A priest who has grown conflicted with his faith has his world turned upside down in director Matthew Tibbenham‘s first full-length film. He’s worked on plenty of Hollywood films in different roles, including Sinister and Deliver Us From Evil. It was written by Nathan Shane Miller and it’s also his first full-length movie.

This fim is entirely set in a confession booth. I don’t know how much it will appeal to anyone save lapsed Catholics, but that’s my demo and a lot of the humor hit me right. Becca, however, said that she hated the film and saw no reason why it was made. We don’t always agree on movies.

Father Morris (Clayton Nemrow, who was fantastic in this film) is the priest who is having trouble with his faith. He’s grown to hate hearing confessions, but when Amber  (Jessica Lynn Parsons) enters his confessional, she challenges the way he sees his life, questioning every single thing that he stands for.

This film feels more like stage play than actual film, but it has some nice ways of treating the passage of time and getting the most out of one location while allowing Father Morris the opportunity to break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience.  It’s not for everyone, but if you’re willing to be open minded about religion and learn about how much priests give up for their faith, it’s an intriguing watch.

Surviving Confession is available July 30 on all digital platforms. You can learn more at its Facebook page.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this movie by its PR team, but that has no bearing on our review.

For every Marvel movie that comes out, beyond the big box office and throngs of fans that love every moment, there are those that like to ride their high and mighty horse, telling you that comics are for kids and that these movies are infantile. And that’s fine — look, we all have our own opinions — but when you’re fighting your way through life and just need a break that takes you away from your own cares — which is what movies are really for — these popcorn films do a great job of making you forget bills, work, dealing with fixing up your home and even your aches and pains.

Basically: Yes, we get it. You’re above comic book movies. Keep it to yourself, because these movies are modern myth and have never been better than right now.

The twenty-third film in the Marvel Universe — soon, you’ll need a whole shelf to hold all the blu rays — this film starts in Mexico, where Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) battle an elemental creature alongside Quentin Beck (a great Jake Gyllenhaal) who will come to be known as Mysterio.

Way back in the Sam Raimi days, Mysterio was to be the fourth film’s villain. He was to be played by Bruce Campbell and there had been cameos in each of the three previous films to set him up. Sadly, that never came to pass.

Meanwhile, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is still learning how to adjust to life after “The Blink,” the five year period where Thanos wiped out half of all life, as well as the events of the last few movies like Avengers: Endgame. He’s reeling from the loss of Tony Stark, his father figure, and also dealing with a crush on his friend MJ (Zandaya of HBO’s Euphoria).

Nick Fury has plans for Spider-Man, but Peter Parker has better ones this summer. He wants to attend a class trip to Paris and confess his feelings to MJ. Standing in his way are a series of elemental villains who are trying to destroy this Earth in the same way that they wiped out Mysterio’s alternate Earth-833.

There are at least three major plot twists that I have no interest in spoiler, other than to say that this was the best possible way to introduce Mysterio as the major villain in the life of Peter Parker. The mid-credits reveal of J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson drew loud cheers and applause in the theater I saw the film in, which made me smile. That’s all the spoilers you’re getting out of me, other than it’s nice to actually be surprised by a film these days.

Continuing the tradition of members of Spider-Man’s Sinister Six showing up in minor roles — Mac Gargan (The Scorpion) and The Shocker were both in Spider-Man: Homecomng — one of Nick Fury’s men is named Dmitri Smerdyakov, the real name of The Chameleon, who is the first supervillain to ever battle Spider-Man, all the way back in his first issue in 1963. Plus, Peter Billingsley (Ralphie himself!) reprises his role as William Ginter Riva from Iron Man. While he worked for Obadiah Stane back then, now he’s part of Quentin Beck’s entourage.

Whether or not you appreciate this film depends on what camp you fall in as it relates to the opening of this piece. As for me, I’m pleased to report that the scenes where Mysterio manipulates reality are the best live action superheroics I’ve seen, a perfect spin on the visuals of the comic book world made wonderfully 3D. It’s still not as great as Spider-Man: Into the Multiverse, but that’s a movie that may never be topped.

Hurry up and see it. The ending that sets up the next sequel made me start counting down the days to the next sequel!

I tend to gravitate toward the exploitation and horror films of the 1970’s, when situations would make no sense in movies that couldn’t really be classified as anything other than weird. So it’s kind of my dream that a movie like Ma was made in 1974 by S. F. Brownrigg, because then the people next to me who were shocked by how strange it got would be absolutely horrified by just how out of control it could get. That said, by 2019 standards, this was a pretty fine film.

Maggie Thompson (Diane Silvers from Booksmart) and her mother Erica (Juliette Lewis, who has been dependably turning out character actor roles for the last few years) have moved back to Ohio after Erica abandons them. Maggie quickly makes new friends who do the only thing there is to do in a small town — drinks and drugs. Trust me — I grew up 15 minutes from Youngstown. All I did was sit in my room, watch horror movies and drink. Then again, that sounds like heaven, so I’m kind of glad I never had a circle of friends like the one in this film that would force me to go outside.

But I digress — the teens soon meet Sue Ann Ellington (Octavia Spencer, who pretty much makes this movie worth watching singlehandedly), a vet tech who they convince to buy them alcohol. Look for Allison Janney in a cameo as her boss.

Soon, they’re drinking in her basement, which becomes fully furnished over time and more popular with other students. That said, Ma is that special personality that wants more and more over time, leading the students to stop spending so much time with her, particularly after they suspect her of stealing jewelry and personal effects. And oh yeah — Ma has Munchausen syndrome by proxy and a young daughter named Genie who may or may not really need her wheelchair.

This is when we learn the real secret of Ma, Slaughter High-style. Back when Ma was just Sue Ann, she had been the shy kid who was the target of a cruel prank by the parents of the children she’s befriending today. She had been in love with Andy’s father Ben — played today by Luke Evans — but the group had switched him out for a geeky boy in a dark closet, making fun of her for giving him, shall we say, a little bit of neckboning.

Ma is driven over the edge now, murdering Ben’s girlfriend Mercedes with her car — a scene that caused gasps from the car next to us — as well as attacking Maggie’s dog and using its blood to replace Ben’s blood before slicing his wrists. I have no idea what that last one is about, but the scene of her holding his member and threatening to castrate him also upset people. This is where the film descends into madness and I, for one, could not have been happier.

Our villainous middle-aged woman then traps the entire group in the basement, forcing them all to endure a series of tortures, like sewing a girl’s mouth shut, ironing a boy’s abs and then painting the token black friend white, whispering, “They only need one of us.” Whew!

I don’t want to give away the final scene, but it was so perfect that I started laughing out loud, impressed with the audaciousness of the filmmakers. Well done!

Ma was made because of director Tate Taylor’s(The Help, Girl On the Train) desire to direct a film about “something fucked up.” After meeting with Spencer and learning that she was sick of the same roles and never getting to be a lead, he started looking for a project. Upon meeting with Jason Bloom, he read the Scotty Landes script for this film and decided to make the film.

Although the original script was written with a white woman — with no sympathy or back story — in the title role, Taylor immediately thought of Spencer for the role of Ma. He called her, asked if she wanted to be in a horror movie and she said yes without even reading the script.

Maybe I’ve seen too many of The Conjuring films now — seven in total with several more on the way, such as a sequel to the excoriable The Nun and The Crooked Man. I even sat through the barely connected The Curse of La Llorona. It’s co-written and directed by Gary Dauberman, who wrote the remake of It, as well as Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation and The Nun. Original creator James Wan is the other writer as well as the producer.

Back in 1971. demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren — back again at least for a brief cameo to drag you into the theater — are bringing the possessed Annabelle back to their home. Before they even get it there, it brings all manner of hell after them in a pre-title sequence that really has nothing to do with the rest of the movie.

After Father Gordon — coming back in another call back to the first two The Conjuring movies — blesses a box for the evil doll, we fast-forward a year to the Warrens bringing in Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) to watch their daughter Judy (McKenna Grace, who has made something of a career of playing the young versions of characters — she was young Captain Marvel, as well as the child versions of Sabrina on the new Netflix series and Theodora Crain in The Haunting of Hill House).

Judy is able to see all manner of ghosts and spirits, like a priest that keeps following her and later protecting her. He’s Father Michael Morrisey, playing by Gary-7, who will probably get involved in a later The Conjuring movie. Or maybe not. Sadly, I’ll probably be there the first night with the vague hope that this will finally be the one that equals the original.

Mary Ellen’s friend Daniela decides to visit the Warren house, as she wants to speak to the dead, specifically her father, who recently died after a car crash. She was the driver and blames herself, which brings her into the Warren’s hidden sanctum of the scariest and most sinister of all occult objects. She ends up touching everything and leaving Annabelle’s container wide open, showing that not only is she a moron, but she also has no idea how to read. Finally, she uses an artifact called the Mourner’s Bracelet, which certainly will play a part in another film. That’s all these movies have become, a kickoff to the next film which introduces the next character which tells us all about the next character for the next one. I get it. I’ve been paying for it ever since the second one.

Anyways, this dumb teenage girl is like, maybe my dad will talk to me through something in this room, which means that Annabella is able to gather all of the other spirits and attack, spirits who I will eventually pay to see their own movies and buy their DVD’s, like a ferryman, a bride, a samurai, a hellhound called the Black Shuck — no, not the song by The Darkness — and, of course, a copy of Milton Bradley’s Feeley Meeley game.

Actually, the Black Shuck is based on a famous Warren case — which is the same as me saying that I have cases when all I’m doing is lying about ghosts — where a werewolf was killing local livestock. Kinda like the chicken that gets it here.

Everybody gets attacked by different spirits, like Bob dealing with the hellhound, Mary Ellen getting dragged away by Charon the boatman or whatever we want to call the ferryman with coins on his eyes and Judy has to deal with Annabelle herself, who just up and got in bed with her. Daniela? Well, she’s trapped in the artifact room and being terrorized by a monkey that plays drums. Whoever sold those things and who bought them? Maniacs, that’s who. Every adult that I ever knew that had one continually used them to torture children. It’s like they had an underground network of mean grown-ups who thought it was funny to give kids nightmares.

There’s one great scene in the middle of all of this, as Daniela watches an old television that shows a mute vision of a few seconds in the future where she’ll be screaming and covered in blood. It’s the most frightening thing in the movie — hell, in the last couple of these films — and it’s a total throwaway. The same with the scene where the kids try to call Lorraine for help and a demon is on the other end. These bring forth primal childhood fears unlike the rest of the storyline.

It all ends with Daniela possessed by The Bride, but the priest and Judy play a movie of the original exorcism over the girl, freeing her, while Mary Ellen tries to lock Annabelle back in her cabinet. Of course the next day, the parents come home and every kid ends up coming to a birthday party and Ed plays guitar while Lorraine has a psychic talk with Daniela. You didn’t expect a happy ending?

I kinda love — or totally hate to be honest — that this movie is being called an intraquel, as it is set during the opening and main plot of the first film. This renders it meaningless, a film that has no true bearing on anything that has come before or since.

I guess the only thing we learn here is that the demon inside Annabelle

When a firefighter’s wife mysteriously goes missing on an actual haunted road in rural New Jersey, he and his sister in law seek closure by employing a Haitian witch doctor to contact her spirit but are hunted by the entities of past victims looking to leave purgatory by collecting fresh souls.

Clinton Road is directed by Steve Stanulis and Richard Grieco (yes, the Richard Grieco who was on 21 Jump Street), which is probably why they were able to get all sorts of talent to show up in cameos, like Ice-T, who plays club owner RJ; Eric Roberts, who plays himself; Vincent Pastore who plays Ice-T’s partner; James DeBello (Cabin Fever, Detroit Rock City) and Bo Dietl (the only person I know who was in Maniac Cop 2 and Goodfellas).

The real Clinton Road is a desolate stretch of highway that has plenty of folklore about it. From gatherings of witches, devil worshippers and even the Ku Klux Klan to the ghosts of drowned boys, two park rangers, a ghost Camero (well, it is New Jersey), the Clinton Furnace smelted that was rumored to be a Druidic temple, a ghost truck, Cross Castle (which reveals Satanic symbols and bruises those that stay in it too long) and even the survivors of Jungle Habitat, a nearby attraction that closed in 1976, but has led to crossbred monkeys and hellhounds. Supposedly, none of the animal rumors are true, as the remaining creatures were sold when the park closed.

It’s also a place where the Mafia has left bodies for years, including the case of the Iceman. In May of 1983, a cyclist found his body and an autopsy soon discovered that ice crystals were still in the blood vessels near the heart, meaning that his organs decayed slower than his skin. The John Doe Iceman was finally identified as Daniel Deppner, a car thief. Finally, three years later, Richard Kuklinski confessed to the murder.

In short, Clinton Road seems like a nexus point for strangeness. The readers of Weird NJ even report people dressed in strange garb at all hours of the night. When they try to communicate with them, those people simply stare at them and disappear.

The movie Clinton Road starts in a loud nightclub that everyone wants to get into, including Eric Roberts in a brief cameo. He gets insulted by one of the girls up front and laughs it off. None of this has anything to do with the movie, unless Eric Roberts is also a ghost, which is an intriguing premise that I’m going to just go with.

Several of the people who will be the main characters in this film are introduced and they listen to Ice-T tell a story about when he had an incident on Clinton Road. He then yells at Vincent Pastore and doesn’t really show up much more. That’s fine — he got you in the door and did his job.

Michael (Ace Young) lost his wife Jessica a year ago on that infamous road. Now, a friend offers a way to get some closure: he and some friends will go back and basically do a seance. Along with his sister-in-law Isabella, Kayla and Tyler, they follow the medium Begory into the woods.

This is where the movie descends into characters having no dialogue other than screaming each other’s names for literally eight minutes straight. The sound mix is also really rough, particularly in the nightclub scenes. While the idea of all of the monsters of Clinton Road showing up is novel, you really need to study up on it before watching the film to get the full effect.

But hey — how many movies do you see where a guy is trying to give his date road head when a ghost girl shows up? I can think of only this one. Between that scene and the strange apparition that is Eric Roberts and Ice-T hamming it up and seemingly having a blast, there are some fun parts here.

You can catch this movie on ten screens nationally and on VOD June 14. For more information, check out the official Facebook page.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this movie by its PR team but that has no impact on our review.

A disturbed man with unknown psychic abilities is trying to figure out the disappearance of his parents — all while battling his own demons — in The Dark Within, a new movie from David Ryan Keith (The Redwood Massacre, Ghosts of Darkness).

Paul Flannery (who was also in Ghosts of Darkness and co-wrote this film) stars as Marcus, a man who has dealt with psychic abilities his entire life. His counselor believes that by going back to his childhood home, perhaps he can defeat some of his demons. Speaking of demons — this same place is where psychic experiments took place, so perhaps it’s not the best place for him to go.

There’s a real moment of horror here that I enjoyed — Marcus attempts to dial 911 when his girlfriend is critically injured, but as he’s battling an entity that can warp his mind, he has no idea if he’s really hurt her, if she’s real or what’s going on. Even when he calls for help, the voice on the other side taunts and laughs at him. That means that even the last resort that we depend on for him can’t aid our protagonist, which is a truly scary concept.

This film also has some really disturbing effects, like the psychic energy being released from the people during the experiments and the skinless creatures that stalk the cabin. This film goes above and beyond the look, feel, sounds and scares that you usually get from a modern horror film.

The Dark Within comes out July 9 on VOD and DVD from Uncork’d Entertainment.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this movie by its PR team. That has no impact on our review.

First off, this movie has nothing to do with Dolls, other than the fact that this film also has killer dolls, but it owes its inspiration more to Blumhouse than Charles Band. It’s from first-time feature director Cuyle Carvin, with a script from Justin Hawkins & Josh Hawkins, along with contributions from Jeff Miller (The Toybox).

Robert Holbrook is a children’s book author who had a pretty troubling childhood. He’s in the throes of alcoholism and divorce when he moves back to his mother’s house — horror tip, never go back home — with his rebellious daughter soon move in with him.

However, there are three dolls that have a frightening past where they were used to conquer the demons inside a mentally unstable man. His sister Margaret (Dee Wallace!) shows up to warn our protagonists, but it really seems like she’s too late.

The dolls never really move or do much beyond their eyes lighting up. That said, if you’re frightened by toys that just randomly show up in places where they shouldn’t be, then you’ll enjoy this. It doesn’t break much new ground, but it’s professionally made.

Dolls will be released on DVD and VOD on July 2.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this film by its PR company, but that has no impact on our review.

A getaway driver finds himself in harm’s way when he gets in over his head, thanks to a casino heist, in The Refuge, a new crime thriller written and directed by Keith Sutliff (The Mason Brothers), who also stars in the film. Can he survive the experience?

Markus Hunter lives alone, his reputation taking him all over the world, until he gets a job from Frank which concerns unpaid money from a casino heist. Things don’t go as expected, leading to his life falling apart.

There’s a decent story at the heart of this and the visuals are incredibly gorgeous. Yet most of the movie is spent on planning and just driving for endless stretches of time. If you ever sat and watched someone play Grand Theft Auto and said, “I wish I could watch this as a movie instead of someone playing it as a game,” then The Refuge is the movie for you.

It’s kind of a shame, because this all feels like it could be so much more. Sutliff obviously has tons of talent and a great eye. Here’s hoping his next project delivers on that promise.

The Refuge will be in theaters June 28.

Disclaimer: We were sent this movie by its PR team.

Olivia Wilde makes her directorial debut with this coming of age comedy with a script from Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, and Katie Silberman. It follows a very simple concept: What if two girls who’ve been friends for life realized that they did high school all wrong? What if everyone that they looked down on because all they did was party and waste their high-school years also made it into Ivy League schools?

Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein (who has shined in Neighbors 2, Ladybird and the TV version of What We Do In the Shadows) were cast as the two leads, living together as roommates for ten weeks so that they could build the relationship necessary to make their relationship feel authentic. If Feldstein feels familiar, her brother is Jonah Hill, which makes sense, as many have pegged this movie as a female empowered Superbad. Trust us — it can stand on its own.

Amy and Molly (Dever and Feldstein) are considered pretentious by their hard-partying high school peers and even their principal (Jason Sudeikis, Wilde’s husband who turns in a great performance as always). And even though Molly came out to her parents two years ago — Lisa Kudrow and Will Forte in a deft cameo that he has some hints of pathos — she hasn’t dated a girl yet.

The day before they graduate, Molly learns the truth: every single one of the students they’ve avoided has done just as well — or better — than them when it comes to college placement. They decide to make their last night together before Amy goes to do volunteer work in Africa one to remember. Hijinks, as they say, ensue.

The true beauty of Booksmart is that it combines realistic warmth with over the top bawdy humor. It also has characters that are multilayered and defy easy characterization. Jared may be a vapid rich kid, but he wants to be so much more. Gigi (Billie Lourd, the daughter of Carrier Fisher) may live for drugs, but she can also see into peoples’ hearts. Even Annabelle, who has been set up as the villain of the story, ends up being a friend to the girls when they really need it. And Mike O’Brien, the creator of the now-canceled A.P. Bio and a former Saturday Night Live cast member, has an awesome small part as a pizza guy caught up in the machinations of our heroines.

The music is non-stop and punctuates so much of the film and is put together by the legendary Dan the Automator, who produced Dr. Octagon and the Gorillaz. It’s perfect for the film.

Booksmart pulls off what I believed impossible: a bawdy, belligerent and yet intelligent and endearing teen comedy somehow made in a year where things get censored by the very young people who should be pushing the envelope.

I must confess that I have no love whatsoever for the 1989 version of Pet Sematary other than Fred Gwynne’s famous line read of “Sometimes, dead is better.” When I saw it in the theater, it felt paced and read like a comedy when it certainly shouldn’t. For all the movies made from King’s works, it’s not amongst my favorites.

When the new film was introduced and it was continually referred to as a more frightening version — some early views by critics even promised a lot of shocking material — I was interested. I’d enjoyed Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer film Starry Eyes (not so much the movie Holidays, another contribution to the 2010’s history of ruining the portmanteau genre), so there seemed to be some promise.

Louis Creed (Jason Clark, who was also in the abysmal Winchester) has taken his young family from Boston to the much smaller town of Ludlow where he plans on being a small town doctor, away from the hustle, bustle and violence of the big city.

His wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz, You’re Next) has never escaped the death of her sister, Zelda, who suffered from spinal meningitis and hated her for being healthy. Left alone with her one evening, the sick girl died when she fell down a dumbwaiter shaft.

Their two young children, Ellie and Gage, really enjoy having the huge woods around the house. While they explore, Ellie watches a group of children in animal masks take a dead dog to a cemetery on their land. Jud Crandall (John Lithgow!) meets the young girl and warns the family of the dangers in the woods. If this was ever expanded on — why do the kids have these masks other than it looks creepy and cool? — this would be more interesting.

The story beats are the same, other than one major inversion. A young man dies on Louis’ operating table, haunting him with the barrier between life and death. Church the cat dies and is brought back to life by the spirit of the Wendigo that lives inside the sour ground of the pet cemetery (or sematary, I guess). When he comes back from the dead, he’s not the same, scratching at everyone and killing birds inside at the foot of the bed.

The switch is that Ellie — and not Gage — is killed. That sequence, when the truck’s cargo shoots out across the highway toward her, is really well shot. This is probably the highlight of the film. From here on out, it’s jump scares and revisions of what came before, with a much darker ending that was probably the only other thing I enjoyed about this whole affair.

Multiple versions of the ending were written and several of them were filmed, including the original ending of the book. This one got the best response from test screenings. King proposed an alternate ending, where after all the violence and bloodshed, Gage is walking up the middle of the road as a truck bears down on him. Then at the last second, a woman would yank him out of harm’s way, asking, “Where’s your mommy and daddy?”

I struggle to find a reason why this movie exists. Other than the flip of what child dies — and the daughter being able to be much more sinister than a younger boy — there’s nothing in here that says much more than the original film. It’s not a bad movie by any means, but it’s not a good one either. It’s just kind of there. Life is too short for that. There’s too much to experience, after all.