VOD: Train To Busan presents Peninsula (dir: Sang-Ho Yeon, 2020)

"It's unrecognisable now."

Taking the zombie outbreak of the superb Train To Busan forward four years, the canvas here is opened wide to a whole city/port where a mis-matched bunch are charged with recovering a truck-load of money from the heart of zombie territory.  Some of the visual flair and creativity evident in the first film is sometimes on display here, but overall Peninsula is disappointingly generic and more disjointed than the original, and the characters are less engaging.  Nevertheless, the athletic zombie-style used again offers some exciting moments, even if the film as a whole is a little too routinely Resident Evil.
 

VOD: Brahms - The Boy II (dir: William Brent Bell, 2020)

"I told you not to make him mad."

The original film was bonkers but not wholly successful; this sequel works well as a companion piece, but it offers little that is new and feels almost like a subdued 1970s mystery/thriller throwback.  A town-dwelling couple and their young son move to the gatehouse of the original film's manor house following a traumatising burglary-gone-wrong, the son discovers the doll half-buried in the woods and...you can pretty much guess the rest.  Katie Holmes plays it admirably straight as the put-upon mother, Owain Yeoman is earnest if a little underwritten as the father, and young Christopher Convery carries off the creepy-child trope well through conveying the child's trauma and beyond.  Overall, the film is adequate but inessential, and the ending hints at a different if equally-limiting direction for the franchise if it is pursued (think Friday The 13th Part V).
 

VOD: A Christmas Gift From Bob a.k.a A Gift From Bob (dir: Charles Martin Smith, 2020)

"They often happen when you least expect it."

This unexpected sequel to the feel-good story/hit manages to sidestep the security provided by fame and success for the previously homeless guy and his adopted cat by using flashback to an earlier Christmas when times were hard.  The first film was a fully-developed tale of the unfolding relationship between Bob and his owner, whereas this film sidelines the cat a bit too much and offers little of the journey that the original provided.  Indeed, the final twenty minutes come as a genuine heart-warming relief, as most of the film is a downbeat sequence of miserable happenings all at Christmas.  Luke Treadaway is a strong character actor and he again delivers and carries the film effectively, but overall this unexpected sequel perhaps stretches the need for it to exist a bit too much.
 

VOD: Better Watch Out (dir: Chris Peckover, 2016)

"Isn't this...exciting?"

This Christmas-set home-invasion movie isn't all that at first it seems, as a babysitter finds herself having to defend her 12-year-old charge and his best friend,,,but that is only the beginning.  The story unfolds in directions that are certainly not expected, and it maintains interest to the very end.  The film is also enjoyably sweary, violent and occasionally in poor taste, with engaging and energetic performances by Olivia DeJonge as the unfortunate babysitter and Levi Miller as the boy whom she looks after.  To say more would spoil the journey, but the film balances comedy and horror very effectively and is a lot of fun.
 

VOD: Krampus (dir: Michael Dougherty, 2015)

"Lord almighty - it looks like Martha Stewart threw up in here!" 

Having covered Halloween so successfully with Trick 'r Treat, Michael Dougherty's attempt to put the horror into Christmas is nowhere near as stylish or inventive but is still enjoyable nevertheless.  In the style of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, the grosser side of the family descends on a fracturing homestead for the holidays, and the young son's discarding of his letter to Santa causes the arrival of Krampus, the mythical anti-Santa, who inflicts terror upon the entire household (and indeed neighbourhood).  As everything from presents to Christmas lights become agents of malevolence, the nastiness seems more appropriate and natural at Halloween than at Christmas, but the cast give it their all and there is some fun to be had here.

VOD: Summer Of 85 (dir: Francois Ozon, 2020)

"Ordinary....and dead sad...."

Ozon's latest tells the tale of 16-year-old Alexis falling hopelessly in love with the more worldly 18-year-old David during one sunny Summer on the coast.  In this classic tale of innocence and experience, Ozon tells the story simply but effectively, juxtaposing the joys of first love with the inevitable harshness when reality bites and it all falls apart.  The whole film is shot through with interesting melancholy and wistfulness, balanced by a well-chosen 80s soundtrack and held up by two strong performances from its young leads.  Being an Ozon film, melodrama is never far away and there is little sense of reality in play for the most part, but as usual characters are king here.
 

VOD: Deep Blue Sea 3 (dir: John Pogue, 2020)

"We're talking sea-mageddon!"

Now firmly in what used be known as direct-to-video territory, Deep Blue Sea 3 at least bothers to tie in well with the previous two films, and it is certainly more watchable than the second film although nowhere near as entertaining as the original.  This time a research scientist is examining the effect of climate change on the local shark population on a small man-made island construction off the coast of Mozambique,  but soon finds herself not only battling three genetically-modified bull sharks from the previous film's experiments but company bad guys as well.  There are a couple of inventive kills and effective jump-shocks, but again this is one of those franchises in which there is little option for originality on display.
 

VOD: The Christmas Chronicles - Part 2 (dir: Chris Columbus, 2020)

"In a few hours, this entire village will be nothing but a distant memory."

Two years on, this sequel to Netflix's big hit of 2018 proves to be more of the same but bigger.  With a real-world domestic scenario of a family resort holiday only bookending the film, this time the action is centred on Santa's village in the North Pole and a plot to destroy Christmas.  Little can be described as subtle here, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are reliable as the Clauses, and Santa gets to duet with Darlene Love in an airport for no apparent reason other than it is Christmas.  Part Two is perhaps a better film overall but less interesting than the original film in offering disposable lightweight festive fare, but little more can be said than that.
 

VOD: A New York Christmas Wedding (dir: Otoja Abit, 2020)

"We can't change yesterday, but today matters."

Don't expect a lot of Christmas cheer in this film, in which a young woman under pressure of her upcoming wedding gets the chance to live out an alternative life in which she had acted upon her feelings for teenage best friend.  Often glum, slow, cheap-looking and simply uninteresting, the film remarkably picks up in the last half-hour as its themes of true love, seizing the day and equal rights for all coalesce quite effectively by the end.
 

VOD: Jingle Jangle - A Christmas Journey (dir: David A. Talbert, 2020)

"Everything we wanted is happening right now."

The touchstones for this festive musical film are clearly Frozen, Hamilton and The Greatest Showman, so you can immediately tell if this is the film for you.  As an ageing toymaker's assistant steals his boss's big idea and becomes a success in a colourful pseudo-Dickensian setting, the film only really hits its rhythm once the focus shifts onto the relationship between the toymaker (wonderfully played by Forest Whitaker) and his estranged grand-daughter who comes to say.  The quality of the songs is certainly variable, but overall this is a lively, enjoyable and heart-felt Christmas romp.

 

VOD: A Babysitter's Guide To Monster-Hunting (dir: Rachel Talalay, 2020)

"Let's face it - monsters aren't real."

Unless you are one of the very young, A Babysitter's Guide... will offer little.  It is a gaudy-neon-coloured nightmare that is something akin to an overdose of Halloween sugary sweets, and the general repetitiveness and tiresome running around makes it difficult to enjoy.  Think of the worst aspects of the Spy Kids movies but dumbed down, and you are pretty much there.  It would probably play well to its target audience, but if that is not you, avoid.

 

VOD: Operation Christmas Drop (dir: Martin Wood, 2020)

"I'm efficient."

Based on the long-established real-life U.S. Air Force's Christmas supplies drops to remote islands, this Netflix seasonal rom-com is generally well-written, effectively played and heart-warming.  It follows an inevitable path as a career-minded congresswoman's aide (Kat Graham) is sent to shut down a base's Christmas drop days before Christmas and is gradually swayed by the easy-going charms of the army captain assigned to look after her (Alexander Ludwig), but the sun-and-sand locations and the even some pertinent political point-making make this film one of the slightly more interesting festive offerings, with the feel-good finale and the real context shown in the credits making it just above average of its type.

 

VOD: Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight (dir: Bartosz M. Kowalski, 2020)

"A week of adventure and awesome fun!"

The USP of this Polish slasher is that a group of tech-addicted 'teenagers' meet up on a no-mobiles camp week, and thus as they find themselves isolated in the woods and at the mercy of unknown killers they have to rely on their wits and on each other.  Beyond that, the film does little that is new, and the film will be either a revelation to non-horror fans or an exercise in predictability for genre aficionados.  Veering alternately between the slasher conventions of the Friday The 13th films (and using some of the same kills) and the OTT comedy of The Evil Dead series, the film is competent, generic and does little to surprise.