After responding to Internet trolls, a man becomes haunted by the ghost of a dead child named David. Based on the viral Twitter thread by BuzzFeed comic artist Adam Ellis.
Dear David is directed by John McPhail (director of Anna and the Apocalypse) and is based on Adam Ellis’s Twitter thread of the same name.
A film being based on a Twitter thread isn’t new, in 2021 Zola was finally released and was met with a huge amount of praise. Mainly due to how well made and acted the film really was, it had a whole past vs modern theme going on (the film taking place in a modern setting while being shot on a 16mm camera.) The Dear David thread was made in 2017 by Adam Ellis, while the thread itself isn’t anything groundbreaking nowadays. Back then horror threads on Twitter were not really seen before. It is a bit of surprise that a studio did not jump at the chance to adapt the story into a movie earlier but here we are now I guess.
I’m going to cut right into it Dear David is a terrible movie, for one thing it’s another Lionsgate and Buzzfeed Studios collaboration so that really speaks for itself. But outside of Justin Long who’s really giving it his all. There is absolutely nothing here that is slightly investing, the performances are horrendous and really seem like they are trying to be performances from an early 2000s spoof movie than a horror movie. The writing is atrocious, it features some of the worst dialogue of the year and really has no goal to it at all.
Zola worked because it was actually a very well made film, with tons of great performances and was much more than the Twitter thread itself. Dear David doesn’t even come close to as effective as the Twitter thread was, heck they changed David’s backstory and the change is completely unnecessary. The movie itself is nothing but jumpscares that just keep going on and piling on with how terrible they really are.
I really don’t know what else to say to be quite honest, Dear David is a movie that did not need to exist. It’s not even a good adaption to the story due to some of the ridiculous changes. So who is this actually for? Certainly not fans of the Twitter thread.
A couple buys a house from “The Slumlord Tapes,” infamous for hidden cameras and a psycho landlord. It’s not as safe as they tell themselves.
15 Cameras is the third installment in the “Cameras series” and is the sequel to 14 Cameras (2018). The Cameras series is an odd one and it’s a bit surprising to see that there’s three of these movies the series started in 2015 with 13 Cameras which was actually a decently fun horror movie and it’s sequel 14 Cameras is quite fun as well.
One thing that people who have watched the two previous movies are going to notice almost immediately is the absence of Neville Archambault who played the main antagonist Gerald from the first two movies. Plus is the main reason that makes these movies work, sadly in August 2022 Archambault passed away (I actually had no idea about this until I looked up the movie) whether or not he was going to be in this installment I’m not sure of. Obviously this isn’t anyone’s fault but to say Archambault’s absence is not felt would be flat out lying.
The movie does try to work around this with the plot being that Gerald left behind his video monitor equipment that details his murders and his own death, it’s a pretty smart move that I do actually have to give some sort of credit. Despite that however the movie itself isn’t very good and falls more in line with a very forgettable straight to VOD horror movie.
The acting was never really incredible in these movies but it was serviceable and got the job done but here it’s very noticeably bad. The actors are definitely trying their best with the script they are given but it’s not enough to completely salvage the movie. Honestly the main issue here is the movie is more or less the same thing as the previous two movies but without Archambault. The movie just doesn’t have the atmosphere or suspense that the first two movies had and it’s very noticeable that the movie almost seems like it’s lost without Archambault.
I really wish there was more to be said about 15 Cameras but there really isn’t, it’s the same sort of theme of Cameras watching your every move and how you don’t really have privacy. The first two movies (especially the first one) did this theme a lot better and in a much more engaging way.
A gay couple’s marriage is thrown into crisis when one of them impulsively begins a passionate affair with a young woman.
Passages is directed by Ira Sachs and it’s quite a powerful one, for starters the acting is absolutely top notch here. Franz Rogowski and Ben Whishsaw in particular are fantastic and give some of the most powerful performances of the year.
Right from the beginning we meet Tomas one of the main three characters who is a very unlikable character as you see throughout the film. But the way story told around him, Martin (played by Ben Whishsaw) and Agathe (played by Adéle Exarchopolus) is truly fascinating and ultimately leads into why the film works so well.
A lot of the story is told through body language, whether it’s caring, powerful, or filled to the brim with passion there’s so much of it here that really excels of telling the story through body language. When director Ira Sachs said that the sex scenes were an integral part of the story he was absolutely right. The body language throughout the sex scenes really tells the story in a very powerful way that also uses the camera’s movement and space to tell the story.
The character moments are truly excellent as well as the dialogue so many special moments that are truly powerful, Ben Whishsaw in particular gets some of the film’s best moments. It’s another prime example of how much of a fantastic actor he really is!
A troubled security guard begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the late shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.
Five Nights At Freddy’s is based on the video game franchise of the same name, look I’m not going to act like I’m a FNAF fanatic (I’m going to use the initials to not make this much longer than it needs to be) because I’m not. I played some of the games years ago and from what I did play I though they weren’t bad. Nothing really groundbreaking but still decently fun, this movie on the other hand….What happened here?
The movie is directed by Emma Tammi who had an early attempt at a horror film with The Wind (2018) a movie that while I respected the filmmaking elements such as the atmosphere and filming. The story, characters and writing was completely forgettable.
Somewhere in the FNAF movie there is a decent movie, the few positives include Matthew Lillard who gives such a fun performance and honestly does whatever he wants easily makes him the standout. The animatronics are quite neat as well, they were puppeteered with practical effects which is always great to see. So there definitely is credit to give here especially with choosing practical effects over CG.
Unfortunately that’s where the positives end, because the rest of the movie is a huge chore to sit through. Which is a shame because there was so much potential here, the rest of the performances range from being awful to incredibly forgettable. Josh Hutcherson in particular gives such a nothing performance and Elizabeth Lail really feels like she’s in the wrong movie. A lot of this movie is basic jumpscares that really don’t have any power to them, they exist and the viewer quickly moves on from them to go on to the next one.
What really kills this movie however is the baffling number of subplots in the movie, none of which are particularly interesting. There’s a subplot about a custody battle which I can kind of see where they were going with this but it takes so much away from the main plot. The PG-13 rating does hold the movie back from being even better, it’s easy to see why the movie was rated PG-13 because they needed money and a lot of the fanbase are much younger fans. With that said you can easily tell that the limitations of the rating really hurt this movie quality wise.
Overall there really isn’t much else to be said here, it’s a shame because there was definitely potential for a solid FNAF movie but sadly this isn’t it.
Five Nights At Freddy’s is available in theaters and on Peacock.
Internet sleuths travel to Carmichael Manor, site of the 1989 Carmichael family murders. They find a terror that’s lurked in the shadows long before Hell House LLC.
Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor is the fourth film in the Hell House LLC franchise and serves as a sequel and a prequel to the first movie Hell House LLC (2015).
Going into this movie I was honestly not expecting much, the Hell House LLC series is genuinely quite solid outside of the third movie (I found the second movie very flawed but good enough) that really failed to capture the magic the first two movies did. Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor brings the movie back to it’s roots on what made the first movie so scary in the first place, going for a much more thrilling and a somewhat more grounded approach.
The acting is quite decent especially in the context of this movie being found footage, it really is some of the better acting seen in this genre I have to give credit where credit is due. What really makes the film is the atmosphere, filming and many flashback scenes weaved together. There’s so much build up to the scares that end up being quite effective, the movie expands on the mythology from the previous movies and explains the story in a straightforward way that the viewer can easily digest.
Returning to the tense atmosphere that made the first one a cult hit was a very smart move, as it really does feel like it’s adding on to what made the first movie so great while being it’s own thing. There is not anything groundbreaking here but there really does not have to be. It’s an incredibly fun addition to the series that I recommend checking out.
Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor is available on Shudder.
When Alice stops at a remote gas station at night, she’s made the plaything of a crazy sniper with a secret vendetta. To survive, she must figure out who wants her dead.
Night Of The Hunted is directed by Franck Khalfoun a name that some horror fans may recognize as the person who directed Maniac (2012), P2 (2007), Amityville: The Awakening (2017) and a few others. Khalfoun’s filmography is a bit of a mixed bag, while P2 and Maniac (2012) are really solid films everything else such as the previously mentioned Amityville: The Awakening and his other movies I Lived (2015) and Prey(2019). While Night Of The Hunted is an improvement over his last 3 movies, it completely falls apart at the end.
Before that there are quite a few positives, for starters Camille Rowe gives a very committed and strong performance in the leading role, the death scenes are actually decently brutal with one of them being the standout. The one location setting which in this case is a gas station absolutely works, which is mainly due to the tense atmosphere that does give the movie quite a few suspenseful moments. The writing is actually quite effective as well, there’s definitely a few hiccups before the last bit of the movie but it isn’t enough to stop the movie. The movie itself is actually quite engaging up until the last bit of the movie completely flips the table for all the wrong reasons.
The main problem here is the killer who spouts a lot of ramblings that are meant to be political commentary, the killer is meant to be a MAGA, anti-woke, Alex Jones fan stereotype. It completely comes out of left field and has no purpose of being here outside of being shoehorned into the movie. The movie strangely attempts to compare and contrast the killer with Alice (played by Camille Rowe) who’s the liberal protagonist (I guess the movie never really says or implies she’s liberal…more on that in a second though), the movie also attempts to get the viewer to sympathize with the killer during his rants. It gets even more bizarre when the movie itself suggests that Alice working for the pharmaceutical industry is comparable to the killer killing because the industry is corrupt and can kill people. It’s a completely bizarre approach that makes no sense at all, what confuses me the most is if you are trying to say Alice represents the left why was she so apolitical and did not share her beliefs throughout the movie?
It would be one thing if the movie did something clever with it’s political commentary, but that’s not the case at all here. It completely destroys any tension atmosphere or character this movie had going for it.
The Puppeteer, a convicted murderer on death row, has always maintained his innocence, claiming that it was an evil force that controlled his body as he slaughtered his victims.
The Puppetman is directed by Brandon Christensen who’s directed films such as Superhost, Z and Still/born. The movie is a prime example of a movie that has an incredibly interesting idea but is lacking the execution needed to fully pull if off.
The kills are by far the best part about The Puppetman, they are surprisingly effective and quite brutal which I completely did not expect at all. There’s also some camera shots that actually helped build some much needed atmosphere, it does a pretty decent job of hiding the movie’s budget which at the very least you can tell there was effort here.
Unfortunately that’s where the positives end, because when you really boil down to it The Puppetman is a mess. The pacing during the first act of the movie runs at a snails pace and it’s by far the least interesting part of the movie that can easily lose the viewer’s interest. Especially when you combine that with characters who most of them only exist to rack up kills. Things do get a bit more exciting once the second act rolls around since the kills I mentioned earlier are quite great and the story finally starts to kick in.
The third act unfortunately is way too strange for it’s own good, maybe if The Puppetman was attempting to have the whole movie as a campfest or make it as goofy as possible this might have gotten a pass. But as it stands it is such an odd decision to take the movie that ultimately leaves you with more questions than answers.
The Puppetman had a lot of potential to be something quite interesting, it’s unfortunate that only the kills are about as deep the movie is willing to go with it’s premise. There’s definitely some effort here and this isn’t one of the worst Shudder Originals (you could easily do a lot worse) but this is one of the most forgettable and bare bone ones.
We are nearly done 2023 and still have a huge amount to look forward to! There’s plenty to be excited for this month, last month I was originally going to do a second award season post but felt a bit too early. With more of the award contenders releasing this month I definitely think a second award season post is going to happen sometime this month. Anyway here’s the list!
15. Good Burger 2 – November 22nd (Paramount+)
14. It’s A Wonderful Knife – November 10th (Theaters)
13. Your Lucky Day – November 14th (VOD)
12. Wish – November 22nd (Theaters)
11. Fingernails – November 3rd (Apple TV+)
10. Monster – November 10th (Theaters)
9. The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes – November 17th (Theaters)
8. All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt – November 3rd (Theaters)
7. The Holdovers – November 10th (Theaters)
6. Napoleon – November 22nd (Theaters)
5. Rustin – November 17th (Netflix)
4. Saltburn – November 17th (Limited Theaters) and November 22nd (Wide Theaters)
In the 1920s, members of the Osage Native American tribe of Osage County, Oklahoma, are murdered after oil is found on their land, and the FBI decides to investigate.
Killers Of The Flower Moon is based on the 2017 Book of the same name, which is also based on the series of Oklahoma Murders in the Osage nation during the 1920s which were committed after oil was discovered on tribal land.
It goes without saying that Martin Scorsese is truly an incredible filmmaker, each of his films always brings something quite interesting to the table. Whether it be how the viewer looks at films in different ways, the way he discusses characters, different ways of telling stories. It’s always exciting to see what he is going to do next.
Killers Of The Flower Moon establishes it’s atmosphere almost immediately with the introduction to some of the characters such as Ernest Buckhart played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Ernest’s uncle William King Hale played by Robert De Niro. Right off the bat DiCaprio and De Niro absolutely nail down their roles, both of them work incredibly well together and they are quite different from the usual horrendous people that Scorsese has in his films. Scorsese instead has Ernest and William King Hale come off as people you would actually trust at first when in reality they are downright horrendous people that the film makes sure you know they are terrible.
Some people may see this as the film trying to get you to sympathize with Ernest when that’s not the case at all. Portraying Ernest or William King Hale as cartoon mustache twirling antagonists would be a complete disservice to the story being told (heck it would be a disservice to the real events that happened), the Osage trusted William King Hale and naturally trusted Ernest since his uncle is Hale. There’s a lot of betrayal in this story that is absolutely gut wrenching that makes the viewer so angry and it absolutely works.
When Lily Gladstone enters the film that’s when we get one of the best performances of the year, there is so much that could be said about Gladstone’s performance that you could write a 20 page paper about it. There’s so much heart, passion and many other emotions put into the performance that really elevates Lily Gladstone, it’s a heartbreaking performance that has tons of quiet moments and moments that are incredibly raw. Lily Gladstone plays Mollie who eventually marries Ernest and what follows is incredibly heartbreaking moments that only progressively get more and more disturbing as the film goes on. One scene in particular towards the film’s final moments alone makes Gladstone the absolute best performance of the film.
The rest of the cast are also phenomenal, part of what makes Scorsese’s films so exciting is his focus on side characters, even if some characters appear for about 5-10 minutes they are still a very integral part to the film. Killers Of The Flower Moon is no exception from Anna Brown (played by Cara Jade Myers) who gives such a powerful performance, Tommy Schulz who plays Blackie Thompson who gives such a fantastic performance especially during the last half of the film, Tantoo Cardinal who plays Lizzie Q, Mollie’s mother gives a very heartbreaking performance. Brendan Fraser has a few lines that he absolutely nails down in such a unexpected but raw way, Jesse Plemons who completely steals a lot of the major scenes he’s in, his performance really goes to show just how much he is one of the best working actors. His scenes with DiCaprio are some of the absolute highlights! There’s so many other performances that are fascinating, one thing these performances all have in common is they each bring something truly special to the film.
The writing is masterfully done, there’s so much carefully put together scenes that end up being so powerful and brutal as well. It’s a tough subject to really tackle but Scorsese does such a fascinating job he isn’t afraid to show the down right cruelty the Osage went through. Most of the violence is not shown which works in the movie’s favor, if anything it makes the whole story much more disturbing. You hear the desperation of the Osage people of wanting to find out who is doing this in the dialogue like it’s some of the film’s best moments as well as most heartbreaking.
I’m not going to spoil the ending since it’s absolutely something that really needs to be seen to get the full impact, but I will say that I was certainly not expecting it. Rather then ending with a traditional black screen that explains what happened to the people in the story, Scorsese goes for something completely different and it truly works. Mainly due to the fact that Ernest and William King Hale or any of the other people who helped them never faced any real justice, it’s a story that truly makes you angry and ending a heartbreaking film the way Scorsese did was just such an incredible note to end it on.
Overall Killers Of The Flower Moon is yet another masterful film from Martin Scorsese it’s a very important film that I highly recommend checking out as soon as you can!
Killers Of The Flower Moon is playing in theaters!
The true story of a team of unlikely underdogs — a working-class gamer, a former race-car driver, and an idealistic motorsport executive — who risk it all to take on the most elite sport in the world.
Gran Turismo is based off of the video game franchise of the same name, it also tells the true story of Jann Mardenborough a teenage Gran Turismo player who went on to become a professional race car driver.
I really had no idea what to expect with Gran Turismo, this is a film that could have easily went down either route but luckily the team involved with the film really crafted something quite surprising and actually inspirational as well. For starters this is Neill Blomkamp’s best film since District 9, it’s drastically different from what Blomkamp usually tackles. But he really elevates a script that would have been very basic into several thrilling race scenes, character moments and plenty of heart as well as inspirational ones as well.
The performances are quite great as well Archie Madekwe is fantastic in the leading role he’s portrayal of Jann Mardenborough is filled to the brim with heart and inspiration, sure it may come off as a traditional underdog type of performance at times. But that’s part of the charm that really works in the movie’s favor, David Harbour is quite fun as well he’s always a blast to see on screen and here is no exception. Harbour’s character Jack Salter has a quite interesting backstory and the bond between Jack and Jann is quite excellent, some of the best scenes of the film are the two just talking to each other.
The racing scenes are phenomenal with tons of thrilling moments and atmosphere it’s so well put together, the CG can be a bit much at times but it doesn’t stop the movie from having a large visual impact that really knows how to use it’s thrilling atmosphere. The humor is genuinely pretty solid as well, yes there is some dialogue and jokes that aren’t that great. But I was very surprised to see how genuine some of the humor really was.
Overall Gran Turismo shocked me, sure some may write this off as an underdog story. While there are indeed elements of that, the movie does mostly it’s own thing. Beautifully told story with really solid direction, acting and atmosphere. Check this one out!
Jerome Reviews... 