Ben Wheatley taps into some timely horror with his upcoming film “In the Earth”. Following some good buzz at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, “In the Earth” sees the filmmaker returning to his horror roots after 2020’s imperfect yet thoroughly entertaining “Rebecca”. Wheatley shot this film over 15 days in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic with a small budget and an even smaller cast. The first trailer sells itself well, diving into its creepy setting and showing off a tense and moody appeal.

Set during a world-ravaging pandemic, the movie follows a scientist (Joel Fry) and a park ranger (Ellora Torchia) as they venture into the deep forest of a nature reserve to track down a former colleague who hasn’t been heard from in some time. Turns out (you guessed it), there’s something terrifying ‘in them there woods’. In his Variety review Peter Debruge called the movie “raw and weird and deeply unsettling”. Sounds perfect, I’m in!

“In the Earth” premieres in theaters April 23rd. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

It may be tempting to write “#Alive” off as just another zombie movie. In a way that’s what it is. This South Korean survival thriller from director and co-writer Cho Il-hyung doesn’t bring anything particularly new and it certainly doesn’t reinvent the horror sub-genre. At the same time, it’s hard not to enjoy its nimble pacing, stylish verve, and its tightly focused story that keeps things simple, concise, and always moving forward. Toss in just the right amount of dark humor and a good handling of its characters.

The film wastes no time throwing us into the zombie mayhem. Oh Jun-U (Yoo Ah-in) is a gamer still living with his parents. The opening moments give us a good idea of his everyday routine. He wakes up, splashes some water on his face, grabs a drink, and than immediately logs into his computer where he spends his day playing video games and live streaming them for his online followers. As he cranks up a game of PUBG (or at least something resembling it) he’s told by a follower to check his TV. There he learns that the zombie apocalypse has begun.

Photo Courtesy of Netflix

“#Alive” doesn’t get bogged down in the hows and whys. Newscasts tell us it’s a highly contagious virus. They let us know it’s happening all over the city. Cho Il-hyung smartly assumes we know all the rules (don’t get bit, shoot them in the head, etc.). This allows him to get right into telling his particular story. The first half is more or less a survival drama. It focuses on Oh Jun-U alone and barricaded in his family’s apartment, the building flooded with hungry undead and his resources slowly running out. It’s an intriguing angle that hones in on both the physical and psychological toll once food and water are gone and you have no contact with your family or any other person for that matter.

Oh Jun-U reaches his breaking point but is saved by a mysterious red laser shining through his window. He traces it to the apartment building across the zombie infested courtyard where a young woman named Kim Yu-Bin (Park Shin-hye) is also holed up – same floor, same situation. And just like that Oh Jun-U realizes he’s not alone. Concluding their chances of survival are better together, the two form a plan to come together. But they quickly learn these zombies have keener senses than your run-of-the-mill movie undead. They’re fast, ferocious, and we get the sense they have the ability to adapt. It adds a slightly fresh layer of danger to the story.

Photo Courtesy of Netflix

The rest of the movie advances at a feverish pace and highlights Cho Il-hyung knack for building tension. Adding to it is cinematographer Won-ho Son who shoots the zombie action with a ferocious style. You may never get the sense that you’re seeing something new, but fans of the genre will appreciate how well-crafted and choreographed these scenes are. The movie also has fun with current day technology. Social media, virtual reality drones and smartphones are just some of the things that have a part in the story.

I am surprised by how much fun I had with “#Alive”. It won’t win over anyone who already dislikes zombie movies, but it does do some cool and interesting things within the zombie genre which makes this more then some B-movie hack job. The characters have enough meat on their bones (absurdly bad pun intended) for us to care about them, there are some nice touches of humor, and the zombie horror action delivers exactly what you expect. It turns out to be well worth a weekend watch. “#Alive” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Last year Netflix visited deep space with the underappreciated “The Midnight Sky”. They’re doing it again in the not-to-distant future with “Stowaway”, a science-fiction thriller co-written and directed by Joe Penna. As a lover of cerebral sci-fi this movie is automatically right up my alley. But an even bigger draw in Penna. This is the follow-up to his terrific feature film debut “Arctic” which starred Mads Mikkelsen. Much like his first movie, survival looks to play a big part in “Stowaway” which only sweetens the pot.

In the film’s first trailer we’re introduced to the small crew of a spaceship that just set out on a two-year mission to Mars. An intriguing cast fills the roles – Toni Collette is the ship’s commanding officer, Anna Kendrick is the team doctor, and Daniel Dae Kim is the mission’s biologist. Only twelve hours into their journey the crew finds a shocked and frantic stowaway (Shamier Anderson). Unable to turn back the crew begins training their new member but soon their survival is threatened by catastrophic life support system failure. With only enough oxygen for three, the crew is forced to make some hard decisions to see who survives. I love the look and sound of this.

“Stowaway” premieres April 22nd on Netflix. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

There have been several good movies lately that have either directly or indirectly dealt with the subject of addiction. The upcoming drama “Four Good Days” from director and co-writer Rodrigo Garcia takes a deep look at the crippling effects prolonged substance abuse has on both individuals and families. The film is based on an 2016 article by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Eli Saslow and had its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

The movie stars Glenn Close and Mila Kunis as an estranged mother and daughter working through the younger’s recovery from drug addiction. The daughter Molly (Kunis) has been in and out of rehab 14 times and this latest attempt at getting clean drives her to the doorstep of her mother (Close). By the look of the trailer it won’t be an easy journey as the two struggle with Molly’s withdrawal and with past tensions that quickly boil to the surface. Movies like this are by necessity heavy and they can end up going either way. Kunis and Close look extremely committed and if the material is good I can see this being a tough but worthwhile watch.

“Four Good Days” is set for a limited theatrical release April 30th followed by its VOD premiere May 21st. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

Following the enormous success of “Hamilton” what better time for Warner Brothers to release “In the Heights”. This musical drama is an adaptation of a Tony-winning stage play by Quiara Alegría Hudes and “Hamilton” mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda. Jon M. Chu of “Crazy Rich Asians” fame directs the film from a screenplay written by Hudes with music and lyrics by Miranda. I’ve never seen the Broadway musical, but both it and this film have already generated a ton of buzz.

The movie features Anthony Ramos playing a bodega owner reflecting on life in the energetic tight-knit New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights. The first trailer is filled with enthusiasm, big dance numbers, and plenty of songs. The story is about overcoming and making dreams come true, but like “Hamilton” I can see the music being what people talk about most and hold onto the longest. For picky musical viewers like me this is a ‘wait and see’. But for many others this will be one of the summer’s most anticipated films.

“In the Heights” premieres June 18th in theaters and on HBO Max. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

First announced in 2012 with Rob Reiner attached to direct, “Every Breath You Take” has taken a few detours over the last 9-ish years. Now it’s set for an early April release with Vaughn Stein directing from a screenplay by David Murray. The psychological thriller sports an interesting cast including Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Sam Claflin, and India Eisley. The first trailer dropped recently and while some elements look pretty familiar, there could be more going on than we may think.

Affleck plays a psychiatrist who loses a young female patient to suicide. Soon he and his family are caught in a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse with the girl’s brother (Claflin). It’s a safe bet that things aren’t quite as they appear and I’m sure we can expect several twists and turns along the way. I like the tense and foreboding tone and if Stein can avoid many of the usual genre pot holes and trappings this could be an entertaining little thriller.

“Every Breath You Take” is set to release April 2nd. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.