his directorial debut.

If there’s a couple words that could describe Problemista it would be creative and unique, Julio Torres brings a very sharp narrative told in both a humorous and dramatic way. The film explores adulthood and how it can be quite bizarre at times along with the immigration process which I was honestly not expecting. The film really explores both these topics well, the adulthood part is explored in mostly a comedic way with tons of incredibly fun dialogue. When the film talks about the immigration process the film is much more serious and has so many touching moments that really shine through the performances.

Speaking of which Julio Torres is excellent here, he gives a strong performance as Alejandro who quickly becomes a very interesting character. The writing builds this character so fluidly and carefully that it’s quite touching to see. Tilda Swinton is the other half that really brings this film together, she’s funny, has excellent chemistry with Torres and her character Elizabeth much like Alejandro is written fluidly.

The surreal humor is quite fascinating as well, there’s a blend of fantasy to it that the film compares and contrasts fantasy and reality in incredibly fun ways. Whether it be bits and pieces or dialogue or some fun visuals it always manages to get its point across very well. Julio Torres has a great eye for storytelling and it can easily be seen with the amount of character moments between Alejandro and Elizabeth or just visually.

Problemista is an incredibly creative film that is a ton of fun to watch, give this one a watch!

Problemista is available on all VOD platforms.

9/10 A

The First Omen (2024) Film Review

A woman starts to question her own faith when she uncovers a terrifying conspiracy to bring about the birth of evil incarnate in Rome.

The First Omen is directed by Arkasha Stevens which is her directorial debut. The film serves as a prequel to The Omen (1976) and is the sixth film in The Omen franchise.

If you told me at the beginning of this year that The First Omen was going to be an early favorite of mine this year I would not have believed you. Mainly due to the quality of The Omen franchise, outside of the 1976 original the series really does not do much for me, but life is full of surprises and not only was The First Omen good it was actually quite brilliant in a lot of ways.

First off the performances all around were quite great, nobody turned in a bad performance, Ralph Ineson was incredibly fun to have in the film especially with his voice that he’s well known for matching the tone of the film. Nicole Sorace is also quite fantastic here as well, I’m sure we are definitely going to see more of her after this performance because she completely nails down the atmosphere every chance she gets.

But the clear as day powerhouse here is Nell Tiger Free from the very beginning she captures the tone of each scene she is in. What I did not expect was a very grounded performance from Nell Tiger Free, the many themes going on here such as bodily anatomy really makes Free’s performance all the more powerful especially since it does lead to a quite shocking third act that is incredibly effective.

The First Omen very much goes for this 70s look and does as much as it possibly can to compliment the 1976 original film which it succeeds at doing so. Between the color palette, the classic 70s horror atmosphere and some very horrifying scares it really captures the spirit of the original film while being its own thing. The film itself also has this feel of the unknown where you get the feeling anything can pop out at any given moment, there’s some clues as to where the third act is going to go but it’s not enough to make the viewer predict just how far it will go.

All of that can be really attributed with Arkasha Stevenson’s direction and the script from Tim Smith, Keith Thomas and Arkasha Stevenson. They all do such a fantastic job of telling this dark story that goes in several different directions when the viewer least expects it, the third act itself only adds to Nell Tiger Free’s performance which is truly horrifying to watch. Especially from a studio horror film it’s shocking to witness and is incredibly well done (especially the score).

I don’t want to say too much else, The First Omen is absolutely a film that you need to go in knowing as little as possible to get the full impact. Just know that it’s one of the best films so far this year and really makes me excited to see what Arkasha Stevenson does next.

The First Omen is playing in theaters.

10/10 A+

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver (2024) Film Review

A colony on the edge of the galaxy fights for survival against a tyrannical ruling force, relying on the efforts of a small group of rebels.

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is directed by Zack Snyder who has directed by Rebel Moon (2023), Army Of The Dead (2021), Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016), Dawn Of The Dead (2004), Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021), 300 (2007) and many others.

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is only a slight improvement over the first movie, in fact a majority of my criticisms and positives I had with part one can be applied with this one. It’s honestly not that much different outside of largely taking place on a farm which does hurt the scale of the movie quite a lot.

Anthony Hopkins at least is given more to do this time around and he remains as one of the positives of the movie. The same can be said with Sofia Boutella who really tries her very best with the script she’s given, unfortunately it’s not enough to get the viewer into the movie despite once again giving a decently fun performance. One improvement this movie does have over it’s predecessor is Ed Skrein is a bit better here, we are definitely given a lot more about him as a villain and he honestly does a better job this time around even if there are some incredibly lacking areas.

The movie itself is once again beautiful to look at, even though we are restricted to the farm for a majority of the movie. There are still a lot of really solid shots that are undeniably beautiful, finally there’s the action scenes which are pretty neat. They aren’t anything completely mind blowing but are absolutely one of the movie’s best parts.

Unfortunately that’s where this movie ends for me, a major issue I had with part one is it completely failed to make the viewer care about the characters and did not give them any meaningful character development. That applies with part two, sure we are given crumbs but not anything the viewer can really work with, it doesn’t help that the writing is once again very sloppy and remains completely hollow character wise. There’s nothing here that makes the viewer want to invest in these characters at all, it’s all very mindless and goes on for way too long until it decides to end.

It’s a shame really because I want to like these movies, I want to be invested in the movie’s world and it’s characters but unfortunately the movie gives very little reason for the viewer to really care at all. Perhaps Zack Snyder’s cut of this movie and part one (hasn’t been released at the time this was written) will expand on these characters and the world but for now this is a complete mess.

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is available on Netflix.

4/10 D+

Dogman (2024) Film Review

As a child, Douglas was abused by a violent father who then threw him to the dogs. Instead of attacking him, the dogs protected him. Traumatised and leading a life on the margins of society with his dogs, Douglas descends into a murderous madness.

Dogman is directed by Luc Besson who has directed Lucy (2014), Léon: The Professional (1994), The Family (2013), The Fifth Element (1997), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) and a few others.

As strange as the premise of Dogman might be it strangely almost works, unfortunately this is yet another one of Luc Besson’s misfires that doesn’t quite live up to the potential that the movie had. Caleb Landry Jones is what makes this movie at the very least stand on it’s legs, he gives a pretty twisted and intimidating performance as Doug Munrow a man who is being interrogated by a psychiatrist (played by Jojo T. Gibbs) he gives his backstory when he was a child, why he became obsessed with dogs and tells a lot more about his life such as him being a drag queen in a cabaret act.

The first act and even some of the second act are quite decent I must say, Caleb Landry Jones as I said before gives a very solid performance and the backstory of Doug is actually pretty interesting. The score is quite nice (might be my favorite thing about it outside of Jones’s performance) and the trained dogs are quite impressive as well especially combined with the shots of the dogs doing some quite impressive tricks and perfectly matching each of the movie’s scenes tone.

Unfortunately the rest of the movie takes itself way too seriously and ultimately turns into another version of The Joker (2019) and Taxi Driver (1976) the third act is very rushed and has trouble really blending it’s themes together to create something interesting. There are some decent enough kills but the group Doug ultimately goes against are completely bland and have very little character to them outside of wanting to kill Doug.

There is definitely something interesting here with Dogman and I think if the writing had more work on it this could have at the very least been a decently fun movie.

Dogman is available on all VOD Platforms.

4/10 D+

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths Part Two

An endless army of shadow demons seeks to destroy all realities. What mysterious force drives them; and do Monitor and Supergirl’s secrets threaten to crush the heroes’ last defense?

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two is directed by Jeff Wamester who previously directed Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One (2024), Justice League Warworld (2023), Legion Of Super-Heroes (2023), Green Lantern: Beware My Power (2022) and Justice Society: World War II (2021).

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two serves as the second part of the eighth and final installment of the Tomorrowverse, a lot of what I said about part one can be applied here. What’s baffling here is part two is a step down from part one which was already a poor opening to the trilogy.

There is a few fine enough action scenes and much like the first part the voice acting is serviceable, but they are so far in between that it ultimately doesn’t matter. We are yet again shown characters who we haven’t been able to really connect with since the Tomorrowverse is ending in the next and final part. One problem throughout the movie that becomes very noticeable is it really can’t decide who our main protagonist should be between Jensen Ackle’s Batman, Darren Criss’s Superman or Meg Donnelly’s Supergirl the movie constantly jumps back and forth between subplots with none of the characters actually getting any real time to shine.

It’s not just the main characters either, the side characters get no real development here either, which is baffling considering how many heroes and villains the movie has access to. The whole movie really seems like it’s not interested in exploring these characters (outside of some very cliched backstories) and if the movie isn’t interested why should the viewer?

I really don’t know what else I can say without repeating my issues that I had with the first part. Part two somehow ends up being far more messy, disjointed and lacking than part one. At least part one had some good moments with The Flash and at the very least attempted to try and say something, part two is as if somebody put something together at the very last second and called it a day. Will this trilogy end on a high note? Guess we will wait and see with part three which is expected to come out later this year.

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two is available on all VOD platforms.

2/10 F

Monkey Man (2024) Film Review

An anonymous young man unleashes a campaign of vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to systemically victimize the poor and powerless

Monkey Man is directed by Dev Patel which is his directorial debut.

Monkey Man is a film that was nearly flat out going to have it’s release cancelled by Netflix after feeling the film would be too gritty for Indian audiences and was concerned the reaction to the film’s political commentary. Luckily Jordan Peele and Universal stepped in and acquired it and we now have the film released…which is excellent because Monkey Man rules.

I already knew Dev Patel was one hell of an actor, he’s given some quite strong performances over the years. However his directing here is outstanding especially as the film goes on you really start to see a lot of Patel’s strengths as an actor be reflected in the director’s chair. Monkey Man is a revenge tale which obviously isn’t anything new, with that being said the way this film tells that tale and uses the revenge element is what makes this interesting.

Throughout the film you can feel Bobby’s (played by Dev Patel) anger it’s much more quiet in certain parts of the film but it’s always there. Even with the action scenes that get progressively more violent and gory as the film goes on you can feel the anger getting more and more heated as it goes on and the closer the film reaches Bobby’s goal. His anger at the beginning starts as grief and not really knowing where to start or even to really do, but once he figures it out and has a plan set hell breaks loose from there and it’s truly satisfying to see all of this go down especially in stylistic action scenes that truly thrilling.

The atmosphere combined with the action scenes are truly fantastic here, they really blend well with the whole revenge and anger elements I mentioned earlier. Which leaves them to be all the more satisfying to watch, I do think there are some writing issues mainly when it comes to the villains. There’s some sort of a switch of main antagonists during the film that doesn’t feel very fitting especially since this feels more of a personal revenge story of Bobby. Having that said that doesn’t stop the film in any very major ways.

The rest of the cast are quite fantastic as well, they fit the film in their own ways and help compliment the film’s world. Even if a lot of them don’t get the most character development they are at the very least important to the story. They help guide Bobby and create this building a hero type of story that’s incredibly engaging to watch. The topic of corruption and how it can get people to fall for corrupt leaders is truly fascinating, we are shown glimpses of Bobby’s past throughout the film and how he ended up where he is now. Those flashbacks do a fantastic job of really showing how much damage corruption has done and how throughout the years there’s been no change. Until it was time to create a hero to tackle corruption In any single way possible.

Monkey Man is truly a knockout directorial debut for Dev Patel, I truly hope we get to see more of his directing career because this was truly fantastic.

Monkey Man is playing in theaters

9/10 A

Hundreds Of Beavers (2024) Film Review

A drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

Hundreds Of Beavers is directed by Mike Cheslik which is his directorial debut.

Hundreds Of Beavers is a film that really needs to be seen to be believed, picture a Looney Tunes cartoon combined with the silent film era, throw in some Monty Python and Sin City and this is what you get an absolutely fascinating film that is quite honestly one of the funniest films I’ve seen in a very long time.

Honestly what makes the film is the amount of charm that’s shown throughout the film, every single moment is filled to the brim with it and really seems like everyone involved had such a blast making this film. The slapstick comedy is masterfully done especially with the comedic timing that Mike Cheslik, Ryland Brockton Cole Tews, Kurt Ravenwood and Matt Sablijak have in their script.

What amazes me the most about Hundreds Of Beavers is they manage to keep up the slapstick comedy and insanity throughout the film, it never once gets dull, repetitive or tiring it’s all 108 minutes of pure fun that really celebrates the art of slapstick comedy and in some ways the silent film era as well. It’s such a wonderful film that really shows incredible passion to the art form and delivers such a hilarious story while doing so.

The visuals combined with the music just make it all the more fun and much like everything else really compliment the slapstick comedy, the music captures that Looney Tunes feel incredibly and really reminds you of that era of cartoons. The visuals are truly delightful and in their own ways quite hilarious as well.

I won’t say much else because I truly do think it’s best to go into Hundreds Of Beavers knowing as little as possible, please do anything you can to support a film like this!

Hundreds Of Beavers is available on all VOD platforms.

9/10 A

Girls State (2024) Film Review

A look at what American democracy would look like in the hands of teenage girls. Young female leaders from wildly different backgrounds navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up.

Girls State is directed by Jess Moss and Amanda McBlaine directors of Boys State (2020) and The Mission (2023). Jess Moss has also directed Mayor Pete (2021), The Overnighters (2014) and a few others.

Girls State follows the exact same sort of idea as Boys State did. A bunch of teenage girls go through a week long mock government experiment, which helps them learn how to build a government from the ground up.

Much like in Boys State, seeing the girls interact with each other and sharing ideas between one another is truly fascinating, it’s worth noting that right as this week began the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade was leaked. Which in turns brings a lot of interesting discussion to the documentary, seeing the reactions to the news felt incredibly powerful as well.

The girls of course give speeches which are genuinely fantastic, truly touching moments that are some of the documentary’s best moments. Jess Moss and Amanda McBlaine do such a fantastic job once again, they let everything play out without interfering which leads to every reaction and speech feeling much more powerful and raw.

Girls State and Boys State are two very interesting films that work incredibly well together, they definitely have their differences. But what they both show is young people having a genuine interest in politics and wanting to change the future.

I may slightly prefer Boys State mainly due to the idea of it being more fresh, having that said Girls State is still a really great documentary that I do recommend watching!

Girls State is available on Apple TV+

8/10 B+