Goldbeater

Charming Madeline Brewer incarnates Alice, an ambitious camgirl. Alice aims at climbing the popularity ladder to the top, making great efforts to attract viewers to her online show – even if rather questionable practices are involved in the process. The turning point happens when Alice’s mysterious double is going after her virtual identity. Cam is smart, brisk, sexy and, most of all, a very refreshing horror thriller which opens the topic of webcam erotic services and brings quite a chilling insight on modern internet threats. I don’t want to reveal more of it, and I recommend it without hesitation. [Sitges 2018]

Michael Myers doesn’t like to be forced into a conversation. The new Halloween is a conventional (it couldn’t have been otherwise), yet beautifully filmed sequel which, above all, compliments the original – it faithfully copies the environment and selected scenes from the initial picture, playfully adjusting or expanding some of them. Besides, there’s a noteworthy work on nostalgia (when Michael put on his iconic mask, the packed cinema exploded with euphoria). I would divide the film into two imaginary parts. The first one depicts a generous dose of murderous rampage across Haddonfield City, where Michael destroys a whole bunch of more or less shallow characters that the viewer won’t emotionally cling to. Therefore, that part will delight the fans of gory slashers, with throttling, stabbing and neck breaking galore. Then, about halfway through, the behaviour of one character takes a very debatable U-turn – a crutch to push ahead with the story. Finally, for the second half, we’re moving into a house where the chase after the main heroines begins and the viewer starts to feel concerned about them. From there, the flick intensifies into a proper heart-wrenching horror full of tension. David Gordon Green made a brilliant contribution to the horror series. And it’s worth noticing that quality Halloween films only come every twenty years (1978, 1998, 2018). [Sitges 2018]

Overlord is a kind of silly B film which is dead serious about itself, painfully heavy, and deprived of one-liners, juice and memorable scenes alike. There was just one creative and funny trash scene (the grenade in the mouth) that I was able to enjoy. The rest is just awfully austere and has a superficial pathos that only a lazy screenwriter could produce. In the best parts, the plot doesn’t offer more than dull escapes when faced with a Deadpool-looking creature with no costume. The characters are so deplorably designed. Just to name a few, they could be described as the warm-hearted black man, the badass cowboy, the nasty Italian, the clever kid, the emancipated French lady and a generic SS villain with a horde of brainless Nazis – all being flat, uninteresting and predictable. And the actors’ performances do nothing to help or enhance them. To add insult to injury, the film is unnecessarily noisy, including the characters who shout at each other all the time, even when there’s no reason. All flows in a linear predictable way, without any twist or surprise. As for those couple of scenes with too many effects, they’re definitely not compensating for the dull scenario (and I don’t agree with those who say the initial airdrop is well shot). [Sitges 2018]

Within the frame of TV productions, Helter Skelter is definitely a respectable piece of filmmaking. Don’t expect any explicit bloody scene, though, because at the time of the filming, the events depicted were still relatively fresh in people’s psyches and anything else than a semi-documentary representation of the investigation and trial would have been very insensitive. With that in mind, and despite its lengthy nature, Helter Skelter is captivating while offering a truthful insight into the Manson Family tragedy. Last but not least, Steve Railsback perfectly incarnates the dreadful Charlie. This rating concerns the 184-minute special edition. [Sitges 2018]

Gonzalo Calzada’s screenwriting work articulates around a bunch of plot motifs and characters, out of which he could pull an interesting horror game. The problem is that, as the story unfolds, all the ingredients sidetrack, weaken or even cancel out, so much so that the film gets deprived of all the excitement. For example, the heroine Natalia is gifted with the ability to tell apart people with a light aura from those with a dark one, but that proves totally useless since, later on, she can’t identify a demon-possessed character because of their equally light aura (whaaat?!). The whole thing is excessively slow and utterly kitsch in its strongest scenes (the exorcism at the end is conducted in a rather awkward manner – this is actually fun). The ending reveals the unthinkable promise of two sequels (again, whaaat?!) that might shed light onto some undeveloped motives of this film. However, I’m not sure I’ll still be interested. And this buffoonish computer-animated kid at the beginning and at the end must be a joke. [Sitges 2018]

Similar to Zahler’s previous flick Brawl in Cell Block 99, the plot revolves around the theme of providing for and safeguarding one’s family, even if the heroes potentially get to a point of no return. Dragged Across Concrete offers a cold and very realistic approach combined with a long exposure to the characters for the viewer to be completely aware of their motives and develop a sufficient bond to them. And this might be the most questionable aspect of the film. Indeed, unlike the director’s previous flicks that only provided one linear exposure to a whole range of characters (Bone Tomahawk) or just to a single main hero (Brawl in Cell Block 99), this time, we’re diving into the world of no fewer than four separate individuals, jumping from one to the next, the film possibly losing ground in terms of pace. And that’s odd, since we just can’t get enough of that insanely cool Vaughn/Gibson duo, between whom the dialogues flow like magic. Another point: Zahler is making a daring polemic targeting political correctness gone too far in a conflict with law enforcement, for which the central duo of policemen is suspended and thrown into a deadly spiral beyond the limits of the law. A raw and disturbing flick that will grab your attention from start to finish. [Sitges 2018]

A psychological horror which skilfully uncovers the heroine’s thoughts using various time planes. During the entire 85 minutes, the viewer is watching the main character whose mind is key to grasping the story. The director attempts to connect its audience to the tough fate and emotional strain experienced by lonely women in the days of the American Wild West settlement. Unfortunately, The Wind’s plotline doesn’t innovate much and I’m afraid it will quickly fade out of my head. [Sitges 2018]

In the end, I wasn’t as bothered as I had expected from reading the synopsis before the screening. Fortunately, the scenes depicting the shooting of gay porn are not explicit at all. On the contrary, they are nicely lightened with humour, which is, for the viewer, a little bit of a lifeline. Other than that, however, the downright stupid explanation for the killer’s motive and the way his identity is revealed by the heroine, presented in all seriousness, is utterly kitsch and stands as some emotion-based romantic giallo art. The creators’ attempt to cover those shortcomings with interesting visual styling and a good vintage music track is, unfortunately, not enough to compensate for the barren story. This is a very B-like giallo parody at best. [Sitges 2018]

I would describe The House That Jack Built as the blackest comedy I’ve ever seen. It can’t be taken seriously, though. During the viewing, emotions oscillate between ‘this Trier is such a master’ and ‘this Trier is such a ratbag’. I’ve just been slightly put off by the ending, but the rest was all fine. [Sitges 2018]

In the beginning, St. Agatha looks interesting, but with each passing minute, it makes less and less sense, piling up one ridiculous plot motif after the other – numerous scenes are so nonsensical that they don’t even fit the film at all! In fact, it’s as if the whole thing had been re-written and re-edited multiple times (well, there must be four screenwriters for a reason). For example, the entire film is covered with flashbacks that reveal the protagonist’s past, but those completely fail to make a point, as they don’t contribute by the slightest amount to the plot that follows. The characters are utterly superficial and merely limited to sinister sadistic nuns or naive victims; no one boasts any finer feature and nothing surprises. And the final escape plan of the main heroine is an ultimate insult to the viewer who was expecting at least some decent conclusion. [Sitges 2018]