Founders Day (2024) Film Review

A series of ominous murders rocks a small town just days before a heated mayoral election. As accusations fly and the threat of a masked killer darkens every corner, residents must race against time to uncover the truth.

Founders Day is directed by Erik Bloomquist director of She Came From The Woods (2022), Ten Minutes to Midnight (2020), Intermedium (2023) and a few others.

Founders Day is one of those movies where I respect the effort put into it more than the quality of the movie, they did what they could with a low budget and at times there’s even glimpses of a decent slasher movie here. But more often than not it’s a mess.

Nobody in the cast gives a really good performance, at best there are moments where the cast have some fun which is mainly when Bloomquist asks for different notes in certain scenes. The kills are at least fun, I don’t think they are as gnarly as some people made them out to be. But they get the job done and are easily the strongest part about this movie.

What kills Founders Day is the script, the reveal for the killer is completely idiotic, the lack of motivation is felt throughout the movie and essentially becomes a killer running around killing teens with some local politics thrown into the mix. It doesn’t end up meshing very well at all and really needed a whole lot more time in the oven.

Founders Day is available on all VOD platforms.

2/10 F

Most Anticipated Films Of May 2024!

April is over and now we are headed into the summer movie season. April was quite a fantastic month for film, between Challengers, Abigail, The First Omen, Hundreds Of Beavers, Sasquatch Sunset and Civil War there was so much to really love. I still have two more reviews from April (Challengers and Civil War) to post which will be posted either today or tomorrow so keep an eye out.

May looks like another really solid month, while I don’t think it’s as filled to the brim with releases as April. It makes up for it with having some of the most anticipated films of the year such as Furiosa, I Saw The TV Glow and Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.

Before we get into the list we have a film that I saw at Sundance last year that’s finally coming out which is…

Slow directed by Marija Kavtaradzé: it’s a beautiful showcase of intimacy and why it’s important, the performances are excellent, the film discusses and explores asexuality in a very honest and beautiful way. I said in my review that it’s the most raw and tender approach to the topic I’ve ever seen in a film and that remains true a year and four months later. So be sure to check it out when it releases in theaters May 3rd!

Now on to the list

11. Jim Henson Idea Man – May 31st (Disney+)

10. The Idea Of You – May 2nd (Amazon Prime Video)

9. Ezra – May 31st (Theaters)

8. Wildcat – May 2nd (Theaters)

7. Babes – May 17th (Theaters)

6. Robot Dreams – May 31st (Theaters)

5. The Strangers: Chapter 1 – May 17th (Theaters)

4. Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes – May 10th (Theaters)

3. In A Violent Nature – May 31st (Theaters)

2. I Saw The TV Glow – May 3rd (Limited Theaters) and May 17th (Expand Theaters)

1. Furiosa – May 24th (Theaters)

And that’s the list! Let’s have another excellent month for film!! Cheers!!

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

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+

Sting (2024) Film Review

Charlotte is a rebellious 12-year-old girl who finds a tiny spider in her rundown apartment building. She keeps it in a jar, but it soon starts to grow at a monstrous rate and develop an insatiable appetite for blood. As her neighbors begin to disappear, Charlotte and her family find themselves in a desperate fight for their lives against a ravenous arachnid with a taste for human flesh.

Sting is directed by Kiah Roache-Turner Director of Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead (2014), Nekrotronic (2018) and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (2021).

I actually had some sort of excitement for Sting, Kiah Roache-Turner did a great job with the Wyrmwood movies plus there’s been a lack of spider movies lately. Unfortunately the many odd decisions with Sting completely stops it from being anything memorable.

Sting does have its positives, particularly the opening scene, the final act and the gore. The opening scene starts out with a bang especially combined with the location, it’s short, simple and to the point. However once that scene is over prepare for some incredibly slow pacing and a lot of very misplaced family drama, it’s a baffling decision that rather than stick with the spiders the movie instead mainly focuses on family drama which consists of a few people screaming at each other while some spider scenes occur in the background.

It’s unfortunate because when the movie decides to be a spider movie it has the vibes of a 50s and 80s B horror movie especially when the movie finally picks up during the final act. That’s when you get some actually quite nasty kills with a ton of gore, seeing it unfold really makes you wish the rest of the movie was this much fun. But by that point the movie is practically over, the performances are about what you expect. They aren’t the absolute worst and get the job done, but they aren’t particularly great either.

Overall Sting is quite honestly a whole nothing burger, there’s some really neat moments especially if you are into 50s and 80s B horror. But that’s all you are really going to get out of this one unfortunately.

Sting releases tomorrow in theaters.

4/10 D+

Baghead (2024) Film Review

A young woman inherits a run-down pub and discovers a dark secret within its basement, Baghead, a shape-shifting creature that lets one speak to lost loved ones, but not without consequence.

Baghead is directed by Alberto Corredor which is his directorial debut.

This is just Talk To Me (2023) if it were executed extremely poorly. Instead of a hand the device used to talk to the dead is this entity named Baghead, a simple enough premise even if it repeats what Talk To Me did. The major problem here with this movie is how it’s written, you could probably get away with being a clone if the writing was half decent but that’s not the case here.

I don’t usually talk about character decision making because I find it to rarely ever hurt a movie, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t hurt this one. A lot of it is very illogical and it doesn’t help that the rules of Bagman constantly change throughout the movie whenever it’s more convenient, for example one of the rules is that bagman transforms into a dead person for two minutes before taking control. Sounds simple enough…well the movie’s characters constantly ignore that like it’s not a big deal.

The movie itself over explains plot points that ultimately don’t really matter due to the script being such a complete and total mess, finally the character development is just not there at all. There’s some attempts to try and do some character work by looking into the character’s past but nothing interesting is ever brought to the table.

Overall Baghead could have been interesting had the script been far better.

Baghead is available on Shudder.

2/10 F

Most Anticipated Films Of April 2024!

March kicked things up quite well when it comes to film Dune: Part Two, Immaculate, Love Lies Bleeding and One Life were all really great films. April is looking to repeat that with a surprising amount of great looking films coming out.

I say surprising because April is usually served as some sort of dumping ground (not always) for films that didn’t quite make the summer movie release, but it seems like this time around we are getting a little bit of everything and some highly anticipated films of the year.

16. The Greatest Hits – April 5th (Theaters) and April 12th (Hulu)

15. Infested – April 26th (Shudder)

14. Hundreds Of Beavers – April 15th (VOD)

13. Girl’s State – April 5th (Apple TV+)

12. Musica – April 4th (Amazon Prime Video)

11. Boy Kills World – April 26th (Theaters)

10. The Beast – April 5th (Theaters)

9. Arcadian – April 12th (Theaters)

8. The People’s Joker – April 5th (Theaters)

7. Sasquatch Sunset – April 12th (Limited Theaters) and April 19th (Expands Theaters)

6. Civil War – April 12th (Theaters)

5. Abigail – April 19th (Theaters)

4. Challengers – April 26th (Theaters)

3. Monkey Man – April 5th (Theaters)

2. The First Omen – April 5th (Theaters)

1. Humane – April 26th (Theaters)

Immaculate (2024) Film Review

An American nun embarks on a new journey when she joins a remote convent in the Italian countryside. However, her warm welcome quickly turns into a living nightmare when she discovers her new home harbours a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.

Immaculate is directed by Michael Mohan director of One Too Many Mornings (2010), Save The Date (2012) and The Voyeurs (2021).

Immaculate is truly an interesting beast of a film, it takes a quite large subgenre in this case being horror films centered around religion and goes completely off the rails with it. The film itself starts out as a very traditional film within the subgenre but it quickly grows into it’s own thing and you get bits and pieces of the direction throughout the film to ultimately lead into a chaotic finale.

Sydney Sweeney is absolutely phenomenal here, she’s an actress who is quickly becoming one of the most exciting to watch. Much like her performance in Reality (2023) this is yet another already career best performance, her performance here starts out quiet but quickly goes off the rails. Particularly with the third act that is absolutely bonkers in the best way possible. Her performance as Cecilia completely matches the dark, mysterious and actually quite brutal atmosphere that the film was going for. The rest of the cast do an excellent job here as well, each of them play very out there characters who much like the rest of the movie quickly go from being quiet to absolute insanity. This is all done due to Michael Mohan’s excellent direction that really shows he knows how to perfectly time when a film should completely surprise the viewer and go in a very different direction.

What surprised me the most is how actually quite brutal the film was, the gore here heavily reminded me of the “New French Wave of Extreme Horror” films such as Martyrs (2008), High Tension (2003), Inside (2007) and a few others. There were some genuinely shocking moments that were very effective, even how the film is shot sort of reminded me of those films, speaking of which the cinematography from Elisha Christian is fantastic. Almost immediately when the film begins you feel the atmosphere hit you, there’s this sense of mystery of what is going to happen. It also helps that the film is confined into this small enough space that gives the brutal moments far more impact.

Finally there’s the third act which as I’ve said earlier goes off the rails (in the best way possible) very quickly, it leads to one of Sydney Sweeney’s best moments as an actress so far in her career. The film takes one hell of a dive into madness that really surprised me, it is absolutely best if you go into it knowing as little as possible!

Immaculate is available in theaters.

10/10 A+

You’ll Never Find Me (2024) Film Review

On a stormy night, Patrick, a seemingly troubled man, is visited by a mysterious woman, asking for shelter at his mobile home. As the night unfolds, their anxiety and mutual mistrust grow, causing fear and paranoia to engulf the small RV.

You’ll Never Find Me is directed by Indianna Bell and Josiah Allen which is their directorial debut the film is also written by Indianna Bell.

You’ll Never Find Me is an interesting one, it has a simple setup of two strangers in a cabin. A lot of the setup has the viewer trusting Patrick (played by Brendan Rock) but we quickly see that he’s definitely not someone worth trusting. As Jordan Cowan who plays a character simply known as “woman” finds out.

If it’s two things You’ll Never Find Me nails down it’s the performances and atmosphere, both Brendan Rock and Jordan Cowan are both fantastic here and due to the strong acting from the two. Each scene is incredibly thrilling and is like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off at any given moment. From the casual conversations to the scenes that happen much later in the film it’s filled to the brim with thrilling and atmospheric moments that really get the viewer. The atmosphere has this claustrophobic feel to it due to just how small the cabin is and is an absolute perfect narrative device for a one location horror film.

The film does unfortunately fall a bit short with the ending, it’s not so much that the ending is bad it’s that it really doesn’t match the tone of the rest of the film. It’s much more abstract rather than this raw and close up look at two strangers, I can absolutely see what they were going for here I just think it doesn’t quite work given how the rest of the film presented itself. I will say though it is bonkers and there are parts of the ending I did enjoy, just nowhere near as much as the rest of the film.

Overall You’ll Never Find Me works for the most part, it’s a solid directorial debut for Indianna Bell and Josiah Allen and really makes me excited to see what they do next. If you can get passed the ending you will more than likely really enjoy this one.

You’ll Never Find Me is available on Shudder.

7/10 B