Author of adventure/thriller and horror fiction

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (2022)

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Part horror movie and part war movie, the first German adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s best-selling novel, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, is a devastating portrait of warfare in the Great War, in the process making a definitive antiwar statement.

The movie begins with an incredible sequence showing how the war has become a meat grinder, endlessly cycling young men through it. Back home, Paul, a student, hears the strident call to defend the fatherland from annihilation and eagerly signs up along with his friends. Soon, their romantic ideals about the war are shattered as they are forced to fight in muddy, rat-infested trenches and endless seesawing battles that employed new horrific weapons including tanks, howitzers, flamethrowers, and machine guns. As the war winds down, so does Paul’s circle, and we see him going from fighting to win to merely survive and then finally because there is nothing else, a hollowed-out man who lost faith he is ever going home.

The battle sequences are just incredible in this, more horror than war film. You can feel the hopeless resignation even before the whistles blow to charge, and then when things get going, it’s one horror after another until men are slashing each other hand to hand with trenching tools, showing a war in which industrialization stripped away the last vestiges of humanity in it, while also making it incredibly intimate–men killing each other looking into their eyes, feeling horror and remorse while they do it. This a war movie where the gore isn’t horrifying, it’s the meaning invested in it. How pointless it all was.

As an anti-war statement, it’s all here. The old goading the young into battle with romantic notions, the young losing their innocence in horror. The hubris of commanders who fail to see the soldiers as men but instead chess pieces exchanged for a final bit of national honor. The national humiliation at the end that some historians believe seeded the next war. The breakdown of hope and humanity to a level where the soldiers don’t feel like they will ever get home or will know how to go on living with themselves even if they do.

Overall, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT is a distinct, powerful, and utterly savage movie providing a fresh reminder that war is hell.

THE NIGHT HOUSE (2020)

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In THE NIGHT HOUSE, a grieving woman suspects something is haunting her, maybe her dead husband, maybe something very sinister. Overall, I liked the execution a lot, though I enjoyed it more for its intriguing possibilities than where the story ended up going.

Beth is grieving the loss of her husband Owen. She appears to be in control, though hollowed out by coping. At night, strange occurrences begin to add up around the lakeside home he built for them. A suggestion of another house, another life. As she explores it, she begins to wonder what exactly is haunting her and what it wants.

Overall, there’s a skillful slow-burn execution to the story; the pacing is slow but doesn’t drag, at least it didn’t for me. The acting is solid, notably Rebecca Hall (whom I liked in THE LOOP) who is well cast as Beth, with a shout-out for Sarah Goldberg (who plays Sally in BARRY). Goldberg’s role is small and one note, essentially the friend who offers a sounding board and somebody for the lonely protagonist to talk to, but she gives the otherwise flat character as much life as she can breathe into it.

As the story builds, the horror element is well done, startling and occasionally eerie but not particularly overtly scary, as this is more psychological horror. Another factor here is Beth is rarely terrified, and this has an excellent explanation for why she reacts the way she does and doesn’t flee the house screaming: Grief has sucked almost every bit of emotion out of her, and she is completely out of f**ks to give. She doesn’t care about anything except answers about her husband. The “other house” stands more as metaphor as meaning anything else, and the monster is okay for me and probably good for many, particularly in some really well-done artistic effects to make it both something and nothing. While it’s all solid in this film, I just couldn’t help but wish the story of the other house ended up more complex the way it’s suggested in the trailer, leaving me a bit hungry.

So overall, THE NIGHT HOUSE is a solid horror film, recommended for those okay with a slower burn and seeking something that is deeper and that isn’t the usual fare.

NOPE (2022)

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Jordan Peele’s latest horror film, NOPE (2022), tells a UFO story in a clever and engaging mashup of sci-fi, horror, and Western tropes. I’ve really grown to admire Peele’s contributions to the horror genre. The man has something to say, and he always explores new territory.

In this film, OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Em (Keke Palmer) struggle to maintain their father’s ranch and business training and handling horses for film and TV productions. They make quite a pair, as OJ is taciturn and introverted while Em is flamboyant and outgoing. When they see signs of a strange flying object in the area, Em hatches a plan to capture it on film and make a financial killing. While this is going on, Jupe Park (the always delightful Steven Yeun), who grew up a child actor and was a survivor of a tragedy in which an ape goes on a rampage on set, going on to set up his own Wild West entertainment center, seems to know something about it. The object, however, is hungry and hunting, and it isn’t something to be trifled with.

What I liked: the general weirdness with odd touches of humor throughout, the ape losing it during a TV shoot, the landscapes at the ranch, and the fun characters, who when confronted by threat often say “nope” and go in the opposite direction. I liked seeing Keith David and Michael Winscott again, doing what they do best. The characters are all pretty likable, and there is a nice dynamic between OJ and Em. The climax is compelling. Immediately, you get the sense this is a Jordan Peele production, not your average horror film, and as usual he presents his material that is economical about taking itself seriously.

That being said, I felt like I would have cared a whole lot more about what happened and who it happened to if Jupe had been the main character. His backstory of the TV show that ended in tragedy is really compelling and offered a great deal of depth to a character who doesn’t have much of a role to play in this movie. Of all the characters, he had the closest thing to a character arc, only it went unfinished, and the main protagonists, who again are likable enough, don’t really have a character arc at all. If the story had been told from his point of view, I think NOPE would have been truly great.

Overall, I liked NOPE one as a polished horror film that offered something new to the genre and was a lot of fun to watch.

THE MENU (2022)

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THE MENU (2022) is one of those rare surprising movies like Cronenberg’s CRIMES OF THE FUTURE that comes out of nowhere and makes me love film all over again. It’s a great film.

In this film, Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy, who I already like in almost everything she’s in) joins Tyler (Nicholas Hoult, who is really growing on me lately) on a date to a private island whose sole purpose is to house an upscale restaurant catering to the super wealthy. The clientele include a snobby food critic and her editor, a fading movie star, obnoxious tech bros, and others. Chef (Ralph Fiennes), however, has a very special menu planned for these curated guests, each course becoming more sinister.

I can’t go farther than that, as really, there’s so much fun in discovering this film as raw as possible. Suffice to say there is an economic theme in how the haves feed off the labor of the have-nots without appreciating the time, energy, and effort that goes into what they consume so carelessly. But for me, really, this was about humans who consider their work art and face a lifetime of unappreciated work and intense pressure finally simply saying, screw it, I’m done. (As a writer, I can imagine a similar horrific book reading where a writer invites certain reviewers, including that reader who requested a free review copy for a book, read only few pages of it, and then trashed it with a 1-star review on Goodreads without any care for the enormous amount of creative work that went into it). My advice is to put all that in the back of your mind, though, and just enjoy the story of a man hitting a breaking point in a delicious way.

Otherwise, pretty much everything about THE MENU worked for me. The set is understated and elegant, the acting terrific–particularly Fiennes–the food exquisite, the script tight and packed with sharp dialogue, the comedy black as night, and the message provocative. Highly recommended.

THE PALE BLUE EYE (2022)

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In THE PALE BLUE EYE (2022), a weary constable is called to solve a series of murders occurring at West Point military academy, teaming up with cadet Edgar Allan Poe during his investigation. The performances–notably Christian Bale, Harry Melling, and Toby Jones–and an emotionally powerful ending make this a standout Gothic film.

Based on the novel by Louis Bayard, the film is essentially Gothic horror, though it mashes up prominent thriller and mystery elements to make it modern and more engaging. The 1820s atmosphere is suitably dreary, dark, and cold, reflecting not only the inhospitable winter but also Constable Landor’s inner emotional landscape, as he is grieving. Everything comes together properly in the story, and the final reveal is surprising and delivers the goods with a real punch.

That being said, well, it’s just me, but Gothic stories tend to either be bad or at best pretty good for me. They’re slow burners leaning heavily on an overly familiar atmosphere, and as a result I find them a bit of a test of endurance. THE PALE BLUE EYE, however, is pretty good.

The acting, however, is fantastic. Bale conveys his emotions with incredible nuance and subtle power, Melling pretty much inhabits what I think the real Poe might have been like in the flesh, and Toby Jones always delivers as one of the best character actors in the business. The final scenes are riveting.

So overall, this one is a solid film and a standout in the genre, an easy recommendation for fans of Gothic horror.

MOTHER/ANDROID (2021)

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In MOTHER/ANDROID (2021), a pregnant woman and her partner struggle to survive the android apocalypse. Critics and fans alike seemed to dislike this movie, based on Rotten Tomatoes ratings, but, well, I liked it. Though it doesn’t really add anything new to the apocalyptic genre and the drama at the climax didn’t hit me the way it was supposed to, there is a pleasure in a simple story well told, and this is one such story.

It’s the future, which looks like ours except many people now have android servants. The story basically begins with Georgia (Chloë Grace Moretz, usually not my favorite actor but she does a terrific job here) telling Sam (a calmly understated Algee Smith) that she is pregnant on Christmas Eve. When they go to a party, things don’t look good for the couple, who bicker over whether she should have a drink. Unfortunately, a catastrophic event is about to eclipse their issues: a mysterious signal blasts the country, triggering all androids to kill humans. Whether the signal freed them to do what they wanted or ordered them to kill, we don’t know, but the effect is the same. We’re all screwed.

Fast forward nine months, and a very pregnant Georgia is still with Sam, traveling in remote areas trying to figure out a way out of the country. They learn that there are boats in Boston still evacuating refugees and decide to take the risk of crossing no-man’s land to get there.

This movie offers everything I like about the apocalyptic genre: characters I care about, the blitzkrieg panic of the shit hitting the fan, some apocalyptic money shots, a scary monster-as-machine adversary, a simple point A to point B mission, and plenty of tough choices along the way between options that range from really sucking to only mostly sucking. I also particularly enjoyed that this wasn’t a story where everyone is dead except for our heroes and a few crazed survivors; America is still fighting, only it’s slowly losing. Oh, and the acting is solid.

On the downside, there could have been a little more action, it would have been nice to find out the real reason the androids revolted, and the ending didn’t hit me in the feels the way the filmmakers wanted it to. Georgia doesn’t seem to have much of a character arc where she changes or overcomes some flaw or misbelief, giving the film a kind of “well, that happened” feeling at the end. Overall, again, this movie didn’t really add much new to the apocalyptic genre.

All that being said, if you’re a fan of apoc films like me, I think you’ll find plenty to appreciate in MOTHER/ANDROID. It’s a simple story well told, that’s it. Overall, I liked it.