Killer Countdown - 4/20 Massacre (2018)

 

 

Streaming Service: Amazon Prime Video

Movie Name/Year: 4/20 Massacre (2018)

Genre: Action, Horror

Length: 1h 24min

Rating: PG-13

Director: Dylan Reynolds

Writer: Dylan Reynolds

Actors: Jamie Bernadette, Vanessa Reynolds, Stacey Danger, Justine Wachsberger, Marissa Pistone, Mark Schroeder, Drew Talbert, Jim Round, James Gregory, Jim Storm

 

IMDb Blurb: Five women go camping in the woods to celebrate a friend's birthday over 4/20 weekend, but when they cross the turf of an illegal marijuana grow-operation, they must fight to survive the living nightmare.

 

 

Cat’s Point of View:

In comparison with the last couple movies in our Killer Countdown, 4/20 Massacre was a breath of fresh air – ironic for a film involving smoking weed.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was a great movie, but I didn't hate it. Sure, it fell out of the trope tree and hit all the branches on the way down to the point that I predicted the twist and outcome, but at the same time I wasn't mad about it.

 

 

4/20 Massacre definitely wasn't perfect by any means. It's squarely a B-movie, and won't be for everyone. There were bits here and there that could have been improved on – but in general it was okay. Unfortunately, in this day and age that doesn't make for a memorable movie experience.

 

What did I enjoy about a silly weed-centric movie, you ask? I thought the friend-group was done well. They played off of each other believably and I enjoyed a good bit of their back and forth banter. It reminded me about talking smack with my own friends at times. That's a sign of successful dialogue. There were some off moments here and there, however, it didn't feel forced or stilted.

 

 

Part of my favorable reaction to 4/20 Massacre could potentially be due to the familiarity of recognition for some of the cast. Jamie Bernadette (American Satan, Midnight Texas, Cold Blows the Wind), Justine Wachsberger (Now You See Me 2, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Breaking & Exiting), Stacey Danger (The Way You Look Tonight, 9-1-1, Wrong Place), and Jim Storm (Dark Shadows, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Monster Project) have all been in TV Series or movies that I've seen before. I try my best to keep each individual film compartmentalized so that prior work of the cast doesn't filter in to bias my reaction – but that never stops the inevitable “hey I've seen them before in something.”

 

 

I would have to say that 4/20 Massacre was definitely helped by their involvement in the production, as their performances were solid, for the most part and made everything work on the whole.

 

The IMDb trivia page for this movie makes it clear that this project was a love letter to the slasher genre. While it won't be topping any of the charts, so to speak, it wouldn't be a horrible choice to watch on the ganja-related holiday for those that partake. Even so, there are decidedly better picks out there within the stoner culture sub-genre. Alas, that leaves 4/20 Massacre in the limbo of not-quite spooky enough for the Halloween season and not quite baked enough for its namesake holiday.

 

Maybe give it a watch and see for yourself.

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 50%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score –32%

Metascore – None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 3.8/10

 

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 2.5/5

 

Movie Trailer:

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

 

 

Streaming Service: Netflix 

Movie Name/Year: Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller

Length:  1h 34min

Rating: R

Director: Halina Reijn

Writers: Sarah DeLappe, Kristen Roupenian

Actors: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la, Rachel Sennott, Chase Sui Wonders, Pete Davidson, Lee Pace, Conner O'Malley

 

IMDb Blurb: When a group of rich 20-somethings plan a hurricane party at a remote family mansion, a party game turns deadly in this fresh and funny look at backstabbing, fake friends, and one party gone very, very wrong.

 

 

Cat’s Point of View:

Bodies Bodies Bodies had an intriguing trailer. I was pulled in right away and it promised to give a decidedly Gen-Zish spin on horror-comedy. Selina was also thinking along the same lines, as she said the following within her #8 listing of Bodies Bodies Bodies on August 2022's Top 20 article:

“The whole flick feels very elder-gen-Z, and I do not hate that idea. The trailer looks funny, of our time, and brutal. It’s exactly what I would want from a horror-comedy.”

As an aside, it was my own #13 pick, and I couldn't wait to watch.

We were both also interested in this movie based on casting, as well. While Selina is more of a Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island, Good Mourning, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) fan than I am, I was intrigued as to how Lee Pace's (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Guardians of the Galaxy, Halt and Catch Fire) character fit in with this younger crowd. 

 

Amandla Stenberg (The Darkest Minds, Dear Evan Hansen, Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse) and Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, The Bubble, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3) were also relatively known variables going into this film and didn't disappoint. Even though I wasn't as familiar with Myha'la (Industry, Black Mirror, Leave the World Behind), Rachel Sennott (Call Your Mother, Bottoms, I Used to be Funny), and Chase Sui Wonders (Wake, Out of the Blue, City on Fire) at the time, it didn't matter for this production. They caught my attention with Bodies Bodies Bodies as they inhabited these roles of privileged youth within this story so well. Saying that out loud doesn't exactly seem to translate as a compliment, given the personalities of some of these characters on-screen, but it is what it is – and, indeed, meant as a compliment. I digress...

If you were to ask me what Bodies Bodies Bodies was really about, I'd have to say it was something along the lines of a live-action version of “Among Us,” which is a who-done-it murder mystery multi-player video game that Selina and I very much enjoy. Of course, this game was played out with drugged up and intoxicated college-age young adults rather than a space crew fending off alien impostors through social deduction.

 

This all takes place during a hurricane party. For those that haven't heard of those before... it's a real thing that typically takes place in Florida or along the Gulf Coast when the incoming tropical weather isn't expected to be too strong – on the scale of massive tropical storms, that is. Category 1 you say? Batten down the hatches to minimize property damage but then pull out the booze. At least, that's generally how it goes. My immediate area within Louisiana is generally too land-locked to get storms of that intensity, and if we do it's generally after it's already decimated a huge swath of one or more states on the way to us, and we're busy with sand bags and hiding from twisters. Needless to say, I haven't personally partaken in such shenanigans, but I know some friends who have.

Storms have a way of amping up anxiety in already tense situations. When you add recreational drug use and alcohol to that mix and then layer on a game where everyone becomes the murder suspect – and wait, there's more – and THEN there's real death involved on top of that? It's a dangerous cocktail with side effects of paranoia, hasty decisions, and poor reasoning. What could go wrong, right?

I recently watched an interview with the director, Holland native Halina Reijn (Instinct, Red Light, For the Birds), and a good number of the cast where they revealed that while shooting this movie that takes place during a powerful storm, they had to take shelter in the basement due to a storm warning. I believe that it enhanced how the cast were able to respond to and vibe with that aspect of the setting very well.

 

 

Bodies Bodies Bodies had tension, comedy, and carnage that had me on the edge of my seat, even though most of the characters weren't very likable. There was so much face-palming on my part, too.

The ending left me speechless for a few moments. Everything I thought I'd figured out went completely out the window. This wasn't my first watch-through of Bodies Bodies Bodies, either. This second time around I watched with my daughter, who is only a few years off of the character's ages. It was fun to see her reaction to the twist, since I knew what was coming this time.

All told, Bodies Bodies Bodies was a solid comedy-horror offering that had many layers to it deeper than the surface mayhem surrounding young adults behaving badly while not mature enough to be left unsupervised. I wouldn't mind watching it again, if the mood struck and am not shy about giving it a recommendation.

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 85%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 69%

Metascore – 69%

Metacritic User Score – 5.7/10

IMDB Score – 6.2/10

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4.5/5

Movie Trailer:

Cocaine Bear (2023)

Streaming Service: Peacock
Movie Name/Year: Cocaine Bear (2023)
Genre: Comedy, Thriller
Length: 1h 35min
Rating: R
Production/Distribution: Universal Pictures, Brownstone Productions, Lord Miller, Peacock, Studio Distribution Services (SDS), Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE)
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Writer: Jimmy Warden
Actors: Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ray Liotta, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Brooklynn Prince, Christian Convery, Margo Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kristofer Hivju, Hannah Hoekstra, Ayoola Smart
 
Blurb from IMDb: An oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converge on a Georgia forest where a huge black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
Cocaine Bear seemed like it was going to be insane and chaotic. There was definitely a lot of that, but there was also more plot than I expected.
 
The beginning did little to make me think there was going to be anything more to it than I initially thought. It had a bit of a story based on a little girl that wasn’t comfortable with her mom dating and a sad drug dealer. The sad drug dealer thing got old quickly, too. To be honest, I was already feeling a little disappointed.
 
Once it picked up, everything got more interesting.
 

It was brutal and the story evolved into something worth watching. Not only that, but as LOOSELY as it was based on that true story (I’d say more inspired by than based on), the bear facts used tended to be more on point. Things like: how fast they can climb trees, how to respond to a black vs a brown bear, etc. I found that more interesting than if they would have played as loose with the nature aspects as they did with the story facts.
 
It was interesting to see a ridiculous B-style creature feature mix with a more mainstream crime-comedy feel. I understand now why they released it to theaters.
 
If you do watch Cocaine Bear understand what you’re getting. It doesn’t take itself as seriously as something like Jurassic Park (1993), and so the graphics aren’t as on par. But it’s also not as ridiculously unbelievable as something like Sharknado (2013), so the script and acting is still well done.
 
I would watch it again.
 

Cat’s Point of View:
Cocaine Bear came out of left field. When my family and I first saw this trailer before an in-theater movie, we watched with jaws dropped. The premise was ludicrous - and at the same time utterly mind-blowing. Especially since it was supposedly loosely based on real-world events.
 
That’s right. There was a very real (if unfortunate) Cocaine Bear in Kentucky, who apparently lives on in taxidermied infamy somewhere and nicknamed “Pablo Escobear.” Of course, the real bear was male, and this fictionalized account gives a flipped gender take on the scenario - well… aside from the fact that the real bear didn’t maul anyone in a drug-induced frenzy before passing due to the cocaine it ingested.
 
The story that fueled this cinematic fever dream was loosely based on a portion of the narrative within the book “Bluegrass Conspiracy.” I’ve never read it, but I don’t need to. This was a highly fictionalized version that took a true portion of the tale and warped/expanded on it.
 
Needless to say, the moment we were able, my 19-year-old and I streamed Cocaine Bear and enjoyed (in horror, mind you) the whole rollercoaster ride it took us on. The characters were all interesting and the comedy-horror blend was on point, doling out laughs as well as edge-of-seat pulse-pounding moments like candy at Halloween. We’re talking about a story about a bear mauling its way to its next fix, here. The concept should have been clown-shoes, but it worked!
 
I must applaud director Elizabeth Banks (Brightburn, Pitch Perfect 2, Charlie's Angels) for taking this one out of the usual Hollywood cookie-cutter box here. Not only did Cocaine Bear successfully spin this man vs. nature story, but the way various people get caught up in the situation felt organic rather than forced. I was worried that the human element of the story would feel more cobbled together to just support the bear’s bender. I’m glad I was wrong.
 

The cast here was also firing on all cylinders. Ray Liotta (Field of Dreams, Shades of Blue, The Many Saints of Newark) had just finished recording his post-production work for this film before his unfortunate passing, and this was a stellar performance for him. I loved loathing his character, and he played those role types so well.
 
It was a pleasant surprise to see Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Untraceable, Modern Family, Ivy + Bean: Domed to Dance) and Keri Russell (Free State of Jones, Antlers, The Diplomat) in this sort of movie. Though, I couldn’t help but giggle seeing Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones, Downhill, The Witcher) because this is just the sort of quirky project I would expect from him. Alden Ehrenreich (Beautiful Creatures, Running Wild, Solo: A Star Wars Story) and O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton, Den of Thieves, Obi-Wan Kenobi) were the glue that held the core of the story together where family, drugs, and forest met in the middle. Even the child actors really held their own.
 
I’ve also got to say that the production team did a pretty damn good job on that bear. There were a few points that I looked at it a little cross-eyed, but generally, I would have believed that somehow there was a real bear romping around on the screen. A+ for that successful rendition.
 
If you haven’t seen Cocaine Bear yet and enjoy the horror-comedy genre blend, my recommendation is to watch this one as soon as you can. You might even find you’ll want to more than once.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 67%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 71%
Metascore – 54%
Metacritic User Score – 5.3
IMDB Score –6.0/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3.5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4.5/5
 
P.S. Some scenes during the credits and sounds at the end of the credits.
 
Movie Trailer:

Do Revenge (2022)

Streaming Service: Netflix
Movie Name/Year: Do Revenge (2022)
Genre: Comedy
Length: 1h 58min
Rating: TV-MA
Production/Distribution: Likely Story, Netflix
Director: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Writer: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Celeste Ballard
Actors: Camila Mendes, Maya Hawke, Austin Abrams, Rish Shah, Talia Ryder, Alisha Boe, Ava Capri, J.D., Paris Berelc, Maia Reficco, Sophie Turner, Rachel Matthews, Eliza Bennett
 
Blurb from IMDb: Drea and Eleanor agree to go after one another's bullies.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
It’s been a long time since I’ve so thoroughly had the rug pulled out from beneath my feet.
 
By an hour into Do Revenge, I had it pegged. The characters were shallow, and the plot was a regurgitation of about a thousand flicks that came before. It was cute, but hardly original. I’d say it was heading for a 3 out 5 rating for me. Then the predictable conflict started between the main characters at just over an hour in. It was a cringe-fest. In fact, I had trouble watching it. I had to pause to prepare myself for the hot mess.
 
That feeling didn’t last long, though, because a twist followed close after that flipped everything on its head. From there, I’m pretty sure I got sucked into the Twilight Zone.
 
A good ending doesn’t always elevate a movie. In this case, however, it worked extremely well.
 
Normally, I take the day before our Trust the Dice monthly stream off. I spend it finishing up all my research and organizing the films we’ll be discussing. It’s a stream that lasts anywhere from 4 to 8 hours, so there’s a lot of work that comes before it. Cat was unable to post today, though, so I found myself having to split my attention.
 

During the last half-hour of Do Revenge nothing short of nuclear war would have torn my gaze away from the screen. I’m now behind in my work and I’m not mad at it.
 
What was on the road to being a basic teen revenge comedy turned into something stunning to behold.
 
Camilla Mendes (Riverdale, Palm Springs, Dangerous Lies) and Maya Hawke (Stranger Things, Little Women, Mainstream) were amazing in their roles, but the real MVPs were the writers: Celeste Ballard (Space Jam: A New Legacy, Sweet/Vicious, Never Seen It) and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Thor: Love and Thunder, Unpregnant, Someone Great).
 
The foreshadowing was there, but so subtle that none of it clicked until the last possible moment. They turned a lump of copy-and-pasted clay into something on par with cult classics like Heathers (1988). Phenomenal work. I really never saw it coming.
 
Don’t judge Do Revenge by its title. It’s a true work of art.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 85%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 88%
Metascore – 67%
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score –6.7/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4.5/5
 
P.S. Some scenes during the credits.
 
Movie Trailer:

The Bubble (2022)

Streaming Service: Netflix
Movie Name/Year: The Bubble (2022)
Genre: Comedy
Length: 126 minutes
Rating: R
Production/Distribution: Apatow Productions, Netflix
Director: Judd Apatow
Writer: Judd Apatow, Pam Brady
Actors: Harry Trevaldwyn, Samson Kayo, Peter Serafinowicz, Danielle Vitalis, Karen Gillan, Rob Delaney, Chris Witaske, Audrina Woolrich, Grant Woolrich, Guz Khan, Maria Bakalova, Vir Das, Leslie Mann, Iris Apatow, Nick Kocher, Pedro Pascal, Galen Hopper, Keegan-Michael Key, David Duchovny, Fred Armisen, Kate McKinnon, Maria Bamford, Ross Lee, Raphael Acloque, John Lithgow, Austin Ku, John Cena, Beck, James McAvoy
 
Blurb from IMDb: A group of actors and actresses stuck inside a pandemic bubble at a hotel attempts to complete a film.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
Wow. Ok. That caught me off guard.
 
I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Bubble. I hadn’t heard anything about it, even when I was collecting information about the movies coming out. It just kind of popped up on Netflix one day. So, we chose it for the schedule out of curiosity.
 
What it turned out to be was a kind of caricature-style parody. A 2-hour long parody. That is a long-ass time for that kind of thing.
 
It seems like they were trying to do something in the vein of Tropic Thunder (2008). They didn’t succeed, though.
 

Most of my laughter during the film was the uncomfortable kind. I asked myself ‘why?’ a lot.
 
The Bubble touched on a lot of stuff about COVID-19 that was somewhat relatable – especially where quarantining is concerned – but I just didn’t find most of it funny. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it disrespectful, but it was more cringe than anything else.
 
There was also a lot of gross-out humor that I just don’t lean toward. A few good lines here and there didn’t really save anything.
 
It’s possible that someone with a different sense of humor might enjoy it, but it’s not for me.
 

Cat’s Point of View:
I’ve been waging a bit of an inner debate with myself over The Bubble. Part of me cringes at the very thought that it’s a movie about filming during the coronavirus pandemic. Then this little voice inside pipes up with “bless their hearts, they tried.” At the same time, however, I found myself sporadically entertained while watching this film and didn’t entirely loathe the experience.
 
Let me mince no words here – it was bad.
 
The Bubble was a self-aware sort of bad that dances with the notion of ‘so-bad-it’s-good.’
 
Those of us scrambling through the ‘real world’ having a hard time simply buying toilet paper and basic staples might have a hard time connecting to the plight of an actor at a resort hotel in the UK where quarantine involved endless room service. On the flip side with that, though, I think that The Bubble touched on underlying issues that have affected everyone – regardless of occupation.
 
Most of us have gone a little stir-crazy during lockdown. It’s fairly safe to say that a grand majority have felt a little starved for contact with friends and relatives kept at a distance due to social distancing and travel restrictions.
 

Sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying or screaming, right? I know I’ve hit a few of those points in the last couple of years. So, let’s put the pandemic aside, for now, and look at The Bubble a little differently.
 
In the last few months, I know I’ve knocked on unnecessary sequels popping up. The Bubble takes a jab at that very notion of a studio pushing for a cash grab to capitalize on an existing well-worn franchise under the guise of giving the world something to entertain them and take their minds off world events.
 
Everything was so over-the-top very purposefully. I admit, I found myself laughing in spite of my occasional cringe and eye-rolling.
 
Love or hate the movie, you’ve got to admit the cast was pretty amazing. Of course, I have some stand-out favorites such as Karen Gillan (In A Valley of Violence, Stuber, The Call of the Wild), Keegan-Michael Key (Keanu, Green Eggs and Ham, Schmigadoon!), and Pedro Pascal (Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Triple Frontier, We Can Be Heroes).  There were also some surprising cameos laced throughout that were well placed and added great little moments.
 
The whole thing was bonkers but oddly worked. The Bubble was the April Fools gift from Netflix and Judd Apatow (This Is 40, Trainwreck, The King of Staten Island) that I think we all needed. Just remember not to take it too seriously. It was supposed to be a trainwreck. Mission accomplished.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 23%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 35%
Metascore – 34%
Metacritic User Score – 3.4
IMDB Score – 4.8/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1.5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3/5
 
Movie Trailer:

Safer at Home (2021)

Streaming Services: Hulu
Movie Name/Year: Safer at Home (2021)
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Length: 82 minutes
Rating: R
Production/Distribution: 7930 Entertainment, Showdown Productions, Voltage Pictures, Vertical Entertainment, The Searchers, Front Row Filmed Entertainment
Director: Will Wernick
Writer: Will Wernick, Lia Bozonelis, John Ierardi
Actors: Alisa Allapach, Lia Bozonelis, Adwin Brown, Katie L. Hall, Jocelyn Hudon, Mark Irvingsen, Dan J. Johnson, Michael Kupisk, Emma Lahana, Brandon Morales, Daniel Robaire
 
Blurb from IMDb: Two years into the pandemic, a group of friends throw a wild online party. After taking ecstasy, things go terribly wrong and the safety of their homes becomes more terrifying than the raging chaos outside.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
Safer at Home was not an easy watch. There was absolutely no escapism involved. Instead, it gave a look at a possible future based on what is actually happening.
 
Safer at Home opened with a montage of real news footage. It then seamlessly shifted into fictional news from that possible future – one where COVID-19 mutates and keeps us in a full quarantine until well into 2022. It also pulled from the BLM movement to show how that kind of police state lock-down would look.
 
Horror flicks are always much more terrifying when they could really happen.
 
I am not surprised by this movie’s reception. Critics got their hands on it in early 2021. Vaccines for COVID-19 had been developed and were rolling out at a steady pace in many countries. It was looking like the pandemic was coming to a close.
 
And we were all sick of hear about the coronavirus. None of us wanted to sit down in our free time, when we could finally be out among friends, and watch a movie about what we endured.
 
I don’t think any critic could possibly have imagined that this little horror was predicting the delta variant.
 

Watching Safer at Home now, is not the same thing as seeing it then. It hits harder.
 
It’s not a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination. 

A huge portion of the cast had nothing to do but stare at a screen for the majority of their part. It was also an extreme social commentary, which is not for everyone. Especially not for anyone who is looking to escape current events for a little while.
 
It was also difficult to not compare it to Host (2020) – which was the first film to take place during the pandemic through use of webcams. They’re very different movies, of course. One is supernatural, the other is based completely in realism. Still, when you compare them – Safer at Home does not hold a candle to Host. Not only that, but even though Host is set during the pandemic, it still offers some manner of removal from our situation.
 
Safer at Home is less a project of entertainment and more like a creative warning of what we should be trying to avoid. That’s not what a lot of people are going to be looking for right now.
 
That said, I do predict that people are going to have a very different take on this film when they watch it in the future. Once COVID-19 is over and we’ve stepped into the light of whatever the world looks like then, people are going to be more open to movies set in this time. When they start coming across this one, it going to get better reviews. I don’t think I can say it will be a cult film, but I do believe it has the potential to become bigger than it currently is.

Cat’s Point of View:
When you watch movies on a regular basis, you never know when one is going to reach out and rattle you. I certainly didn’t anticipate feeling shook in the wake of the credits for Safer at Home…and yet here we are.
 
The critics are tearing into this movie and ripping it to shreds as if someone chummed shark-infested waters. I don’t get all the hate. Sure, Safer at Home wasn’t the most amazing thing ever, but it was solid. It just goes to show that you can’t always go by what all the critics say.
 
There have been a few films so far that have embraced this new pandemic world and run with the concept to bring us a whole new genre of horror and thrills. This follows along those lines but doesn’t dip into the supernatural the way others have.
 
The opening of Safer At Home actually gave me chills.
 

I absolutely believed in the setup here. It felt like current events rather than a piece of fiction. With variant strains of the coronavirus popping up, it feels like this will never end sometimes. I want to avoid a political soapbox, though, so I’ll summarize by saying that the police-state big brother-esque Los Angeles that was shown in the film felt frighteningly plausible.
 
You can do a lot with a simple framework. So many of us have experienced the little Zoom meeting boxes in the last year or so, that it only seems natural that more productions are going to borrow from this shared experience. I think this treatment was successful. I felt like I was sitting in on someone’s Zoom feed and watching a get-together of real friends. The drama was believable. I didn’t care if some parts were predictable or not. Safer at Home had a solid cast and they did a great job.
 
The ending rattled me hard.
 
Screw the critics, Safer at Home is absolutely worth the watch.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 7%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 61%
Metascore – 35/100
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 4.6/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5
 
Movie Trailer:

Fried Barry (2021)

Streaming Services: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: Fried Barry (2021)
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Length: 99 minutes
Rating: NR
Production/Distribution: The Department of Special Projects, The Department of Special Projects, Enigma Ace Films, Panalux, Panavision, Zootee Studios, Shudder
Director: Ryan Kruger
Writer:  Ryan Kruger, James C. Williamson
Actors: Gary Green, Chanelle de Jager, Brett Williams, Joey Cramer, Bianka Hartenstein, Sean Cameron Michael, Steve Wall, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Tamer Burjaq, Jonathan Pienaar, Colin Moss, Brendan Sean Murray, Ryan Kruger, Marty Kintu, Gaham Clarke
 
Blurb from IMDb: Barry is a drug-addled, abusive bastard who - after yet another bender - is abducted by aliens. Barry takes a backseat as an alien visitor assumes control of his body and takes it for a joyride through Cape Town. What follows is an onslaught of drugs, sex and violence as our alien tourist enters the weird and wonderful world of humankind. FRIED BARRY is based upon the short film of the same name, which earned 57 official selections and 12 wins at festivals around the world.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
The past hour-and-a-half has been torture.
 
Before I go too far into reviewing Fried Barry, however, I need to take a few things into account.
 
First, and foremost, I don’t tend to like experimental films. Much as I love the horror-comedy sub-genre, there are only a small amount that I’ve ever seen that claim to be ‘experimental’. I’ve liked none of them.
 
Secondly, the director didn’t set out to make a good film.
 
Director Ryan Kruger (The Man Who Beat the Man, Prime Circle: Doors, The SA Way) has stated in several interviews that he wasn’t out to make a flick that everyone would like. There are plenty of people that shy away from mainstream film-making, but his intentions go beyond even that. He sought to make something so strange and unique and ridiculous, that it becomes unforgettable by default.
 
He wanted to make a cult film.
 
I thought that was a little bold of him. Bold to assume that a ‘cult’ status is something that you can seek out from the start.
 
Cult cinema is usually eccentric. It involves original pieces that are extremely memorable and re-watchable. If that was the whole definition of the cult genre, then yeah, you could definitely predict if a project was going to hit the mark. But it’s not.
 
It’s not just about how a film is created, written, or even developed. It can be something that comes out in wide releases or just sent straight to video. What makes a cult film is how it’s received.
 

Directors make movies for specific genres. They can seek to make drama, or a horror, or a romance. They can seek to make flicks that settle into sub-genres like teen stories, superheroes, occult, etc. But it’s the audience that makes a film: cult.
 
No director can control the audience.
 
That said, I think Kruger is onto something here.
 
I’m not going to lie, I fucking hate it. There is not a god damn thing that I enjoyed about Fried Barry. Personally, I’d rather never watch any other movies than watch this one again. It was, as I said earlier, torture to sit through.
 
If I look at it through the scope of what the director was trying to do, though…
 
I think there’s a possibility he succeeded.
 
I will never be able to unsee Fried Barry. It will be scorched into my brain for eternity. It’s weird, and ridiculous and absolutely disgusting. And there are people that I know who will see it once and fall completely in love. They will adore it just for its eccentricity and the message they see behind the script. They will re-watch it and pass it along to others.
 
I will look at them strangely, but if those people actually form a cult for this film, they won’t need me or my opinion.
 
Ryan Kruger is a mad genius. Now get me out of here.
 

Cat’s Point of View:

I have stared at a blank page for a bit now, just…unsure how to put what I’m feeling into words in the wake of the credits rolling for Fried Barry.
 
One thing’s for sure, I feel fried by that movie. What the hell did I just watch?
 
Calling it a strange trip seems like it would be both too on the nose and, at the same time, the understatement of the century.
 
Let me revisit my earlier statement. There’s a second thing that’s ‘for sure’ here, as well. Kids should be nowhere near this movie. Not only is there flagrant and graphic drug use, but there are explicit sexual scenes, and some brief male nudity… among other things I can’t mention without spoilers.
 
The runtime for Fried Barry is just a little over an hour and a half, and there’s a freaking intermission break. Why? Did they run out of ideas for scene transitions? It was so brief that I’m not even sure that it was really intended to be used as such, and debated even mentioning it like it might have been a spoiler to do so. It illustrates the absolute wackiness of this film, however.

 
I think the tone is appropriately set when the opening credits list this as ‘A Ryan Kruger Thing.’  Not a movie or production. Its own creator called it a ‘thing.’
 
This is Kruger’s feature-length directorial debut, expanding a short that he had created back in 2017. I haven’t seen it, I’m afraid, so I can’t comment on whether or not this is a continuation of that story or just a revisitation to the character, etc.
 
If I had to sum this experience up in one word, it would be spastic. The story, characters, settings – everything was spazzy. I imagine that anyone watching this under the influence of mind-altering substances might get an entirely different experience – either in enjoyment or a one-way ticket to a bad trip.
 
The crazy thing is that I kind of liked it...a teeny tiny bit. I admit that grudgingly because this was frankly a horrifying and grotesque film experience that I cannot unsee. I was repulsed and drawn in by it at the same time. I spent a lot of time literally saying ‘what the fuck’ to myself, however. There were a few places I just had to laugh. Under all the insanity, there was an actual story. It surprised the hell out of me, to be honest.
 
I can tell you with certainty that I will never watch this again. This is, however, exactly the sort of movie you tell your friends about to get them to watch it in order to share the misery and see their reactions. For that reason, it very well may become a cult hit.
 
Either way, Fried Barry will be available on Shudder May 7.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 83%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 6/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – Pass/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 1.5/5
 
Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: NC-17
 
Movie Trailer: