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Streaming Services: Shudder Movie Name/Year: Stay Out of the F**king
Attic (2021) Genre: Horror Length: 80 minutes Rating: Unrated Production/Distribution: Top Dead Center Films Director: Jerren Lauder Writer: Julie Auerbach, Jesse Federman, Jason Scott Goldberg, Jerren
Lauder Actors: Ryan Francis, Morgan Alexandria, Bryce Fernelius, Michael
Flynn, Brynn Hurlburt, Avery Pizzuto Blurb from IMDb: A group of ex-cons-turned-movers are convinced by their creepy client to pull an all-nighter. As the night progresses, they uncover the horrors that exist inside his old Victorian mansion.
Selina’s Point of View: Whenever a film
tries to turn Josef Mengele into a second-rate horror villain, it pisses me
off. Don’t get me
wrong, when he’s portrayed in biographies, or historical pieces, it doesn’t
bother me. His very existence is absolutely terrifying. Stories SHOULD be
written about him, so that we never forget. I’ve even seen some horror settings
doing it well before. He needs to be
shown in the right light, though. Flicks like this do not do that. They turn him
into some basic horror boogeyman. It’s bullshit. In this case, the
acting wasn’t even strong enough to make him seem intimidating. They took an unendingly
menacing historical figure, made him less scary, and then put him in a badly
written basic-bitch flick. Already, that annoyed me.
The rest wasn’t
much better. All three main
characters were written in a ridiculously stereotypical way. The dialogue was
forced and unnatural. It felt like it was written by someone who only learned
about different races, and ex-cons, by watching flicks like Scary Movie (2000). I thought it was
going to save itself with a message of redemption. I kept waiting for it.
Instead, the ending was a nonsensical deviation in tone that felt like it would
have fit better in an action zombie film. The whole thing
was a mess from beginning to end, and I can’t bring myself to recommend it to
anyone.
Cat’s Point of View: When a movie has
an expletive as bold as the ‘F-Bomb’ in the title, even mildly censored,
expectations are immediately set that the experience is going to strive for an
edgy and raw feel. Stay Out of the F**king Attic, as a whole, didn’t
disappoint. I connected oddly
with this movie. Back in 2018 or so, I helped my daughter’s godmother pack and
move her employer’s family household. The scenes of boxes, packing materials,
and tape-guns brought me back in time a bit. I related on a whole other level
with the protagonists. I found the process interesting to carefully preserve
and package all the things, large and small. Of course, the
temptation is always there to be nosy as one proceeds to pack away the minutia
of someone else’s life. It takes a good bit of willpower not to peruse the
items in more detail rather than simply securing them for transit. It’s a big
thing, though, honoring the client’s privacy – and taking care with their
belongings. There were some scenes that I was just cringing because of the lack
of both principles taking place. I can’t say that this particular situation
will be the same for all audiences. It helped pull me into the story further,
though. Human nature
being what it is – when someone tells you to not do a thing it’s a monumental
temptation to do that very thing you were warned against. In that way, this
film is an illustrated scenario for the phrase ‘fuck around and find out.’Given, this is a rather extreme and
far-fetched case – but most horror movies are, right?
If I had to pick
something that bothered me about Stay Out of the F**king Attic, it would
have to be a few scenes of dialogue. Some interactions just felt a bit stiff.
I’m not sure if it was a purposeful decision or if the acting in those segments
was just a little stilted. It didn’t take away from the movie as a whole. Once events
started ramping up, I didn’t feel anything askew anymore and pieces started falling
into place better. Considering the premise of the movie, I was pleased to find
that it was fairly easy to suspend my disbelief regarding the plausibility of
what transpired. I absolutely
adored the ending. Not going to give you any hints there. One thing I can
note, however, is that there is a significant amount of body horror within the
film, so if that’s the sort of thing that gives you crawly feelings – buckle
up. Shudder has
snagged another good one with Stay Out of the F**king Attic. See for
yourself on Shudder, March 11.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None Metascore – None Metacritic User Score – None IMDB Score – None Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1/5 Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5 Trust-the-Dice’s
Parental Advisory Rating:
R Movie Trailer:
Production/Distribution: TSG Entertainment, Piki
Films, Defender Films, Czech Anglo Productions, 20th Century Fox Argentina, 20th
Century Fox Brazil, 20th Century Fox, Big Picture 2 Films, Forum Hungary, Fox
Searchlight Pictures, Odeon, Press Play Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt
Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Director: Taika Waititi
Writer: Taika Waititi, Christine
Leunens
Actors: Roman Griffin Davis,
Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Taika Waititi, Sam Rockwell, Rebel
Wilson, Alfie Allen, Stephen Merchant, Archie Yates, Luke Brandon Field, Sam
Haygarth, Stanislav Callas, Joe Weintraub, Brian Caspe, Gabriel Andrews, Billy
Rayner, Robert East
Blurb
from IMDb: A
young boy in Hitler's army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in
their home.
Selina’s
Point of View:
After
watching this film, I’m more convinced than ever that the controversy was unwarranted.
It’s
easy to see the words ‘World War II’ or ‘Holocaust’ and get pissed off when
they’re paired with words like ‘comedy’ – but making any definitive statement about
a work of art before consuming it is simply ignorant.
Yes,
there was comedy in this film. There were bright colors, jokes, and a
ridiculous depiction of Hitler. Still, this is one of the most disturbing movies
I’ve ever seen.
The
beginning of Jojo Rabbit made me feel like I was living in an alternate
reality where Germany won World War II. It was horrifyingly like a director from
that reality created a comedy. Good was bad. Down was up. It was insanity.
People were laughing all around me as the jokes and awkward situations fell
upon the brainwashed 10-year-old German boy on screen.
It was
almost easy to miss the threads of truth woven into the jokes. From the moment
I saw those threads, I knew what Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows,
The Inbetweeners, Thor: Ragnarok) was trying to portray.
The
movie wasn’t just from the point of view of a fly on the wall watching Jojo. It
was directly from his perspective, despite not being in first-person.
It
started out bright and funny, though twisted. Just about a 10-year-old living
his life after being exposed to a propaganda machine since birth. After finding
the Jewish girl in his home, however, Jojo began to see the truths of his
world. Colors became more muted. The funny parts became cringy and absurd.
By
the end, the horrors of war were inescapable. And, at one point, the humor
ended completely until the moment that Germany lost, when people could be free
again.
It’s
true that different people are going to take away different things from Jojo
Rabbit, but what I saw was intense. It was a point of view I have never
seen before and it put an emphasis on a pain experienced by people I’ve never
considered.
From
the trailers it’s easy to expect something that makes light of the war and/or
the Holocaust, but that’s not what the movie is.
Jojo
Rabbit was
intense, bizarre, and mental. It was aesthetically beautiful, hard to look at,
bitter, painful, and – yes, at times – funny. But it didn’t shy away from
anything.
I
loved it. I paid to watch it, and I have no regrets.
Producer: Benjamin
Benedict, Jana Brandt, Tim Greve, Nico Hofmann, Verena Monben, Korinna Roters, Christine
Strobl, Sebastian Werninger
Director: Philipp
Kadelbach
Writer: Bruno
Apitz, Stefan Kolditz
Actors: Florian
Stetter, Peter Schneider, Sylvester Groth, Sabin Tambrea, Robert Gallinowski,
Rainer Bock, Rafael Stachowiak, Thorsten Merten, Torsten Michaelis, Robert
Mika, Matthias Bundschuh, Ulrich Brandhoff, Torsten Ranft, Andreas Lust, Marko
Mandic, Leonard Carow, Janusz Cichocki, Paula Hartmann, Jens Harzer, Max
Hegewald, Robert Hunger-Buhler, David Sir, Vojta Vomacka, Tim Williams
Stunts: Jan
Arnost, Jan Blahak, Marek Brichcin, Matous Brichcin, Robert Lahoda, Antje Rau,
Tomas Rydval, Ivo Zubaty
Blurb from Netflix:
When an orphan boy is smuggled into a concentration camp, he is protected by
the prisoners, but the camp’s Nazi guards soon learn of his presence.
Selina’s Point of View:
I’m a little shaky at the moment.
From the very moment this film started playing, I knew what I
was in for. It was meant to be a shocking and honest portrayal of the events
that took place in one of the concentration camps. Even less truthful films
about the holocaust can be difficult to watch, but this one was like a stab in
the chest.
Naked Among Wolves
was absolutely heartbreaking. In fact, the last film I can think of that
captured the feel of the holocaust anywhere near the level this one did was Escape from Sobibor (1987).
I can’t imagine how difficult it was to film this.
We’ve discussed the mental toll acting out vicious scenes
can take on the actors. Almost everyone knows the tales of how Alfred Hitchcock
(Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window)
treated Tippi Hedren (Tribute, Dead
Write, The Bold and the Beautiful) on the set of The Birds (1963) – or how Stanley Kubrick (Spartacus, A Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut) treated Shelley
Duvall (Changing Habits, Home Fries, The
Portrait of a Lady) on the set of The
Shining (1980).
The directors, in both instances claimed to make their
choices in order to get the most honest performances from their actors.
In films like those, I imagine a director might need an
alternate method of getting the most heartbreaking reaction from someone – but this
was a film based on real life. I’m guessing that just knowing the events they
were portraying were actually very close to real life, was all the motivation
these actors needed.
Everything was written and acted so well that I can’t
imagine a situation where someone wouldn’t be feeling every emotion they were
meant to. Even the subtitles seemed to disappear for me, and I forgot I wasn’t
just hearing English.
This was a great, if extremely troubling film. It was
supposed to be troubling, though… and that counts as an incredible success.
Cat’s Point of View:
The dice have been giving us a lot of war movies lately. Seriously,
what’s up with that?
Thinking of this film brings to mind so much that I have difficulty
knowing where to start.
One thing’s for sure – I felt every moment of the 101
minutes of run-time. Usually, when I’m mentioning that it’s because I’m bored.
That was decidedly not the case this time. It took a little bit to get
invested; but once this movie had me in its grip, it didn’t let go. I spent a
good chunk of the time with my heart in my throat worrying for the plight of
the characters. I admit I checked the progress bar a few times –but only to see
how much longer I might have to wait to learn what their fate would be.
The casting here was brilliant. I found the actors relatable
in their roles, but the standout for me was the little boy. Oh, good lord how
precious! It’s easy to see how he melted hearts (and inspired my tears). I
really don’t know how child actors fare in Germany in comparison to the curse
that seems to follow those stateside; but I know that this little dude is a
leading man in the making. It really came across to me that he was emoting and
not just following cues.
I have a decided love-hate relationship with this movie. It
was well made, and was a stirring glimpse into history and highlighting events
at a place you don’t hear as much about as opposed to Auschwitz. On the other
hand, it gave me feels about some SS characters that I wasn’t comfortable with.
I’d actually recommend this movie in a heartbeat for anyone
who enjoys the war-movie genre – especially from more of the drama angle
instead of pitched battle footage.
Languages
Speech Available:
French, German, Polish
Subtitles Available:
English, French, Polish
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore - None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 7.2/10
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating
– 4/5
Trust-the-Dice’s
Parental Advisory Rating: R
P.S. There are
some historical recordings inserted into the film.
