Tag Archives: 2020

Shock Wave 2 (2020)

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Starring and produced by award-winning actor Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers, Infernal Affairs, God of Gamblers), this film finds the actor playing former bomb disposal officer, Poon Shing-Fung.

Despite suffering from amnesia and the loss of his leg in an explosion five years ago, he still becomes the top suspect of a terrorist attack called Vendetta and must also evade the police and stop a terrorist group from destroying Hong Kong. That said, this movie is a new story and has nothing to do with the first movie, so you can come in fresh.

Directed and written by Herman Yau (the first Shock Wave, Ip Man: The Final Fight), this film debuted at the top of the global box office, grossing $63.9 million in its opening weekend.

Beyond Lau, one reason is the action choreography by Li Chung-Chi, the same man who is famous for The Legend of the Drunken Master, Twin Dragons and Rumble in the Bronx.

Also known as Shock Wave: Hong Kong Destruction, this movie starts with Hong Kong Airport exploding and only gets more action-packed as it moves to action scene to action scene. Lau is in his sixties but can still get you cheering for his high energy work, much less doing so much of it with just one leg (thanks to some solid CGI).

If you miss the old days of Hong Kong action, you may want to give this a try.

Shock Wave 2 is available on demand on Xfinity, Spectrum, Cox, and other cable systems, as well as DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-Verse and Sling TV.

Sleep (2020)

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Tormented by recurring nightmares of a place she has never been, Marlene becomes tormented by the idea that this place could be real, so she has a breakdown. Her daughter Mona follows the same path her mother was on and ends up in Stainback, a small village with a big secret and a population as obsessed as her mother.

The Sonnenhugel Hotel leads to ultra vivid dreams for both mother and daughter, dreams of the suicides of multiple men and visions of strangulation. Meanwhile, the kindly hotel owner Otto actually dreams of bringing Germany’s power back in ways that are frightening in today’s political climate.

Michael Venus has only made shorts before this, but this is a confident blast to the brain filled with murder, strobing lights and abrasive metal when it isn’t about long and languid dreams of death.

You can also stream this movie on the Arrow player. Visit ARROW to start your 30-day free trial. Subscriptions are available for $4.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly. ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland on the following Apps/devices: Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc), Apple TV & iOS devices, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc), and on all web browsers at https://www.arrow-player.com.

Electric Jesus (2020)

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When a flashy promoter (Brian Baumgartner, Kevin from The Office) sells sound man Erik (Andrew Eakle) — who has a rant on Christian rock in this movie that must be heard to be believed, because it goes way beyond just Petra and Stryper — and his favorite local Christian hair metal band 316 on a bus tour in the summer of 1986.

Can they deliver on their desire to make Jesus famous while becoming rock stars? And will their friendship survive?

I was struck by just how much I enjoyed this movie, as it got across what it feels like to be in a band beyond just the joy of playing on stage. Additionally, the struggles between fame and faith felt feal here while keeping the movie focused on being pretty funny.

Judd Nelson plays a minister whose daughter yearns for the open road. And you know, I can’t believe that this movie went from “I guess I’ll watch a few minutes” to making me emotional at the end after learning about where her journey takes her.

Even if you know nothing about the world of 80s religious metal, you have to admire a movie that has a band whose most well-known song is “Commando for Christ.”

This movie is now available digitally. You can learn more about Electric Jesus on the offical site and Facebook page.

SALEM HORROR FEST: Origin Unknown (Sin Origen) (2020)

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Pedro del Toro, a family man and drug trafficking ally, is ready to get out of the crime life. But is the crime life ever ready to be done with you? As Alan, one of his henchmen, asks him to make one last deal to protect themselves from a rival family, a young girl shows up out of nowhere, just as a small team of Romanian killers known as the Arcana decimate every one of Pedro’s guards.

Lina explains to the survivors that the Arcana are after her because she’s a vampire a part of the Cuervo clan. But while Pedro wants to give in, Alan is going after the Dreadnok-looking army of killing machines.

 

This movie has quite the cocktail: young vampire vs. warrior caste of Romania bloodsuckers + Mexican mov drama + home invasion thriller. Shake it all up, throw some cool fight scenes, an arrow through the mouth and glowing vampires into the mix and you have a pretty full drink.

Director Rigoberto Castañeda and writer Michael Caissie have combined nearly every movie on their DVD shelves — a little John Carpenter stuck in a fortified place against the odds here, some of The Raid martial arts there, some post-apocalyptic movie looking villains here — and plenty of little hints as their source material, naming the family del Toro and the young girl Lina after Let the Right One In.

I had a blast with this, as its really intriguing to see vampires not be slow moving creatures of the night but instead ninja-like fighting machines. Making cocktails of disparate ingredients is always challenging; here’s to a film that pulls it off.

I saw Origin Unknown as part of Salem Horror Fest, where you can watch several shorts and features with their virtual pass now until the end of October. You can learn more about this film on the official web page.

SALEM HORROR FEST: Parallel Minds (2020)

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On the verge of the release of Red Eye 2, a contact lens that can record data and resurface the buried memories of its wearer, a researcher named Margo finds the lead programmer has been murdered. That leads her to Thomas, a detective who has his own past to deal with, all to find out exactly what’s going on.

In his second full-length film, Benjamin Ross Hayden is really trying to tie so many things into one movie: a software company that has all the worst parts of the social media companies that we deal with every day; a detective with an abusive past and a stalker following him; a cool punk hacker named Jade; the monster that looks way cool on the poster.

This really reminded me of a 1990s cyberpunk movie — and I love those movies like three-legged dogs, so you may not — but even I have limits as to how much narrative incoherence I can deal with. This movie looks gorgeous, however, all cool blues and future gleam. And I think there’s a great movie inside here. It just needs to not have so many layers.

I saw Parallel Minds as part of Salem Horror Fest, where you can watch several shorts and features with their virtual pass now until the end of October. This movie is also on Tubi.

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 27: Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight (2020)

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27. ARTIFICIAL LIMBS: Robot arms, wooden legs or even a transplanted thing… whatever grabs you.

Never go home again and never go to an abandoned tropical island with a coke-using film crew and never swim in the ocean and never go to camp. This camp has a reason, I guess, as the kids are addicted to the internet and must go phone free, which is a great way to future proof this slasher, as so many times you just wonder, “Why not just use your phone?”

So while there’s Iza, the character that knows the rules of horror movies, no one else listens and has sex in the woods, as they always do, and then a set of massive twin meteorite mutated monsters start killing people, as these things happen, and then everyone is really in for it.

The film has some beautiful locations while planting its soul firmly in the 80s slasher world, although the science fiction backstory for the killers is really fun, as is the makeup.

Since this got added to Netflix — and did quite well — its been confirmed that a sequel is coming, reuniting director Bartosz M. Kowalski and most of the crew the film’s lone survivor.

Someone said to me the other day, “What did you expect, it’s a slasher,” and then I was like, “You realize that’s like slapping me and not expecting me to fight, right?” And that was about a bad slasher. This is a decent one.

They’re Outside (2020)

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The longline for this says, “While filming a documentary about an agoraphobic woman, a celebrity psychologist is drawn into supernatural events.” But I was surprised that I liked this movie, in spite of my aversion to found footage films, as it plays with time and perception and moves who is the protagonist of the film several times.

One of the directors of the film, Airell Anthony Hayles (who was joined by Sam Casserly) has an uncle with agoraphobia and wanted to explore that condition through a movie influenced by The Sixth Sense and Picnic at Hanging Rock. The dup asked themselves, “What if a person’s agoraphobia was linked to supernatural events rather than being a purely psychological condition? And what if nobody believed them?”

Sarah Sanders (Chrissy Randall) is the patient and she’s been unable to leave her home since the death of her daughter and the sighting of something she calls Green Eyes. Enter YouTube therapist Max Spencer (Tom Clayton-Wheatley), who wants to fix her for the entire world to see.

Max may not be the best therapist or the best person or even the best anything, but he’s determined to fix things even if it means angering his patient, the spirits in the woods and getting to cosplay The Beyond until the end of time.

There’s also a great opening with a stuffy academic — Nicholas Vince, the chattering cenobite from Hellraiser — taking us on a folk horror journey through the woods and what they mean.

They’re Outside surprised me — I ended up liking it way more than I thought when it started. It’s available on October 29 on digital from Terror Films.

The Crickets Dance (2020)

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Angie Lawrence should have it all. She has a great job — she’s an attorney — and she’s gorgeous. But she’s trapped by her past and soon, moves into the past as she inherits an antebellum mansion that has a diary detailing the slavery and injustice that happened in the house.

This is Veronica Robledo’s first full-length movie and it was based on the book by Deborah Robillard. The movie is largely based on her own life and experiences growing up in the deep south.

I’m always happy to see Bill Oberst Jr. show up in a movie and he’s suitably sinister in this, as he always does best. I’m usually not one for romantic historical tales, but hey, I can be open every once in awhile.

The Crickets Dance is available October 26 on digital and on demand platforms, including iTunes, Comcast, Dish, Verizon, Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and Telus in the U.S and Canada. You can learn more on the official Facebook page.

Seek (2020)

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Estranged sisters Heidi (Allisyn Snyder, A.P. Bio) and Jordan (Claire Grant) have been driving all night when they come across a roadside park and rest stop. Inside, they both find the mysterious Lonely Child who demands that they play a game.

Seek is a short that looks gorgeous thanks to practical effects by two-time Academy Award nominee Arjen Tuiten (Wonder, Pan’s Labyrinth and Ghostbusters: Afterlife) based on concept designs by WETA Workshop plus VFX by Rogelio Salinas and Todd Perry (Black Panther, Avengers, Doctor Strange).

Steve Agee makes a brief appearance and Sarah Anne Williams plays the Lonely Child. The filmmakers say that this is just a small part of a much larger mythology, with the goal of telling the full and terrify

You can learn more at the official site and watch the short here:

SALEM HORROR FEST: Meta (2020)

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During senior prom, Artie is excited to see if he’s won prom king — despite not believing that his school would vote in a transguy — just as he gets his period. And then, well, he transforms all over again in order to deal with bullies.

I’m somewhat fascinated that the prom scene in Carrie gets referenced in transgender narratives. Someone asked me the other day why so many in the LGBTQ world love horror so much and my assumption — I’d love to learn more — is that the fear of the other is something dealt with every day. Enjoying a world where the other is everyday and often triumphs against normalcy seems way better than normal life.

That said — this is an interesting film and it’s great to see so much representation within Salem Horror Fest. Directed by Sydne Horton and written by Savannah Ward, it has the right tones of humor, horror and understanding.

I saw Meta as part of Salem Horror Fest, where you can watch several shorts and features with their virtual pass now until the end of October. You can read more about Meta at the official site.