Based on the video game of the same name, WEREWOLVES WITHIN (2021) is a goofy, low-expectations horror comedy. It’s fun, without being particularly funny or frightful.

Forest ranger Finn arrives at his new post in the small town of Beaverton. At first, he meets mail carrier Cecily, who introduces him to the town’s wackier residents, which include an environmental scientist and a sinister corporate agent representing an energy company that wants to build a pipeline in the area, an issue that is dividing residents. When a local dog disappears in a severe snowstorm and power outage, a body is discovered, leading to townsfolk banding together at the local hotel. As the body count rises, they believe a werewolf is in their midst. The trick is finding out who it is before it’s too late.

It’s a fun premise with solid promise, and the attempt has plenty of heart with some decent comedic actors. Finn has an interesting character arc who starts off too nice only to learn how important that is. Cecily messes with the manic pixie girl trope. Otherwise, however, despite the actors pouring their comedic hearts into it, it’s not particularly funny, there isn’t much in the way of surprises, and it’s not scary at all, failing to make the beautiful connection that the kissing cousins of horror and comedy can create.

The result felt a bit paint by numbers for me, a movie that plays it safe, and I’m a little old for the trope of naive newbie walks into a place where everybody is performatively wacky. I did, however, find it fun, and as comedy is even more individual than taste in movies, you might find it hilarious. This movie scored pretty well with audiences and critics at Rotten Tomatoes, indicating others got more out of it than I did. Check it out if you’re looking for something super light and kinda fun.

UNDERWATER (2021) is a decent popcorn flick that nonetheless drags, a problem that could have been solved with a traditional first act and a little more character agency. Let me explain.

Mechanical engineer Nora (Kristen Stewart) works on an underwater drilling rig at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. When an earthquake damages the facility, she collects other survivors and faces a long struggle to escape. As there are no escape pods left (plenty of the crew died and there still weren’t enough pods at the main base, so somebody needs to talk to management about the terrible safety features), they must walk underwater to another drill, which offers incredible dangers due to the heavy pressure on the ocean floor. And there are far more horrific dangers among the ruins, creatures stirred up and hungry in a story that was probably pitched as, THE ALIEN meets THE MIST and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE.

There are some likeable elements here. The monsters that appear based on the Cthulhu mythos. The claustrophobic feeling of being trapped at the bottom of the sea. The likeable cast of actors including Vincent Cassel, Mamoudou Athie, John Gallagher Jr., and T.J. Miller. The overall competence and effect.

In my view, however, the film suffers from several flaws, ultimately making it kind of boring for me. First, there is no first act. We jump right into the crisis, so there’s no real character arc for anybody, I don’t have a feel for the work that goes on in the rig, and everybody feels like a placeholder: Noble Captain, Lovable Girl We Want to Live, Comic Relief Guy. I don’t think Stewart is a bad actress, but her style is a bit monotone, which doesn’t serve her otherwise unknowable character well. As a result, I didn’t really feel invested in anybody. Second, the physics of being that deep underwater aren’t well explained or respected; it would have been good to be told one or two simple rules, and then the film would strictly follow them as an obstacle. Finally, the scenes in the water are dark such that you have no real sense of place, and the characters have almost no agency to protect themselves, basically walking around until somebody sees something, they all stop and stare, and then one of them gets plucked for lunch. This worked for THE MIST because we saw everything clearly before the mist fell, and our imagination could fill everything in. Not so much here.

Overall, I found UNDERWATER compelling for its spectacle and basic curiosity how it would end, putting this film in the junk food category of just turn off your brain for a while, make some popcorn, and wile away a few hours.

LAMB (2021) is a visually striking, weird film about parental love and the natural order. I loved it, though the ending left me wanting.

In rural Iceland, Ingvar and Maria farm their land. The property is filled with animals–sheep, horses, a dog, a cat–but the couple obviously feel empty. Soon, we get hints of the tragic loss of a child. When an unnatural newborn is birthed in their sheep barn, they decide to raise it as their own, though its family seeks to reclaim it.

That’s kind of it as far as the plot goes. Ingvar’s brother Petur, a former rocker with impulse control issues, shows up to stir the pot, but it has little overall bearing on the story. Most of what we see is the couple going about their day, the raising of the strange child, and the hauntingly beautiful Icelandic scenery. This isn’t quite an art house film, but it does require a lot of patience. In that, it kind of reminded me of VALHALLA RISING, slow but striking and soulful in the visual telling. It gets under your skin, assisted in no small part by Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær Guðnason’s understated but affecting acting.

What really carries the film is the child itself. It’s weird and unnatural and oddly adorable, and yet the couple treats it as perfectly natural and give it all the love they’ve got. This is a great strength of the film, how seriously it takes its weird element. I found myself utterly sucked into it.

I won’t touch the ending out of fear of spoilers except to say it’s shocking and it makes sense, but it left me wanting, wanting as in I was saying, “Oh, is that it?” The filmmakers said it’s all open to interpretation, but they sort of set up a folk tale lacking a strong moral (or evidence of it through the characters being truly tested), making this one of those indie movies with an ending “intentionally open to interpretation” but where you wonder as a viewer if the makers simply didn’t know how to end it. A few extra minutes would have gone a long way there to bring it all home, define the new normal after the story ends, and crystalize the theme.

But that’s just me. Overall, I loved LAMB and recommend it. It’s a remarkable debut, an odd but firmly grounded modern folk tale.

In LIGHT FROM THE LIGHT (2019), a single mom and part-time paranormal investigator is contacted by a clergyman attempting to help a widower who believes his wife may be haunting his house. I went into this thinking I’d be watching a fairly rote and conventional horror film but discovered instead something far more thoughtful, a really nice surprise.

Sheila is treading water, working at a car-rental service counter. She raises a teenage son Owen, who may soon be leaving the nest and is considering the practicality of starting a relationship with Lucy, who will soon be going to college. Sheila moonlights as a paranormal investigator, where she appears to have a deep hope of finding evidence that there’s more to existence than one’s physical life. A priest contacts her and asks her to help Richard, a widower still in deep, quiet mourning and who believes his wife may be haunting his farmhouse.

I liked this one quite a bit once I had its number. The main thing is the paranormal aspect is interesting, but it’s not the main event. It’s really a metaphor for the search for something that isn’t certain to end and therefore won’t be ultimately disappointing and impose regret. The direction and script do a wonderful job revealing the theme gradually so that by the end, a ton of metaphor slowly reveals in the viewer’s mind without it being shoved in their face. Everything about the film is understated, and it offers a pensive rather than heavy-handed or terrifying existentialism, more about the choices we make and what matters, and renewing the will to risk again despite regret and knowing how it will likely end.

Despite the film’s rough indie edges, it has a nice raw quality, an organic feel. Even when the acting gets a little rough, the actors appear comfortable in their own skin. The ending has a nice payoff that brings it all together.

Overall, a surprisingly enjoyable film about grief and hope.