Up first this week is Cracked out of Thailand. It’s a supernatural horror flick that reminded me of Oculus in a lot of ways. A young woman in New York flies back to Thailand along with her daughter after the death of her father. She doesn’t like her family home and you immediately feel like it has secrets. Her daughter keeps hearing things and feeling things. The woman wants nothing to do with a building off the house that her father painted in, but the father’s friend wants her to sell two paintings they jokingly think are cursed. His son is hired to fix the cracks in the paintings, but then the film takes a turn away from the supernatural. Oculus had a mirror tied to family secrets, this has paintings. I won’t spoil the twist, but I do think the twist somewhat made the paranormal elements confusing. I liked the twist and I liked the background story with the paintings and would have preferred more of that and less of the supernatural angle altogether. I’m not familiar with anyone in the cast, but the lead actress and actor hired to fix the cracks are both very, very good as is the young actress playing the daughter. For a film I knew absolutely nothing about, I enjoyed it.
Sticking with paranormal horror, Deadstream is next. If you read me enough you know I loathe found footage films. This isn’t found footage, but more like live footage. I mean it’s all fake and staged, but it’s about a YouTuber doing a live broadcast from a haunted house. It’s all shaky cam and doors moving and ghosts in the background and no thank you. I really don’t like this type of horror and never will. The lead actor was annoying, but I do think he was supposed to be like an annoying YouTube personality. The special effects were lackluster and I just couldn’t get into it. Even the surprise twist you can guess a mile away. But if you like found footage films with single locations and very few characters you might like it. The Steelbook release is top notch though even if I didn’t like the actual movie.
Third we have Are You Lonesome Tonight? about a man trying to make amends for killing a man. He accidentally ran over someone in the street, but tossed the body so he wouldn’t be found out. After seeing missing persons signs and meeting the man’s widow, he fixes her air conditioning and tries to help her out without telling her the truth. Of course there’s more to the story involving a twist on the killed man. It’s a solid drama with good performances from the main lead and the widow. It has an easy to follow story that crosses all nationalities and cultures. The twist certainly adds to it making it much more than a man just trying to make amends. I could easily see it being remade in the States as well.
Next is Moonhaven. This is a series on AMC that ran for six episodes in its first season. It had initially been renewed, but ultimately it was cancelled which is a bummer because of course it has an open ending and storylines that would have continued into season two. Set in the future, humans have settled on the moon using artificial intelligence they hope will be able to save Earth. Generations have grown up on the moon learning ways that should stop what’s happening on the mother planet and eventually fix everything. A pilot transports a high ranking Earth woman and her bodyguard to the moon to help with the transition of the first group of mooners going back to Earth. There is a murder and the moon is flipped upside down, not literally. These people don’t know anything besides love and peace and soon everyone is connected in a conspiracy. I can understand why it didn’t quite find an audience. The mooners are too weird and somehow feel like Earthlings from hundreds of years ago. The special effects are ok at best and the acting isn’t great. Even Joe Manganiello is a bit wooden in this. It clearly expected a second season because there are a lot of plot lines not finished off. If you like sci-fi I recommend it, but keep your expectations low and don’t expect it all wrapped up by the end.
Last from Mill Creek Entertainment we have Director Spotlight Neil LaBute: Your Friends & Neighbors / Possession / The Shape of Things / Nurse Betty. Your Friends & Neighbors is an ensemble cast with interconnecting friendships and relationships. They are all having affairs and caught up in drama. I hadn’t seen it in probably 20 years so it felt new. The Shape of Things is also a drama filled story with one young man’s life upended by a new girl and his friends not sure if she’s a good influence. Paul Rudd captures that every-man perfectly with Rachel Weisz an understandable bad influence. Nurse Betty was supposed to be a huge dark comedy, but it never gained the following they expected. Renee Zellweger just didn’t do crazy that well back then as a woman who has a mental breakdown and thinks an actor playing a doctor on TV is real. It has all the elements it should have to be a dark comedic gem, but I hadn’t watched it since it came out. It’s not as bad as I remember, but I understand why it never caught on. Possession is another drama involving two people obsessed with old writers who come across each other and get involved. I don’t think I had ever seen this one before and I understand why I hadn’t. It’s not bad and it’s well acted, but not my kind of film.
The Nerds Templar 