Ok, so technically this isn’t a first glance at the movie since its first teaser trailer dropped several months back. Instead consider this a first glance at trailer #2 for “Spiral: From the Book of Saw” which gives us a better feel for what this movie is going for. It’s officially the ninth movie in the “Saw” franchise and considered a sequel and not a reboot. I’m hardly what you would call a “Saw” movie connoisseur (I’ve only seen a couple of them). But this trailer caught my attention most notably for its casting.

“Spiral” stars comedian Chris Rock as a big city detective who gets caught up in a grisly murder investigation. Soon he’s sucked into a gruesome and deadly game by someone with all the markings of the Jigsaw killer. The film also stars Samuel L. Jackson playing a retired detective and Rock’s father. I’ll be honest, I’ve had a hard time visualizing Chris Rock in a role like this and the trailer doesn’t do much to ease my mind. It looks like it could be an interesting turn for the franchise but it will depend on how big of a hurdle Rock’s casting turns out to be.

“Spiral: From the Book of Saw” releases May 14th. Check out the new trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

After watching the new trailer for “Profile” you might be tempted to think of it as a crafty little indie made during the pandemic.  It takes place entirely over computer screens, it has a relatively small cast, and so on. Actually this taut looking thriller from director Timur Bekmambetov premiered way back at the 2018 Berlin & SXSW Film Festivals. Now it’s finally getting its US release courtesy of Focus Features.

The film stars Valene Kane as a British investigative journalist who goes undercover to expose extremists who recruit young women over social media. She creates a fake internet profile in hopes of baiting a terrorist recruiter. She gets a bite from a charismatic jihadist (Shazad Latif) who soon begin luring her into his trap. The movie advertises itself as “a new genre of thriller” and looks to tap into some of the same intensity as 2018’s “Searching” which starred John Cho and was produced by Bekmambetov.

“Profile” opens in theaters May 14th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

There is some pretty impressive talent behind the upcoming animated feature “The Mitchells vs. the Machines”. It’s produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, big names who had their hands in huge hits like “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “The LEGO Movie” (full disclosure – I wasn’t as smitten with “Spider-Verse” as many were but I loved “LEGO”). Like so many other films, this one had its release plans upended by COVID-19. Now it has been acquired by Netflix who recently gave us our first look.

The new trailer for “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” introduces us to a self-described “weird” family who ends up being the world’s only hope against a robot apocalypse. The Mitchells are an everyday family who have essentially lost their ability to communicate. In an effort to regain the loving connection they once had, the four and their trusty pug head out on a bonding trip only to have it upended by a global machine uprising. Sounds ridiculous which is okay with me. I love the look of the animation and there are several comedy bits that land really well. I’m anxious to see this one.

“The Mitchells vs. the Machines” premieres April 30th on Netflix. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

Wasn’t I just saying there has been no shortage of horror movies in 2021? Now Searchlight Pictures is adding one to your watchlist. “The Night House” comes from horror director and fan David Bruckner. It premiered way back at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. With Covid-19 (hopefully) in our rear view the film is finally set to get its proper release. The first trailer hits some familiar beats – a spooky house, a grieving widow, creepy visions, and one of those ominous movie lines custom made for horror flicks – “Everyone has secrets.” But it also teases us with some really cool ideas that I’m anxious to see play out.

The film sees Rebecca Hall playing a woman still dealing with the sudden death of her husband. The now lonely lake house he built for them is full of memories which slowly turn into terrorizing visions. As she begins looking deeper into his life she discovers the above movie line is spot-on, everyone does have secrets. His just happens to lead to bloody footprints, ghostly apparitions, and (???) a gate to a parallel universe. I like everything in the trailer and it looks like Bruckner has some pretty original twists up his sleeve.

“The Night House” opens in theaters July 16th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

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