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Streaming Service: Shudder Movie Name/Year: The Sadness (2022)
Genre: Horror Length: 1h 39min Rating: Unrated Production/Distribution: Machi Xcelsior Studios, ESC
Editions, Capelight Pictures, Shudder Director: Rob Jabbaz Writer: Rob Jabbaz Actors: Berant Zhu, Chi-Min Chou,
Emerson Tsai, Lue-Keng Huang, Ralf Chiu, Regina Lei, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Wei-Hua
Lan, Ying-Ru Chen IMDb Blurb: A young couple trying to
reunite amid a city ravaged by a plague that turns its victims into deranged,
bloodthirsty sadists.
Selina’s Point of View: Writing about The
Sadness is going to be a little bit difficult. I’m honestly not sure
that I want to give it any publicity at all. When we went through
all the trailers for films coming out in May of 2022, on our monthly Trust the
Dice stream, I noted that The Sadness had a hell of a time
getting a rating that wasn’t the equivalent of an NC-17. You hear that a lot
with horror films, and it’s usually some kind of PR stunt to get people to see
it. In this case, I absolutely think there’s more truth to it than that. In
fact, I think the finished product should still have the aforementioned rating.
The Sadness was the single most violent film I have ever seen. I don’t
say that lightly. Violence doesn’t usually trigger me at all, but almost every
scene in this flick did. There are a huge number of rape scenes mixed in with
the rest of the blood-spilling, and I found it to be unnecessary – to say the
least. Gratuitous is too mild of a word. Numbing might be closer to correct. There are very few
things that will make me think art – of any kind – has crossed a line. In this
case, though... The Sadness took things too far. It had the potential of a great
zombie flick but turned out to be too much for even me to stomach. I do not
believe it’s something people should watch.
Cat’s Point of View: Holy shit. The Sadness was
one of the most difficult-to-watch films that I have ever viewed. I’m not generally squeamish, but this production had a level
of violence and brutality that was uncomfortable, over-the-top, excessive, and really
disturbing. I will admit there were several places I simply had to look away
from the screen or cover my eyes.
Trigger warnings abound with The Sadness. If you’re sensitive to flashing lights, don’t watch
the credits- and that’s the least problematic element here. If you can think of
something heinous that one person could do to another, it’s probably
represented in this movie. In addition to mountains of blood, gore, and foul
language, rape, torture, sexual sadism, physical assault, as well as graphic
cannibalism infect the screen much as the narrative’s virus spreads through its
population. With as many movies we watch with similar themes, you’d
think I’d have had the ending for this one pegged. I wasn’t entirely off base,
but it still caught me off guard.
The Sadness was
truly terrifying on so many levels. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping well
tonight. It’s a safe bet that I’ll likely never watch this production again. Further,
I would offer a heaping helping of disclaimers to any prospective viewers. The Sadness is absolutely not for the
young or faint of heart. Watch at your own risk. The Sadness will
become available to stream on Shudder starting May 12th.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic
Score – 93% Rotten Tomatoes Audience
Score – None Metascore – 76% Metacritic User Score – None IMDB Score – 6.4/10 Trust the Dice: Parental Advisory Rating – NC-17 Trust the Dice: Selina’s
Rating – 0/5 Trust the Dice: Cat’s
Rating – 1/5 Movie Trailer:
Streaming Service: Shudder Movie Name/Year: Virus-32 (2022) Genre: Horror Length: 89 minutes Rating: Unrated Production/Distribution: Aeroplano Cine, Mother
Superior, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Argentina Director: Gustavo Hernández Writer: Juma Fodde, Gustavo Hernández Actors: Rasjid César, Sofía González, Daniel Hendler, Paula Silva Blurb from IMDb: A rapid spreading virus
which transforms people into intelligent, ultra-violent, extra-fast zombie
hunters. After each wave of attack by the monsters, they're left incapacitated
for 32 seconds while they recover their strength.
Selina’s Point of View: Virus-32 is a basic zombie story. I’ve
mentioned before, however, that I don’t have much of an issue with recipe films,
and this is exactly the kind of flick that helps make my point. There are some
things that Virus-32 did so right that it elevated the recipe. For one thing,
the acting was well done. Paula Silva (In the Quarry, Metro de Montevideo, Feheler
78), was exceptionally easy
to relate to, and she kept me right along side her for the entire ride. She
made me care. Her character also made a few extremely smart decisions, which caused
me to pay even closer attention. The direction was
extraordinary. There are a couple of tension-building long shots that were
impossible to look away from. It was such a simple addition to the movie, but
it made a huge difference. Those scenes were, like the majority of Virus-32,
following a recipe. Had they been shot as expected; my attention would have
waned just about instantly. But because of these unbroken, constantly-moving
(but not shaky cam), long shots… I was glued to the screen, and the scares hit
where they otherwise wouldn’t have.
There was also
the ending. One scene leading
up to the ending, I couldn’t even watch. It was terrifying, and my imagination
made it even worse. I straight-up hid in my shirt. Further along, there was
another scene that caused me to exclaim – out loud – “get the fuck out of here.”
I don’t have many moments like that when watching horror these days. I’ll admit that I
can’t comment too deeply on the script, because my captions weren’t as on point
as they should have been. There were words randomly missing/added. Other times
it was just a bad translation. I was able to follow along well enough because
of my very minor understanding of Spanish. I’m not going to hold the captions
against it though, because we received an early copy. I’m guessing they’ll
tighten the translation up for when it premieres on Shudder. All-in-all, Virus-32
was a solid zombie flick, even though it didn’t really subvert expectations the
way one would hope.
Cat’s Point of View: Virus-32 was certainly interesting. It worked
its way through the middle ground between a tale of a viral outbreak and zombie
horror. While I haven’t generally sought out films about pathogens since the
whole global pandemic thing began, these two sub-genres are right in my horror
wheelhouse. The fact that Virus-32 was in Spanish, as it was set
in the Argentinian city of Montevideo, helped immerse me in this story further.
I was having to pay closer attention because I was following the subtitles. I
didn’t get caught up in the usual rabbit-hole trips my brain takes with
mainstream cinema. I didn’t recognize anyone here, so I was just able to settle
into the story. Well – as much as someone could settle into this particular
one. There was a lot of breath-holding and edge-of-seat riding here. I think
the only few moments I slipped down a slight tangent were when I recognized
that what was said in Spanish didn’t get translated correctly – mostly
expletives. My inner child giggled when “motherfucker” became “damn.” I
couldn’t help it. That was the only
thing to snicker about – the rest was mercilessly brutal. There were several
story choices that had me wincing – not because I’m squeamish (I’m generally
not), but because what happened was just so unpleasantly hard to watch.
Virus-32 put a new spin on well-worn tropes
and I think it worked well. I appreciated that the audience was put in the lead
character’s shoes so that very little was known about whatever was afflicting
the populace. I didn’t mind that the production skipped over the backstory that
went with the “infection.” (Unless clues were in some of the broadcasts in the
background that didn’t have a translation.) If I was
hard-pressed to find a negative about Virus-32
it would only be the brief segments of footage generated by a rig attached to
the actor’s body. Fast movement and spinning with that point of view were
disorienting for me and on par with shaky-cam. Anyone who has medical issues
due to strobing lights should also be cautious here, as there’s a segment in Virus-32 that has some serious light
flashing going on. Virus-32 is a great addition to the Shudder
lineup. Fans of the viral outbreak or zombie genres should find something
enjoyable here. Just keep in mind, this one gets really dark.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None Metascore – None Metacritic User Score – None IMDB Score – 6.5/10 Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4/5 Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5 Trust-the-Dice’s
Parental Advisory Rating:
R Movie Trailer:
Streaming Service: Shudder Movie Name/Year: Mass Hysteria (2020) Genre: Comedy, Horror Length: 66 minutes Rating: TV-MA Production/Distribution: First-Name Films, The
Horror Collective Director: Arielle Cimino, Jeff Ryan Writer: Jonathan T. Coleman, Christopher O'Connell Actors: Geena Santiago, Jeff Ryan, Scott Swayze, Alexandra
Dietrich, Luke Deardorff, Destry Allyn Spielberg, Robert D. Murphy, Matt
Perusse, Louis Cancelmi, Charlie Pollock, Daniel Alvarado, Michelle
Veintimilla, Jessica Richmond, Molly Sidell, Kellie Moon, Hannah Wagner, Chloe
Eaton Blurb from IMDb: A group of Salem witch
trial reenactors find themselves at the center of a modern day witch hunt.
Selina’s Point of View: I’m not often surprised
by the movies we see. Sure, a twist might catch me off-guard, or I might like
something more or less than expected – but this surprised me more in the way
that Slaxx (2021) did than something like The Sixth Sense (1999).
It altered my expectations in ways that most movies don’t. It started out cute,
in a home-brew kind of way. If I had to make any comparisons, I’d have said it
felt like it was in the same category as something like The Gamers
(2002). Low budget, kind of funny, nothing that would stand up to the big-name
flicks, but watchable. Even enjoyable. What started campy
and mildly interesting, turned menacing in the last ten minutes (or so). The twist really
brought the creep factor. It would have been a decent movie either way, but I
wouldn’t have labeled it much of a horror film until that script flipped at the
end.
I was shocked. I think what made
it scarier than it probably set out to be, was that it made sense. My knee-jerk
reaction was that it didn’t, but after thinking about it for a few minutes, I bought
it. I saw the logic in it. When horror has some of that logic, it just hits
harder. I think Mass
Hysteria is really worth it. I’d recommend gathering some friends and getting
some popcorn so you can have some real fun with it. It’s a great flick for a
teenage Halloween sleep over. Maybe not the youngest teens, but 15 and above.
Cat’s Point of View: I am pretty sure
I’ve mentioned before that I have a great appreciation for stories surrounding
the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s. Mass Hysteria is set in the modern
era pre-pandemic but it beautifully taps into the spirit of its title and the
location of its setting for some entertaining satire. One of the things
I appreciated the most about Mass Hysteria was that it didn’t take
itself too seriously. The movie leaned into the tropes surrounding tourists and
their expectations for a macabre historic locations, such as Salem, and it was
glorious. It’s clear that
there was a bit of a shoestring budget involved, but they got the most bang for
their buck by letting the audience imagine most of the grisly violence
occurring – rather than having to engineer the physical effects for it all to
happen on screen. There’s something to be said about the mind’s ability to fill
in the blanks with horror movies. What we imagine can be far scarier than
anything an SFX department could put together.
So much of Mass
Hysteria is over the top, but it works – right down to the customized
license plate on a jacked-up truck featured in the later part of the film. It even managed
to throw me a little. I thought I had the plot all figured out in the
beginning. I thought it was easily predictable – I was wrong. If you’re looking
for a serious flick to sate your thirst for horror this Ominous October, Mass
Hysteria might not be for you. If you are, however, looking for an
entertaining romp into the dangers of religious zeal paired with mob mentality
and dumb tourists; the shenanigans that ensue here would be a fun addition to
your Halloween viewing. If you have
access to Shudder, I encourage satire fans to check it out.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None Metascore – None Metacritic User Score – None IMDB Score – 5.2/10 Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4/5 Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5 P.S. Short scene during the credits. Movie Trailer:
Movie Name/Year: Fantasia 2021: Glasshouse (2021) Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller Length: 94 minutes Rating: Unrated Language: English Production/Distribution: Local Motion Pictures, Crave Pictures,
Showmax, Multichoice Studios Director: Kelsey Egan Writer: Emma Lungiswa De Wet, Kelsey Egan Actors: Jessica Alexander, Hilton Pelser, Anja Taljaard, Adrienne Pearce, Brent
Vermeulen, Kitty Harris Blurb from IMDb: Confined to their
glasshouse, a family survives The Shred, a toxin that erases memory. Until the
sisters are seduced by a Stranger who shatters their peace and stirs a past
best left buried.
Selina’s Point of View: When I see a
post-apocalyptic thriller on my Fantasia Film Festival watch list, I have certain expectations. I
think that really worked against me this time, because Glasshouse definitely
leaned more toward the drama genre. Settings like the
one attempted in this film are hard. It’s a very confined space with a limited
number of characters. Whenever a movie like this is created, it’s exceptionally
important that the story captures the audience’s attention – but it lives or
dies on the actors’ ability to hold onto it. Where Glasshouse
is concerned, the actors fell into their parts and 100% became each
character they portrayed. Jessica Alexander
(Get Even, Penny on M.A.R.S., A Banquet), Hilton Pelser (The Kissing
Booth, Moffie, Home Affairs: A Christmas Tale), Anja Taljaard (Camp Getaway,
Double Echo, Inspector Sunshine), Adrienne Pearce (Troy: Fall of a City,
Bhai’s Café, The Red Sea Diving Resort), Brent Vermeulen (The
Harvesters, Griekwastad, Spoorloos 3), and Kitty Harris were outstanding. From
the chaotic drifter to the youngest of the cast, they were flawless. Every time
someone opened their mouths, it was like a hook back into the events. Which leads me to
my one issue.
It was painfully
slow. From a hardcore,
film student, part-of-the-business, perspective – that wouldn’t be an issue.
From a mainstream and, in my case, neurodiverse perspective – the pace
mattered. I had trouble concentrating through it. For many movies,
that would have been the death of my enjoyment. However, because the actors
kept pulling me back in, I was able to stick with it until events ramped up and
started getting intriguing. I’m glad I stuck with it, too. It’s a film I’ll
remember fondly. I think it’s also
worth mentioning that a second watch-through of Glasshouse is almost
necessary. There are many bits and pieces of scenes that hit harder, and make
more sense, the second time around. If you opt to watch it once, you should
watch it twice. It was a brutally
beautiful story and setting. A lot of people will absolutely love it, but it
won’t be for everyone.
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3.5/5 Trust-the-Dice’s
Parental Advisory Rating:
R Movie Trailer:
Streaming Services: Shudder Movie Name/Year: The Superdeep (2021) Genre: Horror, Thriller Length: 113 minutes Rating: Unrated Production/Distribution: Shaw Organisation, Volga,
Lumix Media Director: Arseny Syuhin Writer: Samuel Stewart Hunter, Arseny Syuhin Actors: Milena Radulovic, Sergey Ivanyuk, Nikolay Kovbas, Vadim
Demchog, Kirill Kovbas, Nikita Dyuvbanov, Viktor Nizovoy, Albina Chaykina,
Darya Shagal, Andrey Trushin Blurb from IMDb: A small research team went
down below the surface to find out what secret the world's deepest borehole was
hiding. What they have found turned out to be the greatest threat in history.
And the future of humanity is in their hands.
Selina’s Point of View: I adore films
featuring all manner of undead. Zombies, as oversaturated as they are, remain
my favorite. The Superdeep delves into this kind of thing and still, even to
me, manages to come up short. The fact that I couldn’t
like it is almost a feat all on its own. You can see where this film took
inspiration from games like The Last of Us (2013) and movies like Resident
Evil (2002) – which we all know was different than the game, I’m
specifically talking about the flick – Alien (1979), and Slither (2006).
If it didn’t pull inspiration from those sources, then it accidentally stumbled
into their areas. I’m a fan of all
the projects that this one reminded me of. Still, I remained completely
uninvested.
The script felt
forced in just about every scene (though it’s an adaptation from Russian, so it
might be better in its original language). The soundtrack included very little
actual music and was just a bunch of obnoxious noises cobbled together. The
acting was over-dramatized to an extreme, except when it was devoid of any
emotion at all. If I had to
choose one good thing about it, it would be the design of patient zero’s
infection. It was decent. If the entire movie was born from the same attention
to detail and quality, this would be a much different review. There’s just no part
of me that can recommend The Superdeep. Everything is subjective, though. If you want
to see for yourself, it releases June 17th on Shudder.
Cat’s Point of View: I always have a feeling of excited anticipation when we are
granted access to a screener for a movie. The
Superdeep was no exception. This time, however, there was only a slight bit
of trepidation involved because this film is Russian in origin. You never know
if you’re going to end up with something dubbed or with subtitles. Thankfully, The Superdeep was dubbed in English
for 99% of the production. There was a slight concern in the first few minutes that this
might just be a black and white movie shot in first-person, and I cringed on
the inside. Thankfully, that passed quickly and the rest of The Superdeep was in a more palatable
format. I’m not knocking black and white films by any means. I just prefer
color features when at all possible. It was the found-footage-like first-person
scenario that would have been more off-putting. I digress…
The Superdeep was
an interesting sci-fi horror tale steeped in a tension-filled score and plenty
of gore and body horror disgustingness. The effects were realistic and
believable, and super gross. The production got a lot of bang for their practical
effects bucks here. The CGI effects were blended in rather well, also, and
weren’t over-the-top. I appreciated the use of sound to build the tension
without a lot of direct shots of the big-bad. It made the situation far scarier
in the moment. I’m curious whether or not director Arseny Syuhin (Lockout, Stalingrad, The Crossing) will
continue to work on projects that lean towards mainstream, or if his future projects
will be geared more to his homeland. I’d be interested in seeing more of his
work in the future. The Superdeep is
Syuhin’s feature-length directorial debut. He has worked on another title that
had international release lately with Iron
Mask (2019), though as the action unit director. If I had to summarize The
Superdeep for someone, I’d have to say that it can be compared to throwing Doom (2005), Resident Evil (2002), and The
Thing (1982) into a blender and setting the story in Soviet Russia. It made
for a very interesting premise that I didn’t regret watching when the credits
began to roll. If you’ve got a subscription to Shuddder, The Superdeep is a decent choice to stream for a night in.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None Metascore – None Metacritic User Score – None IMDB Score – 4.8/10 Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2/5 Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3/5 Trust-the-Dice’s
Parental Advisory Rating:
R Movie Trailer:
Production Companies:
Blumhouse Productions, Busted Shark Productions, Chapter One Films, Dimension
Films, IM Global Octane, IM Global, Miramax
Producer: Jason
Blum, Sherryl Clark, Phillip Dawe, Stuart Ford, Matt Jackson, Matthew Kaplan, Bill
Karesh, Todd King, Robyn Marshall, James Moran, Steven Squillante, Jeanette
Volturno, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein
Director: Henry
Joost, Ariel Schulman
Writer: Barbara
Marshall, Christopher Landon
Actors: Sofia
Black-D’Elia, Analeigh Tipton, Travis Tope, Michael Kelly, Machine Gun Kelly,
John Cothran, Stoney Westmoreland, Linzie Gray, Judyann Elder, Philip Labes,
Brianne Howey, Alexa Fischer
Blurb from Netflix:
Two quick-witted teen sisters find themselves trapped at home when parasitic
worms plague their sleepy town and threaten to take over their bodies.
Selina’s Point of View:
I was impressed by Viral.
I’ve read some of the bad reviews for it and I don’t agree
with most of it.
Granted, this movie follows a very familiar zombie plot.
However, I think people who immediately jump to the belief that there’s no
originality in the film right off that one fact, are not being fair. I think
there was a great deal about Viral
that was rather unique.
I particularly enjoyed the spin on the zombies. A lot of
things were different than the majority of zombie-tropes out there. From the
way the infection spread to how the zombies interacted with each other to how
they hunted, it all felt pretty fresh to me.
Personally, I enjoy the zombie-genre. Even if I didn’t,
though, this film would have made me reconsider it.
I was not fond of the final scene. There was a little too
much solved at the end. I would have preferred a more The Graduate (1976) ending.
I think people approach this film incorrectly. It’s a
zombie-type film with horror and science fiction aspects… but it’s first and
foremost a teen drama. Even on IMDb, drama is the first genre listed. It’s
important to consider that.
Think about it this way. If you’re about to take a sip of a
drink that you think is Cherry Coke, but it’s actually cherry juice… it’s going
to taste really weird on that first sip.
As for the R rating? I think it’s a very soft R. There’s no
significant nudity and the majority of the blood/gore was kept to a minimum.
Cat’s Point of View:
I realized, after a few moments of
the movie had elapsed, that I’d watched this one before. My hiccup in
recollection wasn’t due to a forgettable film, however. Headache-brain is just
occasionally slow on the uptake.
I’ve found I really enjoy when a
show or movie in the pandemic or zombie genres explores the outbreak itself,
and not just everyone’s reaction once the apocalyptic event-du jour is already
well under way.
For example, I get a kick out of Fear the Walking Dead (2015-)
almost as much as the series it spun off from. This movie, however, isn’t so
much about zombies though. I would liken this to something closer to The
Strain (2014-2017).
There’s a sense of tense dread that
permeates the story as events unfold. This isn’t one of those that’s all
scares, gore, and action. There’s some good character development mixed in with
the outbreak scenario.
I can’t say that the film wasn’t
without its flaws – there are a few plot holes. I was entertained enough,
however, that I found them forgivable. All the same, I almost wish there was a
little bit more time in the movie to fill in some of those.
Even after a second viewing, I’d
still have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked this
movie. It’s also a little tame on the gore factor and adult situations, so it
might even be something good for ‘horror movie training wheels’ for those who
can’t partake of the more hard-core end of the R rating.
Production Companies:
Black Fawn Films, Breakthrough Entertainment
Producer: Chad
Archibald, Cody Calahan, Marina Cordoni, Christopher Giroux, Ira Levy, Peter
Williamson
Director: Cody Calahan
Writer: Chad
Archibald, Cody Calahan
Actors: Michelle
Mylett, Cody Ray Thompson, Adam Christie, Ana Alic, Romaine Waite, Ry Barrett,
Eithan Shalmon, Laurel Brandes, Kate Vokral, Charlie Hamilton, Colin Murphy,
Kirill Belousov
Blurb from Netflix:
Unbeknownst to five friends who’ve gathered for a New Year’s Eve house party,
an epidemic has erupted outside, breeding chaos all over the planet.
Selina’s Point of View:
Cat and I greatly disagree about this film.
First of all, I really believe you shouldn’t watch the
trailer for this film. I don’t know which trailer Cat watched, but the one I
watched gave away literally everything. Hell, it nearly gave away the main plot
point. It was ridiculous and I’m glad I watched it after the film or I would
have been pissed.
Secondly, I really enjoyed the film.
Sure, there were some basic tropes that reminded me of the
tropes that Cabin in the Woods (2012)
made fun of, but they were used surprisingly well. Aside from that the main
point of the film and the origin of the “zombies” was relatively unique – or at
least under-utilized.
It was definitely a low budget film and the beginning was
slow, but I feel like Cody Calahan (Baptized
in Blood: Last Line Lady, Antisocial 2, Let Her Out) did a hell of a job
with the funds he had to work with. There was some crazy CGI happening and some
incredibly realistic sounds accompanying the violence that impressed me a great
deal. Not everything was spot on, but when it was good… it was very good.
I enjoyed the majority of the actors, too. Michelle Mylett (Letterkenny, Antisocial 2, Weak Ends) was
a wonderful choice for this film. Mylett really embodied her character and made
me care.
I had an issue with Cody Ray Thompson (Warrior, Antisocial 2, Clementine). It wasn’t his acting, his
acting was fine. However, where Cat watched Antisocial
on Sunday morning before news of our latest Hollywood causality, I watched the
film later at night. Thompson looks a LOT like Anton Yelchin (Broken Horses, Green Room, Burying the Ex)
during many of the scenes.
For those of you who don’t know, Anton Yelchin passed away
Sunday. He was 27 years old when a fatal traffic accident took his life. He was
one of my favorite young actors. We here at Trust the Dice have always been
fans of Yelchin’s. He was amazing in Fright
Night (2011), he broke our hearts in Odd
Thomas (2013), and he brought to life an amazing reboot of Chekov in the
newer Star Trek (2009-2016) series of
films. His death was sudden and terribly saddening to us.
Seeing Thompson in this film felt like someone was stabbing
me in the chest. He was a fine actor, but his face just looked so much like
Yelchin’s. It made me a little queasy. It wasn’t enough to ruin the film for
me, and even if it had been, I’d have tried to not let it affect my score.
For those wondering, Yelchin will appear in five films that
have either been completed, or were in post-production at the time of his
death. In 2016 we will see him in We Don’t
Belong Here, Star Trek Beyond, and Porto.
In 2017 we’ll see him in Thoroughbred in
what may be his final performance. I say “may be” because he has one other
film, Rememory, in post-production,
but there’s no concrete release date scheduled for it according to IMDB.
Cat’s Point of View:
Yesterday, my “brother” (from another mother) got married to
a fabulous gal whom I think the world of. It’s been a whirlwind the last couple
of days. My daughter, husband, and I were all in the wedding party. I’ll spare
you my gushing about my adorable flower girl, though.
After corsets, lightsaber battles on the dance floor, and an
overload of go-go-go; I was actually looking forward to sitting down this
morning to unwind while watching this movie. We’re waiting to kick off Father’s
Day shenanigans until after my tween regains consciousness. (She’s STILL asleep
past the lunch hour, but she needs it!)
That’s probably the most interesting information that I have
to share with you today. Sadly, the movie disappointed me.
I think that the concept was interesting. There was such
potential for the commentary on social media culture. Alas, the execution of
this film failed to even come close to hitting the mark.
I do want to commend whomever put the trailer together for
this one. With a movie as lackluster as this one was, I was fully expecting the
trailer to give it all away. It actually didn’t. Kudos.
That is unfortunately the last of the good things I have to
say about this film. It started out very ‘meh’ for me and then just turned into
‘ugh.’ They borrowed from so many recipes that the Frankenstein’s Monster that
they created was just a messy jumble of things that I’ve already seen before –
and were done better elsewhere.
Though, I will leave you with a giggle (maybe). Every time I
heard the character’s name, Steve; I thought of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009) for absolutely no reason
whatsoever (other than the thought of the speech-enabled monkey shouting
“STEVE!” was more interesting than this movie).
My mind goes to odd places when I’m bored.
Skip this movie and go find one of the better ones out there
with a social media message. Unfriended
(2014) has already hit cable movie networks.
Producer: Ok-kyung
Bang, Tae-sung Jeong, Teddy Jung, Seong-jin Kim
Director: Sung-su
Kim
Writer: Yeong-jong
Lee, Sung-soo Kim, Jae-ho Jung
Actors: Hyuk
Jang, Soo Ae, Andrew William Brand, In-Pyo Cha, Hee-joon Lee, Sang-Yeob Lee,
Jung-min Park, Min-ah Park, Boris Stout, Kahlid Elijah Tapia, Hae-jin Yoo
Blurb from Netflix:
When people in a South Korean suburb start dropping like flies from a deadly
airborne respiratory disease, the area is quarantined and chaos reigns.
Selina’s Point of View:
I’m going on vacation this weekend, which means I need to
rush to get all my work done before I leave. As a result when we rolled a
foreign film, I was not happy. I had NO desire to sit through two hours of
subtitles. Especially subtitles for a Korean movie. The Korean language flows
so fast that sometimes it’s difficult to read along and it requires several
rewinds to get the whole story. Altogether, for a two hour foreign film from
Korea, I’d set aside six hours to ensure I have time to watch it, re-watch it, research
it, and write the blog.
So yeah, I groaned.
Turns out, I didn’t need six hours. The story was so in
depth and the characters were so interesting that I zoned into the movie at a
level I don’t think I’ve ever reached with a foreign film. I don’t think I
missed any of the subtitles, but if I did it didn’t matter because the actors
were so on point that I almost didn’t need subtitles at all.
Even the child actress, Min-ah Park (Mrs. Cop, Pots of Gold, Feast of the Gods), rocked her part.
The film reminded me of Outbreak
(1995), but it was a lot more in depth and the brutality scale was turned WAY
up. I found it completely terrifying. At some times, my mouth was hanging open;
at other times there were tears in my eyes. This movie exceeded expectations so
much that I’d have to put it among my favorites.
Cat’s Point of View:
This movie was not what I expected, at all.
With the state of the world these days, epidemic and
pandemic movies have grown in popularity. This film does follow some of the
expected themes, as such; but also takes it down to a more personal and
emotional level.
While the recipe does make the movie somewhat predictable, I
still found myself having a rather visceral reaction. I had periods of ugly
crying. I’m not even going to try to deny it.
This was rather impressive for a subtitled movie. Sometimes
reading the dialogue can be distracting from what is going on with the scenes.
That wasn’t the case for me. The cast was phenomenal and drew me right in so
that I hardly noticed that I was reading what they were saying rather than
understanding their words.
I’ve also got to say that the little girl in this movie was
just about the most adorable munchkin ever. I believe that young lady will have
quite the career ahead of her, if she continues to pursue acting as she gets
older.
The suspenseful sense of dread was on point here. I’d
definitely recommend this movie to those that enjoy the genre.
Movie Name/Year: Extinction: The G.M.O. Chronicles (2011)
Genre: Sci-fi
& Fantasy
Length: 114
minutes
Rating: R
Director: Niki
Drozdowski
Writer: Ralf
Betz, Niki Drozdowski
Actors: Daniel
Buder, Luise Bahr, Jerry Coyle, Klaus Ebert, Christian Stock, Bina Milas,
Tobias Kay, Lee Rychter, Georg Marin, Heinrich Baumgartner, Eva-Marie Becker,
Boris Banischewski, Mathis Trapp, Jenny Krauser, Patrick Molleken, Charles F.
Wagner IV, Mustafa Sindi
The world has come to its near end as a virus that combines
the genes of plants, animals and humans is released on the population. As
humans mutate, a zombie-like effect is caused and few people are able to
survive. One man attempts to be one of the rare ones, hoping to find other
survivors immune to the illness.
There were parts of this movie that weren’t bad. The actors
were horrible and the script was a little redundant at times, but there were
some interesting takes on the general “zombie” idea. Essentially, this was
indeed a zombie movie, though they took the origin in a completely different direction
than I’ve seen in the past. However much I wanted to enjoy that unique look on
my favorite popular topic, it was difficult to see this movie as anything but
lame.
True, there was some amazing creativity in the background,
if not the actual plot, but I couldn’t force myself to care. I found myself
relating to none of the characters. It might as well have been a dry
documentary with a monotone voice over about people that are never fully
explained. When you can’t connect enough to characters to care if they live or
die, what’s the point of the movie?
Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 2.9/5
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 67%
Trust-the-Dice Score – 2/5
P.S. Although Netflix lists the name of this movie as simply
“Extinction,” it has come to my attention that its actual title is: “Extinction:
The G.M.O. Chronicles”.
