REVIEW: “Speak No Evil” (2024)

September 13, 2024 by Keith Garlington

I admit to being a little hesitate after hearing that we were getting an American remake of “Speak No Evil” so soon after the release of the Danish original. That superb and unforgettably disturbing feature film came out in 2022 and remains one of the more tension-soaked and brutally unpleasant thrillers in recent years (read my full review of it HERE).

“Speak No Evil” 2024 comes from writer-director James Watkins whose last film was 2016’s “Bastille Day”. His remake has a lot to live up to and to Watkins’ credit he delivers a fittingly tense and unsettling experience. He clearly has reverence for the 2022 film which shows in his faithfulness to the premise (conceived by brothers Christian and Mads Tafdrup). But where the American version falls short is in its re-fashioned finish. It simply doesn’t have the nerve to take things where its predecessor went.

**Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures**

“Speak No Evil” is helped by an extraordinary cast that includes Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, and an absolutely chilling James McAvoy. McNairy and Davis play Ben and Louise, an American couple living in London with their 11-year-old daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler). We learn later that their marriage is on the rocks which led them to take a family vacation in scenic Tuscany.

While there, Ben and Louise meet Paddy and Ciara (McAvoy and Franciosi), a British couple who are vacationing with their mute son Ant (Dan Hough). The two families hit it off and hang out together several times in the final days of their trips. They then go their separate ways but not before Paddy and Ciara invite their new friends to come visit them sometimes.

Back in London, Ben and Louise receive a postcard from Paddy asking them to come spend a few days on their family farm. At first they’re hesitant – after all they barely know the couple. But they decide to go, thinking the getaway may do their marriage some good. Soon Ben, Louise, and Agnes have made their way to Paddy and Ciara’s remote rural property. It starts out fine, minus a few “misunderstandings”. But over time things get more uncomfortable as a sinister side to Paddy and his seemingly normal family starts to show.

Among the things that impressed me most about this remake is the patience Watkins shows. Rather than rushing things, he allows the tension to slowly build to a simmer. He lets us know pretty early that something is off. But he never fully tips his hand, allowing things to get more and more uneasy before hitting us with its gnarly finish. McAvoy has a knack for playing depraved characters and he really digs into Paddy. He’s crucial to the intensifying sense of dread while Davis is a great foil, conveying what we the audience often feel.

The film’s ending features several deviations from the 2022 feature which allows it to add some unique twists of its own. At the same time, I wish Watkins didn’t pull his punches in the final 15 minutes. He passes on the darker finish, choosing to go the crowd-pleaser route instead. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it adds some extra suspense. But it doesn’t leave us with the same visceral gut-punch either.

“Speak No Evil” still has plenty of frightening moments that will have you squirming in your seat and some unexpected injections of black comedy to get you laughing. Both help the movie form its own identity. While Watkins shows off a keen understanding of tone management and tension-building, he also has the smarts to know when to step back and let his capable cast do the heavy lifting. Overall, Watkins captures enough of original film’s menacing edge while making it easier for mainstream American audiences to stomach. “Speak No Evil” opens in theaters today.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “Tarot” (2024)

September 11, 2024 by Keith Garlington

Sporting the tagline “Your Fate is in the Cards”, the supernatural feature “Tarot” gives you a pretty good idea of what you’re in for. The small budget horror film released earlier this year and had a decent showing at the box office, earning nearly $50 million on an $8 million budget. But it wasn’t well received by fellow critics. Turns out there are some pretty noticeable reasons why.

“Tarot” is based on the 1992 novel “Horrorscope” by Nicholas Adams. It’s written for the screen and directed by the filmmaking duo of Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg. As its title suggests, fortune-telling and the occult come into play, feeding into a reasonably good horror movie premise. But Cohen and Halberg struggle to do much with their movie’s potential. “Tarot” ends up squandering any hint of originality by checking off endless boxes and following formulas that have been re-used countless times.

**Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment**

The story follows seven college friends, Haley (Harriet Slater), Grant (Adain Bradley), Paxton (Jacob Batalon), Paige (Avantika), Madeline (Humberly González), Lucas (Wolfgang Novogratz), and Elise (Larsen Thompson), none of whom are all that interesting and most who fit the common horror movie archetypes. We meet our soon-to-be-doomed partiers celebrating a birthday at a remote mansion in the Catskills that they have rented for the weekend.

After guzzling through the cases of booze they brought with them (yet somehow remaining perfectly sober), they begin rummaging through the house looking for more. In their infinite wisdom they decide to break into a padlocked basement door marked “Keep Out”. But rather than booze, they find a basement full of old antiques including a mysterious deck of tarot cards. In a stroke of narrative convenience, Haley happens to be well-versed in tarot reading. So she uses them to read all of their horoscopes. Bad idea.

In reading the cards the group accidentally unleash something sinister that follows them back to school. Soon after, members of this uninspired gaggle of twentysomethings are picked off one by one, brutally murdered by gruesome real-life versions of the cards they were dealt. The High Priestess, The Hanged Man, The Fool, The Magician, and so on. The survivors eventually wise up and realize something is amiss. They seek the help of Alma Astron (Olwen Fouéré), an occult guru who conveniently knows everything about their creepy tarot deck. She trails the deck’s roots back to 1798 to reveal a curse which must be broken before they all end up dead.

It’s hard to get too involved in anything we see largely because we have no investment in these characters whatsoever. None of them are given a meaningful emotional arc and they are repeatedly doing one incredibly dumb thing after another. Meanwhile the story itself is so formulaic that there is never a real sense of tension or terror (minus one lone scene on a bridge). And what could have been an interesting backstory of the cards is unfortunately crammed into a rushed three minute flashback.

That leaves “Tarot” without a compelling story, no interesting characters, barely any scares, and not an ounce of suspense. Even the kills miss their marks, hampered by the film’s PG-13 rating which strips some clever ideas of their gnarly potential. It’s a shame considering the possibilities. But as it is, you’ll have a hard finding anything you haven’t seen many times before. “Tarot” is now available on home video and VOD.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024)

September 10, 2024 by Keith Garlington

After the commercial success of Tim Burton’s 1988 dark fantasy horror comedy “Beetlejuice”, Warner Bros. Pictures was thinking about a follow-up as early as 1990. Several scripts were written and considered, with some of the ideas sounding much better than others (believe it or not, “Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian” was actually pitched). But numerous delays and distractions pretty much buried any hopes of a sequel. That is until now.

Here we are 36 years later with Burton reteaming with Warner Bros. for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, the second installment in this oddball (dare I say it ) franchise. I enjoyed the original “Beetlejuice”, but I wasn’t the kind of fan who was hungry for more. Perhaps that’s why I’m so surprised by how much enjoyed this sequel. Is it because it’s a nostalgic blast? Or is it just great seeing Tim Burton let loose with his morbid sense of humor? I think it’s a lot of both.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” welcomes back the familiar faces of Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and of course the indelible Michael Keaton while introducing several well-tuned new faces including Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe. Tonally, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is perfectly in-sync with its predecessor. It’s full of wacky effects, cool animatronics, and a slew of macabre gags, all of which generate the kind of horror-inspired zaniness that energized the ‘88 film.

**Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures**

In the 36 years since the events of the first film, Lydia Deetz (Ryder) has went from the eccentric goth girl who was nearly married off to a loony demon named Betelgeuse (aka Beetlejuice) to an anxious psychic mediator with her own television show called “Ghost House”. She has a daughter, Astrid (Ortega) who is away at border school, but their relationship has been strained since the tragic death of her husband and Astrid’s father, Richard (Santiago Cabrera).

Lydia gets a phone call from her stepmother Delia (O’Hara) informing her that her father, Charles died while on a bird watching expedition in the South Pacific. So they both return to the little town of Winter River, Connecticut to plan the funeral, picking up Astrid on the way. Once there, Astrid is introduced to Rory (a hilarious Theroux), her mother’s boyfriend who has a knack for always saying the wrong things. Astrid also meets a local boy named Jeremy (Arthur Conti) and the two hit it off.

But things take a bonkers turn after Astrid is lured into the afterlife where she hopes to reconnect with her father. But she finds herself trapped in the hereafter with a hilariously gonzo assortment of Burton-conceived grotesqueries. Desperate to rescue her daughter, Lydia calls on her old nemesis Betelgeuse for help. For those who may have forgotten, Betelgeuse is a rambunctious spirit from the afterlife who desperately wants back in the land of the living. And he still thinks marrying Lydia is his ticket to get there.

So Lydia says his name three times, summoning Betelgeuse. They then make a pact – he helps her retrieve Astrid and she agrees to marry him. But Betelgeuse has some problems of his own, namely his furious ex-wife Delores LaVerge (Bellucci). It turns out Delores was a member of a soul-sucking death cult who Betelgeuse hacked to pieces after discovering she had poisoned him. Now she wants revenge. Tracking it all is Wolf Jackson, a character who doesn’t make much sense but who is still a lot of fun thanks to an all-in Willem Dafoe. Wolf was a B-movie action star when living and now works as a semi-hard-boiled afterlife detective.

There are countless callbacks to the 1988 film including the Deetz’s creepy hilltop house overlooking the town, a brief rendition of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song”), even the returns of the stop-motion sand worm and everyone’s favorite Shrinker, Bob. The movie also keeps it’s gleefully irreverent and politically incorrect tenor which fuels several of the funniest moments. And then there is the cast who are all fully committed yet clearly having an absolute blast with everything they’re asked to do.

On the negative side, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” packs a little too much into its story which leaves some characters and their arcs noticeably underdeveloped (Bellucci’s Delores being a prime example). But it’s hard not to be drawn to the movie’s distinct sense of humor and black heart charm. And who wouldn’t want to watch the great Michael Keaton hop back into one the wackiest roles of his storied career? “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “The Front Room” (2024)

September 9, 2024 by Keith Garlington

In “The Front Room”, Brandy Norwood plays Belinda Irwin, a woman who has a lot on her plate. Professionally, she’s an anthropology professor who is fed up with being mistreated by her department. On a more personal level, she’s still struggling with the tragic death of her first born son, Wallace. On top of all that, she’s VERY pregnant. It all leads to bouts with anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. But things only get worse once her stepmother-in-law comes into the picture.

“The Front Room” is based on the 2016 short story of the same name from Susan Hill. It is co-written and co-directed by Max and Sam Eggers. If that last name sounds familiar to you, it’s because they are the brothers of acclaimed filmmaker Robert Eggers. Their adaptation is a fascinating and frustrating creation built around some wickedly cool ideas that unfortunately never materialize into much.

While “The Front Room” is a psychological horror film, it has the makings for a really funny dark comedy. We get flashes of it in scenes that had me and the small audience at my screening laughing out loud on several occasions. That is when the movie is at its best. Unfortunately the horror angle isn’t nearly as effective. The Eggers brothers do some genuinely creepy table-setting, but they struggle getting their movie beyond that.

Belinda and her husband Norman (Andrew Burnap) live in a fixer-upper that they’re having a hard time finishing. He is a struggling young attorney who needs to score one more big client to gain a position at his law firm. She loves teaching at her university but finds herself losing opportunities from a dean who refuses to meet with her or take her calls. Both still feel the emotional weight of losing their infant first born which adds an understandable concern for Belinda’s current pregnancy.

To add to their stress, Norman receives a surprise call from his estranged stepmother, Solange (Kathryn Hunter) who informs him that his father has died from stomach cancer. Norman doesn’t want to attend the funeral due to abuse he experienced as a child. He confesses to Belinda that Solange claims to be “Holy Spirit empowered” and her twisted pseudo-religious beliefs led to trauma he still struggles with today.

Belinda convinces Norman to attend the funeral for his father’s sake. After the service, Solange informs Norman and Belinda that it was his father’s will that she leave them their substantial fortune. It would be enough to finish paying for their house and set up their nearly due baby for life. But it comes with one stipulation – Solange would move in with them and live out her remaining days with family. It’s pretty clear to us that it’s a terrible idea, but Norman and Belinda agree to take her in.

It doesn’t take long for the frail and hunched Solange to become a menace. From seemingly small but nagging things like belittling Belinda’s cooking to taking the nursery to be her room. Norman is quickly fed up but Belinda plays mediator to try and make things work. But the situation soon spirals to more sinister depths as Solange’s real motives eventually come into focus.

Hunter is no stranger to playing eccentric characters and it’s no different here. Her shrill gravelly voice is as discomforting as her unapologetically crass demeanor. Hunter does her job in making us as uncomfortable as Belinda and Norman. But the film leans on her too much and she begins to wear out her welcome with the audience before she ever does with the couple. This is compounded by the fact that we get very little in terms of big twists or fun surprises. It’s just Hunter doing essentially the same thing for the duration.

The Eggers brothers do attempt to add an unexpected spin in their film’s final moments. But it and their ending as a whole lands with a thud. And that summarizes “The Front Room”. It’s a movie that has the source material and the ambition to be an eerie, disturbing, yet darkly funny psychological horror experience. But it never takes its cool ideas far enough which leaves us impressed by the course it sets for itself but annoyed by its inability to get where it’s going. “The Front Room” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Kinds of Kindness” (2024)

September 6, 2024 by Keith Garlington

I wish a new Yorgos Lanthimos movie brought the same excitement to me that it does for so many others. But no matter how hard I try, I have rarely been able to get onboard with what he’s doing. I often find myself resistant to many of his obsessions and even repelled by his more glaring overindulgences. There’s no doubt he’s immensely talented behind the camera. But he gets in own way when it comes to storytelling, especially now that he doesn’t have a leash.

To its credit, Lanthimos’ latest film “Kinds of Kindness” isn’t as excessively numbing as last year’s “Poor Things”. But it does grow more frustrating over time. And like much of his work, it fits snugly within what some have dubbed cinema’s “Greek Weird Wave”. As usual for a Lanthimos film, “Kinds of Kindness” is visually arresting, and his genius with the camera ensures there is always something interesting to look at. But it also sees the filmmaker once again too invested in his own offbeat preoccupations to focus on making a more bearable movie.

“Kinds of Kindness” is 164 minutes of misanthropy and cynicism framed as a biting satirical triptych from a director who seems to revel in cruelty. The film tells three distinct stories, all featuring the same cast playing different characters. It’s a pitch-black and bone-dry dark comedy that is too amused by its own weirdness to generate any actual humor. But its biggest problem is the utter lack of a human pulse.

The first story is entitled “The Death of R.M.F.” and it follows a man named Robert Fletcher (Jesse Plemons). Neurotic and gauche, Robert allows himself to be controlled by his domineering boss, Raymond (Willem Dafoe). He’s told what to do, what to wear, how much to eat, and even when he and his wife Sarah (Hong Chau) are intimate. But when Robert is ordered to crash his car into a man known only by the initials R.M.F., his absurd world takes an even wackier turn.

Things get even more outrageous with the next story, “R.M.F. is Flying”. Here Plemons plays Daniel, a police officer whose wife Liz (Emma Stone) disappeared while out at sea. He’s stunned when Liz unexpectedly returns without a scratch following a miraculous rescue. Daniel is thrilled to have his wife back but not everything adds up. He begins noticing strange things that makes him suspect she’s not the real Liz. His best friend Neil (Mamoudou Athie) tries telling him he’s overreacting but Daniel isn’t convinced. What follows is twisted, grisly and mostly pointless.

And finally there’s the nonsensical “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich”. In it, Emily (Stone) and Andrew (Plemons) are members of a bizarre oceanside sex cult led by Omi (Dafoe) and his wife Aka (Chau). They’re out looking for a special woman who can bring the dead back to life. Why? It has something to do with a prophecy, but truthfully details don’t matter. Emily secretly slips away to leave gifts for her daughter who she ran out on. This leads to a scene featuring the only genuine sign of emotion in the entire film. But it’s brief and soon Lanthimos is back torturing his characters and his audience.

All three stories share many of the same problems, the biggest being that no one onscreen resembles a real human being. They’re emotionally hollow husks who lack any real sense of purpose other than to be ground up in the Lanthimos meat grinder. Not even the talented and all-in cast can survive Lanthimos’ near masochistic zeal. There are some good ideas tossed around. But they’re lost as the stories get progressively worse and the mildly interesting movie turns into an alienating slog

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Rebel Ridge” (2024)

September 5, 2024 by Keith Garlington

It has taken a while, but the long-awaited new feature from filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier has finally arrived following some lengthy delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the departure of lead actor John Boyega. Relative newcomer Aaron Pierce signed on to replace Boyega and filming picked back up in 2022. Now “Rebel Ridge” is set to premiere on Netflix and it offers up yet another compelling rural-flavored thriller from Saulnier.

“Rebel Ridge” marks Saulnier’s fifth feature film and his first since 2018’s “Hold the Dark”. His latest fits snugly with his earlier movies, all of which show off his numerous creative influences. The Coen brothers, Sam Peckinpah, John Carpenter – those are just some of the names that come to mind when watching a Jeremy Saulnier film. At the same time, he brings a gritty aesthetic that make his movies distinctly his own. “Rebel Ridge” is much the same although to a notably lesser degree.

Saulnier has always liked messy characters and we get plenty of them in “Rebel Ridge”. Pierce plays Terry Richmond, an ex-soldier who finds more than he bargained for in the one-horse rural town of Shelby Springs. Terry has come to town with $36,000 in cash to bail out his cousin Michael (C.J. LeBlanc) who was arrested for a misdemeanor possession charge. Terry hopes to get to town and post bail before Michael is transported to a neighboring prison.

But his plans are turned upside down when he has a run-in with two local cops, Evan Marston (David Denman) and Steve Lann (Emory Cohen). After roughing him up, the officers unlawfully confiscate Terry’s $36,000 under “suspicion” that it’s drug money. Desperate, Terry rides to the Shelby Springs police station seeking help from Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson). But he quickly discovers he and his cousin are victims of a long-running racket extending from the police department to the county court system.

As his story unfolds, Saulnier peels back layer after layer of small town corruption – so much that over time it can be a challenge to follow. There are numerous revelations, misdirections, and plot maneuvers, most coming in the second half. It all works to create a palpable tension that steadily builds towards an inevitable violent showdown. But neither the tension nor the violence is as gritty and raw as in Saulnier’s other films. It’s a tamer movie, yet one that still features his signature style and focus.

As for the performances, Pierce has the physical presence and necessary intensity, but he’s nearly stoic to a fault. Still, he has the sturdiness his character needs. AnnaSophia Robb is equally solid playing Summer, a Shelby Springs court clerk who agrees to help Terry uncover the truth. Robb ends up having a significant role, and while her thick Southern accent is wobbly in places, she’s still convincing and earns our empathy. Then there’s Don Johnson who’s fun to watch in any movie he pops up in.

“Rebel Ridge” is undeniably Jeremy Saulnier’s movie. He directs, writes, co-produces, and edits a film that may surprise you with how deep in goes into developing its story. Those accustomed to Saulnier’s edgier work in films like “Blue Ruin” and “Green Room” may be surprised by how tame this one is by comparison. Yet it doesn’t take a keen eye to recognize and enjoy his signature techniques and thematic interests. And that’s what will always put me in a seat whenever a Jeremy Saulnier movie hits the screen. “Rebel Ridge” premieres on Netflix September 6th.