VOD: His House (dir: Remi Weekes, 2020)

"I'll protect you."

His House is a deceptive movie, for to label it a haunted house film is to merely scratch the surface of this terrific film.  Sope Dirisu and Wunmi Mosaku are both utterly superb as the Sudanese refugee couple relocated to their own house on a dire English estate, but the ensuing haunting events that cause the couple to unravel pose many questions, especially as to whether they are from within or external forces at work.  The screenplay and direction both show exceptional control by Remi Weekes, and this eerie, distinctive and unsettling movie has real depth and emotional impact in its unflinching exploration of dislocation, alienation, grief, parenthood and culture whilst still delivering in terms of the horror aspects.. 
 

VOD: Hubie Halloween (dir: Steve Brill, 2020)

"We all get scared, but this year you're gonna have to find that bravery that's dep within you.  It's time."

The Adam Sandler rollercoaster continues, and whilst Hubie Halloween does not plumb the depths reached by Jack And Jill, it is still a very weak film to sit through.  Like the Goosebumps movie's Halloween-based sequel, the mise-en-scene is beautifully created but is allied to a weak story, not helped by Sandler's belief that character and humour can be built acceptably upon a speech impediment.  The Sandler-movie comedy formula grew tired a long time ago, and although it still clearly finds its audience, this is another of those movies where you simply have to sit and watch the motions being gone through with little entertainment to be found and then move on. 

 

VOD: Holidate (dir: John Whitesell, 2020)

"I don't do drugs!"
"And you call yourself a professional sportsman?"

Netflix kicks off the holiday season of 2020 with this crass rom-com that sits firmly at the more adult end of the genre.  Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey strain to wring out what they can from the material but ultimately seem oddly mismatched here, as we follow the pair of holiday haters who team up as a couple of convenience from one Christmas to the next as they navigate their burgeoning relationship and their families during the course of the big annual festive events.  Whilst there is some fun to be had watching the couple respond to the various annual celebrations, it is difficult to invest in the characters and the whole things feels a little lacking in charm.

 

VOD: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (dir: Jason Woliner, 2020)

"Fifteen?  You're the oldest unmarried woman in all of Kazakhstan!"

Mercifully, this unexpected and belated Borat movie sequel does not disappoint in the least.  Acknowledging the fame of its central character, Borat is sent on a mission back to the USA, and with his teenage daughter in tow and various disguises employed, the reality aspect that made the character's exploits so successful has been reinvented and deployed very successfully (for me, the debutante ball is the appallingly and outrageously hilarious highlight).  This sequel has the same mix of outright laughs, surprise, sweetness and shock that made the first movie so entertaining.  Baron Cohen remains a master at this type of comedy, and  the addition of the terrific Maria Bakalova as Borat's daughter Tutar is a masterstroke.  This style of humour is not to everyone's taste, but as a guide there are more laughs in the first five minutes of this film than in the whole of most so-called modern comedies. 
 

VOD: Terrifier (dir: Damien Leone, 2018)

"Halloween never disappoints, does it?"

Less a story than a sequence of gory set pieces, Terrifier is a straightforward throwback slasher as a peculiarly and oddly creepy clown figure cuts his way through one Halloween night.  Perhaps refreshingly lacking any kind of origin story to hold up the action, the film delivers on plentiful gloopy physical effects that work very well for its limited budget.  Inevitably, the spirits of Raimi and Carpenter loom large, but this low-budget entry is clearly made by people who know and love horror, right down to the effective synth-driven score.
 

VOD: Nocturne (dir: Zu Quirke, 2020)

"Well guess we all have our vices...."

Nocturne is probably the least interesting of the 2020 Blumhouse/Amazon quartet of low-budget thrillers.  The tale of a young musician whose ambition for success becomes allied with a curse is quite dreary and slow, with its occasional stab at artistic pretensions falling flat.  If you are going to sit through this feeling-long haul, at least there is the music to admire.
 

VOD: Evil Eye (dirs: Elan Dassani and Rajiv Dassani, 2020)

"If you're not careful, bad things could happen."

Evil Eye marks a welcome Indian/Asian-influenced entry into the Blumhouse/Amazon stable of low-budget horrors, as the events of the previous generation come back to haunt the present-day daughter, who goes against the arranged-marriage tradition and falls for a man with a very dark secret.  It is all done passably well, with the unfolding story and the idea of fate maintaining reasonable interest, but it is worth waiting for the brief but full-on final smackdown.

 

VOD: The Lie (dir: Veena Sud, 2020)

"If you do something really bad, how do you undo it?"

Another Blumhouse/Amazon production, The Lie is essentially a simple family drama in which separated parents try to cover up a terrible act done by their teenage daughter, and we watch as the secret becomes steadily unravelled.  The main strength of this very uninventive film is the chillingly-evocative wintry camerawork, which is not reflected in the melodramatic performances.  The inevitable denouement comes as no surprise at all, leaving The Lie barely above mid-afternoon TV fodder.
 

VOD: Black Box (die: Emmanuel Osie-Kuffour, 2020)

"Things are getting mixed up in here."

One of Blumhouse's Amazon Originals for the Halloween season of 2020, Black Box is a magpie of sci-fi/horror staples and fails to really achieve its own identity.  It is well-staged and is driven by a great central performance by Mamoudou Athie as a single father who starts to question his own identity - and, it turns out, with good reason - but the key narrative reveal could do with sharper writing to make sense initially, although the film does recover for a mildly interesting final act.  This is an  underpowered low-budget sci-fi thriller with some strengths that just make it passable.

 

VOD: The Boys In The Band (2020) (dir: Joe Mantello, 2020)

"Your grapes are - how do you say - sour?"

Following the play's successful Broadway revival in 2018, this new filmed version from largely the same team comes an astonishing fifty years after the groundbreaking original movie.  The universally strong performances retain the biting delivery of the sharp dialogue, and only a minor sympathetic expansion of the classic 'birthday party in an apartment' set-up breaks the claustrophobic tension.  Whilst it remains strongly theatrical in its talk-heavy style, this version balances archness with emotion quite effectively.