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August 22, 2023

IT’S JUST A GAME (2018) Movie Review


I know nothing about this movie. I know nothing about the writer/director, the cast, the production company, etc. But I saw it at the Flashback convention on a table at the HSPPA booth (Horror & SciFi Prop Preservation Association) offering it to anyone passing by for free. Naturally, being a cheap ass, I picked it up. And after seeing the name of one of the actors on the cover, someone who shares my maiden name, I felt obligated to take it and give it a shot.

I doubt they are any relation to me but what the hell. Seems like the universe wanted me to watch it. So here we go with 2018’s It’s Just a Game.

(As this is relatively new, I will do my best not to spoil any plot points)

 

The flick opens with a quartet of teenage girls having a slumber party. Get your minds out of the gutter, pervs. Not THAT kind of slumber party. They gossip, they play one of those silly ghost games (like Bloody Mary) that, naturally, doesn’t work. It’s just a set up to scare someone. After talking about a bunch of urban legends, they convince the mousy quiet girl, Brianna, to summon Mother Murder – the soul of a long dead witch who was banished to the land of lost souls.

Again, this is just a scare set up by the main mean girl, Claire. She’s the only one laughing so Brianna and Ruby decide to bounce, Ruby inviting Brianna to stay at her house for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, they run into Claire the next day who is STILL a total bitch, making fun of Brianna for her parents committing suicide.

I mean….jeebus ass crackers, Claire.

Brianna runs home and actually tries to summon Mother Murder again, because if you get it right, Mother will grant you any wish. And Bri wants Claire dead.

Typical teenage girl drama.

What Brianna doesn’t realize is that the spell DID work. Mother Murder comes to Brianna in her sleep and gets her to make that wish. Once that happens, all hell breaks loose (literally) as the members of a cult who worship Mother Murder, and want to bring her back into a physical form, come out of the woodwork and make the young teen’s wish come true.

Exactly how many people will die who stand in the way of Mother Murder and her desire to come back and wreak vengeance upon all those who have wronged her?

 


For an indie horror movie, I have to say this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. That’s probably unfair of me most of the time but you have to admit, A SHIT TON of independent films suck major donkey dick. Can’t blame a girl for being gun shy.

The majority of the acting is lackluster but the actress playing Brianna (Hannah Cohen-Lawler) completely surprised me. Like a pro, she carried every scene she was in. Leah Hudspeth as Amelia was a close second, followed by Sarah Kopkin as Ruby. All three of them played sympathetic characters, though Leah’s Amelia had that extra psychotic flavor to her. Everyone else was just okay…you could see the actor, not the character they played.

I’ve never seen any other works by the writer/director, Daniel Emery Taylor. While the more supernatural urban legend story bits were the most interesting, the rest of the film was filled with  pretty standard horror tropes. But again, for an indie film, I gotta hand it to Daniel for getting some good stuff to the final product.

That said, however…

One of the biggest issues I had was with the audio. Most of the time it was perfectly balanced. But at the most crucial points, let’s say when a few characters are explaining the backstories or important plot points, the music was crushing the actors’ vocals. To this day I have no idea who Skull Girl is, why she can’t or won’t talk, how this damn cult got started, half of Ruby’s sister’s dialogue at the record store, why Thaddeus will back up Skull Girl no matter what, and more.



If the music were any good, which it really isn’t – kinda like eighties punk pop wanna be pretending to be Birthday Massacre -  I’d still be mad because I want to know what’s going on in the film. The background music (ambient, setting the mood, etc.) should be IN THE BACKGROUND.

The other problem I had was with the long winded philosophising of Mother Murder when she shows herself to Brianna. I can only assume she was explaining her back story and what she’ll do when she manifests into physical form. But don’t fucking ask me because, along with music, the vocal echo effects put on the actress’s voice made it nearly impossible to understand her. If it was a short sentence or two, it wouldn’t have been an issue. But this bitch went on and on and on and on and completely lost me about one quarter of the way into her speech.

All of that, and the completely left turn ending (as in introducing new names and characters without any explanation, that I could hear anyway), left me disappointed. While I do hope that Hannah Cohen-Lawler, Leah Hudspeth, and Sarah Kopkin continue to act, I hope they find more worthy vehicles of their talents.

 

1.75 hatchets (out of 5) 






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August 1, 2023

Static Age #25: Escape into Night (1972)

Escape into Night (1972) DVD box art


This Static Age’s spotlight goes to Escape into Night (1972), the British mini-series (6 episodes in total) that were made by ATV and broadcasted by ITV. Based on Catherine Storr’s ‘Marianne Dreams’ (1958) novel it is about a young girl named Marianne (Vikki Chambers, who went on to have a successful career in television) whose dreams become reality and the two dimensions blur with each other. The series were shot in color, but unfortunately the masters were lost (as was the case with a lot of British television of the era) and what we have here is the black and white TV recordings, but even with those the series really shine and make for a great fantasy show.

 

And now, let’s switch our focus towards some recent series…

 

 Narcos - Season 3

The 3rd (and final) season of Netflix’s Narcos (2015 – 2017) takes us to a post-Escobar Columbia, where the crime rate and cocaine peddling is as high as ever, only this time both dictated by new illicit kingpins, the same ones that worked with authorities to bring down the aforementioned arch-villain, only for power to change hands. Based on the true story of Latin American drug wars that spread their wings throughout U.S. and Europe, this final season is well-done and as factual as possible. There is a scene in a beauty parlor in New York that is a work of art.

 

The sole season of Netflix’s mini-series The Imperfects (2022) is about three pill-popping teenagers with special abilities that go after the scientists who turned them into flesh-eating monsters after using them for an experiment. Fun and teenage horror for the masses that unfortunately failed to find a wide audience.

 

1899 - Season 1

The sole season of Netflix’s 1899 (2022) tells the story of several immigrants from various countries who upon traveling in the sea, come across another ship that is surrounded by mystery. Set on an era when travelling was something important that you had to dress up for – a privilege reserved only for the rich, while the poor were working non-stop abroad in order to deliver – these mini-series immediately and from the first of its mere eight episodes makes you believe that you are watching an important piece of television. And so much is true I think, as it is well-shot, suspenseful and thrilling; not to mention several twists during the last few episodes that you won’t be able to see them coming.

 

And now, please allow me a word on some recent mainstream film releases…

 

Director David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) is featuring the unlikeable Zachari Levi on the titular role and has the outstanding distinction of being the worse DC feature in recent history. Part of the second half that includes some of Greek mythology’s beasts unleashed is trying to look interesting, but it is too little, too late.

 

Director Peyton Reed’s thoroughly entertaining Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) pairs the titular superhero (Paul Rudd) and his daughter (Kathryn Newton) against super-villain Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), all within the Quantum Realm. Having actors of the caliber of Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfieffer in supporting roles in a Marvel sequel tells a lot about how fandom has taken over Hollywood and comic book films have transcendent from nerd culture to the mainstream, essentially saving cinema by becoming pretty much the sole vehicles for blockbuster entertainment.

 

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

Written and directed by Ruben Ostlund, Triangle of Sadness (2022) is an international co-production that became a Cannes International Film Festival sensation and it won the event’s prestigious Palme d’Or award. It is about a young couple (a fashion model and an influencer) who embark on a luxurious yacht cruise for the ultra rich, in which a variety of humorous and disastrous situations will ensue, resulting in one of the best dark comedies we’ve seen in ages. This is a commentary and a satire on the endless class war and a very intelligent one at that.

 

And finally I enriched my bookshelf with the following additions…

 

Frightgest Guide 6: Vampire Movies (2022, FAB Press, Surrey, England, U.K.) penned by Nathaniel Thompson is another welcome volume to the acclaimed festival’s series of guide books that are lavishly illustrated and better suited for newcomers rather than the initiated. A brief introduction on the vampire cinema is followed by several reviews (a mere paragraph each), but it is all done with so much affection that you can’t help yourself but be entertained, even if the overall experience offers little new information.

 

Speak about going out with a bang! Cinema Sewer Volume Eight (2022, FAB Press, Surrey, England, U.K.), edited by Robin Bougie is the final installment in the compendium series that pack issues of the same-titled fanzine with bonus material, and as usual we get a wide mix of horror, exploitation, cult, and porn film reviews, along with stunning gutter drawings! Bougie knows classic porn and loves classic fanzine aesthetics, so Cinema Sewer will be missed, but I am sure he wanted to leave it while it was on top and I look forward to his future endeavors.

 

Published in 2022 (PS Publishing, Hornsea, U.K.), the latest book in Electric Dreamhouse’s ongoing Midnight Movie Monographs series has Ashley M. Donnelly & Philip L. Simpson tackling the many versions of Manhunter (1986) and studying deeply every aspect of the film; it’s a short and fascinating read.

 

Highly political but also genre-aware, the cinema of Elio Petri is criminally understudied in English language bibliography (and understandably so as most of his output’s arguments are much too related to Italian politics to engage international audiences), something that renowned author Roberto Curti aims to change with his massive and thorough tome Elio Petri: Investigation of a Filmmaker (2021, McFarland, North Carolina, U.S.A.), which excellently works both as a biography of the author and a critical analysis of his films, while also providing the necessary historical context.


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