VOD: Woman Of The Hour (dir: Anna Kendrick, 2024)

"Everyone's risky."
 

Based on real events, this unsettling Netflix drama sees Anna Kenrick directing and starring as a struggling Hollywood actress in the 1970s, who goes on a TV dating show and is matched with a photographer who also happens to be a serial killer.  Kendrick impresses in the lead role as always, and her direction is clear and offers some nice touches.  The thriller aspect of the film plays well, even if the set-up is rather unsubtle.  It has a straightforward three-act structure: backstory, the TV show, and a third act which is possibly the most interesting as it becomes largely a two-hander and a shift into an unexpected resolution.  The film offers little beyond its basic central concept, but it is well delivered and the sombre and bittersweet coda has a real shocking impact.

VOD: Hundreds Of Beavers (dir: Mike Cheslik, 2024)

"!"

In possibly THE cult hit of recent times, truly fuelled by festivals and word-of-mouth, applejack Jean (a cider-maker) sees his orchard and business destroyed by beavers, so he sets out into the snowy wilderness to get revenge, finds a love interest and becomes a fur trapper to impress her father.  Fusing lo-fi animation and greenscreen with live action, it is a relentless stream of very silly sight and sound gags, many of which are laugh-out-loud funny.  The silliness is compounded by having the beavers and other animals played by people wearing childishly exaggerated costumes, as the beavers and nature inflict a barrage of slapstick indignities on our hapless protagonist who can never catch a break.  The film bowls along without dialogue, accompanied by a whimsical silent-movie-styled score.  The first act is probably the funniest, and the second act drags a little, but all credit to Ryland Brickson Cole Tews's clowning skills and  to all involved for keeping up the madness and inventiveness right to the end.

Hundreds Of Beavers is every bit as utterly daft and entertaining as its reputation suggests. 
 

VOD: Margaux (dir: Steven C. Miller, 2024)

"Ow!  So much ow!  Babe!"

In this high-concept hi-tech thriller, spring break in a luxury smart house for a group of box-ticking college friends turns into a battle for survival when the home's next-generation AI turns against them.  The film looks pretty and glossy, the connected/online/learning-AI gimmick is used purposefully, and the Final Destination-lite kills are adequate enough, in spite of the occasional low-end CGI.  

The film makes a point about how society blindly accepts AI, but surprisingly it says little more than 1973's classic Demon Seed.  The plot generally bears little scrutiny, especially when it descends into third act silliness, but there is plenty going on with a couple of twists on the usual formula.
 

VOD: The Sadness (dir: Rob Jabbaz, 2021)

"This is your new life..."

Championed by Damien Leone (of Terrifier fame), this Taiwanese film sees a photogenic and likeable young couple (well played by Berant Zhu and Regina Lei) facing a mutating viral pandemic that turns people into depraved killers.  After a gentle opening, it does not take long for the full-on gory mayhem to start, like an extreme Tom Savini let loose on the 28 Days/Weeks Later series.  The film is deliberately unpleasant and over-the-top violent to watch, shot through with an unsettlingly sombre and bleak tone.  The set pieces are executed well, notably an early claustrophobic subway train carriage massacre.  This is a simple and efficient example of the sub-genre, making its point about mankind's primal urges in a clear and unsubtle manner.  The third act runs out of steam and the ending is downbeat, but overall The Sadness is one of the stronger entries in the virus/zombie arena. 

 

VOD: Late Night With The Devil (dirs: Colin and Cameron Cairnes, 204)

"I'm very excited for you to see it unfold before your very eyes!"

The BBC's infamous Ghostwatch had a poltergeist invading a TV studio during a live broadcast. Late Night With The Devil sees a failing late-night American chat show (Night Owls With Jack Delroy) and its tragic host in a desperate bid for ratings glory during Sweeps Week with a Halloween episode that conjures a demon.  After a nicely-crafted prologue that sets out the characters and the show's story well, the legendary episode is played out in full, complete with 1970s stylings, mise-en-scene and (pre-widescreen) TV format presentation all recreated faithfully and convincingly, although the black-and-white widescreen in-studio footage during the commercial breaks jars a little. It is all driven by a very watchable and well-judged performance by David Dastmalchian, aided capably by the studio guests, a psychic, a sceptic, a parapsychologist and her charge, a strange girl survivor of a satanic cult who is (allegedly) possessed by a demon (tying in with the 1970s obsession with The Exorcist).  It perhaps loses a little credibility towards the end with its Halloween III nod, over-the-top effects and the host's stylised unravelling grip on reality, but at its heart, the film has a simple and somewhat slight conceit that is delivered well overall.

 

VOD: Natty Knocks (dir: Dwight Little, 2023)

"What's a payphone?"

This seemingly by-the-numbers low-budget horror-thriller has a lot of the genre trapping in play - small town, Halloween Eve, burning a 1970s 'witch', present day son taking revenge on the children/grandchildren of the persecutors - mixed with fan-pleasing stunt casting of Bill Moseley, Danielle Harris, Robert Englund and director Dwight (H.) Little.  In spite of its genre familiarity, there is an effort made to make the story reasonably grounded, with divorcing parents and the effect on children, possible domestic abuse and 'teens' who actually talk like real teenagers.  It feels like there is a lot going on its lean running time, there is a subtle atmospheric music score throughout by Misha Segal, and whilst the movie offers nothing that is really scary, it is quite interesting to see how the story plays out and how all the elements (just about) come together.
 

VOD: It's What's Inside (dir: Greg Jardin, 2024)

"What the f**k?  Is this real?"

The psychological thriller gets a real modern twist, as a group of social-media-savvy college friends reunite at a lavish mansion for a wedding, and one of them - a tech pioneer - brings along a machine for a 'game' that enables them to swap bodies and to guess which person inhabits which body.  Not only does jealousy, deception and using other friends' bodies for sex make for a delicious dramatic mix, but a game-changing moment creates a serious life-changing dilemma for the gang.  Its rapid-fire dialogue and content demands attention in order to follow what is going on once the bodyswapping starts, and the initial shallowness of these vapidly-anonymous characters - exposed by the emptiness of their talk and lives - gives way to revealing their selfishness and self-centred needs.  The playful musical soundtrack is fun, and the energetic cast sells the nonsense for all they are worth.  The film might have benfitted from spending a bit more time with the characters before the bodyswapping starts, and the mid-section certainly is rather confusing, but it is nevertheless an interesting take on the body-swap conceit.