The Babadook
In A Nutshell:- Single mum struggles with difficult child but is there something more going on?
Any Good? I was pleasantly surprised by this one. From the trailer I saw some time ago now, I was expecting this to be a fairly standard “creepy child plus creepy monster” schlocky horror film. What it turned out to be was more interesting than that by far - as well as being an examination of how grief continues to impact people’s lives long after the event, it’s also much more of a psychological horror (is there a monster or she suffering from a mental breakdown?). A surprisingly good film which also veers away from your traditional horror film ending.
Pacific Rim - Uprising
In A Nutshell:- Robots vs monsters - Round 2
Any Good? Look, I’m biased towards this sort of film. I love a good Godzilla (and also a very bad Godzilla film*) and I like things with robots in too. This film, like the first one, has both of those. It takes quite a while to get into the monster v robot action though and, disappointingly, feels like the middle film in a trilogy which is unlikely to be completed now. It’s OK - John Boyega is on good form and clearly enjoying himself - but it likes the stylish feel of Guillermo Del Toro’s original which helped paper over the thinness of the whole thing. Still, monsters smashing robots is good. Smashy smashy.
It’s Alive
In A Nutshell:- Murderous baby goes on a rampage
Any Good? I grew up in the 90s watching a lot of gross out, schlocky, comedy horror films like Bad Taste and Braindead (both early films directed by Peter Jackson of Lord Of The Rings fame), Basket Case and Re-Animator, etc. etc. While this film doesn’t really have anything in the way of humour, it certainly does feel like the precursor to all of those films - it has a low-budget, almost homemade feel to it (although it does feature creature work by Rick Baker of American Werewolf In London fame) and makes the occasional leap in logic/judgement that these films require. I’m not sure if I’d say it was a good film but it was intriguing. (Side Note:- the music was by Bernard Hermann, responsible for Psycho, Vertigo, Citizen Kane, Taxi Driver, The Twilight Zone and many more)
Alright, that’ll do, move along now, nothing to see here.
* But not a middlingly bad Godzilla film like the 1998 American one with Matthew Broderick which is basically Jurassic Park Lite.
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